Holidays Galore

Wow, how ridiculous that I haven't posted anything for so long! I have been so busy - you all know how it is! My New Year's resolution will be to post more often, even if it is just a quick note to show you some more pics and videos. This is my first time making a New Year's resolution because, well, I'm not even one year old yet. So we'll see how well I stick to it. Anyway... I never realized how great this time of year is - there are so many fun holidays! I experienced my first Hallowe'en, which was so much fun. I went over to my cousin's house and went trick-or-treating all around the neighborhood. I dressed up as a little piglet. My dad said it was inappropriate because of some "swine flu epidemic" but I just ignored him 'cause I thought I looked pretty darn cute.

Here I am after trick or treating at the first house. I was like "Run dad! We just stole candy from that lady!" I eventually figured out how it works. Hallowe'en = free candy? Awesome!

In the middle of November I went to visit my family in Toronto again! I had so much fun. It was so great to see everyone again. The only thing was it was quite a bit colder than it was in May... what's up with that? My mom says that they have things called seasons there. Apparently it changes temperature during different times of the year. How weird!

Little did I know I have like a kazillion friends in Canada! I mean, look at all of these kids! They are so nice and welcoming, too. I love all of my Canadian buddies.

This was one of the highlights of my trip. I finally got to meet Maddie, who is the daughter of my mom's friends Val and Adam. She's only 3 months but we get along soooo well. It must be because our moms are such good friends it's like in our genes or something.

Here I am with Nicki (my mom's friend Lianne's daughter) - it was so great to see her again! She sure has changed since last May! We did lunch... pasta and prunes - yum!

Oh, and guess what? I took my first steps while I was in Canada! It was on November 23rd at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I also took a couple more while at my great Aunt Laura and Uncle Frank's house on the 25th! Everyone was cheering me on - it was so much fun.

Here I am with daddy, uncle, grandma and grandpa. They are so much fun!

I loved seeing my great aunt Laura, and cousins Alex and Johnny!

I celebrated my first Thanksgiving while in Canada... although I was really confused because nobody else seemed to be celebrating except me. I guess the U.S. and Canada celebrate thanksgiving at different times!

Oops, how embarrassing... I was concentrating so hard here trying to walk and show off to my friend Paige (my mom's friend Jenn's daughter). She's two years old, so it's hard to keep up with her! She's sooo nice though - she gave me so many hugs!

Nowadays I am improving on my walking - I'm not sure what my max is now but it must be at least 7 steps in a row. I'm no pro by any means but I'll be honest I'm getting pretty good. I can't wait until I can just walk like a normal human being like my mom and dad. Even Lexi can do it and she has four legs to keep track of! My mom says I'm doing awesome though so that makes me feel better. So I went to see this strange man the other day... he was seriously weird looking! A huge white beard and dressed in a red track suit (I think it was Juicy Couture). My dad plopped me on his lap and I almost lost it. I stuck out my lip so far but my parents just left me there! I regained my composure and just kind of stared at him while mom and dad took a million pictures. Honestly it was such a strange experience. Sometimes I just don't understand my parents, really. Alright well I better get going... miss you and love you all! Happy Holidays! (I have no idea what that means but I hear people saying it a lot lately.) Love, Ellie xoxo

P.S. I'll post some pics from Christmas soon!

On The Move!

Hi everyone!

The past few weeks have been so great. I have finally figured out a way to move around easier! I used to have to roll around like crazy on the floor in order to get to the other side of the room; now I have learned that I can do this special army-like maneuver with my knees to get around much faster! I think it's called crawling, and I'm super fast. When my mom opens the fridge I bolt there as fast as I can to try to take out all of the pretty things on the shelves! I also love pulling myself up onto tables / TV stands / people / Lexi - anything! It's awesome.

So guess what - Grandma Shirley came all the way from Oakville to visit me last week! It was so great to see her. She watched me for a couple of days while my mom was at work. We went on walks, to the park, and swimming - she is so cool!

Also, while grandma was here, I got baptized! Here is a picture of me in my dress. Auntie Kathryn said I just had to have this one because it is the same one Jessica Alba's daughter wore.

Here I am with Father Tony, my mom and dad, and my new Godparents Auntie Kathryn and Uncle Kaare!

This one was taken back at Grandma Clara's house - she had a big party for me! I love my grandmas so much, can you tell?

The week before this, I had a great weekend as well. I got to go to Disneyland for the first time! My friends Jack and Henry Bell were in town with their parents and we had so much fun! The only thing is I only went on the baby rides. I really wanted to go on Space Mountain but it was under construction. Here I am on the carousel - I was only allowed to sit on the bench, which didn't even move up and down! I'd ask for my money back if I hadn't got in for free. At least I got to see the 3D movie "A Bug's Life" - it was so loud and scary but I didn't even cry. I guess I'm used to that kind of stuff - my dad uses the vacuum and paper shredder a lot to try to get me used to loud noises (he is so weird). Here's another pic of me with all of my neighborhood friends. We have quite the posse now! I love my neighborhood, there are so many cool people who live here!

