Ella Gets Baptized!

On January 20th (yes, we're a bit behind in our updates!) Ella was baptized during the morning mass at St. John Neumann. Many our friends and family traveled from afar (Oklahoma, North Carolina, Maryland, and Florida!) to celebrate with us; it was such an incredible day. Ella wore the same baptismal gown that Erika and her brother Grant wore - it was sewn by Erika's grandmother over 30 years ago! How neat is was to see our little one wearing it and what a beautiful gown it is. Best of all, Ella was an absolute angel during the mass and baptismal rights - she was just picture perfect and although she was a little shocked at the water on her head, she recovered quickly and responded with the biggest, cutest grin. It was a sight to see! After mass, Erika's parents hosted a brunch at their home...everyone enjoyed lots of great food, mimosas, and bloody mary's!
Enjoy some of the pictures from the baptism weekend here.

Last week, Erika turned 25, er, um, okay, 31, but who's counting anyways? The birthday was celebrated at one of Erika's favorite steak restaurants in Arlington with our friends Shaun, Sandra, Meredith, Molly, and John and was followed with some after dinner drinks at the Wolff's home. It was such a fun evening! We decided that a relaxing night was in order on Saturday so we enjoyed a evening with a warm fire, a bottle of wine, and perhaps one of the stupidest movies ever...for those of you who had intentions of watching Snakes on a Plane should either save their money or delete it from their Netflicks cue! Some of the scenes were so bad, they were almost comical...but anyways, we're no movie critiques and can't complain too much since Ella let us enjoy the entire movie!

Otherwise, all is going well here with the Carlson's! Ella, of course, continues to be our little shining star and is just about the sweetest thing. Big congrats to Tim who received a major promotion at work, Erika is very proud of him....it was so well deserved and will be sure to open continued doors of opportunities for Tim!

J'aime Paris!

All bundled up! Check out my legs!

Working on rolling over....almost there.

Vegas vs. Reston

This was Tim's first weekend away since Ella has been in our lives and while Tim was celebrating our friend Shaun's bachelor party in VEGAS, Erika stayed busy with Ella and Cooper in RESTON. Okay, so hard to compare the two cities, there's no high rolling in Reston of course, but Erika managed pretty well! Besides, it might be true for this Vegas trip that there's not much that needs to "stay in Vegas" since the guys realized by Day 2 that it takes a little more effort these days to hang in Vegas. Let's just say that recovery time more than doubled....Hmmmm. Regardless, they had a great time and while Tim didn't come home with any big winnings, he certainly didn't lose much either (Erika is thankful).
Ella is doing wonderful, as usual! Again, she seems to be developing so quickly! Whereas before her most coordinated hand movements involved placing her fingers in her mouth, she can now (although not so gracefully!) reach out and touch the hanging toys from her chair. Erika was in the kitchen and heard the hanging toys moving around and thinking Cooper had crept in for an Ella face licking party, was delightfully amazed to see Ella reaching out her hands to touch the toys. She is such the little wonder. And her legs! Boy, does she love to stand now! We wonder if she'll be an early walker?
We can't ignore Cooper, either. He's been such a trooper since Ella has been born :) His weekend treat was a play date with his buddy Arlie. Erika and Andrea took the dogs out for a good romp in the woods...creeks+mud+Arlie+wrestling+running like hell = dirty Cooper = bath time. Let's just say that Cooper was wiped out for the rest of the day. Below are a couple of pics...

Our "ribbon" princess

Dinner at the Wolff's

Ella gets a hug from Charlie

Whee! Action shot! Full charge out of the water - watch out!

Getting wet

Life doesn't get any better for two dogs

Blue-eyed blueberry

When Ella doesn't get what she wants.....

Congratulations, Christi and Jon!

Yesterday, our good friends Jon and Christi welcomed their first baby into the world. Claire Sophia was born on January 9th at 8 lbs 8 oz and with a head full of brown hair!

Welcome to the world, Claire!

(1/11 Update - Below are some pictures from the hospital visit)

Little Claire is soooo tiny!

Claire getting adorned by her mommy

Sandra takes a turn....

....and Meredith!

Two new mommies!

