Thanksgiving

Even though we had a great Thanksgiving, we are glad that it's over. It's hard traveling with Ella and trying to get her to sleep well at other houses. We traveled to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving at Marc's sister's house with his family. Actually it ended up being about 34 people for Thanksgiving dinner!!! It was a full house to say the least.
Ella had a great time though, sans sleep. She is on the move constantly now, that's right she is walking. Here is a video of her walking right before we left for Thanksgiving.



At Aunt Rachael's house Ella discovered the hearth to the fireplace and thought that it was a great place to take a seat. Whenever mommy and daddy were sitting there she wanted to sit up there too.


Ella also enjoyed playing with Grandpa Keyes a lot, he was always on the floor with her.
All in all it was a great Thanksgiving, we just had to deal with a crabby Ella for a couple of days after we got home.

We also went out this past weekend and got our Christmas tree! We got it up and decorated. Ella has been really good with it so far, not touching too much. We just ordered a baby gate to go around it though, just in case. Pictures to come of the tree.

Ella's Walking!

That's right everyone, Ella is walking. Well, not as her primary mode of transportation yet, but she is definitely on her way. She started taking steps on Sunday and has been going strong ever since. At home we can get her to take about 4-10 steps at a time. The ladies at the daycare told me that yesterday she walked halfway across the room, of course she did that there and not at home! Here is a video we took of her walking the other day. It's not the best, but we'll get some more.



Besides walking, she is getting much more verbal. No words yet, but lots and lots of sounds. She is also using her signs really well lately, she knows: eat, please, more and dog. When she wants her milk she says "maa". It's amazing what she understands even though she can't talk back yet.
Right now we are getting ready for a visit from my parents this weekend. We are looking forward to a fun weekend and to be able to get out of the house and do some things. I'm sure I'll have lots more to write about after this weekend and the upcoming holidays.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Keyes

Well, we just took a trip to NC to visit Marc's mom and stepdad, for Ella and me it was our first trip out there. We had a lot of fun out there and enjoyed the time away. We drove up to the mountains one day and spent the day in a cute little town called Bowling Rock, it was beautiful.

It was fun to spend time with Alice and Mitch and Marc's sisters as well. While we were there Ella started getting more adventurous with her trying to walk. She was taking laps around the kitchen with Grandpa Keyes help. She also was standing up all over the place, without holding on for help. Here is another picture of her doing one of her favorite things, swinging!

Halloween Fun!

Ella had her first Halloween party last Thursday at the daycare at the gym. She is a skunk this year and wore her costume the whole time she was at daycare, mommy got to go workout.
Then on Saturday we went to Spooky Zoo at the Lincoln Park Zoo and she had a blast. She dressed up again and got to go around and see all the animals and all the other kids. She loved having her pumpkin bucket to put any treats in.

She also got to meet some characters along the way and wasn't afraid of any of them. Here she is meeting Mickey Mouse.
Ella was such a good girl the whole day. I can't believe how big she is getting, she is definitely not a baby anymore! I think that she enjoyed the whole experience of Spooky Zoo. Here is a video of her dancing to a band at the zoo.

We also went to get a couple of pumpkins yesterday at a pumpkin lot down the street. Ella loved it! I didn't think she would be that into it, but she was so into the pumpkins. She wanted to hold one she picked out the whole time. We are going to carve one so she can see a jack-o-lantern, even though no one else will probably see it.

Big Girl

Lately Ella wants to do everything by herself, including getting into and onto things she shouldn't. We have been having fun with her new found adventurous side. Here she is standing on her train (daddy was watching her).

She has also been climbing into the cabinets whenever she can and into the bin we have by the front door (we keep shoes in it). Today I caught her in the shoe bin, she was in there face first, with the shoes still in there too. She wasn't fussing so I let her figure it out by herself and in a second she was sitting up and so proud of herself.






















We have a busy few days coming up here. Tomorrow is Ella's Halloween party at the gym daycare. She gets to dress up for it and everything. I'll have pictures soon. Then Friday is Daddy's birthday and Adam will be babysitting her for a little while while we go out to a bar. On Saturday is the Spooky Zoo at Lincoln Park Zoo, we are looking forward to that if the weather stays decent.

Riding my train

Well, yesterday Ella learned how to get on her train by herself! All she wants to do is ride the train now. She can even push by herself, but just with one leg (that is all that can touch). She sits on the train a little crooked so that one foot can touch the floor. At the daycare at the gym they have a little red ride-on car that I guess she has been riding on the last couple days as well. What a big girl she is getting to be. Today she even tried to take a step on her own and has been standing on her own more and more. Here is a video of her riding on her train!

On the move!

Ella is so busy lately! She is so close to walking, it's going to happen any day now. She is starting to get more adventurous and walking along everything, as long as she can hold on with one hand. The last few days she has been into her baby doll and likes to carry her around with her.

We went to one of her friends b-day parties this weekend (the girls are two weeks apart from each other). Ella had a great time! They had hired a lady from Wiggleworms to come and entertain the kids, they all loved the songs. Ella really got into it when the lady pulled out the shakers to use. Here is a video of her dancing with the shakers and having a great time.




Tomorrow Ella and I are going in to get our flu shots, I hope it goes ok. Poor girl though, she just had her 12 month shots a week and a half ago and now I'm making her get another one! At least she doesn't associate the doctors office with getting shots yet!!! So we don't actually have a breakdown until the shot is given. I'm sure it'll be fine about 15 min after we leave the office.