Exersaucer!

I hadn't intended to acquire anything for Eliza today. This morning I noticed that she's getting a little too wide for her swing. Shortly after that, I was searching for replacement parts for a toy she has that's missing pieces. Somehow that search led to me locating some affordable jumper chairs. I couldn't find them locally and after an extended search, I found this Exersaucer on sale at Walmart. Eliza had some Christmas money we'd been saving for her, so we decided to go ahead and get it. I can already tell this is going to be an amazing investment. We put her in it and she instantly started playing with the toys.





In other news, Eliza has become quite the little chatter box. She's like Joan Rivers. Once you get her going she WILL NOT BE QUIET. Her babble is absolutely adorable. I could listen to it all day. You'll notice in the pictures above that her PJs look wet around the neck. That's because she drools constantly as well. If we don't see her first little tooth soon, I'll be surprised. She had been wearing those PJs for all of 20 minutes when that picture was taken and we had to change them before she went to bed.

Eliza is four-months-old! (now with extra bonus footage!)

Eliza is only four-months-old, but it seems like she may as well be 100. Time has flown by so quickly. Over the last month, she's done a great job learning to sit up on her own. In fact, I think she may sit up on her own before she rolls over. She also laughs very boisterously and has learned to squeal when she's happy or excited. Eliza is extremely verbal and loves to babble. She's particularly fond of the throaty "k" sound. Tonight we fed her a little rice cereal from a bowl. Not a huge deal since she gets some in every bottle to help her reflux. She took it off the spoon, but she didn't seem to quite get the swallowing thing down. We'll be working on that over the next month.



She also had her first ear infection this past month. She had to take some medicine, but she solidered through like a little champ. She recovered just in time to enjoy her first Christmas. She got lots of toys that I'm will help with her development in the months to come. Speaking of toys, she also is showing an ever so slight preference for a toy I call Lamby Pamby. Daddy calls him Sheepy Weepy. He's a small lamb that plays music when you squeeze his belly. Eliza has also developed a love for watching football. In fact, she just loves the TV. If the TV is on, she will go out of her way to crane her neck around for easier viewing.

She's growing into such a big girl before our eyes. We're so looking forward to the next 8 months before her first birthday!

Christmas 2008

Brian, Eliza and I hopped in the car around 1:30 on Christmas Eve and headed down to Mayfield. We arrived just in time to celebrate Christmas with Brian's Grandmother's family. Aside from some "misunderstanding" of the rules of Dirty Santa, we had a really nice time. We were sad to miss Brian's cousin Emilee, but we did manage to catch little Ava who was just getting over pneumonia. Poor little girl.

We dropped by Brian's Mom's house for some stocking gifts and then headed to our house to get everything ready for Santa. We put out some Coke in a Santa glass, cookies and an apple for Rudolph. After Santa came, all the grandparents (plus Lee) came over for breakfast and to open presents.

Since we're not planning to go back to Mayfield soon, we had to go ahead and take down our Christmas tree. It was a little sad to take our tree down on Christmas Day, but we packed everything up and headed back to Lexington.

Santa Claus is coming to... Mayfield!

Brian is going to have to work a good chunk of the day tomorrow, but after that, we hit the road. We're going to head to Mayfield to celebrate Christmas with Brian's family. The plan is to go to Brian's grandparents' house for Christmas Eve and then have the family over Christmas morning to open presents with the baby.

Sorry for the lack of updates and pictures. Our camera stopped working for some reason, so there may be fewer picture updates in the future. Maybe we'll start taking more video, though.

The Space

Since we've been in Lexington, Eliza has developed a taste for frog and mutton.

A few pictures of our little space. Until we make some closet space and put some of Cheryl's boxes in the storage shed, we've got a bit of a mess. Ignore our random stacks of clothes.




Our sitting area.




Where we're sleeping.


Eating area. A little messy at the moment!

Adapting

Being back in Lexington is handy in so many ways. Last night we needed to go to Babies R Us, so we got in the car and drove five minutes and ended up at Babies R Us. So much better than the two aisles of baby stuff packed into the back corner of the Paducah Toys R Us. Much better than the 35 minute drive just to get to the two aisles of baby stuff packed into the back corner of the Paducah Toys R Us.

