Happy 1st Birthday, Ellison!!! Our little girl turned one on November 5 (The date on the one photos is wrong). Since returning to NC, Ellison had her one year check-up (6 shots and a finger poke!!!) - she's doing great, weighs in at 20 pounds, and measures 29 1/2 inches.
What an amazing year it has been for us! This little girl has blessed and enriched our lives more than we ever could have imagined! It has been pure joy watching her grow into a toddler. We only hope that one day she'll know how much she's loved. The year feels like it has gone by in a blur, even though we have a ton of photos to show for it. :) Ellison is a very calm, even-mannered, easy-going, sweet, loving, strong-willed, quiet, and intelligent little girl. She adores her daddy, but likes her mommy close by. Right now, she loves baby dolls - she now feeds them a bottle, burps them ever so gently, cradles them, and pokes at their eyes. She gets excited every day when I get my makeup bag out - she goes through it pulling items out, puts the mini-makeup bag on her arm like a purse, then actually pretends to put makeup on me (or daddy if he's close by) with a brush, and thinks it's
the coolest if I pretend to put some on her. She loves getting lip balm put on her lips, and will then return the favor by putting the lip balm on you. She LOVES socks! She pulls one off her feet much of the time, but is content with any little sock or pair of socks - she takes one and crumples it and keeps it in her little fist, even when crawling around. She also does this with kleenex or toilet tissue, too - she'll sit there for the longest time gently and slowly tearing it into the tiniest pieces, and then will crumple a big piece in her fist and keep it there while she goes about her business. Ellison has really gotten into boogying lately, too - when she hears music she wiggles her bod every which way & flails her arm in the air. Her favorite foods are probably bananas and still Cheerios. She adores Barney loves it if she catches a TV show that has puppets (like Sesame Street). For being 1, she sure shares well with others (I'm sure that'll change!). Ellison isn't a real vocal kid (yet), but she's very thoughtful - you can almost see the wheels turning in her head. And she's got a smile and laugh that'll just make you melt! We are so proud of the little person she is.
Ellison's Birthday Party on Nov. 3
So these are photos of Ellison's birthday party, held a couple days before the actual event. It was funny, she wasn't crazy about cake. She just gently poked at it with her finger, so we had to put her hand in it a couple times before she'd taste it. But even after tasting it, she never went crazy with it, just simply licked the frosting a little bit, then was done. (Yea! Good habits already, Mookie!). She does, we found, love ice cream though. As far as opening gifts, she tore at the paper very gently and slowly for just one second, and then wasn't interested, so her cousins got to do the honors. She received some wonderful gifts (thanks, everyone!) - she even got some of her birthday gift from her Buffalo family (Abuelo & Abuela Soto & her aunts Ana & Marie) sent to Michigan.
Pap
On November 4 there was another birthday party to celebrate 3 birthdays: Allie, my cousin Shawn's daughter, turned 2 on November 5; Ellison turned 1 on November 5; and my Aunt Yvonne (aka "Gramma Yvonne" to Ellison, who is Shawn's mom) had a birthday November 6. Since our families do everything together, we naturally thought we'd have a little gathering for the birthdays.
the coolest if I pretend to put some on her. She loves getting lip balm put on her lips, and will then return the favor by putting the lip balm on you. She LOVES socks! She pulls one off her feet much of the time, but is content with any little sock or pair of socks - she takes one and crumples it and keeps it in her little fist, even when crawling around. She also does this with kleenex or toilet tissue, too - she'll sit there for the longest time gently and slowly tearing it into the tiniest pieces, and then will crumple a big piece in her fist and keep it there while she goes about her business. Ellison has really gotten into boogying lately, too - when she hears music she wiggles her bod every which way & flails her arm in the air. Her favorite foods are probably bananas and still Cheerios. She adores Barney loves it if she catches a TV show that has puppets (like Sesame Street). For being 1, she sure shares well with others (I'm sure that'll change!). Ellison isn't a real vocal kid (yet), but she's very thoughtful - you can almost see the wheels turning in her head. And she's got a smile and laugh that'll just make you melt! We are so proud of the little person she is.
Our little Oompa Loompa! Jonathan & I had fun making Ell's costume this year. She looked hilarious! Even though she didn't attend the Halloween Party, we dressed her up just beforehand so she could be in costume with her cousins since they wouldn't get to see her on Halloween day. Jonathan & I dressed up as a ghostly maid and chauffeur. The party was awesome - everyone had a great time (some had TOO good a time, ahem).
Ellison was so excited to have stumbled upon Grammy & Papa's Halloween candy stash. She played with the Dorito bag for the longest time just to hear it make noise. Cheap entertainment. We should go return all of her toys at once.
This is the Oompa Loompa on Halloween day going trick-or-treating. Her very first stop was here, to her Great Aunt Sheila & Uncle Phil's, where Lexi (the Yorki) was dressed up as a baby. Ellison thought Lexi was the greatest.
Here is a photo of Ellison with my cousin Brian's son, Luke.
Boy, having a hairdresser for a Grandma sure has its perks! We thought it would be funny to put rollers in Ell's "long" strips of hair so we could give her a sassy look. The result was pretty funny, given that there were only 3 spots on her head that had "long" hair. Toward the end of our trip, Gramma convinced me to trim up her long strips of hair so they blended a little better. It took me that long to give in - after all, it was Ellison's signature hair style.
One of my close girlfriends, Stacey Keeler, and her son, Marcus, came over to my parents' house so our little people could have a mini-playdate. Marcus just turned one on October 2. Stacey & I share many of our parenting laughs, concerns, woes, and questions with each other via e-mail since we live so far apart. Marcus & Ellison played while us girls got to try to catch up a little in person... well, as best we could while keeping an eye on our 2 worms! We had a nice visit, though, and then a week later Stacey & I got to go shopping & have lunch - just the 2 of us. It was great to have some girl-time while Ellison got some Grammy- and Aunt Carrie-time.
So the 3 of us flew to Michigan on Oct. 25. Jonathan returned to NC after 1 1/2 wks, while Ellison and I decided to impose on my parents for 3 wks. :) We had a great time & got to celebrate many things. Here are some miscellaneous cute shots of Mookie from our trip. She was a total doll the entire time!!! She still flies well, too, thank God! As her Grandma says, Ellison is very "loyal" - she had a hard time if her mom or dad wasn't in sight. :) She played very well, she just wanted to know that one of us was still there to make sure everything was kosher.
