Christmas Pictures

That's Gonga she's holding. He's been in our family since I was a kid. Thanks, Gama and Papa for bringing him to Ella Kate so he can live on.

Yes, her name is on her bootie!

"Helping" mommy wrap some presents

Posing with our new Santa hat from Aunt Mel.

Knew that hat wouldn't last!

Our photographer, aka Chris. This is actually a self portrait reflected off a Christmas ornament on the tree.

I love this shot of her looking out the window at Lacey in the back yard.

"What? You don't like chewing on these things, too?"

Just chillin' in the doggies room (aka the utility room). She likes crawling over their beds and splashing in their water bowl.

She loves scooting all over the house with her horse and the baby doll who always rides in the basket. Thanks, Holly and Heather, for such great birthday gifts! She definitely knows the button to make the horse "neigh" and pushes it A LOT!

Ok, ok, yes, I know I've been a blogging slacker lately. I have a lot of catching up to do, so I'll have to do it in separate posts.

First set of pictures are from Chris' 15 year high school reunion. Yes, the Franklin High School graduating class of 1993 managed to have a reunion where more than ten people showed up!

This second bunch of pictures are from two trips to the little playground at the mall. This was the first real time that she got to "play" at a public playground, mostly b/c it was the first week she was really getting good at that whole walking thing. She's a pro now, though! She also thinks she'll be a gymnast or perhaps a trapeze artist in the circus! She's a wild woman: fearless, inquisitive, and rambunctious! She wears us out, but we enjoy every moment of it. She totally makes us laugh and we are constantly calling to each other to come see what new wonderful thing she's discovered.

Funny mirror

Big goofy car and another kid

Very excited about her "salad bar"

Perfecting her walking with the hairbrush and snacks in hand

On her favorite ride of all, Daddy's shoulders!

Ella Kate's One Year Update

As amazing as it seems, she's been with us for a whole year now, and what a year it's been. I can not believe how far we've come in just 12 months. It's true that you forget all those painful moments (L&D) and the sleepless nights. When we remind ourselves of where we were this time in '07 it just makes us cringe! I am proud of us for having survived the first year as new parents and everyone still has all limbs and hair in tact AND we even remembered to feed the dogs!

Ella Kate had her 1 year check up today, so I thought I'd do a post on her development thus far.

First off, her stats, and as a disclaimer, yes, she's small, but the doc says she's right on track in her growth curve. Where did we get a shortie from? Who knows? Maybe she'll be an Olympic gymnast!

• Weight: 19.8 lbs-- 23%
• Height: 28 1/4 in-- 17%
• Head circumference: 44.9 cm-- 39%
• She's got two teeth on the bottom and 4 more coming in on the top.
• She's walking like crazy, with only a little bit of crawling when she really wants to get somewhere fast.
• She's babbling, in her own language, and says "mama," "dada," and "bop-bop" (which means dog). She signs for food and milk, but not really consistently. She blows kisses and waves hello and goodbye.
• She found her belly button last week and is fascinated with it and giggles when we show her ours.
• She laughs all the time and dances, too. She got a Sesame Street toy for her birthday that has Cookie Monster singing "C is for cookie, and cookies are for me. Yum yum yum yum!" She loves to push that button and dance to Cookie Monster.
• She stacks blocks and bowls and loves to put small objects inside bigger ones. The fun toy that looks like something from a Dr. Seuss book from Aunt Amy-Chris is a favorite b/c when she rolls a ball down the chute it makes a cool sound. So she tries to put all of her toys down the chute, even if they don't fit!
• At school she's a great eater-- they say she's the smallest but eats the most. She's in a phase where everything has to be finger foods and turns her head at anything on a spoon (except yogurt and applesauce). She tries to use utensils, but it's a very messy and pretty futile process.
• She has allergies, like her mama, and is on Singulair which has been a life saver in the congestion department!
• Every night we have a routine with the menthol rub, the menthol fan, the humidifier, the sound machine, the space heater, and the night-night frog that plays lullabies-whew, we need a check list!
• And last, although I'm ashamed to admit that I'm one of those moms, EK was chosen to be a model for Euro Kids Boutique. I'll post more on that as it progresses.

Ella Kate's First Birthday Party

Ella Kate had a great time at her party and so did everyone else. She was joined by a total of 45 people- 30 adults and 15 kids- at our house to celebrate her first amazing year. The weather was perfect in the 70's with clear skies and just a little bit of wind to toss the balloons around. The kids ran all over the house from the play room watching Happy Feet, to the dining room with the food, to the patio where the drinks and dogs were located. It was a wonderful day! Ella Kate was in perfect spirits the whole day. She even sat through two rounds of "Happy Birthday" so that I could get it on video. This video is so perfect and precious it just makes me smile every time I watch it (and yes, we've watched it over and over!). She also made it through three wardrobe changes and I guess the icing gave her an energy burst to keep it going through the opening of all of her presents. She loves the crowd and hams it up for any attention, oh what we have to look forward to!

Happy Birthday, Ella Kate!

And She's Off!!!

You ever hear about those kids who took their first step on their first birthday? Well now you can add Ella Kate to that list! We actually had to go out tonight and as we were getting her all set up with Kristine, our wonderful sitter, we set her on the ground and said, "show Kristine how you can almost walk!" So, we put her down and without hesitation, she just walked over to Kristine! It was great! Then she walked to Chris and then to me. When we got home Kristine said she walked all over the house. How Fun!!

Wow, what a Sunday!

Today was a really busy Sunday. First off, I have to say "Geaux Dawgs!" regarding our win over LSU yesterday, "Roll Tide" on their win over the Vols, and "Bummer to Buckeyes" on their loss over Penn. If you'd like to discuss NCAA football potential National Championship scenerios please contact me directly! ANYWAY......

This morning we woke up to a much happier baby, antibiotics are a many splendored thing! We are in the process of clearing up an ear infection and a bunch of congestion. So far things are looking good for Ella Kate's first birthday party scheduled for next Sunday.

First stop, well actually the second stop, was at West Park Baptist Church for Bree's dedication ceremony. It was our second stop b/c we accidentally went to the wrong church, Park West Church (see the confusion in the names!)-- we even got so far as to register EK at their nursery before we realized we were at the wrong place!

After the ceremony we went to lunch for a reception for Miss Bree. She got some lovely gifts and memories to last forever!

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St. Mark's Methodist Fall Festival

After a quick nap and dinner we dressed up Ella Kate, aka Tinkerbell, and headed over to our church for the Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat. We threw together this decoration for our trunk quickly, so I say it looks pretty darn good for work done on the fly!

Tinkerbell even won an award in the costume contest, she was named the "sweetest," and we wholeheartedly agree :)

Here's the whole shot of St. Mark's kids (and a couple of moms). Notice Pastor Batman in the back next to Tinkerbell and me. What a great group we have!