Ella's current loves

1:: Finding her Momma's hairs, that somehow all gather under the bed, and sucking on them.

2:: Ice cream.

3:: Things with cool textures, like bags of chocolate chips. She threw a fit every time we tried to remove these from her hands while we were shopping so we just let her hold onto them until she fell asleep and we could remove them without her noticing. 

4:: Paper (notice that piece of paper that she's about to grab and stuff into her mouth and then when I try to scoop out the disintegrated paper from her mouth she clenches her jaw really tight so that I can't get my finger in and I just have to pray that she won't choke on it).

5:: Bath time. 

6:: Also, Miranda videos. She will sit still when these are playing, which means she likes them because she rarely sits still.

So here is a very inspiring video, featuring Miranda Sings, of course:

The End of Oregon

It was lovely.

It was fun to see so many people we love.

Now it's back to real life and regular nap times for Ella.

When your baby is the one having a meltdown on the very small plane

Pictures by me, my parents and my Uncle Robert and some of his girls

This is what the Davis family reunion looks like:

  Lots of cute kids, story-telling and "debating," good food, nature, chatting, games, balloon launchers and picture-taking

 

You know how you hear horror stories where someone was on a plane where there was a baby that cried the entire flight?

On our flight home from Oregon, Ella was that baby.

And it was a small plane, so everyone had the privilege of hearing her meltdown of awesomeness.

She just bawled and sobbed and writhed.

And Adam wasn't there because he had to go home earlier in the week, so a poor stranger was sitting next to me and my crying baby.

But he never once complained.

Whenever I turned and said, "I'm so sorry!"

He was all, "Oh, don't worry about it. She's not that bad."

Mmhm. 

He knew I knew he was lying, but I appreciated him being so kind.

I know that it really was as bad as I thought because everyone else on the plane, as they passed by in as they left the plane said things like,

"You're doing good, Honey. Hang in there!"

"At least you were trying to quiet her down, some people don't even try."

"Don't worry about it, Dear."

That was so nice of the people to say such kind things when I felt like joining Ella and sobbing right along with her.

The flight to Oregon was the complete opposite of that, because Ella was not yet sleep-deprived like she was on the way home.

At the end of the flight every single person sitting around us turned to us and said 

"Oh my goodness, she was such a good baby! That was amazing!"

And she giggled and threw them all smiles like she does when she tries to charm people and it worked and they were loving it.

And then when I put her in her stroller and wheeled her off the plane, seriously everyone waved at her as she passed by and declared how cute she was. 

And she sat in her stroller with her arms resting on the sides, looking like a little princess in her throne-on-wheels.

It was like wheeling a celebrity off the plane.

Except it was a 7 month old baby.

That happiness is her normal self.

But once you deprive her of sleep for an entire week, things get out of control.

I laughed when at the end of one flight the five people sitting in the row next to us and in front of us all whipped out their cameras and took pictures of her throwing her smiles at them.

I had no idea that traveling with a baby would be like that.

Oh man.

Ella.

Oregon in an Instagram Nutshell

1:: The Girl didn't especially appreciate how much driving we had to do to get to the family reunion. 

When she wasn't sleeping she was crying in the car, so sleeping was good.

2:: We just stay in these cabins nestled between trees at the reunion

3:: Playing brain puzzles in the car on the drive

4:: A quick stop at H&M on the way to the airport to get 1 year old clothes for Ella

1:: She was adored and she loved it

2:: Bo becoming one with nature

3:: That floor color with that color of pants-- love it

4:: With the 40 degree weather difference between here and Oregon, I was so excited to get to dress Ella in stockings and sweaters

1:: Just a cool house, out in the boondocks of southern Oregon

2:: Love the pattern of that linoleum floor (but you can't really see it too well in that picture)

3:: We have a night during the week at the reunion called the Ice Cream Pig-Out. My passion for ice cream came from that side of the family and the Ice Cream Pig-Out is a very serious event. Enough ice cream is bought for each person to have about 1/4 gallon of ice cream and tons of toppings.

