An 11 Month Old Update!

11 months old, and hooraying is still her favourite thing to do! 

Apparently so is ripping the sticker off her vest! 

So we didn't really get too many pictures this time around! 

 

but we did manage to capture her latest party trick - standing up! 

and some of those giggles! She's still the happiest baby in town! 

I still can't get over how grown up she looks now that she's standing all over the place! 

She can now even get a little closer to her fave fishy friends at the garden centre, much to her delight.

If you're happy and you know it is still hands down her favourite song.  We have a few different versions we listen to - and so the verses come in different orders, but she knows whichever one we are listening to when the hooray verse is coming up and she throws her arms up in anticipation before they've even said 'say hooray' it's so cute! and even cuter how excited she gets about doing it! She can also clap her hands, and slap her knees for the other verses.

I think if she could choose any activity or toy to play with then it would be a stack of books every time.  She just can't get enough! and once we read a whole pile she will reach for the discard pile and want to start them all over again.  This animal book is a fave, she loves to lift the flaps down and see what the different animal noises are.  This was also a favourite of baby Ella's so I love that they love the same things! Flap books have also overtaken her love for touchy feely books at the moment.

Speaking of touchy feely, I saw this picture of Addi at nursery from the nursery Facebook page and it just melted my heart! Look at her doing sticking for the first time! She looks so into it!

I also celebrated my first Mother's Day as a mother of two! It was as dreamy as I imagined, and I just loved all the homemade cards and thoughtful gifts.  Addi made me this card at nursery and it was so super sweet! 

Addison also has found a new love of swings! 

They are definitely her fave feature at the park.

She's still not so sure about the slide...

but is definitely sold on the swings! 

There has been plenty of sister loving going on around here... matching dresses -and matching bows on Mother's Day! 

and this was a happy co-incidence finding Addison had the same colour dress as Ella! There is nothing more that Ella loves than matching with her little sis! 

She also feels extra lucky when she gets to hold Addi or give her a snuggle! She's forever trying to smother her with love...sometimes a little too much smothering!! but her heart is in the right place! 

More matching bows and navy! 

and a little book reading sesh at the library! 

with some frolicking amongst the daffs one afternoon at Floors Castle. 

 How I love this little duo of beauts! 

As well as pulling all the books out continuously in the playroom, another fave past time was pulling all the pictures and magnets off the freezer.  So I gradually raised everything higher and higher until I thought it was out her reach...but apparently nothing was safe because she even managed to rip down the pictures at the highest level so we now just have a plain freezer much to Addi's disappointment.

She still has the best curls around! 

Look at those two peeking out the front of her hat!! 

She also got to take Rosco the bunny home one week from nursery and so he accompanied us on all our fun that week,

and then we did a little write up in the nursery scrapbook all about it! 

Her last first of the month was her first bike ride! We were surprised at how much she seemed to enjoy it! The only way baby Ella would tolerate a cycle ride is if she was allowed her dummy! (and plenty of snacks as rewards!)  Although her helmet did keep slipping down, and so we hadn't even realised that she had fallen asleep at the end! We've since got her a smaller helmet and so she's all set to be a cycling pro, just like her daddy!

11 months - you've been a fun one! I can't even believe next month we'll be celebrating a whole year of you in our lives! 

An 11 Month Old Update!

So yesterday Ella turned 11 months old! 11 months old! The months are literally flying by faster than I can catch up with...wasn't I just posting about 10 months the other day?

Monkey is a serious life companion these days! he used to just keep her company at naps and at night in her cot, but now she likes to carry him around with her! and so she was more than happy to have him with her during her photoshoot...how things have changed from Month 1!

In fact, when I told her she'd have to put him aside for a few solo shots she made this face...

and as soon as he was out of view, she was off trying to find him! and some tears started!!

So we had to reunite them for a quick kiss!

and after that all was right with the world and she was ready to pose it up!

This is her head pose, because she's all about telling you where her head is these days!

and she's also been pulling herself up to standing, very proudly!

and she can even do the wheelbarrow too!

and I loved this little shot we took as Daddy was tickling her!

Yep, big things have been happening around here this month!

Doesn't she look like a proper little girl when she stands and not my baby? it's so cute, but breaks my heart!!

