Ella is One

I can not believe that it has already been a year since our sweet Ella was born. This year has gone by so fast and Ella has grown out of being a baby and into a toddler. She loves being able to walk around and especially loves chasing around Boston and following him around everywhere. Those two can get into some trouble but they always have fun, and I love hearing their little giggles when they play together. 

Milestones: First Smile // May 29, Laugh // July 6, Rollover (to belly) // July 22, Rollover (to back) // September 4, Scoot (backwards) // September 24, Scoot (forwards) October 3, Sit // October 12, First try of baby food (bananas) October 25, Pull up to standing // December 18, Crawl // January 8, Say First Word (mama) // January 19, First tooth // January 25, Stand // February 17, First Steps // February 20, Walk // April 18

Height & Weight: Ella is just under 20 pounds and is in the 44th percentile for weight and 28 inches putting her in the 78th percentile for height. She has gone down on the chart for weight but she has been so much more active that her baby fat is coming off and she doesn't have as many rolls as she did before. 

Teeth: She has 6 teeth! Her front two, plus one to the left on the top, and for the bottom one front bottom tooth and two to the left. Her teeth are a little crooked on bottom and all on one side, but I am not too worried about it right now, I am sure she will be fine later on, and it is a little cute!

Sleep: Ella has been sleeping through the night for a while now and it is so great to have both kids sleep through the night, especially since they share a room. When Ella was first born, transitioning back to a baby who would wake up multiple times a night was hard. So glad that they both sleep all night. Ella usually goes to bed first around 7:30 and then wakes up around 7/7:30.

Likes: To wave "hi", snuggle with her blanket, be held (she has some separation anxiety and it makes it hard to even set her down), playing with toys (she especially loves to play with cars and even makes sounds like her big brother Boston does), bananas, spaghetti (or anything noodles), peanut butter sandwiches, bath time, sucking her thumb, and making messes with toys, books, or diapers.

Dislikes: Diaper changes, strawberries, most vegetables, being put down, and wearing headbands (its a struggle). She is pretty easy going for the most part but has her little quirks!

Ella has grown into such a little person and her personality is so fun to watch develop. She is such a sweet girl, and a delight to have in our home. We are so grateful for her and love her to pieces! For her photo session I had so many fun ideas I wanted to do with her, but she would not have it, she cried through the entire thing, and only when I was able to be close to her and distract her, did we manage to get some shots. I am so thankful for Into the Woods Studios who did a great job getting photos of Ella when I thought it would be impossible. They were easy to work with and flexible, I will cherish this photos forever! 

Ella's First Birthday

Somehow it seemed to me that my sweet little Ella would stay little forever, and here we are a whole year later. It goes so much faster with your second and I have learned to cherish my moments because they grow too fast. I was so excited for Ella's birthday party that I started planning it three months in advance, I spent days just figuring out how I wanted it to look, what theme I wanted to have, what i wanted Ella to wear, etc. And I just love the gold and pink colors paired together, it is super trendy right now and I knew I wanted to have it look good but not like everybody else's parties.

The way I made it one of a kind was doing a few DIY projects, like her chalkboard, the fringe streamers, and her outfit. This allowed me to make it just as I wanted and everything turned out perfect! 

As for the day, just as with Boston's party I spent a good portion of the day before decorating and preparing food, decorations, cleaning, as we were having family in town to celebrate. And I kept at it through the night, call me crazy for putting so much time into a one year old's party but I am very much so a perfectionist and it had to meet my standards. Haha. And because of that I only got about three hours of sleep that night, but thankfully I had family who also helped with food prep and decorations. 

We decided to have a medium lunch and a little candy buffet (of course in her colors) I was so excited to find a good deal on candy at Oriental Trading and the pinks, white, and gold displayed beautifully in the glass apothecary jars I had. Blake thought I was crazy to buy them when I did for Boston's party but I knew I would use them again, and I have been, as well as my food display dishes we got from our wedding. To go along with the pink I had mini cupcakes decorated with pink frosting in the shape of a rosette to match the cake! I was so happy to make the cake for Ella because it was just what I wanted, and I wouldn't have been able to make it that way without going to the cake decorating class I did!

Once everything was set up and ready to go we started, I didn't do much in the sense of games because I didn't really think of it but instead I put time into a video for Ella's first year. I wasn't expecting to cry because I was the one who made it but I did, and I guess my mom did too! It really makes stop and realize how fast time does go by!

I was surprised that Ella was not a fan of her cake, she started bawling when we brought it out for her and started singing "Happy Birthday", she would not have it! But then she started poking at it and eventually just dunked her whole face in it, and that is how she ate it! I am pretty sure she ate pretty much frosting, that cake was loaded with it...but she wasn't slowing down. 

For Ella's presents we had a nice time letting her open up gifts from us and her grandparents who both traveled from Utah for her day. She got some new outfits, books, toys, and a piggy bank. She has only been on this earth for a year but man is she loved, we had a great time celebrating Ella and we are so glad to have her as part of our family.

Even though before the party it was chaos making sure everything was picture perfect it all ended too quickly, but we loved being able to spend time with family and most important have a fun party for Ella who is now a one-year old! She has gotten so big over just a year and loves to chase her brother around, now that she is getting better at walking, I can't imagine how big she will be in a year from now! Slow down baby girl, can't you just stay little forever!?

