Sweet Ella is 11 months!!

so, once again, another month has flown by and it's a bittersweet one for me because next month ella will be 1 years old!  how is this possible???  one thing that i am super-excited about for her 1 year old birthday is getting rid of these darn bottles and never having to use one again for any of my own kids.  i will happily feed yours though :)  other than that, i am trying so hard to soak in her babyness before she becomes a full-blown toddler.  i am still so in love with this child it's crazy!!

here's what's been going on in ella's life the last month:

i'd say the biggest thing is that she is taking a few steps by herself.  i predicted she would walk by 11 months and i am so close to this being true.  she is so proud of herself and thinks she is awesome when she does it.  half the time she doesn't even know she's standing on her own and then she just starts to move.  gates are about to go up!!

besides the few steps she crawls so fast, you forget how fast they are.  and, on all hard flooring to boot!  i don't know how they do it...guess that's why they have all that chub on them :)

still just working with 3 teeth here but i know she has to have some coming in because she's drooling again and chomping on anything she can get her hands on.  and speaking of chomping, she has no problem eating...food that is!  let's see new foods she's been eating - eggs, strawberries, pancakes, peaches, nectarines, plums, mango, chicken, turkey, cheeses, loves her yogurt, almost any kind of finger food she can get her hands on and i'm not stopping her.  trying to do it a little different than aves though she's turning out to be pretty good now.

one of my favorite times of day with her is bedtime especially when she gets her bath and smells so sweet and looks so clean with her hair combed and skin so soft and eyes so big.  she will drink about 1/2 of her bottle and then we play for a little while playing peek-a-boo with her lovey, sticking our tongues out at each other - she loves to mimic, checking out my earrings - she if fascinated with them and will move my head from side to side to check them out on both sides, waving at the pictures in her room, and right before bed when i pull her room darkener down she loves for me to run my hand up and down it to hear the noise - it cracks her up to where her paci falls out of her mouth!

she loves my parents dogs, honey and lucky, and is starting to say the word "dog" but she thinks any moving animal she sees is a dog right now.

there's no more lugging around her car seat because she sits like a big girl in the stroller and shopping cart.  she's fun too at the store especially if i have food or we're in a dressing room and she can flirt with the baby in the mirror!

avery and her have started to take more baths together and they are having a great time giggling together.

her favorite thing by far is her lovey. so, i can't decide if this was a good thing to give her or not, but it works so i'm fine with it...for now!

she will reach up her hands for you to pick her up now and is starting to get the hang of the whole waving thing and sometimes will even give a high five.  and, if i'm really lucky, she'll bend her head in and give me a kiss! that's my favorite!!

she is also really starting to play well by herself and as long as she has a gazillion toys around her she will play for awhile.  this comes in handy the most when i'm cooking dinner and getting ready in the bathroom.  she really loves throwing everything off of avery's kitchen.  avery's getting used to it now :)

she is just a sweet, fun baby and we are so happy to have her as part of our lives.  love you sweet girl!!