Seabrook weekend and Addie's 3rd birthday

We had a fun and busy weekend last weekend. It first started with Ella's 9 month appt. Friday morning. Dr. Ankrah said Ella is doing great and looks very healthy. She is 19lbs. 3 oz and 28.5 inches long. Still growing like a weed!!

After the appt., we went straight to Addie's princess birthday party. Addie wore her Cindrella outfit and was the belle of the ball!

Tracy did an awesome job with the party and made this very pretty princess cake!

Addie's tiara in falling in her eyes, oh the problems with being a princess!

After the party, we literally threw everything into the car and headed down to Seabrook for the weekend with the neighbors. The weather was amazing all weekend and all the adults and kids had so much fun. We had a Hawaiian theme dinner hence the Hawaiian clothes in the picture above.

The big hit was the outdoor pool, Ella had so much splashing around. The water was a little chilly at first so she hung onto Mike very tightly but then once she realized it was like her bath, she had a great time!

Ella and Wesley loving the splash pool. How cute are these two little ones in their bathing suits! Of course, our little fair skin child always had to have her hat on which she actually did really well keeping it on.

Our first child also had a great time at her favorite place, the beach! She chased a million tennis balls into the ocean and loved having all the little kids around because they gave her lots of treats and left lots of food laying around for her! She did great actually with the kids and was so tired by the end of the day, she went to bed early with the kids!

We all love the beach so much, the weekend was so fun but went by way too quickly! The big news of the weekend was that Ella actually started officially crawling. As I have mentioned before, she has been so close for such a long time and on Sunday at the beach, she made her first move!! Everyone was watching and cheering her on so it was such a fun moment! It must be something about Seabrook because she rolled over for the first time there as well!!

Before we headed home on Sunday, we had a big lunch at the beach club with everyone. The kids did great and it was a great way to end the weekend. I also had to include this adorable picture of sisters, Addie and Wesley.

So, obivously the big news is now that Ella is crawling, she is all over the place so it's time to babyproof the house. She does this funny crawl, where she picks up her right leg almost in a walking position and crawls with her left. It looks funny but she gets around quickly! Of course, she goes after everything she shouldn't, cords, outlets, etc! But it is fun to see her get around since we didn't know if she would ever crawl! I will try and post a video we took of her crawling but the video option on the blog hasn't been working for me lately so it may not work.

We are off to see Kelly get married next weekend and can't wait to see a lot of the Hennessy side of the family and have them meet Ella!

9 Months Old

Dear sweet Ella James, Today, you are 9 months old and oh fast the time has gone. You are turning into such a little person with such a cute personality. You are such a curious little girl and whenever somebody starts talking or walks in the room, you have to turn to see what they are saying or who it is. When Daddy comes home from work every night, you get so excited to see him and light up with the biggest smile and let out a big squeal! One of your favorite things to watch and play with is of course your puppy dog, Dakota. Oh how you love Dakota and how she loves you. Dakota wasn't so sure about you when we brought you home from the hospital but she loves you now. She lets you grab her ears, tail, fur, whatever you can get your hands on. And you let her lick you all over (but we try and not let her lick you in the face because that is just gross!) You love to sit in your highchair with Dakota circling below like a shark just waiting for some food to drop. You peer over the side and hold down your hand for her to lick and then you laugh and laugh. When we go for walks, Dakota is your protector and she makes sure that no other dogs get too close to the stroller. We love to see how fearless you are around her and know that you two will get into lots of trouble in the future! You also love to be moving at all times, which is sometimes challenging. You like to be jumping in your jumperoo, spinning around in your activity center or scooting all around the house. Your newest trick is in your crib when you are "supposed" be napping or sleeping. We zip you all snug in your sleep sack but that doesn't stop you from immediately popping and sitting right up in the crib. You peer through the railing like you are in jail or crawl around the crib. Sometimes you get so tired while you are sitting up that you literally fall asleep with your head between your legs. Mommy and Daddy watch you all the time on the video monitor like it's the best show on tv. What did we do before the video monitor?? You are also a very stubborn and feisty little girl. Your Daddy likes to say you get that from your Mommy and your Mommy says the same about your Daddy but the truth is, you get it from both of us! You can crawl right now, you know how and you rock back and forth but you won't! Not sure why not but for some reason, you decided you didn't want to do it so instead you scoot around on your butt all around the house and get to all your toys. I think it's because you are so nosy and want to see everything that is going on and being on your stomach or in the crawling position doesn't give you the best angle. You are starting to pull and stand (with our support) so who knows, maybe you will skip crawling and go straight to walking. Plus, I think you like wearing all the girlie dresses and don't want to scrap up those pretty knees of yours. Of course, there are so many more things you love (bath time, eating anything and everything, going for morning runs in the BOB with Mommy, playing with all your buddies in the neighborhood, your lovie Froggie, hanging out outside) and plenty of things you don't love (getting strapped into the car seat, napping for longer than an hour, getting your clothes changed, getting new teeth) and plenty of things that just melt our hearts (your infectious laugh, the biggest blue eyes we have ever seen, your big bald head) but this post would go on forever so we will just leave at that. Most of all our sweet little girl, we have loved every minute of these past 9 months watching you grow and change before our very eyes. We can't wait to see you grow and turn into a little person and what the future holds for you. Love, Mommy and Daddy

