Yum!

Ella's first time eating from a spoon...



Of course, she probably had more on her face, up her nose, and down her front than in her mouth, but that is the way it goes with babies.

Side note:
Charles mowed the lawn, trimmed and edged the yard, tended the garden, and helped me with stuff inside. Then he took Ella so I could make a strawberry pie...

Guess he's the one who needed the nap.

Three Cheers For Ella!

Yesterday I left Ella like this

So she could play while Charles and I did the dishes. When I turned to check on her she was like this...

She seemed to be a bit surprised at what she had done.

It's official! She can now turn over!

The Things We Do...

to get our baby to laugh.

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden...

So we did


Isn't it swell!

We have a fan-tas-tic backyard. There is a pear, apple and cherry tree, a strawberry patch and blackberries! I hope we are here long enough to enjoy it all!



We have been enjoying the great outdoors, going on picnic's taking long walks.


Bliss.

Ella now falls asleep on her own. It is splendid. We swaddle her, kiss her, and put her in the crib, then leave. Like magic, her eyes close and she falls fast asleep! Maybe I will have another baby... someday. The one thing is I have to make sure and put her down when she is tired, otherwise she gets really mad and grumpy or she will fall asleep while playing...


Adorable.

Mom Moments

The other night I was watching "Lost in Austen" (cute but not great, I give it 2 stars) while holding Ella. She usually will fall asleep in my arms if we watch a movie at night but on this particular evening she seemed to want to play. It took me a few minutes to realize it but she kept looking at me trying to catch my eyes. When I would glance down at her she got the biggest smile on her face and would laugh. Finally I got the hint. I turned off the movie and just focused on her. She laughed and talked to me and just could stop smiling. She had never laughed and talked that much to me. I am so grateful that I turned off the TV otherwise I wouldn't have had the chance to experience it.

As an update:
The weather has been nice so we have been able to take Ella on some walks. Doesn't she look cute in her sun hat!

Lovely

When the weather warms up we actually like to go outside. Yesterday it was in the 70's very nice! We went to feed the local wildlife at the duck pond. Unfortunately I left the camera lying on the bed so I did not get pictures of Ella's first encounter with ducks. She seemed strangely fascinated by them. I don't think she knew what to think but at least she wasn't afraid. It was so nice to walk around the park in the sunshine. Everyone was out including some large turtles who were sunning them selves on some logs. Very cool.

Other events in the neighborhood include,

Ella can now suck her thumb! I think this is a great thing especially since she is a little Houdini and can get her hands out of the swaddle. Now she can suck her thumb instead of waking up and crying!



Ella has also decided she likes to help Charles study for accounting. Its a great way to get her to fall asleep ;)



Last but not least, Ella loves to drool! Check out that spit.

Life

After a few weeks without, we now have the internet! Hooray! It has been a whirlwind of a move. I will give you the readers digest version. We moved into the house on April 15. The place was pretty dirty and they left stuff everywhere so I had to move them out before I could move us in. Thankfully my lovely sister Sarah was here to save the day. We actually had a lot of fun together. It was great to have time to goof of without our husbands. Having Charles get here was a breath of fresh air. Two weeks without him, I felt like I was drowning. The first week of school was hard. Charles has a lot of homework, classes and was also trying to find a job. He got a job and on his first day I got sick. Really sick. Probably the sickest I have ever been in my life. 105 degree fever, aches, pains you name it. It was awful. I was so weak and delirious that I could not take care of Ella. I was able to get a hold of Charles at work and asked him to come home. (actually I was crying on the phone, did I mention I didn't feel well, yeah I felt like I was dying) So he came home asap and ended up taking me to the ER. We were there most of the night while they pumped me full of fluids and tested me for various diseases. They wanted to keep me longer because I kept passing out but I felt I could recover faster at home. The next day a lovely sister from the ward came over to take care of Ella so I could sleep all day. Charles went to class and tried to catch up on hw. He was planning on going back to work that day but it turns out that since he left to take me to the ER they "let him go". Apparently they needed someone more responsible and reliable. (If you ask me a man who will leave work to go take his wife to the hospital is very responsible) The crazy part is that it was an on campus job, who knew that he would have to choose between family and a job at BYU-Idaho.
Things have started to calm down. We are all moved in, Ella and I are getting into some sort of routine, I have recovered from my mysterious flu, and the weather is warming up.
Ella is seems to have a new trick everyday. She laughs and smile all of the time. I love it! I also love that she is sleeping through the night. (In the crib!) I am a much better wife and mother with sleep.


Just as a side note, I am writing this with Ella on my lap and as I pulled up the pictures of her she started to talk to her pictures. She seemed to think it was funny. So Cute!