Small Fry

"I'm two!"

2013-12-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

When Ella turned two, it wasn't a very celebratory day. Unfortunately, both she and her Daddy came down with the flu. ON HER BIRTHDAY. Of all days. On the up side, she won't really remember that later in life, except for maybe the photo evidence of a red, runny nose. But hey, a mom needs photos! And regardless of how they were feeling, and the fact that I was running around trying to take care of my two sick "babies", we felt the need to still let her have cake and presents on her actual day of birth. So, of course we did. And of course there are pictures! ;)

At her 2 year appointment, Ella was 26.75 lbs, and 36.75 inches tall. She is still in the 98 percentile for height and they even did the estimation calculation. According to that, she could be 5 feet, 9 inches tall as an adult. She is going to tower over her mommy! ;)

This past month was chalk full of activity and fun. I started teaching Ella more about how to help others and do things for others, so we made a Build-A-Bear for a child at St. Jude's Hospital as well as did collections for different ministries, such as toys for Toys for Tots and items for refugee kids to work on and do while their parents fill out paperwork. We also put together gifts for the garbage men, mailmen, and lawn care men. Gabriella really enjoys putting the items together and passing them out. And when we went to the fire station to drop off toys, she even got to check out the ambulance and fire truck with one of the firemen.

Ella did some more modeling for a new boutique, and of course she posed away for the camera. Her hair is also finally long enough for a pony tail! Yay!

She also got to meet her brand new cousin, Corban, this month. She liked holding him, but only for small amounts of time. I think she wasn't quite sure what to do with a person that was so little! ;)

She is still busy exploring and learning about her world. She absolutely loves riding her new tricycle that she got for her birthday, still adores coloring, and even tried to teach her Hello Kitty how to do it, and she is constantly giving us a play by play of every activity all day long. To say this girl is a talker is an understatement! ;)

23 months old...how DID that happen?

2013-11-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

So, Gabriella is 23 months old...can you believe she is almost two? I know I can't! I realize everyone tells you that they grow up too fast, but it is hard to imagine until you have one of your own.

This past month, Gabriella continued to enjoy fall activities. She loved being outdoors, and of course she loves being with her cousins, so we took a few more trips to the pumpkin patch to play and have fun. She also would just want to go outside to play with the acorns and leaves, and talk about the sky. She loves it when a plane passes by so she call yell "Mommy! Daddy! Look! A plane!" We even saw another hot air balloon, which is always fun.

She also finally got her last four teeth in, aside from her two year molars, all pretty much at the same time. And she has found a new love for her mouth. A milkshake! You'd think that was the only think that I made in the blender, because the minute she sees it or hears it go on, here she comes running to the kitchen asking for her cup and for some milkshake. She also loves to eat hamburgers, and manages to devour a whole hamburger by herself. She of course still loves her fruit and veggies, but it isn't unheard of for her to walk up to the refrigerator and say "Mommy, meat please!" Where'd this kid get her appetite from, anyways? ;)

Of course, we did a good bit of dressing up this past month. She was a woodland fairy for Halloween, and got to wear her outfit twice. Once to the West Houston Muscle car show Truck or Treat, and once to the Tallowood Trunk or Treat. She had a blast at both events, playing games and getting candy. Her favorites you ask? Dum Dums and M&Ms.

We also participated in some all important giving. Gabriella helped pick out hats and gloves to donate to those less fortunate. I'm glad she is going to be already learning about helping others. I think that is a very important lesson for all of us!

22 months old

2013-10-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

Our little cutie turned 22 months old!

And guess what? She is a football fan. (Mainly Baylor, Nebraska, and the Texans...I wonder why that is? Hehee!) She loves to watch football on TV...but sometimes she gets very serious about it, just like her Daddy. Mostly, watching football includes her happily yelling for her team, but sometimes she does get confused and just rattles off something like this: "Go Big Red!!!! Sic'em! Yay Texans!" Whoops! I guess we'll have to work on her differentiating between which team is playing!

Gabriella took her very first trip to Mississippi this past month, and she loved it! Apparently my city girl is a country girl at heart...but I wouldn't have it any other way! She got to meet her Great Grandmother Tennyson. She happily played with one of the dolls that her great grandmother made, and enjoyed hearing stories about Great Granddaddy Tennyson, who passed away. I am so glad that she got the opportunity to spend time there and see her great grandmother.

She also meet several other family members while in Mississippi, and enjoyed her time on the farm seeing the gardens and the animals. I thought it was going to take forever to convince her to get off the tractor there for a bit! Everywhere we went after that, she was busy asking about horses and cows.

Gabriella also loved going to the pumpkin patch with her cousin and picking out her very own pumpkin. She has started saying more sentences now, so she would tell us, "I need baby pumpkin!" or "I push wagon!" Gabriella figures anything that is small is a baby, so the small pumpkins are baby pumpkins, the medium pumpkins are mommy pumpkins, and the big pumpkins are daddy pumpkins. This is true of any other object or animal as well. It is very cute.

We had the opportunity to go the patch more than once with different cousins, which she also enjoyed.

Another fun trip was to Dewberry Farms. We went there with some friends, so Gabriella had lots of fun again. She enjoyed the rides as well as the animals. Her favorite thing was the cow train, and we rode that more than once. The singing chickens came in a close second...because this girl is still all about singing and dancing to any rhythm... (Well, as long as it isn't the music they play in the store Hot topic...she doesn't like that at all! LOL!)

21 months and counting

2013-09-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

The time seems to fly by! Have you ever noticed that? When you want things to slow down...it just goes by faster. I love watching Gabriella grow, but each stage goes by too fast! Fortunately, I'm loving each new stage as it comes too!

Gabriella turned 21 months old today. She had tons of fun this past month. She got to spend time with her family and friends doing all sorts of fun activities. She enjoyed a preschool splash day with her friends and Tallowood. She played with the water, with bubbles, and got to eat a push-up popsicle! Toddlers love messy fun!!! Her Aunt Allison came to visit too. She had lots of fun with her Aunt Allie. Gabriella learned about the joys of stopping on bubble wrap because of her. And, she played with Aunt Allie's phone as well as going on a merry-go-round ride with her. Or, I should say several rides with her. They had tons of fun.

