Cute Pictures

No real "reason" for this posting except to share a few more cute pictures of Ella from the last few days.

She's getting really good with the whole thumb sucking thing. And when she can't figure it out Daddy's finger will do just fine.

She's still taking lots of naps in the swing. Because she's gettig so big we can strap her in and have it in more of a sitting position than the cradle.... except when she falls asleep she tends to keel over. That can't be comfortable. The funny thing is, if you try to straighten her back up she fights you like she wants to stay this way. Oh well.

It was so nice this week we did get to spend lots of time outside in the fresh air. The wind was a bit chilly though so Ella decided to rock her hoodie to keep warm.

Easter Weekend Fun

We had a full house again this weekend as Bryan's folks came back into town to help Ella celebrate her first Easter. She even got to meet her great-grandma for the first time! It was pretty laid back, the girls hung out while the guys worked in the yard and hung cieling fans... sounds like a fair deal to me. Easter Sunday we went to eat lunch at the Cardinal and visit with the Easter Bunny for a little bit. Ella didn't seem to be scared by him (unlike the child in line behind her her was petrified!) but I don't think she even bothered to look at him really. She was very interested in her Easter basket... filled with goodies like Baby Einstein DVD's, cute ballet flats, and toys. There are so many cute pictures it was hard to narrow these down!

Disco Fever

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRIPP & BILL! This weekend we went back in time to the '70's to celebrate Tripp & Bill's birthdays. The party was complete with outifts, hair, fondue and a disco ball. At one point, when I was chowing on the chocolate fondue, Megan looked at me and said, "What if this was really how it was? Seriously, what if we dressed like this and really had fondue parties?" It is a funny concept to grasp! We had a great time at the party and everyone was all decked out. Bryan and I made a quick trip to the Goodwill Store to find his brown ployester suit and I raided my mom's attic for the authentic '70's cheerleading uniform.
I'm just sorry you can't truly see in the pictures just how wide the lapels actually are. I so wish I had a better picture of Morgan's hair, it was priceless, the outfit really was her mother's. Tripp's lambchops and moustache were awesome!
Morgan, Megan, and Mollie all represented the decade well.


And of course, Ella wanted in on the action so we let her wear her daddy's wig for a bit.

Full Circle

Can it really be five years since Bryan and I met? Another ACC Tournament has come and gone so it must be true. It's hard to believe just five years ago we met in the concourse of the Greensboro Coliseum (thanks Daniel and Ron!) between games and this year we took our baby to see all the basketball action! Talk about the growing up!

My family has been fortunate enough to attend the ACC Basketball Tournament for years along with several of our family friends. Most of whom went to WFU with my parents and have children around the ages of myself and my brothers. I'm not sure when it started but, once us kids were old enough it became tradition to go out after the Saturday games. My brother, Cabell, and Kimberly started it when they were in college and, of course, once Daniel and I got old enough we were included in the action. Oh the stories I could tell of these infamous evenings. But, to protect the innocent, I won't. Suffice it to say we had fun, lots of fun. Until the next day... how we managed to sit through the championship games on the following Sundays is still a mystery to me. Lucky for me (and for Bryan) Daniel had an extra ticket back in '03 and the tourney was in Greensboro so Ron and Bryan were included in the action. The night is a blur, as most of those Saturday's are, but I remember it ended with Bryan asking for my number. Fast forward five years and he's sitting downstairs watching golf with our child. Wow.

He and I have continued to attend the tourney, only skipping out last year since it was in Florida and we had already taken time off work to go to the Orange Bowl and BCS Championship game. We were back in action this year, heading to Charlotte with Ella in tow. Sadly the Deacons were out in the first round but it was so amazing to think "this is where it all started, and now we're bringing a baby.... OUR baby." Our ACC Saturday night festivities were put on hold. But I'm counting on Ella and Adeline starting all over again when they're old enough.

Lucky for us Bill and Shawna let us crash with them so Ella also got some QT with her younger cousin, Keller... younger by 11 weeks. You can tell by the picstures neither were too interested in the other. I have a feeling that won't last long, soon enough these two will be nothing but trouble!

More tummy time

Ella has been rolling over like crazy the past few days. Wednesday we were in Winston and she wanted to show off for her grandmom... Her neck muscles are getting much stronger so now she's really holding her head up when she's on her stomach. I saw this toy at Baby's 'R' Us and had to get it for her.... it plays music and actually vibrates enough to scoot across the floor. It's supposed to encourage babies to crawl after it. I just figured she'd like the colors and the music now. I was right about that, she could stare at it for hours if I let her!

Rewind!

Apparently Ella was not satisfied with only being able to go from her tummy to her back and has spent the last half hour rolling from her back to her front. I was going through some e-mails and she was just hanging out on the floor next to me, watching Paula Deen as usual, when she started fussing. I turned around to see what was wrong and lo and behold she was on her tummy!! I turned her back over and she proceeded to just flip right back onto her stomach. We played this little game for quite a while and this time I was fortunate enough to get it all on the video camera. At the rate she's going I figure she'll be crawling by the end of next week... hahahaha.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'....

