She walks! I love Kevin’s face in this one… Ella had just fallen.

Want to see?

And if you need a little Jameson fix, he will sing you to sleep.

On Valentine’s Day, Kevin came in the kitchen with Ella and said, “Hey, watch this.” He set Ella down, and she took off. It surprised me. She has taken steps here and there, but that night, she took off. Here she is on the 15th, contemplating showing off. I tried to bribe her with Cherrios. Maybe if I had had a cupcake or something.

Almost.

It’s official… We have a walker. Yesterday, Kevin and I were trying to get Ella to walk back and forth. She finally did it. It wasn’t steps like she was trying to catch herself on the way down, but actual steps toward each of us. Here’s our proof…

(It’s hard to record and catch her at the same time. I apologize for the not good video.)

So there you have it. We have a walker. Now she just needs to practice. She can still get places lots faster by crawling, so this is the preferred method. Won’t be long.

Where has the time gone? Ella is now eleven months old. Crazy, huh? We celebrated today by going to the park. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. There was not a cloud in the sky, and you could actually feel the sunshine.  I put both kids in the stroller, we met with friends, and walked to the park. Ok, I really didn’t remember about her 11 month mark until tonight when I started updating our blog. But we did go to the park.

Jameson and “A” had a blast. We had some friends that interned  here for the summer, but then had to go back to BYU to finish up school. They moved back in January, and live just a few blocks away…  and up one hill. It’s not too bad of a walk. So they came with us to the park.

(In the summer, these whales squirt water.) “A” and Jameson ran all over the park together. The went on every slide and climbed every rock. So I guess it’s only appropriate this picture looks like an engagement picture. Sorry “K,” Jameson might be cheating on you.

Man, that’s one big rock! Oh, and the one they’re sitting on is big, too.

They continued to take over the park…

Check out that BLUE sky! And guess what was even better? We could feel the warmth of the sun. Finally! These two took one last trek up the back of the whale, then it was time to go.

Meanwhile, the babies hung out and ate crackers and pretzels. Ella was so happy to be outside.

Can you believe we are one month away from celebrating a first birthday?

Ella’s milestones so far are:

• She has 2 complete teeth in. The upper right and bottom left. Yes, she looks kind of funny. The other two front teeth have broken through the gums, but have not come fully in.
• She can stand for a few seconds until she realizes nothing is supporting her. Then she gracefully sits down.
• She has learned to climb. I have found her on Jameson’s bed, trying to climb on the nightstand. She also frequently climbs on the small chairs, and bugs Jameson when he falls asleep on the couch. Today I watched her climb from chair to chair, and onto the small table where she looked at me and laughed.
• She has been attached to my side, which is not always fun.
• She spits raspberries in response when you do it.
• She will walk if you hold her hand. Really, she just needs one of your fingers to hold onto.
• If you laugh at all, she laughs. She can’t stand to not be part of something.
• She still takes her baby food, but loves lunch meats, bananas, yogurt, potatoes, and anything anyone else is eating. She especially likes when Jameson leaves his food on his table while Mom takes him to the bathroom. I found her with only a 1/4 of a sandwich left which means she ate 1/4 and was working on the other. It was a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Yup, #1 Mom right here. Honey and peanut butter before age 1.
• She hates being strapped in her carseat, but she is still in her infant carseat. This is only because that is the only way she will sleep if we are out.That is changing soon. Just have to do some washing.
• Ella will pretty much sleep only in her crib.
• As of today, she is 21.5 pounds.
• She loves to bug her brother. Yesterday, I could hear her laughing in the other room while I was making dinner. I look in, and she is standing on the small chair next to the couch. Jameson had fallen asleep (miracle) and she was pulling his hair, pulling his ears, sticking her finger in his ears, etc. He would roll over, and she would laugh. Poor Jameson. But I have to say, he probably deserved it.

We absolutely love this girl. I get stopped every time  I’m out and told how cute she is. She adores her brother, and he tolerates her. If anyone else tries to do anything to her, he comes to her rescue. He loves to point out his baby sister now. Hopefully, next month I will be able to post walking pictures. She loves to be upright, but is not quite steady yet. So, hopefully.