Here I am in action climbing up on a desk. I love pulling down all of the paper and watching my parents put it back over and over again. I guess I'll keep doing it until they get fed up and move it up higher.

I love crawling around everywhere!

So check this out - I got this awesome new toy (thanks Jude!) and it plays the best music. It makes me want to headbang!

OK, gotta run and explore some more!

Love, Ellie xoxo

Such a busy month!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for not posting for over a month! Things have been a little hectic around here. Here are my excuses:

1. My mom has been super busy with work (obviously I need her to help me write the blog. I have to sit on her lap in order to reach the keyboard)
2. We were in Colorado for a week
3. My great aunt and uncle and cousins from Toronto were visiting for a week

So obviously I have plenty of pics and stories to share. Here we go!

Colorado

So my first vacation ever was to Colorado! My uncle Bryan and aunt Lydia were getting married in Denver so we decided to stay for an entire week to explore. It is seriously beautiful! I know I don't have much to go by but I'm assuming it's prettier than most places.

Here I am with my mom and dad at the rehearsal dinner in Denver. It was held at a super cute restaurant downtown.

Here I am at the ceremony with my Auntie Kathryn and Uncle Kaare. Oops - am I yawning? I swear the ceremony was beautiful, it was just close to my nap time.

The flowers were so nice and colorful - but mostly it was fun to pull off the petals and throw them all over the floor! Aside - I don't want any tormenting from all of my Canadian family and friends on how I spell certain words (i.e. "colorful"). I have to spell the way they do here or I will fail my spelling tests in school! You don't want that, do you?

Anyway, after the wedding we drove north to Estes Park, which is right next to the Rocky Mountain National Forest. We rented a cabin in the woods. It was so relaxing eating our meals outside next to the river! Here we are during our hike of the Rocky Mountain National Forest. My mom told me that this was one of her favorite hikes of all time! Aren't I lucky that I got to experience it when I was only 6 months old (aside from the fact that I won't remember it when I get older)?

We then drove to Vail, where we took a gondola ride up to the top of a mountain. I guess in the winter they ski here! My mom says I have to learn to ski because I'm half Canadian and it's a law or something there.

Ntoukas Family Visit

The following week, we were so lucky to have the best visitors - my great Auntie Laura, my great Uncle Frank and my three cousins Maddy, Alex and Johnny. (OK grandma Shirley, I know they're technically my second cousins once removed or some jazz but I'm only 7 months so give me a break). Anyways, we had so much fun every day. It was their first time to California - ever! I have a sneaky suspicion that I had something to do with it - tee hee.

Here are some pics from our adventures:

Oh geez, how embarrassing. I so wasn't ready for this picture. Anyways, here I am with my mom, Alex and Maddy at the Cheesecake Factory.

Here we are at Laguna Beach - the waves were pretty big! I was a lady of leisure and sat under the umbrella for most of the day.

Here I am with my Auntie Laura - she was so good at rocking me to sleep! I miss her so much.

So there you have it - my month o' fun. I wish I could always have so many new and exciting things to do! Since then I have mostly been back to the same old routine. In my next post I'll fill you in on what I've been learning. I think you'll be impressed!

Love you!

Ellie xoxo

Finally I can express myself!

For weeks my mom and dad have been repeating these random sylables to me and I had no idea what they were saying. Finally, last Saturday, I learned how to say something! It sounds something like this - "MAMA". I have no idea what it means but I just say it to everyone and everything and it seems to get a good reaction from people. I'm pretty excited that I learned my first word. Here's a video of me in action:

Last weekend was so fun. We had a BBQ at our place. The best part was I got to meet Abuelita's new dog Bayle! He is sooo cute.

He is so fun to cuddle with. This picture is of me petting him. I thought it was fun but apparently I was being too rough. What - Lexi can take it so why can't Bayle?

Here I am swimming - I love the pool!

So I told you in my last post that I was going to meet my new cousin, Cambria. Well I did, and she is sooo cute and small! My mom says I was that small when I was born but there's just no way. I mean, I look like a giant next to her! I can't wait until she grows up and I can teach her things, like how to say MAMA (whatever that means).

Here is Cambria with my uncle Joe and my other cousin Owen. And me and my dad of course.

Guess what? I met this new little baby today! She is so cute. And she lives in my house! I had so much fun playing with her this morning - watch the video of us hanging out!

