October has come and gone...seriously?!

Rotten Pumpkin....


Mommy and tired Ella after our excursions.

Sweet baby....

Smirking pumpkin...

I am a fan of cereal!

Suprised Pumpkin?

Over it...

I love this picture of Dadddy (as Scooby Doo or Super Dawg, right Holly?!) and Olivia.

Kayla, Marko, SD and Olivia.

Hi. Are we done yet?

Not quite sure about all of this...

Friends.

Thumb sucking is what Ella does best.

All 3 girls together!

You really aren't doing it right. Give me the spoon.

Yummm...

First ride in the BOB without the car seat. Great success!

Ready for a stroll outside.

and she wants more? Really?

The belly dancer asked for it....Really? Nick Calabrese?! You asked him to dance and he delivered. This is the man who broke danced at our wedding. Please notice the shock/horror on her face. She then comes back for seconds? Glutton.

The group at dinner!

Our little strawberry.....

Bath time is good time.

We cannot believe that October is gone! What a month. We had so many fun things going on lately! We also have a big November; more on that later...

Where do we start? Ella is up to all sorts of things lately. She is on the move. She is rolling all over the place. If she had her druthers, she would roll continuously. It is so funny to watch. She is getting in the position to crawl. You can see her little brain trying to go but her lower body needs to coordinate with her upper body and brain! She does a half "scooch"/roll and slowly creeps along...hopefully, she will get crawling pretty soon! She is also sitting up pretty nicely partially supported. We are working on it every night! She is doing a pretty good job! She would much rather lay on her belly and look at the dogs, however....

Ella got a taste of real food and loves it! We have tried squash and green beans and squash is clearly the winner. Check out E trying out the green beans. How offended is she?! I love it. Girl after my own heart; I am a huge squash fan. Must be my southern upbringing. Something tells me collards aren't going to go over as well! We don't think her stomach can keep up with her eyes, unfortunately. Her tummy was giving her some trouble after eating real food 2 nights in a row. We are going on a food sabatical for brief respite to see if this changes her tummy. If it does get better with no "real" food, we might have to make another visit with the Ped. GI dr. This all makes sense to us because our little angel suffered from colic for 13 long weeks and magically got better when we switched her to hypoallergenic formula. I held onto breastfeeding for as long as possible. I just didn't want to admit that my milk was causing her to be ill. What a terrible feeling a new mom....Thank god for Alimentum. It saved all of us! We think that her tummy is truly sensitive and needs a little time for the real stuff. Until then, rice cereal and formula.....yummmmo.

One of Scott's closest friends and wife were in town visiting family (brother Nathan and girlfriend who live here) and we got to meet up!! So good to see Nick and Yenny. It has been 2 1/2 years since we last saw them!!! It is bittersweet to see good friends from "home" for the both of us. It reminds us of our friends that we are so close with but don't get to see due to distance and etc. We will see west coast friends soon enough for Thanksgiving and we couldn't be happier! Night out in San Fran will be so fun. Ella has given us her blessing for a night out on the town.

Ella's first Halloween was a ton of fun! She hung out with her buddies, Olivia and Kayla all day. We walked around Lakeview and trick or treated- Ella was a party pooper and slept the entire time! Soliciting is hard work =) Tiffany hosted dinner at their place last night and we had a blast. We went to bed late but it was worth it to celebrate Halloween with good friends.....

Ella is feeling a little poopy today and running a little fever so we are keeping a close eye on her. We hope she is feeling better tomorrow!

Gramma Peg and Grandpa Bob are coming into town on Thursday because mommy and daddy are headed to...VEGAS on Friday! So excited to see Curt and Sara! We will have a blast but honestly, I am dreading leaving Ella! She is my heart and soul. I will miss her immensely but I know that she will be in good hands. I just hate being away from my snuggle bunny. She is the sweetest baby in the world and loves her mommy and daddy.....we are so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents to come watch her! Ella, no doubt, will be a little more rotten when we come back on Sunday.

That's it for now, muffins.

XoXo,

Nicole, Ella and Scott

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