Blessed

As you can see, there has been a six month gap between posts. I began the blog site while I was pregnant because I wanted to have a way to keep all of the important people in our lives up to date with our little one to come. Since the past few months have been such a flurry of activity, I wanted to bridge the gap with a collage of Ella. As you can see our beautiful newborn girl has grown and changed so very much. She is our ray of sunshine and her smiles, kisses and giggles have brough us endless joy. Her personality has continued to develop and we are always amazed at her love for people, delight in music... especially Old McDonald and enjoyment of nature. She starts our day off with the sound of her little voice singing us to be awake and come play. The only way to descibe just how wonderful it has been is to tell you that we are truly very blessed.

Donner Lake

Donner Lake is always a summer get-away that we look forward to all year. This year was Ella's first time experiencing all that Donner has to offer. She got to take naps in her pack and play on the dock... falling asleep to the sound of the gentle lap of the water. We also go to go on a family hike with Ella at Northstar. The two mile uphill hike was worth the picnic spot that it lead us to. My favorite activity was our bike ride along the Truckee river trail with Ella being pulled in her "limo" by her daddy. Once she got over the sheer terror that her bike helmet gave her, she was able to relax and eventually nap during our ride. It sure was a fun memory with Uncle David, Aunt Edie, Jordan and Jessica.

Bring on the big girl food!!

After passing her half year birthday, Ella was ready to begin eating "real" food... as you can see she loved every single bite! After her first taste, she had a guge grin on her face that just got bigger the more she got to eat. Her favorite foods are sweet potatoes, carrots and squash. You can hardly keep up with her as you spoon those out. She expresses her delight by making "Mmmm" sounds after each delicious bite! If she especially likes it she will follow up her sounds with some lick-smacking!!

Finally!!

Finally, after waiting six days after my due date, our little GIRL, Gabriella Martie was born on December 20 at 2:36 pm.

Brian and I were so grateful to my Uncle David and Aunt Edie for being with us at the hospital from the moment we arrived at 1:30 am until that evening.

Family and friends were waiting right outside the door to my room awaiting her first cries. As soon as they could enter, the room was packed with smiling faces welcoming our little girl into this world.

Waiting and waiting and waiting....

December 14th... and no sign of our little blessing-to-be. To help "speed up" the birthing process I was sure to take my daily trek on SeaCliff Beach. Even though it was the middle of December, Brian and I bundled up for what we hoped would be our last walk as just two of us...