Wow, what a busy week! And this weekend is going to be really busy as well. It's my dad's b-day on August 4th and my Uncle Kaare's b-day tomorrow! Tonight we are going to their favorite restaurant, Javier's. They don't let me try the food though. I guess I'm stuck with rice cereal and mushy veggies for now.

Love you all,

Ellie xoxo

So many boy friends!

OK dad, don't freak out - I said boy friends (i.e. friends who just happen to be boys), not boyfriends! In addition to Jude, who I now hang out with twice a week at least, I am also friends with Evan and Kai. They are neighborhood kids and we have so much fun together. Here are some pics of us hanging out.

Here we are just chillin' on the couch: Evan is so cool... Oops, how did this one get in here? Um... I guess I was a bit forward here... We also decided to go hiking one day. Since it has been so hot here lately, mom and dad said we needed to leave really early. So I decided to wake them up at 5am. Aren't I such a nice daughter? This time we went to Laguna Beach - the view from the top was so beautiful! Here I am posing in my new dress - auntie Jess bought it for me in Spain! It's so beautiful and soft. Tomorrow I get to meet my new cousin Cambria! I'm sooo excited. I know we're going to get along so well since we are only 6 months apart. She was just born on Tuesday!

Love y'all,

Ellie xoxo

Ch-ch-changes...

The time has come for my mom to return to reality and start working more days per week. I'm glad I got to hang out with her so much for almost six months. She will be there Mondays through Wednesdays, and every other Saturday. She seems pretty sad about it. I think she thinks that I will miss her, but really I think it is harder on her than it is on me. I'm actually excited because I will get to hang out with my new buddy Jude! He is my mom's friend Megan's son. So... every Tuesday and Wednesday I will be hanging out at his house with our new nanny, Jen. Don't worry grandmas - she has a lot of experience (she used to be the director of a daycare for nine years). We went to Jude's house today for a trial run and it went great! The best part was that we got to try out our new double stroller!

We can hardly contain our excitement.

Other than that, I have been busy learning a lot of new things. I finally learned how to sleep on my stomach without freaking out. For the past few weeks, I have been waking myself (and my parents) up at night every time I rolled over! We're all getting more sleep now. Actually, today I even learned how to roll to my back again so that's even better. I don't know why I couldn't figure it out before. I'm starting to babble a lot more too. My favorite word is "bah-bah-bah-bah". Actually, last week I said "Ow-bah-mah" and my mom keeps bragging to everyone that I already know the president's name.

Here's a video of me just hanging out with my dad! He's so hilarious.

Buh bye for now!

Ellie xoxo

Photography

In my humble opinion, here are some of my best shots from the past couple of weeks:

Lovin' my mom and dad's huuuge bed:

Ready to swim (thanks grandma for my bathing suit!): Where's Waldo (AKA Ellie)? Pretty flexible huh?

Walking, walking and more walking...

No, I'm not walking yet. Give me a break - I'm only 5 months old. But my mom has decided to go on these long walks every day to get back into shape. It's kind of fun - we go to different places each time to get some variety. We usually walk about 2-3 miles. We have to go in the morning or in the evening so that it's not too hot outside. Here are some pictures of what I've been up to lately:

Hiking

Here is my mom, Lexi and me getting ready to go hiking at Peter's Canyon. My dad, Lexi and me at the top of a big hill with a beautiful lake in the background.

Walks

This picture was taken today, while we were walking in one of the neighborhoods in Irvine (Woodbridge). The lake was so pretty!

Hanging out with mom and dad

This was taken on father's day (thus the "I love daddy" bib). I love my dad so much.

Hanging out with my Aunties

This was so hilarious. I was pulling and spitting all over my Auntie Jessica's hair, while jumping up and down on her shoulders like she's a horse. I loved it! Sorry about ruining your hair Auntie.

By the way, lately I have noticed that there is this big slimy thing in my mouth! I think it is called a tongue. I stick it out all the time and use it to spit like crazy. This makes me laugh so hard. My mom is getting frustrated trying to take pictures of me without my tongue out but I think it's hilarious.

This thing in my mouth is endless amounts of fun!

Okay, time for bed now! G'night!

Ellie xoxo

5 months old and ready to blog

I am five months old and finally learned how to create my own blog. My mom has been thinking about doing this for awhile but she kept putting it off. Finally I convinced her to let me do it myself. It's pretty easy, actually (I must've inherited those computer genes from my grandpa George and uncle Alan). I really want all of my family and friends (especially those who live far away) to see what I am up to, since I am changing so much every day!

Here are some things I have been doing lately:

Rolling Over

This was literally the first time I rolled over. I still remember the rush. It happened on June 8th.

Here's a video of me the next day! It's easy for me now. Now if only I could learn to roll back...

Learning to Sit

I cheated a bit here, 'cause this rocking chair is sloped a bit downwards.

Well that's it for my first post! I'll check in again later.

Ellie xoxo