With Dad and Mom

We love you so much pumpkin! We can't get enough of holding and playing with you! You are SUCH a JOY to us!!!

(She will give the most adorable smiles at Ryan)



Now if only we could get a family shot with the three of us...

Random Play Pics

We got this neat toy as a gift. It changes into three different paly things for baby. This one is where it becomes a tunnel for the baby to practice crawling through. And by the way,..SHE IS CRAWLING! She will rock alot then start moving her hands and knees then out of wanting to get somewhere faster she will transition into her belly army pull-scoot. BUT just yesterday when I went to get her out of her crib in the morning, she was in her rocking position then straightened both her legs with her butt in the air. Moms, you know what that looks like. It reminds me of the boy in Jungle book when he tries to walk on all fours. So all day yesterday she was pulling on her belly then would rock, crawl a little then stand on her feet. I don't think she knows what she wants to do. I guess in her little mind she is trying to figure out which position will help her get to where she wants the quickest...Crawling,..or pulling, through the tunnel!
"Mommy I see you!". She kept putting her head in then pulling it out to see me.
This is as far as she goes. She won't attempt to actually try to GO THROUGH. Only into..
Nana came by to play with us last week. Here she is happy to see her Nana.

I love this face. I am not sure what she was trying to say with it. Like "Come on mom, seriously" face. Or Maybe she was loosing her balance and was about to topple over...
Smiley girl...
This one reminds of the old black and white movies where a damsel in distress goes to see a detective and the first shot you see her in she is in this smokey light that only shows her eyes.
She is ALWAYS sucking in her lower lip like this. I think it is adorable but at times it makes her look like an old man who forgot to put his dentures in.
I am doing the flowers for Holly's wedding this June. We hung out with her last Friday. Ella Reese loved her hair. And love to Ella Reese means to pull.

Pearly Whites

It was hard getting a picture of her teeth. She would either move too fast or try to eat the camera. This is from two weeks ago when she just had the one tooth.
Goin down for a nap. She likes having the blanket to cover her face when I put her down. And after I cover her face and walk away I always can either hear or see her pull the blanket back down really fast like we are playing peek-a-boo...Like in this picture.

And this one below is from last week soon after we discovered she was cutting another one... These others were of her cheesin it at the camera.

Tooth #2 !

Today I was mall walking...yes mall walking. I even got there early at 10am to do it. I was there with other moms and retired folk getting there excersize on...I would have gone out since it is so beautiful but I had a serious agenda to find a swimsuit. Didn't find one.... If you have found one please tell me where. I am looking for either a one piece or tankini set that has a high neck and preferably a boy short cut bottoms if a two piece. Do they exist out there???
But when I was there some ladies were goo- gooing over Ella Reese and one of the ladies said,
"Oh look at her little teeth!". I quickly spread her lips apart and saw a second little tooth that had come out on the bottom next to the first one! I was so excited. It has probably been there for a few days now and we haven't noticed it. I knew she was snotty last week for a reason!
Oh, and Ryan swares that she crawled the other day..I was in front of her and and she was rocking back and forth and Ryan promised that he saw her pick her knees up off the ground and move them forward a few times. IF so,..she hasn't done it agian since then. AND if that is true we need to make a mad dash to seriously baby proof our house. She is already belly scooting and pulling her self around from one end of the room to another in no time at all! If she sees something she wants, she will book it over to that thing in an instant. Usually it is the remote control or a shoe..or a new thing she has never seen before.
I'll post pics of her pearly whites soon...

Motherhood

Here is a excerpt from an interview with Noel Piper. A question that was asked was "Noël, when did your children come along and what was the most important lesson you learned as a young mother? What do you enjoy most about being a mother?"

It was so very encouraging and refreshing to read! I thought it may encourage you mommies or soon to be mommies out there!

