9 months old!

Ella turned 9 months old last week! I'm absolutely loving this age. I'm sure I'll say that at every age milestone until probably middle school :) Ella is just so expressive and responsive to us, its great! Well, great MOST of the time. She definitely lets us know when she's not happy. She has a mind of her own, that is for sure. She knows exactly what she wants and gets pretty mad if she doesn't get her way. Parenting books....here we come! If anyone has any suggestions for "discipline" for a 9 month old, pass it on! We're at the stage where we're not sure exactly how much she understands so we're not sure what level of discipline is appropriate. She's even hit me a few times when she gets really mad. SIGH. She's got a strong will for sure. But I know that God will really be able to use that strong personality for His purpose. Our job is just to help her use it in the right way! Only by God's grace!

Ella had her 9 month check up last week. I felt kinda bad...I'd doped her up on tylenol so that her shots wouldn't bother her only to find out she didn't get shots for her 9 month appointment. Oops! Other than that, her appointment went great! She checked out perfectly healthy. She weighed 17lbs 14oz (31st %), height was 28 3/4 inches (85th %). Here's her 9 month pic. I decided to post this one because you can also see her mischevious look...a look that I see quite often!


This week has been another busy, but great, week for us! One of my dearest friends, Michelle, and her family came to stay with us for a day and night. Michelle and I have been friends since we were in diapers, literally! After college, she moved to Virginia so we don't get to see each other very often. God blessed me by allowing me to be pregnant with her...her with her 2nd baby and me with my 1st! It was so wonderful to have someone to go through my pregnancy with, and especially for it to be her! We ended up delivering our baby girls only 2 days apart! We were so excited for our girls to finally be able to meet...I hope Elizabeth and Ella will be as great of friends as Michelle and I are! Here's a pic of their bath together...we couldn't resist :) Ella wasn't the biggest fan. She's used to sitting in her infant tub so I think the big tub was a little overwhelming for her.

I think this is the best one I got where they are both actually looking towards the camera!

Michelle and I with our girls! Again, nearly impossible to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time! Michelle, I love you and I'm so glad we got to spend some time together!

Our 4th of July was fun although it was a total rain out here! Luckily we had great weather the day before the 4th so Rusty and I got a chance to go this series that the local art museum puts on every Friday night of the Summer. You get to sit outside on these huge grass "steps" (they're big enough to lay blankets out on). You can bring food and games and just hang out. Then once it gets dark, they play a movie on this huge screen. The one we went to see was Goonies :) Classic! We went with my sister Sarah and her BF Chris...they were nice enough to go early and buy our tickets and save us seats since we couldn't get there right when it opened (my Dad came to watch Ella for us, thanks Dad!). It was great! For the 4th, we had a cook-out in the afternoon and then played some Phase 10. Wow is that a long game. On the night of the 4th we went to hang out with our friends Rob & Jenny who just had a BEAUTIFUL baby girl, Kelsey. We ate, played some wii and had some great conversation. All in all, a wonderful week! Here's a pic of Ella and I on her first Independence Day!