Eliza Jane Smith

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T08:23:00.007-04:00

Eliza makes a very cute Minnie Mouse.

Wrapping up year three

2011-08-09T08:18:00.004-04:00

We're wrapping up Eliza's third year on this planet. She'll be three-years-old on August 28th. We can't believe what a big girl Eliza has become. She speaks in complete sentences, she has a huge vocabulary, she starts preschool in two weeks and she is fully and completely potty trained.

Potty training was a huge ordeal. She didn't respond to any attempts to bribe and she mostly just screamed and cried when it was potty time. She complained that her potty seat was really uncomfortable. We bought her a new Princess potty chair and she suddenly was a little more interested. We took her to my Mom's house for the weekend and decided against bringing her big potty. We took her Dora potty ring and she decided that weekend that she would start going. My Mom decided to give her quarters each time she went and by the end of the weekend, she was trained. So, two months shy of age three and we have a fully potty trained little girl. It was extremely stressful.

Brian begins his second year of law school next Monday. We're, once again, packing to move. This time to a bigger but cheaper house. We're really excited because we'll have some room to spread out at the new house. The kitchen is well organized and the carpet in the family room is so soft I just wanted to stand around and squish it all day. Also GIGANTIC CLOSET!

Lots of big changes coming up, but hopefully all of the good. I can't believe we've had three years with our little big girl. Time flies.

Eliza's new swing set!

2011-06-18T21:23:00.005-04:00

Thanks for the new swing set, Papa and Gaga! Eliza LOVES it.

Such, bad, bad, bad bloggers

2011-06-12T09:12:00.007-04:00

Why yes, it has been forever since we've updated the blog.

Who knew that being a family with a law student and a work-at-home Mom would be so very lacking in time to actually update Eliza's blog? Oh, that's right, pretty much everyone but us.

We've had a pretty eventful first part of the year, but I've completely given up on trying to catch up. Let's just start fresh, shall we?

First of all, Eliza is getting HUGE. She's 36 and 1/4 inches tall and 36 lbs. Since we're amusement park season pass holders, we've learned this year that Eliza is tall enough to ride some of the good rides. She LOVES riding the Monster and will always request that she ride that ride as soon as we get to the park.

She has also turned into quite the articulate little lass. We've been painting the house recently and she told her doctor the other day that her house is only "partially painted" and we were stunned. She's also a big fan of using adjectives like colorful, sparkly and her favorite word for people's breath which is misgusting. Sure, she coined the term, but I wouldn't expect to see that on urban dictionary anytime soon.

Her favorite TV shows these days are Jake and the Neverland pirates, Phineas and Ferb and Doctor Who, which she watches with Daddy. I'm still not so sure that last show is a good idea, but Daddy needs someone in the house to watch Doctor Who with him. Eliza can read some of her favorite shows on the TV Guide and we'll just add that to her freakish early reading ability. I swear, we're still not actively teaching her to read. I have no idea how she does it.

Eliza also likes to watch YouTube videos. Her favorite is the video for They Might Be Giants' Istanbul. She also likes this avant garde performance art video called I Am Your Grandma. We've spent hours on end watching Hakuna Matata and Banana Phone on YouTube, too. We've recently started looking up karaoke videos on YouTube and singing at the top of our lungs. This kid is a joy to have around.

Eliza has had some health concerns lately, but so far all the testing we've done has come back okay. She does have a type of cyst at the base of her tail bone, but we're checking in with the doctor tomorrow to see what can be done about it. Aside from this, she's thriving and we couldn't be more pleased with her progress.

The one point on which we haven't made much progress is potty training. It's the only time Eliza's disposition can be characterized as anything other than lovely. She screams and cries and begs not to go. Her most recent claim is that the small potty hurts her posterior, so we're going to try to go with a potty ring. She'll need to be potty trained to go to preschool in the fall, so fingers crossed that we can master that skill soon.

We've been having fun in the backyard and out and about this summer. Our neighbors were getting rid of a soccer goal that had never been assembled, so Brian put it up in the yard for Eliza to play with. She LOVES kicking a soccer ball around the yard. She also likes swimming in her baby pool. We went to the drive-in to see Super 8 and Kung Fu Panda 2 the other night and Eliza seemed to love it.

So far, Eliza has had a great summer. By the end of it, she'll be three-years-old. Our baby is growing up.

Disney World, Halloween, Christmas

2011-01-23T11:35:00.012-05:00

I never recapped the end of last year.

We went to Disney World between our collective last day at work and Brian's first day at school. It was fun, but insanely hot. I implore you, DO NOT go to Disney World in late July/early August. It felt like we were swimming in humidity. I was really thirsty the entire visit, and they never warn you that the water at all the Disney properties (except Hollywood Studios, actually) tastes like sulfur.

We still had a good time, but I feel like we need to go back sometime soon when the weather isn't so hot.

Brian started school and I started plowing through 60-70 hours a week working at a giant insurance company during open enrollment. We still managed to squeeze in a trip to Halloween Haunt at Kings Island and a trip to the Halloween party at the Louisville Zoo. Eliza also had two different costumes. She was a Renaissance Princess for Halloween Haunt and Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba for the Zoo party and Tick or Treat. She'd be cute even if she'd dressed as Glenn Beck, so she was all set.

I feel like I missed the entire 2010 Christmas season. My work hours were such that I left the house at 5:40AM and didn't return until 7:00PM. Luckily, my last day at work was the week before Christmas, so we had lots of time to spend with family for Christmas. The annual trip to Mayfield yielded lots of Christmas cheer and togetherness (and so many presents for Eliza that we nearly couldn't get everything into our tiny KIA). We had a fantastic time. Thanks to everyone for the fun.

We spent the New Year at home because I was sick, sadly. We still had a good time watching various New Years Rockin' Eves. Eliza didn't even want to stay up until midnight. She asked to go to bed at 11:15. What a good girl!

We thought 2010 had been a pretty challenging year until we actually stopped to look back on it. We had lots of adventures and tons of fun!

Potty time!

2011-01-19T21:57:00.003-05:00

Inspired by a Blues Clues bedtime book in which Blue goes to the bathroom before she goes to bed, I decided to let Blue wear one of Eliza's pull-ups today.

Tonight, Eliza seemed to have potty envy when I put Blue on the potty to demonstrate what going to the potty really means. I even decided to sneak in a little water so Eliza could see what pee pee was supposed to look like.

Eliza decided she wanted to take a turn and VOILA! She went to the potty for the first time.

YAY KID!

Okay, so we haven't posted since Eliza's birthday...

2011-01-17T08:01:00.004-05:00

I'm a bad blogger, I admit. Toward the end of last year, we had too much going on. I was working insane hours and Brian was finishing his first semester in law school.

Right now, though, I'm taking a little break from work and Brian is cruising along with school. I thought I'd catch you guys up on the goings on.

Eliza is so verbal. I was so worried about her being physically behind when she was younger. It never occurred to me that she was just going to be less physical and more verbal like her parents. She loves to sing and tell knock knock jokes. Her fun party trick is singing the commercial jingles she picks up from TV. Sometimes I think people are taken aback by how well she communicates. A couple of months ago, she started requesting specific things by putting "I need" in front of it, and it's just adorable. She's like a tiny little adult.

She's so good with shapes and colors. Books, puzzles and Sesame Street have been great with teaching her advanced shapes. We went to a friend's house and drew some shapes on a piece of paper and she correctly identified a pentagon, octagon, etc. Our friend was terribly impressed and I was so proud.

When you can get her to focus long enough, she can count by tens. Usually, though, she'll say 30, 40, 50, 60, ONE HUNDRED!

