The latest

The McQuay's have been super busy lately, but not doing anything too exciting. I have to apologize that pretty much every post I do is about Ella, our lives pretty much revolve around her and her schedule I try to keep. Because of her we don't get out and do as much as we used to, but we have so much fun just playing at home. I absolutely love my days with her and she is such an easy baby. I can't believe that January is almost over, and I am really having a hard time with the fact that Ella is almost 1! Time goes by so fast, and she has really changed in just the last month. She is starting to understand and respond to certain things we say and that is just so amazing. She has stood by herself a couple of times, but I don't think she will be walking on her for another few months.

Ella LOVES the Baby Einstein movies and they are the only thing she will watch for an extended period of time. Here she is captivated by one of them, and you can also see her crazy mohawk hair. This is how it dries, and I just love it. I am sure it will lay more flat as it grows.


Ella loves to play any type of peek a boo. Even if I just put one of her bibs over my face and then pull it away she laughs and screams. In this picture she was hiding behind our blinds and Dustin was sneaking up on her. She obviously knew he was coming everytime, but the game did not get old for a long time.


And here she is playing peek a boo with me from the side of the couch.


Ella has just figured out the whole phone thing and she likes to put my phone up to her ear. She will also use a shoe, her baby, or anything else and it cracks me up. These are some pictures of her talking on my phone the other day.




In the last couple months Ella has finally shown that she will sit long enough for us to read to her. She has 3 or 4 books that she loves and will listen to, but if I try any others she is out of my lap in half a second. She has figured out turning the pages and a few weeks ago I found her "reading" one of her favorite books by herself.


I like to think I am an organized person and I keep all of Ella's toys in bins and a bookcase. Everyday this is what happens in probably 1 or 2 minutes, seriously. She never plays with all of it, but she seems to get some satisfaction in pulling toys out and throwing them on the floor. If I ever try to put anything away while she is awake, she will pull it right back out. I just love her feisty little personality.


Here is Ella with her cousins Hannah and James and her Great Grandma Velma. This is one loved little girl.


This is just a cute picture of Ella during a meal. I think Dustin was doing something to make her laugh.


We finally gave Ella her first haircut. This picture doesn't show much, but the haircut didn't really consist of much anyway. I just cut her rat tail that she was starting to sport. She is just starting to get a lot more hair growing in, so I will probably have to cut more soon. Thankfully Grandma Diane was there to help distract her.

Ella's Tricks

Here are some videos of Ella doing her latest tricks. They aren't super exciting, but as typical parents we are so proud of all the little things she does. I know the second one doesn't sound like much, but that is Ella's version of "moo". It has been so much fun having her actually understanding some of what we are saying and saying some words herself. So far she really can only say da da and moo, but we are working on more. She is babbling constantly and it is funny to hear her making new sounds. Enjoy! (On a side note, I moved my music player closer to the top of the page so that it is easier to pause if you don't want to hear it or to watch a video)

Ella "walking"

Here are two videos of Ella with her walker. I think this was about a week ago and she is already so much better.I can't believe how fast she is learning. She falls in one of them, but don't worry she was not hurt and didn't even cry. We had a good laugh about it though.

Holiday Season

So it seems like it hasn't been that long since I have posted, but we have done so much since then. The holidays were crazy but very fun. And in the midst of it all Dustin did a home project that I will post about later. Ella seemed to enjoy her first Christmas and she loves her baby doll that we gave her. She got so many fun and great gifts from everyone, so thank you. Here are just some of the photos from the last few weeks.

Here is Ella with her Aunt Brittney at the North Pole (aka the Ward's house :) )


Ella got this cute outfit and boots for Christmas. Ignore Dustin in the background. He was trying to avoid being in the picture, but it ended up just looking a little weird.


Our nephew Josh was baptized so that was an exciting day for everyone. We can't believe he is already 8!


This is Ella with her walker that she got for Christmas. She LOVES it and is really been getting interested it it. Unfortunately our family room is kind of small so I have to keep turning it around for her every 30 seconds. I have a cute video of her pushing it that I will try to post later.


This is our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. This is the first year that Dustin and I put up a big tree so we were excited. And my family ended up doing our Christmas on Christmas Eve at our house since the weather the next day was supposed to be really bad. We loved having it our house so thanks to my family for letting us.


We got Guitar Hero for Christmas and we have been playing it non stop. This is our nephews Josh, Sam, and Alex playing.


We took Ella sledding on this cute baby sled she got for Christmas and she loved it until she got tired. Dustin got a great workout in pulling her all around. This is her all bundled up before we went out.


This was just in the driveway on the way to the sledding hill and she was so happy.


At this point Ella was starting to get really tired. She didn't know what to think about all the snow.


It is hard to tell in this picture, but Ella was falling asleep in the sled. We could not stop laughing.