ellie's first year.

i'm really excited to share this little video of ellie's first year of life. one of the unexpected benefits of deployment was that i had a ton of short video clips i took for ryan. i knew it was unlikely we'd go back and watch them individually, so i started working on a little project to string them together in iMovie with some of our all time favorite ellie photos. add in some of our very favorite songs to listen to with ellie, and you have a video that makes me laugh & brings some tears to my eyes. for those of you who swing by t&f a lot, i know you feel like you know our sweet girl. well, this video will bring those images to life & i so hope you enjoy it! my very favorite moments are the belly shots (around the 6 minute mark), the video of e seeing ryan for the first time at his homecoming (around the 9 min 30 second mark) and the early days of ellie walking in her tiger costume (around the 10 minute 10 second mark). the songs we used are "it's a big world" by jeremy & renee; "night mantra" by jeremy & renee; "put a little love in your heart" by renee & jeremy; "you & me" by frances england ; & "have a little fun with me" by glen phillips. finally, i want to apologize to any & all future kids we have -- i know ellie girl has an absurd number of baby books, photographs & videos -- we love you just as much, we just went a little crazy in this first year of parenthood.

p.s. if you read t&f in google reader, for some reason, my last post on ryan's homecoming only showed up with four photographs (and must have seemed random!) you can see the whole post here! xo

one. year. old.

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ellie meets santa.

 

the other day we took ellie to meet santa for the first time. needless to say, it wasn't as joyful as we were hoping, but we're thinking one day she'll look back at these photos and gets a good laugh. poor santa was a little harder of hearing after this episode & ellie clung to my shirt the rest of the trip. oh babies, you're so awesome. 

p.s. how great is that santa?!

p.s.s if you're in the wrapping craziness -- here are some adorable free downloadable gift tags -- thanks sweet claudia for passing them on! (a tip, i always print a bunch of these on cardstock and stick them in with our decorations when we pack them up -- it's such a fun surprise to find them the next christmas!)

gifts for ellie's first christmas!

one of the secrets of parenthood, we've found, is to borrow good ideas from families you absolutely love being around. as ryan & i were thinking about ellie's first christmas & how we want to do giving in our family, we merged two ideas we loved:

the first, which has made the blog rounds, is a simple way of categorizing the four gifts each child receives: something you're wishing for, something you need, something to wear & something to read. by keeping that consistent, we'll be able to keep both quantity of gifts & sense of "fairness" a known thing in our house. these categories work for all ages (i'll share my four later this week!). it was so, so, so fun to pick ellie's first four Christmas gifts!

secondly, under our christmas tree, three of the gifts will be from santa, and one will be from us. we're doing this so we can do some biblical teaching with "santa" -- we'll use the three gifts from santa as a moment to talk to our kids about the wise men and revisit the real meaning of Christmas.

a bit on e's first christmas gifts (thank goodness she doesn't read blogs yet, so i can share these with you early!). 1. all ellie wants to do these days is walk around & she often drags a toy along with her. we think she will go bananas over this alligator she can pull around. 2. e & i have read olivia, and love the whole story, but didn't yet have our own copy. i know this will be a well worn book in our house. 3. i've been eyeing these moccasins since before ellie was born. as she's on the move & needs shoes more than ever, we splurged (thank goodness they had a black friday sale!!). 4. & my winter baby needs some lotion.

how did you do gifts in your family growing up or what are your traditions with your kids now? the nice thing about a one-year-old is we can still make tweaks before next year -- so we're all ears! i'd really love to hear about your traditions.

our little statue of liberty.

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update from ellie!

hey guys!  so sorry i've left you hanging. this whole standing up thing is SO FUN, it's left me with so little time to blog! but don't worry, i'm back to fill you in on some of my recent adventures. first up, do you guys wear shoes? cause i've started & it's awesome.

 

sometimes, when you're running errands, you just gotta wear one shoe & take a nap -- try it, it's awesome. also, i go to target ... a lot. so, i try to get comfortable, kicking back with my feet up does the trick.

 

 

in september, we made a big trip to indiana & had the best time. i loved looking at the corn & hanging out with dear friends like carroll, who got me my first whole apple, which i LOVED!

 

 

mama & i especially loved meeting our sweet friend erica at trader's point creamery for lunch. it was such a perfect indiana fall day!

 

you know what's really great? new friends. maggie (she's 2 months old) came to hang out & we had the best time. sorry uncle jack & aunt molly that i had a hard time grasping she wasn't quite ready to come crawl around with me, i'm still trying to figure out what mama means when she tells me to be "gentle!"

also great is batting around empty trader joe's bags -- fun for hours folks!

i LOVE helping mama make dinner. she especially loves cooking while i want to be held (better view from up there!)  & .... we love a messy kitchen! my goal is always to see how many pots & pans we can possibly use in one night!