This past month, Gabriella discovered the joy of sharing her food with others...on a whole new level. She's always liked to share, but now she thinks that sharing requires shoving a piece of food in the other person's mouth regardless of if they wanted it or knew it was coming. She took Granddaddy by surprise several times with that! She also continues to LOVE eating blueberries, her favorite fruit. I can't even go to the grocery store and into the produce section without her spotting them and asking for them. "Blueberries!!!!! PLEEEEEEASE!!!!"

She is also quite the sponge for information. She is learning so quickly, and sings her alphabet as well
saying her shapes and colors. She loves to play and explore, and loooooves to color. She is also learning how to be a fashionista like her Mommy! ;) Gabriella continues to enjoy taking photos, but sometimes is very opinioned about what is in the photo...sometimes she just HAS to have a photo with the Camaro. She is such a joy! I can't wait to see what next month brings!

20 months

2013-08-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

You already knew that Gabriella was quite the singer and dancer, but she has worked on perfecting those skills this past month. She loves to sing "Row, row, row your boat", "Itsy Bitty Spider" (or Bitsy Bitsy, as she calls it), and her ABCs. Anything that has a doo doo doo type saying on the radio, she automatically picks up on and sings along, and she has made up quite a few songs using that...for example..."Jesus do do doooooo...Jesus do do doooooo...He loves youuuuuuu!!!"

She also loves to break into dancing with a good tune. Arms, legs, feet, body...everything must be involved! She has even figured out how to tap toes and stomp feet along with the beat.

Our little princess acquired some new skills this past month...bowling! She started out as quite the serious girl with it...serious face and all while looking at the bowling balls. But the minute she put the ball on the helper rack and saw it go down the lane to hit the pins...she was in love! she squealed with joy and wanted to go again. Needless to say, a toddler waiting for her turn to bowl after several other people was not so easy!!!

Gabriella also loves to share. She's always trying to share her food with anyone who is there... unfortunately that also includes Wolfie, but he doesn't think that is a bad deal at all.. He even responds to her new name for him "Wussie...foooood!" or "Wussie! Shhhhhh!!!! Barking!!!" She likes to remind him to be quiet when she is trying to go to bed. You can hear her at night time in her room, singing herself to sleep, and then she will pause to say "Shhhh Wussie!" and go back to singing.

This past month, Gabriella also got to meet some of her extended family for the first time. We had a McMullan family reunion (my Mom's side of the family) here in Texas. She enjoyed playing with her great Aunts and Uncles. She also got to go eat at Taste of Texas, which is always a plus!!! (By the way, Yao Ming was at Taste with his family that night too, and I have to say....he TOWERED over all of us! Sadly, no photos of the two of them together though, we didn't need to disturb his family time.)

19 months

2013-07-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

Gabriella is a growing machine! I know that everyone probably says that about their little ones, but seriously, how tall can this girl get? She is growing much too fast for this Mommy!

This month has been busy, just like all the others. We enjoyed going to our first Vacation Bible School at Tallowood, and then we went to the end of the week celebration and carnival. Gabriella loved learning about God, playing with her friends, and having new adventures. You can already tell who some of her best buddies are at church, because the photo book they made of Ella's time at VBS also included the frequent appearance of some of the other kiddos! Too cute!

Gabriella enjoyed spending lots of time outdoors. She is a huge fan of "outside" and doesn't seem to worry about the amount of heat out there (unlike Mommy...)! Her favorite past times include playing with bubbles, chasing our dog Wolfie (which includes her saying "Come Wussie!"...yes, that is how she pronounces his name right now...my husband gets a huge kick out of that!), playing with a big beach ball, swimming or anything else involving water and toys, feeding the ducks, and going for rides in her wagon with her stuffed animals surrounding her.

She also very much enjoyed celebrating the Fourth of July and sporting her red, white, and blue attire...because, well, my daughter is a fashionista! (Ok, that may be My fault too...lol...) She discovered that waving the American flag is almost as much fun as waving at everyone who goes by her! I guess somebody is perfecting her Miss America wave!!!

For her 19 month old photo, we did our tradition bear pictures with a twist. That day happened to also be "Teddy Bear Picnic Day", so of course we had to have our picnic!!!! She loved playing with her bears and the plastic picnic wear. and then...once again, had to wave at everyone who went by her picnic! she is such a cutie!

18 months old

2013-06-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

Gabriella turned 18 months old on 6/10/2013. She weighs 25 pounds (60 percentile), and is 34 inches tall (96 percentile). She is, to say the least, quite the little cutie! This past month was full of adventures. She is in constant motion, as usual, and loves to talk! As her Daddy would say, she's a talker like her Mommy! I guess he better get used to it! ;)

We went to Branson with the Fry family. She rode her very first carnival rides at Silver Dollar City, after getting measured to see what she could get on. She wasn't sure about the hoppy frogs at first, but then decided she wanted to ride again, and again, and again. She was a pro after that, enjoying the caterpillar ride, the train, and the carousal (which was a favorite from before). Any time we came upon an animal at the shows, she would say their name and their sound. She spent a lot of time at Dixie Stampede trying to get the horses to neigh for her. And waving at them, with her little Miss America wave that is oh so cute! She was also very confused by the size of the bird called the ostrich. I think she thought all birds were smaller than that. I got the "That's a bird?!?" look from her. :)

She enjoyed the singing shows very much. Especially if there were upbeat songs with high energy movement. When the music slowed down, she decided to take a nap on an available shoulder. She watched the Chinese Acrobats with some caution, after exclaiming "No, no, no!" to the guy who climbed up on a bunch of balancing chairs and then did a handstand. I suppose she knew he was doing something dangerous and was having some empathy for his situation.

Gabriella continued her swim lessons, and her love for water, this past month. She loves to play in the water. she loves to play with her cousins, and we are fortunate that we don't live too far from them. She also continues to love to dance and sing. Put on one of her favorite songs, and you'll hear her "ooing" and imitating the sounds as she dances around. Her new dance this month was the chicken dance! She has an animated stuffed duck that sings the chicken dance song, and after watching her mommy and daddy do the dance a few times (with a few giggles), she started to dance along too. There seems to be nothing cuter than a one year old flapping her arms and laughing.

17 months old

2013-05-10T19:17:00.001-07:00

Have you ever just watched a child explore their world? If not, you should totally take the time to do so! It is absolutely one of the most entertaining things a person could observe!

Gabriella is pretty much no holds barred on exploring everything these days. She is on a mission to do everything, see everything, and talk about everything. And she is in constant motion in order to accomplish these goals each day! Ha!