Life in our temporary living space has proven to be not that bad. I'll try to take a few pictures later today. My aunt lives in a 4 bedroom duplex and we inhabit the front downstairs bedroom. Bedroom is a bit of an understatement. It's more of a large family room, really. When I was in my late teens/early 20s, I lived in the other side of this duplex with my Mom and my sister. I had enough space in my bedroom for a couch, end tables, my bed, a recliner, a dresser and plenty of extra walking space. Right now we have a small love seat, a couple of chairs, a coffee table, a kitchen table, 4 chairs, a small kitchen island (although it's pushed up against the wall and currently holds baby clothes), a TV on a small entertainment center, two bedside tables, our full size bed and Eliza's pack n play. Believe it or not, we still have walking space! Brian's Dad and Stepmom are going to attempt to bring Eliza's crib and maybe her changing table next week (although I see snow in the forecast for Tuesday, guys!). I hope we get that worked out. Eliza would be much happier and we can really use the storage drawers under her crib.

Eliza is doing fairly well. I think she's a bit confused with all the changes, but she's sleeping well in her pack n play. Her ears seem to be clearing up a little, too. She seemed to be in a much better mood last night. We're extremely excited for our trip back to Mayfield on Christmas Eve. I just hope Santa can track us down.

One Year

Well, we're back in the 859! We're still working on getting settled in our little temporary living space. We basically have one big room for the two of us and Eliza. She's actually taken rather well to sleeping in her pack n play, but I'm hoping we can get her crib here soon. Brian's old bed had been at my brother's house since we moved to Murray last year. We brought it over yesterday, so it's already feeling a little more like home.

Brian is off at his new job and I'm hoping that goes well for him. Meanwhile, I'm going to be unpacking and finding the optimal furniture arrangement today.

Last night we went to my friends' church to sing Handel's Messiah, which was much harder than I remember. Still, it was lots of fun and good to see people I hadn't seen in a good while.

Today we celebrate our one year anniversary. Can you believe it? This has been quite an eventful first year of marriage, but I hope things settle down soon. All in all, I couldn't be happier with my little family!

A bite taken out of our cake topper.

Dancing to the Family Ties theme at our wedding reception.

Grace

Unfortunately, Eliza had to go to the doctor this morning. She has her first little ear infection. While not severe, we're still going to treat it with antibiotics. Even though she has a little ear infection, she still managed to smile at the PA (who looked just like the blonde, long-haired dude on TMZ). She's also up to 15 lbs!She's currently napping on her blanket on the floor while I rush around to get us packed and ready to go. While I take a break for lunch, I thought I'd show you a picture of Eliza playing with her friend Grace yesterday.



Eliza didn't quite know what to make of a person so close to her size. She was happy for second, then she suddenly decided she wasn't so cool with her new pal. Eventually they cried in unison. Once the initial shock of seeing another baby wore off, Eliza perked up quite a bit.

The beret is a present from Grace's Mom, Britteny. I think it's cute. It kinda makes Eliza look like Samuel L. Jackson.

Dinner with Family

Tonight I cooked a yummy (even if I do say so myself) pork chop dinner for Brian's family. We're sad that we won't be able to do this again in the near future, but happy that everyone seemed to have a good time. We even talked Brian's grandmother into Wii bowling.

Unfortunately, Eliza has been very fussy and tearful tonight. She's been pulling on her ear, so I think she may have her first ear infection. If she isn't significantly better in the morning, I think we'll visit the doctor.

Tomorrow is our last day here in our little house and then off to Lexington.

Less than two days...

...until we're in Lexington to stay.

It's kind of sad, in a way. The house was and is a great little place to live, and I hate that we can't just take it with us.

However, it came down to choosing between our house and making sure that Janie and Eliza can go to the doctor when they need to, and I think we made the right decision. I would feel awful if Janie needed to go to the hospital for something and couldn't because we couldn't afford it, so getting her coverage is a big load off my mind.

Sure, we'd be better off if we didn't have the house on the market right now, but I'm optimistic that we can do something with it fairly quickly so we can get settled more permanently up there. Eliza needs a good place of her own to grow up in, and I want us to give that to her as quickly as we can.

