In case you didn’t know, we’re baseball fans (more so Scott than Christina) and today is opening day for the Angels! Here’s are some photos to commemorate Leila’s first opening day.
Oh, hello there!
Wow…I never seem to have time to update…life’s pretty great right now! Leila is growing so quickly! She’s learned how to roll from her back to her belly and vice versa, although she doesn’t really like to roll from her belly to her back. She’s discovered her feet and plays with them all the time, we can hardly keep socks on her. She’s also begun teething, it’s been interesting… She loves to stand (with help of course) and is trying to sit up on her own. She has such a sweet disposition and loves to smile, especially for Daddy. She’s being dedicated to the Lord on April 25th, contact me for details if you’d like to join in the festivies.
Scott, Service Rep of the Year
The big news lately has been that Scott was named the 2008 Service Rep of the Year in his company. He’s not one to brag, but this is a pretty big deal! It means out of all the guys that do his job in the company, he is THE best! It’s not based on statistics, but on nomiations. He was nominated by his boss (who has been with the company over 25 years) and his salesman, who is one of the best salesmen in the company. Scott is such a hard worker and never complains. I’m so glad that all his hard work is being noticed! He’s amazing!
I’ve posted a couple more photos on my flickr account. There’s some of Tyler and Tiffany’s engagement photos and also a couple new ones of our darling Leila Kate. Enjoy!
Leila's First Valentine's Day...smiling at Daddy!
Leila gave me a really fun present for Valentine’s Day…she showed me her new trick, rolling over from her tummy to her back! I’ve known for about a week now that she’s able to do it, but I haven’t actually seen it. I just know that I put her down on her tummy, then when I came back from whatever I was doing, she was on her back. It was so neat to see her actually roll over! She’s “talking” so much now too! Scott and I really enjoy just laying on the floor playing and talking with her…she’s so much fun! It’s really exciting to share our love with her and seeing her love us back!
Red velvet cupcakes I made for our staff party
Mini-cupcakes I made for our staff party
On Thursday, while Leila napped, I baked (from scratch!) red velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting for our Celebrative Arts Staff Valentine’s Party. After sprinkling them with pink and red sprinkles I used Red Hots to make X’s and O’s, and chocolate hearts and strawberry fans for toppers. I’ve never baked cupcakes from scratch before. I’m quite proud of myself, they were pretty yummy! I really love to bake, I’d love to go to pastry school and open a bakery. Anyone want to sponsor me? No? Ok…I guess I’ll just stick to baking for holidays. I want to buy this book and master all their cute cupcakes. I can’t wait ’til Leila’s in school and I get to bake cupcakes for the whole class!
Technically Leila is now 12 weeks and one day old, but she won’t be 3 months old until February 13th. At her last checkup on January 16, she was 22 1/2 inches long and weighed 10 pounds 4 ounces.
She is so much fun! She really loves to play on her playmat, especially if the musical star is turned on. She has the biggest and cutest smile! She’s very alert of the world around her and tracks voices very well. She’s getting very good at holding her head up and is figuring out how to scoot around during tummy time. She’ll be crawling before we know it!
She’s been sleeping through the night for the past few weeks, which is really great! I can’t tell you how much better I feel during the day after getting at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Leila is such a good, sweet little girl. We just love to watch her play and grow!
This was actually an accidental photo, I don't remember what was going on, but it's funny.
A year and a half ago, I gained three brothers when Scott and I got married, and now I’m getting a sister because Tyler and Tiffany are engaged!
He proposed last night (on her birthday/their one year anniversary) at Disneyland in front of the castle. Scott and I were there to take pictures of the fun occasion. She was completely surprised and very happy! Wouldn’t you be happy if you were marrying an Ellis?
Scott, Leila and I couldn’t be happier for them! They are so right for each other! When you see them together it’s easy see how in love they are and how happy they make each other! Congrats Tyler & Tiffany!
(Leila’s excited to have a real auntie too!)
If you’d like to see more photos from Tyler’s proposal click here.
Leila's showing off her funny little smile.
As I said before, Leila’s been perfecting her smiling lately. It’s hard to get a good picture of it because she wiggles so much, but I finally got a shot today that I love! I can’t help but laugh a little at this picture. She finally looks a little bit Asian!
She still has a stuffy nose, but she’s getting better. She has her two month checkup tomorrow, I can’t wait to find out how much she’s grown!
Leila’s battling her first cold right now. She’s sneezing, has a runny nose and a little cough, but that doesn’t stop her from still being smiley and happy. She’s a trooper!
She's fascinated by her own reflection.
That’s how old our little Leila Kate is…8 weeks and 1 day. She’s grown so much since she was born. At her 1 month checkup she weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces…almost an entire pound more than when she was born. She has her 2 month checkup on Thursday, I can’t wait to see where she’s at now!
