Happy New Year!!

Ok, so it has been over a month since I posted anything. Needless to say, we have been extremely busy with the Christmas holidays. We had my parents, my sister, and Brad's parents all stay with us over the holidays (at separate times). We literally had guests at our apartment for 7 nights! We enjoyed seeing everyone, but we were completely worn out. Ella has been teething, and consequently not sleeping very well. While our guests were here, Ella had to sleep in our room, which only made matters worse. Now that she is back in her own room, things are much better.
We had a wonderful first Christmas with Ella. She absolutely LOVED all of her gifts, and thoroughly enjoyed opening them. She still hasn't played with everything yet!
I can't believe how fast Ella is growing and how much she is learning. She will be one year old next month!!! She seems to have gotten really tall lately. All of her pants are too short, but too loose around her waste.
Ella is eating pretty much everything that we eat now, which is fun. She isn't picky at all (unlike her father), so now I have someone to share food with!
Ella can now point at things that she wants; wave; make "piggy" sounds; identify Mama, Dada, doggy, and kitty by pointing; stand momentarily without support; walk with support; say Dada & kitty (still no Mama); clap her hands on command; attempt to do the motions for "Wheels on the Bus" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider"; and indicate that she wants more food. I know that I am leaving tons of stuff out, but she learns so much so quickly!
Below, I am posting lots of pictures from Christmas and New Year's Eve. Ella and I attended a cookie swap playdate hosted by our friends Ashley & Marigny, and a pajama playdate hosted by our friends Carolyn & Bailey prior to Christmas. The first few pictures are from the playdates. The last picture is from the New Year's Eve party that Brad, Ella, and I attended at our friends the McDonalds' home. It was such fun! We celebrated the New Year on Spanish time, which made midnight 6:00 here. That way, we could all bring our babies and celebrate the New Year with them...so clever!