Santa baby

Hello friends! Time is just flying by. Can you believe I'm already 11 months old?! I weigh 24 lbs, have two teeth, and I pull myself up on everything to stand . Before you know it I'll be cruising all over the house.

And while that is all very impressive, I know, the biggest news is that I've just been to see Santa for the first time. And let me tell you, he is a very fascinating fellow. I just love his beard and his shiny glasses. Our visit was brief - we sized each other up, and then I told him what I wanted for Christmas. He's promised to deliver, so we'll see... :)






Okay, so before I get too excited about Christmas, let me tell you about my Thanksgiving adventure. We took a road trip down to Louisiana to visit my boyfriend Drew and his family. We had a great time just hanging out, but my favorite parts were playing with Drew's toys and our trip to the zoo.


I smile and nod and Drew tries to explain how it works (which of course I've already figured out)!

Snuggled up in our double stroller at the zoo...

My favorite animal at the zoo is the monkey - the gibbons were loud and playful - very fun to watch.

Best seat in the house...

Dad bought me a souvenir - a stuffed toucan as big as me!

Okay, back to present day Ohio, which, by the way, is much colder than I prefer. However, that has not diminished my love of the outdoors. I just have to put on my fuzzy jacket first...

Here I am modeling my new Christmas dress - red hot, right?!

My new favorite toy (early Christmas present) is my activity table. I can pull myself up to stand next to it to play. Almost everything I touch makes noise or plays a song, etc. It is great entertainment!

Um, okay - Mom insisted on including this picture. It is of me sleeping. She had laid me down for my nap, but I decided I wanted to sit up instead. However, while sitting, I got very tired, leaned over and passed out. Luckily Mom checked on me and was able to reposition me so that I didn't sleep like this for two hours! Pretty silly, I know.

Here are a few more fun pictures of me just being my sweet, adorable self. Enjoy!

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, too!

Sending lots of love!
Ella

Flower Power

Hello friends! Here are a few recent photos for your viewing pleasure, including very adorable shots of me in my first Halloween costume... a pretty purple flower.

I got to help pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. It was a very important job that required me to inspect each piece of candy carefully.

Have you ever seen a prettier flower?!?

I've been practicing my crawling and am getting faster. I prefer the more cushy carpet in the living room over the hard floor in the kitchen and entry way. Crawling can be tough on the knees.

I have a "pet" lion named Leo. Mom and Dad say it is probably the only pet I'll ever have. We'll see about that. But I have to say that Leo is a lot of fun. When I push his nose it lights up and plays music.

Yee-haaaaa! Ride that lion. :)

One of my favorite things is when Daddy reads me a bed time story.

I miss Daddy when he's at work. On the weekends we like to play together ALL day and Daddy gets to do some of the things with me that he misses during the week.

Like dinner... sometimes I eat better for Daddy than Mommy! But don't tell her that.

And bath time...

We had some nice weather this week and Mommy took me to the park 3 days in a row!!! I absolutely LOVE the swings and being outside in the sunshine and feeling the breeze.

Hope you enjoyed the latest update of my adventures.

Next time I'd love it if you'd join me!

Love, Ella

9 months old

Hello friends! I'm very excited to report that I've reached another milestone - I'm nine months old. And guess what?! I'm on the move!!!! Check out the video of me crawling below.
I am 29 inches tall now and weigh 22 lbs 5 oz. My first tooth is just about to emerge and I'm getting better and better at eating. My favorite food is still yogurt but I like lots of different flavors. I like to travel and I've been on a total of 12 airplanes so far. Being a little girl is fun, but it can be a lot of work. :) Until next month... Love, Ella

Ponies and Pigtails

Hello everyone! Just wanted to share a few pics from my fun weekend.

I got to ride on a carousel for the first time. It was a little bit scary, but I was brave. (Mostly I was just tired because it was nap time - otherwise I think I would have enjoyed it more.) Next time...

Aren't I cute! Mom decided that my hair was finally long enough for pigtails.

Check me out - I'm sitting up all by myself. Before you know it I'll be cruising all over the house. Get ready, here I come!

Hope you have a good week!
Love,

Ella

Eight Months Old

Hello friends! I can't believe it is already September! I am 8 months old now and getting to be quite grown up. :)

I have new big girl car seat...


and a new big girl high chair. My favorite food to eat is baby yogurt - raspberry pear flavor.

I still love to play in my jumparoo and mommy laughs at me when I put my pacifier in my mouth backwards.

