Ella Marie

YES, we are alive!

2010-01-31T11:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know it has been forever since we posted. I have to admit I have gotten very lazy with it. I think its time to get back on it again!! I am going to try to combine as much as possible without going on and on too much.

Well we are still here in Nashville (snowed in today) and really LOVING it. We have been here for 2 yrs now and I feel like its truly our home now. Eric is still working for ADP. He stays very busy since he is the only Regional manager in his office now but is always so good about making time for me and Ella. He is such a great husband and father. He and Ella are Best Friends for sure. I think he has had more tea parties with Ella than I have ha!! Eric still keep up with his buckeyes! We actually even made it to a game this yr. It was my first time to Columbus. We had a great time and I have to say (being a gator fan) those buckeyes know how to PARTY! As far as me, I am still working from home and loving it. I am very BLESSED to have the opportunity to stay home with Ella and have my job that I truly love. I always say I have the best customers out there and I do! They make this job everything it is. I am also very involved in MOPS here. I am on the steering team and love being with such great women of God. Its a nice break from life and a time for Ella to have fun with other preschoolers. This has given me such a great chance to meet more people and I have!! I have a lot of friends here and love that when I am out and about now that I can actually run into someone I know ha!! I have also picked up COOKING!! I know you are all laughing your heads off right now. I have graduated from the El Paso taco kit FINALLY!!

Now for the most important update ELLA!!! She is doing wonderful. She will be 2 next month and I can't believe it. She just amazes us more and more everyday with new things she learns. She is a walking and talking machine to say the least. She is now going to school 2 days a week and loves it. She is learning so much but most importantly she is interacting with other children her age. She is such a social butterfly so being here everyday with me can get old. Ella loves to dance and talk on her "cell" phone ha!! If she hears music she is shaking her hips and getting down. When we went to Jamaica last summer she was the show!! Literally!! They had a great band and Ella was the only dancer until she met her first "vacation" boyfriend (we all had those) Caleb. They would dance the night away. Eric already set all the boyfriend rules after that vacation ha! Ella has hit the "baby doll" phase for sure. She LOVES her babies so much. She reads to them like she really knows the words! She has a great imagination, which I feel is great. Ella has blessed us in so many ways and we can not thank God enough for her. The love of a child is priceless. I can see why the Dugars have 19 kids, well maybe not! LOL but the love she has taught us is unbelievable. She is definitely the sunshine in our day. We do have some cloudy days ha!! but for the most part she is such a fun and loving child!

So all in all we are doing great, no complaints here! We are looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2010! So as the saying goes I guess we will just sit back and enjoy the ride. Please come visit us. We would love to see you!!

Its Been Way too Long!!

2009-06-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

OK, first of all sorry I have been MIA on the blogging. I do realize (Ashley) that Ella has been a year old since Feb. ha!! I guess I have so much to update everyone on. Well Ella is now almost 16 mths old. She is a walking/talking machine and doesn't stop unless she is sleeping. She gets her energy from her daddy for sure, I only wish I had half her energy. Ella's favorite past time is DANCING. She LOVES to dance. She will dance anywhere she pleases too!! She doesn't even have to have music around. I think that saying "dance like no one is watching" came from Ella. Ella is now 21.32 lbs and 31 inches long. She is still in the 25% in weight and 75% in height. The Dr said from what she can tell she is always going to be petite. I guess there is nothing wrong with a petite girl. As far as her height she said she will be able to tell more about that when she is 2 yrs. We are VERY blessed to have a healthy, happy little girl. Ella will start school in September. Hallelujah!! Oops did I say that........... No I am just kidding but I think this will be GREAT for her as well as mommy. I am still working from home. It is going GREAT and I still LOVE it but its becoming a little bit of a juggling act. So she will be going to a Mother's Morning Out up at the church Monday and Wednesday from 9:30am to 2pm. They have a great program there and I know she is going to be so happy there.

As far as Eric and I we are doing GREAT. Still loving Nashville and hope/plan to stay here for awhile. I guess you never know where life will take you though! We have met some really great people here. We are VERY VERY sad but our closest friends Karen, Jon and Audrey are moving. They are like our Nashville family and we are really sad to see them go. We wish them the best, but we know we will stay in touch. Eric is still working for ADP and working very hard. He is taking a break from management and going back into sales until the economy turns around. He is actually looking forward to it and I know he will do GREAT. He always puts 110% into everything! Eric still enjoys doing yard work and planting flowers. I know that sounds a little strange but its VERY true. I will take pics just so you can be amazed a man can do such a GREAT job with flowers. He takes much pride in our yard. I think that is a good thing b/c if I was single our house would not have one flower planted unless I hired someone to do it. Me and yard work don't mix.

