4 Month Check Up!

Ella was four months old on December 28th. She had her well baby check up on Tuesday ... She weighed in at 15lbs 13oz and measured 26.3 inches long. She is off the charts for her height and in the 90% for her weight ... Her growth pattern has been consistent since birth and the doctor said she is a healthy little girl. We are truly blessed!

She did receive another round of shots. She seems to be tolerating them well. I took her with me to work yesterday after her appointment in case she was had a rough day. I think she liked being at work ... or at least I liked having her there. I wish she could go with me every day. I have the best picture of her sleeping under my desk.

I thought I would share a few funny Ella moments ...
1)Lets see first of all she decided to roll over about four weeks ago ... she accomplished the task three times within two days and has decided that she no longer needs to roll over and has not done it since!
2)Her new form of communicating is through grunting... Her and her grandpa communicate very well with this language ... as for mom ... I find it to be very annoying ... but incredibly cute!
3)She finds Darin and Dylan to be the most fascinating people in her life. When she sees them she now reaches for them with both arms ... with her mouth wide open for a kiss! She loves them to be silly for her ... They are the only two that can consistently get her to giggle.
4)She has decided that sleeping through the night is overrated and likes to eat again around 4:30am... She has not done this since she was 5 weeks old! Not sure we like this new habit!
5)If she could sleep holding hands with someone she would be in heaven! She gets to come to bed in the morning with me and she has to have one hand on me at all times. When you go into her crib to get her, she immediately grabs your hand as if it is hers and she wants it back.
6)Her eye and hand coordination are improving daily. Andy and I are both amazed at how she can grab objects and actually manipulate them. Very cute.
7)She enjoys being rocked to sleep at night ... she can be dead asleep and the second you lay her down her eyes pop open and she is wide awake ... therefore we are trying to teach her to go to bed while she is semi awake ... so ... last night we went through our bedtime routine which consists of a 'naked' time, bath, book and bottle. After I fed her she fell asleep on my shoulder while trying to get her to burp ... i put her down ... she was wide awake ... so I rubbed her chest for a few minutes, gave her her pacifier and left the room ... She started fussing so I waited about one minute and went back inside ... she immediately stops fussing when she can grab your hand ... so I let her have it for a few minutes and left again ... this time i let her fuss for a few more minutes ... when I went in there this time and she saw me she gave me the biggest smile and had the look on her face like 'ha, ha ... i knew that would work' ... It pretty much melted my heart ... so I picked her up and rocked her! It may take us a few more nights!

New Years 2009 - First Cabin Trip!

We took Ella to the Thompson's cabin at Odell Lake for the first time over the New Years ... We had a wonderful time, she did very well. She was slightly out of her element as her nighttime routine was interrupted by television, card playing and late nights ... which are the best part of the cabin! We enjoyed the company of our closest family friends: Jim, LeAnn, Megan, Ryan, Mark, Jeff, Dee, Josh, Jake and Grace. My mom, dad and sister joined us as well.

The weather was very enjoyable. We had a little snow, rain and sun! Ella stayed warm in her snugly snow outfit. She did not mind wearing it and actually fell asleep during our walk in. Like her mom ... she loved playing cards! She was very interested in the cards and wanting to hold them herself. I love that Ella will get to grow up visiting the cabin. A lot of my childhood (an adult) memories are of our times spent at the cabin!

Ella in the tub.... She liked sitting up! She is use to laying down at home.

Ella playing cards with Dee ... She was quite the little helper!

Ella's First Christmas

We have so much to be thankful for this year. God blessed us with an amazing little girl ... how wonderful that we get to celebrate his birth with her in our life. We spent Christmas Eve at aunt Carol's, with the entire family, plus Stacy's mom, dad and brother. Ella enjoyed all the commotion and opened her first present. She was not 100% sure what to do with it, but she liked the paper and grabbed/ripped it. We convinced my mom, dad and sister to spend the night with us so we could all be together in the morning. We enjoyed a very quiet morning, with presents from Santa and breakfast. Ella got a little hungry in the middle of presents ... so we had to come back later and finish ... Why do I think that will change in the next couple of years! We then had a nice afternoon with just the three of us and later went to my parents for dinner, with the entire family. The Sorenson's joined us later in the evening for a little game playing!

