Ella Jewell Price: November 2009

It has been so long that I don't even know where to start! Ella is 15months old. Here is a little recap of the past four and a half months. Enjoy!

August was a very busy month for us. It started with a trip to Spokane to spend some time with Andy's family. Once again Ella was a champ flying. It is def becoming a little more challenging as she is now mobile, and sitting on mom and dads lap is not as fun as 'moving'. The end of the month marked Ella's first birthday. Wow ... can she really be one! Andy's parents drove down for her birthday. We enjoyed Britt together on Friday, then our Company picnic on Saturday and topped off the weekend with a birthday party on Sunday. We invited close family and friends to come celebrate. Ella did wonderful at her party. Her cake was an absolute bust. She was not at all interested in eating it. This does not surprise me ... as she has never been one to devour any type of food, even if it is sweet. Her one month checkup went very well. Her doctor gave her a clean bill of heath and said she looks like one happy little girl. Her stats were as follows - weight 22.3lbs ~ 50% - height 32" ~ 97+%.

Playing in the water at Lake of the Woods - she loved the cold water!

Playing with Grandma Cheryl in Spokane.

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!

September came and went about fast as they can go. Over Labor Day we went to the cabin. Steve, Debbie and Alyse joined us. Andy was unable to join us because he was working ... we missed him ... but Ella very much enjoyed having 'mom' to herself in bed! The cabin was wonderful. We took long walks and even ventured out for a short hike. She loves being in her backpack. Both girls were very good. The following weekend we headed to Gold Beach and stayed at my parents house. My mom and dad, sister, the Sorenson's, Allen (Debbie's dad) and Glenda were all there. The girls loved the beach. It was the first time Ella really got to run and play in the sand. Ella's daycare changed during September. We were blessed with some answered prayers. About 10 months ago the house next to ours sold. This amazing family moved in. We slowly got to know them. They have two wonderful girls who are 14 & 16. Both girls love to watch Ella and actually did so quit often during the summer. It turns out their mother wanted to take on the task of watching Ella and one other little girl. Ella goes next door three days a week. She LOVES it, and so do Andy and I. We feel truly blessed to have them in our life and know that Ella is in wonderful hands during the day getting all the love and attention we would otherwise be giving her. September 30, Andy and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary and it also marked my last day at Moss Adams. Through a sequence of events ... that I truly believe God had a hand in ... I was offered a job by a Company that I have know for several years through my work at Moss Adams. Walking away from Moss Adams and my 'work family' was a very tough decision for me, I had been there for 7+ years. However, it allowed me the best gift ... and that is more time with Ella. My new job includes working for a great family owed Company, it is only three days a week and it is very close to home (only a 9 minute drive).

Breakfast at the cabin with Alyse - Labor Day '09

Hiking with dad - uncle Steve and Alyse - Gold Beach Sept 09

October was a transition month for us. I was able to take two weeks off before starting my new job. What a change for me to stay home and be a full time mom. I wont lie, working is sometimes a lot easier! Ella enjoyed every minute of it. :-) Debbie and I left the girls with their dads for the first time. We flew to Scottsdale AZ for a long girls weekend. The trip was very relaxing and the girls did great at home with their dads. Andy said it was 'easy'... not sure how much of that I believe. :-) Ella loved Halloween. Her and Alyse were cheerleaders. Ella a Duck and Alyse a Cougar. Steve was out of town so Debbie and Alyse came and hung out with us for the night as well as my parents. The first hour of trick or treaters that came to the house really upset Ella. Every time the doorbell would ring she would run to the door with great excitement ... However, she would get so upset every time they left so quickly. She wanted them all the come in and stay for awhile. After about an hour, she was okay with them leaving. Every once in a while we would have to follow them outside, but she knew there would be more so she was okay with it. Very cute and fun to watch as a parent. It is so heartfelt to watch your child experience new things and have such an innocent perspective.

Our little cheerleaders! At least Ella knows what team to root for! Alyse will catch on sooner than later. My little duck!

November is over! Yikes ... we just spent Thanksgiving with my parents and my dads side of the family. Ella was not 100% sure about all the 'strangers' in my parents house at first. She soon warmed up to the idea and enjoyed the house full. Last weekend Alyse had her first sleep over with us. It went great. The girls fight like siblings already! Alyse was an absolute angel and I cant wait to get her again. The rest of the weekend we just hung out and decorated for Christmas. Ella LOVED the decorations. It started with one box at my parents and her excitement was teh same ten boxes later. He favorite 'touchable' toy in our house is her little people nativity scene. We have so much to be thankful for ... and having Ella in our life tops the list.

Ella had so much fun pushing Alyse on the train!

