A Few Pictures and a Video!

Here are a few pictures and a video from the last few days...

Ella's bouncer is really wiping Ella out. I think the cereal is contributing to her slumber. On Saturday night we tried to wake Ella up so she could eat and get some PJ's on. She had already been sleeping for 2 hours. As you can see by the pictures Ella was not having it. She fell back asleep on Mark's leg.

Here are two pictures for Ella's Aunties. Especially Auntie Annie!

Mark made Ella's first mum. In Texas if you are going to homecoming with a boy (and by "going" I mean going to the football game - they don't have dances. lame!) the boy (really the boy's mom) makes the girl a mum and she wears it to the game. The girls make garters for the boys. So, this is extra sweet because one day (I'm hoping we'll be back in MI before this day) Ella will get a mum but her first one will be from her daddy! <3


Ella LOVES her jumper. We love it too. It allows us to play with Ella in a different surrounding and it makes Ella a little more independent in her playing. The springs are starting to loosen and she can reach her toes to the ground. She is starting to jump with out getting too scared. This is a video of Mark blowing in Ella's face. Her reaction is priceless!

And lastly a picture of Ella's favorite part of the jumper. Ella loves to look in the mirror and see how pretty she is...

Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now!

When we were at the Dr. he told us Ella could start eating cereal. I've been pretty excited to let her eat. Sometimes she doesn't seem satisfied by 6oz of formula. I think it's the reason she has been napping so poorly. Today was her first cereal day. I wanted to see how she wold eat it from a spoon. When she was first born we had to put her on formula to help her get rid of her jaundice. The lactation consultant told us to let her drink it from a cup so she wouldn't get nipple confusion. I thought she was crazy but Ella had no problem! After that I thought she would have no problem with the spoon. Apparently I was wrong. She really wasn't having it. We are giving her a little bit of cereal in her bottles now. She seems to enjoy it and she is napping a lot better! This is the video of her first cereal!!

Here are a few pictures. Silly kid couldn't keep her fingers out of her mouth. After she realized it was food she was not happy she couldn't get enough!

Today was also the day Ella got her jumper!! She is so over her gym and screams every time she gets in it. She LOVED the jumper. She is still a little too small for it so we had to put hand towels around her and we put a box under her feet. Here are some pictures... Once again, Ella can't keep her fingers out of her mouth.

My Baby's WHAT?!

This week Ella turned 4 months old. I can't believe 4 months ago she was born. It seems like yesterday. Now she is getting so big and so smart. We went to the Dr. for her 4 month check-up. Elle is 15lbs and 12oz. 25.5 inches long and her head is 14cm. 4 months ago she was 8lbs and 7oz and 21 inches long. How quick they grow!! :)

I have decided to be Ella's photographer. I just don't have the money to get her pictures taken every month and to be honest I think I take better pictures!! All of the following are Ella's "4 Month Pictures".

My little Cowgirl. Tellin her horsey stories



She is SO strong!



Go Blue!



She may have been born in Texas but she has Michigan running through her veins!



Sneakin on Daddy's Guitar (Mark's favorite pics!)







Ella in her "1st Halloween" Sleeper



Punkin Butt!! :)

Here are a few out-takes. She is so darn cute!

Disc Golf and a New Discovery!

On Saturday Mark wanted to play disc golf with his boys. The park where they play is really nice and has a lot of trails. So I hit up Foti and we joined them. Mark LOVES disc golf. Sometimes it's all he talks about. He has been spending a lot of time spray painting his discs with cool designs like Jimi Hendrex, the Star Wars Rebel Alliance logo, Star Wars logo and the Hot Water Music logo. This was his first time using them since the spray painting. Mark said they flew better than they did before! He won. Of course. :) Here are some pictures of his mad skill!

Yesterday Mark and I re-discovered Picasa! It's a web site/photo editing program. It can do so many wonderful things with photos a lot quicker than photoshop. Also, you can upload the pictures to the picasa website and family can download them full-res or get them printed. It is such a great way to share pictures! I'm obsessed. It's actually preventing me from cleaning my house. ugh. Here are some pictures of miss Ella.

My Perfect Baby

We are home starting today. Ella and I have been working at Barnett JH in testing. It's a great opportunity. I am able to bring Ella with me and make some good money. It is just hard on Ella some days. She gets pretty cranky. I can tell people we are having a bad day and they don't see it. Ella is so wonderfully behaved, even on her worst day. We are off for the next 3 weeks until the next test starts. Here are some pictures from the week.

This is how she fell asleep. Holding on to her toy.

My sweet happy baby

Last night I made my favorite dish. MEATLOAF! I make it with cheese-its instead of bread crumbs. I got the idea from my friend Debbie. Once when she was making meatloaf she realized she didn't have breadcrumbs and used what was in her pantry - cheese-its! I also make a yummy sauce to put on it. I use HP sauce and brown sugar. After it cooks for 1hour and 15minutes I put on the sauce and cook it for another 10 minutes so it caramelizes. I could eat it everyday. Ugh. It is so good.

This morning Ella and I slept in until 9:30. I haven't been feeling good lately so it was a nice change. Ella is so much like Mark and I. She loves to sleep and loves to eat. Here is a picture of Ella and Mark getting ready for bed!

