Happy 1st Birthday Ella

Ella opening her packages from Aunt Lori, Uncle Eric, cousins Sarah and Libby.

Ella crashes from all the excitement. (Notice her "Party Girl" pin).

Ella with her two new favorite things..her horse and her Birthday balloon.

At G&G Martin's house in the evening for a small party...look at that cake face :)

The morning of the 18th--on our way to her one year checkup at the doctor.

Ella with her Elmo. A gift from Aunt Lori and family. (She loves Elmo)

It's October 18th. Our sweet baby Ella was born at 4:24 pm on this date 1 year ago. Her first birthday seemed like an eternity away this time last year. It's really hard to believe we experienced the first year year of her life already. We are truly blessed to have had such a sweet little girl.
During the day, we took her to her one year check up. (Yes, I scheduled this ON her birthday). She is really growing. She weighes 18 pounds and is 29 1/4 inches tall. On the night of the 18th, we had a small party at my parent's house to celebrate on her birthday. We found out how much she loves balloons. Her cupcake balloon was a hit and her favorite new "toy". She received a new rocking horse (from G. & G. Martin) that talks and sings. She was content as can be riding her horse and holding her balloon. Her big family birthday party is on October 24th and we can't wait to celebrate with everyone!

Autumn Update

The last 4 weeks or so have been very busy for us around here. I just wanted to update everyone on the eve of Ella's First Birthday. Her First Birthday tomorrow. I can't wrap my mind around it. It was one year ago tonight that I denied being in labor. haha. I went to bed around 11pm and had a great night's sleep after a very long day of shopping with Mike. The next day I surrendered myself to the hospital. ;P

We made our big move to Valparaiso. We didn't have a lot to move, yet this move seemed monumental. We plan to stay here for awhile - at least a few years until we outgrow this house. Mike and I are back where we started....literally. Back to the house where I used to visit him when we were dating. I used to pull up in the driveway and Sadie would be barking to greet me and be waiting for me outside my car door. Then I would walk up and knock on the door until Mike answered. That was about 5 years ago before he moved away and right after we got engaged. A lot has happened since then! It is so strange to think back to moments that seem like yesterday. I now pull up with Baby Ella in tow. Sadie still greets me with vigor. Now I don't knock and open the door to "our" home.

We have been making it ours even more for the past few months (as you know) by doing some renovations. It is all to be complete by the end of the week. One thing we are really enjoying are our walks in the neighborhood. Especially on warm Autumn mornings when the leaves crunch under foot. Ella loves to stroll. She insists she hold Sadie's leash from her stroller. It is very cute. Walks around these old haunts were another favorite pasttime of me and Mike's when he lived in Valpo.

Another favorite thing these days is going to the park. Ella loves the swing and giggles when she is pushed into the air. We went to the little park, Melorose Park, in Long Beach many times. Ella still is a dancing queen. Music could entertain her for long periods of time, clapping dancing and "singing".

Two weeks ago she started saying, "what's that" and pointing. She does this constantly and is very inquisitive on everything. You can't help but to just love her when she exercises that little voice of hers and points her finger.