The next thing we have to tackle is potty training. I have to admit, I'm not all that interested in starting too early. I don't think it's worth putting us both through complete misery when she's isn't showing signs of readiness. She won't even be 2 and a half until March, so we may revisit the issue then.

Eliza's Second Birthday

2010-08-29T17:43:00.007-04:00

Eliza is a big girl now, so we had a big girl party for her. We invited all of her closest family members to a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday party at our new house in Louisville. We showed off her little tribute video, ate cake and pizza and watched 5 adults attempt to assemble one little Cozy Coupe and doll stroller with some bit of effort.

I can't believe how big she looks in all her birthday pictures. We sure are proud of our not-quite-a-toddler, not-quite-a-preschooler little girl. Here are a few pictures from her big day.

Sweet spread, including the "well loved" Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Mommy and crew worked on for her. There was some "issue" with the black icing, but we made it work.
Obviously thrilled party guests.

We managed to win back one of our unhappy party guests.

Or two....

The family brought Eliza a lot of great presents, including some instruments. Knowing our musical kid, she'll have a band together by the end of the month. She's also completely outfitted for fall and got some educational toys and a new baby doll. Eliza's a pretty lucky kid to have so many people who love her. We can't wait for next year.

Eliza is TWO!

2010-08-28T18:11:00.004-04:00

This is the last Raggedy Ann picture, so we have a set. Also, here's her 2nd birthday tribute video.

23 Months!

2010-07-28T20:54:00.003-04:00

The date of this post is totally a lie. We took this picture the evening of the 28th, but it's now August 5th. We just got back from our last vacation before Brian starts law school. I promise, you will get an update on our activities this summer, but here's Eliza's second to last ever monthly Raggedy Ann picture. Also her last in our townhouse in Lexington. Next stop Louisville.

Another month...

2010-06-29T17:17:00.004-04:00

And another photo!

I'm going to put together a post on our Cedar Point trip later, with more Photo Goodness® for everyone to enjoy.

Home for a week...

2010-06-15T10:19:00.007-04:00

Eliza gets to spend the week at home, as my employer has once again asked me to participate in their "work reduction program." Ah, journalism.

This means that we're sitting on the couch, watching soccer because it's on and occasionally playing with sidewalk chalk. Well, she's playing with sidewalk chalk, I'm cleaning house and doing laundry.

It's strange, being at home on a weekday. No matter how many times it's happened, it doesn't feel normal to be at home and not at work on a non-holiday.

We're taking a Father's Day trip to Cedar Point, which is one of the places I've had on my list of places to visit for years. Excited about that trip.

Eliza is getting taller and smarter. She talks in short sentences a lot, she knows most of her body parts and we're learning colors and shapes. Also, because she's my daughter, she loves chicken nuggets. I do mean loves. The child freaks out when she sees me take them out of the freezer.

On a sadder note, Janie, Eliza and I want to express our condolences to the Koch family and all the Holiday World staff on the death of Will Koch. We met him briefly on our first trip to Holiday World, and even though we exchanged just a few words, it really made our day to know that the company president was concerned about us having a good trip.

Heading back west...

2010-06-01T15:35:00.002-04:00

We're packing up the car and trucking off to the western end of the state this weekend for a friend's wedding. Schedule is already filling up (we're coming in late Friday night and leaving Monday.) We'll have pictures of the trip once we get home.

21-months-old!

2010-05-31T15:53:00.004-04:00

Sorry this is late. We've had a very, very busy week. And leave it to Eliza to get a mosquito bite on her cheek when it was time for her monthly Raggedy Ann picture. She sure is growing, and talking up a storm. She loves to sing "Old MacDonald" and can sing most of it without help. She also loves to request naps and diaper changes by name.

I can't believe she'll be two in three short months.

Slacking!

2010-05-26T18:38:00.002-04:00

We haven't been keeping this up very well lately, have we?

May has been, for the most part, the month of going places. We've been to Holiday World and Kings Island, and Eliza got her first trip to a water park when we went to Splashin' Safari.

She had a lot of fun at the water park, especially floating on the lazy river. She wasn't crazy about her life jacket, which had a pillow to help hold her head up, but she did like playing in the wave pool.

With the start of hot weather, Janie's working some long hours, which is hard on all of us. On the upside, we get to go to a friend's wedding next weekend, so there's a fun road trip in store for us.

Eliza is a chatterbox lately, and she's starting to put some longer sentences together. She's able to identify a lot of objects, and is working on expressing her wants and desires pretty clearly now.

Pictures soon.

20-months-old (Yeah, we know, we haven't posted in a month...)

2010-04-28T22:01:00.005-04:00

First of all, Raggedy Ann and Eliza. 20 months.

There, now that we have the business out of the way...

We've been exceptionally busy over the past couple of months. I switched jobs, Brian decided to attend the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law in the fall, and we've been trying to have as much fun as we can possibly squeeze in.

In March, Eliza had her first haircut. She was very good about it until the very end. She started to cry a bit when Brian had to hold her head still. She came out with straight bangs, so I suppose that's a victory.

Eliza is very eloquent for her age. She's even beginning to formulate sentences. She loves to demand that we pick her up, and she also loves the word "no". Luckily, I don't think she's knows what the word "no" means yet.

This April, we went to Western KY for Easter and spent some time at the farm. We got to see Grandmommy and Granddaddy and Mimi and Poppa and Gaga. Not to mention Aunt Lee and all sorts of cousins.

Later in the month, we went to Keeneland, our first Legends game of the season, and we made our first trip to Kings Island for this season.

Here's a little bit of video of her haircut, Easter egg hunting, and our trip to Kings Island. Plus, pictures from Easter and our trip to Mayfield.

We promise to try not to wait until this time next month to post again.

19-months-old! A rerun.

2010-03-29T22:43:00.002-04:00

For the first time since the beginning of this little experiment, we have an outfit rerun. She was wearing these pajamas for her 15-month picture back in November. If there's any doubt that she's grown a ton since then, check out the sleeve length!

We have some pictures and video to come, including her first salon haircut and this year's Easter egg hunt! Stay tuned.

Eliza's first movie

2010-03-09T13:42:00.003-05:00

Eliza went to the movies for the first time on Sunday. We saw The Princess and the Frog. The movie was so-so, but Eliza did great (for an 18-month-old). Aside from some squirming after the first 45 minutes or so, and a couple of rounds of "who's/what's that?", she was great! Glad we went to a G-rated movie matinee, though.

Also, we'd like to wish Grandmommy a big GET WELL SOON!

A year and a half of Eliza Jane Smith!

2010-02-28T22:44:00.004-05:00

Eliza is 18-months-old today. We've come leaps and bounds in the past month. She'll now mimic pretty much any word we say (which is both a good and a bad thing - Brian and I are working on this) and she likes to mimic our actions. She's learning her letters by pointing to them as the credits roll at the end of TV shows and movies. No kidding. She names them (not always correctly)and then will look back at us for applause. The other day she was prancing around the house saying "seven, eight, nine!" in a low whisper over and over again. Just like the cliched observation everyone makes about babies - she's an information sponge.

She can walk down the stairs with a little help from the banister (and Mom) and she'll stay in the living room without the baby gate up. She's gotten very social and yells "Hi!" at everyone in the grocery store. Loudly. She now eats with a fork or spoon all on her own and has acquired a taste for pot pies. She even eats her morning cereal with milk in it like a big girl.

She sings along with TV shows and the radio. She generally picks one syllable and repeats it over and over, but it's still singing! Her new favorite TV show is Blues Clues. The very old version, with Steve. She gets all worked up when it's mail time and will always try to sing the mail song.

Today was her 18-month half birthday so we decided to get her a cupcake to eat after dinner. I think the size was a little overwhelming, so it took her a bit to dig in. We snapped a couple of pictures of her eating her cupcake, and of course we have a few more to share. Look at this big girl!

