Ellie goes to Washington

Ellie went with my mother and me to the VA suburbs of DC to visit my brother, Bo, sister-in-law, Shae, and their 2-yr-old Brinson. Ellie had a great time trying to keep up with Brinson, going to a farm to see the animals, touring some of the sights of DC, and going to her first Major League Baseball game.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Here is a slide show of Ellie over the past 12 months. It is so hard to remember her being so little!

Baby #2 is a girl!

On June 9th we went to have our ultrasound to find out what baby #2 was going to be. Before the nurse was even able to say it, I was able to tell it was a girl. I think Grant is plotting to get his basketball team! It will be nice to have two little girls so close together. I always wanted a sister so I am excited for Ellie for sure. I joked with Grant and told him he better start saving for weddings now! Ellie is such a Daddy's girl so Grant is excited as he put it, "to have someone else to worship me!" ;)
The name we have picked out is once again a family name. Her name will be Margaret Thompson Shanks and go by Maggie. Margaret is Grant's paternal grandmother's name and Thompson is my paternal grandmother's maiden name.

The first picture is confirming that baby Shanks #2 is a girl. The second picture is of one of Maggie's feet. I think she is going to have big feet like Ellie and her Uncle Andrew. The third picture is of Maggie in a tuck. Her hands are wrapped behind her legs. The nurse said she had never seen a baby doing this. Future gymnast?The fourth picture is of her face. I can't tell who she looks like!

Ellie's first birthday!

Our baby girl is now one! On June 6, 2008, Ellie turned one! Unfortunately, she also started running a 104 fever. On Sat we still had her party at our local park, but poor little Ellie felt so bad. We had a great time and some of Ellie's little friends from daycare came as well.

It was Strawberry Shortcake themed due to Ellie's strawberry hair. Ellie has moved up to the one-year-old room at daycare as well. She is the baby in there! They went ahead and moved her up due to the fact she has been walking for a while and is doing so well with it as well as she is off the bottle. She looks so little compared to the other kids, who are at least 5 months older then her. She has adjusted well to eating in big kid chairs and sleeping on a cot! At her one year appt. she was 22 lbs. 5 oz. and 30 1/2 in. long. Hard to believe it has been a year since she changed our lives!