If you do this, the MS fairy below will be very happy!

She is cruising the furniture but when you try to help her walk by holding her hands she collapses her legs and falls to the ground. She is using her walker but it doesn't turn so well. She is climbing stairs and super fast. I realized this when I left her for a minute and came back to find her on the third step!
She will not lie still for a diaper changing anymore. I was warned by friends about this but didn't realize it could be so bad. I have taken to strapping her down on the changing pad. We try to hand her interesting things to look at like the fan remote or a bottle of Jack but sometimes that doesn't even work.
This little girl has some serious bangs that need to be held out of her face but guess what? She won't leave bows or headbands on anymore. And when she takes them out she gives you a sly look. 
She has started doing her own laundry so that is helpful. You still can't leave any type of container around this kid or she will empty it, and fast. When I put my make-up on, I hand her my make-up bag and she loves to take all the makeup out.
I think I mentioned last month that she was starting to protest things. I didn't know what protest meant. Now she growls like a wild cat when you take something away from her. She isn't too content to stay in her exersaucer or jumperoo either.
She loves to look out the back door so now in addition to dog nose prints, we have Ella nose prints. We took a nice family walk in the woods behind our house and she came home with her first tick - in her pants!
If we're at home, her meals are starting to look like this. She loves people food and is losing interest in any kind of baby meals that aren't fruit based. Since I'm a vegetarian, I hate feeding her chunks of meat. She's going to owe me for that. She drinks out of a straw like a champ. 
She goes nuts when her dad comes home from work. Sometimes she squeals. He deserves this as he devotes his evenings to her.
She went to Texas for the third time to visit my sister's family. The pilots were crazy about her. She's feeling quite comfortable at my sister's house.
The boys took great care of her while she was there. It makes me sad that she doesn't have any older siblings to look up to. She really enjoyed watching those boys.
She was a really good sport while in Austin, putting up with lots of car and stroller rides.
It is SUCH a task to get this child to look up for a photo. She is too busy crawling or picking things up. You can be screaming your head off and she doesn't even give you a glance. For some reason when I sing to her she will look up - it must be my angelic voice - not! 
What else? She is getting her top left tooth and now she grinds this one with the bottom two and it makes me feel ill. She thinks it's hilarious. She babbles to herself. She has recently started napping again. When I read her a story and tell her to turn the page, she does. She gives kisses (on occasion, if she feels like it). She does that cute burying her head thing when people talk to her. She likes to drag strange things around when she crawls like my nursing wrap, a bib, a plastic egg, a key chain... She is changing almost daily and she is so much fun to be around.
First we headed to lunch at a dog-friendly restaurant downtown. All the dogs just chill under their owner's tables.
Michael was so excited to go to the Austin Children's Museum. He wanted to stay all day. 
There was no where to feed Ella and I forgot my nursing wrap in the car so I snuck into a mini-classroom and used my sweater as a wrap. First my sister busts in on me and next a few of the workers find me and tell me that they need the room for a birthday party. Is Ella one yet cuz I've just about had it with this nursing crap.
Ella enjoyed the baby section but I did find her with dirt in her mouth at one point and wanted to vomit. She was spitting it all over. Somebody must have trapped it in on their shoes.
This thing was the coolest and Ella had a blast going up and down the stairs and slide. Kerry's camera battery died so these next few pics are from my iphone. 
Next we headed to Amy's ice-cream for a sweet treat.
We ended the day by heading to the Cathedral of Junk. This guy has built structures in his backyard out of old junk and it's really sort of beautiful. So you can go in his backyard and check it out and climb all over the junk. Unfortunately when we arrived, we found out that the city has shut it down. I did get a glimpse from the fence.
Here's Blake around Ella's current age of 11 months. She makes that same face.
These next two are uncanny. Here is Ella from the other day...
And here is Blake at about 10 months old. They look like they could be twins. I say that Ella is a lucky girl because he has always been such a good-looking kid. The weird thing is my sister and I don't look like either one of them. Maybe this post will prove it to my dad who always insists that Ella looks like Ella and nobody else!