A!

2010-02-15T22:22:00.002-05:00

Tonight we were reading a book with Eliza. We always read her favorite and seasonally inappropriate book "Easter Bunny". Eliza was pointing out the eyes on all the animals and saying "eye", which is wonderful. Then she did something that stunned us all, she pointed to an "A" in one of the animal names and said "A". Clear as a bell. We were shocked. She's always pointed to the letters on people's t-shirts and we name them for her, but we didn't expect her to retain it. Brian decided to see if it was a fluke. He said "Eliza, where's the A?" and she pointed to an "a" all alone in a sentence.

We turned the page and she pointed to an "A" and said "A!" again. Then she pointed to an "L" and said "L".

I hope she'll be an early reader like her Dad!

Bop!

2010-02-14T20:02:00.003-05:00

Eliza has been bickering with me about my name. Her speech has picked up a bit over the past week and, in addition to long time phrases "who's that?", "what's that?", and "oh wow!", she's added "eyes" and "cat" and started mimicking words when we say them. Now when I asked her to say "Mom" she very loudly says "Bop!", as though she's arguing with me. I don't think she'll ever say "Mom" on a regular basis. Some people think I should just go with it. Can you imagine a 16-year-old Eliza calling her mother Bop?

This weekend we celebrated Valentine's Day with Eliza by taking her out for her first trip to Chuck E. Cheese. While not the magic experience Showbiz was when I was a kid, it still seemed like fun for a kid. The pizza, however, is just about the worst I've ever had, and half the games were broken in some way.

Eliza didn't know the difference. She had a blast watching all the older kids play. She even shouted "Hey!" at them as they'd run by. We got a little video of Eliza riding her first baby ride all by herself. If you pay close attention to the first video, you can hear her call me Bop.

Snow Day (and 17 months!)

2010-01-30T17:35:00.001-05:00

Eliza was 17-months-old on Thursday. Just one day after Brian's 26th birthday. We totally forgot her Raggedy Ann picture, so it didn't get taken 'til yesterday. Brian had some flash issues, so this didn't come out the greatest. Still, she's 17-months-old. Such a big girl. Eliza is attempting to talk, but outside of "Who/What's that?", "Oh Wow" and "Hey", she really doesn't have much to say. She's trying to mimic the sound of words, but nothing much yet. She still doesn't say "Mom" on a regular basis. She does, however, seem to address me by the name "Bop!".

Today we decided to enjoy the snow and take Eliza out for her first sledding adventure. Unfortunately, there were no sleds to be found for the big people. We decided to break out Squeakin' Bill Quackers and see if he'd make a good sled. It took a good incline to get him going, but once we did, Eliza had a great time. Here's a little bit of video.

We came home and warmed up with the homemade hot chocolate. Such an excellent winter Saturday. Now we're watching Kentucky play Vanderbilt and being entirely lazy.

Country Girl

2010-01-13T22:28:00.004-05:00

Eliza got a toy barn and a stuffed tractor for Christmas. We decided to dress her up in her tractor t-shirt and let her play with her farm toys. Sadly, once Brian got his camera out, she only wanted to play with his camera. Silly baby.

Don't the pigtails crack you up? She looks like such a big girl.

16 months!

2009-12-28T21:54:00.003-05:00

Eliza is 16-months-old today!

This past month she celebrated her second Christmas, got her bangs trimmed for the first time, found out she's 30 inches tall and 26 lbs, and started saying "okay". She has a whole mouth full of teeth and isn't afraid to use 'em. She's decided that she doesn't like ham or turkey but she LOVES burgers.

Eliza has a bit of a cold right now, but she still held still for our monthly Raggedy Ann picture. Such a good girl.

The Holiday recap and a video year in review

2009-12-27T22:21:00.004-05:00

The holiday time has been a blast. Thanks to everyone with whom we shared our time. A special thanks goes out to our family in Western Ky for hosting us for a few days this December. We had a fantastic time and can't wait to see you guys again real soon.

We hope everyone else has had a wonderful Christmas this year. 2009 has been a rather eventful and interesting year. Here's a video wrapping up this year in Eliza's life. This year she lived in three houses, two towns, turned one, made her first visit to the zoo, Kings Island and Nashville, and learned to walk. Now she's beginning to learn to talk. Here's a trip down memory lane and then some pictures from our Christmas vacation. By the way YouTube didn't like the song we used, so we had to find a different video host. Hope this works okay.

Eliza's 2009 wrap-up from Janie Smith on Vimeo.

Cutie, huh? Can you believe how much she's changed this year?

Sadly, Eliza has caught a bit of a chest cold. She's still the best natured baby in the world and doesn't even seem as though she feels bad. It's amazing that she hasn't gotten sick sooner, with all the running around and visiting we've done this month.

We went to Mayfield and visited with family.

Then we went to Nashville to visit the science museum, the Opryland hotel, and to see Charlie Brown Christmas in ICE. Which was one of the coolest things (literally, too) I've ever seen in my life. If you haven't seen it, run, don't walk, to see this exhibit before it closes.

For our Christmas, we went to my Mom's house Christmas Eve and then spent a very lazy Christmas Day at home. Eliza got a new toy barn that makes all kinds of sounds and has lots of fun buttons to push. She also got her first set of Duplos and her first Hello Kitty doll.

Here's some video of us playing in our living room after Eliza's new toys seemingly exploded all over the place.

Hope everyone else out there had a wonderful holiday time, too.

Have a happy and healthy 2010 and stay tuned for Eliza's 16 month Raggedy Ann picture coming soon!

Summer-Winter (a picture recap) and some other tidbits

2009-12-07T16:10:00.009-05:00

I've been terrible with keeping up the blog. I'll give you a little update on us and then show you some of the pictures I just pulled from the little camera I carry in my purse. I have some from back in the summer, even!

Thanksgiving was nice, but the next day my Mom fell ill and spent a week in the hospital in Louisville. Brian's Mom was nice enough to stay with us and keep Eliza last week. Thankfully, my mother is home and doing much better, so we'll be back in our usual routine tomorrow.

We've put up two Christmas trees this year. We initially put up an artificial tree, but it's no secret that I'm not a fan of the fake tree or colored lights. My very understanding husband let me undecorate the fake tree and put up a real one with white lights. Before and after pictures to follow below.

Next week we're heading to Western KY to visit family and we'll also head to Nashville to take in some of the holiday cheer at the Opryland Hotel. We couldn't be more thrilled.

Eliza is chatting up a storm these days. She likes to say "Oh, wow!" along with "Who/what's that?" Along with her own little alien baby language we've yet to translate. Her hair is getting much longer and really wild, but she won't let me put bows and ponytail holders in it. She has almost a full mouth of teeth and still uses them to chew almost anything she can get her hands on.

And now, a half a year's worth of quick snapshots.

A bright little picture...

2009-11-30T13:10:00.002-05:00

This one goes out to Betty, who is hopefully continuing to get better in Louisville as we speak. Eliza's (slightly overdue) 15-month picture.

I'm a slacker!

2009-11-16T07:51:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lapse in posts. We've been so busy with work and the approaching holiday and we haven't had much time to update. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year and we're too excited for words.

This past weekend was a productive one. We both had to work Saturday, but Sunday we cleaned up the house and then headed out to the park. The weekend before that, we went back to the Orchard with Brian's Dad and Stepmom. We had a ton of fun on a hayride and buying apples for another pie. I also bought some pie pumpkins and tried my hand at a homemade pumpkin pie. We have pictures from both weekends and plan to post them shortly, we swear.

Eliza is, of course, thriving. Lately she's learning to get her way by squealing loudly. She's also learned to say "up" when she wants out of her high chair or she wants someone to hold her. She doesn't have any other baby family members to play with, so she's fascinated when she sees other kids. She needs some buddies and I think we're going to be working on that soon.

