Happy Thanksgiving!

Road trip! We headed for Bryan/College Station Wednesday late morning. Carrie and Maggie rode down with us which made the trip infinitely better for Ella. I don't think she fussed once on the way down or back despite being tired. Either Jeff or I always sit in the backseat with her if we're both in the car, but I guess we're just not as entertaining as Aunt Carrie and Cousin Maggie. This was during our brief stop in Waco for a potty break, leg stretch, snack, and coffee.

Ella and Daddy walking to Uncle John and Aunt Carolyn's house on Thanksgiving. She walked the whole way there from Uncle Steve's house. It was a slow walk, but she loved it and she was so good about holding Jeff's hand the whole time.

My Aunt Carolyn set up a little table just for Ella and Maggie, it was so cute.

Ella and my cousin's dog. She was just Ella's size. Ella had a great time with all the cousins. The weather was perfect for playing outside.

Ella at Cracker Barrel Friday morning. I think her allergies were bothering her again, they seem to get her every time we go down there.

Itsy bitsy spider!

Ella always wants a drink of anything I'm drinking. Saturday morning she was bugging me for my coffee. After I had drank most of it, I let her pretend to take a drink, which mostly consists of her chewing on the side of the cup.

Ella and Kyle at Kyle's first Birthday party on Sunday. Ella is a month older than Kyle, but you'd never guess it looking at them!

We had a great Thanksgiving. As always, Uncle Steve went above and beyond to make us comfortable and keep us full. Thanksgiving day with my extended family was wonderful. We usually only get to see that side once a year, so it's always a little overwhelming to try to catch up with everyone, but it's great to see them all. And of course, the food was delicious too! I'm so glad that Carrie and Maggie were able to go down with us and we got to spend a lot of time with them. Saturday when we got home, we continued the Thanksgiving celebrations with dinner with Jeff's parents and Thomas. Again, the food was yummy and we enjoyed relaxing with the family.

13 months

Ella and Kevin.

Ella and Daddy.

Ella loves sitting in her bumbo still, but she's getting a bit to big for it so we always have to help her get back out.

Ella, Maggie and Roo Dog having a cheerio feast. What a mess!

Big girl!

Hello!

It's been a very busy and kind of stressful week. I'm hoping we'll all get to relax some over Thanksgiving!

Outside!!!

Friday afternoon at the park:

Still not a fan of the swing.

She loves the slide though.

And this little spinning thing.

Ella is definitely an outside kid. She is her happiest when she's playing outside. It can be difficult since the outside isn't baby proofed. I have to be very vigilant to keep dirt, grass, acorns, bugs, etc., out of her mouth. She's better behaved and sleeps better when she gets lots of outside time, so that motivates me to make sure it happens.

Ella in her house. We're almost finished painting it, just a few details left to do.

She likes to push her house around the room from the inside. Since it's made of cardboard, it's light weight and she can easily move it around. She got a little too aggressive about it on this occasion and popped the front open. She was very surprised and pleased with herself.

Ella and Daddy reading. Her attention span is short, but she still loves to look at books and be read to.

Ella got bored with her cabinets and moved on to exploring the tupperware cabinet. She's a fan of the squeeze bottle.

Jeff took this picture of her in the cabinet. It's just so cute, we can't help it!

I think, at least partly, because of the reaction she gets from us, she's taken to "loving" on things. It's so cute and sweet and she always checks to make sure we're watching her.

Another afternoon in the backyard. Grandpa, Grandmo, and Maggie came over to play this afternoon. Ella was thrilled to have guests in her backyard. She was a great host!

Bucket head

Ella and her new bucket.

Ella's new favorite hangout- the backyard.

She's bringing me a handful of dirt from my plants. At least that handful didn't make it into her mouth.

Sweet baby.

Ella loves straws. She's started really getting into trying to figure out how things work together. I think she was trying to figure out how to get water out of my bottle with her straw.

Playing with Mommy's face.

One of these days I'll get tired of taking/posting pictures of Ella in the cabinet, but not today.

Ella introducing her first international friend, Liva.

Ella's tummy...

Ella and Liva playing on Liva's cool little papoose, mat thing. Of course, Ella was very interested in all of Liva's toys and things. Poor Liva didn't know what to thing about Ella. I think she liked her except when Ella screamed or cried and that would make Liva cry.

Ella stealing Liva's toys.

Peek-a-boo!

This was moments before I decided to start painting Ella's house. I'll post after pictures when it's finished.

Ella's naps have gotten a little better this week, but getting her to sleep at night has still been a bit of a struggle. She cut another tooth, tooth number 7, yesterday, so I don't know if that's part of the problem or what. I'm afraid the end of daylight saving time is really going to mess things up, we'll see.

She's been imitating simple actions. She'll blow on her food before she takes a bite, especially if she sees us to it first. She's also been trying to tickle people. It took me a while to figure out that's what she was doing because she does it to my face, but then I saw her trying to tickle Liva and it clicked.

