My 7 month old

Ella turned 7 months old yesterday! I know everyone says it, but I just can't believe how fast the past 7 months have gone. Ella's personality is coming out more and more every day. She babbles and "talks" constantly. I can't wait for her to actually start talking to see what she has to say! Sarah was telling me that at the school she teaches at, they have quiet time for 5 minutes in the morning. She said that as soon as the 5 minutes are up, a few of the kids just burst with all the things they've been holding in for the past 5 minutes. I think that's gonna be Ella :)

This past weekend was a baby shower for my good friend Jenny! I cannot wait for Jenny's baby girl to come so Ella can have another playmate! The theme for Jenny's shower was rubber duckies-Jenny loves them. I found an adorable 3D duck mold and decided to go for it. It was pretty tricky! I felt like I was on one of those cake challenges on the Food Network channel! (sidenote-is anyone else really into those cake decorating shows or is it just me??)

So, here's a picture of the duck cake when it was finished! I'm showing you the cake from its best angle. Looking at it straight on, it looked a bit "off". I had to decapitate it in order to slice it. Jenny ended up taking the duck head home and she's gonna freeze it and maybe have it at Kelsey's 1 year birthday party! How cute!

Ella LOVES to be outside. She just looks around and takes it all in. I love that she's big enough now to sit in her stroller and be happy in it. Here she is last weekend in her floppy sun hat.

So Ella's hair is finally long enough that I can clip bows in it! It looks a little funny since it takes pretty much all the hair she has to get the clip to stay. But I still think its pretty cute!

And finally, one of her in her swimsuit. She usually wears leggings with it when we head to the Y. Does anyone know if they make the little swimmers diapers in smaller than 16 lbs? That was the smallest I could find.

I haven't taken her official 7 month picture yet. Yesterday she came home from Rusty's mom with a really red swollen eye. She kept itching it and seemed really irritated. I was going to take her picture last night but she was just too fussy. This morning when she woke up it was fine, so I'm not sure what was up with that!

Baby food, yum yum

Who knew making homemade baby food could be so much fun? I've gotten really into it! I decided when I was still preggo that since I would be staying home with Ella 3 days a week, surely I had time to make babyfood. I imagined slaving over the stove, cooking up peas, carrots, green beans and squash. I had no idea how fun and easy it would be! I talked to a few girlfriends who did their own food to start off with. I looked at this website and got some great pointers. Ella's first food (after rice cereal) was avocado, which she hated. But I soon learned that she'll eat almost anything if I mix it with banana or applesauce. Except peas. So far, haven't found anything I can mix that with to make her eat it! Well, the other day I found this website and it opened up a whole new world! There are actual recipes, which I love. Before, it was just very basic to me (mush up a banana and add some applesauce). But this webiste shows how you can use spices and introduce lots of different flavors, I love it! At Ella's 6 month dr.'s appointment, her doctor told me not to be afraid to use spices in my babyfood but I wasn't really sure how to go about it. One recipe I really like (and tried yesterday) was the sweet 'toes recipe. It was really good! Ella hasn't had it yet. We just introduced peaches yesterday so I'm waiting a few days before trying something new. Another one I thought was really interesting was the Pork "Chops" and Applesauce recipe. I love how it gives the age range it's recommended for. I look forward to trying lots of fun recipes from this website!

Other than trying new foods, Ella has also started her swim "lessons" at the Y! We go with my friend Jen and her little boy Zane. Its not so much swim lessons as it is just singing songs and splashing around in the water. But I think Ella still enjoys it. I have some pics of her in her swimsuit but they're still on my camera so that will have to wait until the next post. But trust me. Adorable.

To tide you over, here are some more pics from over Easter weekend.

Ella with her cousins. I don't think they got the whole pinwheel concept but this one turned out pretty cute

At church

Ella givin a big smile for her great granny

He is Risen!

He is risen indeed! Praise God for an empty tomb and a risen Savior!
Happy Easter!

Well I am ashamed at my lack of posting and hope to not go that long again! I was so behind in uploading pics. I'm sure lots has happened since I last posted but now its all a blur! Ella had her 6 month dr's appt a few weeks ago. It went well! She's 15 lb 12 oz (44%) and 27 inches (84%). Looks like she's gonna be tall and skinny. Hmm, wonder who she gets that from? Not me!

Ella's first Easter was great! We had an awesome church service this morning and I really felt God's presence. I'm so thankful for a wonderful church, God is so good. After church we came home and ate and played lots of wii. I got a chance to take a nice long walk with Ella and my mom. Ella was such a happy girl all day. Her Oma and Opa were here and so was her Aunt Rachel so she got extra spoiled. She loved all the attention but after awhile I could tell it had just gotten a little too much! I took her upstairs for awhile and just had some Ella/Mommy time and she was all better. What a sweet little girl she is! Here are a few pics we took today:

Ella, Oma, me
the 3 of us :)

do you think this girl is gonna be spoiled??

Today I had nursery duty at church. Its weird being in the nursery now that I have one of my own in there! She's just now getting to the age where if I'm in the room she wants me to hold her. Our church nursery is so fun right now...we have quite a few babies around the same age. Here is a pic of Ella and her future BFF Kennedy! Kennedy is my friend Amber's baby and she is such a sweetie! I look forward to these girls growing up together!

One of the most exciting things that has happened in the past week is that I learned that Target sells BabyLegs leggings! Oh my they are the cutest thing ever!! They are definitely nice for having Ella wear around the house, they make changing diapers so much easier and keep her legs nice and warm!! I did have an embarrasing moment when trying to decide which ones to get. Rusty and Ella had come with me to Target. Rusty (unbeknownst to me) had wandered off with Ella to the toy section (shocker). So I walk over to the leggings section, thinking he's right behind me. I see a cart coming up right beside me so I assume its Rusty. You probably see where this is going. So remember, I am REALLY excited about these leggings. I see all of them before me and I say "OH MAN, OH MAN, HOW WILL I DECIDE WHICH ONES TO GET!?!!" I was purposefully being extra dramatic. So then I hear someone say "uhm, excuse me." Yeah. Not Rusty standing beside me. Just some lady who now thinks there's some legging-obsessed girl who talks to herself. heehee. Ok, all that to say, here is a picture of the leggings :)

I love this next pic of Rusty and I lovin on miss Ella! We went to a get together with Rusty's side of the family this weekend and had such a great time. Ella is the youngest of all the cousins so she got extra attention and loved it!! It was so great to see everyone!!

And finally, a few pics of Ella's 1st Easter dress. I love love love this dress! She will probably be wearing it every Sunday to church untill she grows out of it :) The photo shoot went pretty well until I brought out the Easter basket with the grass in it. The grass stayed in the basket for approximately 5 seconds. Now I'm finding it everywhere, including in Ella's diapers. I guess babies really like that stuff, who knew?

We may do another photo shoot in this dress this week. I keep timing these shoots wrong and Ella's not wanting to smile! Of course as soon as the camera gets put away, she's all smiles!