As far as me (mommy) I am doing great. As mentioned, I am still working from home and loving it. June was 6 yrs I have been at Pinnacle. I love it there and the people are just wonderful. I am very blessed to have such great co-workers. I miss them like crazy. Trust me, we talk a lot if not more than when I was there!! I have also gotten very involved in MOPS (Mother's of Pre-schooler's). Its a great program. I encourage every mom to find one in your area and get involved. Eric and I have also become very active in our church. We have the toddler class once a month in "God's Garden" AKA Sunday School. We are not really sure what message God was sending to us to but we took the message and ran with it. So to say the least its been interesting. ha!! The kids are a lot of fun but its also a "friendly" reminder to take my birth control ha!!

Well we are headed on vacation next month (4th of July) to Florida for a week so I am sure we will have tons of pics to post of Ella at the beach. We are looking forward to seeing MiMi and Pop Pop and all of our family. We get to meet our new addition to the family Miss Riley. We are so excited. In August its off to Jamaica with Eric's family so we have a very busy Summer ahead. Hope all is well with everyone. I promise to get better with my updates. Love you all!!

Ella is ONE!

2009-03-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ella turned 1 yrs old on the 27th of Feb. I can't believe a year as already passed by us. It was a WONDERFUL year and nothing I ever expected it would be. Children are an absolute blessing from God and we are so blessed to have Ella in our lives. She is such a happy little girl and as parents that makes us VERY happy too. Ella is officially walking now. She will still crawl but I would say she walks 80% of the time and crawls when she is feeling lazy ha! She is talking more and more everyday. Its more Ella lingo but we are trying to learn what she is saying. We took her to the Dr last week and her visit went very well. We are now on whole milk and LOVING it!! Eric says we got a raise!! I am so glad I breast fed for 8 mths b/c formula is expensive. She is now weighing in at a BIG 19.8 (25th percentile) and 30 inches long (75th percentile). Looks like we might have a model on our hands long and trim!! We go back when she is 15 months.......... We are also looking into Mother's morning out programs for her next year. We found one we really like so pray I can get in her. It will be two days a week from 9am-2:30pm. We feel this will be GREAT for her as well as MOMMY!! I am still working from home and its going GREAT but she is at the age now where she requires more attention and we feel this will be perfect for her. I will know March 3oth if she is in for the next school yr. I will keep you posted. All in all Ella is doing wonderful. We have so much fun with her and she just continues to amaze us. Her are a few pics from her bday party. Her bday was a HIT!! She did so well and LOVED her cake. I guess she gets her sweet tooth from me! Thank you for everyone that made the trip we know its always hard from people to travel especially with children. Ella is so blessed to have wonderful people in her life. We love you all and hope all is well.

4 Steps!!

2009-02-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well today Feb 10th Ella took 4 steps on her own. We were playing on the floor together and she just started walking. It was CRAZY. She acted like she knew what she was doing and just went for it!! I was so happy for her!!! I tried to get her to do it again, but she didn't do it. I guess this is just the beginning then!! Just wanted to share it with everyone. I don't have any pics or video b/c I wasn't expecting it so my camera wasn't around. I am sure she will do it again and I will be sure to capture the moment. Hope all is well with everyone. Please keep Eric's family in your prayers. His Uncle Bob passed away yesterday. He was a great guy that could always make you laugh. He will be missed. We love you Uncle Bob.

11 Months

2009-01-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have been working on this since Tuesday!! Its been a long week and a busy one at that!
Wow our little Ella is 11 months today (the 27th). I can't believe how much she has grown. Just the other night I was looking at old pictures of her and she doesn't even look like the same baby to me. She is truly the love of my life and makes me so happy and proud to her mom. She is still not walking, but I know its just a matter of time. She can stand tall for long periods of time and cruise from one thing to the next but she just won't take that step. I am on pins and needles b/c I know its just a matter of time. She is still talking all the time and some words I can make out, but the rest is all Ella lingo! Her new obsession is Woody from the Toy story. Our nephew Dylan had one at Christmas and she was always playing with it. So MeMaw (Eric's mom) found her one and sent it. Woody went everywhere with us. He went to Kroger, Church, dinner you name it he has gone. Well one night at dinner he was left and they couldn't find him. Its a good thing she is still too young to understand b/c it was like he was never around in the first place. Out of sight out of mind. As parents though you feel like you have to replace it b/c she loved him so much. Well we called around and looked on the internet for some reason woody is a HOT comity. Well MiMi (my mom) found him in South Florida. It was more to ship him here than the actual cost of the doll. Well Woody is back!!! She is so happy with him again. The new rule though is Woody doesn't leave the house. He has to stay here!!

