First Haircut!

Well, as you all know from our "Hair Days" posting, Ella has had some hair for a while now. You know, not a ton, but a substantial amount and long too. So long, in fact, that about three little hairs kept getting in her eyes. So, ... Haircut time!!! Daddy performed the ceremony with due reverence. We tried to save the trimmings, but they were so scanty that they just disappeared into thin air as soon as they were severed. Here's the before and after:

Before

The "Emo" look.

(I learned that word from a 23 year old in my program.)

After

A little severe still, but she grew into it.

And after that
The 196o's frock really completes the look.

Belated Birthday Post

Sorry for the delay! We've been so busy chasing Ella around the streets, we haven't had time to post!

Ella had a lovely birthday. We started the day with blueberry pancakes with nunky monkey (our friend Luke). Then we put birthday presents that had arrived in the mail over the previous week around the apartment so that she would find them throughout the day and she crawled all around and opened presents and played with new toys and books and clothes.

We played at the playground and had a nice long nap and then had a little birthday party in the little room downstairs in our building with immediate family. The theme was Strawberries and Elephants (because Ella loves them). Really, we just tied some balloons on some elephants and made a strawberry cake, threw some mats on the floor for her to climb on and called it a party.

Here are some highlights:

Ella in her party dress.

Elephant in his party attire.

Ella playing a rousing game of peekaboo with the entire room.

She'd gotten all these musical instruments that she loved and then she opened a bag of clothes--I thought they wouldn't be as exciting for her as her other gifts, but she immediately pulled the shirt over her head, paused for dramatic effect, and then popped out and grinned at everyone in the room. Then she did it again. And again. And again. Like twenty times at least. Everyone in the room would say "where's Ella?" and she was psyched. One time we didn't say it fast enough and from under the shirt we heard "wa lala" (not exactly words, but imitating our intonation perfectly). I can't remember how we finally convinced her to open the rest of her presents.

Then she got to have pizza, which she was pretty into. And finally

Cake!

Yes, those are finger marks. Seth brought the cake out to her (she was sitting in my lap) and she immediately grabbed a handful. I put her hand in my mouth to get the frosting off and she smiled and grabbed another handful and held it up to me. She fed me several bites (and even offered some to her Uncle Donnie). Then Grandma Jane fed her Strawberry Ice Cream and we whisked her up to the apartment to celebrate 7:30 (the time she was born) by ourselves. It was a little emotional for us (or maybe, more accurately, for me). Then gave Ella a bath, kissed everyone goodnight and went to bed.

It's so amazing to think that it's been a whole year since she was born. And that it's only been a year since we first met her. We can't remember our lives without her. She's so amazing.

Thanks to all of you who have been here with us through this year plus.