Happy First Birthday Ellie!

 Baby Ellie reached an important milestone on Sunday...she turned ONE! It's hard to believe that just one year ago Ellie was born and gave us the best gift we could ever receive.  Last Christmas we had a tiny four-day-old and this Christmas we have an energetic, sweet, and bustling baby starting to show us who she is!  Mama feels a little sad to think that her infancy is over because it went by at lightning speed!  We are eager though to watch her continue to grow and change!  At one year of age Ellie:

• Weighs 19.8 lbs and is 28 and 3/4 inches long.  She had her well check-up this morning and is in great health!  She received three shots and had her iron checked, which didn't please her too much.
• Has a fairly consistent sleep schedule!  She takes a morning and afternoon nap, goes to bed at 8 p.m., sleeps through the night, and wakes up at 6 or 7 a.m.
• Has nine teeth.  Two of her recent teeth to cut have been molars.  She marked this occasion with some fussiness, but that was all.
• Loves to push her ride-on toy or baby stroller around.  She doesn't seem to have much interest in walking without those things but has figured out how to climb onto her ride-on.  (Cooper has taken it upon himself to carry her from room to room, which is probably partly why she isn't motivated to walk. Ah that little third baby!)
• Is a little stinker!  Ellie gets a certain twinkle in her eye when she wants to do something she knows she isn't supposed to.  We try to keep her out of the playroom (Waaaay too many legos for a baby in there!), and she will give me that certain look and crawl uber-fast towards that room.   She makes that same look right before she throws or knocks her food off her tray.  (Feeding the dog is way more fun than eating, apparently.)
• Loves finger foods so much, the only things I can feed her with a spoon are applesauce or yogurt.  Her current favorite foods are goldfish crackers and toast but she also likes scrambled eggs, peanut butter crackers, bacon, Gerber fruit and oat bars, yogurt melts and she likes to gnaw on raw carrots or apples.  She doesn't seem too inclined to try new foods but we keep on trying.
• Can drink from both a sippy cup and a straw.  She LOVES to drink from a straw.
• Ellie can say "mama", "dada", and "bye".  We thought she tried to say "dog" and "cuh-puh" (cooper) the other day but we weren't sure.
• Has enjoyed lots of visitors in the last month!  Nonnie, Aunt Amanda and Matt, the cousins, Uncle Laurin and Uncle Rosendo joined us for Thanksgiving and Ma-Mas, Pa-Pa, Uncle Clint, and Steve, Mary and Sterling Bennett came to celebrate her birthday.  

One year old photo shoot via Mama...she is just too big and wiggly to get a good picture in the same chair I've taken her other monthly pictures in.  To the floor we go.

Ellie has a seriousness about her but is such a happy little soul!

Ellie loves to point at things and whisper baby-babble.  This is insanely cute.

Outtake one from the photo shoot...

Outtake two...clearly not going to cooperate.

We celebrated Ellie's birthday with a small party at home on Saturday evening.  Daddy made pulled pork for the adults and Mama made a giant cupcake.  She received several presents including a light-up, music-playing monkey ball sorter from Mama and Daddy, outfits and a doll from Ma-Mas and Pa-Pa, blocks from the Bennetts, and a gift card from Uncle Clint.  A few pictures from  Ellie's party:

Birthday cake!  

Presents!

Little ham for the camera!