We rang in the new year with colds, and Ella hitting the ten month mark. I realized, looking at our blog, that the last picture I have taken was December 18th. So, Ella and I took a picture before church. We are both on cold medicine, so not the best, but we have a picture.

Ella is one busy girl. She loves her brother. If she wakes up before him, she will crawl to his door and bang on it if I’m not watching. She also loves her daddy. When he walks in from work, she gets so excited and immediately crawls to him. Ella is talking and telling stories all the time. Still no real words yet, though. For the last month, her bottom front teeth have been making slight appearances, and then disappearing. Yesterday, we finally felt the sharpness of teeth. Surprisingly her top right tooth, and bottom left tooth have broken the gum. It will be really funny if she only has these two teeth for a while.

Ella eats anything she can. She is a really good eater, and will still eat most baby foods. She also loves mac n cheese, and potatos and gravy. If you are eating anything, you are her new best friend. She loves to wrestle with Daddy and Jameson. He flips her around, and she laughs. She loves to be upside down, and will sometimes throw herself backwards while playing.

She is getting really steady on her feet. She can surf along the furniture, and will let go of things. She doesn’t trust herself yet, and will slowly sit down if she is not holding on to anything. Ella sleeps about 12-13 hours a night and another 3-4 during the day. She is still on 2 naps which is going to make church a little difficult. We were on the 12:30 schedule before, so her naps were before and after church. Now we are on the 9 am time, and morning are going to be rough until she switches to 1 nap.

Ella knows her name, and our voices. If someone else is holding her and I say something, she looks for me. She is happy most of the time. I am told constantly by others what a happy baby she is. I also get stopped a lot and told how cute or pretty she is. I laugh, because I get stopped almost every time we are out. Sometimes, I am in a hurry, and would rather people not stop me. But how can you resist this girl?

How is it that the 9 months leading up to a birth take an incredibly long time, but the 9 months after fly by? Ella has hit the 9 month mark.

We absolutely adore this girl. Every night Kevin walks in from work, and says, “Why is she so cute? How’d we get so lucky with suck cute kids?” I have to agree, except I will add that they have pretty cool parents. Want to see more of her cuteness? Or how her belly hangs over her pants?

In the last month, this girl has developed so many skills. She now surfs along the couch, and other furniture. Pulls herself up to everything, including using your pants to pull herself up while you’re cooking. She loves to climb. She is a difficult child to hold, because she will “climb” your body. She has gotten really fast at crawling, and tries to get to wherever Jameson is. She is starting to feed herself, and eat soft solid foods. Ella loves to sing along in church, and gets so excited when the organ starts. Jameson loves his sister now, and shows it. Yesterday, he stole 2 oreos from the cupboard. Ella was playing in his room. I went in to find her, called her name, and when she turned around I got a surprise. There was oreo everywhere! When I asked Jameson if he shared his cookies, he proudly responded, “Yes! I share with baby sister!” Lately, I have been finding numerous different kinds of food that she’s eating, that Jameson “shared” with her. Today, she found stairs, and didn’t hesitate to climb them. I also caught her just before she fell backward. Good thing our house has no stairs.

She is starting to talk. Nothing that sounds like words, but she is putting together sounds. “Ba ba ba, or da da da” are common around here. Every morning she wakes up and shakes her crib so it squeaks and you know she’s awake. As soon as you go in, she grabs hold of you and won’t let go till she is out of the crib. If Jameson is up, he will jump in her crib and entertain her for a few minutes before I get in there. She wears size 12 month clothing now, and will have her check up on the 15th. So I’ll have her stats, then. She is also starting to let go, which means she is standing!

I got this quick snap before she fell. She can only stand for a few seconds, but it’s a start. She just wants to walk and keep up with Jameson.

And, a photo can never be taken without Jameson. He had to jump in the pictures, and showed us his “silly faces.”

