Seven Months Old

HOLY MOLY!  YOU'RE SEVEN MONTHS OLD!

This last month proved to be quite eventful for you!  And definitely filled with many firsts.  You celebrated your first Christmas and rang in your first New Year!  You also had your first scary moment as you fell off the changing table and broke your leg (hopefully the first and last broken bone you'll ever have).  Through it all, you have proven to be one tough and easy-going baby.  You continue to be all smiles--whether you're opening your first gifts from Santa, or getting a cast put on by a doctor.

You are babbling up a storm these days.  Your favorite sounds are /m/ and /b/ and a combination of /s/ and /t/ that make you sound like Sylvester the Cat. You love blowing bubbles and making raspberries at everything around you.  You are reaching and grabbing at EVERYTHING (especially Remy's legs and ears and tail).  You have officially learned to drink from a straw (awesome!) and are getting better and better at that pincer grasp (and feeding yourself those puffs you love so much!).  You're expanding your palate and learning to embrace more flavors and textures.  Meal time has become a lot of fun and filled with exploration.

You are SUCH a HAM these days.  You laugh and laugh at all the games we play (one...two...three...tickle monster!), love dancing in the kitchen to your favorite tunes, and discovered that you can do the peeking and booing, too.  

You're getting stronger and starting to push yourself onto your hands and knees.  If it weren't for that darn cast, you'd be taking off!  You are also teething, and we're expecting to see those bottom teeth pop up any day now.  (Which means those nights have been pretty rough with sleeping through the night a thing of the past.)  

My absolute favorite developments this month?  You "nosing" us, and your ability to say "mam," "mom" and "mama" (even if you don't know what they mean yet).  Gets me every time!

highlights

I've got to say, I love Ella at this age.  She's just so darn cute and fun!  Here are some highlights of our days together from the past few weeks.

Perhaps it's because we take a lot of pictures of her, but Ella loves to smile for the camera.

And reach for the camera.

Someone has outgrown her Rock 'n Play.

Such a ham.

With her Po-Po.

Trouble.  I was prepping for our Christmas gift exchange, and she somehow grabbed this.

She wanted to see how it tasted.

Having started solids, Ella prefers to feed herself.  So I gave her part of my banana.

LOVE seeing this face every morning. 

She's really starting to enjoy meal time.

Taking a stroll on a beautiful winter day.

She'd probably be crawling now if it weren't for the cast.

broken

I didn't really know how to go about posting this.  Perhaps it's because I'm embarrassed to share it.  But there is no hiding it.  I have a constant reminder of my mistake.

Yep, that's a little cast.  On my baby's leg.  Ella fell off the changing table last week.  I was dressing her, decided I wanted to change the sweater I was putting on her, and a second later, she was on the floor.  Plop.  Like a watermelon rolling off the counter.  Her life flashed before my eyes.  I scooped her up, held her close, and just kept apologizing for my lapse in parenting.  Tears, doctor's visits, multiple x-rays, and a leg cast later, she's the bravest baby I know.  It was a pretty traumatic experience for us all, and I still have that vision of her falling seared into my head.  But I am grateful that she'll be okay and that it was the best case scenario, considering all that happened (and could have happened).

As a parent, my motto has become, "never say never."  Before Ella, I had all these preconceived notions about motherhood.  "I will never sleep in bed with my child."  "I will never buy a bunch of baby stuff that we'll never need."  "I will never let my baby fall off a changing table."  (Ha!)

I am completely humbled.  Every time I look at that cast, I am reminded of how I just can't be everywhere and everything to her.  I consider myself a pretty good mom.  I know all her cries, I make all her food, and I anticipate all her needs.  But despite all my efforts, I cannot protect her from everything.  Yes, it was my decision to move away from the changing table.  Yes, it was my mistake.  (One I will always regret.)  But at the same time, this has taught me that while I can be super mom, I'll never be able to protect and love her the way God does.  He is everywhere and everything.  He ultimately is in control.  And for that, I am eternally grateful.

I totally thought I broke her.  I mean, she did break her femur.  But I thought I had ruined my perfect, beautiful baby.  But she's resilient.  We all are.  I just have to trust that no matter what happens to her, today, tomorrow, and years from now, that God's got her in the palm of His hand.  He'll be her cast.

Getting some fresh air after having the cast put on by the orthopedist. 

Still sitting tall.

Still able to roll over, cast and all.

Still happy as a clam.

three... two... one...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We rang in the new year at our cabin once again, with some good friends and LOTS of food.  The weather this year was drastically different from last year's, but it was just as fun.

Driving up to the lake.  We made a pit stop at Whole Food's so Ella took in the sights while Adam picked up some groceries. 

Bundling up for what turned out to be pretty mild weather.

Playing with her new favorite toy.

Our view.

Taking advantage of the sunny weather.

Getting ready for bubbles on the deck! 

Poodle.

Brunch on the deck in December.  Only in California!

Lounging on the deck after breakfast.

We're considering getting a statue made of this.

The weather really was pretty.  So is the husband.

New Year's Eve.  Ella didn't make it to midnight.

While Ella slept, we shabu'd.  It was the perfect way to ring in the New Year!

And what's the first thing we did when the clock struck 12?  Watch Rodger perform magic tricks, of course! 

Remy was sad to see everyone leave.

holly jolly

The holiday season went by so quickly, I barely had time to post updates.  But, Ella's first Christmas was wonderful as we shared it with family and friends and felt God's bountiful blessings in every aspect of our lives.  This time last year we announced our pregnancy, and here we are, wrapping presents for Ella to put under our tree.  Our lives are SO different.  Beautifully, complexly, rewardingly different.  And we love it!

We celebrated Christmas Eve with the traditional Tran & Holliday dinner, which we hosted this year.  We exchanged gifts with my brother and sister-in-law.  It was really fun watching everyone opening presents and see Ella so captivated by all the festivities.  

With her Po-Po and Grandma, Ella was all smiles as we prepared to have dinner.

With her Auntie Kathie.

Christmas day, our parents came over to exchange the rest of our gifts and watch Ella open up presents from Santa.  There was a lot of wrapping paper, glitter, and oohing and aaahing.

Santa paid us a visit with lots of goodies under the tree.  

Ella wanted to get a head start on opening gifts, but had to wait until after breakfast.

Time for presents! 

The pugs preferred to sunbathe.  All the holiday hoopla tired them out.

Waiting for more presents to open.

Lending a helping hand.

Checking out the new piano Santa got Ella.

It was worth the wait!  Ella made out like a fat cat! 

After the gift exchange.

The cutest puppets ever.  A very beautiful gift from Miss Christy!

Playing with her new tea set.

Adam received a Whirly Pop popcorn popper for Christmas and he put it to good use right away. 

Yum!

Best part about this time of year is that Adam gets a nice chunk of time off.  So of course, lots of napping and relaxing are in order!

Gifts and festivities aside, we truly felt the spirit of Christmas in being able to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  It was a really meaningful time for us, especially since we got to share with Ella the true meaning of the season.  Nurturing this little baby and witnessing her grow and thrive makes us think of how Jesus once was a little child also.  We can't possibly imagine what it was like for Mary and Joseph to take on the call of nurturing and raising our Savior.  But we definitely have a glimpse of the love and sacrifice.  Words can't express the awe we have in such a miracle.

We hope you all had a truly wonderful Christmas filled with love, peace and joy!