Ella's favorite knit baby hats

You can get the pattern for the chevron hat here.

You can see more of this hat and her halloween costume here.

A bit too small but still cute.

Over the photo shoot but still so cute.

You can get the pattern for this hat here.

And headbands!

And this isn't even a quarter of the baby hats she owns.....

I have the cutest baby model ever!  And only one meltdown.

happy valentine's day

Here is a collection of the other valentine's Ella is sending.

four months

Four months old and so much fun!

I just love this smiling, happy and playful little girl.  Each month gets better and better.  I didn't think anything would be better than the cuddly newborn stage but it s so great to watch her grow and learn new things.  Oh and the smiles get better and better... almost to the point of a giggle!  

She found her hands and mouth and loves to explore with them.  She almost can roll over - she has done it once and it was so terrifying she screamed for 30 minutes.  She may never try again.  Did I mention the talking? Or in Ella's case the screaming?  Not crying - just really loud, passionate talking we call screaming.  And the on top of it she found her tongue and the ability to spit.  We are raising a real lady here.

Here are the 4 month stats:

14 pounds 9 ounces and 25 inches.  

And the adorable 4 months photo shoot.

 LOVE HER!

we adopted another puppy....kind of

Sorry to be misleading and lure you in with the promise of super adorable puppy pictures.  There is nothing better than tiny, soft, fluffy puppies except maybe a tiny, soft and fluffy (in a chubby sort of way) baby dressed up as a puppy......

Forgiven?

Oh there's more because this is what I do when I'm off work instead of cleaning, organizing or really anything productive.  I force my poor, helpless baby into costumes and outfits and take a ridiculous amount of photos.  I just can't stop.

And then I introduced our new "puppy" to our real puppies.

They were not amused.  I believe what Hudson is saying in this photo is, "Mom, really? Another puppy?  Do you love me at all?"

They would not go near her but instead stood and glared at her.  The only way I could get them close enough for a photo was by covering her in treats.  Even then it took them a long time to approach.

She is learning so much from her older "siblings"

My oops parenting moment....

Next time take the headband off before the nap....duh!

Three months

Ella's a growing girl.  We haven't had a 3 month appointment so I don't have the latest stats but I can tell you the numbers continue to grow.

Instead I have some photos to share.

So cute - in my opinion.

And here is another comparison of month 1, month 2, and month 3......

 I miss my tiny newborn but I love all the smiles and gabbing Ella does now.  She is so happy, cuddly and talkative.  So much fun!

2013: Project Organization

2012 was the year of the baby.  Baby Ella to be exact.  We pretty much started 2012 with the news of our pregnancy.  It was an amazing year but with a new baby, a part-time job, a home and a husband to care for I definitely need to implement some new tactics to optimize my time and money.  So 2013 will be my year of organization.  Fortunately for me Pinterest and the blogosphere make it really easy to get started.

These are the major areas in my life that need organization:

- All things kitchen (menu planning/grocery shopping/cabinets/pantry)
- Storage (basement/closets)
- Home cleaning and maintenance
- All things baby
- Photos and memory items
- Blogging/Etsy/knitting (basically all the time I spend on the computer - definitely need to cut down on that)


Here are some ideas I found on Pinterest (love that place) that I will hopefully be referencing as I work to organize my life this year.  There are so many smart and creative people out there.  Glad they share their great ideas.....

Kitchen Organization

                        1.                                2.                                 3.

1.  Menu planning 
2.  Under the sink organizing
3.  Fridge cleaning



Storage

                   1.                        2.                       3.                       4.

1.  Binder of manuals
2.  Wrapping paper storage
3.  Hampers in bathroom or laundry room 
4.  Store sheets in pillow cases 


Home Cleaning and Maintenance

               1.                                 2.                                  3.

1.  Keeping track of home paint colors 
2.  Cleaning Calendar 
3.  Cleaning the dishwasher 



Baby & Children Organization

             1.                        2.                       3.                       4.

1.  Kid cabinet 
2.  Track medicine dosages  l
3.  Have children donate toys before they receive their new Christmas toys  
4.  Toy storage 


Photo Organization & Memory Keeping

           1.                  2.                   3.                 4.                   5.

1. Basic photo organization     
2. Organizing with "yearbook" photobooks
3. Storing photos on CDs
4. Scanning children's artwork and making photobook (the link to her blog wasn't working so I linked to pinterest)

5. Organizing photos in lightroom

Now it is time to get to work and I will report back my progress.....