She turned 17 months old on 5/10/2013 and finally has all four of her first molars coming through. Two of them aren't done coming in yet, but she doesn't seem to be concerned about chewing on things anymore. Instead, she is more concerned with learning how to use those utensils to eat! She still likes to grab fist-fulls of food and eat with her fingers, but she is very interested in using both her spoon and fork to pick up the food. even if that means picking up the lima bean, placing it on the spoon, and then putting it in her mouth. Whatever works for her, she'll do it! She also was somehow somewhat successful with using a fork to eat applesauce, besides my prompting to switch to the spoon. Silly girl!

We have started a the joy of potty training this month. Gabriella started telling me when she needs to "poo poo" and even goes to the bathroom door. So we have begun the first stages of potty training, and she is doing very well with it.

She is somehow becoming even more chatty than before. It feels like she is adding words daily now, and is picking up multi syllable words to add to her vocabulary. New discoveries include saying 'amen" at the end of the prayer, "bracelet" when she wants to put on one of mommy's bracelets, and "dirty" when Nana is throwing something into the trashcan and she knows she's not suppose to touch it. She will walk to the refrigerator, say "milk please" and sit down on the floor in the kitchen when she is thirsty. she knows she is suppose to sit to eat or drink, so she preemptively strikes me telling her to sit down and does it herself. She'll also say "picture" and point to the camera if she wants you to take a photo of her.

She is also very interested in animal noises. She loves to run through a list of animals and what sounds they make. My favorite is pig, because her way of saying "oink" just cracks me up. I'll have to get that on video soon.

She continues to love going outside, and will tell you so by going to the door and saying "outside" or "vroom vroom" if she wants to take a ride in the Camaro. She also loves to chase bubbles in the backyard, and play with her water toys as well. Another favorite pastime is her swim lesson. She enjoys going each week, and even stands impatiently at the door to go to the pool. It is amazing to see her floating on her back in the water, and going under the water to pick up the dive rings. "Swim swim" is definitely a favorite!

A new activity for her is to pull Daddy's shirts out of the laundry basket and wrap them around her shoulders. She with then hug the shirt to herself, walk around the house, and say "Daddy" over and over. This new past-time is more frequent when josh has to work late or go out of town for a meeting. I think Daddy's little girl misses him when he is gone! :)

Another new trend is her bedtime routine. She's started gathering up all of her blankets and stuffed animals to hug and snuggle while she goes to sleep. She'll even turn on her sea horse to sing it's lullaby music. Music is very important to her, it seems. If you are wondering, yes, she does still sing herself to sleep, but not just humming anymore. Every once in while you can here "row, row, row your boat" or "eieio" of Old McDonald coming from her room as she settles down for the night.

For Such a Time As This

2013-04-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hi all. I've been thinking. A lot. I mean, A LOT. Recent events cause a person to do that. Boston Marathon. West, Texas. Political, religious, and social conversations as of late. Our world is need of help. Major help.

If you know me, you know what I believe in. You know who I am. You know I care about you. But did you know that I worry about my daughter? The world we have brought her into is so different that the one I grew up in. Josh and I pray every night for her future, that she will be strong in character and in her beliefs, because she will need to know how to handle this world to survive in it. She will need to know God at an early age to stand firm.

It concerns me what I see in social media these days. I love social media, don't get me wrong. I love that I can see pictures of friends and family. That I can share my joys with others, and connect with friends. Old and new friends, from all aspects of my life. But for some reason, people think social media is a license to be rude to others, to argue and say things that you would never say if you were face to face. It amazes me, not in a good way. There are so many things wrong with our society. People are even demeaning to others, posting on photos of people they don't know about their looks. On Instagram, there is even something called "Beauty contests" where girls, real girls, get their faces marked out with an x if they aren't deemed as pretty as the other faces in the photo, until only one is left. Most of these contests are among the youth. What a thing to teach beauty. It makes me so sad. I don't want my daughter to have to be exposed to such things. But I know that she will need to live in the world, and not be of it.

So, what do we do? Strive to raise our kids the way they need to be raised. No more selfishness. No more getting everything you want and thinking everything should just be handed over to you. These things do not create a truly beautiful person. Or a person who cares about others.

Our girls should be taught how to be beautiful from the inside, which shines much longer than outward beauty. Beauty of kindness to others, of politeness, of Spirit within.
"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight." 1 Peter 3:3-4

Gabriella is beautiful in my eyes. and I don't just mean on the outside. She is already learning to say please and thank you. She is already being taught her boundaries, because she needs those to grow into the woman she is suppose to be. She will learn about kindness, and hope, and faith, and truth. She is learning about sharing, and helping others, and what it means to be a child of God. She is learning about being a "true princess".

Now, I know I focus on girls, due to having a daughter, but don't forget your boys. Our boys should be taught about inner strength, and morals, and goodness. About being handsome inside, and not just outside. They need training too. Training for this world. Parents need to take a stand, so that our kids will become a better nation. So that our kids can help bring a revival to this land that changes the course we are currently on. We need to get away from raising people who just care about themselves, and those youth you keep reading about in the news who are willing to do harm to others to steal something, etc. We need to work and earn what we have. Hard work makes us appreciate things better, and understand the value of those things. But things, no matter how nice, do not replace people.

In life, we EARN the right to have the hard and necessary conversations with each other by having a relationship with each other. By spending time together, by really knowing each other, by caring about each other and fostering strong friendships. Sure, people need help to see things differently, or help if they are doing something they shouldn't be, or the right to have opinions and beliefs. But we don't have the right to verbally attack others for those things (not, not even on a post of Facebook). Have intelligent conversation if you disagree. Understand that you won't always agree with everyone, but understand also that, we are to love all people, but we don't agree with all people's actions. God is God. Sin is sin. Period. We all need help sometimes. The person who set the bomb in the marathon... God loves him. Yes, even him. We need to remember that fact, too, amidst our anger over what he did. But this person will have to deal with the poor choices he has made, and will have to deal the consequences of his actions. It makes me think, what things were taught to him, when he was younger? We are called by God to be accountable for our choices. After all, our choices cost Christ his life. (Thank goodness that wasn't the end of the story though, right?) We need to invest in others, just like Christ did, to change the world for the better.

