It's Sunday morning and today will be the day that all of our summer staff arrive and we kick of another great season. We have already had two intense weeks of training and Ella has been making new friends and being her usual social self. She has been waking up at 7am and I think that may change soon since she woke up at 5:20am this morning looking for Dada. They played and then she went right back to sleep...I think she needed the rest..meeting new people can be exhausting.

Stephen watched Ella yesterday for most of the morning while I came in to work. She did fine at first and then realised I wasn't around and as he says, 'she becomes completely inconsolable.' She still takes the best naps when she is with him;her afternoon nap yesterday was almost 2 hours long.

Ella is eating oatmeal cereal and green beans and sweet peas and yesterday she got her first taste of peaches.I know- veggies first, but I think she will still eat her veggies if she gets a taste of fruit, after all breast milk is sweet and that is the first thing that babies get.

She is now able to crawl backwards and a little bit forwards and is able to walk her hands around to the direction she wants to move. She gets on all fours, stretches out one leg and gets herself into a sitting position-looks really happy when she finds herself sitting. She spent a good bit of time standing in her crib this morning; just holding onto the side and grinning.

Cousin Corbin graduated kindergarten this Friday and Ella was of-course, the noisiest member of the audience. I remember when Corbin was as little as Ella and now he is such a wonderful,big boy and so handsome too. I couldn't help but think that with the way that time flies, I will soon be watching Ella graduate as well. Right now I am enjoying this time which, I am told, is the best thing to do.

7 Months old today!!

This is all happening so fast;I commented this morning that we will soon have a 1 year old! Ella is becoming more of a charmer everyday and is quite the social baby, even with the arrival of 24 new staff this Monday when I know I take some time to adjust to all the new faces.

A few more sounds but the most important would be her saying 'Mama' last week for the first time and it's about time too..she has been saying 'Dada' for months now.
On Saturday after she had been napping in her crib for 45 minutes, I checked in on her and was surprised to see her on all fours and rocking back and forth.She was so quiet that I had no idea that she was awake. She does get really quiet when she is working on something or breaking something..she took apart the toy ring that goes over her jumpy seat and seemed to be using very little effort to do it too.

I think that she throws her placemat off her high chair just to see where it will land. Ella is now on a four hour feeding schedule which helps stop the spitting up that she used to do when I fed her everytime she wanted to eat..clearly hasn't learn't how to self-regulate.

She still loves all mirrors and the colour yellow and flowers and her Dada-she lights up when she sees him.She also likes going for walks outside...she tries to stand while holding onto us or the side of her crib or the ottoman...maybe she will be walking soon..evrything seems to be happening so quickly but I guess that is how everyone who has a baby must feel. I can't remember what it felt like when she was tiny..she weighs so much more now;soon it will be time to pack away her Baby Bjorn as they only go up to 30 inches and she was 25,5 at her last appointment.

As we have now officially started our busy season at camp, things will look different for the next 12 weeks. This week we start at 8am and end around 5pm. Ella wakes up around 7am. In three weeks we will start at 7am so her day will have to start earlier. She definately likes all the people and doesn't mind noise and it is such a blessing to be able to have her with me at work. You can pray for an easy transition for us as we head into the summer.

Tonight is Stephen's last late night on a Tuesday-his busy season ends as mine picks up!!

Time to get some things done while Ella is still asleep and snoring...cute snore!