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.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

I'm not always the best at remembering to be thankful and feel blessed for all the wonderful things I have in my life. I have an amazing man who is a loving husband and a perfect father to my babies. I have a handsome and smart, funny and clever little blue eyed boy who stole my heart the day he made me a mother. I have a new, beautiful baby girl who showed me that a mother's unconditional love for her child(ren) is limitless. And she lets me snuggle her!! I have a family whose love and support has shaped me into the person I am today, and that loves my husband and my babies as much as I do. And I have strong and meaningful friendships with some really special people. And I am so thankful I am for all of those things, now and always.

Mush-fest over. Now here are some pictures of our holiday weekend.

Thanksgiving Day was spent with Eric's side of the family.

Ella and her great Momo.

Gavin and Devin giving Ella some love.

Time to play some football outside.

Our family, Thanksgiving 2011

Ella got her first sink bath at Grandma's!

How cute is that face!

We spent Friday at my parent's with my aunt, uncle, cousin and his boys who were all in from out of town.

Carter and Jack (who is 5) enjoyed the bounce house!

My cousin Karen came up from Austin with her husband Dustin and their new baby girl. Ella is only 5 days older than Monroe!

Lots of fun ahead for these two!

Love these next 3 pictures.... they are so in sync!!

Precious baby girls!!

We roasted marshmellows and made s'mores.

Mmmmm.

Brett, Carter & Jack

All the boys, plus Grant.

And we finished off our festivities with a foosball tournament.

Carter was very serious while "playing."

It was great holiday weekend, and I hope yours was too!! Looking forward to Christmas!

Ella's 1 month check up

I took Ella yesterday for her well check. She is now 9lbs 3oz, and 21 inches long! She sure is growing fast! She also got one shot, and it was just about the most pitiful thing I have ever seen. This girl isn't a huge cryer. She definitely fusses, but I have only seen her scream about 5 times ever, and most of those involve getting in her car seat. She's pretty mellow and quite. When she got the shot, she cried, and cried, and then lost her breath because she was crying so hard, then cried even more. Her little face turned beet red, and when she was finally coming down from her cry, she kept making the most heartbreaking little pouty face. I guess it was bad enough that it was worthy of her first tears! Something about seeing little tears in her eyes just absolutely broke my heart.  And, I don't know why, but for some reason that was harder to watch for me than any of the shots Carter ever had to get. Anyway, it was pretty rough. And we get to do it again in another month... awesome. I might just cry myself next time. But besides the shot, everything else went great, and she got an A+! I'm so thankful that she is healthy and growing!

And because I can't do a post without some pictures, here are a few random recent ones.

When did Carter get so huge?

 He is always wanting to help with Ella. This particular day he was trying to keep her happy while she was fussing through an outfit change. So sweet.

 My pretty girl!

Ella at 1 month!

Ella, you are 1 month today!

I have no idea how much you weigh, but I think it is close to 9.5 lbs! You have really grown in the last few weeks! We will know your stats on Thursday when we go see Dr. Nail for your check up, and I will post them, of course.

You are still nursing great, and are taking Mommy's milk from a bottle really well, too! I am SO thankful for that, because it allows me the occasional break!

You are not as great of a sleeper as your brother was, but we are working on that. So far, you would much rather be sleeping on your tummy. At night, when you sleep on your back, you are very restless and squirmy. You, my dear, have some of the LOUDEST grunts and moans I have ever heard out of a little thing your size. It makes it very hard for Mommy and Daddy to get good sleep because of all your grunting! I do let you nap on our tummy during the day (I know, shame on me), and you sleep SO much better then.

If you had it your way, you would be held 24/7, and probably by Mommy over anyone else. BUT that can't happen, so you are learning to be happy in the swing and bouncy seat. Besides my arms, your next favorite place to be is laying flat on the floor. You love to kick and look around, but only for about 10 minutes, that is your max. Then you want to be held again. Sigh.

You can hold your head up really well. I mean REALLY well. I have never seen a 1 month old hold their head like you can. And really, you have been doing it since you were about 2 weeks old. I need to get pictures of that soon to post because it is quite funny to see a tiny little head poking up from your Daddy's shoulder as he is walking away!

You are tracking us with your eyes so much now, and have even given us a few smiles in the last few days that I'm pretty sure were on purpose! I can't wait to get those all time!!

Here you are in your 1 month onesie! Love you so much, sweet baby girl!

Family Outings

Last weekend we went to the Celina Baloon Festival. It was kind of a bust because the winds were too high for the balloon launch, but there was a little carnival set up there that Carter had fun at.

Carter loved the petting zoo!

 I love this. He was talking to the chick like he talks to his baby sister.

 Ella snoozed in her stroller the whole time.

 Carter enjoyed a few rides with Daddy.

Then yesterday we went to Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch in Pilot Point. Carter loved it, especially the tram ride. He was so excited to see all the animals!

This baby donkey was only 4 days old! 

 Look at that camel gnawing on the bar!

 Excited for the tram ride!

OMG. How cute is this baby camel?! 7 days old, and it followed it's Mommy around everywhere.

Videos of Ella's Birthday

I am just now getting around to uploading these to the computer and watching them. Love them all, and thought I would share!

Carter and Ella meet for the first time.

Carter singing Happy Birthday to his new baby sister. Cuteness overload!!

Carter thinks Ella's hiccups are SO funny.

Ella - 3 weeks

I'm not going to do these every week, but I wanted to do her first 4 weeks because they grow WAY too fast, so here is week 3. I promise I will only do monthly from here on out.  =)

And here are weeks 1 & 2 again... she has already grown and changed so much!