This world was created to be a beautiful place. God, after all, called it good. God created us to be a beautiful people; in his image. We have hope in Him. Hopefully we can live lives that are pleasing to Him by being the best we can be, and not the worst. And, by the grace of God, we will raise our children to be more than they can imagine.

I pray that my daughter will be a true beauty, but as importantly, I also teach her how to be one.

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

16 months old

2013-04-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

Gabriella is a very busy girl. She finally had two molars break through, and the other two are still working on cutting. She eats pretty much anything, she's blessed us with mot being a picky eater. (Hallelujah!!!) She got to have her first taste of homemade bread from Mrs. Diffenderfer and loved it, but if you've ever had her bread, you'd understand the love! She loves to play on slides, bounce and kick balls, and ride in a toy plastic boat at the church playground. She also loves her swim class, where she is floating on her back and kicking around the pool! She has discovered that toys can be made out of anything, for example, laundry baskets are awesome to play in, and colanders are a great thing for sticking pipe cleaners into the holes! She has also become quite the little helper. She loves to go outside, so she wants to help out in the garden and with washing the cars. Scooping dirt for the flower bed is a lot like using a spoon right now, most of the dirt doesn't make it to the correct place. But she is learning! And as far as washing the car goes, she doesn't like to hold the sponge, but she will imitate the wiping method with her hand that she just dipped into the soapy water bucket. And she is definitely a fan of the water hose!

Our little Small Fry enjoyed two holidays this past month. She got to dress in green for St. Patrick's Day, and she enjoyed learning about Easter, both the hunting for eggs part and the ever more important learning about Jesus death and resurrection part. We took her to Second Baptist's Passion Walk, where she got to view and touch the items of His last week up to the Cross. She got to hunt for eggs twice, and she became quite the expert egg hunter pretty quickly!

We also took Ella to see the Bluebonnets. She has had Bluebonnet pictures before, but she was just learning to sit up at that time. This time, she enjoyed walking around and looking at the pretty flowers. She even humored me for an outfit change from western wear to her Easter outfit. :)

Another fun weekend included going to the Japan Festival. Josh was volunteering, so Gabriella and I enjoyed the activities. We got to see all sorts of fun things, including a Japanese Tea Ceremony, and we dressed up in Yukatas (summer Kimonos) and got our hair fixed up!

Ella is adding more and more words to her vocabulary. Along with politely saying "please" and "thank you", she is learning farm animals and the sounds they make. We have hanging pictures of animals along the walls of our church nursery area, and she will proudly point and tell you things like "cow moo" and "horse neigh."

Everyday is a wonderful adventure!

15 months old

2013-03-19T13:05:00.003-07:00

Our sweet baby girl turned 15 months old on March 10, 2013. Gabriella had her 15 month appointment, where she weighed 26 pounds (89 percentile), was 33 inches long (98%), and had a head circumference of 18 inches (45%). She also had to endure two more shots this go around, and she wasn't excited about that at all. In fact, she no longer likes the table in the doctor's office, I guess she knows that is where the shots occur!

In February, Gabriella attended the rodeo BBQ cook off for the first time, as a part of the youngest crew of Holy Cow Cookers, she had to represent the team with her other young friends in a hand made outfit deemed worthy of the littlest HCC members. She, however, did not enjoy sitting up on the bar for picture time for too long (maybe she thought it was a doctor's table?), but she did absolutely love those swinging doors on the outside facade of the tent!

Gabriella made her first finger painting creation at Chick-Fil-A. They were doing a western theme, so she made a Texas Bluebonnet, and a few days later she got to make her own paper cowgirl vest with her Daddy. In addition to enjoying craft time, our sweet little girl (whom we already knew was a talker) decided that there are days that she wants to call someone. So, sometimes, she'll bring me the phone, hand it to me, and say "Nana" or Daddy" or somebody's name to tell me who we should be calling. It is too cute. Then we call them, and she happily holds the phone to say "Hiiiiiii"...and then she chatters a bit before starting to push buttons. Which I'm sure the person on the other end loves the buttons being pushed! :)

She has also discovered how much she loves slides, as she enjoyed the preschool play area at our church. She would squeal with delight when going down the slide, and would immediately want back up again for a return trip! The boat toy was also a favorite item to play in. Technically, anything with a wheel to turn, or anything she has the ability to "drive", is great fun. I wonder where she learned that from?

Speaking of driving, Gabriella also traveled with us to the George R. Brown Convention center for the annual Corvette/ Chevy Expo. Although she didn't receive her own special award (one of the judges really wanted to give her one ;) she did help Daddy clean the car before it got detailed, and she did quite a bit of socializing with her car club friends. She is the youngest member of West Houston Muscle, H-Town Camaro Club, and Bayou City Muscle Cars, so she had quite a bit of socializing to do!

While out at the George R. Brown, we visited the park across the street known as Discovery Green. They were having fun activities for kids that day, so our little Ella was entered into the Baby Olympics, where she finished fourth place in "Look Whose Walking". She probably would have finished first if she hadn't been so distracted by all the people to walk! Ha ha! Regardless, she did a great job and had fun as well.

Another event we attended was Gabriella's cousin Mackenzie's baby dedication at church. She got to get all dresses up (not like that is abnormal, lol) and go to big church to see Mackenzie and her parents go up front and get dedicated. Dr. Brooks, the pastor, said a few words about helping raise Mackenzie to know God, and they prayed over her. What a special day!

You'll notice that our monthly bear picture location was moved this month. We started on the couch, as normal, but Ella is so active now that she wants to pick up the bear and carry him around. I guess that's another way to tell how much she's changed since she came to join us! I love this little girl! :)

My baby girl is growing up...how did that happen?

2013-02-10T14:20:00.000-08:00

Gabriella is quite the little cutie. OK, I know I'm a little prejudiced about that being her Mommy, but I think she is quite adorable! :)

She turned 14 months old on February 10th, and I still find myself in amazement about how fast time flies. I know everyone tel you that, but it still sneaks up on you somehow! She still has eight teeth, but is working on getting the next ones in...teething, by the way, is not my friend. she has woken up a few times in the middle of the night randomly because of it. She also wants to constantly gnaw on something, a cold, wet washcloth being the item of choice.

She is still busy exploring everywhere. She loves to walk around the house discovering new things, and she also is recently very fond of going to the front door and pointing at the doorknob so she can tell me she wants to go for a walk outside. That encourages our dog Wolfgang to come with her and sit by the door, begging to go with us.