Ella had her "real" first playdate today (Tues). It was at 10am so I knew she wasn't going to last long b/c that is typically around her morning nap time. She had a GREAT time and played with all the other children. She was the youngest but she LOVES other "little" people so she was in her glory. She lasted about an 1hr or so and she ended up taking a nap at their house ha!! Only Ella. I guess she gets that from me. When I am tired I will sleep anywhere at any time!! So Sara set up a pack and play and Ella was OUT!! She had a great time and we can't wait to do it again.

Another thing Ella is doing and probably shouldn't be is standing in her grocery cart. Her Aunt Julie and Uncle Ryan got her a Fisher Price sing along grocery cart. Instead of playing with all the "groceries" that go in it she takes them all out and sits it. Here are a few photos we took of her. She is a mess!! Each day is something new with her. We hope everyone is doing well and your New Year has started of great!! My pics are soon to come! I haven't downloaded them yet.

Ella's 1st Christmas

2009-01-03T19:17:00.001-08:00

Ella's 1st Christmas was a BLAST!! She had a great time. I know she didn't understand what was going on but when you have children it gives Christmas a whole new spin. We had Christmas with Eric's family this year. We rotate every year since our family's live so far apart. We went to Jasper, Indiana where Kari (Eric's sister) and PawPaw live. We came in on Christmas Eve. That day they had a cookie decorating contest. Mine was picked by Dylan (our nephew) for Santa to eat! You can tell a child did the judging b/c it was not a pretty cookie. We went to 5 o'clock mass, which Ella did very well. I was nervous she was not going to make it b/c at our church she is always in God's Garden, a.k.a daycare. Thank goodness for Cheerios!! That night we played games and waited for Santa's arrival!! Christmas morning we watched the kids (Dylan and Ella) open their gifts. Santa was very good to them so I assume they were very well behaved this year. I also had a great Christmas. Santa was very good to me too!! I got a new watch, diamond necklace and a food processor ha!! I got a few other items for the kitchen as well. I am taking the hint I need to get in the kitchen more!! I will let you know how that goes. We had a great Christmas dinner and Wii for dessert ha!! The theme of the weekend was Mario Cart. The guys were addicted. I have to admit the bowling was VERY fun too!! Ella had a great weekend with Dylan. She loves to play with other children. We had our 2nd Christmas this past Friday when MiMi and PopPop sent their gifts. Ella LOVES her new giraffe with tags!! Ella has always been obsessed with tags. If something has a tag on it she will find it!! Thank you to everyone for making Ella's first Christmas so wonderful. I know she will never remember it, but we will and we can share the stories with her oneday.

All in all we were VERY blessed in 2008. Our move to Nashville was a great transition for our family. We LOVE it here!! So come visit. ha We were blessed on Feb 27th with Ella Marie and life has not been the same since. She is our pride and joy!! I truly love Eric but you when you have a child you fall in love all over and even harder. We have met some great people here and found a church we really enjoy. God has been so great to us and we are very thankful for that. We love you all and wish you the best in 2009.

Minnie Mouse

2008-12-29T18:50:00.000-08:00

Here is a recent picture of Ella. She went to a Birthday here in Nashville and as you can see the theme was Mickey Mouse!! She loved her Mickey ears. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year. She is talking to us about how much fun she was having!! She is always talking!

