Goodbye, 2011.... You Were Amazing!

I just want to take a moment and wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that 2011 is already behind us, but we are excited to welcome all that 2012 has to offer! It was a wonderful year for our family! Here are only some of the highlights of 2011!

Eric turned 30 in January!

We found out we were expecting #2 in February!

Carter turned 2 on April 13th, and the three of us celebrated at Gatti Town!

 Eric and I enjoyed a relaxing trip to Cabo in May.

And when we came back, we found out we had a baby GIRL on the way!!

 In July we took our first and last vacation as a family of 3.

Sea World was a blast, and I'm so grateful we did that with Carter before Ella arrived.

In August, Carter's 'nursery' became a big boy room!!

We also celebrated the empending arrival of Ella with a few wonderful baby showers!

Our hearts doubled in size in October with the birth of our baby girl!

And our first holiday season as a family of 4 in November and December was so much fun!

Thank you, 2011, for a wonderful year. We couldn't have asked for anything more. All the wonderful moments, love and blessings you gave us will be hard to beat in 2012!

2011 Christmas Celebrations!

Whew. We have had a very busy week! Five days after Christmas, and I am just now getting a chance to sit down to go through pictures and do a blog post.

We had a wonderful holiday with all of our family. We started by celebrating on the 18th with Eric's side of the family. I didn't take many pictures that day, but here are a few.

Silly Grandpa with a bow on his head.

Each of the boys got a laptop, and they're all playing with them at once. 

 Grandma and Ella

Momma opened gifts, too!

Then on the 21st, we had dinner with my Dad's side of the family, the Powells. My cousin Chris and his wife and daughter were in town from California, and Logan and Hayden have moved back to DFW since Skylar got deployed, so Carter had some little playmates. We all went to dinner, then went to look at the Christmas lights at the complex where my Grandparents live. They really decorate it well there! The kids had a ton of fun running around together, and the adults laughed and laughed while watching the kids! We went inside for cookies and hot chocolate afterwards. It was a really fun night with family.

Logan and Hayden meeting Ella for the first time.

 Hayden and Zoe just loved her! Zoe is going to be a big sister in June!!

 When we went to look at Christmas lights, Zoe zeroed in on this deer, ran to it, hopped right on, and rode it! Oh my goodness, it was the funniest thing... we all laughed and laughed. It's a wonder that deer didn't fall over.

 Lots of lights!

 Hayden, Zoe, and Carter slowed down long enough to get one picture with the three of them.

 Cousin love.  

 Time for cookies and hot cocoa!

 My big boy!

Then on the 22nd we did the Powell family Christmas. That was a hectic night for me because Eric was out of town working, so I was a single parent. These are the only pictures I managed to take. But aren't they cute?!

I sure do love these sweet babies...

 Identical...

 Love this picture of Carter and his Nana

Christmas Eve was pretty low key. Just dinner with family, and then home to hang out, just the 4 of us. We skipped church this year. The thought of taking both kids stressed me out, big time. Next year we'll definitely be there to celebrate Jesus' birthday!

Me and my babies about to head out for Christmas Eve dinner

 Ella's first time to wear a dress. How cute is she?!

 Daddy and the babies

 Getting ready to go to bed so Santa will come!

 Gotta love the matching jammies!

 Santa came!

Carter really enjoyed opening all his gifts on Christmas morning, and helping Ella open hers, too! We spent the morning playing with our new things that Santa brought and preparing for company. We hosted Christmas dinner at our house this year for everyone. My parents and brothers, my grandma, Eric's grandparents, and my aunt, uncle and cousin all included.... 15 people! It was fun to have it at our house for a changes, but definitely a lot of work! So much, in fact, that I didn't even think to pick up the camera once.  =(  But here are some pics from Christmas morning.

So happy Santa came!

 Showing off his new Lightning McQueen

 Ella sure was excited about her new table!

 Carter helping Ella open her gifts. She thought that was really funny.  :)

 Time for stockings!

On the 26th, we had Rogers Christmas (my Mom's side) at my parent's house. We had fun doing our Chinese gift exchange (called 'Dirty Santa' by my family), and we even managed to take some family pictures!

As you can see, we had a very full holiday weekend! We sure loved spending so much time with our families and celebrating with everyone. What a blessed year we have had, and what a wonderful note to end it on!

Ella at 2 months!