She loves to chatter, this isn't knew, as you know, but she is adding words to her noises and sounds and she definitely has favorite things to say. When at church in the room where Josh and I work childcare, she will point up to the top of a cabinet (we keep a few beach balls up there) and say "ball"! This is repeated until somebody gets the ball for her so she can play with it. She is already throwing and kicking them around. We are working on the word "please" but it comes out as "sssss...ball!" right now. She also loves to say "bow", she'll point to one and the point to her head, look at you and say "bow"...I guess my girl knows fashion when she sees it! Another favorite word is "row", which she will sing with you if you are singing "Row, row, row your boat".

We went to the Houston Auto Show this past month and Gabriella very much enjoyed seeing all the cars...the thing that cracked me up the most was when we passed the BMWs and she pointed at the cars and said "OOOOH!"...sorry Daddy, expensive taste! ;)

We also spend some time visiting her cousins and Aunts, who don't live very far away at all. Gabriella likes to look at her cousin Mackenzie alot. She is quite fascinated with the new little bundle of joy.

One of my favorite moments with her recently was when she decided she needed her own purse and cell phone for completion of her outfit. She has an old phone of mine that is no longer operational that she plays with (because she loves those buttons!) and her own little purse that her Granddaddy got for her, and she picked both up, put the purse on her arm, cell phone in her hand, and walked to Daddy as if to say, OK...now I'm ready to go!

Christmas, and presents, and walking, oh my!

2013-01-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

Gabriella turned 13 months old on Jan. 10th, 2013.

December was a very busy month for our little Gabriella. After she had two birthday parties for herself, she also celebrated the birth of her cousin Mackenzie, her Daddy's birthday (when she got a bite of steak at Taste of Texas...yummm...), and her cousin Zeke's birthday. She also celebrated Jesus birthday and enjoyed Christmas with the Fry and the Tennyson clans. So December saw her helping to open lots of gifts, as well as learning lots about having fun with family and friends!
Opening gifts for Christmas was quite the experience. Tissue paper, wrapping paper, and bows were strewn about the room, with new toys and gifts piled high. She was very much blessed with things from all of her family, and Santa even brought her a toy pony to ride!

She had a blast getting to hang out with her cousins and her aunts and uncles over the holidays. She went to the living Nativity at Tallowood with her Fry family (minus Mommy and Daddy due to cousin Mackenzie being born during that time), and came face to face with a real live camel and donkey. She enjoyed the camel ride, but apparently was not a fan of the donkey.

She took her one year old photos in her birthday outfit, which was a 50s poodle skirt ensemble. And what better to go with that outfit than 59 Diner and a pink peddle car?

She also got her very first haircut. Her "Aunt Christina" (One of Mommy's closest friends) is a hairstylist and she cut Ella's hair for the very first time at her house. Ella actually loved sitting in the chair and getting the robe placed around her. She had lots of fun hanging out after her hair cut too!

Gabriella is doing very well with her shapes, her best one is the circle. She can get the circle shape into the round hole in her shape box every time! She also started mastering her walking skills, which she has of course gotten quite good at. Her new skill lets her more easily chase Wolfgang, which is still a favorite game. She also still loves to walk around with something on her arm, so her Grandparents got her a little purse so she can mimic her Mommy even more! Little purse on one arm, bling jewelry on the neck, and toy phone in the other hand...what more can a girl ask for! ;)

Baby girl is a year old!

2012-12-19T19:19:00.000-08:00

December 10, 2012...what happened to the past year?!?!?! How time flies! I have loved watching Ella grow and learn, but I can't believe how much she has changed over the past year. It has been one amazing roller coaster ride, and just to think we are JUST getting started!

At her twelve month appointment, she weighed 24.2 lbs, and measured 31 1/4 inches long. She also got her ears pierced! Around this same time she started cutting not just one more, but four more teeth. That had her chewing on anything in site!

This month was full of holiday events and birthday parties. Our little Small Fry learned that she IS NOT a fan of Santa, and wailed like a banshee upon first meeting him. I guess she doesn't understand he brings her gifts yet, huh? Or maybe she knows that her Grandparents are really good in the bringing gifts department, so she's not worried about the big guy in the red suit. Oh well, maybe no tears for next year! She does, however, really like Santa's reindeer, and was fascinated with the antlers. Then again, the gal loves her animals, as was also discovered when she rode a camel at the church Christmas nativity event. I think she mistakenly called the camel "gie" though...if you recall that is her name for our dog"gie", Wolfgang. All animals must be doggies right now!

She has added quite a few words to her vocabulary...one of which is "get". This is what she says when she wants you to retrieve something for her. Usually something that she has just dropped on the floor..or chucked to the floor...depending on your outlook. ;) Also, she started her first steps. She quite readily practices walking a few steps back and forth from Mommy and Daddy, and sometimes when she is practicing with her Aunt Sarah, her cousin Zeke also wants her to walk to him so he can catch her.

This month, Ella started modeling for Little Miss Princess Bowtique. She loves the camera, as you know, so she did awesome at her first modeling photo shoot. She is definitely NOT camera shy!

For her birthday, she actually had two parties, one on her actual birthday, and one on the next weekend when her Aunt Allie got into town. We discovered Ella likes chocolate cake and banana cream pie, but is not a fan of plain white cake. Hmmmm...

She became an expert at opening gifts due to multiple parties. What a lucky gal! I think her favorite thing was spending time with everyone, because my little girl is quite the social butterfly! And the best gift of all? Her cousin Mackenzie was born two days after her birthday, and she got to go visit her at the hospital.

Eleven months and counting

2012-11-10T13:21:00.001-08:00

Gabriella is eleven months old! Time is still flying by...but I guess it never will slow down for me at this point! Baby girl is not such a baby anymore. It is still wonderful to watch all her new discoveries, but sometimes I do miss that simple "agoo" she used to say. (Thankfully, she makes me happy by saying it every once in awhile still.)

Gabriella figured out how to do "v" sounds this past week, so she turbo crawls around saying "vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvaaaa" alot right now. She has also taken her first crawls up the stairs. Sometimes her little legs get in her way though. Usually she starts trying to crawl up the stairs because she wants to chase her best buddy aka Wolfgang. In fact, our dog is quite the motivator for her movement. She loves chasing him around, and even will pick up his toys to hand them to him. I even caught them watching Lady and the Tramp together. And I'm not kidding, I have photo evidence. I thought it was super cute.

