Birthday Girl

I love to celebrate birthdays with a one year old.  They are easy to please and they can finally have the cake and ice cream.  We started out Ellie's birthday with a trip to the zoo.  It was her first trip and she loved the animals.  I bought a pass so we can go all summer long. As we did with Annie we took Ellie to Arctic Circle on her first birthday to have a courtesy cone.  She loved it!!!  Then we went to the park and played on swings (one of Ellie's favorite things).  While at the park, we saw a family having a birthday party with their one year old.  They told us that his birthday was also that day.  How fun to find another kid with the same birthday as my child.  We didn't have her birthday party with family until Saturday, but she was willing to wait.  My parents and two of my siblings came and celebrated with Ellie.  She loved all her presents and gracefully ate her cake, I had to keep prodding her to dig into it.  She finally did and made a great mess.  So glad that she has passed this milestone and we are looking forward to her starting to walk.

A Year

One of my friends did this with their daughter and I loved the idea.  

Hope she doesn't care that I took it.  This is Ellie from birth to one year.

Guess who's almost one

  ELLIE'S One Year photo shoot from target.
Once again, loved all the pictures.  Can't believe my little one turns one tomorrow.

Catching up

Since it's almost Ellie's birthday I thought I would do some catching up.  I didn't do an 11 month post, but it's been a busy month.  She is standing up by herself, but is very hesitant to take that first step.  She loves to clap now and any time we say clap, she does it.  Also if we say anything that sounds like clap, she does it (clock, nap, etc.) She also claps when we say yea or good job.  Pretty much she claps all the time.  She is still taking two naps, but sometimes in the morning nap she just talks and plays the whole time.  She is content to stay in her crib, so I don't get her out.  She has eight teeth, the same amount that Annie had at this age.  She doesn't really say any words yet, but she babbles all the time.  She still doesn't have much hair, I hope it grows soon.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone.  We had a great day as a family with new dresses and one Easter egg hunt.  I loved all the lessons in church about Christ.  I know he lives and that he loves each of us.

First Haircut

I didn't know that Annie would be over three before we got her in for her first haircut, but it was finally time.  Her hair was getting thin on the bottom and it wasn't even.  It was hard to think that her newborn hair would be gone, but they did keep it in an envelope for me.  She was so excited and the whole time she said "I am getting my hair cut" over and over.  The woman who cut her hair said it was a nice break from screaming children.  It turned out so cute, I love the way that the hair dresser styled it.  Here are some before, during, and after pictures.

Ellie is 10 months old

Ellie has changed so much in the last month.  She has started crawling and motoring all over the place.  She picks everything up off the floor and it quickly goes into her mouth, it's kind of a trick to keep things away.  She is finally growing some hair, it's coming in slow, but sure.  She has six teeth now and it seems like more are coming.  She stands up next to furniture and one time let go and stood for about 3 seconds.  I think she was as surprized as we were.  She also has started to really fight nursing.  It was a hard decision, but we switched to formula, except for the morning feeding.  I feel less stress, because I know she is drinking enough, and I don't have to fight her about it.  We love her, she brings so much joy to our family.

Sorry the video is sideways