Mother's Day!

I had the best Mother's Day weekend! My sweet husband and little peanut spoiled me all weekend and I loved every minute of it! It started Friday morning with our mother's/daughters tea party and then we had dinner with our friends Casey and Molly. Molly is due in August so we can't wait to add another baby to the mix!

On Saturday, all 5 of the Moms in our neighborhood went out for a spa day and lunch while the Dads babysat. We got manicures and pedicures and then went to Brio and enjoyed some yummy food and drinks. We all had such a great time and had lots of laughs! After the lunch, we all got together for a cookout with the kiddies and husbands. Ella had so much fun playing in the pool of balls with Wesley.

Ella had her first taste of corn on the cob and she loved it. Check out the after picture where she got a lot of the corn on her face!

On Sunday, Ella let us sleep in until 7:30!! We had some yummy Starbucks, went on a family run and after Ella's nap went to lunch! Ella and Mike were so sweet and got me the gorgeous necklace I am wearing in the pictures and also tulips.

It was such a pretty day! Mike also cooked me a delicious dinner and I even got a chance to take a nap which was such a treat!

After lunch at Hawthorne's. Look how much I look like my Daddy!

With Mommy on her day!

Later that night, Ella discovered Mike's tennis racquets and thought they were really interesting! Do you think she will take after her Mom and Dad?

Here, There and Everywhere!

Ella and I were on the road again visiting lots of friends. On Monday, we went up to Richmond for the night so that my friend Lynn could fit me for invisalign. It is something I have wanted to do for my teeth for awhile so I am excited to have it done. While we were there, we visited with lots of friends, of course Lynn's daughter Caroline and also went to see Annie and Charlie and meet Baby Jacob and see Stephanie. Of course I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures but all the babies are adorable!!

When we returned, we had a Cinco de Mayo party with the neighbors Wednesday night, picnic lunch at Freedom Park on Thursday and then this morning went to a Mother's Day tea party. My neighbor Jaime hosted it for all the little girls and Moms and it was so much fun. Even though Ella isn't quite old enough to play with the big kids, she loves sitting and watching them and they are all so sweet to her. She is upstairs sleeping now, going to tea parties can be exhausting!!


We are all ready to have some tea (or Mimosa's for the Moms!!)

Tea party first, craft time next!

Look at that face!!! I love it:) She did such a good job of keeping her hat on which she usually pulls off immediately. It was a good thing because it was a sunny day.

Playing with Wesley and AJ at the park.

The usual pic of Ella and her best bud Wesley and then Ella and Daddy at the Cinco de Mayo party. Corona anyone?