December 2009.....up until Christmas

We had a photo shoot taken for Christmas. This was by far our favorite one of the three of us. We sent this one out as our Christmas card as well. I love the sweet smile on Ella's face. We are so blessed to have her in our lives this Christmas. It was so fun to have a baby around for the holidays. She lit up every event and made things so much more fun. Ella was so close to crawling all month long. We thought it was going to happen before Christmas, but she just didn't quite get there. She is very active though...never wants to stay still, and there is never a dull moment.

Here are some of the other pictures from the same photo shoot. I love this one. This was just before she was totally sitting up on her own, so we had to sit her up and snap the picture really fast before she would slump over to the side. :o)

I thought this was such a cute idea, so I brought my own lights with me....well, little did I know that these lights get HOT really fast! We had to snap a few quickly and then shut them right back off.

She liked the lights! :o)

I love her little Santa hat! I brought all these little props with us to the studio, and they turned out so cute. :o) I love the little drool about to fall out of her mouth....she is really focusing on that big shiny ornament!

"Do you think Santa will bring me anything for Christmas?? I'm good most of the time!"

So thankful for our little family! God has blessed us so much!

Here's a few more that we liked.

LOVE THIS! A true daddy's girl for sure!

We had one snow fall in Texas! It melted in a matter of an hour, but I had to get a picture of Ella with her very first snow fall.

I loved her little snuggly teddy bear suit.

It did make it a lot harder to her to move though! :)

This looks like a typical play afternoon in our family room. We were skyping with Dawn and Sophia. Skype is such a great way to keep in touch and for Ella to remember all of the special people in her life that live far away.

All dressed up for church on a December Sunday morning!

I think this picture of our tree is so pretty....this was before I had a chance to decorate it, but I still love the lighting.

We keep our house on the chilly side, so Ella and I dress all nuggly in the morning hours of the day. I love these little fleece suits on her...so soft. They just made it a lot harder for her to try to crawl. She certainly still tried though!

I finally got the tree decorated by the second week of December, and Ella was facinated by all the shiny ornaments.

I bought a few new special ornaments this year...This one is in honor of my friend Laura. She is having a baby girl this year after a long hard trial time of waiting. They are naming their little girl Hope, and I wanted to get this ornament to commemorate this special year.

This one speaks for itself. A shiny sparkly "E" for my little Ella bear. My sister Dawn also bought me a baby's first Christmas ornament. I didn't take a picture of it yet, but it will be on our tree next year.

Just a few more pictures of Ella trying to learn how to crawl. Mommy makes it a little more difficult by dressing her in outfits that make it harder to move. I can't help it...they are just so cute! :o)

This is Ella's little friend Drew. Drew's mom Amy watches Ella for me one day a week so I can sleep after working night shift. It's so cute to watch Ella and Drew interact with each other. They always light up when they see each other. It will be fun to see them play and interact more as they get older.

Aren't I cute?

Ella played so hard that she fell asleep in her jumperoo! :o) Hilarious! She is like that though...she plays and plays and plays until she just drops! This girl has way more energy than me, but is quite the match for her daddy! I'm so glad they have each other to wear themselves out! :o)

In the process of learning how to hold my own bottle.

Trying on mommy's scarf. It's so cute to see her sitting up on her own. She had only been able to do this now for about a week or two. This was the week before we left to go home for Christmas. I was excited that she was sitting on her own by Christmas. It's so much easier to play with her now that she can sit on her own.

Three stockings on our fireplace this year! I don't take this for granted and am so thankful for the new precious life in our home this year! She has forever changed us, and brings joy into our home every day! WE LOVE YOU ELLA GRACE!

This was the last Sunday before Christmas. Ella is wearing her red Christmas dress from Grandma. It ended up fitting her just perfect! Thank you Grandma French!

We were asked to dress up as Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus for the preschoolers at church. I unfortunately had to work, but my friend Lindsay was gracious enough to step in for me. I think Ella made a pretty cute little baby Jesus. And then there's Jeff! :o) LOL

We are so excited to get to leave for Wisconsin in just a few days! We havn't been back to Wisconsin for the actual Christmas holiday in six years!!!