Ellasyn is 9 months!

Over the past month, Ellasyn has grown and changed so much. Some of the highlights are that she is now army crawling and pulling up. She is very fast and moves across the living room in a matter of seconds! Her favorite things to go after are, well, anything that does not belong in her toy basket. (ex: cell phones, remote controls, cd player, computer, Hollie, Mom or Dad's shoes left by the door, etc.) We have been practicing some baby signs so that she can communicate with us. So far, we have learned the signs for "more", "please", and "thank you". She loves to play peek-a-boo and turn pages in her books. She now has seven teeth!! There are four on the top and three on the bottom. She loves to show them off with her big smile!

Our visit to Dr. G's went well (compared to our visit last month when she had a double ear infection and a cold). She is 27 inches tall and 17 pounds 13 ounces. (She lost about a pound since she started burning more calories).

Our sweet friend, Gara, took some great 9 month pictures of Ellasyn. Here are a couple...


I can't wait to share the others with you!

Here are a few more pictures of our sweet girl...

~ 9 month rocking chair picture ~





~ New diaper cover from Honey ~ And a cute dress from Aunt Tae Tae and the Ogles ~


~ Only one shot at the Dr. today ~ She cries more when he looks in her ears :( ~


~ Enjoying her lunch ~


~ She is heading for my shoes in the next room ~


~ She was caught ~ She thinks she is really something ~ And so do I! ~

Look what I can do!

Ellasyn had a crazy day yesterday, poor girl. We were having a new HVAC unit installed, so Ellasyn and I got out of the house. We walked the mall a couple times and watched the carousel in the food court while we ate. We went to Target to look around and we bought our McDaniel nephew/cousin-to-be a surprise. When we ran out of places to go and money to spend, we spent some time with Ethan's grandmother, Nanny Susie. With no afternoon nap and being in and out of the car most of the day, Ellasyn was out of sorts, to say the least. Once she finally got home and in her own bed, she slept hard... until 11pm, and after I rocked her back to sleep she slept until 6am. Being a little out of sorts myself, and with no afternoon nap (what?) I was not about to get up for the day at 6am. So, I listened to her play with her bear and jibber jabber for another hour and a half. When I went in to get her out of bed at 7:30, this is what I found...

I guess she has been practicing a new skill set. This explains some of the sleeplessness from yesterday. :)

I was reminded this morning as I read a friend's blog... "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above," James 1:17a

No matter how much sleep, or how little sleep I get, Ellasyn is such an amazing blessing to my life. I cannot imagine living with out her. I love every moment that we are able to spend together... at home in our pjs after a crazy day, walking the mall, rocking her to sleep AgAiN. When I am in the moment, I sometimes forget that I should be soaking it up, making memories and storing them away for when she is in her "terrible twos" or coming in 20 minutes past her curfew. (yikes!)

Thank you, God. Thank you for bringing this baby girl into our lives!

Bluebonnets!

I have been waiting, a little impatiently, for the bluebonnets to come out this year. I saw them pop up in random places, neighbor's yards, fields on the side of the highway... and finally I found some in a nearby park. I dressed Ellasyn up and off we went! Ellasyn did not mind sitting in the grass. I think she kind of enjoyed it. She really wanted to pick the flowers... she even tried to taste a couple petals. Thankfully, I was close enough to catch her. It was a little overcast, so the glare kept her eyes all squinty. It was also near the road, so she was too distracted by the passing cars to smile for the camera. BUT... we got our first ever bluebonnet pictures and I think that we got some good ones. I played with some editing tools on my computer for some of these, the rest are natural.

Enjoy...





~Sooo Big!~

~Picking the flowers~





~Sweet Baby Girl (with low saturation)~

~I love her! (with high saturation)~



~I have had enough, Mommie!~


~Now you tell me! I saw this as I was getting back in the car. Ooops!~

Love, Courtney and Ellasyn

Video

Easter

I hope that you all had a beautiful Easter. We had lovely weather and enjoyed spending time with the McDaniel family. All of the McDaniel girls looked beautiful in their Easter dresses. Next year will be different with the addition of a McDaniel BOY for Stuart and Kelli.

Here are some pictures of our day...

...Opening the Easter basket...




...Easter family...

Ellasyn is 8 months!

Ellasyn is trying so hard to get moving, but she can't quite figure it out yet. A couple of nights last week she woke up crying and when I went in to check on her, she was sleep-crying up on her hands and knees. Poor baby... she is practicing in her sleep. She keeps us busy and soon will be into everything. She can already roll across the floor to reach to stereo and dvd buttons, what is next? She loves to stand up at the coffee table (with help, of course) bang her hands and pull anything off that she can reach. She loved to swing in the backyard and take walks in her stroller. I think she may be a bit of a stroller snob, though. She does not like to be bothered while she is on her walk. :)

We took her to Veteran's Park recently to take some spring pictures. She was not really interested, but we got a couple little smiles from her. The other pictures below are: our monthly rocking chair picture, playing with toys, and spring break with the Jackson cousins in AR. I also attempted to load a short video clip of Ellasyn playing peek a boo... I hope it works!









Happy Easter!
Ethan, Courtney and Ellasyn Hannah