Tonight, we dine with family. Tomorrow, we do the hardcore packing, then dine with more family. Saturday, we pile what we can in the car and set out on a new adventure with the wind at our backs and our future ahead of us.

Goodbye, house. Maybe we'll meet again some day.

Eliza Wears Shoes

First of all, Eliza wore shoes for the first time today! She did really well with them and looked adorable. They're size 3-6 months, so they're a little big. Still, soo cute. I can't wait 'til she can wear the vintage Nikes I wore when I was little. A few more months still on those. Also, after going to the mall today, I've decided we must win the lottery so I can afford to buy all of Eliza's clothes at Gymboree. I've never been a big fan in the past, but their Christmas dresses are so adorable and classic.

In other news, we picked up our Olan Mills portraits today. They threw a few extras in the envelope to tempt you to buy them. I didn't. When I walked away, I heard the greasy assistant lady call me something less than flattering. We hadn't called someone about her before, but we will now for sure. Also, in checking the back of the envelope the pictures came in, it says very plainly that they plan to sell our information. If we don't want our information sold, we have to write a letter to the address given. How evil is that?

Also in the news, we ran into the nurse midwife who took care of us during my pregnancy. Reportedly the doctor let her go. That's too bad. We really liked her. We wish her nothing but luck!

Christmas trees, film noir babies and some big news...

Want to see a Christmas tree?


Eliza has taken to napping in the floor, for some reason, and I was just playing around with my camera last night. Here's Eliza looking like she's in a 1930s studio picture:


Here's a cool one of Janie with some blurry stuff in the background:

And now, the big news I promised you: we're
moving. Next weekend.

I got a job at The Richmond Register as their new cops and courts reporter, and I start Dec. 15 (also our anniversary. Happy Anniversary, babe!)

We're going to sell the house as quickly as we can, sadly. We both love our little house, and we wish we could take it with us, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be ours for long.

Sore Gums

I think Eliza is going to be an early teether. She's been drooling like a sedated Amy Winehouse and having little crying spells throughout the day. Today I broke out one of the Pooh teething blankets and she seemed to really like it. She found the plastic end and immediately shoved it in her mouth.

Lately she's been expressing a lot of interest in sitting up. If she's sitting against her Boppy, she'll sit up entirely on her own. Since she's shown such an interest in sitting up taller, I moved her swing to a complete sitting position today. As soon as I did that she seemed to take an interest in the toys attached to the tray. I'd venture a guess that this is how they keep Alec Baldwin entertained on the set of 30 Rock. I wonder if he has a delicious Tigger rattle to chew on.

Lately Eliza has adopted some strange napping habits. Brian took some pictures last night and I think he'll share those later. Stay tuned.

Eliza Visits Santa

Eliza is 3 months old (yesterday)!

I had to take this month's Raggedy Ann picture because Brian was at work. Not such a great picture, but I think you can see the growth!

In the past month, Eliza has learned to babble lots of consonant sounds, push herself up really well when she's on her belly, and laugh out loud. She also tries to sit up on her own when she's propped up on her Boppy or in her booster chair. She rolled over on Thanksgiving, but we think it was a fluke because she was on a soft bed and she had a bit of help from the slope of the mattress. Hopefully she'll roll over on her own soon!

We put up the Christmas tree today. For the first time ever, I had to have an artificial tree and colored lights (I'll tell you about that later). I'm not thrilled, but the baby seems to enjoy it.



This afternoon, Brian has to cover the local Christmas festival/parade. I think we're going to take the baby and see how she does. The baby's first Christmas is so exciting!

Thanksgiving recap and Eliza's portraits

Eliza's portrait sitting went really well. She didn't want to smile, but we got some cute poses in an adorable outfit. As promised, we had a much better experience with Sears. While we got great personal attention, there were lots of people there and they all seemed to have an 11AM appointment. I'm beginning to think double/triple booking is standard in the portrait industry. They were finishing up people who were there before, trying to deal with the people who were waiting, and trying to troubleshoot package delivery problems for someone who showed up at the last minute. I can tell you that if we weren't being so exclusively catered to, we would have had quite a wait. We were interrupted pretty much constantly while trying to pick out our pictures, so ultimately, that probably cut down on our order. All in all, though, it was a really great experience and we got really great first pictures of Eliza.

