Ella meets Papaw and Anna!

This weekend Ella's Papaw Jim and Anna came to visit! We had a great visit - we went to the Farmer's Market, grilled out and visited Napa.  We had great weather and enjoyed spending time with everyone! Here are some pictures from our weekend!

Ella and Papaw

Ella laughing!

Daddy, Ella and Papaw.

Visit to the farmers market with Anna, Papaw, Ella, Daddy and Mommy.

Anna, Mommy and Ella at lunch in Napa! So yummy!

Ella and Papaw playing!

Lexi's first visit to a winery - she made herself right at home!

Ella and Lexi snuggling after a long day!

Ella meets her Uncle Tyler!

In July (...again behind on posts), Ella's Uncle Tyler came to visit before he had to go back to school.  We had a fun week - we went to the top of Mt. Diablo, visited San Franciso and went to a couple of Vineyards in Napa.  Here are a few pictures from the visit!

Ella playing with Tyler!

Tyler holding Ella...it took some convincing!

View from Sterling Vineyard! Ella was sleeping in her stroller so she did not make the picture!

Tyler "eating" the Golden Gate Bridge!

Tyler and Brandon at the Ferry Building.

Ella - Two Months Old!

I am a little behind on this post, but here is Ella's 2 month old picture! She experienced her first outdoor concert, visited Napa twice, had her first visit to San Francisco and went to the top of Mt. Diablo!  She also started sleeping through the night and found her left hand, which she loves to suck on!  Now if we can just get her to take naps and a bottle! We are so in love with her and are amazed at how much she has already learned in just two short months.  She is looking more and more like her daddy everyday!

2 months old!

Ella and daddy at the outdoor concert!

Ella and mommy at the concert!

Ella and Mommy at the top of Mt. Diablo!

Mommy, Daddy and Ella at the Golden Gate Bridge!

Ella all bundled up - it was in the low 60's and windy!

Ella meets her family!

This past month we have had lots of family visitors!!  Ella got to meet her Aunt Lorraine and Uncle Ed just before the 4th of July and her NanaC and Rick.  We had a great time during their visits and were able to have our first meal out with her (you can see how happy Ella is in the picture) along with our first trip to Napa and Carmel! We want Ella to be well traveled before her first birthday! Here are a few pictures from their visits with us!

Ella - One Month Old!

I'm a little behind on the blog but Ella's first month home has flown by! We have come a long way this month and have learned a lot about one another. Ella has learned to eat well (and regularly), loves baths, wore her first bathing suit (see picture) and loves her swing! She has truly been such a wonderful addition to our lives!

At one month old, she weighed around 8lbs but was still in her newborn clothes and diapers. Here is her one month picture and a couple of her newborn pictures from her photo shoot - she was 9 days old during the shoot!

One Month Old!

 Newborn Photos taken by Monica Wharton Photography

First Father's Day!

For Brandon's first Father's Day we decided to do a picnic lunch at Sycamore Park near our house. It was a beautiful day - great temperature, cool breeze and not a cloud in the sky. The four of us found a cozy spot under a beautiful willow tree at the park and relaxed and ate lunch with daddy! Lexi was on her best behavior and Ella loved being outside in the fresh air. They are two lucky girls to have such a great, loving daddy! Happy Father's Day to the best daddy ever! We love you!!

          

 

Meeting of the Cousins

Saturday was an exciting day because Ella had her first family visitors. Mike, Lisa and Maitland came over to visit for lunch and cousin Mait was so sweet to his new cousin! We had a great visit and are so happy that they live close by! We look forward to getting together a lot more in the future!

Introducing Ella Katherine McDonald

We are so excited to announce that Ella Katherine McDonald arrived on Wednesday, June 2nd 2010 at 3:45 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 19 inches long. The delivery went perfect and mommy was only in labor for a total of 8 hours (1 hour, 45 minutes of actually pushing)!! Miss Ella was ready to meet her family and her family was ready to meet her!

We are so in love with her and cannot get over how much she changes from day to day. She is a big eater and has already surpassed her birth weight in record time! We think she looks so much like her daddy, but we can also tell that she is going to have some of her mommy's personality because she is very impatient when she's hungry! She is so alert and bright eyed and loves to look at the pictures on the walls and loves anything that plays music!

Here are a few pictures from her Birth Day and a few from the last 2 weeks! We look forward to updating the blog each week and sharing her life with all of our friends and family!

We would like to thank everyone for their support and kind words over the last couple of weeks! It truly means a lot!!

Ella's first Picture!

First Picture with Daddy!

Mommy and Ella snuggling!

Ella and her Mimi

Going home from the hospital.

Mommy and her girls

Ella in her flower hat.

Daddy and Ella snuggling

Ella sleeping...

Ella in her dress!

Big Sis Lexi trying to get some R&R!

"Nesting" Project....

This weekend Brandon and I (okay, mostly Brandon) worked on our final "nesting" project. We decided that we needed to plant something in our front courtyard because there was way to much mulch in that area and no other color. We went to Lowe's and Home Depot and picked out some plants and got started late Saturday afternoon. Due to the drastic drop in temperatures Saturday night, we decided that we would just get the plants set and that Brandon would start digging on Sunday morning...

Well here we are at 8pm on Sunday night and Brandon has just put down the final bag of mulch! We are so excited and pleased with how the project turned out. It took a lot of digging and a few trips to Lowe's and Home Depot but we are very pleased with the outcome and it truly exceeded our expectations! Great job Brandon!!

Here are a few before and after pictures.....

Lexi "supervised" all day from the window....with her eyes shut!