Claire's babysitters :)

Ella Update

Happy New Year! Today we celebrate Ella's 3 month birthday - hard to believe, isn't it? I looked through some pictures we took the day she was born and it's amazing how big she has gotten! Some of her newborn facial expressions have remained though - including her smile and yawn. She has developed into such a beautiful little baby and each day introduces us to new Ella developments. For example, earlier this week she discovered her toes...really discovered them - you could see the "ah hah!" moment on her little face as she realized "jeez, these little toes are MINE!" She continued to move her toes and feet as her eyes followed them around. And the recognition doesn't stop with her feet - her hands also fascinate her and her hand movements have become so much more coordinated. She is constantly putting her fingers and thumb into her mouth and she has developed a habit of holding onto her ear during nursing. As parents, it's just remarkable and honestly, we could stare at her for hours with no regard to the passing time. Her ability to follow objects has also quickly developed; she follows each of three animals that spin around on her mobile and just this morning, she turned her head towards her daddy when he came in the room. She also smiles so much more and actually giggles! And her movements! Boy, does she kick and squirm! She exercises her legs all the time and works up to full kicking and moving which often puts her out of breath! But she loves it as she smiles all the time during it. And then there's the "whine." Tim swears she learned it from her mom, but she expels a noise with the tone that says "No! I don't want that. Listen to me! It's all about me!" We laughed the first time we heard it since we were not expecting to hear that kind of noise until the "terrible two" stage. We've got a sassy one! Surprised? And best of yet, she set a record sleeping time last night - 10 hours! She's our little sleeping beauty and wakes up smiling and giggling. Have we mentioned how blessed we are?
Here are a few recent pics from this past week:

Cooper goes swimming in the lake, regardless of the chilly weather...he was is doggy heaven!

Shaking off after his first of 10 swims!

Mommy had some fun with Ella while changing her - she's sporting a onsie on the head...she was too cute - this one deserved a picture!

Check out the chubs

Not planned, but mommy and Ella sport brown and white! We bought this outfit for her before she born - couldn't resist the stripes, just too cute.

Cooper and Tim - enjoying the new year's nice sunny weather!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas this year was undoubtedly a special one for us, and one certainly to be remembered as we celebrated the holiday cherishing the precious little addition to our family. For us, our Christmas present arrived in October and this year's Christmas served as a reminder of how lucky we are to have Ella in our lives. Every day she enchants us with her giggles, her cheeky smiles, her pouting lips, and her little personality that has permanently charmed her parents. Needless to say, we are in love with our little daughter who puts smiles our faces and warms our hearts constantly.
The Christmas celebrations started on the 23rd at the Abbott's home for the yearly Christmas party. And what fun it was! We look forward to these Christmas parties each year as it gives us the opportunity to be with some of the most wonderful families, many, if not most, of whom have been friends with the Buehrig's for the last 30 years. This year was particularly neat as it marked a whole new era; there were little babies and kids galore! The next generation is beginning to grow....
We relaxed quite a bit on Christmas Eve; Erika and her mom treated themselves to manicures and later that day our friends Keith and Cory stopped by to meet Ella. The visit was short but it was good to see them! Later that evening we attending mass and were joined by the Mercantini's, Mrs. Fay, and Meg for a fun evening at Erika's parents house for a Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas day couldn't have been more perfect - it started late morning and we enjoyed opening presents, eating the Buehrig's traditional Christmas breakfast, and just enjoying the day by lounging around the house and doting on Ella. Ella received her first baby doll which is truly bigger than she and Tim was speechless when he realized a small TV he opened up was a miniature representation of a real LCD flat screen television....a very very generous gift from both our parents. Tim loves it for the football games, Erika loves it because it's created more space in their little living room! To each their own!
The Christmas holiday didn't end on the 25th - the Carlson's, with Monica and her boyfriend Olivier, arrived from Williamsburg on the 26th. We had a relaxing afternoon with them by the fire in our condo and spent time opening up Christmas presents (it was all about Ella, of course!) and just enjoyed being with Tim's family. Later afternoon, we took a trip to Reston Town Center for a few pre-dinner beers and oysters before enjoying a yummy raclette dinner - a Carlson Christmas tradition and one of our favorites! The next morning, we headed up to Morristown, NJ to visit Tim's relatives. Ella received further adoration from her extended family members and we all enjoyed being together. The Burkharts hosted a tasty dinner on Thursday night and we enjoyed a fantastic meal on Friday. The days flew by too fast but it was wonderful to see everyone!
We'll be home for the new year as we plan on these last few days of 2007 to be relaxing and slow-paced. This has been a big year for us; the highlight of course being the birth of Ella - we'll cherish the remainder of this year but look forward to good times ahead in 2008!

Click here to view some pictures from our Christmas!

