Ella's blessing was beautiful, Jer did an awesome job and made me cry, along with an old roommate who came, and possibly some other people. My younger cousin gave a hilarious testimony, which luckily I was in the mother's room for so that everyone in the congregation couldn't stare at me while they were laughing. We are so lucky to have had so much support and so many family and friends come for Ella's special day.
Jer made this video for the luncheon after the blessing, it makes me cry when I watch it and relive all the feelings of how we came to this point. You'll probably want to pause the music player at the bottom of the page to hear the music and sound of the video. Enjoy!
Some of the pictures from Ella's photoshoots are in the video, and I have to credit the great photographers:
Chase Lester Photography and
Erin Wood Photography, click on their names to check out their blogs and work.
Ella's 3 months old today and getting bigger and bigger, I can hardly believe how fast time has gone. She's a little wiggler, sometimes when I go in to feed her or check on her, she's turned herself 45 degrees in her crib, this morning she had turned and scooted so that her legs were sticking out of the slats in the side (we don't have a bumper because I've heard they can be hazardous). She grabs her toys on her floor gym and chatters away. Lately she's been discovering her tongue and playing with it. It's so fun to watch her learn new things. She's been sleeping pretty well for the last month too, averaging about 6 hrs at night, sometimes even 9 hrs if I'm lucky.
Working is still hard, but luckily I can work in the morning now when she does most of her sleeping, although I am pretty exhausted in the afternoon, so I don't know how much fun poor Ella has with me.
In home news, the hole has been dug and the foundation has been started, it's pretty exciting to watch it go up. We met the neighbors across the street and they seem super nice, so that makes me less nervous about moving.
So far we're having a great summer and we hope you all are having a great one too!
Well, Ella's 7 months old today! It's so cliche to say, but I can't believe how the time has flown. I was planning on doing a 6 month post, but time got away from me. At her six month check up she measured small, but the Dr. says it's fine because she's proportionate and has chub in all the right places, she's just meant to be more petite.
Happy waking up from her nap
She'll tip over and roll to her tummy and scoot backwards. She spits and talks and squeals. She loves watching her daddy and playing with him, it's so cute to see them together.
She's been cutting a bottom tooth for awhile now, but it keeps going into hiding. She gives big, wet, open-mouth kisses, and I love every single one I get-a wet cheek means you're loved around here. We love every little sound she makes. She loves applesauce, and just about any other mushy food we've given her. 
We were at Leatherby's a couple weeks ago, and though I wasn't planning on giving her ice cream, she kept opening her mouth every time I'd take a bite and I couldn't leave her sweet little face hanging so she got her first taste of ice cream and absolutely LOVED it. If I ever tried to take a bite instead of giving her some, she'd get pretty angry and let me know how she felt. Jer couldn't stop laughing.
That bite's not for you, it's for me, see?
Kai (3 weeks older than Ella), Ella and Oliver (7 months older than Ella)
but for now we're just trying to get through the day to day; we're both pretty exhausted from work by the end of the day. We're feeling like those boring old adults we used to make fun of. I tell Jer, "we're not old and boring, we're just responsible adults".
She smiles so big that she scrunches her little nose and forehead up, she giggles and squeals and wiggles all over the place. She's rolled from back to tummy and tummy to back (but hasn't in a little while). She loves all the attention she can get, though she has a hard time being completely surrounded (by all her adoring cousins). Every body loves her. She's such a beautiful baby!
Our cute little family
With both sets of grandparents
With her step-great-grandma Thorne
We are lucky enough to have a couple of photographer friends who took some adorable pics of Ella, sadly I don't know where they are all on the computer, I'll have to find them later and post more. Ella is 2 months old today! I can't believe it, she's growing so fast! She smiles and coos at us, as well as bats at her floor gym toys. She even talks in her sleep just like her daddy. She's a pro at pouting, but she's had that down since birth. She's perfect in every way and we couldn't feel more blessed. I still cry sometimes when I look at her because I feel so lucky to have her in my life. We'll be blessing her June 6th (our last Sunday in our current ward :( ) Which leads me to my next bit of news, if you haven't heard yet, we're moving. We sold the condo and have had it appraised and inspected, now all we have to do is close (next week!!!). We've been trying to go through our stuff and get some of it packed up, we're hoping to get a lot done Memorial Day too. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed though, I look around and just wonder how it's going to get done along with everything else (taking care of the baby, working, laundry, etc). We'll be moving in with Jer's parents until our house it built (which should be started as soon as we close on the condo!). Just about everything is off the walls-it's kinda creepy in here now and doesn't feel like home anymore, it's weird.
