Year Portrait Favorites

I'll break these up into a couple of posts because I have too many favorites and it would be picture overload!

I took her to Kachoo for her year portraits--in Greenville.  Rachael, the photographer, is fantastic--so sweet and soft spoken and that personality jives well with Ellie.  She really took to her and cooperated during the pictures.  

I have had her pictures taken monthly this first year--it has been a bit of a pain to make the effort every month to get her to a studio, choose an outfit, perform a dog and pony show to get her smile, etc--but I'm so glad that we chose to do it now.  I have loved using different photographers and watching Ellie evolve from a tiny newborn to a growing baby and now a soon to be toddler!

that smile?  she could get away with just about anything around here!

Ellie is 12 months!

We will stick with 12 months instead of a year...doesn't sound quite as "big girl"! These pictures have nearly become impossible--she loves her pink elephant's trunk and kisses/bites/pinches it whenever I pull it out for the chair pictures.

 At 12 months...

Ellie is officially into everything!  It is exhausting--we have much baby proofing to do.  Things I didn't think would be a problem, are.  She loves to play with anything that isn't one of her toys.  Example?  Right now she is playing with the desk chair and my sewing basket.  We know it's just going to get worse when she's walking!

Favorite "toys":  water bottles; yogurt cups; my coffee lids

 We go to the doctor for her 12 month visit next Wednesday so I'll update her stats then.  I'm estimating 17 1/2 pounds...and maybe 28". 

Clothes: 6 and 9 month clothes

PJ's: 9 months

Diapers: size 3

 Her schedule is:

7/7:30--wake up and bottle (hope to drop the bottles next week!)

8:30--breakfast

9--nap (lasts anywhere from 1-2 hours)

11--snack

12:30--lunch

1:30--nap (lasting 1-2 hours)

3:30--snack

6--dinner

7--bath/bottle/bed

 Ellie is pulling up and cruising everything!  She crawls from one piece of furniture to another--pulling up and cruising it--then moves on to another one.  SO busy.

Her bookshelf is one of her favorite pieces of furniture and she loves pulling her books down and turning the pages.  Luckily she doesn't chew or destroy them (yet).

 l

 She has a walker that she is figuring out...she is learning that she needs to step as she pushes it so that it doesn't fly out from under her.  Her balance is improving and while I don't think we're going to walk tomorrow or next week, we're probably not too far from her doing it.

She constantly sports a huge cheesy grin that shows her bottom two teeth.  So cute.  Josh tells her it ain't easy being cheesy :)

 She continues to be a terrible rider in the car.  She is still in her infant seat and fits fine in it but we are going to switch to the Britax soon to see if it helps her car riding.  Now that summer is here, she will be in the car much more with trips to the beach and to Lexington so w're going to exhaust all creative measures to make those trips as enjoyable as possible!

She now has three top teeth with the fourth looming to break through.  We have depended on Tylenol lots the past couple of weeks and it's worked very well.

She also still loves peek a boo--plays it with anything, anyone, and everything...she also loves to think someone is coming to "get her"...she giggles and hurls her body into whoever is closer to hide.  She also peeks around corners or from behind furniture.

 Josh taught her how to "talk" into a cup to hear her echo and she loves that new trick.

She rubs her blankie or lovie on her face to go to sleep.  We bought her some Aden and Anais blankies and she loves the satin around the edge--and of course, she is still very fond of her Angel Dear lovies.

Ellie is a bit of a social butterfly and loves to watch and observe other babies/young children.  Baby Hugh is her bestie in the church nursery--she thinks he is hilarious and will giggle and giggle at him.  She doesn't mind the nursery, however will cry when she is tired or when other babies cry.  In fact she  pinched me the other day and I pretend cried and she just burst into tears--it broke her heart.

 Eating is still a daily battle that we're working on.  I don't think she'll ever be a big eater, but we do need to get past 3 or 4 bites of every meal and being done.  

