Has it already been 1 year?

I have never been one of the people who are thrilled when their baby turns one. I know that some people are thrilled to be past the "baby" stage. I wish that were me. I, however, LOVE it. I love holding my babies, feeding them, talking to them, and being their absolute security. I don't even mind changing their diapers at this point. So, needless to say, a first birthday is a rough one for me. Don't get me wrong, I know that each stage brings with it good and bad, and that I am happy to move on to that next stage. But there is a big part of me that will miss the phase that we're leaving behind. I go through this when any of my kids turn one. (May explain why I'm usually pregnant about the time they turn 14 months!) With Ella, this is especially tough. I am secure and content in the fact that she completed our family, but I will always miss my babies being babies!

They always say time flies when you're having fun. Well I must have been having an all out blast the past year because it has flown by at the speed of sound! This day one year ago, God chose to bless us with our only daughter. Ella Marie Ross was born at 3:59 pm. What a wonderful moment in my life!

She was such a gorgeous baby. I was so thrilled that she had a head full of hair!

And now here we are a year later. Ella is such a happy baby. She adores her big brothers. She loves to play rough and tumble with them, but the next second will stop and give me kisses. She is everything I had hoped for in a little girl.

For her birthday, we bought her this little pink kitchen. I love it and she seems to also.

The Birthday Girl!!

Future Rachel Ray!

Of course Preston feels like everything that's her is his also. I think that's in the two-year-old handbook!

Tonight we also let Ella open some gifts that our family had sent for Ella. She got a Little Mommy baby doll, which she really liked. Although I am a little nervous that the first thing she does is poke at dolls eyes. Guess it's a good thing that there won't be any more babies at our house!

She also got a little pink hair dryer. It is too cute!!

And her very first My Little Pony. Ella really seemed to like it and it the perfect size so she can still crawl and hold it in one hand at the same time! Thank you for these Travis, Audra, Jase, and Kaylynn!

The boys pay very little attention to the gifts that Ella get. However, they are trying to take over the hairdryer, calling it a "laser gun!" Oh, life with boys!!