Happy Halloween!

We hosted a Halloween themed dinner club at our house since we were still decorated from Ella's party.

This picture is a miracle. It took about twelve bad pictures to get this one good one. It was a little ridiculous trying to get them all still, not crying, and vaguely looking in the same direction.

This is how most of the pictures came out. Ella was crazy baby by this point in the evening. Avery was melting down and Aubry and Brook were just appalled by the whole thing.

Ella was really into the Trick-or-Treating. Usually when people knock, the dog barks and scares Ella, so we sent LaRoo to Jeff's parent's house. So instead she was running to the door every time and trying to chase after the kids when they left.

She kept peeking out the window to see who was coming and going.

I keep forgetting to post about her 12month check up, so I guess I'll do it here. Her appointment was last Tuesday. I usually call about a month ahead of time to schedule, but I got busy and put it off until about two weeks before this time. So, our normal doctor, Dr. Sweet was booked up almost until December. They offered to schedule us with the Nurse Practitioner and I jumped on it. I've been wanting to meet with her anyway. I like going to NPs and I didn't want our first time to see someone new to be when Ella was sick or something. I hate to say it, but I was pretty disappointed. Bedside-manner wise, it would be hard for anyone to compete with Dr. Sweet. She's just so nice and seems to so genuinely enjoy Ella. I can get over a lack of personality for someone who has a lot of competence, but unfortunately, she didn't impress me in that department either. The nail in the coffin was her horrible advice on breastfeeding. Not only did I find her comments offensive, but just completely incorrect. It's no wonder we have such horrible breastfeeding rates in the country when you have healthcare professionals discouraging and providing false information about it. (Ok, stepping off soapbox...) Needless to say, I will be calling extra early next time to make sure we see Dr. Sweet.

Other than that, the appointment was fine. Ella was 20lbs 3oz, which is 40% and 30in, which is 82%. May she always keep those proportions!

Terrible Ones...?

Saturday night, after Ella went to bed, we cleaned up all the mess from her party. I put all her old toys away and set all her new toys and books out so she would see them first thing when she came out Sunday morning. She usually likes to be held first thing in the morning, but as soon as she saw all her new stuff, she squirmed to get down and took off to investigate.

Still a little sleepy...

The house was her present from Jeff and me. Unfortunately it got delivered, un-assembled, the afternoon of her Birthday, so we didn't have a chance to put it together before her party. That night Randy, Dahlia, and the kiddos came over and Alicia and Dahlia put it together. We still need to paint it, but Ella loves it, especially if there are any cats or other kids in there.

Silly girl!

An empty canister + a spoon = awesome drum set.

Playing in the cabinet.

Ella and Maggie at Nana and Gran's Halloween party.

I thought things would slow down a little once Ella's Birthday was over, but not so much. We were busy, busy this last week and next week is looking the same. I'm not sure if this is related or not, but Ella has been less than pleasant this last week. We settled pretty quickly back into a two nap a day routine, but then all of the sudden, she started fighting nap/bed time like crazy. As soon as I take her in the room and start our pre-nap/bed routine, she starts screaming and crying. She settles down when we sit in the rocking chair and will kind of relax and nurse, but as soon as she's finished and I take her to the bed, she starts fighting again. If I just lay her down, she'll try to get up, so I have to hold her or practically lay on top of her to keep her in bed. That infuriates her and she screams and cries even more. She just keeps squirming and struggling until she wears out and falls asleep, which can be any where from 30 minutes to two hours. Uggghhh! So frustrating. The one good thing I can say is that usually when she's out, she's out (I'm sure that'll put the jinx on that...). I have no idea what's going on with her. I've been reading, reading, reading trying to figure it out, but other than a few little things to try, it seems like it's probably just a phase that will have to pass.

When this first started, I was having a really hard time not losing my patience and my temper with her. I quickly noticed that her day time behavior was deteriorating as well. She's been extra clingy, cranky, and very quick to get frustrated and throw temper tantrums. Monkey see, monkey do, right? All of this was making for a pretty vicious cycle. So, I'm trying really hard to, and mostly succeeding at staying calm during all this and hopefully she'll follow my example for good behavior as well as bad. Although the sleep thing has only gotten a little better, she definitely seems more her usual happy baby self.

In light of all this toddler drama, I decided not to sign up for swim lessons this session. The timing wasn't going to be great and even though the pool is heated, it's still cold. We might sign up again the next session or I might wait until she drops down to one nap a day. We'll see.

Ella has started running, but she only does it once a day, when her Daddy gets home from work. We'll be sitting on the floor playing and I hear the garage door go up, which she doesn't seem to notice. So I'll say "I hear Daddy!" and she perks up and starts looking toward the garage. As soon as she hears Jeff come in the house, she takes off around the couch to meet him at the baby gate. It's so cute and it makes me smile every day.