10 months [and 4 days]

Wow time is just flying!!!! Really, I don't know how we got to 10 months so fast.
My baby is getting so big and changing so much.



New this month: clapping [loves it!], plays patty-cake on her own, signs "I love you" [well she tries to but can't quite make the hand signal], gives her dolls kissies, had turkey, likes to howl [weird], new words:"up", and "baby", mastered her walker- but not walking, points at everything, LOVES to pull everything out of the cupboards while I'm cooking, also LOVES the refrigerator!

She is best friends with Santa [hehe]!

Okay really though, they have gotten pretty tight since this first encounter ;)

STILL NO TEETH!

Loves to play, loves to laugh, loves to smile, loves to entertain, loves to love!
I'm sure there is more but as we speak I am in between 3 homework assignments, I just couldn't let another day go by without updating ;)

I can't even believe she is now 10 months and in only 2 months I will have a one year old...yikes!

On a side note, we hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We loved experiencing another first holiday with our turkey =)


We are oh so grateful for the blessing Ella is in our lives!

October in one little post.

Yay for 2 NEW POSTS! haha.

Since I finally got Ella's 9 month blog posted I figured I should get Halloween up too before Christmas ;)

I LOVE holidays! I LOVE LOVE LOVE holidays!

So, of course we went to the pumpkin patch and had a lot of fun helping Ella pick out some pumpkins.

Uncle Balt, Auntie Rachel, Uncle Jarrell and Grandma Janet all came along to join in the fun! Ella had a blast playing in the hay and 'driving' the truck and the tractor. We each got a pumpkin and had fun carving them too! Ella liked playing with the guts but kept wanting to eat them, of course, so we had to cut the experience short.
On halloween we went trick or treating with my cousins, Madison and Cole. They are just the cutest things! It is so cute now that Cole can sit up because he and Ella can hang out! As you can see Ella was and Ella-Fante [aka Elephant], we were her elephant family. Madison was strawberry short cake and Cole was a little puppy! Ella loved watching all the kids running around and we enjoyed getting candy ;)

We hope you all had a great halloween!

On another note, we have all just been SO busy! Devon has actually had quite a few shoots on top of working for the studio. I have been submerrsed in paper writting and homework! And Ella has been growing and growing [see post below]

Check out Devon's blog website too, he actually posted an update and is working on getting some more up soon!

http://collingestudios.blogspot.com/

9 months in, 9 months out!

Sorry everyone, I have been SO busy that things like the blog get put on the backburner!
But, wow! Ella is nine whole months now =)
The weirdest thing has been her 9 month check up, when the Dr. said he wouldn't see her again till a year... ahhh! It's getting way to close to a year, I wish I could press the pause button for a minute!
This little girl is getting so big and changing so fast! She is now 17 lbs, 3 oz and 26 3/4"

She:

can wave hello/goodybye. Pulls herself up onto everything. Walks across the coach, table or any other surface she can hold onto. She crawls like a pro. She says puff (her favorite things ever). Finally said Mama, but still not convinced it's super intentional. She half says hi and bye [ha, ba]. She is a dancer. All you have to do is turn on some music or sing, "shake your booty" and she bobs to the beat. She learned how to spit, eww- thanks daddy! She loves butternut squash. She hates broccoli [see the pics of the grossed out face]. Will only drink from a sippy cup if laying down. Laughs all the time. Loves playing peek-a-boo and "gonna get you". Loves the itsy bitsy spider song. LOVES ELMO. Enjoys books- likes to turn the page and look for things. Can use her walker. Has no teeth. Starting to slowly grow some hair. Won't sleep in her crib- FREAKS OUT- will cry for HOURS!!! Throws fits when we say No. Is very Stuborn! only wants what she isn't supposed to have- quickly earning the nickname 'Ella No-No'. Loves daddy most of all. Loves eating. Loves water. Loves attention and is SUCH a little entertainer. loves being naked! Has no stranger danger fear. loves babies/kids. pinches, hard. can NOT be contained. Is the best little baby in the world!!!!

We just can't get enough and wouldn't trade her for anything!

oh happy day!

It's true, Ella actually fell asleep in her crib ALL on her own today, for the FIRST time EVER!
But don't let this sweet little sleeping baby fool you...


It took 2 1/2 hours of crying before she finally gave up and fell asleep.
We did the whole check on her every 15 minutes thing and it wasn't exactlly easy but when the cries finally fell silent it was all worth it.
She only slept for like 30 minutes [max] but at least it's a start!
Here's to hoping our future's are full with a lot more sights like this:


;]

where have these 8 months gone?!?!?!

What a little monster Ella has developed into!!!
This girl climbs all over everything, she crawls SO fast and she pulls herself up onto EVERYthing she can. In a way it's great that she is growing up but on the other hand it's a lot more difficult. She keeps us on our toes at ALL times. Last night in fact while Uncle Jarrett was here visiting and showing us some magic tricks, Ella discovered a penny and decided to try to eat it. Somehow I was prompted to look over at her, notice she was playing with pennies and think to check her mouth, sure enough... a penny! oh man, I'm pretty sure I have some grey hairs now.
She is such a daredevil! If she is up on our bed, or the couch or anything above the ground she will glance off the edge, back up, scootch forward and glance again then thrust herself over the edge... of course I am there to grab her foot just before she completely goes over the edge.
She tries to climb out of everything we put her in, like the crib. She has successfully climbed out of the highchair and learned the hard way why we have to keep her strapped in ALL the time! (Don't worry, she was/is fine)
Her new favorite thing to say is "dat", or "wa dat" as in "what's that?" or "who's that?"
I am always saying "who's that" at her reflection in the mirror, and she has learned to do the same. It's really cute and funny. She doesn't really say much else yet, other than dadda and ella which she says quite often. Though she isn't using words she is pretty dang good at communicating with her tones.
She is LOVING food- a little too much. She has turned into a ridiculous demanding little girl at feeding times. We seriously cannot get the food in fast enough. She loves to bang her hands and scream in between bites- joy! But, it is nice having her be such a good eater. She hasn't had a problem with anything. She's had cereal, carrots, peas and sweet potatoes and her favorite thing of all, Puffs! She goes nuts when we pull out the puffs. We have yet to see teeth, but I know they are getting close. She still has not slept through an entire night. Her hair is FINALLY, but slowly starting to grow in. Our neighbor thinks we have a boy, even though we always try to tell her it's a girl, and she is always wearing pink and flowers in her hair... she's pretty old so I guess there is probably nothing we can do.
Ella LOVES to play with other kids. She gets so happy when there are other kids around. There is a picture in the collage of her with my cousin Madison, I just know that Ella is going to look up to her and admire her forever =)
Well it's a little difficult to blog while the little stinker is getting into so much mischief so I better go!
Until next time...