It seems that "tummy time" has finally gotten the best of Ella and she's had enough of it. She now has figured out that if she tries hard enough she can, in fact, flip over to her back. What a happy realization for her! Last night she did this about 4 times, and everytime she'd just laugh and laugh. She's also decided that she's going to be a NASCAR fan. I think it has something to do with the constant motion of the cars and the bright colors, but whatever it is she's transfixed by it. Yesterday was two Sundays in a row she was glued to the TV when she could see it.

I was able to get a couple shots of her sucking her thumb during a nap. She's still working on the concept of bringing her thumb to her mouth rather than her mouth to her thumb, she will turn her head almost 180* to the left trying to find it. I'm guessing because that's how she sometimes gets to her pacifier if she spits it out. Oddly enough, she has an easier time getting it into position while sleeping than when awake. I never would have thought something as silly as sucking a thumb or rolling over would be such a big deal to me... my what a difference a baby can make! People say all the time, "it's the little things that matter most" and I now realize I never truly understood that till Ella came along. Every sigh, coo, and smile is like the first. Watching her watch the world is amazing, if it's this great at 3 months I can't imagaine what wonders the future will bring!

Last home game

Today was the last home game for the Deacons and Ella got all dressed up for the occasion. It was so cold and windy we had to bring out the hat, and the dress is still too big, but we made it work. Of course, as usual, she was out during the 2nd half, so she missed the win. I don't think her grand-daddy minded one bit that he was the one she fell asleep on! But she did get to spend a little time with her Uncle Cabell at half-time, before she crashed. Ella was in the middle of her "I'm starving someone please feed me" routine at this point, usually she's much happier around him!

And we got to see another of Ella's friends... Adeline made her first WFU appearance today with her folks. Kimberly, her mom has been a life-long family friend of mine, in fact her brother is pretty much resposible for Bryan and I meeting. What are friends for, right? Adeline decided to come into the world a little bit earlier than Kimberly and Jason had planned on but she's just perfect and precious. We hadn't seen them since they left the hospital (they live in Durham) and Adeline was a teeny-tiny thing, weighing in just over 5lbs. I think, Like Ella, she's not skipping any meals! Kimberly and I had to laugh about how all these little girls look like their daddies... what's that about? Although she's only a few weeks older, Ella looks monstrous next to her!! With family members pulling for both WFU and NCSU she was wearing a Wake Forest skirt and some NCSU leg warmers. Jason said he thought she looked like she was dressed by a "blind homeless person," I think she's just ahead of the fashion curve!

Just like Mommy

Those of you who know me well are very aware that I love the Food Network. It's on in our house pretty much all day. Paula Deen is definitely one of my favorites and apparently one of Ella's too. This morning I was catching up on e-mails and had her playing on the floor next to me... suddenly she got really quiet so I checked to see if she was asleep. Nope. She was enthralled by the chicken fried steak Paula was making on the TV. A girl after my own heart!!

We have a thumb-sucker...

After weeks of Ella trying to cram her entire fist into her mouth she has finally realized that she can, in fact, unclench her fingers and actually get something to suck on. Yesterday I watched her suck on her fist and fuss for a good five minutes (we're trying to keep her from "depending" on the pacifier) and saw her eyes light up when she managed to suck her thumb away from the other fingers and into her mouth. About 30 seconds later she was fast asleep. Wow! When she started to get squirmy mid-nap that thumb went straight back into position and she was fine. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, seeing as we could take a pacifier away from her at a certain age and we're surely not going to be able to take her thumb away from her without being sent to child services. I'm just glad now I won't have to get up in the middle of the night to stick a pacifier back in her mouth.

Weekend Family Fun

So it was a big weekend in our house... It actually started Thursday night with a trip to Winston to watch the Deacs lose to Maryland. I think Ella really enjoys going to the games, she could stare at the big scoreboard all day if we had one in our house and she just gets passed up and down our row of family members to keep her occupied. However, the rides home are not always so pleasant. I think the noise and lights are a bit of sensory overload for her so when we get back in the dark, quiet car it's too big of an adjustment for her to wrap her pretty little head around and she's usually pretty fussy till we get about half way home. Her daddy got her this bib for Christmas and since the game intruded on one of her feedings she got to show her Deacon spirit for everyone.

Bryan's parents came to town Friday night from Ohio to take another look at a house here in NC and Nathan came up from Charlotte to hang out too. Ella's uncles, Aaron and Nathan just can't get enough of her. The fights over who's been holding her or playing with her longer are hilarious to me. She's very lucky to have so many people who want to spend so much time with her. I hope both boys can hang out with her as much as they want, until she starts talking because we're a little worried about what kind of phrases they might decide to teach her. With those two you can never be too careful...The house hunting for the 'rents was successful, and offer was made and accepted. So I guess we're looking at two more eager babysitters in the very near future. Very exciting!!

Sunday night Ella helped her Daddy drink some beer and do some work on the computer, though from the looks on her face I think she's about as confused by what he does as I am. And we finished off the weekend with some "tummy time," Ella's least favorite activity of all. But the pediatrician says we have to do it so we do. Her neck muscles are very strong and I'm not worried about her holding her head up as much as pushing up with her arms. Even when we sort of "perch" her on her elbows she just chews on her hands. Oh well, she'll get the hang of it eventually... I hope.