Pictures to come soon!

Eliza's first trick-or-treat in pictures

2009-10-31T19:49:00.004-04:00

14-months-old!

2009-10-29T21:59:00.005-04:00

Eliza is 14-months-old (yesterday. sorry)!

First, we'd like to thank Grandmomma and Granddaddy for the nice Halloween card for Eliza. She absolutely loved looking at it.

Second, we're gearing up for Eliza's first Halloween as a trick-or-treater. We're going to dust off the ballerina duck costume from a couple of weeks ago, but a little fancier. I worked on teaching her to say "trick or treat" the other night. It sound like "tritick", so I think we'll try again tomorrow.

Tonight, however, we finally got around to carving our pumpkin. Here's a picture.

We also (a day late, sorry) took Eliza's 14-month Raggedy Ann picture. She was sleepy and grumpy and a multitude of other dwarves, but we managed to get a shot we could live with.

This month, Eliza became a full blown talker and a full blown walker. It's amazing how much this adorable little kiddo has absorbed in the past 30 days. I can't imagine what a little terror she's going to be when she learns to RUN.

An adorable terror.

Boyd Orchards and the Family Pumpkin

2009-10-25T20:26:00.006-04:00

Today we decided to head out for some family fun at a local Orchard. They have lots of family activities, music, hay rides, and lots of beautiful fresh fruit. After our fun hay ride, Eliza helped us pick out a pumpkin.

Isn't the store adorable? While we were inside, we also picked out some delicious Empire apples. I made a pie as soon as we got home. The pie tastes delicious, but is a little on the runny side. Lesson learned. Next time I'll let the filling simmer longer. Still, we got a half gallon of apple cider that's FANTASTIC.

Finally! The best sound...

2009-10-24T20:24:00.003-04:00

Eliza has been a chatterbox lately. She says "Who's that?" constantly while pointing at various things (pictures, objects, etc.), Eziza, Ah-boo (we haven't figured this out yet, but she says it constantly), and "Hot". All food is "hot", no matter the temperature.

She routinely says "Hi, Dad!" to Brian, but she has not yet mastered my name. Until tonight...

I left a room and she momentarily got upset, I was in the kitchen and I heard her yell "MAMA!!!" from the living room.

Pre-Halloween lull

2009-10-19T09:19:00.003-04:00

Nothing much is going on that's exciting. Eliza walks just like a big girl now. She's all over the house and can nearly run. She's learning to say "Who's that?" when she looks at pictures and can usually identify herself and Brian. She'll say "Dada" and "E-za" or "E-za-za". She still can't really say "Mama". She will, however, say "Hi".

As Brian said in the last post, we went to Kings Island for our second trip to Howl-o-Fest/Halloween Haunt. Here's a video of Eliza riding the Nick-O-Round in her ballerina duck costume.

The weather is unusually brisk for this time of year. We've been hanging out inside by the fireplace and enjoying each other's company. What a nice fall season this has been so far.

More Kings Island!

2009-10-12T14:57:00.002-04:00

I swear, we should live there. We're honestly thinking about getting season passes for next year, we've been so many times.

Mom and Lee came up for a few days, so we decided to go Saturday and do both Howl-o-Fest and Halloween Haunt.

This necessitated getting Eliza a Halloween costume early, so we officially scrapped the Super Martian Robot Girl costume in favor of a duck ballerina outfit that is so adorable, it just might break your computer.

Once we got to the park, Janie, Lee and I got in what will be our last ride on Scooby Doo before Cedar Fair rebrands the entire kid section to Planet Snoopy. As is to be expected, I smoked both of them at the shooting game, because I have killer Duck Hunt skills.

After that, Janie and Mom took Eliza off for some kid stuff while Lee and I got in line for Diamondback, which is the seventh-fastest coaster in North America.

That fact, incidentally, was one that I didn't share with Lee until about halfway up the lift hill.

After a nice ride on Diamondback, we somehow convinced Mom to actually get on a coaster, which meant that Janie stayed with Eliza while the rest of us piled onto the artist formerly known as The Italian Job. Mom did surprisingly well, especially for someone with severe motion sickness and a bad back.

After a little walking around and some bumper cars, Janie tended to a now-fussy Eliza while we climbed on the red side of Racer (the blue side was closed.) As I love to do on wooden coasters, I made us go for the very back, and I've now done a 100 percent hands-up ride on both sides of Racer.

Mom swore off any more coasters for the rest of the night, and we decided to grab dinner at what is normally one of the best deals in the park, the Coney Mall Subway.

This time, however, the Subway was apparently staffed by people with no clue, as they asked Janie if she wanted a footlong sub even though you can't actually order one (we had to pay for two 6-inch subs at $6 a piece, which kills the good deal.)

After we ate, Lee and I tried to grab a quick ride on Invertigo, but we ended up in line for close to an hour. Very foggy from a combination of the fog machines that looked like they were spraying for mosquitoes and actual fog.

Then came what was something of a mistake, even though it was something we wanted to do: BEAST.

Riding The Beast at night is an amazing experience. Riding it, as I got to on our last trip, with the brakes pretty much off, is even more amazing, but it was still good Saturday. There's just something about tearing off into the helix in the dark that's thrilling.

What wasn't amazing, though, was the wait. The line was actually backed up to the arcade before you go up the hill to Beast Canyon, and when we finally got to Beast Canyon, the ride clock said 45 minutes. Oh, how wrong it was.

Lee and I managed to wind up onto the ramp to the ride building when the announcement came that The Beast was closing for fireworks. Janie then called to let us know that a park employee told her it was down 30 minutes because of the fireworks.

It ended up being an almost 2.5 hour wait, and by that time Eliza and Janie were freezing to death, so Lee and I hiked back to the front gate to head home.

Despite the wait on Beast (literally the longest ride wait of my life), it was still the best KI trip we've made yet, and we're already thinking about 2010.

She's a walker!

2009-10-04T23:57:00.002-04:00

It's official now: this child can WALK. Alone. For some distance.

Janie and I went to Kings Island for Haunt on Saturday night and left Eliza with her grandmother for the evening. We got a call letting us know that she was walking all over the house while we were there, but we wanted to see it for ourselves.

Sunday afternoon, she was walking across the living room all by herself. She's still a little ungainly with it, and she walks with her hands up like she's guarding John Stockton, but it's walking.

Up next: RUNNING. Oh yeah, it's coming.

Ezaza is 13-months-old

2009-09-28T06:55:00.006-04:00

Eliza can say her name now. It sounds like Ezaza, but she makes a pretty solid attempt. Last night, she very clearly said "Eliza" in this throaty growl she makes. Brian looked at me and said "You did just hear her say her name, right?"

She's making small attempts to walk on her own, but she can't take more than 2 or 3 steps without losing her balance and falling down. Mostly she'll opt to sit down and crawl to her destination, but she's slowly growing more brave.

Today she's 13-months-old!

Edit: Oh, okay. By popular (and by popular, I mean my Mom) demand, we've decided to continue on with Raggedy Ann pictures. At least we'll try monthly 'til she's two.

Oh, and one more thing...

2009-09-20T21:30:00.002-04:00

Eliza took two steps tonight. People claim she's done this before, but I just now saw it with my own eyes. She was extremely wobbly, but this is progress!

Flashback 2008

2009-09-20T16:08:00.005-04:00

A few days ago I found my old Sprint phone and decided to see what was on it. To my surprise, I found lots of pictures from Eliza's first couple of months. I totally lucked out. I thought every picture from that era had been lost when our laptop was stolen.

