Is Your Baby 9 Months Old??

NO PEOPLE!! She's just a big girl!!

I honestly get asked that a lot. People are always amazed that she is only 5 months old. I don't know why I get so defensive when people say that she is big for her age but I find myself getting really upset about it. Whether she is big or small, she is still pretty damn adorable and I don't know why I expect anything else. I literally come from a family of babies that are born the size of small toddlers. Ella is still quite small compared to others in my family.

TV Junkie

Ella is literally a TV junkie!! If the TV is on at all sometimes we can't even get her to eat. She will watch anything but she does have her favorites. I'm becoming quite familiar with all of the PBS shows. Some of her favorites are....

Anything Baby Einstein. I don't get what she loves about hand puppets and random toys on the screen but she loves it. She is completely mesmerized by it.

The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That. This is probably my least favorite of all of the shows that she likes but she seems to enjoy it.

Dinosaur Train completely captures her attention. I think it may be how colorful everything is on this show.

Super Why! This is hands down her favorite. She kicks and squeals and gets really excited when Super Why comes on.

Just Chillin! Watching my shows in my diaper! (this kid loves to be naked) Seriously though!! Check out how hooked she is. This picture was taken while watching Super Why on Sunday morning. At least the shows that she likes are educational. Maybe she's learning?? At least that's what I try and convince myself.

Mmmm.... Carrots!!

First Bite!

More please!!

That's good stuff!

Ever since we got Ella on a sleep schedule she has been a champ about sleeping though the night. That was until recently. She's started to wake up around 3:00 because she is hungry. She eats a bottle and usually goes right back to sleep. We decided that in an effort to keep her tummy full through the night it was time to try some food. My pediatrician said that while they recommend waiting until 6 months, I could start Ella any time between 4 and 6 months if I thought that she was ready. Just make sure to start her on veggies. We decided to start her on carrots because she loves the frozen ones that she has been chewing on while she's been teething. While the first attempt was sooo messy, it was awesome!! Ella loved the carrots. Once she got the hang of eating off a spoon she even started chasing the spoon and opening wide when Taylor would bring the spoon to her. I really went back and forth on whether or not to start her. I wasn't sure she was ready and I really wanted to wait until the recommended age. Now that we have tried it and it was such a huge success I'm glad I went for it.

Summer Days

As I've posted before Ella is teething. We have started to give her frozen carrots to munch on and she loves them. Taylor caught some pretty cute pics of her carrot eating.






Ella absolutely loves her bath. She has never cried when it comes to bath time. So I thought, naturally, that she must love water. I decided to buy her this kiddie pool for the back yard. I couldn't wait to get her in it and see how excited she was. Turns out, not so much. She cried as soon as I put her in it. There is someone else who ended up enjoying the pool though. At least it wasn't a complete waste. Ella is however, in love with her new jumper that Grandpa Scott and Grandma Kelly gave her. Thanks so much guys. This thing is awesome!! She spent her day in the back yard in her swim suit not swimming but bouncing in her jumper.

She Looks Like An Angel...

Oh this baby girl! So adorable, so sweet, so angelic. Right? HA! WRONG!! Every time I take Ella to the pediatrician for her routine visits we go home with a packet that explains what your baby should be doing developmentally between each routine visit. Every single packet that I have ever gotten from the pediatrician says to give your child what they want as they are too young and it is not possible for them to be spoiled yet. Well Doc... I'm sorry to say, I have to disagree. Let me explain...