 

i take my responsibility to bring the fun into your life very seriously -- so, let's talk about two things. there is simply no way you can read this book without smiling & as for crawling thru this blue tube? seriously?! we should have one in every room of the house! good times, good times.

i am really good at finding TINY things on the floor and putting them in my mouth/giving them to my mama. it really boosts her confidence about how clean our house is!

the most important update is that i absolutely love pretending i'm a helicopter, because my daddy flies them & i am so, so proud of him. this is going to be the most exciting week of my life so far & i can't wait to share it with you really soon!

my mama took all these photos on instagram -- you can follow our little family's adventures at tulipsandflightsuits or here!

ellie's favorite game.

we usually play this game about a hundred times a day. it's pretty simple: i lay on the ground. then ellie climbs all over me. & when i fall "asleep" she wakes me up by shrieking (usually right in my ear) and giving me "kisses," which are sort of like being licked by a saint bernard/mauled by a bear all at once.

some day she will want to go ride bikes with her friends & spend the night at their houses & do her homework alone in her room -- for now, all she wants to do is play on the ground with me. i'm going to really try to soak it up.

i also love these photos because my sweet friend & ellie's godmother made us this gorgeous quilt -- which is truly one of the most beautiful/heartfelt gifts we've ever received. thank you so, so much to val for all these photographs -- our little family is going to cherish them for a long, long time! xo

update from ellie: the pumpkin patch.

 

 

hey guys! so, little public service announcement for you: you need to run, not walk, to your nearest pumpkin patch. seriously, what are you waiting on?!?! i know you need to pay the bills, but you also need to live a little & let me tell you the living is really good at the pumpkin patch.

my good buddies jackson, sophie & i went to kick off october & had the BEST time. & the straw maze? holy moly that takes the wonder of crawling really fast to a whole new level. also, we didn't plan the matching overalls, but it sure did work out for us. i think our three moms collectively took over 600 photos (that may be undershooting it) in the hour we were there.

best part? you get to bring a few pumpkins home. i literally get the giggles everytime i see them on our front porch. note to our mamas -- way to go on the pumpkin patch, you made that monday count & we're grateful. i heard something about christmas tree farms?! i think that adventure is calling our name!

ellie's nursery! (part two!)

 

 

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ellie's nursery!

  

 

 

 

at long last, i'm so excited to share some photos of ellie's nursery! today i'm showing you some instagram photos i love & giving you a little background on the meaning behind what we filled it with. tomorrow i'll be back with some non-instagram photos & a ton of links to where you can find things. feel free to ask questions in the comments section!

in creating a nursery for ellie, i was struck by what it means to build a space for someone to grow in & how much of a labor of love it was for us. there are a gazillion options out there & as ellie is about to turn nine months, i'm reflecting on how this nursery works for us, and why. 

my one bit of advice would be to fill that nursery up with things that mean something. here's why: when i look around, i don't feel so alone in raising this little girl -- i can literally feel the love that surrounds her: 

i was so moved by all the friends & family who took the time to send their favorite books. there were some classic favorites, but also new-to-me treasures like the popular australian book "edward the emu" -- it's hilarious!

the rug was something my mom, picked out when we learned we were having a girl. as it turns out, the bright colors match our sweet girl's personality. she absolutely loves to shimmy her way all over it!

if you told me we could only keep one thing in the whole nursery, i'd pick the "you are loved" emblem above her crib. it may not be the most practical choice, but it's the most important thing in there. 

the little wooden rocking chair was actually ryan's when he was a baby -- he painted it pink just for her! it's so neat to think it's been passed down a generation in our little family. 

ellie's full name is nora eloise, so the print above her changing table is something i hope she has for a long time. when we framed it, i looked at ryan and said, "can't you just see it in her first apartment?! maybe even in new york city?!" he laughed & smiled, knowing i have a tendency to get ahead of myself. for now, she LOVES looking at it during diaper changes & squeals when i hold her up to it. 

the print above the rocking chair was given to us by a dear friend. i read it almost every day, because it's so important to remember, it reads: "this is the start of your sweet little story, the part where your pages meet mine. no matter where your tale takes you tomorrow, our story will always read love." 

i love that these are the things that surround her as she sleeps & plays; as we rock her to sleep & greet her in the morning.

bigger picture on planning a nursery: we tried to invest in things that would last -- both that could grow with ellie over the years & that any future babies down the road could use. we chose simple, white furniture, a linen rocker, really practical woven baskets & basic lamps. where we could, we bought furniture not limited to baby years. the dresser / changing table has a ton of storage, the bookshelf and lamps could go anywhere in our house. we painted the room a calming, neutral grey so that we wouldn't have to repaint the room no matter whose room it is down the road.

this nursery has been the grounds for some of our most significant moments as a family of three. here's to the best being yet to come!