Move Over Malibu Barbie...Ella's on her way!

The Great Walker Debate!

Jimmy and I debated back and forth about a walker. So many books now advise against using a walker due to lack of building up muscles developed through crawling and of course safety reasons. Jimmy gave a good argument and lo and behold, Ella has a walker. She does not spend a lot of time in it but enjoys the time that she does. The steering wheel comes off so you also have the classic tray to put toys on, etc. I think her favorite part of this jeep was helping her daddy build it!

Happy Memorial Day!

A Day With New Meaning

This is the beautiful and amazing baby I woke up to on Mother's Day morning. I didn't just realize then but I realize each and every morning how lucky I am to be a mom...to be Ella's mommy. She has brought so much love into my life and I can't even remember my time without her. My heart just melts and life feels complete when she gives me a hug or says "ma ma ma" and reaches up for me. Mother's Day before was all about honoring my mom and recognizing all that she unselfishly does for her kids. I think when you become a mom yourself you have even more respect and honor for your own mother as this mother's day I did think of my mom as before but also thought about all that she has taught me about being a mom myself. I hope everyone gets to grow up with a mom as wonderful as mine and I hope I can be that mommy to Ella.

Small child, once you were a hope, a dream. Now you are a reality. Changing all that is to come. A love to hold our hearts forever. -Charlotte Gray

Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother. -Lin Yutang

Summer Fun

I am super fortunate to have a job that I have two months off every summer that allows me to stay at home with the baby. It has been a week so far and we have had a lot of fun. She misses Grandma though so I've taken her to see Grandma twice this week with more visits to come. It is definitely going to be hard to leave her again when summer ends but I am trying not to think about it and just enjoy these weeks I have with my wonderful daughter.

Our first week of summer:

Eating lunch at McDonald's with Grandma, Hunter and Briley. She loves them!

Playing on the floor with mommy.

Shopping with Ms. Stephanie and mommy at Kohl's.

We take Moqui for a walk each morning...it is getting hot though so we need to leave a little earlier in the morning!

Dr.'s Visit with Daddy and Off the Charts!

Usually I am lucky enough to have had my mom with me when we go to the dr.'s appointments. This time though, Jimmy was able to take time off of work to come with us. Ella was excited when she woke up in the dr.'s office and saw daddy's face peeking in at her in her stroller.

The visit went well. She is doing everything they would expect her to do at 6 months. She can sit up, she's eating veggies, she stands while holding our hands, grasps things very well, babbles, etc. One thing that isn't so typical is this girl's height! I will share her "stats" below. She also got one shot and one oral at this visit. It seems like we are always doing shots since I have spaced them out to get two at a time but I am happy with that decision so far. She has handled everything very well.

Ella's 6 Months Stats:

Weight - 16 lbs. 14 ozs. - 52nd Percentile

Height - 28 inches - 97th Percentile

(She's going to be patting my head before you know it!)

6 Months!

My little 6 month old ham. I can't believe she is 6 months! She has grown so much. I have enjoyed every second that I have been blessed to spend with her. She is amazing!

Last week with Grandma

Ella's last week with her grandma babysitting was fun and filled with visitors. It just worked out that relatives were in town and also my mom was watching the boys another day so Ella got to spend time with a lot of very fun people.....which includes Grandma too! :0)

My mom and Ella played Beauty Shop!

Grandma and Marty visiting with Ella.

Aunt Loretta from Texas was in town and got to meet our precious angel baby.

Ella loves to spend time with her "boy" cousins.

They are such great babysitter helpers!

Ella also had her Grandpa Jim and Grandma Della visiting from California. I cannot believe I didn't take a single picture of them with her while they were here. I thought of it the morning they left and was so upset at myself about it. Hopefully they will be back soon! She loved visiting with them, they are wonderful!

Teeth and Food

Around 5 1/2 Months Ella's gums really started to bother her. If she put a hard toy in her mouth and it hit her gums just right she would cry in pain for a few seconds. Shortly after, her first tooth came in. It was her bottom left tooth. Then very shortly after that, her second bottom tooth came in and now at 6 1/2 Months, her top tooth is coming in. She only seemed a bit feverish and fussy once or twice through the tooth cutting process (I was expecting much worse). She never gives me a good shot of her pearly whites so this picture is the best I could do. It shows how SOMETHING has to be in her mouth at all times whether it is her hand, foot or a toy!

At 6 Months, I also started feeding Ella vegetables. Sarah showed me how to make it. We've only made one batch so far. We made carrots, sweet potatoes and butternut squash. The squash is her favorite. She ate them well right away but I need to mix a little rice cereal and formula in with the veggies or else it is too much for her baby tastebuds to handle. I think I am going to do some green veggies next.

Straight veggies are a bit too much for her!

Ahh, much better!