7 whole months!

This month has FLOWN by! We have been busier than I can even begin to explain, so this post is gonna be a little different (less pictures, for now). I don't have too much time for this but I can't let her 7 month birthday go by un-blogged about ;]
Once we get settled into our new place I will post more pictures, of everything!
Until then, here are a couple to get you by ;)


I am just in love with this photo. Devon just took randomly a couple weeks ago but her little face is just so Ella!
I didn't think it was possible but she has developed even more personality! She knows how to work a crowd and every time she is told she is pretty by a stranger she responds with a smile that just screams, "yeah, I know." She is now fascinated by little kids, and animals. She cackles and bounces at the sight, and immediately reaches out for them. She loves playing with herself in the mirror too, she does the same things. She still talks up a storm and has many new expressions, still nothing in English. She does say "ella-dadda" ALL the time, but I'm not yet convinced it's intentional.
Still no crib. Still no teeth. Still no hair.
She is a still a complete monkey though and is LOVING all the space of the new place. She is SO quick now which makes my life a lot more fun, especially while moving when we have stuff EVERYWHERE. She can spot the most invisible little thing on the floor and quickly gets herself over to pick it up and eat it before I can take it away. She has chewed up many magazines and various pieces on paper, Devon and I joke that it's like we have a puppy. She can also pull herself up now, another one of those bitter-sweet new tricks. She signs "all done" and "more". I am proud of her development but sad to see her growing so fast.
She has officially started eating solids!
With all the chaos we got stuck on just cereal for a while. Plus, Devon wont let me feed her anything new unless he is here, which makes it harder but it's good he cares. We just introduced carrots the other night and we'll start adding new things more frequently now that things are settling a little. We are gonna try to make our own food as much as possible to avoid all that extra junk they put in the jared stuff. Our Dr. is really into keeping things natural, we love him!

She loves her cereal but wasn't too hot on the carrots the first couple tries, she's doing better now.

I had to leave her for the first real time Tuesday, when I started school. I was a wreck and seriously trying to convince myself that I didn't need to go back to school, but my logical side won that debate. Ella did great, a little too great actually. I am glad she is so good for Leslie but part of me wishes she would miss me a little more, hehehe. I am taking a lot this semester but luckily my schedule doesn't keep me away from her too long.
So, this was me the fisrt day of school... not wanting to leave her behind, obviously.


I always thought I had so much time with her before I had to get back to school but it just went by so fast. I just look at her now and wonder where this big 7 month old came from and where my tiny helpless newborn disapeared to.
I do love seeing her develop though, she is just so awesome and makes our life so amazing!

My baby is half a year...

time to have another one???
NO, not quite.
But, it does make me sad that she is definitely NOT a newborn anymore.
This age is totally fun though.


She is such a handful. She has yet to officially crawl, but she can get around. She is still using her head to scooch her way around, and she rolls all over the place. She loves paper for some reason. If ever there is a paper lying around she will make her way over to it, and immediately stick it in her mouth. She is so curious, and SO grabby! Anything I have, she wants, and will try to get.
She is still really talkative, and says a bunch of words... but she still doesn't know she is saying them [meaning, it's not on purpose]. She really is a happy baby, and knows how to work a crowd. She rolls over into her crawling position almost every time I put her on her belly. I had to stop swaddling her at bedtime [probably overdo anyway] because she rolls onto her stomach and with her arms trapped I was afraid she'd get stuck. She is learning to fall asleep on her own, without me rocking her to sleep. It's really helping me a lot. I have to get her on a solid schedule before I start school, which I'm dreading. I can't stand to think of leaving her!
I am convinced she is going to get teeth any minute because she chews on EVERYTHING, and chews hard! I still don't feel anything though.
She had her first real fever, not as fun as her other "firsts". Two nights after we got home from our trip she woke up whining, when I reached in to soothe her I noticed she was pretty hot. So, I got up and took her temperature...102! Not a fun way to wake up! I gave her some Tylenol and put a cold cloth on her neck and her temp went down within minutes but of course I couldn't sleep. I was checking her temp every 5 minutes, it never went back up but I was up all night and she didn't sleep too well either. It was obviously bothering her. The whole next day she was a little off, but nothing more developed. I'm really glad it didn't last long but it sure freaked us out.

She will have her appointment on Thursday and we'll know exactly how big she is, she seems so big! We will also be starting her on some real food, I'm exited to see how that goes!

I can't believe it's already been half a year, and I know this next half will just fly by! It's so fun to see her develop and watch her do all the simple things that we take for granted for the first time.
Devon and I can't get enough of our little chunky-monkey!