Bye Bye Aunt Kelli

My sister Kelli moved out of state this weekend, so Ella and I went over to see her and say goodbye. Kelli took Ella to her work to show her off to the office, she is so the proud aunt! Then we took Ella out for dinner, and she was very well behaved! Kelli fed her a bottle and we tried to put her down for bed.....







But, 20 minutes later Ella was still awake and not wanting anything to do with bed time. I think she just wanted more Aunt Kelli time so we got her up and played for another 1/2 hour. Ella had so much fun playing and found the strings on Aunt Kelli's shirt especially entertaining. She sucked/chewed on them for close to the entire 1/2 hour she was awake, so needless to say they were soaked and Aunt Kelli had to change.







On Saturday, my parents came over and helped pack up all the stuff and load it into the Uhaul trailer. Aunt Kelli was able to take a break from packing up to play with Ella before we left. Such an adorable picture of them both!



I am going to miss my sister so much I can't even begin to put it into words, but I am so excited for her new opportunities. We are going to learn how to Skype so she and Ella can still see eachother, and we will make sure we visit as much as we can! Good luck Kell, we love you!

9 months

Nine months......I cannot believe it has been nine months since I had Ella. I am experiencing a mix of emotions about this. I am so excited to watch her learn new things and grow, but I am so sad that she is growing up so fast. I miss my baby girl, but I love this little girl she is becoming.

She has mastered feeding herself finger foods, and is doing good work with the sippy cup. She used the sippy cup as a toy the first few times I gave it to her, but now she is a pro.



She is getting so close to crawling. For the past 3 weeks she has been getting up on her hands and knees, the last 2 weeks she been rocking back and forth, last week she started crawling backwards, but when she moves her hands to go forward she face plants. Gotta give her credit though, she keeps trying! This past weekend she took a few movements forward with her hands and knees before she fell, so we are getting closer by the day!











This is the most recent development, she gets her butt up in the air and walks her feet forward. I love how she is up on those tippy toes!







She is starting to learn so many other things too, like copying mom and dad. She will clap when we do, wave when we do, hit her hand on the table when we do, and when we shake her rattle or bang her rings together she takes it from us and does the same. People don't give babies enough credit, they are so smart! We have her 9 month doctor's appointment next week, and nine month pics as well. Busy week for Miss Ella!!

Ella's first camping trip

Two weekends ago, we took Ella on her first camping trip. My parents bought a new camper and we wanted to try it out. It is actually a house on wheels, it has a bathroom, kitchen with stove and microwave, indoor and outdoor showers, sleeps nine, and has central air. Not really the kind of camping I grew up with, but a great way to ease into camping with an infant. Plus, it was one of the hottest weekends of the summer so the air conditioning was wonderful. Ella had a great time, she loved spending time outside and being with grandma and grandpa. The campground had a pool so she got to go swimming too!

Ella spent a lot of time chillin with grandpa and grandma. She was so content to sit on grandpa or grandma's lap and look around.





Brandon started a fire to cook lunch, and Ella was so mesmorized by the fire that she turned her head wherever we were so she could see the fire. When she first caught sight of it, she was sitting with grandma, and kept peeking around her to see it.



Eventually we moved closer to the fire, even though it was 90 degrees out, and took some pictures by the fire.





Ella hung out with dad and grandpa for most of the afternoon, staring at the fire. It was a nice break for me and gave me a chance to catch up with my mom.



Brandon has been traveling a lot for work the past month, so Ella got some quality daddy time. We got to use the bjorn, for only the second time ever, and took Ella for a walk. Brandon looks pretty excited doesn't he?



The humidty disappeared on Sunday and it was a bit chilly in the morning. It was nice to feel a little chilly though after all the heat and humidty that we had the week before.



And although I think she was sad to be headed home, she sure looked happy in her car seat!



So, Ella's first camping trip was a success! I am hoping we can take her one more time with my parents this year before it gets too cold. Maybe next year Brandon and I will be brave enough to take her tent camping like we did before we had her. We shall see!!

Road Trip

A few weekends ago, me, Brandon, Ella, and my parents headed out of town to visit extended family. My cousin Tara and her husband and kids had flown into Rockford for a visit, so we made the trek there to see everyone. We almost weren't able to go because Ella got the flu Thursday of that week. It was her first illness, and it was a rough one. She couldn't keep anything down, and was of course starving, plus Brandon was on the road for work so it was just her and I. She recovered by Friday night so we were able to still make the trip.

It is the longest Ella has been in the car (about 3.5 hours) and she did great! She napped for about an hour each way, but mostly sat in back with my mom and I and played, babbled, and smiled. She had fun kicking her leg up in the air, as you can see....



Once we got down there, she got to see both Great Grandma's. Great Grandma Bliven let her chew on a box of Raisin Bran, which I think was Ella's favorite part of the weekend!





She got to meet her 2nd cousins, or 2nd cousins once removed....no idea how that all works, but they are my cousin Tara's kids Kinsale and Callon. It was tough to get all of them looking at the camera at the same time, but we did our best.




She got to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa.




And she loved playing with Great Grandma's dog, Ellie. She was absolutely in love with Ellie. Ella and Ellie....people were getting confused!

Is it August already??

It is August, already. Which means, summer is flying by and my baby girl is 8 months old! It has been a few weeks since the last post, so hunker down for a long one!

Ella is so much fun right now, super talkative and smiley, and she giggles on her own now (usually at nothing, but she seems to think nothing is funny). She is finally getting better with rolling back onto her back when in her crib, so bedtime is much less frustrating for us! She is getting very good an motoring backwards and in a circle when on her belly, and I have seen her try to get those knees under her. Crawling can't be too far away, so we need to do some major adjustments to the house!! I am gonna have to clean the floors daily, good times for me!

She has cut back to 2 naps a day, but is still sleeping 10-12 hours a night (hurray). She is doing really well with solid foods, and she loves veggies. We have recently introduced the "meat dishes" from Gerber, and she seems to love those as well. The only thing we can't get her to eat is peaches. I don't blame her, they smell awful!

Ella has found some new favorite sleep positions now, so it is always fun to guess what we are gonna see when we go in to check on her....

There is the curled up side sleep,




The sprawled out side sleep,




And the belly sleep, which is becoming more frequent and a fast favorite.




But usually, when we go in, we find her like this....smiling away happy as can be.





We have done some more swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house, she is a little fish, she loves the water! I am in love with her pink little hat, how cute is that thing??





She was not a huge fan of the intertube though, so we haven't had much practice floating yet. She looks pretty good in it though!



And of course here are some other random pictures of Ella. She is getting so good at sitting, no need for me to hover anymore, she is determined to stay upright!






We are headed to see family this weekend, so should be some new fun family pics for the next post!!