Something Hatfield This Way Comes.

Being as unbiased as possible, I must say that the Hatfields are two (no, three!) of our favorite people and we were thrilled that they came to visit last weekend. (Pictured above are Andy and Russ.) We Edwards were blessed to not only visit with our wonderful friends, but we got to meet 3.5 month old Abe for the first time! Ella was excited. Okay, Ella was ecstatic and I had to physically keep her from sitting on him.

During their visit, Jessica's brother Jeremy turned the big 3-0 and we went out to dinner to celebrate. Here is Jess with sweet baby Abe, all decked out in his guitar t-shirt. He is such a cutie pie!




Jessica and Courtney got to catch up too!

Russ and Sara out on the town. It was WAY past our bedtime!

Ella's Room.

This is it-- the baby boudoir. Voulez-vous dormir avec Ella, c'est soir? I've been meaning to take pictures of her nursery since, well, before she was born. Finally I took a couple of minutes to do so. It's quite a small room, but a whole lot of love went into creating a special space for my darling daughter.

Before you go to Properties to adjust the color on your screen, let me go ahead and tell you that it's pink. Lace panels, embroidered flowers, and shabby chic frames made sense at the time. One more side effect of those lovely pregnancy hormones!

"They" may say that newborns don't have control of muscle groups and therefore cannot conjure facial expressions, but my mother and I both swear that when we carried Ella into her room for the first time, the look on her face said something akin to, "What on God's green Earth is this place?" Awe. Disbelief. Disgust. Priceless!

Special credit goes to Ella's Gramma Laura for the team effort on the stripes. I don't know if we ever did get them measured correctly, but they still turned out just fine.

Mimi may say that babies don't need satin sheets, but she's the one who bought the pink flamingos! I guess I came by it honest...

The Wedding Date.

My cousin Lyndsay got married a couple of weeks ago to a great guy named Robert. This was Ella's first official wedding-- and I was wracked with nervousness over how she'd behave. Once again my fears were unfounded as she behaved very well and stayed curled up in a quiet little ball on her Poppi's lap throughout the ceremony.

The beautiful bride, handsome groom, and delicious cake.

Russ and Dad were well behaved too! :) In case you can't tell, Ella's blue eyes that she gets from me come from her Poppi.

Ella with Kalynn and Grandmother-- two of her very favorite people!

Baby's First Haircut.

We (finally) took Ella for her first haircut! I know, we should've done it when she turned one, but I wasn't ready! I do love her little curls and couldn't let go. We had to banish the mullet, though, so off we went.

Yep-- that's Russ holding her wearing a smock of his own and Ella got to wear this precious zebra-striped smock. It even had a cute little monkey on the front, but since pig had to be front and center, we couldn't capture that in a picture.

You know how I HATE to brag, but she was SO good. She sat up perfectly straight and acted quite professionally during the entire event. We evened up the length, trimmed the bangs, and put layers into the back so the curls should have plenty of bounce for quite some time.

My little darling is growing up so quickly. With every stage there is so much lost, but so many new discoveries and adventures gained. I am thankful every day to be the person chosen to share Ella's journey.

Moms.

Recently my addiction to the moms message board has escalated to a whole new level. The girls meet every Tuesday at 8:00 (after our small ones are tucked in for the evening) for dinner and plenty of laughs. Not only do we shut down the restaurant du jour, we tend to loiter in the parking afterward too!

From L to R: Lee Ann, Bonnie, Stephanie, Michelle, Patrick (waiter-- not a mom!), Jayne, Michele, Sara, Tracy, and Beth.

TuTu Snazzy.

Ella recently posed for some cute pics in a snazzy shirt made by Sara's friends Michelle and Jayne.