Ella's new chair

We got Ella her own chair to sit in because our couch is still high for her and she doesn't know how to safely get down. She was still sitting in her bouncy seat, but she is getting too big for it. I found her this rocking chair for such a good deal and she loves it. Every morning after breakfast she loves to crawl in it with a blanket and stuffed animal and watch some cartoons.
THis is her sitting in the first time the night we got it.


Here is Ella right before bed. She has figuring out the whole saying cheese and smiling thing for pictures. She says it all the time though so I think she just likes to say cheese.


Here she is the next morning with some bed head. She went straight to the chair after breakfast.

Bye Bye Bottles

This is probably terribly unexciting to most of you, but Ella is finally off of the bottle. As her mom I am so proud and relieved. I am such a first time mom and I am constantly worried about certain milestones she should be at. And lately, the fact that she was 15 months and refusing anything but a bottle had me worried. Her doctor had told me a long time ago that 15 months was the cutoff so that date had been looming over me. Fortunately he gave me 3 more months at her last checkup. Over the past several months I have bought probably 10 different sippy cups in hopes that one would work. To my disappointment, not only did she not like them, but as I would show it to her she would try to hit it out of my hands. Those of you who have been around her a lot know what I am talking about. Anyway, I don't know if it was the timing or the newest sippy cup to her collection (thank you Alicia!!!) but all of a sudden she drank out of that cup like a champ. And for all the money I spent on so many cups, the winner was $1.74 at Wal-Mart. Pretty much since that day she wouldn't drink out of a bottle. She is now drinking out of almost all the sippy cups I bought earlier. Yesterday Dustin and I were watching her drink out of a straw and you'd think by our expressions that she just won the Nobel Peace Prize or something. Hilarious!! Last night I packed up all her bottles and our huge storage holder that has been sitting on our counter for the last 15 months and it felt so good. Not to mention my kitchen looks much less cluttered. I was going to post a picture of her with her cup, but Dustin took the camera with him to the Wasatch Back race, so I will have to post one later. I feel a little ridiculous that I can write such a long post about this, and that there is a post period. But these small victories are now a big part of my life as a mom and love them all. I suppose the moral of this story is (and I should heed my own advice here) to enjoy the time with your kids and worry less about when they hit their milestones. My worrying didn't help the situation and Ella has always gotten there in her own time. We'll see if I can follow my own advice...

15 month checkup

Last week Ella had her 15 month check up and she did pretty well. She is not very fond of going to the doctor, but this time she didn't scream quite as much. I was really happy because her weight percentile went up a little bit and he said everything with her looked great.

Her stats were:

weight: 21.4 oz. (28%)
lenght: 31 in. (69%)

Here are some recent pictures of our cute little girl. She is growing and changing very quickly and we are enjoying every minute.

Relaxing with Daddy and watching their favorite show, Curious George.


Playing with bubbles


Asleep on her Grandma Jana after a very busy day.

Tons of Disneyland pics (finally)

Well I am finally getting around to posting pictures from our Disneyland trip. We went with my whole family for 5 days and we all had a blast. We spent every possible minute at both Disneyland and California Adventure. Because we were there from open to close everyday we were able to got on pretty much every ride and some more than once. There were even quite a few rides that the babies could go on, although Ella was not a big fan of them. She was content to watch the swarms of people from her stroller. We got to stay in one of the Disneyland Hotels so we were only a 5 minute walk to the parks and it was really nice. Thanks Mom for such an awesome family trip! Here are a lot of pictures, some are from our camera, and a few are from my sister's and brother's cameras.

The first day started really early, as our flight left around 7:00 am. This was Ella on the shuttle to the airport not quite ready to be awake.

Ella on her first plane ride ever. She actually did really well, and it helped that the flight was pretty empty so we had plenty of room.

Me, Ella, Amy, and my mom on the train ride.

We went to a dinner where all the princesses come to your table. Ella was still a little young for it, but it was fun to watch her meet them. Unfortunately I only got pictures of a couple of the princesses.

Ella with Cinderella.

Ella with Snow White.

My nephew Josh got to be in a Star Wars show. They get trained and then get to fight Darth Vader.

Ella and me with Minnie in Toon Town.

Ella with Daddy and Goofy.

My Mom and me with the boys.

My strong husband.

My very pregnant sister in law Lucy. She did awesome walking all day for 5 days straight.

Ella in the jail.

Us on a Bug's Life ride. Ella wasn't so sure about this ride.

We were on Space Mountain when something went wrong with the ride and the whole thing got shut down. All the lights came on and we had to get escorted out. This was a shot of all that. Fortunately it opened back up later and we were able to go on it twice.

Ella and Riley all cozy one night in the park. These two did great the whole trip.

This is what Ella did each day. She loved sitting forward in the stroller and watching everyone.

Playing in the water with Daddy.

We went to a Pluto breakfast and got to meet a lot more of the characters. By now Ella was used to them and she really loved them. I wish I could have gotten more pictures to show how excited she would get. This is the whole group.

