Ella Meets Santa

We took Ella this weekend to go see Santa for the first time.
She didn't cry, but she wasn't smiling either.

She liked playing with his beard, but she also kept one eye on him at all times.

There was no chance we were going to get her to smile. This was about as close as we were going to get..

She's just not to certain about this guy  yet

Christmas Tree Decorating

Saturday we took Ella for her first Christmas tree outing. Stokie Farms was packed as usual, but there were plenty of trees for everyone.

This ones just perfect

What do you mean this stuff's supposed to go on the tree, I think it looks better on me...

Ella even helped decorate the tree with all the special ornaments

Ella and her first Christmas Tree

Aunt Jody got Ella this pretty pink bling Santa hat for her 6 month Birthday.

"I'm Pooped"....
Decorating a Christmas tree is hard work

Bad Hair Day !!

I don't think much explanation is needed........   Enjoy
(No mousse or any other hair products used)

A Couple Random Pics

We thought we might need to use Ella's highchair over Thanksgiving so we finally pulled it out of storage and put it together. Up till now she's been using her bumbo, and we really haven't had the need to use the larger chair. But she's going to be out growing the bumbo pretty soon, so better to be prepared.
She seemed to like sitting in it and playing with her toys. Thanks Aunt Karen for getting it for her, it works great.

Now that the colder weather is coming in, we've been pulling out all Ella's new winter hats. This ones one of my favorites.
What a little model....

Ella's 5 Months

Since the weather has been so awesome, upper 60's, we opted to do things a little differently this time around, and go with a Fall theme. We decided to take Ella's 5 month pictures at Grandma's house with all the leaves, and of course Grandma was more than willing to have little Ella come and visit.

There were so many noises and things going on around her that it was challenging to get her to look at me and  smile. "Daddy, I've done this before, the guy next door blowing his leaves is so much more interesting"

It was a little easier to get her to smile when Mommy or Grandma was there to do goofy things and keep her attention.

What beautiful girls....

Thanks Grandma for letting us use your leaves....

Ella's getting much better at sitting up on her own now, she needs very little support. She likes to sit on the floor and play (eat) her toys and books. During tummy time, she holds her head of high. she seems to have pretty good strength now.

Still no rolling yet, she has all the steps, I think she just chooses not to roll. I think she would rather contort her body like a pretzel in order to see what's going on behind her, than just roll over.

When we finally roll her over, her legs are kickin and goin, I think she's going to crawl before she finally rolls over.

At 5 months, Ella has 2 teeth coming in on the bottom. She just loves to stick everything in her mouth. If she can get her hands on it, it's going in her mouth.

She eats her cereal like a champ now, she no longer needs to use her thumbs to swallow it down. I think eating is her favorite time..... She's going to fit right in.. ;)

This was from Ella's Baptism the week before, This girl is just too much.

Baptism

Ella and Mia's baptism was this past weekend, and they both were so good. Not a peep out of either of them.

What beautiful little angels these two are. They're like two peas in pod.

.... and this is my cousin Ella.....

How can you say no to a face like this..

Our Little Lobster...

Thanks to Auntie Ruey and Uncle Raj, Ella has her first Halloween costume;

Introducing our little lobster....

Once again our make shift studio works perfectly. Who needs fancy equipment when you have a kitchen table and floor lamps.

She almost looks more like a shrimp than a lobster.

Cousins

What a crazy bunch.....

Princess Leia and the ballerina

The force is strong with this one...

Ella Visits the Pumpkin Patch

We took Ella to pick pumpkins this past weekend, and she had a great time. She had no interest in paying attention to mom and I while we were trying to take these pictures. There was just too much going on around her that was so much more interesting.

She was just having fun watching all the people walking by, and touching all the pumpkins around her.

 This pumpkin looks comfy, maybe I'll  I'll just take a little nap

Ella's 4 Months Old...

I don't know what we're going to do when we can't use the kitchen table as our studio anymore. I'll have to post a picture of our little home made studio, so you can see just how crazy of a set up it actually is, but I'll save that for another day.
 Let's get to the important stuff....

At 4 months Ella is such a happy baby. She loves to smile and tell stories, at least I think they're stories. Every morning Mommy and Ella chat it up while getting dressed.

 She's getting stronger and stronger during tummy time, and  should be rolling over very soon. She has all the steps down, but just can't seem to put them all together and roll over on her own.

Ella's very fascinated in everything we do. No matter what Lisa or I is doing, she loves to watch intently and just absorb it all in.