It's Been Awhile

2008-12-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Sorry its been awhile since I have blogged. Got a little behind on things I guess you could say. Well all is well here at the Manchir house. We are getting ready for Christmas. We are so excited that we have Ella this year to celebrate with us. Last year she was still baking in the oven ha!! Ella is doing so well. She is the GREATEST little girl. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and we LOVE her to pieces. She is 9 months now. WOW the time goes fast. Before we know it we will be celebrating her 1st bday. That makes me sad.........She is crawling all over the place and standing tall. She has not tried to walk yet, but I am sure its coming. She has discovered the stairs YIKES!! Not a good thing. She waves bye to us and even likes to clap her hands when we sing. Her daddy has also taught her to dance. He plays ring tones off his cell and she LOVES that. Her new favorite word (thanks to Mimi) is WOW! Everything is Wow! She can also say mama, dada, dog (in her own way) and baba. I think she is saying bottle. She always has a lot to say we just can't tell what she is saying, but as long as she knows I guess thats all that matters. She is still loving her veggies, fruits and meats. I HATE meat so I think she got that from the Manchir side. Beef is her favorite. She is a GREAT sleeper as well. She was still getting up a lot in the night until about 7 months and one night I just said if she wakes up I am not going in there. That night she woke up and cried for about 12 min and went back to sleep on her own that was the end of it! She now goes to bed at 8:30 and sleeps until about 7:30/8am. I will take it!! Last week I took her to the Dr for her 9mth wellness visit. She is doing well. She is still in the 88% in her length and 25% on weight. The Dr says she is looking as if she might take after me and be thin and tall. Too bad I am not very tall ha! She is a little petite thing, but I think that is what makes her look so cute. All in all Ella is a great baby. She is fun loving and always a joy to be around (we do have our days)! I am still working from home, which is going really well so Ella and I get to hang out A LOT!! We have fun together. We like to take breaks and go out to lunch or run a few errands. She loves getting out b/c she loves people and always wants to be in the mix. As Christmas approaches I hope we all can take the time to remember what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. I know God has blessed us in so many ways this year and we are truly thankful for that. The BEST gift was Ella!! She is truly a blessing! Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year. I promise to post some recent pics of Miss Ella soon!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well today we took Ella to her first pumpkin patch. She had a wonderful time. She got to look at all the animals at the petting zoo. She got to see her first pig, sheep, cow and horse. She didn't seem too concerned about it ha!! She just loves to look at all the people! She is a people watcher for sure. We took her on a hay ride to go and pick out her first pumpkin. She picked out the smallest one but it fits her perfect. We also got one for Brutus, Harriet, and us. So everyone is the family got their own pumpkin. Here are some pics from our day a Pumpkin Hill.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

I couldn't wait until Halloween to dress her up so I had to share. She is a pink poodle!! She just loved being dressed up. She thought it was too much fun! Ella is doing well. We have all been sick for the last week but we are all starting to feel a lot better. This past weekend we made a trip to Atlanta for the Norton boys 30th bday. We had a GREAT time and it was so nice to see everyone. Thank you Ashley for a wonderful PARTY and we love everything you have done to the house, it looks GORGEOUS!! Grandma Manchir babysat so Eric and I could have a night out. We had a BLAST! Ella has learned to clap when she gets excited. She doesn't have the coordination down so her hands and arms go everywhere. Its the cutest thing ever. She is still trying to say dada all the time with a few other words but its all babble for now. She knows what she is saying so I guess that's all that matters ha!! Other than that we don't have too much really going on. Looking forward to the fall and all the holidays ahead!! Hope all is well with everyone.

Gator Baby

2008-10-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here is Ella supporting her gators. Her daddy says she is a buckeye, but we will see!! Go gators!!

We are back!!

2008-09-16T18:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have been working on the same blog for a week now so sorry its just getting posted now. Its been crazy here since we came home from vacation.

Well we made it back from vacation. It was a wonderful, well needed trip. Ella did wonderful on the cruise. She slept and ate great the entire time so that made mommy very happy. Since there was a large group of us I had tons of hands to help out with Ella. Thank you to everyone for all the extra help it was very much appreciated. Eric and I even got some time out to ourselves which was really nice. During the cruise they had "aqua babies" which is a class for infants. Ella did so well and loved playing with Miss Rosie. It was a great activity for her. Ella went to Jamaica, Cozumel, and a private Island owned by Royal Caribbean. She is such the traveler!! I am glad Ella had a great first vacation and I am sure she is looking forward to many more. Thank you mom and dad for a GREAT trip and the help with Ella.

Ella is doing just wonderful. She will be 7 months on Saturday. I just can't believe it. She is such a joy to have in our lives and we couldn't imagine our lives without her. She makes me smile everyday, even those not so good days! ha She has a contagious smile and it just brightens my day. She is REALLY growing now. I can't believe how much she is changing too. She is officially crawling.......... I feel like my life has been turned upside down. It so great to see her on the move, but that means I am now too. Our house is officially child proof now. It has been a little challenging keeping up with her. She is also pulling herself up. Today we had to lower the crib because to jumped out head first!! Thank goodness I was in there to catch her before she hit. Gave me a heart attack. Her bottom teeth are now all the way in, they are just so cute. I think I see one of her top teeth coming in now too. She is saying dada all the time and I mean all the time and loud. Unfortunately she doesn't know who or what dada is but its nice to hear her say something. She is also saying baba. I like to think she is saying bottle, but I know she has no clue what that means either. As parents we like to think all our children are so smart!! ha Ella has also started going to music classes at the library. She seems to really enjoy it. I have also joined MOPS (mothers of pre-schoolers) at our church. Which I LOVE!! I encourage every mother to find one in their area. They are wonderful. Ella is considered a moppet ha! and she goes to the daycare with 4 other babies. She loves it. I think its just as good for me as it is for her. We are home a lot and this gives us an opportunity to get out and meet people. Ella is a people person for sure. She loves other children and anyone who will chat with her.