Alyse and I hanging out in the crib at my Grandma's. We are four months old (Ella will be on the 28th).

Playing with all new new toys... I was very spoiled. Especially from everyone in Spokane!

WOW .... Where did the time go?

Sorry for the lack of updates ... I don't know where the time goes! So lets see so much has happened since I updated the last time.

We spent Thanksgiving in Spokane with Andy's family. Ella got to play with her cousins ... and she loved the attention. Once again she did very well traveling.

She will be four months old on Sunday. She has rolled over a couple times from her stomach to back. She smiles all the time and is just starting to understand the concept of laughing. Darin and Dylan are her favorite entertainers. The crazier they are the funnier she thinks it is... A little scary if you ask me! She continues to love her bath. She is actually notorious for falling asleep in the tub. She had her first sleep over with Grandma and Grandpa last weekend. She did very well sleeping ... grandma on the other hand may have been awake all night listening for her! She is constantly grabbing at anything and everything ... and of course everything she manages to grab goes straight into her mouth.

Here are a couple random pictures!

Ella was borrowing Jack's (Jen & Brandon's son) horse!

Hanging out in my crib.

My cousins Halle and Faith

Hanging out in my new Jumping Horse from Aunt Carol and Aunt Jennie

Hanging out in my bouncy ... my aunt Michelle is the best at getting me to smile for pictures.

'Tummy Time'

At Ella's one month check up her doctor said it was a good time to start 'tummy time' ... so I tried ... and she hated it! So at her two month check up, I reported back to her doctor that she really could care less about tummy time and that I was not really forcing the issue. Her doctor said not to worry, her neck and muscle tone looked great ... Therefore, I stopped worrying about not doing it, but nevertheless continued trying. Well it became the standing joke how long it would take her before she started raging when I rolled her over ... Usually it was five seconds tops ... and when I did roll her over she looked like a little limp doll sprawled out on the floor... Well, her BFF Alyse was over on Thursday and showed her how tummy time should work (Alyse rolled over last week!). Alyse laid there, held her head high and seemed so proud of herself...Ella continued to show off her limp doll skills. So yesterday I was playing with her on the floor and had the TV on. She was in a great mood so I thought I would ruin it and roll her over ... it seems our little limp doll does knows how to hold her head high ... that is if there is TV to watch! She must have forgot she was on her stomach because she laid there for several minutes basically staring at the TV... Unfortunately mom and dad have a few rules in the house ... one of them happens to be no TV for the little munchkin!!!

Back to Work!

I knew the inevitable would come ... I had to go back to work last Monday. I am pretty sure going back to work was easier on Ella than me. I did really well Monday - Wednesday ... by the time Thursday was over, I wanted to be done for the week. However, I made it through today (Friday) and I am looking forward to sat and sun more than ever. We have a lot of snuggling to catch up on. On a positive note, I do enjoy my job... so returning was also very positive. Additionally, Andy, Ella and I are very lucky. We have family that watches her while I am working so she is getting a lot of love every day!

Spokane!

Ella, Andy and I visited Spokane two week ago. Andy was planning on flying up for the night by himself for his brothers surprise birthday party. Ella and I decided to join them at the last minute to surprise grandma and grandpa Price with a visit. We arrived on Friday and returned home on Monday. Ella was amazing once again on the airplane both directions. I was a bit nervous for the return flight because I was traveling alone with her. She proved to be a very good traveling companion. I did have to laugh at her ... the flight from Portland to Medford was very bumpy ... she was sitting on my lap holding onto my finger ... every time we hit turbulence she would squeeze my finger a littler tighter!

Ella was able to meet the rest of her family for the first time. Great grandma and grandpa Walker thought she was pretty special... she gave them a lot of smiles and even left great grandma Walker with a little stain on her pants (she had a major blow out!). Abby, Walker, Halle and Faith enjoyed her as well and will be looking forward to 'playing' with her while we visit during Thanksgiving.