She experienced her first pumpkin patch this month too. She wasn't sure what those orange things were, but she loved touching the green stem while we were taking our pictures. And of course she had to pose away for her pictures, because she just loves to have fun all the time.

I made Ella a Supergirl outfit for Halloween, and she looked adorable in it, if I do say so myself. She rocked her cuteness at West Houston Muscle's trunk-or-treat and at fall carnival. She got to pick her first candy out, it was Skittles (Mommy had them, thank you Ella) and won her fist carnival prize at the booth where you pick a ducky out of the water. She won a toy bird that flaps its wings.

We had to get new dresses for her, because she has pretty much outgrown all her others. They were all way too short. What can I say, she's a tall girl! Too many puffs I guess! ;) She does love those puffs though, so Gerber baby is raking in the money for that snack invention. Gabriella is also eating more solid foods now. She especially enjoys bananas and mashed potatoes.

She weighs 22.6 pounds, so she has finally slowed some on her weight gain. But that is OK, since she is in constant motion either crawling on the floor or creeping along the couch. She has even tried letting go a few times while standing. She wobbles a bit on her feet, then plops down on her diaper cushioned booty. And then she grins, pulls back up, and tries again.

My favorite thing this month has to be the fact that she has started dancing. Every once in awhile she dances to her toys that play songs, but the big motivator for dance was the song "Call Me Maybe". That song is the ring tone for my phone, and every time she hears it she breaks into a smile, squeals, and flaps her arms. Eventually, that lead to the first "bouncing body" motion, and now we have a dancing baby girl!

Besides dancing, she loves to crawl everywhere still. She has even discovered she can fit up under the coffee table and side table, and she loves to try and crawl off of things, much to my dismay. She even wants to try and crawl head first off of Daddy's lap while he is sitting on the couch. Speaking of Daddy, Josh had to go to Japan this past month, so we had to talk to him on Skype. That was a treat. She couldn't quite figure out how Daddy got into the computer screen, but she was fixed on getting as close to the monitor as possible so she could reach out and touch the screen to pat his face and chatter to him.

Ella got to learn about voting this past month, when she went with me so I could vote for president. I got to use the voting machine, she got the sticker and later enjoyed some puffs. She also got to have her first experience with the importance of giving to others. My mother-in-law and I took Ella and went up to our church to drop of clothing and household items for Muslim refugees. Gabriella is going to grow up learning about how it is important to give and help others.

Finally, she got some good aunt time in. My sisters, Allison and Dana, made sure to take the opportunity to have some play time with Ella while Allie was in town for Dana's baby shower. Yes, that is right, my twin sis is having her own baby girl...the soon to be good friend/cousin of Ella. I am sure they will get lots of quality time together!

10 months old...how did that happen already?!

2012-10-12T11:37:00.002-07:00

Gabriella hasn't slowed down at all! She is crawling all over the place, pulling up on everything, and creeping along the tables and couches...all this with a toy constantly clutched in her hand. Oh, and normally chattering away at the same time!

She turned 10 months old on October 10th. Within the past month she has gotten her top two front teeth. This proves highly interesting for her, as she seems to constantly stick her thumb in her mouth to touch them. She also thinks that she has to push her puffs to the front of her mouth and try to chew with her front teeth.

Gabriella hasn't decided whether or not she is a fan of fruits yet, she still favors her veggies. She is ok with applesauce. Her favorite toy is a Wonder Woman Little Person, which is usually being clutched in her hand as she explores her surroundings. Other favorite toys include a straw (Who knew a simple straw from your cup was so fun?) and anything she can bang on the table that makes noise. Can we say that there might be some percussion in her future?

She has finally started deciding that she is ok with drinking out of a sippy cup, but that process is still ongoing. We have a long ways until she wants to hold her own cup for the entire drink, but she did take 2.5 ounces holding it all by herself. :)

Gabriella got to meet our friend Reagan, who was in town on leave from the air force. She loved playing with him, especially pulling on his beard. That will teach him to grow facial hair while on leave! Ha!

She also discovered both rainbows and her shadow this past month. She was quite fascinated. She would squeal at the colorful light and then grab at the colors on the floor. and then she would giggle. She kept trying to catch her shadow too. It was cute watching her try to chase down her shadow.

showtunes, rides, and animals galore!

2012-09-24T14:54:00.002-07:00

Gabriella took a VERY, VERY, LONG road trip this past week. We drove all day to get to Branson, Missouri. She actually did very well, she slept most of the way, and was entertained by Grandma Fry for a lot of the trip. Thank goodness for the things that she loves, her Sophie giraffe teether, her "tails" book, and straws. Yes, I said straws. She can't seem to get enough of those silly plastic tubes!
Thankfully she slept through the whole part where we were driving over a mountain, in the dark, with lots of fog, and almost ran out of gasoline. But that's another story! Whew!!!

We went to several shows, and Gabriella did quite well. Who knew a baby could sit, or sleep, through shows so well? She saw live bison for the first time during Dixie Stampede, and was enthralled with the live musicians on the Branson Belle Showboat. She would stare at them as they played and tap the table in beat with the songs. She even got her very first taste of mac-n-cheese. It seems she is fond of the cheese, but not the macaroni. She would lick all the cheese off, and then drop the noodle on the floor.

We also went to Silver Dollar City. Gabriella road the train, but it was not her favorite ride. She got to experience the carousel for the first time as well. At first, she wasn't so sure about the movement, but the second ride was a win! A big smiles erupted across her face and she was hooked. We also found out that she enjoyed the ride where you get to shoot targets with a toy gun. Hmmm...she must be a Texas girl!

It was a very fun-filled trip, so much so that our little one didn't go to bed at her regular time because she was so wound up. It must be quite energizing to have so much stimulation as a baby!

More pictures are available to see on my facebook page. :)

9 months and counting

2012-09-10T18:49:00.004-07:00

Ella is nine months old! It seems like just yesterday when I was anxiously awaiting her arrival, both excited and a bit nervous about being a mom. I must say, I love getting to spend so much time with her, but I have a new found gratitude for all the things my mother did for me.

Her current measurements are as follows: head circumference is 17.25 inches, weight is 21.4 lbs, and height is 30.75 inches tall. She is still in the 99 percentile for height, Tall girl!

