Ashley Mae Johnson

On March 25th 2010 at 5:01pm we welcomed Ashley Mae Johnson to the world. She was born 6lbs 15oz and 20 inches long. She arrived five days early on her daddy's birthday.

Day at the beach!

Go Dawgs!

Ella loves March Madness!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Eating her corned beef like a good little Irish girl!

Ella's Day Out!

With Ella's little sisters arrival quickly approaching Bernie and I wanted to have a fun morning out with Ella so we decided to take her on the Tacoma Link Rail (or as Ella called it the Cho Cho) down to Hello Cupcake. This was the perfect morning in the eyes of a 20 month old. She loved her cupcake and was especially excited when she saw the lollipop tree! I can't believe that in a couple of weeks I am going to have two little girls to spoil. I am sure there are many more cupcake trips in our future :)

Our Big Girl

For the past two weeks Ella has taken a big interest in the potty. I got her one for Christmas and set it out just for her to get used to with no intention of potty training until after her sister arrived, but like I keep learning Ella does things on her schedule. She decided to start using the potty and I was such a proud mommy. Seriously you would have thought that she had won a Nobel Peace Prize or something, I was so excited. She kept it up for a few days going poop and pee in the potty with few accidents and every time she would go in the potty she would stand up and say, "Ta-Da" (my mom taught her that one). So as I have been know to do I got a little ahead of myself and took her out to get big girl underwear. We started with the big girl underwear the next morning and were back in diapers within an hour and a half. I heard, "uhh-ohh" three seperate times and after spot cleaning the carpet in three different rooms in the house I decided that maybe we should back off a litte and give her some more time. She is still going in the potty two to three times a day but I am not ready to give up the diapers quite yet. I think it may be as big of a step for me as it is for Ella. My baby girl is growing up so fast!

Way to go Daddy!

I had to post a picture of Ella's outfit. The reason this outfit is so special is because today Daddy dressed her. In the past some of the outfits that Bernie thinks match are a little questionable in my book so when she came downstairs this morning wearing this outfit with a matching bow in her hair I was very impressed :)

Ella's Boppy Face

Baby Belly

“A Mother holds her children's hands for a little while...their hearts forever.”

18 Month Pictures

18 Months Old

Ella is 18 months old and I am still in awe as to how fast it is all going. It seems like overnight she has turned into such a big girl. Here are some things that I want to remember about Ella at 18 months old.

1. She wants to do everything herself including feeding herself, dressing herself and once she does something she says, "did it" always so proud of her accomplishment.
2. She is talking up a storm and tries to repeat everything you say, which can be good and bad :) We are much more careful about what we say around her these days.
3. Some of her favorite phrases are thank you, love you, miss you, bless you (whether you sneeze, cough or clear your throat) and kisses.
4. Her newest obsession is Elmo and her baby dolls and she won't go to sleep at night unless one of them is in her crib.
5. She is also still obsessed with binkys or as Ella calls them "dinkys." She hides them all over the house and likes to collect them and test them all out as if they are different flavors, she puts one in her mouth then takes it out and puts in the next. There have been a few occassions when she has been caught with more than one in her mouth at a time. Something tells me that giving up the "dinkys" is going to be somewhat of a battle.
6. She has also taken a new liking to Apollo our 96lb boxer. She wakes him up every morning and sits with him and pretends to read him a story or lays down with him in his bed with her dolls. He is such a good sport and pretty much lets her get away with whatever she wants. I think he loves her as much as she loves him!
7. Ella is still very observant of everything going on around her and loves to watch other kids.
8. Lately she has had the funniest faces...I really don't know where they come from but it's hard not to laugh at her, which I know only encourages it but I just can't help myself. If I am talking about her and she doesn't like what I am saying I get "the look" and right away I know what she is thinking.
9. Ella loves to run...usually away from me when I am trying to dress her, feed her, or give her a bath.
10. She is still extremely cuddly. I was sure that this would change as she got more independent but she still will let me snuggle with her almost every morning making mornings my favorite time of day.
11. She loves to dance! She turns around in circles and bounces up and down making Bernie and I laugh all the time.
12. If you ask her a question and she has no idea what you are saying she shrugs her shoulders like, "I don't know why are you asking me?"

Ella has changed our lives in more ways than we can imagine...yes we don't get out as much and are usually in bed by 9:00 most nights including Friday and Saturdays but we wouldn't change it for a second. Ella has so much personality and determination I can only imagine what the future holds for this beautiful little girl of ours.

Merry Christmas

Christmas this year was so much fun watching it all through the eyes of a one and a half year old. We had a very busy but fun filled few days celebrating with all of the family. As tradition goes we went to the Johnsons for Christmas Eve and had a very special visitor this year...Santa! Unfortunatley Ella was not too impressed and wanted nothing to do with him. If I got within a few feet of him she would scream out in terror so we watched all of her cousins sit on his lap and recieve their Santa gifts from across the room. The older kids loved having Santa come and visit and I think we are going to have to ask him to stop by every year now, maybe Ella will be more of a fan next year!

We spent Christmas morning at our house. Santa left her pink kitchen under the tree and her new play house in her playroom. Ella came down the stairs and looked at one and then the other not sure which one to run and play with first. All morning it was back and forth between the two and it was hard to get her to focus and open any of her other gifts. We had such a nice morning watching Ella and seeing the joy on her face.

After a fun filled morning at home we drove up north to my parents house and had Christmas with my family. Ella loved taking all of the bows and putting them on Boppy but the real fun began when she opened the gift Santa left her at Gammy and Boppy's house...an Elmo doll. The excitement on her face was priceless she could not wait for me to get him out of the box and would not stop kissing him. Needless to say she has barely set him down since...Elmo goes everywhere with us!