Ellie

Ellie, Ellie, please do tellie, how do you grow so fast!! We cannot believe Ellie is 1 already. We feel immeasurably blessed to have her in our lives. Ellie lights up our home. When Willem and Ellie have been apart, she is the first person he runs to say hello.

Ellie is very loving and loves to cuddle. She curls up into me with her arms straight against my body and her head into my chest, as though she's trying to be as connected as possible. I often wonder if this is how she rested before she was born as she wasn't a big mover before she was born. But she certainly has made up for that ever since. It is hard to get a picture of Ellie and has been since she was a few months old because she is a mover. Most pictures have Ellie as a blur.

Ellie loves to play with any toys her brother enjoys and likes to be involved in all that we do. We are amazed by how good her fine motor skills are. She'll play very delicately with the trains, driving them around the floor.

Ellie also has a thing for chairs. In Alaska she favored her highchair without the tray and a camping chair we had out front. She was so proud after she got herself properly situated in her chairs.

Ellie is determined and very strong. Rarely does she get hurt. This particular day she insisted on crawling a long way down this path and would not let us carry her. This was at her early stage of walking and crawling was the faster mode of transportation. We were worried about her hands but she crawled like a champ for what felt like a quarter of a mile.

Ellie is determined and does not frustrate easily. Already she is very independent. She tries to put on shoes, feed herself and really needs very little entertainment from us.

Ellie's smile melts our whole family. Her spirit has been incredibly happy from day 1. She smiles more than anyone I know and has such a joy for life so far.