Bath Time = Fun Time

Ella still very much loves bath time. She has three toys during bath time: a surf board, a turtle and a mama polar bear with a baby bear on her tummy. She loves all of her toys and she especially loves to look at herself in the mirror while taking a bath. She will splash the mirror and then "kiss" herself in the mirror. It is too cute!

Hair Bows

I have a little obsession with hair bows. For some reason, whenever we go somewhere I have to have a hairbow on Ella and it drives me nuts if I can't find one to match an outfit. Rediculous? Yes! However, I can't stop myself so I just go with it. She seems to not mind (yet) so I am going to take advantage of it while I can.

Toys and TV

This little girl LOVES toys! She can play with toys for a very long time. She likes any kind of toy especially ones that she can fit in her mouth! The good thing about this stage is that the toys stay in one area and it doesn't take me forever to clean them up (I am a bit of a clutter freak and everything has a place and needs to stay in that place). Boy am I in for it when she can run around and scatter her toys across the house! I am just hoping she is as neurotic as me in that sense....ha ha ha.

Sometimes when she is playing the TV will be on Sesame Street or the Disney Channel. She likes Abby Cadabby on Sesame Street (or I like her, either way she's cute) and she gets a kick out of Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse (or she laughs at me because I sing and dance to all of the songs, "Hot Dog!") I don't think the few minutes of TV watching a day she does will do any damage as some may say. The colors are pretty to watch and the songs are great too!

Being this close to the TV may do damage though, geez! She just rolls all around our living room and sometimes ends up in some strange places.

Out and About...

It took a while to get used to it but now being out and about with Ella is much easier. I wanted to post some pictures of places that we have been "out and about" to. Ella is such an easy baby and just kind of goes with the flow. She is very good in the car and usually falls asleep. She does well in her stroller if we go shopping but I think I am ready to try out the floppy seat since she can sit up now. I'll post pictures of that when we try it out...I can't wait!

Ella and Daddy at Sarah's house for dessert egg rolls.

They were yummy!

Travis holding the coolest dude around, Carson, at Macayo's.

Ella sucked on a spoon the whole time, she did pretty good.

Ella and I at Sonoran Heights Spring Auction BBQ. She had a great time and let everybody hold her. It was a bit windy and cold

so her daddy came to pick her up early.

Grandma and Great Grandma took Ella for a shot visit. She only cried for less than a minute and that was it. The day after this shot visit she did get kind of feverish which was a first for her. We ended up giving her Tylenol and she was back to her usual happy Ella-self.

My friend Kristen had a baby! I saw pictures and Baby Gabriel is adorable and perfect! Ella came to her baby shower with me before she had the baby. It was so nice to see Kristen's family since I haven't seen them in a while. She looks so great pregnant!

5 Months

I'm a little late but here it is!

On our Babies R Us shopping trip this past weekend we got Ella a new toy. She is becoming such a big girl that she always seems to want to be standing up. Jimmy really wants to get a walker but I'm just not ready for that. I've heard/read negative comments about them regarding safety, etc. and I'm just probably being an over-reacting new mommy. So, the compromise was instead of a bouncer, we get her this toy. She can push herself in a circle with her feet around the stand up toy. When Jimmy was putting it together when we got home she fell asleep. The next morning when she woke up, I took her out to see Grandma and her eyes caught a glimpse of the toy and then she was locked on! Her eyes got really wide and she couldn't wait to grab a hold of all the toys. Of course, she immediately tested out the ones that can bend and make it in her mouth. So far she is really liking it and it seems to be a toy that will grow with her as she discovers new toys on it and discovers new abilities that she has.

By the way, the hairbow in this picture was made by my friend Lisabeth and her daughter Lauryn. It is so cute on little Ella and I have already thought of outfits to go with it. I'm sure pictures will follow later!

Weekend Fun

Having Ella around has given me a new found appreciation for the weekend. Don't get me wrong, I always enjoyed a day off here and there but before her, I was mostly working on those days off. Now though, I steal every last second I can get with her. Needless to say, we make the most of our weekends and have a ball doing it.

Ella and her friend Carson. She had a fun time playing with his water table outside and watching him play with all of his big boy toys!

Mommy and Ella

Taking a snooze. Tired girl.

Gauge loves to give Ella kisses (when he can sneak one in).

Moqui does NOT like Gauge giving her kisses!

Daddy and Ella

We went shopping for a new toy for Ella at Babies R Us. Ella wanted out of the carseat while we shopped and then Jimmy put her back in. We were almost to the car so we placed her in the carseat for a short walk to the car without being buckled (under a very carefully watching eye as her dad promised me). She thought it was the coolest thing ever. The first picture is of her looking at these kids walking by. It seems like she is saying, "Hey, look what I get to do!"

She had a little bit too much fun breaking the rules! We better watch out.

She threw her pacifier in the car so she settled for her foot again. She loves throwing things now which is oh so fun for us!