Ella Grace turns 1!

Today is our baby's first birthday! I can't believe a year has already gone by.
Paul and I started the day off by going into her room and singing Happy Birthday to her when she woke up. Later, we took her to the Columbus Zoo since Ella loves animals and she had a fun time sitting up on daddy's shoulders seeing them all. We went out to dinner after to Applebee's and they came out and sang Happy Birthday for her, she was a little confused why everyone was standing around her singing. She really enjoyed her ice cream sunday and had it all over her by the time she was done. By the end of our day Ella was pretty exhausted. We are having her birthday party on Sunday when Paul's family gets here. I'm really excited to watch her smash cake all over herself =)
I never imagined how much you could possibly love your child. There is a small part of me that wishes Ella could stay a baby forever. While she's a baby I can protect her, and she still depends on her mommy for everything. I know that every year she gets older I'm just going to worry about her more =) I am however, looking forward to being able to have conversations with her someday and being able to sing and dance in the car with her ( I feel pretty silly doing it alone)
Since she is 12 months old, I decided to list our top 12 favorite things and memories we have of Ella from her first year.


1. When she was first born and we got to hold her for the first time.
2. When we used to get her out of her bassinet she would push her butt out and stretch her little arms up over her head.
3. When she was 2 months old after a bath one night she layed there and talked to mommy for a long time. I could have sat there forever listening to her sweet voice.
4. How happy she gets when she feeds mommy and daddy her cheerios
5. How she used to fall asleep next to me in the morning after I fed her.
6. How she grabs snugglepup and gives him a big hug.
7. How she wraps her arms around our neck and gives us a big hug.
8. After her bath we always say "It's a girl!" when we wrap her in her towel and she gets the biggest smile on her face.
9. When we play "I'm gonna get you" which consists of Paul holding Ella while I chase them around saying "I'm gonna get you" Ella laughs so hard and screams.
10. Her little sweet voice talking in the back of the car while we are driving.
11. When she does "So Big!"
12. The way she smiles and it crinkles her nose and she shows all her teeth, it's the cutest thing in the world!
We could obviously write many more things but didn't want to write a novel. Happy Birthday Ella Bella!