This month I also went to the park for the very first time. I LOVE the swings!!! I just couldn't get enough of them.

I also got to go on another airplane trip - down to Dallas, TX to visit Grandma and Grandpa Brinkerhoff. Grandpa Vaughan (below) met me there and he and Dad went to the BYU game, which we won - yay! Here is a pic of us in our BYU shirts.

Grandma and Grandpa Brinkerhoff took me to the Dallas World Aquarium. Dad carried me around most of the time since I couldn't see much from my stroller.

We saw lots of colorful fish...


rain forest animals including a cheetah and lots of kinds of toucans...

and even sharks!!!

I like to travel and I love to visit family. Most of all, I love to experience new things and see new places. I love the outdoors and one of my favorite things to do with Daddy is to take a walk around the house and look at the flowers and watch the bees fly back and forth. Mommy and Daddy and I also like to take walks around the neighborhood on the weekends. I am enjoying the wonderful sunny weather and looking forward to beautiful fall leaves.

Hope you're enjoying hearing my stories!
Love, Ella

7 months old

The last month was full of firsts and fun adventures. :)

I went on my first airplane ride. We flew to Salt Lake City on our way out to Portland.
I liked the airplane and didn't have much of a problem with the air pressure changes. I don't know why everyone always makes a big deal about that. I made friends with all of the people sitting around me and even managed a little nap on dad's lap. I found it is true, it is very hard to sleep on airplanes. My favorite part of the flight was the little bag of peanuts the flight attendant gave me to hold. The wrapper crinkled and it was red and shiny!




When we got to SLC, we stayed at my cousin Ivy's house. I got to sleep in her crib and play with some of her toys. It was lots of fun.


Ivy and I took our parents to Park City, UT to the Olympic Park. It was very cool to see the athletes practicing the ski jumps in the summer.


We even got to climb into a real Olympic style bobsled.




Park City was very pretty and they have something we don't have at home - mountains.


While I was in UT I had a chance to visit with my Aunt Jacque...


and my Aunt Tammy, as well as many other family members that I got to meet for the first time. I felt very popular. ;)


After our stop in Utah, we got on another plane and flew to Portland, OR. My Uncle Dave and Aunt Heather live there. We went to visit the famous rose gardens. The flowers were amazing and it smelled so nice!






Oregon was beautiful and we had a great time hiking and exploring the area. First we went to Wahkeena Falls. I love the outdoors and I was very excited to see the waterfall!



Grandma and Grandpa Brinkerhoff met us in Portland to join the adventure.

Our next stop was Multnomah Falls. They were even bigger than the first waterfalls. We hiked from the bottom up to the bridge. Dad and Uncle Dave hiked all the way to the top, but the rest of us waited at the bottom.

After the waterfalls, we went to the dam and then down to lighthouse point park. The park was very forested and we saw very old, very big trees.

Portland was great, but since this was my first time in the Pacific Northwest, we decided to drive up to Vancouver, B.C. and then stop in Seattle, WA on the way home. So, this was my first trip out of the country and my first time through immigration (which took 2 hours, by the way).

Here is a picture of me and mom and dad on top of the Seattle Space Needle. It was kind of windy, but a great view of the city.

On our last day back in Portland, we headed to the coast. We went to Cannon Beach which is known for the large stack rocks that stick out of the water. It was a little bit cold, but that didn't stop me from getting my feet wet. Now I can say that I've been in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans! :)

After getting wet, I laid on the beach for a while, just chilling, wearing my new BYU sweatshirt. I know, too cool for words!

Phew! The trip was fun, but exhausting. We made it back home and I'm getting back to my routine. Other noteworthy firsts - baby food and a new car seat. As for baby food, I don't really like the rice cereal that mom tries to feed me - so bland! - but I do like carrots and sweet potatoes. Also, since I've outgrown my infant car seat, I have a new car seat that is pink and brown with butterflies. I'll post a photo soon. The most important part about it, is that now, when we go somewhere, I no longer have to stay in my car seat on arrival, but get to ride in the stroller or be carried everywhere. I like it, but I can tell it will take some getting used to for mom. :)

I almost forgot to tell you, I have started teething. This is something that I'm not so much a fan of. I don't have any actual teeth yet, but every now and then it really hurts my mouth and I'm not a lot of fun to be around. Hopefully it won't be a long process, but I guess it is all just part of growing up.

Thanks for tuning in for my latest adventures.

Love, Ella