Ella is 1!

Our little bear turned one-year-old on Thursday. Can you believe it? We are having her birthday party next Wednesday with the whole family, but we had a little celebration with just the four of us on her actual birthday. Aaron stopped at HyVee and got some yummy pink sugar cookies for a special treat, and then she opened her gifts from Aidan and Mommy and Daddy.

She mostly just made a mess of her cookie, but she did eat some of it.

And then she grabbed the little broom and "helped" me sweep up. :)

Getting some birthday loves from Aidan.

And then he read her new birthday book to her.

At her check-up on Friday she weighed 21 pounds and was 29 1/2 inches. That put her in the 50% for weight and 64% for height. It also means she weighs enough that we can switch her car seat to face forward, which will hopefully help her enjoy car rides a little more and be a better traveler. Especially with all the holiday driving coming up. :)

The nurse asked me at the beginning of the appointment if she was doing okay crawling around. Silly nurse. I said she is too busy for crawling, she has to RUN everywhere now.

Ella's 12 month stats:
Ella has three teeth on top, two on the bottom. Says "mama" and "dada" and "ada" for Aidan. Her favorite things to do are push the big dump trucks around the living room (making ppppbbbbttt noises of course), bouncing a bouncy ball in the kitchen, playing peek with Aidan, and giving kisses. Her favorite book right now is "Head to Toe" by Eric Carle and she will imitate the seal (clap hands), the gorilla (thump chest) and the monkey (wave arms). She also will nod her head yes to just about anything you ask her. Think we can keep her from learning the opposite of yes? :( We will just enjoy this time before she learns that "NO" word.

Happy birthday our little Ella!