I will be posting pics from our trip, but I am having trouble at the moment!! Imagine that. Hope all is well with everyone. We love you all!

6 months and GROWING!!

2008-09-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

Well we have so many new updates going on with Miss Ella, where should we start............ Well she turned 6 months last Wednesday and its seems she has changed and done so much since then. We are almost "really" crawling now. She gets on her all fours and rocks back and forth and will move forward a little bit but still not a "normal" crawl. She can also sit herself up from a crawling position on her own. She can also sit on her own for longer periods of time now without falling over. I guess the BIGGEST milestone is she has 2 TEETH!! So that has been interesting to say the least. She has been a little fussy and not sleeping very well at all. She is up almost 3 times a night b/c she is uncomfortable. I feel bad for her but once the 2nd tooth breaks through the skin I think she will be ok. She is also talking a little bit. I can't tell if its da da, ga ga or ba ba but she is saying something. They say around this time they will start blabbing something.

We went to the Dr today for her 6 month wellness visit. She is just growing up!! She is 14.9 lbs and 27 inches long. She is in the 90 percentile in height but not so much on weight!! She is still enjoying her veggies, carrots seems to be her favorite by far. We will be starting the greens next. I don't know how they will go, but we will see. All in all Ella is doing great. I love that I have the opportunity to be home with her, especially now that she is doing so many new things. We have a lot of fun together during the day. She loves her exer-saucer. That is a big hit. She also loves to hang out and swing some days too! I guess it depends on our mood.

This past weekend we went to Jasper, Indiana for a Manchir family reunion. We had a great time. Ella and I had a chance to meet some family we hadn't had a chance to meet. They are all so nice and we had a great time!! Thank you for making us feel so welcome. We are looking forward to our short week b/c next week we are on VACATION!! We fly out Saturday to my parents in Jax, FL and then Sunday to board the ship!! We are planning on going to the Western Caribbean but with all the hurricanes we might be going to the Eastern now. We will see!! At this point I think we all just want a vacation. I don't care if we just sat on the cruise and circled Miami! HAHA!! We need this!! I can't wait to share all my pictures and stories from our trip. I am sure it will be a blast with a lot of great memories. Hope all is well with everyone!!

All over the place

2008-08-22T09:43:00.001-07:00

I am sorry I haven't had any updates lately, I have been a little slack with my blog..........oops! Everyone is doing really well here. Ella is changing more and more everyday now. I feel like everyday we wake up she has learned/discovered something new in life. She is all over the place now. The days of laying her on the floor and her just laying there are OVER! She has learned how to crawl. Its not a "normal" crawl b/c she hasn't figured out how to coordinate the hands with the legs yet, but she is on the move. She gets up on her knees and tries to move with her head down on the floor. She some how figures out how to move across the room that way. She amazes us. She can also sit up on her own now too. She can't do it for long periods of time but she will sit there for a little bit until she realizes she wants to be back on her stomach and GO!! She has a lot of energy, I think she gets that from her daddy. Eric is always doing something and that is how she is, Wow we are in trouble when she gets older. Ella will be 6 months next week. Where has the time gone. She is still being breast fed but she has officially started her veggies. I started them a little before 6 months b/c we are going on a cruise in 2 weeks and I didn't want to introduce it to her then. She seems to enjoy them so far. Her new interest is my cell phone and the remote to the TV, this is not a good sign ha! She can spot my phone a mile away. I guess since it rings all day for work she likes the sounds. Ella is still always smiling and laughing, which we just love. To see her happy makes us just melt. We are looking forward to our cruise next month with my family/friends. There are 12 of us going so it should be a BLAST. It will be Ella's first real vacation!! Too bad she won't know whats really going on, but we will have pics to show her when she gets older!! Other than that we are all doing well. We are meeting more people here and Ella has made some new friends here too. We took her and her "friends" ha to her first County Fair!! She loved it. I think the bright lights kept her entertained. I am sorry I have no pictures to show from the fair, I forgot my camera URH!! Hope everyone had a nice summer, I can't believe its already over. Time for some cooler weather I guess. I will post some recent pics as soon as I get some.