Our Disney Trip

Our Disney trip was unforgettable and  such a blast! We had so much fun and so did the kids! We want to come back again in the future but that might not be for a few years. We were able to be there for three days, two days in Disneyland, and one in California Adventures, and there were still so many things we never got around to do! It rained on us everyday we were there, which probably drove the crowds down a bit but I was looking forward to that California weather. 

Our first day we actually ended up driving from just a little bit outside of Las Vegas straight to Disneyland, where we met up with everyone - since we all drove separately. I almost didn't want to drive because I knew it was going to be so long, but it actually ended up being not too bad because we broke it up. That first day we were all dressed in our matching family outfits, it was so fun making them and being able to wear them, really brought the Disney spirit alive!

Our very first ride we went on was Pirates of the Carribean. As we were waiting in line, Karly (Blake's younger sister) was surprised by her boyfriend who was able to make a surprise trip to Disneyland for her birthday! Karly was so happy and surprised and one of the workers noticed and wanted to do something special because of it. She gave our whole family (Blake's siblings with the kids and parents) and Karly's boyfriend's family VIP access to the front of the line! It was awesome! Couldn't complain that our first ever ride in Disneyland, we were given VIP access!

The rest of the day we just went from ride to ride and Boston even rode a few multiple times. He especially loved going on the Winnie the Pooh ride but was sad he wasn't able to get Winnie the Pooh's autograph, although he was able to get a picture with Tiger and Eeyore. Even though we were there for only half a day I was exhausted and so were the kids! We did A LOT of walking, so being able to take a break while we rode rides was really nice!

We woke up the next day and were at the park bright and early at eight o'clock. We would spend the entire day at California Adventure's and it was even more exhausting than the day before but still loads of fun. We started off with a few kids rides that the kids enjoyed and then Blake and I were able to go on a racing Cars ride. We weren't able to steer but just road on the ride for it and I think it was one of my favorite rides of all! It starts out with the story of Cars, and then ends in a race with a car other people are in and you "race". It went so fast it was so fun! Boston was in heaven being in Cars Land he loved, being able to se Lightning McQueen and Mater and had a blast on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, I wish he was taller so he could have gone on more rides but I think he still had tons of fun. It was so nice to go with more than just our little family, it made it possible for Blake and I to go on some of the big rides together which was so fun.

Some highlights from the day were being able to meet Spiderman and Captain America. Boston got both of there autographs and even a few photos. We were also able to make it to a Disney Jr. Show which Boston absolutely adored. Some of his favorite shows were preformed and it was tailored just for kids so it was perfect for him! He also was able to go on some other rides like Monster's Inc, The Little Mermaid, and even a Frozen show - all Disney movies he loves! I think that because he had watched some of the shows before we had been to Disneyland that he had more fun because he was able to recognize some characters and follow along with the story. We also were able to do a fun little "class" on how to "turtle talk with Crush" from finding Nemo, Boston was a little young to understand what was going on but he loves Finding Nemo so he still like it. Afterwards I was able to take a mini "class" on animation and was taught how to draw Mickey Mouse. I didn't know we were just doing the head so mine is a little smaller but I thought it turned out pretty good.

While kids napped, Blake and I were able to ride some big rides while the grandparents watched them (a perk of going in a large group). We were able to go on Tower of Terror (which I did not want to go on, but did - I closed my eyes the whole time because I did not want to see how high we were when we dropped), Screamin California, and Grizzly River Run. It was nice to not have to worry about the kids and enjoy some time together. We ended up eating dinner in the park which I wanted to do for the experience and got a yummy bread bowl that was huge and so good! It hit the spot for sure with all the walking we were doing. To end the night we were going to watch the water show the put on, but they were having technical difficulties which was disappointing, we will just have to see it next time we go!

For our third and last day in Disneyland we managed to get a "Magic Morning" pass which allowed us into the park one hour before it officially opened. This made the lines SO much shorter and we practically walked onto every ride we wanted to go for that first hour. Boston loved the Buzz Lightyear ride, you are able to shoot targets and get points as you go throughout the ride. I went on it with Boston, but he had already gone on it twice as Blake and I went on a big ride, so I wasn't sure how it worked at first, but Boston knew exactly what to do - which was a little funny that he had to show me!

Once the park had officially opened we ran to the Finding Nemo ride because that can be a long wait. We got on pretty quickly and it was really cool. You get into a submarine and get to see characters from the movie and the storyline under water, both Boston and Ella loved it! We also made it to some of the classic rides like Dumbo, It's a Small World (again), Space Mountain, and Soarin' over California. Boston even got to go on his very first roller coaster, Gadget Go Coaster, which was so fun for him. We took a break in the afternoon and sat down for a show with Mickey Mouse and sang some well known Disney songs. We sure were tired as the day came to an end, but were a little sad that it was our last day. Boston had such a fun time with all the kid rides and being able to hang out with grandpa, and Ella really had no clue what was going on, but for me and my first time, it was super fun. We even got some souvenirs, a 60th Disney pin because it was the 60th anniversary of Disneyland and Boston got a monster truck Lightning McQueen (two things he loves), and Ella got a little stuffed Minnie Mouse.

Our trip was so fun, and it made it even better that we were able to do it with family. We can't wait until we can go again!