11-26-11-30 - WOW and WOAH!

Ellie's new favorite words: WOW and WOAH!! Guess she gets that one from me! 

Favorite moments: 6:30AM - she says DADA DADA DADA! Biggest grin ever...yes, that's how she woke up! 

Another favorite: Screaming at the top of her lungs as she banged her spoon around during dinner (a happy scream, not an angry one...) Videos below...

Another favorite: she laughed and laughed and laughed as she watched Clara run around the house like a crazy dog one afternoon. Everytime Clara passed Ellie, she'd giggle again! 

And lastly, we joined our friends Yasmin, Patrick, and their daughter Marissa at Porterville's Christmas parade. We got there nice and early and Ellie enjoyed seeing the crowds of people and some of the Christmas lights around the street. But when the parade started, Ellie was fast asleep! (Of course she was!) We left the parade about halfway through, and as soon as we got to the car, Ellie woke up... So funny :) 

Skill of the week: opening cabinets in the kitchen and pulling out their contents.... the safety locks went on this week... 

 I think she looks like an orphan from Annie... It's a Hard Knock Life For Us.... she's wiping the floor with a shirt from the laundry pile... 

 Playtime!

Christmas Parade! Kinda a neat way to show us... seemed festive? 

Today, Ellie got her flu shot, so while we were in Exeter, we decided to explore around for a little while. We found a flower shop that sold Melissa and Doug toys - and we found this shopping cart - Ellie adored it...too bad it cost $70 (!!!) or I would have thought about getting it for her! This picture reminds me of our shopping experience at Target earlier this week - Ellie no longer likes to sit facing forward...since birth, she's always wanted to see everything around her, and the grocery store is no exception. She kept twisting her body to look behind her, and sometimes she would get so excited about something she saw that she would STAND UP in the shopping cart (or attempt to at least) (!) Kinda scary... I told Jeremiah that I'll wait for him to go grocery shopping now!

Below: The funniest videos yet... 

11-18-11-25 - 10 Months, Ellie's 1st Thanksgiving, 4th Year Anniversary, & Ellie's Dedication

Ellie is now 10 Months Old!!!

Ellie celebrated her first Thanksgiving this year! We traveled back down to Long Beach to celebrate with Ellie's Nana, PopPop, Mimi, Grandpa, Aunt Charlene, and Cousins! Definitely a fun visit!

Ellie also celebrated our fourth year wedding anniversary with us! (Above is a short video clip of the interaction Ellie was having with a perfect stranger who was sitting at the table next to ours during our anniversary dinner - hilarious!) We are going to be traveling to Monterey in December after her Stanford appointment to truly celebrate our four years together, but we had such a wonderful date-week with one another and with our beautiful daughter. It began on Wednesday when we arrived in Long Beach. We traveled around the Long Beach Town Center, ate a yummy lunch, took pictures in front of the beautiful water fountain, played some fun arcade games while carrying Ellie around (she was captivated by the lights in the arcade), shared an icecream cone, and Christmas shopped! Then, we carried our anniversary spirit through the whole week, enjoying our time in Long Beach completely! 

A favorite moment of mine this week was when Ellie tried spaghetti with her new scooped bib. She definitely liked picking up the pasta with the tomato sauce - and the bib definitely caught the dropped pieces, but the most hilarious part to all of us watching her (Nana, PopPop, Jeremiah and I) was that she started to pick up the dropped pieces from the bib's scooped area! Pictures are below...

And lastly, today, Novemebr 25th, Ellie got dedicated to God at Cornerstone Church, the same place that we got married four years ago - pretty special week, huh? :)

 More bonding time with PopPop this week (we've been so fortunate to see my parents every week for the last 4 weeks!!!) This time Ellie also bonded with Sandy and Clara...all on PopPop's lap! 

 What a comfortable way to sleep!   ?

 Ellie got some presents this week for Thanksgiving and for her dedication day - it was her first time seeing bows and ribbons - and she was in perfect awe! 

 She looks like a little porcelain doll! I got her some thick tights to keep her warmer in the cooler weather- I've learned that it's the only way to keep socks on! So of course I had to dress her up! 

 We found a perfect way to keep Ellie safe while we go about the house doing household stuff... just place her in her high chair with some cheerios - and she's clearly happy! 

She  LOVES cheerios! 