5 Months

2008-07-28T13:22:00.001-07:00

Ella is 5 months today. I can't believe it. Where does the time go?!?! Ella is doing very well. She amazes us more and more everyday. I love watching her experience new things. She is now 13.3lbs and I am assuming about 26 inches long or so. Ella is still waking up at night but normally its only around 3am and then she goes back to sleep until 6:30am. She is really good about her bedtime though. When its 8:30pm she is ready. As far as her napping goes, that is a different story. She will take about 3 naps a day and they are only for about 30-45 mins. I am hoping that part will change!! She is still turning over from back to front and has only turned back over to her back a few times. I think she is still trying to figure it out. She loves being on her stomach b/c I think she really wants to crawl. She gets so mad that she can't go any where once she has turned over so she gets very frustrated. I keep telling her it will happen oneday just be patient!! She is VERY chatty ha! She will just talk and talk. I wonder where she gets that?!?! I tell Eric all the time we are in trouble when she really starts talking. She laughs and smiles constantly. I guess its a GREAT thing to have a happy baby b/c happy baby makes happy parents. She is still enjoying her cereal. Her new thing with that is she thinks its very funny to do "motor boat" while she is eating. So you can imagine what that is like, food is every where. My mom said I did the same thing. I can only imagine once we start veggies what my walls are going to look like. This past week MeMa (Eric's mom) came to visit. I think her and Ella had a great time together. It was very nice to have the company and especially the home cooked meals!! As you know I am no cook so its so nice to have breakfast, lunch and dinner cooked for you EVERY day!! Thank you again MeMa for coming to see us. On Friday Kari, Scott, PawPaw and Dylan came to see us. They went to see the Wiggles in Nashville. Ella did not go b/c we felt she was too young to enjoy it, but maybe next year. On Saturday we took Dylan and Ella to get their pictures made together. They turned out really cute. Other than that we are all doing well. Eric is doing really well in his new position here so we are very proud of daddy. As far as mommy, I am good. Working from home and really enjoying it. I have the best customers so it makes my job a lot of fun. I feel very blessed to be able to stay home with Ella. Hope everyone is having a great summer. We miss and love you all.

Our Weekend

2008-07-13T19:07:00.001-07:00

We had a nice weekend as a family. Friday we went to dinner and came home and crashed. I guess we came off a long week after a holiday weekend the week before. On Saturday it was so pretty but HOT!! so we took Ella to the pool with my friend Sara and her girls. Ella got to go in the baby pool for a little bit. I think she is starting to like it a little bit more. She loves her bath time so I am sure she will enjoy the pool more as she gets older. Today we went to church and out to lunch. Ella has finally figured out that when we are at restaurants she wants to be out of her car seat. She wants to sit up at the table with us, I think she feels left out ha. We really enjoy her company however she is becoming a pistol to take out to dinner. She will fuss until we give in to her and let her out. I am trying not to spoil her and do this every time, but we are in a restaurant and I feel bad for other people trying to enjoy their night out. Its amazing how much she has picked up on just in 4 mths. She wants to drink out of our cups with a straw I might add and wants to hold her spoon when she eats her cereal. She REALLY wants what we eat but that is not happening for awhile. I guess breast milk could be pretty boring everyday ha! I give her a bottle everyday with breast milk just so she will take a bottle from someone else in case I need to go out. Her new thing with that is she holds the bottle herself. I have to assist of course but she will hold it with both hands and chug away!! Ella was having a fussy day today so we decided to take her to the park here. Its the "Charlie Daniels" park and its so nice. I was amazed at everything they had. Here are a few pics from our day at the park. We were in our play clothes so please excuse how we are dressed. I promise Ella dresses to the "T" usually but I didn't want to change her since she was already being Miss Fussy Pants!! All in all Ella is doing great. Amazing us more and more everyday with everything she learns. We love her to pieces and look forward to each day with her and what it has in store for us!! Its always something.

YUMMY!!

2008-07-08T19:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a BIG day for Miss Ella. She got to have her rice cereal for the first time. I was planning on waiting a little longer, but when we went to Dr for her 4 month check up they suggested her wait until she was closer to 6 months UNLESS she was "interested" in our food and/or was able to hold her head up. Well the entire time we were in Florida she was trying to eat everyone's food. HA! She was always trying to grab at everyone's plate and would get fussy that she was not eating so I figured it might be time. Well she LOVES it!! You would have thought we fed her a steak dinner. I am sure it was to her considering she has been exclusively on breast milk for 4 1/2 mths now. I always heard they won't finish the first bowl the first time you give it to them and she ate it alllllllll. It wasn't much anyway but I was still surprised she ate it all!! I think she had more on her than what actually went in her tummy. You will notice she doesn't have a bib on b/c she was trying to eat that too so we had to take it off! ha She is just loving her cereal. I can only imagine what she will do with fruits and veggies at 6 months. That is all our excitement for now. We are planning on having a laid back week and weekend since we have been so busy. Hope all is well with everyone.

