our first Halloween, with Ella.

i loved having a chance to dress Ella up. she spent the holiday being a penguin and a peacock. today she is dressed up for the Day of the Dead.
Ella and i went trick or treating at a nursing home where Ella got to show off for the residents there. it was fun to let her experience this tradition although it was obviously beyond her. she took some candies and sucked on them with wrappers on. afterwards, i got to enjoy the good stuff and gave away the stuff i don't like.
speaking of giving out candy, we had a huge turnout at our house last night. the neighbors/tenants decorated the house a month ago to resemble a graveyard and it definitely drew some attention. we had cars lined up down the street just to t or t at our place. carl had to run out to buy more candy because the 4 i had bought ran out around 7 p.m. last year we only had 4 treaters all together so it was a huge difference this year.
some children were too scared to walk up our sidewalk. two of the neighbors hid in the yard and jumped out at the children as they walked by. i saw several children run away and many end up in tears. the older ones were even frightened but they seemed to enjoy it more. i felt bad for the younger ones. i can imagine this will have an impact on how they feel about future Halloweens.

She's moving now!

Ella showed us yesterday that she can army crawl. just like every other day, we were playing around on the living room floor when Ella spotted Carl's Mtn. Dew and decided that she wanted it, now. suddenly she started moving herself along the ground using her arms to move herself forward. until now she had been pretty good at moving by pivoting on her stomach or rolling but she is now one step away from crawling. it's so exciting and frightening. we can no longer leave her in one spot and expect her to remain there or close by. we need to childproof things and keep a better eye on her (not that we didn't already). people keep warning us of how we need to stop wishing for her to be able to crawl because of all the issues it will cause but i am so happy for Ella. of course we will take precaution but it's great that she can spot something and move towards it. i know that she is feeling pretty proud of herself.

having fun

i love my little girl. she is so playful now. lately her favorite game has been tipping her head back and having me swoop her back up or slobbering all over my chest. she will do this for a long time if i play along. carl doesn't like playing the head tipping game because he doesn't want to have her hit her head on anything. this is a concern of mine also, but it is so funny to hear her laugh when she does it. other things Ella likes doing right now is splashing in the bath. we bathe her in a infant "whale" tub that Grandma Gillies gifted to Ella. we were placing it on the counter to bathe Ella but she has started splashing so much that i am now placing it inside the big tub so she can splash to her heart's content without me having to deal with water everywhere.
Ella also loves practicing her balance. she stands with assistance and loves staring out the window while leaning on the couch. she also is practicing her crawling skills. right now she can rock back and forth on her arms and legs and sometimes moves backwards but no forward mobility has been seen so far.
Last weekend Ella, and her parents, went up North on the Lake Superior coastline for a mini-vacation. Although it was very cold (we had snow on Saturday morning) Ella did well with all of the activity. Carl bought her a hat that looks adorable on her. we kept her bundled in leg warmers, sweaters, and coats and the cold didn't bother her.
now, we are looking forward to Halloween. Ella will have two costumes this year. i can't wait to show them off.

PEAS, please!

 

We have been cautious with the foods we have given Ella. Each week she has been tasting a new food while we observe that there are no allergic reactions. So far so good. At this point Ella has had rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes (those were interesting going in and out), bananas, apples, and pears. we were busy for awhile and didn't give her any new foods until yesterday when i went shopping. i bought her all sorts of vegetables. i didn't know how she would respond after all of the sweet fruits but she was enthusiastic.

6 months old

 

Ella is six months old already. Carl took this photo a few days ago. he ran for the camera because Ella was sitting up on her own and Carl thought she was looking particularly cute at that moment. i thought it was a perfect photo to show off her personality. Ella has been a joy. she hasn't been a fussy baby, well, until recently. She has her two bottom teeth coming in and she's at an age that she starts to show more attachment issues (according to the books we read). it's funny. when we leave the room she just freaks out and if we are in the room we must stay close to her. we don't need to be playing with her but we need to be close by so she doesn't feel abandoned.

Ella

 

i am able to put photos online again. Junior was up for the weekend and he made the computer work again. i just love that brother of mine.
i will be posting more photos of Ella later but i wanted to put this photo up now because its a new favorite. This was taken on august 30th.