Ella is 9 months old today!

Ella has been keeping us very busy over the past month. She crawls with lightning speed, so we're chasing her

all over the house. She just loves exploring all of the places she shouldn't go, and also loves to put in her mouth everything that she shouldn't. She's been pulling up and cruising along furniture, so it probably won't be too long before we have a walker.

On the Sunday before Christmas, we took Ella to see Santa Clause at Macy's in New York City. We took the train, and Ella loved watching out the window all of the trees passing by. She also

especially loved interacting with other passengers, smiling and waving. She has turned into quite the little social butterfly!

We waited an hour and a half to see Clause, winding our way through the back hallways of Macy's. Ella was such a trooper, she didn't whine or complain once. I was certainly worried that she might be cranky with the long wait, and messing up her nap schedule. She loved interacting with all of the kids in line around us. We were glad to make it to the front of the line, instead of having to leave an hour in, because of a crying baby. Right before seeing Santa, there was a great little "North Pole" set up with lots of lights, music, train sets, and animated stuffed animals - lots to look at for Ella! However, when Ella met Santa, she was none too pleased. As soon as Jamus handed her over to the guy in the red suit, she screamed! We're sure she'll grow to love him, but only through bribery with lots of presents each year.

Santa Clause was good to Ella, bringing her lots of fun new toys to explore and play with, and also (of course) to chew on.

Last week it snowed, just enough to bring Ella out on her sled, and she had so much fun. Griffin is like a puppy again when it snows, bounding around, eating the snow. It was so cute to watch them enjoying it together.

Ella had her 9 month checkup the other day, and thankfully, no shots this time. She weighed 17 lbs, 1 oz, and was 29 inches long. She is 95th percentile for height, and just under 25th for weight. We're hoping that her supermodel career will help us to pay back some of our student loans!