4th of July

2008-07-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

Well let's see where to begin with all of our new adventures............. Well we flew out Wednesday morning to see MeMe and PopPop in Florida. I was a nervous wreck about how this was going to work with me and Ella on a plane together, but she really impressed me. I knew she was a laid back baby but she proved herself to me for sure. She feel asleep from the minute we hit the run way to when we landed coming and going!! When we got to Florida we went by PopPop's office so they could meet Ella. They all loved her and I think she enjoyed herself as well ha! We then went to my parents house and relaxed. I was exhausted at this point and it was only noon! Then PopPop (my grandfather) came over to meet Ella!! I didn't know he was coming over so that was a nice surprise. We got some great pics of them together. Ella really liked PopPop. Later that night my friend from High school came over with her little boy. Ella and Powers had a great time together and then Ella passed out!! She was so tired from all the excitement in one day! On Thursday after a visit with Sara and Will we headed to Amelia Island. My Aunt and Uncle live there and all our family was in town for the holiday weekend. It was Ella's first "real" visit to the beach. On the 4th the plantation has a HUGE parade and everyone decorates their golf cart. Ella was in her first parade and you can see how excited she was! ha She fell asleep the entire time. That evening we cooked out and enjoyed a wonderful fireworks show. Again, Ella fell asleep so I watched them from inside which was nice and relaxing. Saturday we had a day at the beach. Ella came down for a little bit. Mainly for pics of her "toes" in the sand. All in all we had a very nice visit with all of our family. Ella enjoyed meeting everyone and can't wait to go back.

All LEGS!!

2008-07-01T11:43:00.001-07:00

We went today for our 4 month check up and Ella did GREAT!! She is now 12.4 lbs and 25 inches long. She is all LEGS! We had 3 shots done, which is never fun for mommy or Ella. I have all of her shots broken up b/c I refuse to have 5 shots given to her all at once. Its a personal thing and it has worked out well. So we will be going back next month to get the remaining 2. The Dr said she is looking great and growing "beautifully" well. We were pleased with our visit. We have not started cereal yet and that will be something we introduce eventually. Probably closer to when she is 5 mths. Everything else is going well here at the Manchir house!! Ella and I leave tomorrow for Florida. We are going to visit MeMe and PopPop and head to the beach for a few days. We are also going to visit some of mommy's childhood friends so that they can meet Miss Ella!! Hope all is well with everyone and we will post pics from the 4th when we return!

Fun Times

2008-06-22T19:51:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend to say the least!! Ashley, Ryan and the boys came to visit us for the first time. We had a great time together and all the children were great. On Friday when they got in we just sat around and chatted until almost midnight. That is the latest I have stayed up since I was prego! So that night I was getting "crazy" you could say ha! On Saturday Ashley and I got away for mommy time to get pedicures. It was so nice to relax and catch up with no interruptions. When we got back we went to the pool. I have met a friend here so I invited her and her three girls to join us. Plus I knew it would give someone for Griffin to play with. He and Sasha got along so well and played all day! After the pool we decided to grill out and relax around the house. We had all intention to "party" it up once the kids went down, but that didn't happen. We all crashed too! We laid around and watched movies and chatted of old times. So all in all our weekend was great. Thank you again for coming to visit!! We had a great time and miss you already. We are looking forward to the week and what it has in store for us. Ella is going to be 4 months on Friday. I can't believe it! This is our last week full work week before the 4th of July. Ella and I are flying to MeMe's and Pop Pop's next Wednesday for Ella's first 4th of July!! We are looking forward to it since all my family will be in town as well. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

She did it!!

2008-06-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well on Friday 6/20 Miss Ella finally learned how to turn over!! I am so EXCITED for her. She has reached another milestone in her journey of life. Its sad to say but I missed the 1st time she did it. She was waking up from her nap and playing in her crib so I went downstairs to unload the dishwasher and do a few things before I got her up. I came back upstairs to check on her and there she was on her tummy rocking back and forth. I think she was a little shocked that she did it. I first thought maybe she just "accidentally" turned over so I didn't want to get my hopes up so I laid her on her side to see how she would react and as soon as I did that she flipped right over. She has done it a few more times since then too. Once she was even trying to bring her knees in together as if she was trying to crawl, but I know she is not that advanced! Its so funny how the smallest things are such a big deal now. You would have thought she had learned how to ride a bike from the excitement in my voice when I told Eric. I am just being a proud mommy and I am sure this is just one of the many milestones Ella will achieve.