She's growing up so very fast. This week we realized she's been making attempts at saying her own name. It sounds like a throaty "Za Za" at this point, but she does resond appropriately when you ask her name. She still isn't walking on her own, but last weekend she stood for a good 30 seconds on her own before she realized what she was doing, chickened out and sat down.

In other news, we've really been busy beyond all reason. We routinely stumble through the door at about 7PM, get up at 6AM and do it all over again. Eliza spends her days playing at her Grammy's house while Daddy and Mommy bring home the bacon. Luckily we've had some weekend fun lately. Last Sunday we decided to head to Cincinnati to a Bengals game. We we sitting on the very back row, but there isn't a bad seat in Paul Brown stadium. Here's a little video of the view from our seats.

This past Friday, we headed out to Christ the King Oktoberfest to see The Minus 5 put on the most rockin' show a church fundraiser has ever seen. Unfortunately, the crowd proved to be a bit much for Eliza, so she headed to Grammy's and called it an early night. We got to have a parents' night out. We got to shake hands with Peter Buck from R.E.M., too. Here's some video of Brian being too chicken to go up and say hello. I had to take the initiative and shake his hand first so Brian would go behind me. Here's a little video of Brian pondering the possibility of shaking Peter Buck's hand and chickening out.

We've been planning our winter this morning and the holiday time is going to be fantastic this year. I'm so excited. I just hope we have enough room for the Christmas tree in our living room. But first, Halloween.

Busy times!

2009-09-09T22:03:00.003-04:00

I spent all last week at home with Eliza as part of what corporate has obfuscatingly termed "work reduction" (read: unpaid furlough.) The upside to that was, we got to have a lot of fun. We went to the park one afternoon, we went to the store, we played games, we took naps. Fun was had by all.

Tonight, we had spaghetti for dinner, which meant Eliza got to play with her food a little.

As you can see, Eliza had some fun with it.

She did scare us a little last night by waking up at 4 a.m. screaming for no reason. That's extremely unlike her.

Let her eat cake!

2009-08-30T22:06:00.004-04:00

We had such a fantastic time at Eliza's Teddy Bear tea party birthday. Eliza's friends came, we ate cake, drank tea, and opened presents. Here are a few pictures and video of the cake festivities.

I attempted to make Eliza a bear cake, but I had a bear malfunction in the actual baking process. Sweet Magnolia bakery in Lexington came to my rescue and the outcome couldn't have been nicer. Especially wonderful considering the fact that the order came in a mere 48 hours before the party.

There were multiple reports that Eliza took several steps on her own during the party. I didn't actually witness this, so I can't say for certain. I'll keep you posted.

After the party, a lot of our party attendees went out for dinner together. We had such a fantastic day! I'm sure there will be more pictures as they roll in.

Eliza's first birthday video

2009-08-29T22:21:00.002-04:00

We had a fantastic time at Eliza's birthday party. Pictures and details to follow tomorrow. However, here's the video montage of Eliza's first year in pictures that we showed during her party. Makes me cry every single time I see it.

Eliza is ONE!

2009-08-28T16:23:00.006-04:00

Eliza is ONE!
You wouldn't believe how much she's grown over the past month.
This morning we took her very last monthly Raggedy Ann picture and her growth was just amazing.

Okay, she hasn't grown that much, but she does wear a size 5 shoe.

There we go. I can't believe my little baby is now a big girl. Over the past month she's become a more confident cruiser, but she's still not walking. She's afraid to stand up on her own, but in her more brave moments, it's obvious that she could if she'd just let go. She says "hey" and "bye", but "hey" is really the only thing she says that's easy to make out. She's absolutely mastered drinking milk and we've entirely put away the bottles. Such a very big girl she is. Tomorrow we're having a Teddy Bear Tea Party to celebrate.

We're situated, now here's an update.

2009-08-23T22:57:00.002-04:00

The Friday before we moved, we got an unexpected visit from my Dad, Eliza's other Grandfather. She hadn't had the chance to meet him, so we all got together for dinner. Here's a little video.

The following couple of days were a complete blur. We were rushed to get the moving completed and we were extremely short on help. Finally, Eliza wasn't very happy with seeing her stuff in a new location and decided to be extremely fussy for her first couple of days.

We spent the week trying to get the place together in time for Eliza's first birthday party this weekend. In the meantime, we attended Caylor Hicks' first birthday party on Saturday. Eliza really seemed to like being around other kids. I think she needs more baby friends.

So now we're settled and really looking forward to the coming weekend so we can celebrate our big girl's first birthday. I was working on a little tribute video for her first birthday and I couldn't help tearing up. This year has flown. It all goes so fast.

While I have a second...

2009-08-13T11:39:00.002-04:00

I'll update the blog!

Packing is well underway, but there's still a good way to go before we're finished (we have too much stuff!)

Eliza's pretty well got a full head of thick hair now, and so I think we're going to have to think about a first haircut soon to get it shaped up into something. She's off the bottle entirely now and drinking milk, eating regular food and starting to really show off a personality.

More details when we're not all exhausted and busy.

Big week!

2009-08-10T07:18:00.001-04:00

This is a crazy week, so hang with us through the lack of updates.

When next you hear from us, we should be in our new townhouse!

Eliza is 11-months-old, and this blog is ONE YEAR!

2009-07-28T21:59:00.004-04:00

Today our sweet baby girl is 11-months-old. This blog, dedicated to our sweet baby girl, has officially been updating you on her life for one year. On July 28th of last year, our pack n' play, swing and car seat were delivered and we were in the process of getting Eliza's room in Mayfield ready for her arrival. My, what a difference a year makes.

Now our sweet baby girl is 11-months-old and we're planning her first birthday party. She can almost walk, she's uttered her first sentence (although she mostly just babbles), she's almost finished with bottles, she drinks milk, she can drink out of a big glass without spilling and drink out of a straw, and she's eating a lot more big people food. Right now she's starting to play with her new push toy and loves to nap at Grammy's house with her stuffed hippo.

We've come such a long way in the past year, and there's more fun and adventure to come.

We're still here.

2009-07-27T07:04:00.005-04:00

Eliza is going to be 11-months-old tomorrow. It's completely unbelievable to me. I'm already starting to make plans for her birthday party.

She can now drink out of a regular glass without spilling all down the front of herself. This is hilarious. I had a glass of water on the floor and she just crawled up, took a couple of good sips, and set the glass back down gracefully. She is, however, still a baby, so she managed to knock it over a few minutes later as she was crawling by.

We went to the fair Friday night and she was totally unimpressed by the petting zoo. She was, however, impressed by the circus performers we saw. She danced and bounced and squealed for the duration of their show. She's growing up so quickly. And, as usual, she made friends with everyone in the crowd.

Eliza "Hoover" Smith

2009-07-21T20:06:00.003-04:00

Eliza is going through a phase. She now eats anything she can off the carpet. One day I caught her stuffing random pieces of fuzz in her mouth. And in the most disgusting turn of events, she's managed to chew and nearly swallow two bugs before I caught her. My mother assured me it's good protein, I was horrified. My mother has nicknamed her "Hoover".

We're still adapting to our new schedules. My new job as an assistant manager as an apartment community is good, but busy. Eliza seems to like her time at Grammy's house and hopefully things will continue to get less hectic as times rolls on.

More to come, soon. Including pictures of our new car!

First sentence!

2009-07-16T21:32:00.001-04:00

Today, while out and about with Grammy, Aunt Cheryl and Aunt Margie, Eliza said "I'm sleepy."

I couldn't be more proud.

A busy week..

2009-07-15T07:22:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry you guys haven't heard from us in a bit. I started a new job on Monday, Eliza is staying with my Mom each day and she lives 45 minutes away. Needless to say, we've lost 3 hours of our day with this new schedule, so there's less time for blogging. I promise I'll try to do a better job with keeping you guys up to date.