 Clara and Ellie were fighting over Clara's toy this week... Ellie hardly touches or looks at her stuffed animals and dolls, but for some reason, she adores all of Clara's toys...

 Above, Ellie was very easily entertained at our Thanksgiving get together - she found the ice chest! The crazy part is that she didn't seem to mind the cold ice AT ALL. 

 And of course everyone wanted to say hello to Ellie...and Ellie definitely didn't mind being the center of attention...not one bit! 

 I couldn't resist putting Ellie in the dog's bed to see what she would do... smart girl - she crawled right out of it! 

 Ellie seems to like her new car seat a lot more than the baby reclining one... car rides have never been too much fun, but the ride down to Long Beach (through all of the LA traffic!!) was a bit better than most - why? - because we had a portable DVD player for Ellie to watch Baby Einstein movies on! AMAZING! As long as she has cheerios to eat while watching the videos, she's good to go! We played the same video over and over and over... Thank goodness the music is all classical... growing those brain cells! 

This picture from our anniversary dinner is soooooooooooo funny - Ellie's face is completely blocked from the olive oil holder! We were at a Greek restaurant that we'd never visited before - GREAT food! 

 

 We visited my friend Nancy and her baby Connor - he is 7 weeks younger than Ellie and weighs about 9 pounds more!!! He is such a beautiful cutie-pie! 

 Right before Ellie's dedication, we took this picture - she was definitely excited...

 She was the best child up there! :) (Have to brag a little!) 

 We miss Cornerstone Church so much!!! 

The next few pictures are a bit out of order - they were taken on Wednesday - our date day in Long Beach... 

 

Jeremiah prepares for the day that Ellie brings a boyfriend home... (if she's not 18)

I LOVE this game - so of course I had to introduce it to Ellie! 

 We don't get to see pretty fountains like this where we live... 

 Ellie is simply amazed! 

And to end this week's blog - we of course had to capture Ellie's first time eating spaghetti - and how she picked the pasta out of her bib...and ate it! 

 

11-10 -11-17 - Bonding time with PopPop!

Favorite moment of this week: Ellie is now completely comfortable in my dad's arms. This made my entire week! 

Below, Ellie shares her excitement about mango...

Well, another week gone by!  We made so many delightful memories this week! We started the week off with a visit down to Long Beach for Veteran's Day weekend. We met my parents out The Outback in Valencia first and enjoyed some dinner before heading to their home. Ellie enjoyed tasting sweet potato while we ate our steak dinners... 

 

 At my parent's home, my mom took out some new toys for Ellie to play with, as seen above! :) 

 Food is so good! 

 And here is the shining moment of the week!! - Taken at Huntington Beach's Bella Terra. 

When we went into Whole Foods, my mom and I were looking for Ellie...and as we glanced toward the entrance, in walks Ellie and PopPop! - she had allowed him to put her into the shopping cart - and I caught a picture just as Ellie spotted me. I LOVE that she and her PopPop are finally having the chance to bond a little! 

 I couldn't resist this picture - Ellie was fascinated by the water faucet in my mom's kitchen sink while getting a bath..

 We purchased this 9-month sleep-n-play for Ellie because it is the exact same one as a 3-month size one that I adored. Sadly, however, it is hard for Ellie to crawl and walk in it because the feet material curl up and trail behind her, causing her to trip. 

 Ellie got a cold this week (Her first one since  the one she had when she was 6 weeks old) - Here she is playing with Boogie Wipes - a wonderfully soft, grape-smelling wipe meant for babies and their runny noses. A necessity for all mommies.  I couldn't get over how happy Ellie was through her cold - it really wasn't too bad, just a runny nose, some sniffles and coughs at night, and then it was gone. I wish I could be so cheerful when I have a cold...

 More bonding time with PopPop! My parents came up this weekend to support the musical production that I directed up here in Porterville). He taught her how to use the remote control for the television - definitely a 21st century baby!

A side note - Ellie sat through my entire musical performance this weekend without a peep!!! (My mom kept feeding her milk and cheerios...!)

 In the middle of another Ellie Speech! She is always so passionate! 

 Mango - yum! 

 Ellie LOVES applesauce! 

And to end this week's blog - another picture with her PopPop - taken today at Lowes! Happy PopPop! Happy Ellie! :)