Summer Fun!

Summer fun is truly here. We have continued the world wind of activity and Ella is still amazing us with her new tricks. At this rate I think we need to get her a Peachtree Road Race number!

May flew by & June is almost over so next month will be the big day that Ella turns one!!! How crazy! Here's what we have been up to:

-Mommy & Daddy celebrated their 2 year anniversary

-Mommy & Grammy went up to NY to see some of our old friends, The Brennan's (I met Allison in nursery school - which is so crazy to think that some of Ella's friends that she is meeting now will be here friends some 20+ years later!)

-Uncle Tanner & Aunt Jill got married @ beautiful Lake Toxaway

-Celebrated Father's Day at the Brown's

In between all these activities Ella has managed to learn some new tricks too!

-She is a walking machine & sometimes gets going to a little trot

-Climbs the stairs all by herself

-She said her first word, Da-da! (we've been hearing lots of works, but this was the first word she used in the correct context)

-She went in the pool for the first time (granted we dipped her toe in last year but I use the word "dip" pretty lightly)

-Loves to help daddy play the guitar & clap to "if your happy and you know it...."

-Plays peek-a-boo around corners

-Knows that if she shakes Sophie's (the kitty) toy that she can con her into coming closer.

-Her top front right tooth has broken through

-Celebrated with Daddy, his first Father's Day!

Here are some photos:

Robin, Me, Grammy, Dodson, Allison, & Andrew enjoying brunch in NYC

The Lovely new Brown couple, Tanner & Jill

Mommy & Daddy

Ella showing off her pearly whites

Helping Daddy play guitar

Conning Sophie into playing with her




Bath time is so fun!

Getting ready to jump in!


Weee! Daddy pulling me around the pool.

Aren't we cute!!! I love my Daddy so much!

Mother's Day, Dedication, Walking, Standing in the crib, where do I begin?

Ok so I realize it has only been about 2 weeks since our last post but I feel like a million things have taken place. Not to mention I feel like Ella turned 9 months and poof she is turning into such a little girl!! So here's a run down of what's been happening....

May 2nd - Ella went to her first kiddie birthday party, for her boyfriend, Luke (oops sorry Daddy I meant "bodygaurd") We had lots of fun and in typical Mullvain fashion it was like a tornado of activity!

Ella & Avery (Luke's cousin) sitting together watching Luke open gifts. (side note: Avery & Ella were born on the same evening @ Northside Hospital & waved at each other through there little clear bassinets)

Birthday Boy lovin' some cake!

Then later that day my family came over to watch Ella's first Kentucky Derby and boy was I glad they were there! It ended up being a crazy night! Here's a how it went....we ran out of propane, then I cut my finger, I go to the hospital, realize I don't have my wallet, get stiches & pop-pop brings me my wallet, come home put Ella to bed, and finally at 9p sit down for this stupid dinner. (did I mention Daddy was out of town at a bachelor party, probably having a nice cold beer on the beach?) Yeah I was glad to hit the bed that night!

The next weekend went much better! Ella started taking 2 to 3 steps on her own in between mommy & daddy. I don't know who was more excited Ella or Mommy & Daddy? Obviously now that Ella is mobile this opens a whole new can of worms so we ran to Target & baby proofed the house! Sunday morning was perfect. We celebrated my first Mother's Day with Ella being dedicated at the church. She did great and we were so happy to have a ton of family there witness this special day!

Then we all went out for a Mother's Day feast! It was so nice to celebrate with all our Mother's!

This week Ella's self confidence has really grown because now she is taking lots of steps and truly "walks" from one object to another. Here's the latest video of her walking. (Ok I will go ahead and apologize for it being sideways but I have a mental block that you cannot "rotate a video" like you can rotate a photo, but hopefully you can all turn your heads & oh yeah and she walks better in just a diaper so please excuse her lack of pants ;-) )

Last night when I put her to bed she kept crying & I couldn't see her on the monitor, so I went up to check on her & there she was standing up in the crib hanging her arms over because she had dropped her burp cloth(which is like her little comfort blanket). So out came the bumper so she couldn't use it as a step. All we need to do is find Ella on the floor! Then tonight I put her to bed and I came down stairs & turned on the monitor only to see a huge eye looking at me. Yes she had stood up in the crib again & pulled down the video monitor. Oh I can see the To Do list growing as I type! Well looks like I know what we will be doing this weekend!

9 months photos

Here are some of my favorites!!! You can probably tell that spring it definitely here & we are getting to wear all our fun dresses!!!

Hi Dad! Ella loves to wave and when she does it, she is so proud of herself!

Cheese!!! If you look real close you can see my 2 lower teeth!

Here I am smiling real big & walking around with Pop-pop.

Look at me in my lady bug outfit!

(Plus get a load of those legs!!! I just want to squeeze them!)

9 months!!

This past Thursday Ella turned 9 months!!! It's crazy to think she has been in the "outside" world now longer than she was in my tummy!