It is the first weekend in December. Ella had a sleepover at my parents while Andy and I attended my Christmas party for work. She enjoys sleeping over. She has been doing it about once a month since she was six months old. She has my parents tricked into thinking she needs to get into bed with them at 3am. Mom and dad figured and cured that one a long time ago! Her new favorite thing at my parents is taking a bath. My mom lets her run around the bathroom naked ... I cannot describe how funny she is but she loves it! Too funny. We spent today Christmas tree hunting with the Sorensons. Ella and Alyse had fun, but they were not 100% sure about how to manuver in all of their snow gear! Steve and Debbie got a very pretty tree and the rest of us just enjoyed hanging out. Good times. The rest of December will be busy for us. We are planning on staying home through Christmas and then we will drive to Spokane and spend a week with Andy's family. I know Ella will enjoy all the time with her cousins.

Playing in a sleigh at Grandma's

I was boxing up some of her old baby stuff. She had so much fun sitting in her infant seat. Makes me sad how big she is getting.

Christmas tree hunting 2009!

This blog is Ella's baby book ... so here are a few fun facts about our little girl!
-We continually teach and use sign language with her. She has mastered - more, all done, thank you, please, eat, milk and help. Sign language has been very fun to use and teach her. It amazes me how fast she can pick it up and use it. We may regret teaching her 'help' though ... because now she will sign for help when she wants a toy that is literally two inches from her!
-Her verbal vocabulary is expanding daily ... yes you still have to use a little bit of imagination while translating ... but she tries very hard! She currently says - mom, dad, bapa, grandma, grandpa, dark, bob, fish, uh oh, ella, alivia, gobble..gobble..gobble, up, down, off, on, hat, hot I love you (translation required :-)). She uses some of the listed words in the correct context and she will use all of them when you ask her to say them. Actually, she will repeat just about anything you ask her to say. Very fun and cute.
-She amazes Andy and I daily with her ability to comprehend what we say. She will do just about anything you ask her to do. She is a great little helper!
-Her two favorite toys right now are Mr. Potato Head and her Noah's Ark animals. She is fascinated with the Mr Potato arms, if she is playing with it ... she always has one or two hands in her hand. She is getting pretty good at building her own potato as well. With a little help she can place the correct parts in the correct place. She knows almost all of the basic animals and loves to bring them to you when you ask for a specific one.
-Ella is not an eater ... I have yet to find anything that she will devour a lot of at one time. She likes her standards, string cheese, grapes, banana, cheerios (with milk). She will eat just about anything ... but it is normally only a couple bites at a time. We are still trying to completely ween her off a bottle. I will admit, she would probably do just fine without it ... but mom enjoys snuggling her still while she drinks it! We had to switch her to Soy Milk, after a long stretch of 'diarea' i finally figured out that it may be the milk causing it. So far so good on the soy.
-Ella has ~ 9 teeth, four top front teeth, 1.5 top molars, two bottom front teeth and one bottom molar. I think she is constantly teething. It does not seem to bother her significantly. We do notice that it will disrupt her sleeping pattern every once in a while. As for sleeping ... she does not get an A+, but we cant really complain. She has done pretty well ever since she was little. She currently goes down around 9 or 9:30 and sleeps routinely until 6:30. At 6:30 she gets in bed with us. Most of the time she will go back to sleep until 8 or so, of course this never happens on the days that I don't work. I do enjoy the snuggle time.
-As for her personality ... all I can say is it makes us laugh continuously. She is def naughty at times and I fear we will have our hands full ... but on the flip side she is very easy to negotiate with!
-She has a small obsession with the Backyadigans! I made the mistake of letting her watch a DVD on the way to the cabin over labor day. Well, now every time we are in the car before I can buckle her in she is signing 'more' and pointing to the DVD player. Additionally, in our house and at my parents if the TV is on and it is not the Backyardigans ... she grabs the remote and brings it to you to turn them on. I guess it is slightly educational ... for weeks she would do this 'sneaking' walk where she would bend over and hunch down while walking and take short little steps ... Andy and I would just laugh ... we finally realized that she was copying the show. So now if you ask her to sneak up on something she does it. Of course if the video camera is on there is not even a chance that she will perform!
-Beware if you are sitting on the floor ... Ella thinks it is the funniest thing to pull up your shirt and tickle your stomach or back. I am sure this did not come from 15months of everyone doing it to her!
-I think Ella is going to permanetly beleive that her Grandma and Grandpa Price live in the computer. We use Skype to talk to them as often as we can. Ella loves seeing them on the computer and will show off for them as if they were sitting here .... However, she does NOT understand why they disapear from the screen or are not on there at all times. She always motions 'where did they go' which consists of her shrugging her head and holding her hands up. Very cute. We are looking forward to seeing them in person over the upcoming holidays.

Well ... I think that sums it up. Ella is an amazing wonderful little girl. Everyday she brings joy to our life. Take care and enjoy the Holidays.