Carly Bear is 1!

We had her birthday party last night combined with her little friend, Dakota, who's birthday is tomorrow. It as really cute. The theme was pink and there was pink EVERYTHING! A pink chocolate fountain, pink candy, pink marshmallows, pink cake, pink frosting, pink table cloth...napkins, plates, etc. The girls wore pink tutus and party hats that Susy (Dakota's mom) made for them. It was so cute and the girls had fun. I think Carly's favorite toy is the Glow Worm that her pop picked out for her. She snuggles it like it's her own young and loves to take it to bed. I thought I'd take advantage of the new little snuggley and "forgot" to give her her bink to go to bed with. Instead I gave her just the glow bug and her blankey. For nap and bed time tonight there was no protest! Hmmmmm, we may be onto something here! I took Ella's bink away from her at 18 months. I think that was a little late and she had a bit of a hard time with it. Maybe taking it at 1 year is going to be easier! Lets Cross our fingers. Happy Birthday little Carly Bear! You are our little snuggle bunny and we love you so much!











Carly...just hours old.



Going home for the first time.



1st bath




Blessing day...4 weeks




2 months





3 months



Daddy and Carly...5 mo.



5 months old.





10 months



1 Year!


Carly is One today! I can't believe it. She doesn't see like a 1 year old to me. I need another 3 months before she can turn one! :) Carly.... Oh Carly....there's not much to say but that she's the sweetest most content baby on the planet. (unless youre trying to changer her diaper) She is so tolerant of being picked on or bumping her head but she can also be such a sensitive child. Once she got her teeth in she was still nursing and would test out her new oral daggers on my "VERY sensitive skin". I didn't ever scream or anything but my body would suddenly tense up and I would suck in a lot of air as if I just saw my life flash before my eyes. She'd take one look at me in surprise, stick out her cute bottom lip at me and suddenly burst into tears. It was so sad! She really is a sensitive little thing behind the tough front she shows. In that way she is like me.

...Today is the 29th (it's taken a while to actually get this post up.) Carly and Ella had their dr.'s apt. so here are their stats...

Carly: 25.6 pounds
30.5 inches long
48 cm head
Carly needed 3 shots! Uhgg, so sad. Plus, she was already sick with a pretty bad cold. Poor baby.


Ella: 33 pounds
38 inches tall
Didn't need any shots. That can wait till she's 4.

My Three Year Old

Ella Mae...3 days old



Blessing Day 4 weeks



3 months old



6 months




1 year



18 months



2 years




3 years old!




Wow it feels weird to say that I have a three year old! Today was Ella's real birthday. She was born exactly 3 years ago today in St. George, Utah at 8:35am. I can remember that day so vividly in my mind. Working at the gym at 5 am. I had a haunch I'd be in labor during work. I woke up at 4 am with contractions and I knew it was it. They didn't hurt in the slightest bit but I just knew it. I went to work at 5 am with a smirk on my face the whole time. I didn't need to leave early that morning but I couldn't contain my excitement so I asked if I could go home 2 hours early b/c I was in labor. (weird, they let me off the hook that time.) Little did I know I would have to just sit around allllll morning long! Joseph and I finally went back to the gym to exercise b/c I didn't know what else to do with myself. By 6:30 that night my contractions became 5 minutes apart but it still felt like nothing. I was sure I was in labor but it really didn't bother me. Joseph's excitement was too much for him to handle so he asked me if we could go into the hospital. We went in at 7 pm and I was afraid they'd send me home b/c I was barely dialated to a 5. I think I was actually closer to 4.5. They let me stay though and by 8:35 am the next morning we were parents! She was always such a good baby and she's still such a good girl. We love you so much Ella Bella!

I don't have her stats yet. We're waiting to do her dr.'s appt. with Carly on the 29th. Ella sure has grown into a smart little girl. She says the funniest things all th time and really picking up on words Joseph and I say. (here comes trouble) She's really excited to be going into primary after Christmas. She really likes Disney princesses and watching all the Disney movies she can get her hands on. Her favorite movie and princess is Ariel. Joseph's a little scared for his future b/c he says she's turning into me. She LOVES shoe shopping, shopping for clothes, toys and anything else. Poor daddy. lol The other day we went shopping as a family for about 3 hours. When we got in the car to go home Ella started saying, "I don't want to go home, I want to go to another store." Joseph just looked at me and said, "YOU did this. You created a monster." What can I say?? She's definately her mother's daughter. lol

Magical

I've been waiting for this day for over 3 years now. I know I'm a little bit crazy but I'm a total girly girl at heart and ever since I was pregnant with Ella and I found out we were having a baby girl I couldn't wait to have a girly princess birthday party for her. The day finally came where Ella was old enough to appreciate a princess party. Last week, on the 6th, all the little kids dressed up and we had a dress up box available for those that didn't have dress up. Even me and my friend Susy (who was helping me) wore my old prom dresses. Our neighbor across the street is the bishop in my brother's single's ward. He's got an imaculate back yard where he lets all the single's ward couples who get married have their receptions. There's a gazibo, ponds with fish in them, music, flowers everywhere... just perfect for a magical princess tea party. They let us use it for FREE! When the kids first got there they decorated foam crowns to use as their birthday hats. The girls had sparkly pink tiaras and the boys had king crowns. After the crowns a special surprise guess arrived and All the kids were in Awwww. She read them a story and talked to the kids about edicate and how to use proper manners at a tea party. The kids ate their cute tea treats. I had fun making the food. I went simple with pb&j sandwiches (only cut into cut flower and heart shapes), crackers and cheese (the cheese was cut into cute shapes too), carrots, truffles and chocolate dipped cupcakes. (super easy but looks like I slaved away ;) Ella got a real tea set from my parents that we used at the party and Joseph and I got Ella an Ariel costume with matching tiara to wear to the party. (Ariel is her favorite) I LOVED it....she LOVED it and so did everyone else who came. Here are some pictures for those who missed it.

The invitation...



Opening presents....






Everyone at the party....




Here is our special guest! This is a lady in our ward who I thought looked exactly like the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella. I came to her one Sunday and asked her to spend abut 20 minutes at Ella's birthday party, dressed up like the Fairy Godmother and read the Cinderella Story. She was totally cool about it and was TOTALLY in character during the whole story. Then...to make things even better... That week we were trading services in Relief Society and had this tree where you write a service on a paper leaf... you hang it on the tree and then get to pick one from someone else. I found one that said SEWING! So I got a different lady in the ward to sew the cloak for the FGM and she did an amazing job! (I totally lucked out!) We got her a wand and she completely dazzled the kids (and the parents!) Right before she left she took an individual picture with each kid.


All the kids... mesmorized!








Ella with her one on one time with the Fairy Godmother...


And of course Carly and I had to sneak in a picture... :)


The food....








Playing on of those..."sit on the balloon and pop it" games. There were necklaces and rings inside the balloons for them to find.






Ella got another dress up as a gift and wanted to wear it the other half of the day.


Here's the FGM again... this is when she said good bye to all the cute kids. (She was saying, "Bippity, Boppity, Boo!" Thanks to everyone to help make this day magical to my little princess!