Sweet Ella, you are 2 months old! We took you for your well check today. You now weigh 11lbs 6oz, and are 22 1/2 inches long! You still weigh more than your brother did at this age, and you are not quite as tall as he was at 2 months. You had a major milestone while we were there too, right on Dr. Nail's exam table. You rolled over for the first time!! I couldn't believe it. We were shocked because we haven't really noticed you even trying to do that at home. And your shots were horrible. I don't even want to talk about it, it was so sad. :( But we got them done, and no more of that nonsense until you are 4 months old. Anyway, here is what you are up to at 2 months.

• Nursing every 2.5-3 hours
• Sleeping in 5-7 hour stretches at night. You're usually down by 9:30pm, up again to eat anywhere from 3:00am-5:30am, then back to sleep until sometimes 9 or 9:30am. A lot of the time I have to wake you if we need to leave the house to be somewhere by 10:00. Silly girl!
• You are officially a belly sleeper full time. Shhhh, don't tell. We are breaking parenting rule #1: Always put your baby on it's back. We did that for the first month, and you protested it whole heartedly. Mommy got her hands on an Angel Care Monitor which alerts us if you stop breathing (Thank you so much, Ashley Robin!), so I now feel totally comfortable letting you sleep on your tummy. I know it's what you've wanted the whole time, and you are doing SO much better now! You are even learning to put yourself to sleep by sucking/smacking on your hands if you are ever put in your bed awake.
• Since you are on your tummy now, you are no longer being swaddled either. And I kinda miss that little burrito baby just a little bit. But that also means we don't have to break the swaddle habit later!
• You are smiling and cooing lots at faces that you recognize, and even a few that you don't. Our waitress at dinner the other night got the biggest grin out of you!
• You hold your head up great, and you also do really well during tummy time. You have rolled over twice now!
• You are not a huge fan of taking a bottle anymore. For some reason you have started to get really frustrated with them. We're working on that.
• You still love to be held, although you are growing more and more content to be in your swing, bouncy seat, or lying on your playmat during awake times. You still hate the car seat.
• You have been to several playdates this month with your big brother. You even have a few baby friends of your own!

Here are a few pictures from your 2 month photo shoot.

I also couldn't leave out a video Daddy took of your big milestone today! Such a big girl!!

You are a joy, sweet girl, and we love watching you grow and change from month to month. It's going by a little too fast, and I am still trying to figure out what to do about that. I guess just enjoy every minute! And we do. We are looking forward to your first Christmas and all the fun to come with you, baby girl!! Love you so much!

Sweet Little Voice

I love that this little girl has started cooing and talking so much.

It might be one of the sweetest sounds ever!

Handprint Christmas Ornaments

Last week, Sarah from our playgroup had everyone over to make Handprint Christmas Ornaments and a little play time. Carter and Ella each made one, and what a cute and fun keepsake to have! They turned out great!

Carter's turn! Sarah helped him out...

 And Ella's turn.... it was pretty hard to get her little hand open and smush it down!

 Ella and Braydon (He is 5 months, and cute as ever!)

 Carter and Tyler having fun (Braydon's big brother)

 Smiles from my sweet girl!

 And the finished product!! Love them!

Our New Roommate and a Visit with Santa

We have a new live-in. He is tiny, dressed in red, has blue eyes and is wearing a Santa hat. He doesn't say much, and he doesn't really get in the way at all. In fact, I never really even notice him except in the mornings when we first wake up and find what he's been up to over night. We've found him watching TV and playing with Carter's trains, among other things. His name is Doodle, and he'll be around for a little while, at least until December 25th!  :)

We took the kids to see Santa this week. Carter was so excited to see him and tell him what was on his Christmas list. He wasn't shy at all and went right up to him and gave him a hug. He told Santa he wanted a Red Lightning McQueen, Mickey Mouse, and Jesse (from Toy Story). Hope Santa can come through for this little boy!! Ella didn't seem to notice Santa at all, she was just wanting to finish her bottle that we interrupted to plop her in Santa's lap. At least she wasn't crying in the picture. Can't wait to see what Santa brings for all of us! See ya next year, Santa!

Me and My Girl

When I was at my parent's house over Thanksgiving, I was looking through some old photo albums,

and look what I found!!

Yes, that is me. Circa October 1984. How much does this look like my daughter?! I'm like the rest of you... I thought my baby girl was a spitting image of her daddy.... until I saw this! Wow.

(Forgive the horrible quality, this is a cell phone pic of a really old and bad quality photo to begin with)

Here are a few equally bad quality cell phone images of Ella, but you can see the resemblance.

 Ella is definitely more plump than I am in that picture!

Smiles

Baby girl is starting to coo and smile... and it melts my heart every time!!

Love this precious girl.