1 year old photo shoot

Basically Ella is now a professional model. I am sure she is so either used to the camera or sick of it! What can I really say though? A first time Mom with a beautiful baby girl that is growing up so fast I am scared I might miss something. So I take pictures, tons of them and have other people take tons of pictures of her too. So it is really no big surprise that we had a photo shoot for her one year that is too quickly approaching in 4 days! Pretty much anytime I think about it I get choked up. I remember everything in the week leading up to her arrival. The anticipation, the fear, the excitement...now she is here and almost one. When one week had gone by I couldn't believe it. When one month went by I couldn't believe it. And now that one year has almost passed us by I can't believe it either, but I also couldn't be any happier or prouder. She continues to impress me each day. She is talking so much more now, especially today where it was a constant babble. She would even talk back to you once you started talking to her in her own little language. I hear the b, p, m and z sounds today while she was going on and on. She even was trying to stack her blocks today, almost got it, but much more enjoys knocking down the towers I build for her. She is getting so much better and more determined at getting the shapes in the right holes and asks for help by handing me the shape and grunting :) Her hair is getting so long now in the back and sides, and her bangs are long enough that I almost need to keep it in a clip to keep it out of her eyes. It is staying so light with a beautiful tint of red as well. Makes me wonder what it is going to do when it gets longer and she gets older. She still laughs ALL the time. Her funniest is when she opens her mouth all the way, as big as it possibly could be, and laughs from the back of her throat. She seriously cracks me up. Most of the nights we just sit around and watch her and laugh with her. Ella is the biggest joy of our lives. I have a feeling that things are going to stay that way as well. We are so lucky. I hear it all the time from my parents and all those around Ella. Her temperament is so even keel, she is so happy all the time and plays so well by herself and with others. She makes parenting easy. Now there are those moments where she is unhappy or sad, and it seems like nothing will make her stop crying, but I think I could count those times on my hands this whole year of her life.
While I was putting her to sleep tonight she sat up in my arms. Then she layed her head on my chest. I was then able to turn her over and lay her head on my shoulder. She is getting so big, and I feel so at ease with her sleeping in my arms. I remember thinking when she was around 7 months old how I was going to be able to hold her to rock her to sleep if she kept getting so big, but now I realize she is a ALL sizes fits ONE. Whatever her size she will always fit me.
Anyway, back to her photo shoot. We moved it up to this past Friday since it was so incredibly warm in the middle of November. Ella and Julie and I went downtown to the Flying Cupcake and all around Mass Ave taking pictures. We started outside in an alley with gorgeous brick and a great rustic feel. Ella started off happy and laughing as usual. She was a little hard to corral as she has gotten quite quick on those two little feet of hers! Julie asked if she was always this happy, which is another theme I hear quite a lot!, I told her yes as well. It was a great surprise to Julie as she said she has had a couple shoots with little ones that weren't as big of fans of the camera as Ella. The first shot she sat in a little chair she had brought, looked right at the camera and gave a big two tooth grin! She hasn't had any practice though...none at all :)
Over all she let me change her into 7 different outfits and we were in at least that many different locations as well. Our second to last stop was inside the Flying Cupcake. After we got all situated we ordered her a Birthday Cupcake. It was a vanilla cake with pink icing and a ballerina on top. Ella sat on top of the counter to eat it. She was so distracted by the yummy deliciousness that she let me put a birthday hat on her head while she ate. Soon after she started eating a Michael Jackson song came on inside the store and she started groovin! She was doing some serious bouncing to the beat. The last thing we shot was Ella in a pink, green and zebra print tutu, all belly and a ginormous lollipop of all colors, you know, like the ones at the fair. She had a hay day with that thing. There were all sorts of colors all over her belly and her face. James wanted me to give her a mohawk for some of the last shots too so I got out the mouse and we got a ton of supercute shots of her eating the lollipop rockin' a very tall mohawk.
She was such a good sport, letting us haul her around for close to three hours and change her outfit so many times. She did end up with a good deal at the end though. A very messy but scrumptious cupcake and lollipop! I can't wait to see the pictures! I have to wait a whole two weeks! By that time Ella will be one year and one week old...can you believe it?