Happy 1st Birthday Ella!

It is hard to believe that we have had Ella in our lives for 1 whole year! We celebrated Ella's 1st birthday on October 3. This past year has gone so fast yet I can barely remember my life without her. I have learned so much this year about myself and what it means to be a mom and I finally know what it means to find true fulfillment. Ella brings so much light and laughter into our lives and I am incredibly blessed to have her as my daughter.

She has spent the past month perfecting her walking, be adventurous outdoors, collecting stuffed animals & dolls & toys & books & movies and trying to carry them all over the house wherever she goes, jabbering but pretty much sticking to "mama""dada""yes", clapping her hands whenever she likes something, eating everything in sight, pointing at everything with wonder, paging through books, constantly wanting to watch her Praise baby movie:), enjoying playing with her cousins and other kids, and most importantly still loving to cuddle with her Mom and Dad. She is growing up so fast right in front of our eyes, we're just trying to hold on to all the little moments. Here are some pictures from the last month...Ella just being Ella

Cruising around the house with all the remotes she can get ahold of Doing her motorboat noises while carring around her toys...something I hear and see daily:)

Ella likes to share her toys, always trying to give away what she has...ususally followed by her wanting it back but at least she is getting some of it right:)Play hard, sleep hardWhenever she likes something or music starts to play, she claps her handsThe whole Rotman gang at our annual summer birthday get-together at the park... and Ella with her cousins and second cousin - Carley, Kolter, Reed, Ella, Kennedy, Andrew & Kooper - she loves to play with them!I find Ella all over the house with our books just literally flipping through the pages for long periods of time"Mommy, can we please watch "Praise baby" again?" Who knew at 1 year old that I would have to put restrictions on TV watching:)

Up the street there is a family that owns a couple of donkeys and when we go for a walk we like to check and see if the donkeys are by the road so we can see them up close. This particular day we were fortunate and got to pet them ... Ella thought they were so cool - she kept pointing and jabbering and wanted to get out of her stroller to pet them. It was so cute, at one point she walked back to her stroller, grabbed a stuffed animal, walked up to the donkey and tried to hand them the lamby- it cracked me up.

Yea! Finally get to face forward in the car!
Ella loves to look out the side window as I mentioned before and lately when the neighbor kids are outside she bangs on the window and "talks" to them while they run around & dance & yell to her - I just thought this picture was so cute of them and their little friendship...they don't speak English and I love that they have their own little way of communicating.
Her birthday was a busy one and she couldn't even make it through lunch to take a nap:)

Saturday night we celebrated Ella's birthday with my family at my parents house...
Ella - Grandpa's girl
She was just as thrilled with the wrapping as she was with her presents
Ella got a grocery cart & food & doll from my parents which she loved!
Ella and Reed enjoying the box
Ella with Grandpa and Grandma Rotman
The party was a cupcake theme and I thought she sported her cupcakes quite well:)
It was hilarious b/c she was super mild and subdued while we sang Happy Birthday to her and watched her eat her cupcake. She just looked around and slowly ate it without making much of a mess with her head resting on her hand like it was no big deal. Apparently she isn't as much of a party girl as I thought:)
Our family cheering her on
Jill, Ella & Brad
The kids in their jammies - Reed, Ella, Kennedy, Kolter, Carley, & Kooper - could they be any cuter?

Ella enjoying her birthday presents by spreading them all over the house:) Thanks everyone for the fun gifts of the teapot set, dolls, dress & grocery items - Ella loves them all - and thank you for making her day so special!