Eliza is cruising around like a champ, cutting her top two teeth, and babbling up a storm. In fact, she's such a babbler that you almost have to shush her in public.

We're trying to make the switch from bottle to sippy cup and milk from formula all at the same time. She doesn't like either.

In other news, we bought a new car this past weekend. Since we opted out of daycare, we decided to assign those baby care dollars to a car payment. It had to happen. My car was in bad shape and never could have survived the drive to Lexington each day. I was sad to see it go after 9 years of service, but I'm driving Brian's Malibu now and it's serving me well.

I hope everyone out there in blogland is doing well. Pictures soon.

July 4th and Janie's Birthday at Kings Island

2009-07-06T11:07:00.008-04:00

We had the most terrific weekend possible. We braved the overcast skies and eventual rain and headed downtown for the annual 4th of July Festival. Great food and drink we had by all. We managed to see a couple of great bands play in Phoenix Park and caught a bit of the annual waiter's race (a Lexington 4th of July tradition). After that, we went to my Mom's for my early birthday dinner, then we went with my Mom and sister downtown for fireworks. It was absolutely pouring, but my birthday begins immediately following fireworks (according to Janie's rules of living.)

Sunday morning we got up nice and early, picked up Bransen (my smart, funny, completely cool nephew), and headed north for yet another day at Kings Island. I can't say enough about how much we enjoy this place. We got a parent swap pass this time, allowing us both to ride rides while one watches the baby. I didn't ride as many things as I would have liked, but the pass allows you to bring another rider back on with you while the other parent watches the baby. Because of this, Bran got to ride Invertigo twice in a row.

We saw the WORST show in this history of shows (but hilariously so), A "Guess Your Age" booth lady guessed that I'm 44 so I won a stuffed Hippo (I'm 34, for the record, and I'm usually told I look younger), we ate some delicious blue ice cream, rode some rollercoasters, I won a stuff Mickey Mouse playing the crane game and the baby even got to go on the Scooby Doo ride. Brian and Bran rode The Beast at night and we closed the place down and stayed for fireworks. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

4th of July pictures

Kings Island 7/05/2009

Eliza eats in her sleep

2009-06-29T22:08:00.001-04:00

Eliza didn't take a nap this afternoon, so she was nodding off while eating puffs before dinner tonight. Of course her Mommy found it adorable and just had to get it on video.

Eliza is 10-months-old.

2009-06-28T21:01:00.004-04:00

Our sweet, funny and genuinely cool baby girl turned 10-months-old today. She was born last summer and here we are in summer again. In two brief months from now and we'll have ourselves a kid with a full year of life experience under her belt. Here's what Eliza can do now that she couldn't do last month.

-She crawls and cruises like a champ. She can walk from one side of the room to the other as long as she has enough furniture to steady herself.

-She can drink an entire bottle on her own without having to have me recline her to finish it.

-She just started taking baths in the big tub.

-She will eat almost any baby food we give her, and she's starting to try more grown-up food. This month she tried watermelon and iced tea for the first time.

-She's babbling up a storm and says DADADADADADADADA constantly. She's beginning to realize that it actually means Daddy.

-Her top left tooth is poking through. Good thing we just started brushing with her brand new Hello Kitty toothbrush.

-She tries really hard to wave, but sometimes it's a delayed reaction. Someone will wave at her and she'll wave 5 minutes later. She also randomly waves during the day or waves at the TV or computer screens.

Last night we went to the drive-in again and took a few pictures. As much as we love watching a movie under the stars, the movie we saw was terrible. Eliza sat and watched the whole movie like a big girl. She even sat still and ate puffs out of my hand most of the time. So big.

Here are a few pictures of Eliza's first bath in the big tub, our trip to the movies and, of course, this month's Raggedy Ann picture.

Eliza's Summer Fun

2009-06-23T21:05:00.005-04:00

Eliza went swimming outside for the first time today. She absolutely loved it. We had a fun afternoon hanging out with my old friend Lyssa and her adorable son Ryder.

Yesterday our neighbors were nice enough to share some watermelon with us, so Eliza had some for a snack. Enjoy these videos of our summer fun.

This week Eliza has made great progress on the road to walking. She can cruise anywhere there's a piece of furniture to steady herself with. She always gets a little too ambitious when trying to change pieces of furniture and lets go too soon. This usually leads to abruptly falling on her rear. Luckily Eliza fears nothing, so she just picks herself up and tries again.

She's also become a human vacuum cleaner. She'll find pieces of food we dropped months ago hiding under furniture, etc. She always manages to find a months-old puff and shove it in her mouth before I can stop her. Thankfully the incidents seem few and far between and have been isolated to food and not other, more dangerous objects.

Our little baby is doing so well. I can't believe she'll be 10-months-old on Sunday.

Eliza's 9 month doctor visit

2009-06-18T17:16:00.003-04:00

Eliza went to her 9 month check-up on Tuesday. We were initially really irritated because her doctor's office changed her appointment and then never called us to tell us they'd rescheduled her. They did work her in, but I think this just underscores our resolve to find Eliza new pediatrician soon.

Eliza has grown to 28 1/4 inches tall, which is 60-something percentile, and 22lbs. 5oz, which is 90th percentile. So, not quite as tall for her age, but still just slightly less heavy. We were told to give her at least 3 bottles a day, with a goal to have her totally off of bottles and onto sippy cups by 12 months. Still no milk, eggs or nuts. So I guess cake is out. Bummer.

After the doctor, we went to Babiesaurus to get a babyproofing item we really, really need. Since Eliza has started pulling up on furniture and attempting to cruise, she's bumped her head on the table a couple of times. We decided it was finally time to get corner guards. It was either that or a helmet. We decided the table bumpers would be more attractive (but only slightly). Eliza loves the bumpers, but perhaps too much. Check out this video we took Tuesday night.

Because I promised...

2009-06-17T15:05:00.005-04:00

...I'm writing about the Kings Island trip as well. (It's hard to stay motivated to write here when I spend all day writing for a living. Gotta work on that.)

Kings Island was probably the best park experience I've ever had, honestly. I've now done: Disney World; Six Flags St. Louis; the late, great Opryland USA; Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom; and Kings Island. Kings Island is the clear No. 1, with SFSTL running second.

The day at the park started with having to park halfway to Akron. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the danger of showing up at a park after lunch.

Once we made the epic trek into the park, we were immediately bombarded with people wielding cameras. I did manage to get the picture of Eliza with Spongebob while they were also documenting it for the low, low price of $14.99 per refrigerator magnet.

Following the First Law of Avoiding Crowds, we went left and ended up at Drop Tower, a ride I would normally pass up. Janie talked me into starting off the day with it, though, so I jumped on the fairly short line.

While I was in line, though, the wet stuff started to come down a bit. By the time I was actually strapped in on the tower, it was becoming noticeable. As we rode to the top of the tower (and let me tell you, that's a long ride) we actually moved through a band of rain and ended up in a dry zone until they dropped us.

About five minutes after I got off Drop Zone, as I headed down the eight miles of queue that leads to Flight Deck, I met a group coming back who said they had just shut the ride down. The rain was still extremely light at this point, but off in the distance was a dark cloud that would be the bane of our existence for the next three hours.

Since most rides were closed, we headed toward Nickelodeon Universe to keep Eliza amused (and because that's where Janie prefers to start her park visits.) The rain had yet to close the carousel, so Eliza and Janie took a twirl while I manned the video camera and guarded the stuff.

After the carousel, we took Eliza to meet her favorite Latino child star, Dora la Exploradora. Then, it was back around the kids' area to look around until... the heavens opened.

