The CIRCUS was in town! (preview)

More to come...

Party Pictures

The circus party pictures are yet to come.  Trust me, no one is more anxious to see them than me!  Here are the girls right before the party.  More to come!!!

Ellie's Birthday

 1st picture of the day.  I'd say we're off to a good start!

Pancake Party with Mommy and Abby

 Playing with her new picnic set.  Success!

Getting ready for her night out

"You mean this birthday fun is all day?!"

Dinner out at Puccini's (Ellie's favorite pizza)

Mama and her girl

Nina and Papa's for cupcakes and gifts

 Holla!

Riding her new car.  She got the hang of it right away!

Big sister was dying for a turn...

Abby got a fun pretend birthday cake from my parents.  She LOVES it.  I find her asleep in bed at night with candles in her hands and pieces of cake distributed to her stuffed animals.

"Let me at it!"

She's ONE!!!

One Year Check up

Dr. Abby was there to assist



Height: 29.5" (62 Percentile)

Weight 19lb 5 oz (20 Percentile)

Head 47 cm (92 Percentile)

Bedtime Prayer

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for getting me out of the water.  I'm so proud of you.  I love you, Jesus. 
Amen.

Ellie is *tear* 12 Months...

 Love those curls!

 Pointing to her eyes and saying, "Eye."

 She cruised for the first time taking this shot!

Look at that face.  Is it obvious why we can't get enough of her?

Ellie at 12 months:

• Crawls (very quickly I might add)
• Waves both hands and says, "Hi."
• says, "Hi, yeah, what, Dada, Mama, Abba, oh, uh oh, bye bye, eye, Nana" and probably more...
• Pulls herself up to stand
• Cruises along furniture
• Loves eggs, sausage, BIRTHDAY CAKE, pizza, chicken, mac and cheese, Goldfish, sweet potatoes, carrots, cottage cheese, pancakes
• Pretends to talk on the phone
• Gives high fives
• Screams very loudly at an extremely high pitch and of course there are screaming matches between her and Abby
• Understands "No" but she only obeys when daddy says it!
• Can finally self soothe and go to sleep on her own at nap time and bedtime!
• Nurses once in morning and night
• Happily plays with big sister
• Loves baby dolls- she'll hold them close to her chest and rock back and forth
• Favorite song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."  She taps her cheek and eye while we sing it
• Knows her nose, head, eyes, mouth, and ears
• Likes to pull hair...especially poor Abby's
• Loves the pool
• Cringes at loud noises (i.e. Adam clapping)
• Will have the occasional temper tantrum..puts her hands up over her head and slams them down, arches her back and kicks her legs (I must say even that is cute)
• Is fearless! 
• Falls asleep in random positions (sitting up, or folded in half-her legs spread apart with her head in the middle)
• Saw her first movie in theaters
• Likes to watch Dumbo or any show with big sis
• Imitates sounds.  Animal noises are particularly popular around our house especially dogs, monkeys, and roaring like lions.
• Still NO teeth!

Are you skippin?!

Ellie's new thing to do is to pretend and talk on the phone.  I love how she holds it behind her back and says things like, "Hi, yeah, and whu (what)."  This movie didn't capture her doing any of that.  BUT...it did capture big sister talking on the phone to Mommy and Daddy.  Notice her impression of her parents.  The best part is when she has "Daddy" ask her if she's skippin (skipping)!  "No, I not skippin." 

July 4, 2012