So there is a wrap up of where our little girl is at. She is moving out of the infant stage and into the toddler stage. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.

We have hit another milestone around here. Jameson is now 3 years old.

Wednesday was his actual birthday, and this was the one day we didn’t really do anything for his birthday. He opened presents every other day during the week. We had birthday cake for dessert on Thanksgiving.

Jameson is at a really fun stage or a really awful stage. Depends what day it is, and what time of day it is. He no longer takes naps. This isn’t so fun, because he still needs one. If he falls asleep for a nap, and I said if, then he won’t fall asleep at night till after 10 pm. If he doesn’t take a nap, from about 3 pm on is no fun. But, then he goes to bed by 8 pm. He is also getting more independent. He has to do everything himself, and decide what clothes he will wear. Most of the time he wants shorts, and it is too cold right now for that, which results in a battle between us. I’ve thought about taking his shorts out of the door, but the days we aren’t going anywhere, there’s no reason he couldn’t wear his shorts. He also refuses to wear underwear. Potty training is not in our near future. He has some treats he knows he only gets if he goes potty on the toilet. There is still the full bag on top of the fridge. He points to them and can tell you what they are, but refuses to do anything about it.

I can have conversations now with him, which turns out very interesting sometimes. He also is developing his imagination. He will play for hours with his toys by himself. Sometimes he will let Ella play with his toys, but most of the time if she’s near, he gathers them up and moves. He loves swords, especially since he saw “How to Train your Dragon.” Now, everything is a sword, and he’s always killing dragons.

His favorite toys at the moment are his Toy Story figures, and still his cars. He had a birthday full of new action figures from the movie, and sleeps with them every night. He will end up getting even more for Christmas, but don’t tell him, ok. He is also loving Tinkerbell. My mom gave him some Tinkerbell items for his birthday, and now he won’t eat dinner without his Tinkerbell fork. (She only did, because I told her he would love it.)  His favorite show is Diego, with Dora in a close second. He will even sing the songs. He will sing all the time, until you ask him to. He can stay on tune pretty well, too.

He is starting to say prayers with us. At first we told him he would get a treat if he did. We’re not against bribery in this household.  But, just last night when he went to bed, he told me he needed to say his prayers. He also has to give everyone a hug and a kiss before he/they leave. The other night he had a melt down after he wasn’t able to give Kylie a kiss good-bye. When we leave he will say, “Oh, I need to give daddy a hug. And I need a kiss.”

He is about 36 pounds, bear walks every where while growling, and I’m not sure how tall he is. He is over half my size, though, so trying to make him do something he doesn’t want to do is getting tough. I get asked all the time if he is 4. He usually wears 3T, but some brands require 4T. He has a size 10-11 shoe and won’t wear anything but his Buzz Lightyear shoes that talk and light up. The only other shoes he will wear are his church shoes on Sunday. Why did I even buy him other shoes.

He is very protective of his little sister around others. He won’t let other kids touch her. He loves to carry her, which is really funny, because she is at least 20 pounds and as tall as his chest. She usually doesn’t mind, though. He will only give her a toy he doesn’t need, and usually takes toys from her if she does get them. She loves to play with him, though. Kevin will hold her and chase Jameson, and they both love it. She loves when she can get him.

Jameson knows he’s a boy and Ella is a girl, but I don’t think he knows why yet. He is very resourceful. He will push his chair into the kitchen, climb on the counter, and get into the cupboard with the cookies. He also loves to go in the garage with his dad, ride his bike, and ride his skateboard.

I could not image my life without this little terror. He definitely keeps me on my toes. Happy Birthday, my baby boy!

Literally. Ella can stand up to things, and she’s starting to surf. Kevin tried to catch her pushing the walker along.

(November 11th)

I finally wrestled Ella long enough to put her hair in a ponytail. Her natural curl makes it perfect. It curls in a perfect ringlet.

She also has a bump on her forehead. She crawled right into the corner of the wall. This would be her first bruise. I think anyway. That means, she made it 8 months before any real bruises.

This is her favorite spot.

Really child?