I just found out about picasa--- i love it- you can retouch anything!

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME!!!

Taylor Grace is soon to be a California girl! Mark and I found out we are moving to Palo Alto, California this summer! Mark got his fellowship position at Stanford University as the wilderness medicine fellow for 2009-2010. I have to brag on my husband for a moment- I am sooo proud of him!! There are only a couple of spots each year to be a wilderness fellow and he was offered two positions!!! He has worked very hard and thought long and hard about wanting to go into the wilderness field. He will be doing research and traveling all over the country and maybe out of the country. He'll also be teaching stanford medical students and will work in the hospital there too! Its going to be a great year of growth for us all! Thank you all for praying for us. We are so relieved and excited to know the direction God has called us to...at least for the next year. It is only a year position so we will do something different after the year is over. I'm very sad to leave my family and my friends here but we dont know where we will end up later down the road and I hope the stay close with friends and come back to be with my family often. More than sad I'm excited for the adventure coming up and proud for Mark. If anyone knows friends for us in Palo Alto let us know!
We wont be leaving until July and we're still praying about details like what to do with our home here, how to get to CA, and where we will live. But we are trusting in the Lord to provide the details. He's always faithful so I have to believe that He cares about those things in our life. So thats the big news here- oh and Mark's 30th b-day is this week! Its been a wonderful year!

3 months!!!!

Sweet Taylor Grace is 3 months now! She has been all smiles and has started laughing too! Her newest thing is that she loves to sit upright and be involved in everything we are doing. We bought her a Bumbo seat to help her strengthen her back and neck. I can tell she feels like a big girl when she's in it.

This picture is with Santa at Dr. Silvestri's Christmas party! I don't think she ever looked at Santa one time but he still gave her a kiss and a present! Its been fun having a baby to bring with you to parties. There is always a fun and easy conversation piece and mom and dad get a break since everyone wants to hold her all night. She's been a pretty relaxed baby so far so its been easy to bring her to all the holiday events and happenings. She must get it from her daddy :)


Still loves to chew on her hands all day! She's getting sooo big now - her legs are growing very long she loves to be standing upright and looking around. I know I say this every time but I cant believe how quickly time goes and how babies grow miraculously fast-its been so amazing to watch her change daily.

We are coming up on 12 weeks tomorrow!!! I can hardly believe it! We are starting to see Taylor's little personality come out now too. Its so sweet- she talks the day away now and makes her "O" sounds and "coos". She is alot more smiley lately and seems to recongnize faces. She has definitely got an infatuation with her hands as well. They are constantly in her mouth and she can spend hours staring at them. We have some pics we are editing to post soon but here are a few of her in her bunny towel after her bathtime.

Taylor and daddy at a Christmas party last night. She is still the spitting image of Mark. I love it! My beautiful daughter got her good looks from her daddy for sure!

2 month and other news

hey all. we've been terrible about updating, but decided we'll do a minimum of once a week or more. sorry if you'd been checking without any updates. here's a few snapshots in her new little hoodie. taylor's smiling a lot now and starting to be more interactive. she's got down hooking her passie with her finger and yanking it out to an art form. we got our 2 month shots a little early since we're going to be in colorado during the 4 month shots. so we'll have a merry christmas with sore little baby legs. she continues to eat well and hit the 90% for weight at her 2 month visit. all is well thus far.

Ellis Updates!

Its been a while since I've posted- so be sure and scroll down since I put lots of more recent pics up. Well- Taylor will be 8 weeks on Monday! I can hardly believe how fast she is growing. We had our 2 month visit at the pediatrician today and found out she weighs 12lbs and 4 oz- putting her somewhere between 85-90th percentile- we dont know for sure since she's not quite 2 months. Shes a BIG girl! We got her first series of vaccinations too and she did great. I'm pretty sure it was harder on Mark and I than it was on Taylor. I did have to shed a few tears when they pricked her though. She has found her hands and she sucks on them to soothe herself now ( hopefully that wont last too long). Also she's discovered her tongue and has progressed from grunts and noises to little coos and more purposeful talking. Its so neat to watch her learn about herself and the world around her.

On a non-baby note Mark and I are praying about our next step in life. Please pray with us too-Mark will be finished with residency this summer. We are applying now to a bunch of different wilderness medicine and EMS fellowship programs all over the US. This more than likely means another move for us somewhere far away from family- maybe even as far as California. Mark will be interviewing in the next few weeks and we'll probably know more by the end of the year. The next move could be soo crucial to Mark's career and fulfilling his dreams and for that I am thrilled! I am also sad and unsettled to think about moving in a time when the economy stinks, we've just made close friends, and of course leaving my family.