Each day that goes by, she seems to become even more of a bundle of activity. She has fully learned to crawl now, even as far as having specific crawls on certain types of floors. Carpet, no problem. She'll whiz right over that in no time in perfect crawling fashion. Tile she is a bit slower on, just because she tries to keep her knees off the floor. Either way, I find myself constantly chasing a little mover all over the house. she is on the move and ready to explore her surroundings! She also loves to crawl while grasping a toy in her hand. She'll wander around and tap the toy on different items just to find out what sound it will make.

Speaking of being on the move, Ella has also mastered pulling up to her feet and cruising along the couch. If she wants my attention from the crib, she'll just pull up and hang onto the side while yelling out for me in true "Tennyson girl" fashion. (What can I say, my sisters and I were never the quiet type, really. Least of all with family!) Much to her father's chagrin,she seems to have inherited the need to chatter from me. I just keep reminding him; he liked the idea of her being a mini version of me when she was still in my womb. I personally love it, but my Dad is probably advising Josh to invest in earplugs. ;)

As far as other skills go, she is finally deciding to hold her own bottle...sometimes. Such an opinionated little one, she still likes for me to hold her bottle. However, she is becoming more interested in holding her spoon and trying to feed herself, so I guess it just depends on what she wants to do!

Her favorite games right now are as follows: throw the toy out of the pack-n-play and make Mommy get it, sneak up behind the dog and grab his tail, and crawl off the minute Mommy sits down so she has to get back up again. All in all, I've discovered my new way of exercising and she is discovering, well, lots of things.

Turning 8 months old

2012-08-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

I must say, I am continually amazed at how much babies grow and develop within a short amount of time. Ella learns new things each day, and every moment is awesome to watch because she gets so excited about it! She turned 8 months old on 8/10/2012, and I don't know how the time goes by so fast! We have discovered it is harder to get pictures lately, she still loves to smile, but she is also very interested in moving around and exploring! Ella has also moved from her "army crawl" to more of a "flop crawl" with an occasional attempt at the "real crawl". She has taken four crawl steps in a row when not scooting around on her belly or rolling across the room.

This past month she cut a second tooth, so Ella now has two chompers on her bottom gum. And man, she loves to try and chomp us with those little teeth (ie. tiny daggers)! due to the fact that she is cutting her first teeth, she loves to chew on all of her toys, but it isn't like her wanting to put everything in her mouth is a new trend. ;)

She also likes to show us how she has learned to clap. It is one of her favorite things to do. I can almost swear she is thinking "This is how you clap, Mommy!" while she does it.

Of course, being the great sports fans we are, we are still watching the Olympics. It is good to know that Ella takes after her mother and father and loves to watch the sports! She is entranced with the swimming, but she is our little mermaid in the water, so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised.

Her favorite toy right now is an apple with buttons you push. It helps you learn all sorts of things, like sounds, words, and letters. Right now she is just interested in pushing the buttons because they make noise and light up. But hey, I think we all like toys that make noise and light up!

Ella is seven months old!

2012-07-10T20:51:00.002-07:00

Ella turned seven months old today! It seems that time passes by quickly when you are a baby! Ella was a very busy girl this past month. She was happy to experience her first solid foods. She would like everyone to know that although she enjoys eating, she isn't sure about these things called "sweet peas". She also got her very first tooth this past month. And the very next day she started new adventures in the form of the army crawl!

Ella moved up to her new car seat, and she enjoys her expanded space. What can I say, she is a tall girl, and she needed more leg room! Those legs are getting very strong with all her swimming lessons and crawling practice.

She also spent some time checking out the US Olympic trials. Mommy and Daddy are a big fan of the Olympics, and Ella is already sporting her TEAM USA jersey dress around town and while watching the trials! She can't wait to see the Olympics in a few weeks! Go TEAM USA!

Ella also had her first Fourth of July celebration. She got her first balloon, which she absolutely loved, and her first mini US flags. She wasn't too fascinated with watching her first fireworks, she was much happier playing with Mommy's shirt.

Ella had her first "big" road trip to Forth Worth. She rode with her Daddy and they came to meet Mommy while she was working at Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's General Assembly. She was also excited to get to see her Aunt Allie there, especially since Aunt Allie lives in Georgia and she doesn't get to see her as much as she would like to. After Mommy finished her work, she met them at her friend Evie's house. (Evie's parents are very good friends of Mommy and Daddy. ) Evie is just five days older than Ella, and they had a great time meeting each other!

On the way back home to Katy, Mommy and Daddy took Ella to see Baylor University. Unfortunately, Ella was very tired from her busy weekend, and so she fell asleep for most of the tour. Mommy told her that they would go back another time. After all, they were sold out of the Baylor cheerleader outfit at the BU bookstore, so she's going to need to get one later! Not to mention, it was so hot that day (over 100 degrees) that not even the bears were outside playing!

How big is Ella getting? Well, Mommy forgot to weigh her today (she meant to, she must have been busy!) and Ella is already in bed, so we will just have to wait until tomorrow to find out. In the meantime, enjoy the photos!

6 months and still growing!

2012-06-12T13:24:00.002-07:00

Gabriella had her six month appointment this morning, and she now weighs 19 lbs 8 ounces. She is also officially 28 inches long! Baby girl is doing very well, aside from being a little fussy over the fact that she has her first tooth wanting to come in. (No, it isn't here yet!)

What kind of fun things has our little Small fry been up to? Well, this past month she got to meet some of her extended Fry family for the first time and had a blast at her first family reunion. She enjoyed going to Galveston, although she never set foot on the beach because she fell asleep before we got there. Silly girl! She also had fun at a ranch, and even got to ride her first horse!

We also went to a car show where Gabriella got her first experience with getting to ride in a pedal car. She LOVED it! The minute she was put in, she started kicking her feet, grabbing for the wheel, and had a grin on her face that lit up the room!

New discoveries? Gabriella is rolling from front to back and back to front quite regularly, and she is pretty much sitting up by herself. (She does a bit of a weeble wobble...but she usually catches herself!) Since she is sitting up so well, she has gotten t sit in a high chair a few times at restaurants and loves being up at the table with everyone. Her newest thing is that she scoots herself backwards on her tummy. She is also very good at manipulating objects and toys with her hands.

Her favorite thing right now seems to be our dog Wolfgang. She points towards him, says "Ga!" and then laughs as he wags his tail. He often comes running to her when she says it, so maybe that is her name for our pup. Either way, it is very cute!

