The Way Things Work

One of the most fascinating things about E these days is watching her figure out her little world. Cause and effect seem to be the skill de'jour. And she's getting quite good at it. She'll put her brush to her head to "brush" her hair, put her sock on her foot- basically she knows where things should go and what they should do, she just can't quite do it yet.

However, Christmas morning she had quite the runny nose, everyone was constantly wiping it for her. On one particular wipe from mama, she took the tissue from my hand and wiped her nose all by herself! It was hilarious! *Note great-grandma cracking up in the background.

Christmas Morning

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with the family. It was so much fun watching Ella enjoying herself on Christmas morning. She did a little bit of gift opening and a lot of crawling around among the presents, discarded wrapping paper, etc. I know she can't wait 'til next year!

The Night Before Christmas

Getting ready

Discovering her stocking.

Stocking surprise!

Time for bed.

Merry Christmas!

Practice

I keep catching E doing this...

14 Months

Another month has come and gone and sweet E is a little older and wiser. Last week was her most eventful. She started walking (but still prefers the effortless crawling), said her first "sentence" of "hi dada!" and she has sprouted 3 molars in just days. We can't get over how much fun she is. We are all looking forward to celebrating Christmas together, especially since E will be much more aware.

Sleepy

Best Birthday Gift Ever...

Just minutes ago, our sweet E started walking! All by herself, all at her own initiative. So exciting!

Deck the Halls

Busy little hands.

Christmas Cuteness

Ella in one of her (many) Christmasy dresses. 'Tis the season!

Walking Buddy

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

You don't know how temtped I am to use this for our card. This photo perfectly captures the chaos that was our shoot today. Neither of our children were cooperating- Charlie especially refused to look at the camera. Thankfully we did end up with some good ones.

Teething Machine

Poor little Ella. Her little mouth is under attack by the teething fairy these days. E does all that she can to ease the pain. She often crawls around like this with toys in her mouth. She reminds me of a puppy. Poor Baby.

(red) Baby

I can't resist purchases that contribute to a good cause. I've been wanting to get E a product (red) onsesie forever, and they finally went on sale! Gotta love a cute shirt + helping end AIDS in Africa.

San Francisco

We journeyed to the great city of San Francisco for Thanksgiving this year. We went to visit Ella's Uncles Timmy and Matt, Aunt Laura and cousin Macy. It was so nice to share the holiday with family we rarely see. We miss them already!

Pier 39

Fisherman's Warf

Aunt Laura & Uncle Matt


Street Food

E's first trolley ride. She loved it!

Big Girl Seat

E is officially riding in style in her big girl seat. This photo was actually her first ride, and boy did she love it!

Around Here

It's been a busy couple of weeks around the Cobbhouse. Little E just keeps growing and is more fun by the day. She's still working on walking, she enjoys pushing her shopping cart around the house, walks the furniture and stands by herself lots. She's also insists on feeding herself- and she's currently not too fond of utensils. Messy.

She's starting to talk more- today she was somewhat clearly saying "more" and "bye-bye" in context. She also says da-da, hi and uh-oh. She'll also make a random selection of animal noises when asked to do so. It's so much fun watching her evolve into a little girl!

Chili

Look mom I have it all under control.

Ella's most favorite book. She especially loves the monkey and

will make monkey sounds on occassion.

New Swing

A silly dream of mine has always been to have a cute little baby swing in the front yard hanging from a tree. Well that dream is now a reality as you can see. Today was Ella's first ride in her new swing and she loved it! She giggled constantly when I pushed her and cried terribly when we took her out. Sorry the pics are a bit blurry, they are action shots after all. But too cute to pass up.