On Friday we went to the Dr. for her 9 month well check. Everything looked good until Dr. Dewling looked in her right ear. Poor Ella had her first ear infection! And worse was that mommy did not know until we were there. I had been giving her Tylenol all week for her 2 top teeth that are now coming in and attributed her fussiness to teething, oops! So needless to say we were really glad that we had a Dr's appt so that we could get her feeling better!

Here are her 9 mnths stats: Height: 28 inches (50-75%) & Weight: 19.6 lbs (50-75%)

Easter 2009

What a wonderful first Easter for Ella! The weather was beautiful, we had a great Easter morning service and then we had the whole family over for an egg-stravaganza!

First my parents joined us at church and Ella did great! I say this because there have been times that we have rounded the corner and the children's minister has been holding her in the lobby. ;-) But we have finally figured out that rather than feeding her before we go, we take a bottle with us and they feed her. This routine seems to make everyone's day a little brighter!

Then Skip's family & the rest of my family came over to celebrate. We had a huge lunch & ate to our hearts content and then we tried out our detective skills in the annual egg hunt. Yes we have been doing this every year since I was a child. At least this year we actually had a contestant under the of 25 searching for eggs. (thanks Ella)

Here's the photos.....
Look the Easter bunny came and Ella's diving into her basket! (Note the dress we are wearing, while it is adorable, the "true" Easter dress only made it through Church before it was spit up on. The saying "you can dress me up, but you can't take me out" is definitely true in our house!)



Here's Ella with her new golf clubs. Only appropriate since it was the final day of the Master's.


Hmm Ella doesn't know what to think of this bunny; it sings, lights up & the ears flap. After a song or two she tried to put it in her mouth, which in Ella language means "yeah I like this crazy bunny!"


Look Ella found an egg in the tree! (For those of you with good eyes might be alarmed & say "oh no her lips are blue!" Yes, they are blue however it is only due to her shoving a blue egg in her mouth. So for those of you that were wondering yes the dye does temporarily stain if the egg gets wet.)


The First Easter family shot....maybe one day we will all be looking at the camera ;-)

Some first Easter notes:

1 - Maybe you should have 2 Easter outfits

2 - Take pictures before the dyed eggs go in the mouth

3 - And at the end of it all, just laugh!

Oh the other thing I forgot to mention was that Ella got her 2 bottom teeth for Easter! They are not up completely but they have cut through and she is starting to get that silly little baby smile. It's very exciting to see her pearly whites coming in!

This is just a cute photo the day after Easter. Here's the mobility run down....She still loves to walk around while holding your hands. And we are wondering what she will do first, walk or crawl? She has taken a step or two on her own and she can do the worm (that's her version of crawling) but she hasn't completely figured either one out. She loves standing on her own and when she realizes what she is doing she smiles, squeals, then sits.

Past Month's Activities

So lots has happened in the past month:
-Ella saw her first real snow
-Lots of fun playdates
-Skip & I took our first alone trip to Mexico
-I started a part time job
-Celebrated GG's (10th) , Grammy's (15th) & Auntie Mary's (16th) B-days
-Ella celebrated her first St. Patty's Day
-My Dad & Step-mom came to visit
-Tanner & Jill's First Wedding Shower

Ok so now that we are in 70 degree weather it seems like the snow was so long ago but here it was on March 1st....

Ella loved looking out the window, trying to figure out what was going on out there. (Well that or she wanted to be close to Sophie)

Sophie watching the snow (or planning her escape out of the crazy house)

Ella standing at her favorite toy, watching Dora. What can I say, she loves everything going at once. Sometimes I feel like I am becoming schizophrenic, since everything either flashes, dings, rings or sings. I am starting to hear them even when they are not playing! ;-)


Ella giving Sidney a "kiss." I use this term loosely since it's more like a soggy love bite. (Please excuse the piles of clothes in the back, Mommy & Daddy were trying to pack)




Ella steering Daddy around the house. After they are through Skip has to jump in the shower because his hair is full of Ella's happy drool!

Ella wanting to be a big girl wearing her sunglasses!

Daddy's lucky charm! No green beer this year!

Ella doing her almost crawl....she rocks back and forth and can somewhat scooch backwards but hasn't figured out how to go forward. Also notice the drool pool on the jacket. She is drooling like a champ and is still shoving everything in her mouth but no teeth yet.

Cheese!



All the girls in the Brown house!

Bubie, Grandpa, Mommy & Ella.

Valentine's Day & Family Festivities

It was a year ago on Valentine's Day that we found out we were having a little girl! Needless to say she looks a little different from the ultrasound but we could tell even then that she was a cutie!

Then to celebrate Papa's birthday we had the whole gang over for a celebration lunch. We all borrowed Ella's bibs since we had ribs and licked our plates clean! Here's the Brown Family.

Ella walking around the backyard.

Ella getting a little taste of Papa's Birthday Cake icing, yumm!

Also I always hear, what color eyes does she have? Blue like Daddy or brown like Mommy and really they seem to change a little bit each day but here's what they look like now.Peek-a-Boo I see you!!!

Here are some more photos of Ella at bathtime, always a favorite!!

See mom still no teeth.

Splish Splash I love the water!!!