We spent the next 90 minutes, at least, huddled inside or near a merch stand, trying to stay dry, eating a $2 bag of pretzels and drinking a $4 bottle of Coke Zero (the pretzels, oddly, were regular price. Strange,) and waiting on the rain to slacken or stop. At one point, Eliza tried to shoplift a stuffed animal by grabbing it when we weren't looking.

Finally, though, the rain let up enough for us to move, so we headed back toward International Street while we debated calling the day a washout. The rain started to pick back up, so we piled into Skyline Chili to wait and see what happened.

The rain did eventually begin to stop, which meant it was time to head back out and wait for the test runs to start going. We happened up on Vortex getting ready to open, so I jumped in line and was one of the first out after it restarted.

Now, it's important to remember that, while I'm strapped into the front car of a very high-speed coaster, this is the first time I've been on a coaster in close to five years. I'm also older, heavier and in generally worse shape (that shape being round.)

I got a little blurry while on Vortex. Nothing major, just a little tunnel vision during a particularly high-G turn, but still, scary for someone who's been on high-speed coasters with no problems in the past.

I blame most of it on trying to compensate for neck muscles that aren't quite as strong as they used to be (witness the tension headache I had all evening as we went home.)

After Vortex and a quick trip through the Backlot Stunt Coaster (ehh), it was off to get in line for what was one of my main attractions: The Beast. I've made it a life goal to ride the 10 fastest wooden coasters in the United States, since I love wooden coasters so much.

As seems to befall me every time I'm in line for a coaster I'm dying to ride, though, the rains returned. Light at first, but enough to shut the ride down and leave everyone in line with a choice: bail and give up your spot or ride it out and move up.

I took a (correct) bet that the rain would move back out, and stayed. That meant that 90 minutes later when they got the all-clear, I was on the second train out after the ride check. As I prefer to do on woodies, I went to the last car and was tail-end Charlie.

The Beast is an amazing thing. It's long, fast and with three tunnels, has multiple "headchopper" moments. The best part, though, was bursting out of a pitch-black tunnel into an uphill right-hander in brilliant, dazzling sunlight. Almost a religious experience at 65 mph.

After getting off The Beast, I was refreshed just in time for perfect weather, so I hit the almost-vacant Racer to cross another coaster off the top-10 list. Still need to ride the red side for completeness, but I was glad to get this one in. Had to ride the first car instead of the back, but still got it in.

I followed up Racer with a successful visit to the nine acres of railing that is the Flight Deck queue. Honestly, I almost could have stayed on after my ride, it was so empty. Flight Deck, by the way, is about 30 seconds (and a coat of paint) away from being a great coaster. As it is, it's too short.

After Flight Deck was the No. 1 coaster on the list: Son of Beast. 78.3 mph of wooden fury, combined with a neck-stretching "Rose Bowl" double helix. Again, I was tail-end Charlie and loved every bone-rattling second of it.

By this point, it was getting later in the day and the line for Diamondback was getting longer, so we swung by Invertigo, which was the last coaster of the day. Had a scary moment when, on the backwards ascent at the start, my harness needed another click to be tight and I was having to push myself back against the seat until we took off and the G-forces would push me down enough to click it. Got it latched tight, though, and I loved the rest of it.

So, since Janie and I had so much fun, we're going back for her birthday. We're going to spend all day July 4 at the park, from open until fireworks. To make sure we get everything in, we're going on a "coaster diet" to shed a little weight for comfort on some of the tighter seats (I'm looking at you, Vortex) and so we feel better walking all day. We're also going to get a "parent swap pass" at the front gate so we can trade off riding and watching Eliza without having to stand in line twice.

Man, this was long. Here are two videos to make this post even longer on the page:

....and the rest of the weekend.

2009-06-15T07:26:00.005-04:00

This is my husband. He's smiling because I woke up yesterday morning and decided to reward him with a trip to Kings Island. It rained, it sunned, we laughed, we nearly cried, but we had a great time.

The weekend so far...

2009-06-13T21:51:00.004-04:00

We decided that we were going to have a relaxing weekend. So far, so good. Yes, I knocked whatever kind of Target furniture particle board this desk is made of.

Last night, Aunt Cheryl and Eliza's cousin Bransen came over and we played a couple of games. Today we watched some TV, hung around the house, grilled some steaks and went to walk at the park.

We managed to capture a few pictures of fun moments we've had lately. Thought we'd share.

Eliza visits Daddy's office

2009-06-10T15:49:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was a particularly fun day. I've been doing a lot of baking lately and just recently decided to try my hand at baking and decorating cakes. My first attempt was a congratulatory cake for Brian's new editor. I'm told it tasted better than it looks, although, that's not half bad for my first attempt at decorating a cake. Ever.

We took the cake to Brian's office and Eliza had fun typing at his keyboard. Doesn't she look like a little cub reporter?

If you're interested in reading more about my baking exploits, visit my baking blog.
Right here!

New photos!

2009-06-09T17:55:00.003-04:00

Playing around with some things this afternoon while enjoying a day off...

Eliza's first video game

2009-06-07T14:19:00.002-04:00

I thought Eliza might like to play some Mario, but the old Nintendo isn't hooked up. Brian decided to show her some Sonic instead. You'll see that she's trying to move the analog stick on her own. She's a natural.

Eliza stands up!

2009-06-04T10:12:00.003-04:00

I didn't witness it, since I was at work, but I got a call this morning that Eliza successfully pulled herself up on her baby pen to better watch educational programming.

Janie said the biggest problem was that she couldn't find a way to sit back down.

Tomorrow is Janie's heart cath, so I'm taking advantage of having to work Saturday to have tomorrow off to be there.

More on our mini vacation and Eliza's first movie!

2009-06-01T14:05:00.004-04:00

For Memorial Day we went to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg with Brian's Mom and his sister. The weather wasn't the greatest, but we managed to get in a game of miniature golf and some swimming in the indoor pool. Mostly, we just chilled in the hotel room and got some R&R. Here are some pictures.

We've had a bit of a crazy week. I had some medical tests that turned out a little yucky last week, so the end of this week is going to bring a cardiac catheterization. Yikes! Scary stuff. We're hoping for good news, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

In the meantime, we've been enjoying some family time together. Last night we went to the drive-in to see Up and see Star Trek for the second time. The first movie was cute, but wasn't as fantastic as everyone seemed to say. The drive-in is such a cool, retro place to go and hang out. Last night was a little chilly, but it couldn't have been a more beautiful night to be out on a blanket under the stars enjoying a movie with your family. Eliza had a bit of a freakout when she got sleepy, but we managed to put her in the car seat to sleep as we sat in the front and enjoyed the second film.

Brian was excited because Eliza looks poised to be a car enthusiast like her Dad and Poppa. Here's a little video from our trip to the drive-in last night.

Nine months!

2009-05-28T19:29:00.001-04:00

If it's the 28th, it must be Raggedy Ann time!

This month, Eliza learned how to crawl with her belly up, pulled up to standing, started eating more adult food, babbles constantly, including "dada" and "mama," took her first vacation (more on that later) and went swimming for the first time.

It's hard to believe I have a 9-month-old baby. She shouldn't be this old. For that matter, I shouldn't be this old.

She's the best thing to ever happen to us, though.

Vacation and the beginnings of cruising

2009-05-26T08:07:00.005-04:00

This weekend we took a little break and headed down to the Smoky mountains with Brian's Mom and his sister Lee. We had some fun and Eliza got to swim for the first time.

Eliza was attempting to pull herself up in her pack n play all weekend, so I wasn't surprised at all when serious attempts to stand were made when we got home. We put her behind her baby gate to play for a bit, and within 15 minutes she was trying to stand up. She used her boppy for leverage, stood up, realized she didn't know how and pitched face forward onto some blocks. She had a block-shaped mark on her forehead for the rest of the night. This learning to stand/walk thing is going to be traumatic for me. I'm putting serious thought into buying her a helmet.