It is posted on girltalk.blogs.com/

"Our oldest was born when we had been married almost 4 years. On their birthdays this year, our sons will be 35, 32, 28, and 24. Talitha came to us when she was 2 months old, one month before my husband’s 50th birthday.
During their young years, when my days seemed to be shaped by interruptions, I’d often think: wiping runny noses and messy bottoms is not my calling; calling the refrigerator repairman and rescuing the spoiling contents of the fridge is not my calling; washing dishes is not my calling, walking through the dried remains of spilled koolaid is not my calling. At the end of a day, when I had done nothing—except those things and others like them—it could be pretty depressing. What’s the point when that’s all there is in life?
My only hope was remembering that when God gave me children, he called me to be a mother. His calling to a mother is that she be his servant, his tool, toward raising little boys and little girls to be godly men and women. One important thing for me to realize was that God is the only one who can bring our children to himself. But he gives me the privilege of being part of what he’s doing.
It helped to remember that every job has un-fun parts, including mothering. It really helped to look at somewhat older mothers and remind myself that there will be other chapters later, when I’m done with crushed cheerios underfoot. "

Makes you look at your little one(s) differently huh? Children are such a blessing for the Lord!And my heart is renewed to care for Ella Reese with fresh JOY!

On her knees and ready to go!

Yesterday I was practicing putting her on her knees. I haven't really been encouraging her to crawl cause I love how imobile she is at the moment. Well today she kept getting on her knees on her own and start rocking back and forth. Man she learned that fast! It was so cute and exciting to see her doing something new.

I couldn't find my camera so I didn't catch it on film. This is an older pic but I love her face! And I still need to get a pic of her little tooth. She was snotty and slobbery earlier this week so she may be working on another one.

And she is finally not satisfied being still in my arms. I knew this day would come...Once you get her she is looking, sqirming and turning in your arms and wants to get down. So last night I went in her room and held her asleep just so I could hold her. More pics to come...

p.s...check out my niece Evie and how big she is at dortimdalton.blogspot.com. She is absolutely adorable!

Parks, Playtime and Quail Hunting

Krista, Ryan's sis, and I took Ella Reese and my nephew Owen to the park last Monday. I know,..I am always a week behind on posting...

We had a great time. Ella Reese enjoyed herself as much as a 7 month old can. The highlight for her was chewing on her stroller with her foot hiked up. Yummmy...

I LOVE this pic of the kids!

I cannot believe that Owen is so big. I use to watch him when he was as big as Ella Reese. Wow time flies.

We went to Cancun's for some grub. She was being fussy so I started singing Veggie Tales to her. For some reason she loves that song. I love it when she smiles at me!

We went to the Cove over off Concord with Chels and AnaBelle on Wednesday. I know Chels from UT together and we both majored in Art. Chels was also Mel's roomate Freshman year at Hess Hall. She is also expecting a baby boy July 31st. How exciting! It was an absoultely BEAUTIFUL day! We had a blast and Ella Reese enjoyed the extended time in the fresh air.
my love...
my darling... my punky pie

(short for pumpkin pie)

When I put her in the swing she fussed as I tried to swing her and she then refused to put her legs through the holes. It was really funny. So she just sat there with legs pulled in sucking on her hands...
..Then after a minute or so she started hanging her leg out one at a time...
Finally enjoying herself and getting some swinging on!
ER with AnaBelle..funny story the whole time AnaBelle kept calling me Ella Reese. And finally Chels and I discovered that she thought my name was Ella Reese and the ER's name was baby. We got it straightened out...now AnaBelle calls me Lilin. But she adores Ella Reese.

Chels and Josh visited our church on Sunday and AnaBelle got really upset in her class. When Chels went to go see why she was called to the class, AnaBelle was yelling at the teacher saying that she wanted to see Ella Reese.,...which the teacher could not understand her at all.

On Thursday we hung out with Kelly and her cutie pie Conner. We are in Caregroup together at our Church. Conner is about a month and half older than Ella Reese. It was funny watching them play together...or really play around each other.
Is he not the cutest thing!?
Notice ER is sucking on his hand.
On Saturday my very good friends Amy and Trillia hosted a small brunch and invited girlfriends that are very close to them but have not been able to spend time with recently. It was called "Where Have You Been All My Life?" and we all were to wear green. It was a great time of hanging with very close friends and a time of encouragement. I love you Ame and Trill!