As much as it hurts me to think about moving away from my parents- I know God is sovereign and I'm just trying to trust that. I've been meditating on this verse in Philipians 4 for a couple of weeks-

"Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again REJOICE!Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about these things. Whatever you have learned or recieved from me, or seen in me- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

This tells me I not only need to trust in the Lord's plan for my life- but I need to focus on the truth of His character. He cares about the details of the Ellis household. He is always faithful, and even though he doesnt promise life to be easy- He is always there in the struggles. And I am trying to focus also on the sweet and lovely things He's got in store for me and my family- rather than the scariness of a move, or the sadness of leaving loved ones. The Lord has never failed me - and thats what is giving me hope and keeping me joyful. Of course having a sweet newborn to take care of helps to perk me up too! Anyway please pray with us so we can be wise and discern what we should do. Thats the end of my ramblings. More pics to come soon!

Baptism November 2nd

Taylor Grace was baptized and marked as Christ's own on November 2nd at St. Philips Anglican church. It was an awesome day! Great service, a killer sermon, and my dad got to baptize his first grandchild! She wore the christening gown that both Mark and Elaine wore at their baptisms -it was very sweet. AND- My little chatterbox decided to be silent for the entire service. She slept through the whole thing except when she was baptized she decided to wake up f0r a few moments. She did great. We are very proud parents! We got a few good pics from the service but for some reason they all turned out redder than normal. Anyway here are a few of the better ones.

Halloween

Little pumpkin

This week Taylor smiled for the first time on October 22nd! I am ruined forever because of course my days are now spent trying to see that gummy grin over and over. She smiles the most in the morning especially after a diaper change. I love this girl so much! Its amazing how I can stare at her and talk to her all day. So many things have changed for me since she came- its ALL about her!

So she was still too young to take her to a germy pumpkin patch- we decided to bring a mini patch to her. So we set it all up and of course she decided she was not going to be happy! I think these pics are cute though so I posted them anyway.

Mark's family's visit

Aunt Elaine and Taylor

Mark's dad (Grandad) and Taylor

Taylor 6 weeks old

She loves to play on her activity mat- she's attempting a smile!

Mark's mom ( Nana) and Taylor

One Month!!!

It was difficult to get her to look at the camera for this pic

Our Taylor Grace is one month already! The time seems to have flown by even with the sleepless nights and days spent at home. We are treasuring every minute of parenthood so far! It is definitely a huge responsiblity and a lot of hard work ( though I'm sure we're still in the babymoon stage) but it has been the most precious thing that has ever happened in my life for sure!

We've finally reversed her nights and days!!! yay! She has lots of awake time in the day which is getting to be lots of fun for both of us! She follows voices around the room and has started to interact alot more when I talk to her. Its almost like each day the world unfolds a little more just for her . We are waiting for that smile- we've thought we've seen it a few times but I know its just around the corner.

I think she's gonna keep her blue eyes like her daddy!

Every morning Taylor and I sit in the glider and listen to our Baby Einstien World of Animals dvd ( Thank you Donna and Jill!) don't know what she can see right now but it definitely intrigues her for a good 20 min. I think she likes the noises and songs- mommy likes it too.

tummy time pics

sorry about the delay in posting. we took a bunch of pictures and just hadn't put any up. we thought we'd show you a few tummy time pictures. taylor's holding her head up well and working hard to climb over the pillows....rocking back and forth. i guess we should get some video because its pretty funny with her continuous talking while she's doing it.

i guess we'll have to have that talk about open mouth kissing a little earlier than i expected.

First bath and other fun pics

This is the time we gave Taylor a bath. We quickly realized its pretty drafty in the kitchen over the sink so we've now moved the baby bathtub to the bathroom tub. She did very well and almost seemed to enjoy the warm water.

Mark will not be happy with this picture- but mommy and Taylor played dress up today and I could not resist posting this picture! The bow is a bit large I know!

2 weeks old!!

Our sweet girl is already 2 weeks old!!! Her look changes all the time too. We went to the pediatrician this week and she is now a healthy 8lbs and 11 oz and she's now 21.5 cms in length. So we are off to a great start so far. Mark and I are pretty sleepy though since we 've been trading turns with her at night. She was a night owl in the womb so we've just started working to reverse her body clock- or at least we are trying to anyway. She's a sweet baby though and she loves to talk and make noises all day long. So far I can see alot of Mark in her facial expressions which has been really fun!

watchful eye

i'm not sure who's watching who

Taylor Grace is One week!!

Taylor turned one week old this week! I cannot believe how incredibly fast her looks change. She is a sweetheart and loves to talk and make lots of noises when shes awake. Mark is back to work now and we are trying to get adjusted with the new "norm" of life. The dogs love her already and seem to have a sense that she is fragile . They are curious about her and want to kiss her all the time but are still respectful and keep their distance for the most part. Whenever she wakes from a nap both Raleigh and Tahoe feel the need to let me know.