4:: Sweet Pea and her daisy on a bench

   

1:: Two pieces of kitchenware that I think have been with my parents since before I was born. That measure spoon used to be the coveted cereal-eating spoon because it could hold so much cereal at once. The only problem was that with how deep it was, you had to suck really hard to get all of the cereal and milk out of it, making a really awesome and loud slurping noise. I think my mom banned us from using that spoon for cereal because the noise was just too much

2:: Maybe I just really like these pictures of Ella sitting on that bench

3:: She must have just barely been put back in her car seat for her to be smiling so big while in the car

4:: Noon  and I'm still in pjs and flip flops and standing amongst the daisies in the field because that's what we do at the Davis "Fam Re."

Don't even worry, we aren't even half way through the Oregon pictures, there will be more tomorrow. 

Heart stockings and ice cream cones

Today is our last day in Oregon, we fly home this afternoon.

I have a bucket-load of pictures.

Mostly of this round-faced, snot-nosed, drool girl with the down-turned eyes 

(she was both sick and teething this week, poor thing).

The trip was wonderful; it was so fun to see so many aunts and uncles and cousins.

Ella positively basked in all the attention and tried to rub her runny nose on all of their shirts.

But I'm also excited to get Ella back into her normal napping schedule and to see that cute-faced boy, since he had to head home early for work.

A video about being a dad

A video where my dad talks about how much he loves being a dad.

He made this for me when I was pregnant with Ella.

I just think it's beautiful.

We had a special Father's Day lunch and dessert for my dad and for Adam. 

My life would be so very different if either of them weren't in it and it wouldn't be nearly as wonderful.

Love, Ella

Hey you guys!

So I eat lots of foods now.

 

And I love them! Like graham crackers-- oh those are my favorite!

They make me nice and chunky.

Now that I'm eating lots of real foods my poop smells especially amazing.

And sometimes my mom says, "Oh, you stink."

And when she says that, it makes me sad!

Very very sad!

I do not stink!

And then my mom tried to cut the back of my hair and she did really terrible.

And I was like, Mom, why would you do that to my hair?

At least hair grows back.

Love, Ella

That time I butchered Ella's hair

With our trip to Oregon coming up 

I had to try some warm outfits on Ella for her to wear at night 

since it’s a lot cooler by the Oregon coast at nights than it is here and we’ll be sleeping in cabins. 

That blue outfit had me laughing so hard when I saw her in it, 

I had tears coming down my cheeks

and she was giggling at how much I was laughing.

Also, last week I gave Ella a haircut, just in the back of her hair.

She was starting to get a little mullet and it was time for it to go, and I thought to myself, how hard can it be to just snip off that mullet?

That thought led to disaster because turns out, it’s not too easy to cut hair and make it look good.

Honestly, another person probably wouldn’t notice it unless it was pointed out, but once it’s pointed out you can see that it’s all crooked and as Adam says, "you missed a whole section of hair."

Oh man.

So I guess I shouldn't have done that.

I would post a picture but I haven't taken one because I don't want Ella to be able to find it one day when she's fourteen and be like, "Mom, how could you do this to me? I slept 13 hours straight for you every single night. And this is how you rewarded me?"

Luckily it's only in the back of her hair.

Adam's just out in the yard putting ant poison in the ant homes

It's Sunday night and I just finished eating the ice cream sandwich version of one of these (because it's almost been half a year since Christmas and I was feeling like it was time to bring back some Christmas flavors, like ginger spice cookies) and Adam is walking around the yard with a box of ant poison in his hand, looking for hidden ant homes so that he can kill them, and Ella is asleep for the night.

I can't believe we made it to Sunday night! Last week was crazy but somehow we got everything done that we needed to-- I love that feeling!
And now here's some pictures of Ella eating grass and wearing her dad's hat and us playing with some friends this weekend and stuff:

Ella got her first real injury tonight, she cut her thumb on a soda pop can and it was bleeding so hard.

I'm afraid that she'll wake up in the middle of the night and won't be able to sooth herself back to sleep because she can't suck on her thumb with the band-aid on it. 

Heaven forbid she not sleep for her usual 13 hours straight 

(Adam and I are so spoiled to have a baby that sleeps that long at night and then takes three naps during the day, I mean really, how did we luck out this much?).

Thanks to Jordyn, I've been watching the latest Miranda Sings videos and I keep thinking about the awesomeness of this music video of hers so I'm posting it.

Adam likes to claim that he doesn't think she's that funny but whenever I watch one of her vlogs and it starts out with that crazy warble of hers, Adam always dies with laughter, so he secretly thinks she's hilarious.