It's Been Awhile

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

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

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

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

We are back!!

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!!

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

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.