Father's Day

2008-06-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

Well it was Eric's first official father's day. We had a nice day together as a family. We didn't do anything too exciting, but it was nice to spend time together. We went to the pool for a few hours. Miss Ella took a nap in the shade while mommy and daddy got some sun and were able to meet some new friends. For father's day Ella bought her daddy his favorite cake from Publix. I also had some pictures taken of her and I together for him. He really liked that for his office. As far as dinner went for those of you who know me well, my cooking was calling O'Charley's for take out. Its the thought right!??! All in all I feel Eric had a nice 1st father's day. Ella is doing well. She has discovered her thumb. She will sometimes try and put her whole hand in her mouth but I think she is learning the whole hand just isn't going to fit!! Her newest thing is she loves to do the "motor boat" sound. It will entertain her for a hour straight some days!! She loves when Eric does it and then she wants to do it back. They will just go back and forth until Eric's lips go numb. It is the cutest thing. She loves to spend time with her daddy. She is going to be a daddy's girl for sure!! Each day with Ella gets better and better. It is so fun just to watch her grow and discover new things. We are looking forward to our weekend. We have Ashley, Ryan and the boys coming to visit for the first time. I am sure I will have a lot of pictures to post!! Hope all is well with everyone and all you dad's had a great Father's Day!!

2008-06-12T20:44:00.001-07:00

Ella Marie

2008-06-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well I finally decided to start a blog for Ella so we could keep you all updated on our wonderful life with her. I am starting it with her at 3 months, but I will brief you on the first 3 mths in a nutshell!!

As you all know or might not know we moved to Nashville, TN when I was 34 weeks prego!! Eric got promoted (great job sweetie) in Dec 07 to become a sales manager for ADP. So we sold our house in 14 days, AMAZING I know and moved to a great area in Nashville, TN. At 36 weeks they starting thinking I might have to have c-section b/c Ella was breech. They said there was still time but the chances of her flipping were VERY slim. I was praying that she would flip but as Eric and I said if this is the way God plans to have her come into the world then this is how its meant to be! So on Feb 27th at 2:35pm Miss Ella Marie Manchir entered the world via c-section. All went well she was 7lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long. We had all our family there to welcome her into the world and it was the best day of our lives! When we first came home it was an adjustment. I was learning to breastfeed, be a new mommy and trying to recover from the c-section all under ZERO sleep. So I was on the loopie train for the first 3 weeks for sure. After that first month we were rocking and rolling. We were getting into our routine and getting to know Ella more as well as her getting to know us. At her 2 month appointment she was 9.9lbs and almost 23 inches long. The Dr. said she is most likely going to be tall and skinny. She was already in 3 mth clothes b/c of her length alone. All checked out well and they said she is looking good.

I can't believe Ella is already 3 months! Where has the time gone. She is just growing more and more everyday. Ella laughs and smiles all the time from the minute she wakes up until she goes to bed. Even when she cries sometimes she still tries to smile. She is a VERY happy baby which makes us as parents happy too. She is sleeping very well at night. She goes to bed every night at 8:30 and wakes up around 4 or 5am for a quick feeding and goes back down until 7 or 8am!! I am still breastfeeding and will continue to do so as long as she is doing well. She was 7 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long when she was born. She is now 11.3 lbs (skinny little thing) but 24 1/2 inches long! She is trying to roll over but hasn't quite got it yet, but I am sure its just a matter of time. She loves when we sing to her. Her favorite song is "you are my sunshine". She will just laugh and smile the whole time we are singing to her. We also think she is going to be a big talker. She is always cooing and making all sorts of noises to get our attention. She has many traits of both Eric and me when it comes to personality. As far as her looks everyone says she looks like her daddy. Which is fine with me! I am sure she will change a million times over the next year anyway. We took her to the pool this weekend and she had her first experience in the pool. I don't think she really understood were she was. I think it was more for us to say "Ella's first time at the pool". Ella also has learned how to move her body off her play gym and scoot her body around the room. She amazes me when she does it. She uses her legs and pushes herself around. We had a very busy May. We went to Christy and Jason's wedding in Florida. This was Ella's first road trip and she did very well. Grandma and Grandpa Austin came as well so they were a BIG help. We also had Aunt Julie and Uncle Ryan's wedding in Atlanta and Ella did great. She was a BIG hit with all the family. We are loving every second with Miss Ella and are enjoying being her parents!! We couldn't imagine life without her. I will post some recent pictures of her when I learn how to do this!! Please stay posted with all her updates.