Ryan was invited last minute on Friday to go Quail hunting in Nashville with the Stanley boys. He was so excited, and has never been hunting. He got back Saturday evening just in time for dinner at Josh and Chels'. Here are the daddys with their girls.
Ella Reese was so excited to see Ryan. She missed him...

Pic of the Quail hunters
This is a picture of a pheasant. It is a very prettybird...and it is sad that this one is dead. Ryan had a blast and is talking about going back next year. First thing he said to Ella Reese when he saw her was "Daddy is going to take you hunting when you get big!". We need a boy Lord..we need a boy.

Chinese speaking man

So since we have been married Ryan has always talked about us teaching our children Chinese. And now that we have A child he talks about it more.

Yesterday I got home from the park with Krista and Ryan comes up to me and starts saying something I cannot understand but I was almost certain it was maybe Chinese or some Asian language because he bowed to me before he said it. He had just downloaded a how to speak Mandarin program and was proudly telling me what he had learned. (My parents both grew up speaking Cantonese, which is mostly spoken in Hong Kong, and Mandarin is the dialect spoken in China. I can understand enough Mandarin to get the jist of a conversation. ) So for the rest of the night he would learn a little bit more and tell it to me. Sharon and Lon ( my sis and hubby) were learning it on tapes last year so he called Sharon and wanted to see if she could understand him.

Well, he called and she didn't awnser and than a few seconds later the phone rings. Picking up the phone, Ryan says " Ne how?...", which means how are you and then a long string of other words. Then he hands me the phone and says ,.." it's for you,..it's not Sharon. I don't know who it is...". It was Kelly League my accountability partner and we all died laughing! Later that night we did get to talk to Sharon and she could understand him.

All night I'd be in the bedroom or in the kitchen, and I'd hear what I thought was Ryan talking to someone but actually was him repeating over and over to himself what he had learned.

He is really excited about it and wants to try to put them on CD's so he can listen to them during the day. I'd like to listen to them as well and refresh myself so I can start teaching her words like water, milk and please in Chinese. SO mom and dad, when you come in May she may just be speaking a bit of Mandarin! " I love you paw paw and neye neye", says Ella Reese.

A Tooth!...and a Bath

A couple of firsts this past weekend for Ella Reese. We were over at Brenda's (Ryan's mom) for a birthday bash for my dear Lauren and I decided that the kid needed a bath desperately. So I plumped her in their kitchen sink. It was so easy and fast! NO baby tub to fool with. But my sink is not as deep as hers and my just looks yucky even when it is clean. She kept trying to eat the water spout thing...Oh and I think that her eczema is actually from eggs and not dairy. I am going to test my theory one more week and I will let you know.

And I've got her drinking from a sippy cup now instead of a bottle. Which works out anyways. This is about the age to start introducing the cup. "Bottle Smottle", says Ella Reese.

See how dirty the water is below...yuck.
So we discovered that Ella Reese has her first tooth!! Hurray! It is soooo very gratifying to finally see that little sucker! Since January I promise has has been pre-teething! From cold like symptoms, to some diarreha to even nights of waking up. I was feeding her some baby foods yesterday and she starting chewing on my finger as I was trying to remove her fingers form ehr mouth and I felt somethimg sharp. I couldn't get a picture of it but it's there. Just the tip top of a pearly white...it's on her bottom gum. It is going to be so strange to see her with teeth now....
Chewin away...
Trying to show you the tooth...just kidding.

The weather has been so nice this past weekend that we have all spent a lot of time outside. Ryan was working on pressure washing and staining the rest of the house and I have been working on projects like spray painting some frames and I am slowly begining to paint her highchair.

I went to the park with Krista( Ryan's sister) Owen and ER today. It was so fun! We went to Cancun Mexican resurant afterwards. As we were walking around the park I said to Owen "Can you believe that God made all of this Owen?". Then I pointed to a tree that was next to us and I said, " Can you believe that GOD made that tree?!". He stood there in utter amazement with his jaw open and said, "HOW!!? How did he do it?". As I tried to explain that God is so big and powerful and that he just could, he could not wrap his brain around it. It convicted me of my own lack of wonder and amazement as I look at creation. How l look around and rarely ponder how powerful and wonderful our creator is. I need to be more like Owen...I have pics of today coming later...