9 Month Appointment

Ella had her 9 month Dr. appointment this week. She weighs 17lb 11oz (30th percentile), she's 28 inches long (60th percentile), and has a 42cm head (20th percentile). The pediatrician said she's growing like a champ (although down a little on her weight probably because she's moving around so much) and that all looks well.

We went on a walk to the neighborhood park today and Ella swung for the first time. I held her on my lap on the "big kid" swings. She seemed to like it and just relaxed and laid back against me as we swung, probably could have fallen asleep if we swung long enough. It was such a pretty sunny day here! It makes me anxious for spring to be here. It's so nice to see a bit of blue sky to break up the gray cloudy days!

Crawling and Climbing

You can't be a toy in our house unless you taste good too!

Ella figured out how to really crawl last weekend. Since getting the hang of it she's movin all over the place. She'll follow us out of a room and into the next, which has been nice for us - rather than either picking her up and taking her everywhere we go or listening to her complain about us not being right next to her she can move where she wants to go quickly by herself. We better get to baby proofing stat! She isn't getting into things yet, but we think it's the next thing coming! She's really into climing things this week too. She's started to pull up on our couch and coffee table and her toys, not to mention Jason and I as we sit on the floor with her (we're now known as mom and dad the human jungle gyms!).

These photos are of Ella playing with her new playcube that we bought on Craigslist for $10...SUCH a steal, this one is about $75 new. Our $10 version is in great shape and Ella loves it!

Look at this girl playing on her knees! She needs kneepads for those poor little legs.

"I'm so tired I have to lay my head down to play but I must not fall asleep...must keep playing!"

So huggable!

Wanna play?

Bear crawling is the best way to get around!

I see you!

Sweet Pea

Deep in thought....it's hard work being a baby!

Can I please go outside and play?

Christmas Eve at the Martin's

Rockin' by the Christmas Tree in the little rocking chair that used to be mine

We spent Christmas Eve with our Martin side of the family. All of Ella's cousins from that side are home living in Portland again so it was really fun to have all the kids together. It's amazing how having a baby and having kids around at the holidays makes it so much more exciting and special.

All the cousins, Ashley, Emily, Ella, Abby, and Rylan

Santa brought Ella a dolly, her name is Sara and she was pre-loved, she was mine when I was little. I remember the Christmas when Santa brought her to me!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

On Christmas Eve night Ella wore her special jammies that Grandma Lorri gave her just for Christmas Eve. We read her 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by our tree before heading to bed. No cookies for santa were set out this year....(mom & dad were too tired, Ella didn't miss them though) Santa figured it out anyway and spread gifts for Ella's first Christmas all about the city at each our families houses.

Christmas at the Beasley's

Ella with Grandma Teah and Grandpa Scott

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with a white elephant gift exchange with our Beasley side of the family.

Aunt Carrie, Cousin Connor, Ella and Cousin Mason