We introduced whole milk in her straw cup last week and she hates it.  A couple of friends suggested that I warm the milk before I give it to her--I was hopeful--but it was a bust as well.

Favorite foods: lemons, oranges, goldfish

Favorite drink: juice or tea

I'm pretty much only offering her milk now but yesterday I let her have some juice and she slurped down an entire straw cup in record time.  I caved because she was eating a granola bar and who likes to get one of those without something to drink?  and she sure wasn't taking me up on my milk offer.

 Some new discoveries this month:

smacking her lips

shaking a toy/rattle when we say "shake, shake, shake"

some new words:  dada, gee gee, bye bye, hey (with a wave)

clapping

Ellie, we love watching you grow!  You are a delight and the joy in our hearts.  This year has without a doubt been a huge adjustment to our carefree, no responsibility life--but we wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.  We went from constant stress and worry from being pregnant with you to constant laughter and fun and we praise God that you are a perfect, happy, healthy little girl.  You are an answer to prayer that we treasure daily!  Your daddy and I love you so much!

Ellie the Elephant's First Birthday Party!

It's hard to believe but we celebrated Ellie's first birthday on Saturday!  I was worried that with her birthday falling on Memorial Day weekend that a lot of friends would be out of town but we had lots of special people here to celebrate the big ONE!

 We had to wake up the birthday girl and quickly get her dressed as her guests were arriving!  She was grumpy until we walked down the stairs and she saw lots of fun people to play with.

 the cake for guests to eat (above) and the cake for her to crash (below)

 We decided to keep the dessert table inside as the heat would have more than likely melted them in 10 minutes outside!

 Squint and you will see Ellie's month by month "chair" pictures on the banner.  Crazy how she has changed so much in 12 short months.

 Ellie's sweet bib 

 and invitation and her party hat!

 Cookie favors for the adults and older kiddos/bubbles for the babies/and crayon rolls for the toddlers

 Yep!  Ellie is 1!

 My favorite part of the party?  Seeing her interact with the "big girls".  She loved them.  They kept her entertained and happy for the full 2 hours.  Here she is cheesin' at precious Carson!

 and sweet Addie Kate loves hugging and kissing "Baby Ellie"!

 and Cooper below--one of the smiliest babies I've ever met!  :)

 I had to include this pictures--I think AK takes care of her bow for her every time we see her!  She always makes sure its secure and in place.  a girl after my own heart.

 Do you know how difficult it is to get multiple children to look at the camera at the same time?  

It's impossible.  but it sure is sweet regardless--Hayden (not happy that his mommy took him away from balloon bouncing), Henry and Ellie!

 another really happy baby!  Grant!

 Carson modeling her birthday hat for me! 

she was really unsure what to think about the whole cake thing...she's not a big eater, regardless of what is offered to her, so the cake "smash" was more of a cake "dent"

 a bit of prodding from her daddy did help to take a bite or two

 I hate I missed a picture of Hannah and Ellie--Hannah is one of the best, most content babies I have come across!  So sweet!  We can't wait to celebrate her big day in a couple of months!

 Durham giggled the whole time she was here...she thought Addie Kate was hilarious!

 Does it get any sweeter than 3 girls playing together?  Ellie was smitten by them.

 Mrs. Denise and Cailin--Ellie loves them too

 We asked for no gifts but the grandparents and a couple of friends did surprise her with a couple of things so we opened those after the party.  Below Ellie is sitting in her first Clemson tailgating chair.  Adorable!

 and she has a shiny new wagon for walks and the beach!  I didn't really think she would "get" the present opening thing but she definitely did and got so excited when a new present was given to her.  It didn't matter if it was a card or the present itself--she giggled with delight and wiggled her arms!  

We are so thankful and blessed to have so many people who love Ellie and that were able to come share her special day with her!  Thank you for loving our baby girl just as much as we do--Josh and I give thanks for you daily.

Church Pictures

Ellie was actually in a somewhat good mood when we got home from church last week--so we were able to take some quick pictures before we changed for the day!

Ellie bug, could I love you anymore?