Sam, Alex, and Josh.

Dustin with Goofy.

Ella and Goofy.

More Goofy.

Ella with Belle.

Our little family in California Adventure.

About to go on a really fun ride.

Another family shot. Notice Ella pulling my hat off.

All the grandkids and couple Daddys trying to keep babies happy in our hotel lobby.

Ella on the airplane ride home.

Grandma bought Ella this Winnie the Pooh in the park that she fell in love with. This is her with him the day we got home. She still holds him all the time.

Built Mom Tough

There are two special ladies in my life who deserve some recognition for their blood, sweat and tears caused by motherhood. They've proven that they are tough enough for the job.

To My Wife, Jill

Just over a year ago Ella was born and Jill changed instantly into a mother. The first couple days were really hard. Ella would not breast feed and we were worried about her. We got very little sleep. I found out that I am pretty much a wimp when it comes to sleep deprivation, but Jill did great. It didn't matter what she wanted. It was simply a matter of doing what she knew Ella needed her to do. It's that tough and selfless mom instinct. I have much love and gratitude for her because of this. My daughter who is so precious to me really has a great mom who's smart, trusts her instincts and would do anything for her daughter. Happy Mother's Day, Jill.

To My Mom, Jana

Jill and I like to watch America's Funniest Home Videos. I cringe over an over because of the overwhelmingly strong theme of males doing stupid things. I mean really, how can people do such dumb things that will obviously hurt themselves (and give us all a good laugh). Well, guess what. I have done lots of stuff like that in my day and my Mom had to watch it all and find the balance between giving me freedom and keeping me alive. When I think back on my teenage years, I just hope my kids don't do the stupid stuff I did. And to my Mom I must say thanks, among many other things, for keeping me in one piece so I can keep enjoying life. I promise I'll make it up to you with grandkids and many good times to come. Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

Sick for the first time

Disclaimer: If vomit grosses you out or the the thought of it makes you want to well, vomit, proceed with caution.

This last weekend Ella got sick for what I consider the first time. She has had a cold a few times, but nothing too major. We were on our way up to Park City and we had just barely the house. I was sitting in the backseat with Ella and all of a sudden she started throwing up everywhere. In a matter of seconds everything was covered, but we get back home, pull her out, start washing the carseat cover and Dustin hosed down the plastic part. Ella seemed to be fine after that so we finally take off again, this time in a different carseat and in new clothes. Unfortunately, I was being a stupid mom and gave her some milk. About 10 minutes into our drive Ella throws up again and then immediately falls asleep. I felt so bad for her and panicked so of course I called her doctor. To make a long story a little shorter, we gave her a bath in Park City, and for the next while she seemed to be okay and was keeping food down. She hated the pedialite, but we got a few swallows in her. We had a party that night with Dustin's family and Ella was being her normal self so me being a naiive mom, let her have a little milk. She was exhausted so we left and stopped back at my mom's. While my mom was holding Ella the vomit started again and lasted a good minute. My mom and her whole kitchen were covered. Needless to say it was a long day full of lots of laundry. We are still trying to get the puke smell out of one of carseats' straps. And I felt sick all of Friday from inhaling so many of the fumes. It is a hard smell for your body to forget once it is bombarded with it. Fortuantely Ella didn't throw up again and we just took it easy the rest of the weekend to let her get better. She got to watch a lot of Sesame Street and Curious George (her favorites) since she was sick. Since she didn't feel too well but was exhausted, she was very clingy and spent a lot of time with mommy doing this.



I look asleep in this picture, but I was just looking down. I was so glad that she had fallen asleep at this point that I was afraid to move a muscle. I was of course loving it the whole time though.


Dustin was also sick this weekend with a horrible cough so my mom stopped by to say hi since she was down in Salt Lake. Ella was feeling much better at this point too, just kind of cranky. We were laughing because Ella has figured out how to get her snacks. Here she is getting off the lid.


She can fit her whole arm in the container to reach the crackers.


And finally success! Dustin and I are amazed at how much she watches us and picks up on things.


We have an old laptop that is broken and is headed to the garbage. And since Ella loves computers and is always trying to get to Dustin's when he is on it, he decided to let her go crazy with the broken one. It became a safety hazard very quickly as she started ripping the keys off, but it was fun while it lasted. I think it makes Dustin proud that she loves computers so much. :)

Fun at the park

A few weeks ago we took Ella to the park in our neighborhood. She doesn't really get it yet, but it is fun to watch her explore.



This is what she spends most of her time doing at the park, attempting to eat sand. Unfortunately she has been successful several times.


Here she is in the tunnel with Dustin. She loved looking out the little holes. She would have stayed in there longer, but Dustin was getting cramps being in such a small space.


Dustin took her down one of the slides. She wasn't so sure about it so we only did it one time.


Ella liked the swings much more than the slide. However I didn't last very long because the swings really hurt my hips. Apparently I have gotten much bigger since the last time I have been on the swings. Just another reminder that pretty soon I will be closer to 30 than 20.