SANTA!

On Saturday we went to see Santa. She was just fine walking up to him, but as soon as I sat her on his lap, she turned around and looked at him and started crying and reaching for me. I told her that she was fine and so she stopped crying and started breathing deeply. It was quite funny! I am glad the photographer got her after she had a moment to take it all in...instead of when she was crying and reaching for me!

This is Elle and Santa last year...my she has grown! (Sorry for the poor quality!)

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken on Saturday...they sent us a few to preview and we will see the rest of them after Christmas! I love Vanessa and Jessica of Contemporary Portraits! There isn't anything they won't do to get great shots...I loved all the silly things they did to get Elle to smile! It was a lot of fun! Thanks guys, can't wait to see the rest!

1 Year!!

I cannot believe that 1 year has already passed since I became a mother to this beautiful baby girl. Every single day has been filled with pure joy and amazement as I watch her grow and learn. She is incredibly smart and funny, and I can't believe that I get to be her mother! I know how lucky I am and I thank my Heavenly Father for blessing my life so abundantly.

In 1 year she has grown from this:

To this:
Her mouth is usually wide open like this screaming...(old kitchen floor)

or talking onthe phone!

(sorry about the nakedness, but it was too cute to pass up! --& you can see my new tile floors!)

this was today...she was watching "The Wiggles", and when she's ready to go, she just stands straight up from this deep squat position!

We gave her some cake that was leftover from her birthday party we had on Saturday...needless to say she was very happy with us! (I will have to get the pictures of her party from Kaitlyn and post them later!)

She is still little miss chatterbox and a signing maniac...she picks everything up so quickly! Rusty and I really have to be careful what we do and say, because she is such a little copycat. It is amazing how fast they grow and learn and although it is sad to look back and realize that my "baby" is not so much a baby anymore...I look forward to watching her grow and learn in the years ahead!

First Haircut & 11 Months!

The mop before...

Waving to everyone in our big girl chair!
Side view of the crazy hair... & I couldn't believe that my "baby" was big enough to sit in a haircutting chair by herself. She looked so grown up sitting there with her cape on!
Helping "brush hair", and as you can see she is very proud of herself for "helping"!
She was constantly looking in the mirrors at herself and making these funny faces. If you have seen Elle for more than 2 seconds, you have seen one of these faces! This one is my FaVoRiTe!


She never cried...she just kept making these faces!


Getting a blow dry!

Love my thumb and "silky-woobie"

The most expressionless face you'll ever see. I had just taken away her blanket and she was in shock!
And the final product! I LoVe it! It is so stinkin' cute. I know many of you will be happy (Diana) since a hair/mullet-cut was way overdue! (Also love the cutest diaper butt in 'them jeans'!)

Oh, and I forgot to add what she is doing new lately...she is WALKING!! She took her first few steps about 2-3 weeks ago and is getting more confident every day. She has taken about 15 steps at most, so hopefully by her first birthday she will be walking more than she crawls! (Not sure how long that process/transition is?)

She is also becoming a signing maniac. Her vocabulary consists of (in no particular order): "milk, more, all done, please, thank you, sorry, ball (says ball), shoes, book, bath, dog (says dog and barks), hat (says hat), food/eat. I think that is all...
Another funny thing she does with her signs is she will sit in her bed and I guess she is practicing or something, because she will do like 5 signs in a row while she is sitting there either waking up or trying to wind down...just talking to herself I guess. (we have a camera monitor, so we have fun watching "Elle TV")

Halloween!!

Our little punk rock ballerina enjoyed her first sucker as a reward for all her hard work getting her parents a lot of candy! She's the cutest punk rock ballerina I've ever seen...the hawk was a big hit!

10 months

Look @ ME...I stand! (only for a few seconds at a time!)
She is always moving her bottom jaw from one side to the other so she looks like her smile is crooked! I love the big blue eyes and cute dimples!

Diving off the ottoman for toys! (Good thing mom was there to hold my feet!)

We wanted to teach her how to do the KISS trademark face...needless to say it only took 1 try and she copied it! She makes a nice growling noise to go along with it! (Hopefully she'll still be interested in doing it by the time Halloween rolls around...you'll see why we want her to do that face later!)

Full ponytail...sort of...she has a ton of hair right down the center of her head, but hardly any hair on the sides...so this is the best we could get!

I can't believe she is 10 months old...double digits! She is so full of personality and cracks people up everywhere we go with all her silly faces! She is very stubborn and strong willed, but still a very good/happy baby. She also recently learned to shake her head "NO" whenever we are telling her "NO" or when we ask her a question and she doesn't want to do what we are asking!Go figure?

9 Months

9 Month Stats:

29 1/2 in (97%)

18lb 15.5 oz (50%)

She has turned into my tall skinny girl!!

