A weekend full of accomplishments!

Hello! This weekend has been a memorable one! Ella's 2nd tooth debuted on Friday (the 19th) which is excellent news! With two teeth, I felt it was safe to introduce the cheerios. She LOVES the cheerios. She also has started to clap (cute!) and just yesterday morning she sneakily started crawling (forwards this time!) I don't think she realized that she actually crawled at first, she only went forward once. I grabbed the camera & was able to catch the "official" first time crawling when she actually crawled a measurable distance. That was the only time she crawled all day yesterday. And we couldn't convince her to crawl much today at all, but when I was getting her ready for her bath, the stinker crawled right toward the bathroom. It's going to be an adjustment now that she's really going to be on the move!

9 month pictures

So we survived Ella's 9 month photo session last Friday afternoon. I maybe should have rescheduled - Ella had a pretty bad cold & wasn't in the best of moods - however, because I kept forgetting to call to book her session, it was Friday or the end of the month! So Friday it was! :) She did pretty well and we got a few good shots (she was pretty happy in some of the outfits!), but next time I'll plan ahead a little more (hopefully!)

You can check out some of the pictures at www.nicolereyesphotography.com/albums Ella is starting to resemble myself as a baby, which I noticed in a few of the pictures. Kind of fun!

9 Months

Ella had her 9 month well visit today! She weighed in at 19 lbs. 1 oz. and is 29 1/2 inches long. She's growing right on track! She wasn't very happy to be there though. She's still having stranger anxiety and as soon as the nurse came in to give Ella her shots, she started to cry. Someday we'll be over the stranger anxiety (I hope!). Anyway, she had the 3 shots, cried it out and then took a bottle & fell asleep! I can't believe that Ella is just 3 months shy of being ONE YEAR OLD! Where does the time go? I love to watch her explore & learn new things, but sometimes I miss those early newborn days (weird!) But, I wouldn't trade any of our experiences for anything. And believe me, there have been PLENTY!

We stopped giving Ella the reflux medicine this week - she was having some really tough nights with gas, and we couldn't figure out why, so I stopped the medicine to see if that would help. I think that was the issue. In talking with the dr. today, she thinks that Ella may have outgrown the reflux now, and she said that because Ella is sitting up more now, that helps in the "cure" for reflux. We'll see....I hope we can stop the medicine for good!

We haven't taken Ella's official 9 months photos yet (shoot!) but last night we were reading a new book (thanks Grandma Jolyn) and Ella thought it was hysterical. A baby's laugh is so cute! (FYI: we read the book probably 3-4 times before Jay & I realized that we should record this moment). By this time, I think Ella was starting to get a little annoyed because she was tired...

Photos!

Ella is obsessed with paper!

Caught in the act of trying to crawl backwards!

The first tooth has arrived!

Guess who has their first tooth?!?!? ELLA! I got home from work yesterday & I checked (like I do everyday) and felt something scratchy....checked again....pulled Ella's lip down/around/over a few times so I could see - and there it was! A glorious nubby tooth. :) I'm so proud! I was getting a bit worried that maybe there weren't any teeth in there since she's been teething for months now. Everyone's betting that her teeth are all going to start coming in around the same time now. Time will tell....

Ella's newest skill: crawling backwards! She hasn't figured out how to move forward on all fours yet, but she's got it down moving backwards. It's pretty funny. She mostly rolls still to get where she wants to go, but I think very soon we will be chasing after her crawling around the house.

I've got some pictures to post - hopefully tomorrow.

Valentine's Day has come & gone, but I hope everyone took some time out of the day to spend it with their sweeties! Jay & I spent our first night away from Ella bean. I think we were both a little apprehensive just because we weren't sure how Ella would be through the night, etc. but it went pretty great. Aunt Annie and Lily spent the afternoon & night with Ella. I think Ella was a bit afraid of Lily because she cried a lot & didn't want to be put down to play, but otherwise Annie said it went fine.

Next week: Ella will be 9 months old on 3/2 (Tuesday) - Wowsers. 9 month checkup on 3/5 (Friday). Stay tuned for some updated stats.

Some smiles

It's been a while

So where did the month of January go?!? Wow. Things have been going well & we're having fun watching Ella play with new toys & explore (a/k/a shove in her mouth) everything in sight. No teeth yet, but maybe soon?!!? It's hard to say. She's been teething for about 2 months now I think. Gotta get some teeth sooner or later. Her first word is officially momma. :) She still blabbles quite a bit, but that's the only word so far! So much to look forward to in the next few months with her! She'll be 8 months on Tuesday!