She’s developing new little skills everyday. She’s cooing, holding her head up and SMILING! She has such a sweet little voice and when she’s in the mood, can be quite the chattterbox. During tummy time, she’s able to hold her head up for a few seconds at a time and she can hold her head up even better if she’s being held on someone’s shoulder (burping position.) She loves to play on her Baby Einstein’s Activity Gym. She likes the dangling toys, differnt textures and looking at her reflection. Our favorite new development though, is the funny faces she makes. For a while, she could only do half of her smile at a time, but now she has the entire smile mastered! It’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! I still haven’t gotten a picture of her really big grin, but that’ll give you something to look forward to. In the mean time, here’s a sample of her cute faces.
A sample of Leila's expressions
Scott and I have definitely become better at recognizing her needs, which makes everything easier. Scott is great a burping her and rocking her to sleep. She likes to be held facing out, so it’s good that he has strong arms! My arms get tired after a while, so I usually just wear her in the Moby Wrap and she’s pretty content in there. We’re sleeping pretty well, we’ll get to sleep from 11 PM-6 or 7 AM, with a feeding usually around 3:30 AM. Leila loves bath time too. It’s very relaxing for her to sit in the warm water and again, she loves to look at her reflection. Can you blame her? She’s cute! She’s a wonderful little girl and we’re just so happy she’s ours!
The holidays are over, but we had a lot of fun! Leila’s umbilical cord stump fell off Thanksgiving morning during a 4 AM diaper change. We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving breakfast that my mom prepared, complete with biscuits and gravy, ham, eggs, sausage and fresh fruits. Leila hung out in my moby wrap as we ate with my parents and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.
That afternoon, Scott, Leila and I headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Ellis’ house for dinner. It was nice to have the whole family together, including Tyler’s girlfriend Tiffany! We ate a wonderful dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, biscuits, gravy, corn and green beans, then the brothers (Scott, Tyler, Riley and Mackenzie) went outside for their annual two-on-two football tournament while the ladies (Tiffany, Grandma Leslie, Leila Kate and me) and Grandpa Bob took naps on the couches. After the football games, we had Leslie’s tasty pies for dessert.
Don't you wish she were in your stocking on Christmas morning?
Christmas was a fun time for all of us! The three of us went to the Grove’s original Christmas production, “The Stars of Hope Street.” Grandma Leslie was one of the main characters and she sang so beautifully! (The entire show came from an idea that our good friend Adam came up with early last year. I got to watch it all develop and come together throughout the year. He did an awesome job bringing it to life!)
Scott played drums for An Evening of Christmas (presented by The Grove’s musicians) and the Christmas Eve service, so those were Leila’s first times hearing Daddy play drums. She was rather fussy during the Christmas concert, but everytime a guy sang (Adam, Brandon or Bryan) she calmed down.
We also went to the Risinger’s annual caroling party. Leila slept in the Moby Wrap almost the entire time. It was a lot of fun to get together with friends and spread some Christmas cheer with the community. Not to mention the fun gift we got in the white elephant sale, a photography session with Risinger Photography! We can’t wait, Jon’s a great photographer, and I’ll finally be in a picture with Leila!
Christmas morning we opened presents with my parents and ate breakfast together. We spent the afternoon with Scott’s family (minus Tyler and Tiffany because they were in Redding with her family.) Our favorite gift was gift certificates for babysitting that include dinner at CPK and Cheesecake Factory (where Scott proposed to me exactly two years ago today.) We’re excited to have time to spend alone and enjoy being in love, plus the grandparents get time with Leila. It’s a win-win situation!
Grandpa Bob & Leila take a nap before ringing in the new year.
For New Year’s, the three of us joined Bob, Leslie, Tyler, Tiffany, Riley and Mackenzie at the McIntyre’s cabin in Running Springs. Leila did really well with the drives up and down the mountain. We had Cincinatti Chili (one of our favorites) for dinner, then Scott and I dominated the game of Cranium…we’re not keeping score, but it’s Scott & Christina=2, rest of the family=0. :]
No one makes better waffles than my husband!
Scott made his wonderful waffles for breakfast on morning, everyone loved ‘em! Leila got lots of time with her grandparents while Scott and I went out sledding with the brothers and Tiffany. I’ve never been sledding before, this it was really exciting to me! Mackenzie found a great hill to go down and we had a blast! Scott went down on his belly a couple times without a sled, like a penguin. I nearly peed my pants because I was scared and laughing so hard. Leila even suited up in a nice warm outfit and got to enjoy a walk with Mom and Dad where we saw squirrels and what I like to call a ”bear-cat.” Since we were in the mountains, I wanted to say we saw a bear cub, in reality, it was probably just someone’s fat cat. All in all, we had a wonderful holiday season and can’t wait for next year!
Daddy & Leila on New Year's Day 2009 at the McIntyre's cabin.
