It's Fun to be One

Ella did it, she turned one year old and to celebrate we had a whirlwind day of food, presents, and parents. The day started out as all should... with pajamas and Dad's banana pancakes and some cheerios.




Given what we had learned about Ella's interest in each present, we thought we would spread them out throughout the day. We think she thought this was a good idea too.



The first gift was a baby-fied cell phone. We used to be opposed to the idea of Ella having her own cell phone, but given Ella's love of Mom's phone, her habit of sending blank text messages to Auntie Becka in California, and her frequent use of "mobile web," we had a change of heart.



After breakfast and a short bath, Ella changed into her reindeer suit. Then we were off to the Mom's Club Christmas Party - with Dad of course! Where there was lots of playing, lots of friends, and some big guy with a beard and red suit - affectionately known by the Mom's Club as "the dude." Ella was ready with her little dude hat too.











After all that playing a well deserved nap was held on the ride home and continued into the house. While a little Ella was sleeping the elves took care of decorating our Christmas tree. So when Ella woke up this was what she saw...



Of course, she wouldn't be a 1 year old without taking off some ornaments to get a better look, touching each light by itself, and trying to eat some branches. It was a beautiful thing to see her so excited about the tree. But there was still more birthday to be celebrated, after a quick snack it was time for another present...



Then Dad did a quick switcheroo in celebration of the big milestone, a sad and exciting moment. It was time, finally, after much delay and procrastination for... the big girl car seat.



Ella loved looking out from her new view, seeing Mom and Dad was a lot of fun, looking at the cars driving by higher up, although with all that to look at it was really hard to take a nap. But who wanted to nap?? We were heading to Chuck E. Cheeses!

Ella climbed.


Ella ate, mostly the veggies off of the pizza. But with two new teeth popping through up top, pizza crust was a good teether.


Ella even used her new straw sucking skills.


After all that fun, it was time to head home. Dad had made a special cake for you know who...


Ella opened her last big gift from Auntie Becka - a singing elephant named Ella. Too cute.


And enjoyed some cake in her easy to clean up birthday suit. Diaper included.


Although today could have been a sad day because our little girl is growing up so fast, it wasn't. We had too much fun with Ella and have so many hopes and plans for many many birthdays to come.