8 months

Ella's first school picture

Time is flying by and my baby is already 8 months old.  I really can't get over how fast this whole growing up thing is happening.  Here are some of the exciting things Ella is up to:

• She rolls all over the place, but still isn't crawling.  Ella gets up on her knees and not only rocks back and forth, she also shakes her little booty in a circle.
• Ella loves anything that makes noise.  She entertains herself with measuring cups, wrappers, boxes of candy, and anything else she can get her little hands on.
• Ella dances!  When music comes on she starts dancing- I think this is my favorite new development.
• She is quite a talker.  Ella babbles and says lots of sounds, including mama and dada.
• Ever since Ella threw up she refuses to eat solids even though she used to love them.  When I put the spoon by her mouth she turns her head and pushes it away regardless of what is on it.  If I force it in her mouth she gags and tries to spit it out.  We are starting to give her some finger foods and she likes them.
• Ella has 2 teeth.
• When we read Ella one of her favorite stories, "That's Not My Monkey" she kisses the last monkey's fluffy tummy.
• She loves to jump whether it is in her jumper or with us.
• She thinks her daddy is hilarious.  She laughs and laughs when he jokes around with her.  
• Unfortunately, she is a whiner.  She'll get over that though, right???
• Ella loves to push buttons- literally.  She tries to play with our computers and loves to eat our phones.  She has her own phone now though since she ruined mine a few weeks ago.  I guess all that slobber isn't good for electronics. CRAZY
• Ella is still taking 3 naps a day and sleeping from 7 pm until 7 am, occasionally waking up once in the middle of the night. 
  
• Ella loves to pull down the CDs and DVDs.
• She rolls over while we change her diaper which can make things a little difficult.
• The easiest way to make Ella smile is to give her kisses.  She loves them!

football

Isaac is number 58. The closest defensive player on the left.

I seem to be surrounded by football.  Football isn't even Gustavo's favorite sport, but I do believe it is all he does in his spare time these days.  He plays flag football with the ward, plays NCAA football on the Xbox 360 (he has created an intense excel worksheet to keep track of his recruiting- CRAZY), and he watches football games anytime he isn't playing.  While he is playing he usually has at least one game recording on the DVR.  It is crazy.  I like football, but not like that.  We haven't been able to go to any BYU games together this year.  He went to last week's game with Em and Cory and that might be the only time one of us goes to Cougar Stadium this year, but I'm sure we'll watch every game on TV.  We did go down to Nephi to watch Gustavo's little brother Isaac play though.  Although I don't like being cold, there is something very fun about bundling up and watching a football game. We had fun and were happy we had a chance to see Isaac.  We took some cute pictures of Ella while we were out.

All bundled up with Grandma Liz

If you look close you can see her two bottom teeth

October

It is definitely feeling like October around here.  I can't believe September went by so quickly, but I love fall so I'm happy.  

throw up

this is all the stuff she got- luckily you can't see how dirty it all is

Sometimes I use the terms "throw up" and "spit up" interchangeably.  On Sunday the difference became very obvious.  My cousin was being blessed up in Bountiful at 1 o'clock so after Ella's afternoon nap we jumped in the car.  I was nervous she would be hungry so I thought I'd try to feed her on the way up.  She ate a little, but soon became disinterested and spit it all up within minutes.  This left her slightly damp.  When we got to my aunt and uncles ward I explained that Ella's bottom was a little wet because she had thrown up in the car.  Right as the meeting started I was holding Ella as she faced me.  All of the sudden she threw up on me.  I asked Gustavo to get me a burp cloth as she proceeded to throw up at least 2 more times.  He just stared in disbelief while my sister Emily handed me a receiving blanket to try to clean myself up.  I couldn't believe that much could be in Ella's tiny stomach.  I excused myself during the opening hymn and tried to mop myself, but there was no use.  I was drenched from the bottom of my hair all down the front of my clothes.  It was disgusting.  Ella and I sat in the foyer so we could at least hear baby Elliot's blessing.  Gustavo came out during the sacrament hymn and I told him I thought maybe we could stay long enough to partake of the sacrament right as Ella threw up 2 more times.  We knew we needed to leave so we quickly went back to the car and I sat with Ella in the back seat.  She continued to throw up on and off in the car and even when we got home.  It was so sad, but she didn't seem to be in pain just incredibly tired.  I put her down for a good nap and she hasn't thrown up since.  We are glad she is all better and I don't think I'll use the term "throw up" lightly... at least not while Sunday is fresh on my mind.

family time

On September 19th we went down to celebrate Gustavo's dad's birthday.  After eating a delicious dinner Liz wanted to take a group picture.

Liz also took some cute pictures of Ella and Gabe.  

They are so adorable that we couldn't help taking a lot.

Gustavo, Shevin, and Isaac started throwing a football around.

It wasn't long before Lazaro, Gustavo's dad, joined in to show the boys up.

Then they gave the babies a turn!

It's all in a name

I am one of those silly people who has had my life planned for as long as I can remember.  Of course that includes the names of all of my children.  Over the years the names have changed, but when I was about 18 I decided that I wanted all of my children to be named after family members or people who mean a lot to me.  I have 4 incredible sisters who have been wonderful examples and great friends to me.  Ella is derived from my little sister Eleanor's name and her middle name Marie comes from my older sister, Megan Marie.  I love all of my sisters and want Ella to emulate them in many ways throughout her life.  Each of my sisters has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They have all followed my parent's examples to value education.  Each of us have chosen different fields to study, but everyone has been very driven in obtaining as much education as possible. Two of my sisters have already earned graduate degrees; Erin has her PhD and Megan has her master's degree.  My three older sisters are all married and raising their children.  I look to their examples as mothers regularly.  They are all very talented women.

When I think of the true characters of Megan and Eleanor, the two sisters whose names Ella carries, I see many similarities.  Both of these sisters are very service oriented.  As we were growing up Eleanor was always very affected by what she would see or hear about.  I remember her always wanting to help save those in the world who were living in difficult conditions.  In fact, I always thought she would choose to be in the medical field because that seemed to fit her passions so well, but she chose to get her degree in graphic design (art has always been another talent of hers.)  Eleanor is still a very sensitive soul.  When she sees someone struggling in person or through the media it is very common for her to start crying and sympathize with them.  Megan and her husband John are both very proactive.  They met in Africa on a study abroad and since then John has traveled all over the world doing research for his degrees (he just finished his PhD at Penn State.)  Megan is always serving those around her.  She faithfully serves in many different capacities in the church, but she is also an incredible friend and neighbor to everyone she meets.  Both of these sisters, okay all of my sisters, are intimidatingly intelligent.  Meg and Eleanor both earned and kept full scholarships to BYU with their ridiculous ACT scores and grades.  Meg got her degrees in Art History and Eleanor just finished her Bachelor of Fine Arts.  Last summer El did her internship in New York at Martha Stewart.  They are obviously both very talented.  I hope that as Ella grows up she knows that she has the potential to be anything she wants.  She is surrounded by incredible people on both sides of the family who will always love and support her.

just because