Thanksgiving, of course, didn't go according to plan at all. We didn't even get some Tofurkey. I'll pass up the details, but I will tell you that we plan to do holidays in Mayfield from now on.

Also, we have other news to share later. I'll let Brian deliver that himself. I hope you guys had a great holiday!

Road trip and a continuation of the portrait story...

After I posted about our unfortunate experience at Olan Mills, I was contacted via the blog by someone claiming he could make sure we have a better experience if we go to Sears Portrait Studio. He left his email address. I dropped him an email this weekend, and it turns out, this guy is the CEO of the company that owns Sears Portrait Studio and Picture Me Portrait Studio. He arranged for the studio in Lexington (where we'll be on Wednesday)to call and set up an appointment for us. They've been very, very nice and we'll have Eliza's Christmas portrait taken on Wednesday. We'll let you know how it goes.

Also, thanks Mr. Cataldo. We appreciate your kindness.

Tomorrow evening we'll be heading to Lexington to hang with Cheryl for a day and then we'll be off to Louisville for the big turkey!

Christmas Portrait

Last night we took Eliza to have a Christmas portrait taken. The original idea was to have some family portraits taken, but money's tight and we had a coupon for free baby portraits. You wouldn't believe the nightmare that experience was.

After debating whether we should keep the baby's appointment at Olan Mills or switch to Sears portrait studio, we opted for Olan Mills. When we arrived, they had a very large family in front of us and a crying baby in the studio having her picture taken. We had a very unsavory-looking photograher being assisted by two greasy-haired girls in dirty sweatpants. We were informed that the family in front of us were running late so we'd have to wait.

We sat in the studio while the photographer photographed the screaming baby and sold portrait packages to the waiting family (who bought every possible pose). In the meantime, Eliza went from baby, camera-ready to extremely hungry demon baby. When the baby begins to look like Bill O'Reilly, it's time to feed her. At that point, we'd been sitting there for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the lady with the screaming baby disappeared before she even had a chance to look at her pictures.

Finally, after we sat for an hour, waited and listened to the ridiculous banter between her crack assisting team (actual dialogue: "I think misspelled VOID!"), watched the photographer stop in the middle of everything else to give a family directions over the phone, fed the baby, and took down the customer service number so we can report thist nuttiness, it was Eliza's turn. She put her in one pose and got a fairly cute picture. Eliza didn't look happy, but she wasn't crying. Perfect. Then we had to stop so she could give phone directions again. Then she put Eliza on her tummy and Eliza immediately started crying. She tried to get her calm for about 30 seconds and then looked at us and said "do you want to reschedule?". At that point, we were done. We ordered our free pictures from the first pose and then left.

What a nightmare!

(almost) Turkey Time!

We're less than a week away from Eliza's first Thanksgiving.

We're loading up the car and heading to Louisville this year, which should be an interesting trip. We made it fairly well the last time, but there was a lot less traffic then.

I'm working on a way to get Eliza some turkey on Thanksgiving, but my research shows that 3-month-olds aren't supposed to get poultry. She likes soy formula, though, so perhaps Tofurkey is in order.

Eliza is 12 weeks! Next week, tattoos and driving cars.

Eliza is 12 weeks today. The time since August has flown by. Just a few seconds ago, she woke up laughing. No doubt dreaming about the goofy dances I was doing while watching Yo Gabba Gabba this morning. I can't wait 'til she laughs spontaneously. Here is swinging in her swing while apparently dressed as Dippin Dots.

Photographic Contrasts - A big photo dump

I've never exactly been an ace with a camera. This past weekend, I decided to dress Eliza up in a little Christmas onesie and attempt to take some Christmasy shots. Heh. What I ended up with were some out of focus 90s alternarock album covers.








Brian is a much better photographer. On Sunday afternooon, we went to Brian's Dad's house to see his stepmother's new grandson Luke and have dinner with all the other grandkids/parents. See? Brian's pictures are much more impressive.


Yes, I am wearing a plastic tiara! Thanks for asking!





Left to right:
Austin, Hannah, Eliza, Jennifer Elizabeth (pretty name! Love those Elizabeths), Luke, Hunter