There's been tons of this face! as she peers on to the coffee table to see what is within reach and what she can grab - we now have the oddest looking table where all the items on it are gathered into a big pile in the middle where little roaming hands can't reach - my OCD is not coping well with it! and I can imagine in a few weeks she will start cruising her way around it!

Her favourite song these days is 'Happy and you know it'.  She can be crying in the car, but as soon as she hears the opening notes of the song she'll perk up and start clapping like crazy! She's very good at clapping in the appropriate places when you sing it to her, but when she hears the music she tends to get a bit over excited and claps all over the place!

                              

Her second favourite is 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' now that she can successfully identify her head as mentioned before! now to just work on the other body parts! 

                             

She understands so much more this month, and I feel like every conversation we have is two sided! Even the other day at the shop when I was carrying her, I told her we were looking for beans and she really started searching the shelf as if she was going to help me find some! it was super cute! She's also starting to say words, like amen after we finish prayers! She says 'meh' but I think that's her approximation! and she also can make the moo sound of a cow!

It was also an action packed month because of Christmas so be prepared for a picture overload! 

Ella met Father Christmas for the first time! There were no tears! and in fact she seemed pretty excited by the whole thing! her first trip to Santa also meant it was time for her...

first Christmas jumper! I only spent a whole month trying to find a good one! All the fun pattern ones were for boys, and all the girls ones had random penguins or polar bears on! So H&M came up trumps with this Hello Kitty number!

She also got to go back to the big smoke for a full day of festive fun! taking her around all the best spots with the most awesome decorations and lights, and yummiest treats!

You can tell from Ella's happy face she had the best day ever!

There is nothing she loves more than being on Daddy's shoulders! Here she is squealing away to prove it!

                             

She got to ride the little Christmas train along Southbank...

and had so much fun riding the carousel there was even a fist pump!

There is something so magical about London at Christmas in all it's glory!

 Christmas day rolled around and Ella learnt a whole lot about presents!

She was a big fan! especially when Santa gave her a giant chimpanzee! It made all her monkey loving dreams come true!

and her dj station from her uncles gave her the chance to showcase her squinty smile she's been perfecting all this month!

She got to pull her first cracker and wear her little baby party hat!

and we celebrated our first Christmas as a family of 3...and tested out Ella's new backpack on our walk after dinner.  

She got to spend a lot of time with all her favourite people like...

Grandad Kevin

Uncle Ja

Uncle Cam and

Granny Kathy...

not forgetting Meowy the cat, I'm pretty sure he was her highlight of Christmas! She chased that cat around faster than she's ever crawled before!

                           

Then we headed to Shropshire for Christmas part 2, and she got to hang out with more of her favourite people like

Granny Donny...

and Grandad Mike

and Auntie Mara and cousin Ellis, and Auntie Alli and Auntie Mel and Uncle Arne but for some reason there are no pictures of them!

She made up for lost time by getting up to all kinds of mischief with Ellis, doesn't it look like they're hatching a sneaky little plan here?!

Two little peas in a pod!

She got to open a lot more presents!

By this time she was getting pretty good at ripping the paper off!

and wearing bows on her head :) 

She got to experience her first snow!

and by the second day of snow there was even enough to build a snowman!

which Ella thought was just awesome!

and of course no snow fun is complete without sledging!

Our actual sledges were back in Wales so Grandad came up with the old classic makeshift tyre cover!

She got to spend lots of time playing with new toys!

There she goes standing up again! 

and she thinks her ballapalooza from Grandad is pretty awesome!

She's a baby raver in the making!

She celebrated NYE in her special penguin party dress from Auntie Mara! and was super happy to be staying up til midnight (aka 8pm) and to have Grandad visiting!

and she even got some indoor sparkler fun!

Ella, you are turning into such a character! You charm everyone from the shop assistants at Tesco to random passer by's in the street with your antics! Your jig and leg kicking are becoming your signature moves! and it's easy to tell when you're happy because those legs do the talking for you...and you're also happy nearly all the time! I got asked the other day if you were born happy, and I think you were! I don't know how we got so lucky to be your parents but every month just brings more happiness and more adventures and we're so excited to watch you turn 1 next month!