I just had to post this picture b/c I love this outfit on her...it is a 0-3 month dress that looks like a jacket and something I would wear...this was at Berg's 1st birthday party!I have been putting hats on her often to hopefully condition her to keep them on for this winter...most of the time she keeps it on for a few seconds, but we distracted her enough that she kept it on for a few minutes...maybe my evil plan is working!!
She is getting more mobile and more personality every day. She "talks" non-stop now...she is ALWAYS saying something and she uses her hands a lot while talking too...such a girl! She copies most anything you do. If you fake cough, blow raspberries, smack your lips, growl, etc. she will do it back. We have trained our little monkey well. She waves hi and bye in a very feminine, girly way by flipping her wrist and twisting it a little while saying "hi" really softly...it is my favorite! I just love each and every stage she goes through and enjoy her more each day, she is truely one funny baby!

8 Months!

Ok...so she'll be 9 months soon, but thought I should post some new pictures of her! I know that's all I do on this blog, but it's all I have time for! (and patience for since my internet is super slow)

Less than a week after I posted her 7 month pictures, she started crawling! It was fun that she was crawling when we went to Nauvoo (July 9-14) so my Dad, Brannon and Courtney were able to see her on the move! Since she started crawling, it seems like she has something new every time I turn around. Here's a list of her new tricks:

• 7/3: said ba-ba
• 7/6: crawled across the room for the first time, clapped her hands when I clapped to congratulate her crawling, signed "milk" when it was time to put her down for the night. Since then, she signs milk all the time and makes the funniest face along with it (scowls her brow and looks very serious...like, you better know what I am asking for and give it to me now!) Needless to say, I can't oblige all the time! Like last week my mom and I were in the middle of Wal-Mart and she started signing it with both hands with that serious face...it was quite funny!
• 7/7: Said "da-da" (says that one ALL THE TIME now...and can scream it at the top of her lungs with a really high-pitched tone!)*Today while watching Baby Signing Time, they said "DAD" and she was busy playing with something, but immediately after they said it, she looked up at the TV and said "DAD" just so matter of fact, like "I know that word too"!
• 7/24: Signed "all-done"
• 7/31: Signed "ball" when she saw it on Baby Signing Time
• ?: Don't know when she actually started signing more, but she signs it usually when she wants to, not when we ask her to...but usually she will if we sing the "more, more, more" song!
• ?: signed please when Rusty was feeding her and he was asking her to sign please (she hasn't done that one since!)
• 8/14: said "ma-ma"
  Pulls up to stand on anything and everything, especially my legs after she has chased me down and wants to be picked up! She also loves to pull up on my closet doors which are sliding mirrors and press her face up against it like she is kissing the "other baby".
• Can walk down the couch or ottoman
• Makes babies at church cry because she is constantly screaming at the top of her lungs (just to hear her own voice, not b/c she's unhappy...they are actually quite happy shrills!) Needless to say, we try to listen to sacrament in the foyer, b/c it's impossible to keep her from screaming!
• She also has 3 out of her top 4 teeth in...they all came in one at a time about a week apart, we're just waiting on the 4th to cut through the skin!
  

I hope I got it all, she is just growing, learning, and changing so fast it is hard to keep up! I LOVE being home with her everyday and am so blessed I get to witness all of these things first-hand!

Now for the pictures of our beautiful "Princess"

Elle with my mom @ Kaitlyn's birthday part - we put Katie's tiara on Elle & as you can see, she didn't mind!

I french braided her hair! I have to bribe her with puffs to get her to stay in her highchair long enough!

Digging for toys...I love how her diaper is hanging out!

She found a pacifier in the toy basket, even though she has never sucked on one before in her life! She hates them, and usually only wants her thumb(s).

This is her screaming like a wild banshee as she is crawling toward me as fast as she can!

We went out to eat, but forgot a bib, and in an effort to save her white top from being orange...we tried tieing a to-go bag around her neck...needless to say it didn't work, but had us laughing so hard at her trying to pull it off!

I love her sweet little face in this picture of her in her "big-kid" pajamas (size 12 month...they are a little bit big, but I had to get that size to have them with out feet)
This is the face she made all day one day (7/20) when she started feeling her teeth coming through!

7 Months!

It was hard to get a picture of her sitting up...she wants to get on her hands and knees.
This is almost it...she drops her jaw and stares at you or things she finds new and interesting...usually it is wider, I just barely caught it!

I am so ready to crawl...you put me down and I immediately bend forward to my hands and act like I am gonna go.

My little dancer with the crazy hair...I love this picture...I love that she is doing a passe, I love her face, and especially her crazy hair...this is what it looks like after she wakes up

Cutest little grin with those dimples and teeth!

I can't believe she is 7 months...she is getting quite the personality. She started a new "tantrum" thing when she doesn't get what she wants. She does it at random times to show her disapproval, but does it a lot when she is eating (if you aren't fast enough, or the food runs out and she's not done). She holds her arms straight out in front of her with her fists clenched, holds her breath, turns beat red and lets out a few little grunts with it. It's actually quite funny, but I try not to laugh!

She started sitting up really well over a month ago, and got onto her hands and knees and rocked back and forth a week or so ago. She can army crawl, but doesn't seem to like it that much. She also pushes back onto her feet (in a downward dog) position and screams. She is starting to babble (instead of scream) a little bit more and is constantly blowing raspberries or some form of it. And loves to suck her thumb...whichever one is available.