Last Friday I took the day off of work to spend will Ella because she had not been feeling well and did not sleep well the night before. I decided to run some errands later that afternoon with my mom because while Ella was a little fussy, she seemed to be feeling better. We went to Carter's because they were having a sale that I wanted to check out. While we were there Ella got extremely irritable. My mom decided to pick up a toy and dangle it in front of Ella to see if she could amuse her for a while. It worked! Ella instantly stopped crying and seemed to be amused enough that I could finish my browsing. When I was done I told my mom that we could go. She set the toy down so that we could leave and the second she did Ella started to squeal at the top of her lungs. My mom picked the toy back up and dangled it again and Ella stopped crying. The same thing happened 3 times. Each time my mom put the toy down Ella screeched louder than she did the time before. My mom looked over at me and said "well I guess I'm buying this toy." I tried to tell her no but, she of course bought the toy even though it was ridiculously expensive. So we left the store, toy clipped to Ella's car seat, with a perfectly happy child. Not only do I think that it is possible for her to be spoiled, I think this kid knows exactly how to manipulate people into giving her what she wants. I could not believe that she acted like that. I was embarrassed by my child's tantrum and she is only 4 months old! Not sure where we have gone wrong thus far but we better get this under control before it gets out of hand.

Good Things To Come

Why is this baby so happy? It could be that she has the most awesome parents in the world!! It could be because dad left her shirt on her head when he put her in the tub. Or... It could be that she is going to be welcoming a cousin into the world!!

Melody Cameron  Fowler
Due: November 2nd, 2011

That's right!! I'm going to be an Aunt!! My little brother Thomas and his girlfriend Toria are expecting a little girl this fall. It's still crazy to think that any of my siblings will ever have kids. I swear they are all still 5 in my eyes. I honestly thought that Ella was going to be much older by the time any cousins came into the picture and while this was unexpected, I'm excited for Thomas and I know that he is going to be a wonderful daddy to this precious little one. I hope that our girls will grow up to be very close and have lots of great times and memories together. It's amazing how life changes. There are definitely more good things to come for our family.

Our First Baby

I noticed that I have posted so much about our new baby that I have completely neglected our first baby. Moxley is truly the most amazing dog ever. She is so smart, lovable, snuggly, cuddly, sweet, and affectionate. She has been so wonderful since Ella has been around. She loves her to death and is always wanting to protect her. We couldn't have asked for a better situation. She loves having a strict routine and is not to happy if you veer from the norm. She loves to go on walks, play with her ball, be outside in her yard, and snuggle up when she is sleepy. We love you Moxley Roo. You will always be our first baby.

Teething UGH!!

More pics fresh out of the tub. Look at that chubby thing. Her rolls are adorable.

Hanging with my buddy Moxley. It looks like Mox is biting her but she is really trying to give her kisses. These two are going to be inseparable some day.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my swing.

Sitting in my new Bumbo seat for the first time. Not sure about it yet. We are still working on it.

Ella has started teething. This was something that I was not expecting to have to deal with a few months. Let me tell ya... Not the funnest part about being a parent. She is cranky and drools constantly. I feel bad because she is normally such a happy baby. Hopefully things will get better for her soon. On a happier note she is just about the cutest thing ever. She has recently discovered her hands and is AMAZED by the fact that she is the one making them move. She also jabbers up a storm. I seriously can't shut that kid up. She always has so much to say and does it with a big smile. If you ignore her babble, she just does it louder and louder until you start talking to her. It's really quite funny. Above are just a few pics of the recent happenings in her life.

More Memorable Moments

Playin on Daddy's shoulders

Ella fell asleep with her shirt in both hands and pulled up by her face. Crazy kid!!

Year 6 is in the Books

Today Taylor and I are celebrating our 6 year anniversary. Well... the celebrating is on hold until Saturday but today is the day. On Saturday we planning on heading out on our first real date since Ella was born. We'll be having a pretty standard dinner and a movie date but, I'm still really excited. Year six brought some really exciting changes to our little family with the birth of Ella. Each year together is a little more exciting then the one before and it leaves me anxious to see where year seven takes us.
Taylor - You are the love of my life and my best friend. You are an amazing husband and father and I really couldn't ask for more. I love the way you make me smile. I love how safe I feel when I am with you and how broken I feel when we are apart. Year seven is going to be amazing as we watch our little girl grow and our family become closer than ever before. I love you. - Jess