9 Months and Moving!

Our Ella is 9 months old. It's hard to believe she's been around just as long as it took for her to grow in my belly. In the last week her movement has changed drastically. She mastered scooting backwards while on her tummy to get into a sitting position, and her "finish" to that trick is hilarious (see the video clip below). That led to sitting up in the crib that night (practicing at 5am, of course), and within 24 hrs. she was pulling herself up onto her knees in the crib, too. Needless to say, we immediately lowered the crib. She's also been rocking on her knees ever since and is frustrated when she can't reach things, so we're assuming she'll be crawling in no time. It's amazing this all started on Sunday afternoon!

Don't forget to take me!

We got Ella in for her 9 month appointment last week when she was sick. Dr. Lynch was nice enough to give us a 2-for-1 visit. Ella made it hard to believe that she had a 103.7 degree fever the night before when she was waving at and clapping for Dr. Lynch. Haha. Knowing and loving all of Ella's creases and rolls, I was floored when they told me her weight was in the 50th percentile based on length and age. Maybe she has feathers for bones? Either way, she has the cutest baby body around :)

Here are the updated stats of our growing girl:
Head Circumference: 45.4 centimeters (85th percentile)
Height: 27.5 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 18 lbs 1.5 ozs (50th percentile)

"I really am sick, I swear."
9 Month Appointment

7 & 8 Month Catch Up

Forgive us friends, for we have been busy. It's been more than two months since we've blogged...

Time seems to FLY by, as we've had plans almost every weekend in every direction. Since Easter, we've celebrated my cousin Nancy's wedding and Ella's baptism, had our Garber/Mulvaney family visit, spent our first night away from Ella in SF for Chris's company's IPO party, Cinco-de-Mayo-ed with college friends and Google friends, walked the Brain Tumor Walk in SF, enjoyed a day at Lagunitas brewery with good friends, celebrated my first Mother's Day, had Chris spend another great week at Stanford's Emerging CFO program, went to a couple's baby shower, spent a weekend in Santa Cruz for Stevie's bachelorette party, helped my mom as she recovered from shoulder surgery, celebrated Tyler's high school graduation and Joey Van Loon's college graduation, finished the school year, took a series of baby sign language classes, and had playdates with family and friends. PHEW. I'm more tired now that I just listed it all out.

All of these things have been really fun, and Ella seems to be an object of attention everywhere we take her. It never ceases to amaze us how easy going and happy she is most all of the time. She makes us smile so much every day. Chris and I find ourselves looking at each other saying, "she's the best" on a regular basis.

This now almost 9-month-old has a lot of new tricks up her sleeve. She loves clapping, eating all of the vegetables and fruit we've put in front of her, splashing in the bath, banging cups and toys, waving, "petting" Jackson, playing Peek-A-Boo, saying "mama" and babbling... she is a social, vocal baby who loves to play. From the looks of it, crawling is right around the corner. Stay tuned :)

We'll post some of the highlight photos of the last few months, but if you'd like to see more of her baptism photos, email me, and I'm happy to share them. It was such a special day with so many of our loved ones. Ella is truly a blessed little girl, and we feel blessed to have her in our lives, as well as our friends and family who mean so much to us.

Happy to be 7 months old!

What she is really doing when taking 7 month pictures :)

Parents and Godparents

Parents and Grandparents

We were so lucky to have all of Ella's Great-Grandparents, including her Great-Great Uncle & Aunt, join us!

Papa & Nana love swings as much as Ella :)

Ella could wave at herself all day... haha.
The best is when she waves at herself in the mirror on the seat when getting into her carseat every time :) 

Like my new dress?

Loving this swing weather!

I learned to clap this week!

Mom, is that you?

Thanks for my strawberry PJ's Grandma and Grandpa!

Taking care of Grandma

Hanging with Sierra and Matt at Lagunitas Brewery

You have been warned

First swim!  (She loves the pool)

My First Mother's Day
4 Generations :)

Chris's First Father's Day
He read her the Daddy books I gave him last year on Father's Day :)

Our Happy Girl

Ella loves to stick her tongue out, make clicking noises with her tongue, and fake laugh/cough.
She cracks us up!