DADA!!

Today Ella brought a huge smile to Dennis' face with finally saying, "DADA"!! It is only fitting that she finallys said it since she is truly a "dada's girl"!

Well it has been a while since I last posted. I can not believe my little baby is 8 months old now! Ella has grown so much and continues to amaze us. As you can see from the weekly photos I just finished posting, Ella is beginning to make it more difficult to snap those photos. She likes to grab at the paper and eat it! Ella has also been rolling all over the place. She hasn't yet crawled, she tries but slides backwards!

We just celebrated Ella's first Christmas. She was so funny! When we brought her downstairs and sat her in front of the tree, she bean opening gifts right away. As if she was a veteran at gift opening! She enjoyed having her Grammy and Grampy down with us for a few days before Christmas and she was sad to see them leave on Christmas morning. It has been great spending my vacation home with Ella, I will be very sad when Tuesday comes and I have to go back to work.

Ella's first word was, "mom/momma". I must admit that this melts m heart. She probably began saying it a month ago. Sometimes it even sounds like she is saying, "hi momma". We are working on getting her to say, "dada". Ella is also slowly beginning to give high 5's.

2011 has been an amazing year. I look forward to what 2012 and Ella will bring to our family.

Happy New Year.

It's been a while!

sneak peak

I am awaiting the arrival of the disk of Ella's six month photo session. From what I have seen, they came out wonderful!

28 weeks

Ella continues to mature into a little girl! She has been doing things much more deliberately this passed week. We spent about 15 minutes yesterday copying each other tapping at her highchair. She would tap 3 or 4 or 5 times and then I would copy her. As I tapped she studied what I was doing.

Like all females, Ella is attracted to shiny objects such as jewelry. Today in church she was playing with the charm on my necklace. She is usually rather delicate when she does so. When she looked away, I moved my charm so it was out of her reach. When she came back to play with it, she was pawing all around looking for it. It was quite comical.

Ella continues to do well with her food. So far squash seems to be her favorite. Tonight, I gave her bananas. She seemed unsure about them at first but then she quickly warmed up to them and finished what I had prepared for her. I hope this means that I will not have a picky eater on my hands.

Due to the storm, trick or treating in Dracut was postponed till last night. Ella helped me pass out candy for about an hour before it was her bed time. She was so adorable in her flower costume. She would not allow me to put on the hat that goes with the costume but she had no issue with me putting on a kitty winter had when it began to get cold. She was funny. She was silent when people came up to us but once they began to walk away she would giggle or begin talking!

6 month appointment

On October 26th Ella went for her 6 month appointment. She impressed the nurses with her skills. She was grabbing for everything in site and she was quite the focused little girl! It is great seeing Ella interacting with people. She is a happy little girl. At her appointment she measured 27 1/4 inches long (93rd percentile), 17 lbs 4 oz (34th percentile) and her head was 42 cm (35th percentile). She is growing and learning. It will be interesting to see her stats at her 9 month appointment.

I can do it!

Shortly after Ella's 6 month appointment, she decided to roll over. She still doesn't enjoy being on her tummy so this has been a useful skill for her!

27 weeks

Time sure does fly!!

6 Months

Today we took a trip up to Scarborough, Maine to have Ella's 6 month professional photos shot. We went to the same photographer that did her newborn photos. Let me tell you, Ella did great! Dennis and I were both shocked at how well she sat up for Tracey (the photographer). At home, she sits up for maybe 30 seconds. Well today, she was sitting up for minutes at a time while looking at the camera and every once in a while she would offer a smile. We squeezed in plenty of pictures of Ella in her Christmas dresses as well as a few in her Halloween costume. She does not like to wear hats! I think Tracey got some good pictures, I can't wait to see them.

This week Dennis is on vacation with Ella. I am sure they will have a lot of fun together. At the end of the week we are looking forward to Ella having some quality time with her Grammy and Grampy. I just hope they don't mind Ella waking them up at 6 o'clock and maybe even 3 or 5!

26 weeks!

Delicious!!

I have been putting off giving Ella solids. I really don't want to admit that she is just about 6 months old. It makes me very sad knowing that she is quickly growing up. Today we ended up biting the bullet and introducing Ella to rice cereal. Ella did quite well with the cereal. I believe we will stick with cereal for a little while before beginning with fruits.

25 Weeks

Somehow we lost a week. The previous photos are one week behind!! OOPS! This week Ella has begun doing so much better with sitting up. She probably is able to do so for about 30 seconds, assuming she is in the mood. Before we know it, we won't be able to get her to stay seated!

23 Weeks

It is hard to believe that 23 weeks have gone by so quickly. Ella continues to be a very happy little girl. Her morning smile is priceless and continues to melt my heart every morning. She has become a very grabby little girl. She enjoys yanking on my hair and pulling on Dennis' beard. And let me tell you, Ella has quite the grip. We are convinced she has a tooth coming but it hasn't poked out yet. We can see the white under her upper gum. Her feet continue to be her favorite source of entertainment, besides mom and dad of course! Although, she is beginning to knock over towers we make with her stuffed blocks and she loves spinning around in her ExerSaucer. Ella is still giving us trouble when it comes to rolling over. She just doesn't want to and we are out of ideas to get her to try. We are eager to see what the coming weeks will bring. At the end of the month, we are heading up to Maine to have her 6 month photo's done. Looking forward to that but sad that my precious little baby is growing up so quickly.

22 Weeks

Look what I can do!

We have been working hard with Ella to get her to roll over. With a little bit of help (placing her arms) Ella finally rolled over today. She was fussy while doing it but she was so excited when she finally rolled over. Hopefully, in the upcoming days she will be able to roll over without the assistance.

5 Months!! OH MY!!

I can not believe that our little angel is 5 months old! Time sure does fly. We are so blessed to have such a happy little girl. Fromt he moment Ella wakes up till she goes to bed, she is full of smiles and giggles (usually!). We are amazed at how big Ella is getting. Today, Ella rolled over for the first time!! Dennis was lucky enough to see it but she only did it once and that was enough for her. She is close to sitting up on her own as well. She hardly usues us to balance now. Ella's has quite the little personality showing through now as well. She is also quite the hair and fur puller!! She thinks it is quite funny to pully her mommy's hair and she is also quite intrigued by the cat. Ella takes any opportunity she gets to grab the cat. Luckily, kitty is quite easy going and waits till we undo Ella's grasp.

Ella has many toys to play with. She continues to love her play mat and she has recently begun enjoying the exersaucer. Rattles and balls continue to excite her but who would have guessed that her favorite toy would be her adorable little feet! I can't really blame her, I can't resist them either.

21 Weeks!

20 Weeks OLD

Ella found her toes

Well for a while now, Ella has been loving her feet! She helps out when we are changing her diaper by holding her feet up in the air for us. It is quite cute! At night I feel kind of bad putting her in her footsie pajamas because she won't be able to play with her toes! She loves to grab her toes and she loves when I kiss her feet.