Next week is Ella's 4 month check-up and Ella's 4 month birthday!! I can't wait until the Dr. appointment because I am excited to see how much she weighs and how long she is. I think it may be time to starts foods too. Other than the shots she is going to need to have I think it will be a very good appointment!!

Punkin Patch!

Today after our weekly "Owl" outing we went to the Punkin Patch (I am aware I spelled that wrong... "punkin" is just so much more fun!) with Kirsten (aka Foti) and Tess. It was very different from the pumpkin patches and cider mills we all know and love Up North. It was just on the side of the road... with some corn... some pre-picked pumpkins (probably from Up North) and NO CIDER AND DOUGHNUTS! Such a shame... I wish I could have a cider slushy and a cinnamon sugar doughnut right about now. Dang Texas! Anyway, it was Ella's first trip to get pumpkins. We had a really good time and we were really happy Foti and Tess came along!

My amazing family!

Sweet Ella Rose.... my little model baby!

Me and my sweet girl...

Tractor Girls!

She is such a daddy's girl... she can't get enough!

It was pretty hard getting this pic. Ella is still working on sitting up... she kept tipping over!

Ella and Tess...

We are watching the Titans/Colts game right now. Makes me want to visit Nashville and see my Nashville family. I propose a "half way trip". Mark and I will drive half way home and my Michigan family can drive half way to Texas and meet in Nashville!! What do you think Nashville and Michigan fam?! :)

Sleeping in the Crib!

Life has been so busy lately. Ella and I have been going to Barnett a lot to help out with testing. The days are long when you are multi-tasking work & baby in an unfamiliar place. But as I tell Ella, "Daddy makes the doughnuts and Ella and Mommy make the sprinkles!" I am also doing some data entry for the after school program that Mark works with. I was late getting some of the information and everything is needed NOW (of course). It's keeping me very busy. I'm feeling a bit over whelmed but we really need the money. We knew it would be tough at first. It is all part of being a parent!! Here are a few pictures of our Barnett Adventures!

Ella didn't want to leave her favorite toy whale!! He's her best friend. We took him with us! :)

Ella hanging out in her bumbo chair at Barnett. She loves sitting in her chair because she can see everything mommy is doing!

Ella must be teething. Her fingers are ALWAYS in her mouth. Her mouth is too little for the teething rings - her fingers are a perfect size! The other night she put her fingers so far in her mouth she started choking! She couldn't figure out why she was choking so she put them further in her mouth... crazy baby. We helped her figure it out. Ella went about a week without rolling over. I thought she must have forgotten how to do it. Now she won't stay on her back. But she strongly dislikes her being on her belly. Here are a few pictures...

Too cute. She fell asleep like this. Hanging out on her belly is hard work and those "teffers" are coming in strong!
Can't get enough fingers! :)

I just looked at the calendar and Ella will be 4 months in 2 weeks... Last night I packed up all of her NB-3month clothes. It was very depressing... Ella is a lot more fun now then she was when she was first born but I just love her being a wee baby. :( Here are a few pictures of us playing around one night before bed.

Getting some kisses from Nola

I could squeeze her all day!!! I just can get enough!!

Last Monday Mark & I decided it was time to try Ella in her crib. She is starting to get too big for her bassinet and now that she can roll over I was afraid she would try to roll over in her bassinet and get her face too close to the sides. Her first night was a success! She went right to sleep and only woke up at 6am to eat. After she ate I put her right back in the crib and she slept until 8:30. On Tuesday she did the same. On Wednesday night she woke up at 3 and at 6 to eat. I can't remember the last time she woke up like that to eat. I started to think that maybe it was time to start her on cereal (she is due at the Dr. in a few weeks... that's when we'll discuss food). She did the same thing on Thursday night. I started to think this would be our routine until we went to the Dr. Friday night she slept from 10pm until 8:30am. Didn't wake up to eat at all!! She did the same last night. Maybe the double feeding at night was just an adjustment to the crib. I am so proud at how well she is doing. There were a few nights she had a hard time falling asleep but I think it was because she was too tired to fall asleep. I'm not really sure how that works... but that is what happens every time we go to work at Barnett and she doesn't nap very well.

It's pretty interesting going to get Ella in the crib. She is never in the same place I left her. A few nights ago we would hear her screaming. When we went in to check on her - her little legs were caught in between the crib plats. I got a "breathable bumper" from one of my showers and I put in on the crib. It's a bumper pad that is made of mesh so if the baby gets too close to it she can still breathe (Tested by Mommy:) ). This seemed to solve the problem. She moves so much at night that she ends up on the total opposite side... silly silly baby!

Yesterday we went to a friend's baby shower. She is having a baby girl and Ella and I are so excited for Ella to meet her new friend. Mark took a picture of Ella in her dress before we left... I can't believe how big she is getting. God, I love this baby!

Today we are going to a pumpkin patch with our friends. I can't wait! Fall is my favorite season! To put a smile on your face I'll leave you with this video of Ella from last weekend. Her Great-Aunt Suzie got her first giggles going!! How can you not smile at baby giggles?! :)