Tulsa, OK and Ice Storm 2007

The Carlsons visited Erika's wonderful family in Tulsa, OK this past weekend. We wanted to share our little daughter with her great grandmother (Nana) and her many cousins, aunts and uncles. Ella handled the airplane ride very well and thoroughly enjoyed being held, bounced and gawked at by the Hinson and Marlow clans during our extended stay. I say extended stay because we were held captive by an incredible ice storm that rumbled (there was thunder!) into town on Sunday. Tim was supposed to leave Sunday evening, but instead returned late Tuesday evening with Erika, Ella and Aquina. All during the night on Sunday and into Monday were the sounds of ice encrusted tree limbs snapping off and crashing to the ground like giant chandeliers - terrifying. Erika's cousin Cory had one smash through his bedroom window inches from his head! About 80% of Tulsa lost power (including the airport for 12 hrs on Monday). We made the most of it by huddling around fireplaces, eating lots of good food and shopping at the mall that, by the grace of God (in some eyes), retained power. Anyway, it was a trip we'll be recounting to Ella many times over.

Below are some picture from Tulsa but click here for MANY updated pictures from November and December. Sit back, relax (grab a drink, or two), and enjoy!

4 generations of beautiful women


Nana's backyard on Monday morning

Something to Blog About

It's been quite awhile since our last blog post. Since then, we've had a pretty busy few weeks! Where to start!?!?

The weekend before Thanksgiving took us to Smith Mountain Lake to meet our good friends Shea and Jim for the weekend. Not only was this Ella's first weekend trip away, but she was also introduced to Shea and Jim's little baby Brady, just 3 weeks older than Ella. Erika and Tim might have met their future son-in-law! It was neat to be back to the house since just several months before, both Shea and Erika were pregnant and they were cons babies. So much has changed! While the girls stayed at home and enjoyed a relaxing Saturday afternoon (relaxing? Hmmm, that could possibly have been one of Ella's MOST fussiest days of her short little life....how convenient!) with the babies, Tim and Jim were cheering on the Hokies to watch them beat Miami. We've decided however, that next year both Ella and Brady will be old enough to attend the game, too - the mommies won't be left out again!

The following weekend was Thanksgiving and Ella's second road trip to her grandparents house in Williamsburg. We arrived on Wednesday evening and Erika's parents and brother arrived the following morning. Plus, it was Grant's first introduction to his niece Ella! We all had a great time together - ate lots of great food, did a little shopping on dog street, walked through W&M campus, saw some beautiful sunsets from the Carlson's dock, and just relaxed! On Saturday, we drove to Suffolk to spend the day with Camille, Ryan and their two girls Peyton and Anne-Perry. Of course, the girls did some shopping (so hard to resist) while the guys stayed home with the kids (Ella included) to watch some college football.

The following week was very exciting as we welcomed Monica home from Africa on the 29th. And like Grant, it was her first chance to meet Ella! Monica snuggled up with us in our cozy abode for a couple of days until the Carlson's arrived on Sunday for the day to take her back to Williamsburg. It was also a busy but fun weekend, too - our friend Ami arrived in town from Charleston to surprise Sandra for her 30th birthday dinner which was so much fun! On Saturday, Meredith and Erika hosted Christi's baby shower at Erika's moms house - it was a wonderful celebration for the expectant arrival of little baby Claire. . .due on January 18th. Christi is getting close!

This week wraps up Erika's last week of classes from the fall semester....and so nice it is! With the last paper handed in this past Monday, the semester's work is over. She'll have about 5 weeks off to enjoy the holiday season before returning back to school in mid January.

Tomorrow, we're off to Tulsa, OK to visit Erika's relatives....this will be Ella's first airplane trip (can breastmilk be spiked??) so we're hoping all goes well. But we're looking forward to seeing the family and Ella will be meeting her GREAT-grandmother..pretty amazing!

Speaking of Ella....she is doing so well! We took her to the doctor's today for her vaccinations and like all babies, she exercised those lungs of hers during the shots (she had three of them in her little thighs!). It was tough for us to watch but it all went so quick and she stopped crying immediately after we picked her up and hugged her. And she is growing, too...right on track! Today, she weighed 11.4 pounds and measured 23 1/4 inches - our little baby is growing so fast! She's already outgrown her newborn onsies that Tim bought for her when we brought her home from the hospital! It's so hard to believe. But she's healthy and developing just perfectly - 70 percentile for height, 60 for weight, and 50 for head circumference. Her personality is really devloping, too - she has the most cutest smile and just grins ear to ear. It's pure joy to see. Plus, she's able to focus on us and direct her eye gaze at noises but has been just great to see. She's a beautiful little baby, we are just in love. Although we're still working on her day time naps, she has been sleeping 6-7 hours consistently at night for the past 3 weeks or so and pulled in a 9 hour night last weekend! Wow! Needless to say, she woke up happy but HUNGRY!

So that's about it for now! Check back soon for an updated web album revealing pictures from the last month - take a look and enjoy!