Ella is Nine Months Old!

I can't believe it has been nine months since little Ella was born. She is changing so much every day. She is moving so much quicker and getting steadier and steadier on her feet. She pulls herself up on everything, bites it, and then slowly lowers herself to the floor again. She still only has her two bottom teeth, but she may be cutting a couple more soon with all the biting and fussing she has been doing lately. In the picture below, I finally captured her teeth on film!

Here Ella was climbing up on me, so I got a close-up. Now that she can pull herself up on things, no one is safe :)

Here is a video of her typical antics lately. Turn up the volume for the raspberry in the beginning--she has been blowing them all of the time now! She must like the feel, or she's just experimenting with what she can do with her mouth.

What really makes her look older to me is the fact that we can see her neck now. She still has those big cheeks, but she is losing some of her baby fat in her arms, face, and legs. Here is another video of her "cruising" and giggling too because Mom did something funny and then cheated by tickling to keep the giggles coming. Also, the cat is on the couch, and Ella's favorite game right now is "hunt the kitties to pull their tails." Luckily, Harry and Sally are very patient with her and have never swiped at her, but there have been times when she would have deserved it. She's still too young to understand the concept of "gentle petting" no matter how much we show her, so the cats are getting smarter about running away. The sad thing is that they get so little attention these days, they don't often run, opting instead to let Ella grab a fistful of fur or their tails. Poor kitties!

Ella's First Baseball Game

Last Saturday night, we attended the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox game with the Guy family! Ella had a blast watching the game from behind home plate, meeting new friends in the crowd, and hanging out with the Guys.


Ella and Lindsey got their picture taken with the mascot. I think he's supposed to be a gecko.



Here is Ella in the stands with Lindsey--notice Mom smiling--she is enjoying the free babysitting!



Here, Bruce is giving Ella a bird's eye view of the game while he explains the rules to her. She still looks a little confused!



I think Ella is calculating the best way to get Bruce's sunglasses off his face. Watch out Bruce! She has ninja-like speed.



A better view of our seats . . .

Of course there are no pictures of Lori because she was taking the pictures! I'm discovering that's what happens when you are the mom.

Summer Vacation

Last week, we all took a vacation and drove to Willow Creek in Northern CA, about one hour east of Arcata. We stayed with my friend Natalie, her husband Brian, and her son Owen in their "cabin" in the woods.

It was a great experience for Ella because she is rarely around other little kids. She was fascinated with him! Ella loved watching Owen play, and Owen was working on sharing his toys with Ella.



Ella can now pull herself up to her knees!



Ella and Owen ate lots of meals together . . .

Here are Owen and Ella hanging out with Brian.

On Thursday we took a trip into Arcata to escape the heat. It was in the triple digits! Of course we went straight to an ice cream shop!

Ella had fun playing with Owen's basketball hoop . . . Daddy was very happy to assist her in her first slam dunk :)

She even hangs on the rim! Nice finish Ella!!!


We also went swimming in the pool--Ella's first time in a pool! She loved her little floaty animal.

Daddy was keen to get her used to splashing.