My First Mother's Day

2012-05-14T19:22:00.002-07:00

Yesterday, I celebrated my first Mother's Day with Gabriella. I have to be honest, it felt a little surreal. Mother's Day, after all, was always for me to celebrate my mom. And it still is. Yet, I got to hear the words "Happy Mother's Day" being uttered to me.

It was a wonderful feeling.

A year ago, I had a tiny life growing inside me. For some reason that seems like it was forever ago, but there are so many things I remember about it as if it were yesterday too. Isn't life interesting like that? After the rough start to the pregnancy, and being on bed rest because of two threatened miscarriages, I remember going to one of my many weekly appointments with my doctor and discussing what I had to do for the safety of my growing child. I recall at one point, when I was talking to Dr. Pappadas about the fact that I couldn't go back to work, that he said something that would stick in my heart for good.

"You'll never regret doing what you have to do to keep your baby safe."

It is so true.

Every month of my pregnancy was filled with prayers and hopes that she would stay safe and healthy as I did what I had to do to keep her safe. I remember how scared I was when I thought that I had lost her, waiting for hours in the emergency room of the hospital and wanting so badly to hear her tiny heartbeat. When we found out she was still there, I went home. I prayed, trusting in God's plan for my life, and in his plan for her life. I stayed in bed, only getting up to take care of absolute needs; I left my life of school work behind; I didn't go on vacations and trips that had been previously planned...all manner of things just to make sure she stayed safe and secure inside me. My sweet husband even spoke to our baby each evening, with his hand on my belly, reminding her to "hold tight and not let go." And we are so glad that she listened.

Now, I look at Gabriella's tiny face daily and wonder at the miracle of life that God has created in her and think to myself, "She is so amazing." And she is. I am so blessed that God has chosen to give me this wonderful gift. I can't get over how perfect she is (as any mother will tell you their child is perfect), and how fun it is to watch her world grow and expand each day with her new discoveries. And I know that still, I will continue to do what is necessary to keep her safe for the rest of my life. This is the greatest job I have ever had the honor to have.

So what have I learned in this?

I will never regret trusting God. With my life...or with my loved ones' lives.

I will never regret doing what I have to do to keep my baby safe.

I will never regret loving this much.

5 months old today!

2012-05-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

So, Ella turned five months old today! We sat her down with her bear to take the monthly photo, and she wanted to play with him and his bow instead of smiling for the camera. So, after her play time with teddy, she gave us her supermodel camera smiles...which was only to be expected. I think this girl knows what a camera is already! (That might be my fault, I always have this thing out to take pictures of her!)

What's new for our cutie pie? She met ducks for the first time! She thought they were fun to watch. She also met longhorns! She thought those were big.

She has been practicing her favorite new noises, which apparently means that she can speak to Chewbacca now. Yes, she speaks Wookiee! Hence, her new nickname, "Daddy's little Wookiee." Gabriella is going to have a TON of nicknames apparently. Ha!

She has also started swimming! Gabriella loves the water, and Josh and I are thinking that we have a little mermaid princess. She even likes to splash around and kick with her legs already. Watch out, Olympics, here we come! ;)

She also found her feet recently. She has discovered that she loves to play with her toes and is always grabbing at them. She also has discovered that she LOVES to watch Wolfgang. He, in turn, has decided that she needs to be protected and that he must sit by her and watch over her.

Oh, and last but not least, she is eating rice cereal now...and boy does she gobble that stuff down! At first, she wasn't sure about "the new stuff". And would make confused faces and noises at me while trying to figure out the whole spoon thing. Now, two weeks later, I can't feed it to her fast enough! I seem to get the "Mommy! Get that spoon in my mouth!" cry if I am going to slow! She even lunges at the spoon, but she doesn't have her coordination down yet. That means her food goes all over her nose because of the lunging, I start laughing, she starts smiling, and more food dribbles out the corners of her mouth. Ah, the messy joys of eating!

I'm going to get this moving thing down, Mom!

2012-04-25T07:05:00.001-07:00

People have started to ask about Gabriella's movement: How is she at tummy time? Is she sitting up yet on her own? Can she crawl? Well, she is definitely working on it! She can sit up very well supported, and can sit up unsupported by herself for a bit before she starts to do the topple...after all, she has to figure out how to hold her whole upper body up and not just her head!

she is super good at tummy time, and gets her head way high, as well as being able to hold it up for a long time and look around. As far as crawling goes...not yet! She's figuring out the legs very well, but she has always had strong legs. She was using them to kick me really hard in the womb! LOL. When she gets the arms figured out...watch out world! She does have a fun trick off being able to kick herself around in circles when on her back....so that is her new favorite thing to do when playing...check out the photos below! (Or, for more fun, go look at the album on my facebook page and click through the photos really fast...it is like one of those cartoon flip books! :)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150850421095185.469192.729270184&type=1#!/media/set/?set=a.10150850421095185.469192.729270184&type=1

First Easter and four months old

2012-04-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

Gabriella is growing so fast! She had her four month birthday on the tenth of April, and we went to see the doctor that same day. She got her shots, which was not a happy time for her (but shots are not happy times!) and she weighed 16 lbs 13 ounces. That happens to be in the 95th percentile. she was also 27 inches long, in the 99%. My baby is going to put me to shame in the height factor one day! Can you believe how big she is getting?!?

The weekend before was Gabriella's first Easter. We traveled out to the Harrell Farm on that Saturday to enjoy Ella's first Easter egg hunt. She got her first egg, which was a little orange one filled with candy. (Ok, really, Mommy picked up her first egg for her....but she hasn't gotten that whole egg retrieval thing down yet, she is just a baby!)

She also took her first Bluebonnet pictures...she was way to busy studying the flowers to smile for the camera though!

At Nana and Granddaddy's house she received her very own Easter basket filled with goodies. I loved that it was a custom made basket with her nickname on it. I thing she loved feeling the grass inside the basket the most. Ahhhh, silly baby! On Sunday, she of course wore her Easter dress and bonnet...as any good fashion diva baby would be proud to wear!

Other big steps? She is pulling forward alot when sitting now, in major attempts to sit up on her own more frequently. She also loves to play and bat at toys, and of course she is still quite the talker! During tummy time she is really working on getting those legs up under her little booty...now if she can only figure out the front have...watch out world! :)