Ellie's Birthday- July 29th

My baby girl is ONE! Well now that I'm finally getting around to posting this she is almost 14 months. I can't believe how fast time flies! It truly doesn't seem like it was that long ago that I was pregnant and  so anxious to meet the little lady growing inside of me. This last year has been wonderful. Challenging at times, YES. Sleep deprived...YES, YES!!! But the joy this little girl brings into my life can't be put into words. She brightens my days and makes me smile. From her little voice to watching her explore and learn about her world she infuses me with happiness! It is hard to remember life without my El. Although it can be very challenging, frustrating and VERY demanding at times, I'm so grateful to be a mom and I'm sooooooo grateful for my Ellie! 

At one year Ellie weighed in at 22 lbs and is 31 inches long. She is still a  GREAT eater and will eat anytime and just about anything. She is funny about fruit. Not a fan of the slimy texture of some things we're guessing.  She still LOVES to watch Baby Signing Time and will sign dog, hat, more, outside, shoes, horse, snake, cold, milk, rock, bubbles, wash hands...and more that I can't think of at the moment. She says "ma, ma, ma" and "da, da, da" and babbles all the time. Sometimes it sounds like she's trying to say "eat" and "light" but it's hard to know if she's just babbling or really saying words. She LOVES to play with the light switches and push the garage door opener. She is an outside girl and loves walks, playing at the park or just plain being outside. She is my little fish (as I mentioned in the swimming lessons post) and absolutely LOVES the water. She loves anything that has water...even the toilet bowl :-( For a time I had to put packing tape on the toilet seat so she wouldn't try to play in the toilet while I was in the shower. Then she started pushing down the lever that changes the water from the shower head to the faucet and splashing in that....while I was left with no water to shower with. Now I either shower while she's asleep or she showers with me....but she still plays with the lever and takes my water away, even if she's in the tub with me and has toys to play with! 

Due to her love of the water we celebrated her birthday at the splash pad by her cousin Libby's house. After singing, Elmo cupcakes, and presents all the kids hit the splash pad and had a ball. 

The first bite...she needed some help from daddy to figure out what to do with her furry red friend.

It didn't take long for her to figure it out...and once she did she was in heaven with all the sugary goodness a cupcake has to offer.

time to get in the water. For her birthday her grams gave her this cute suite...she reminds me of Wilma Flintstone when she wears it. I call it her cave woman swimming suite. I LOVE it and think it is soooooooo dang cute! 

cousin Libby sporting some groovy shades

Sawyer running and splashing

These boys were hard to gets pics of because they were running around so fast through all the water! 

Ellie hanging out with Street

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIE. WE LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!