First Road Trip, Pictures, More Family Introductions, First Easter, Baby Dedication and Sleep!

Wow! Just the title wore me out! Well, Ellie definitely had an eventful weekend and is proving herself to be quite the trooper! Friday, we left for Ellie's first little road trip out to Chris's parents' home in Great Bend, Kansas. The trip wasn't too bad, a normally 4 hour trip took closer to 6 on the way there with a few stops for changing, sretching, feeding and cuddling. She was even better on the way home though and it took closer to five. Not bad! She even got her first "bonker" as she was eating, she got too excited about seeing Nana and Papa and kicked back to smack her little head on her car seat. But, as she is quite the tough little girl, not even a peep. Mommy felt pretty bad about it though...

Saturday morning brought her first photo shoot. (Website link for these pictures to come...hopefully later this week!) Ellie took all the snapping, flashing and posing in stride for the first hour or two until she had enough. She let us all know by projectile pooping on the photographer. We got the hint. So, out the door we went. When we got back to Nana and Papa's, it was time for more family introductions. Here she met Great-Aunt Mary, Great-Uncle Terry (yes, they are all VERY great!), Second-cousins Kyle and Cecily, and more! Daddy broke out the Baby Bjorn to get some advice on how to put little Miss Ellie in it and got quite the helping hand from a fellow Daddy, Justin, and Cousin Kyle. Once again, our little Ellie is QUITE the trooper! Not even one little fuss as she was passed from loving hand to loving hand! Of course, I think she was pretty happy and excited that she had her very own cake with her name on it to share with everyone! That night, she even got to meet her Great-Great Aunt Mac! (Yes, she is certainly EXTRA great!)

Sunday brought another big event, first Easter and her baby dedication! Chris and I were honored and blessed to be able to have Pastor Bill dedicate her as he was the one who married us almost three years ago! Ellie was wonderful, looked so special and slept her way through the dedication. We were sure proud parents! Of course, we would have been no matter what!

And to top it all off, Ellie had her first night of sleeping all night! She woke up once last night just to make sure I was still around so I made sure she knew I was, and then we enjoyed a night of sleep! All of us! What an amazing little girl she is!

All in all, a beautifully busy weekend full of firsts, family and fun! We hope you enjoy our pictures...once again, I think Ellie has had enough pictures for awhile after this weekend...