the poulsen parade: August 2014

Ok wow this post is way overdue. In my defense we were out of town when Ella turned 8 months and we were gone for 5 weeks! We went up to my parents house and then Kyle headed to Austin for a month long orthopedic surgery rotation. Me and Ella flew up to Montana for two weeks with my parents where we had family reunions on both sides of my family. We had a great time up there and when we got back we stayed with my parents until Kyle finished his rotation and then we all stayed up there a few more days. It was hard to come home again. Ella LOVES my parents and has such a great time at their house with a backyard, so many more rooms to explore, and new things to look at, along with 2 doting grandparents who are always happy to play with her. She also slept great up at my parents house, something that she did not keep up with when we returned home to Galveston.:(

That being said 8 months was by far the best month so far, like 100x better than any month before that. She is just getting so fun, and now that she's old enough to really explore objects and play with toys she is just so much happier. As long as she has something new and interesting to play with she'll sit on her own (as long as I'm nearby) just as happy as can be. The challenge is trying to constantly find new, safe things for her to play with.

This month she really started to enjoy nursery rhymes and children's songs. Wheels on the Bus was a big favorite for her! I also spent a lot of time singing twinkle twinkle little star, row, row, row your boat, Old MacDonald, BINGO, Do your ears hang low, pop goes the weasel, I'm a little tea pot...I think you get the idea. But its so fun to play with Ella and watch her reaction to things, she is just so sweet and gets so excited! I am really enjoying her now, and love being her mom!

About to get on her first flight! Flying was pretty rough. I think I've mentioned a few times that Ella is not an easy sleeper. She will NOT sleep in anyone's arms. She needs to be in her own bed, with no noise or distractions. But she can't go more than a few hours without a nap, and for this flight we had to wake her up at 4am and we didn't arrive at our destination until 3pm. So it was a long, long, looong, day.

However, she enjoyed it for the first 30 minutes until she became too tired to be happy anymore.

The retro port a crib at my grandparents house. This is what I slept in as a baby when my mom used to visit.

About to run the Got Grit! Race, it was a blast! Its a muddy obstacle course 5k, the girls dressed up as team turtle and the guys dressed as Joe Dirt.