Ella-2 months

Yesterday Ella turned 2 months!
What a good girl she is!

She's starting to smile a lot more and is on the verge of laughing.  Tickling her does not get her to laugh; she hates it and usually ends up crying.  Instead you have to smile a lot, play peek a boo, and act silly to get her to <almost> laugh.

She's gaining better control of her hands and loves to suck on them.

Ella still sleeps quite a bit during the day.  She goes to bed around 9:30-10:30pm, wakes up around 6am, back to sleep until about 9am.  She takes one really long 3 hour nap (swaddled in the swing) during the day and several other cat naps. 

She likes the NUK pacifier.

Lately she doesn't handle the car well.  She can sit in the car seat in the store, at home, and in the stroller and be just fine, but the minute we put her in the car, she is NOT happy! 

Ella loves her bath and hardly cries.

I try not to rock my babies to sleep at night so they learn to fall asleep by themselves, but sometimes, I just can't help it!  l hold her tight, look at her sleeping face, and feel an overwhelming love for this little soul.  It's an amazing feeling.  I just want to freeze those moments in time and be able to relive them over and over. 

We love our Ella girl and feel blessed to have her in our family!

Summer Update

We’ve had a very low key summer which I have absolutely LOVED!  But it doesn’t make for very exciting blog posts, so give me a break!  I included some cute pics of Ella to make up for it :)

The past couple weeks the kids took swimming lessons.  I put Josh and Andrew in semi-private lessons together and the learned SO much!  Josh is very good at freestyle with breathing to the side and backstroke.  He can swim the whole length of the pool and back (25 meters each way).  Andrew improved in his freestyle and got really good at diving.

We’ve swam in the backyard a couple times.  Luke especially loves that and would stay back there all day if I let him.  We’ve spent a lot of time at the park outside, riding bikes, and playing with friends.  On Saturday we bought a basketball hoop so we can shoot hoops in the street.  We’re just waiting for Darrin to find time to put it together!

Ella is as cute as ever!  Especially when she sleeps well at night!  Last night she slept from 9:30-6:30 and then went back to bed and slept until 9:30am.  It was so nice!  During the day she eats every 3 hours which is so strange, because the boys all ate every 2.  Her life doesn’t revolve around food like theirs did. 

We’ve hung out with cousins!  Saturday night we played Frisbee golf and played at the park. 

Monday we went to the fountain park for FHE and got shakes for dessert.  Gotta love half price shakes at Sonic after 8pm!

We’re now thinking about school.  It starts 3 weeks from today!  We’ve bought our school supplies, but haven’t shopped for clothes or shoes yet.  That’s on our to do list for this week and next! 

Yay for summer!

a name.

Yesterday was Ella’s blessing day.

It was a special day; a day to reflect on this tender mercy from the Lord. 

Ella is named after 2 remarkable and faithful women.

Ella is my great-grandmother’s name.  She is the only great-grandparent that I remember meeting as a child.  And although she didn’t go by this name {she went by her middle name}, I hope it will be special for Ella to be named after such a great lady.  I asked my mom to tell me a little be about her and this was her reply:

“My grandmother was short, spunky and a tom-boy. I think she spoke her mind, but she loved everyone and everyone loved her. She was faithful and served in many callings including RS president. She was thrifty and a saver-of-all-things-that-might-have-a-use-someday. She loved to sing and had a lovely voice. She loved children, especially her own and would light up when she saw them. She never let trivial everyday things get in the way of something more worthwhile. She loved reading the scriptures, baby dolls and making banana bread.”

Joyce is Darrin’s mother’s name.  She is another wonderful lady who is sacrificing for the Lord right now and teaching the gospel to the people in England.  You see, my mother-in-law loves little babies.  I know it’s hard for her to be away right now.  But we are grateful for their dedication to the Lord.  When people serve the Lord, blessings happen.  I truly believe that Ella is a direct blessing from them serving a mission.  We are grateful.  I want Ella to always remember her grandparents sacrifice, so she could be here.

Ella’s blessing was beautiful.  As her daddy held her up for the ward to see, he kissed her on the head.  I’m pretty sure he’s fallen in love.  And since he was conducting sacrament meeting, he bore his testimony and made the comment that he’s excited to see how Ella will change our life.  She’s already changed mine.

We love you Ella :)

Mike, Tanya, Makell and Ryan were there, but had to leave, so they missed our picture.