Then we played in the living room where we try to keep her away from dangerous furniture. She targeted the suitcase we hadn't carried upstairs yet. The first time, she crawled over, pulled herself up, and actually cruised a couple of steps. The second time she just pulled herself up, grabbed a shirt and fell. We did manage to catch her second attempt on video, though.

She's growing up so fast. She'll be 9 months on Thursday. Can you guys believe it?

Eliza stays put

2009-05-19T18:12:00.003-04:00

I wanted Eliza to get mobile and learn to crawl, but I didn't think of the ramifications of Eliza actually crawling. It's sorta like when you vote for a local politician who promises to change some things and then he knocks down your house to build a road. Careful what you wish for.

In the past week, Eliza has gotten lightning fast. A can put her on the floor in the living room, spend 10 seconds in the kitchen and come back to newspapers all over the floor or Eliza attempting to move giant books from the bookshelf even though they weigh twice what she weighs. We went out and got all the babyproofing necessities like outlet covers, but I still needed a way to contain my adorable little monster without leaving her in a playpen half the day.

Enter: THE BABY CAGE

Basically it's just a hexagonal baby gate that keeps Eliza and her toys in a contained area. It totally looks like we're about to stage Oompa Loompa wrestling matches in Eliza's bedroom. We sorta felt guilty about this at first, but if I ever hope to get anything done again, I have to be able to keep her contained without keeping her too contained.

Here's some video of our new acquisition.

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Quiet Week

2009-05-16T11:10:00.004-04:00

I'm sorry we've been so quiet over the the last week. Our happenings have sorta gotten in the way of daily blogging. I hope to get back to it this next week. I've tried my hand at baking a bit recently, and that's filling a lot of my time. This week I've managed to make 3 loaves of sandwich bread, gingerbread, biscuits, and a giant batch of fantastic chocolate chip cookies.

Eliza is getting bigger and has gotten so mobile that we're going shopping for a cage today. Not like a doggie kennel, but one of those octagonal baby gates that will allow her to be mobile, but keep her from tearing all the newspapers out from under the coffee table. Our living room will constantly look like we're hosting an Oompa Loompa wrestling competition.

Since Eliza now sits up at will, she takes that opportunity not to nap. As soon as I put her down, I can hear her shuffling around over the baby monitor. I go in her room and sure enough, she's sitting up playing with her glow worm. Even if she's only half awake, she's still sitting up doing something instead of napping. It's only a matter of time before she'll figure out how to pull herself to a standing position. Then we'll be in trouble.

We haven't really taken many pictures lately, so I thought I'd add a picture I really love that was taken the same night we took the bath splashing video. I want to get a video soon of her new bath routine. She likes to rub the side of the tub until it makes a squeaking noise. Then she laughs until her Daddy laughs and then she does it again. This will go on for 5 minutes or so until we finally have to take her out of the tub. It's adorable. Maybe next bath I'll try to get it on video. I love that she already has desire to make people laugh. She's mommy's girl.

Mother's Day at the Cincinnati Zoo

2009-05-11T10:19:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning, at the very last minute, I decided I'd like to spend Mother's Day at the Zoo. Since I was told I could do anything I wanted, Brian couldn't say no. We jumped in the car and headed up I-75 to Cincinnati. It's really not a bad drive at all. Eliza was extremely fussy on the way up, but one emergency diaper change later, we arrived in Cincinnati. Just as we were driving in, we learned that the Reds were playing the Cardinals. We almost ducked out on the zoo plan and went to the baseball game instead. Sadly, the game was 10 minutes in and I've heard parking for Great American is a challenge.

When we arrived at the zoo, we found out that Moms and babies get in free! Yay! Sadly, we also learned that this particular zoo is not at all stroller-friendly. In fact, the Rhino exhibit is down several flights of stairs. There are also several exhibit buildings (including the noturnal animal house) that do not allow strollers at all. We honestly didn't see much. At the exhibits that didn't allow strollers, I sent Brian in to take pictures for us. Eliza was below viewing level most of the day, so the only animal she really saw was the tail end of the Great North American Sweaty Redneck Guy.

We still had fun walking around and we did see some cool giraffes and a very hungry cheetah. Here are some of the better pictures Brian took. I was extremely disappointed that the Polar Bears weren't enjoying an ice cold Coca-Cola. I guess they only drink Coke in an arctic environment.

Eliza Crawled (like, a real crawl)

2009-05-09T15:39:00.003-04:00

At 7 months, Eliza did this really awkward crawl that looked like an army crawl/slide on her face. Today, she crawled nice and proper. In an attempt to get it on video, I set up a camera on the floor on the opposite side of her room and tempted her with toys. This video was originally 12 minutes long, but here are the last two minutes when she finally makes her away across the room to grab a toy she couldn't resist. There wasn't a lot of distance for her to crawl, but she does it for sure.

Also, Eliza learned to wave "bye-bye" yesterday. She waved to my Mom as we were leaving her apartment. Brian claims she'd done it before, but I hadn't seen it. Yesterday is the date entered in the official baby book.

Hooray for milestones. Let's hope these don't fall out of her head like the last set.

Tonight we're going to dinner with Brian's Dad and Stepmom. We haven't seen them since Easter, so we're looking forward to it. I'm sure Eliza will be thrilled, too.

Eliza splashes and laughs at her first joke

2009-05-07T11:42:00.002-04:00

I know I'm on a huge video kick lately, but I couldn't help sharing these. First, Eliza laughed in the appropriate place at a knock knock joke on TV. I couldn't believe it, so I played it for her again today. Sure enough, she laughed at the same place.

And just for fun, here's some video of Eliza splashing around in the tub.

Parenting platitudes ring true.

2009-05-06T10:59:00.002-04:00

Have you ever heard anyone say that you shouldn't buy expensive toys for kids because they'll end up having more fun with the box? I used to think that was a complete crock. An excuse for parents to avoid ponying up for the high dollar toys.

Meet Eliza. Human proof that we should all listen to ancient parenting advice.

Eliza's Swing: a Tribute

2009-05-05T14:20:00.003-04:00

From time to time, I was putting Eliza in her baby swing when I needed to work on our bedroom. Last week, while I was dealing with all the burglary nonsense, I noticed Eliza was grabbing the support bars as she was swinging back and forth. I'm all for newer developmental milestones, but since this seemed really dangerous, I decided it was time to retire the swing. She's only 3 lbs. away from the max weight limit anyway. Now the swing is living in her closet until we can figure out what to do with it.

We've had a lot of good times with Eliza's baby swing. So here, for your viewing pleasure (and an excuse for me to play around with Windows Movie Maker's goofy transition effects), Eliza's Swing: A Tribute.

In other news: I actually saw Eliza go from crawling position to sitting position THREE times today. I guess she can officially do this. So exciting. Now if she'd just get the proper crawl together, she'd be right on target with her milestones. She's showing absolutely zero interest in trying to pull up using furniture. You know what? I'm okay with that. That'll probably delay the risk of stitches. I'm okay with that, too.

Derby Day

2009-05-03T12:41:00.002-04:00

After an otherwise horrible week, we found ourselves having a good time in the rain at Keeneland for Derby Day. Here's some video of Brian, Eliza and myself hanging out between races and a few of our misguided picks. For the record, however, my horse in the 9th TIED for 3rd and I won about $5.30. Since I bet $6 total on that race, I lost $.70. But it was still fun!

In other news, I came to get Eliza after a nap the other day and she was sitting up in her crib. So we know she CAN get into a sitting position, we just haven't actually seen her do it.

In other, other news, Foxglove finally changed our locks after three days of begging them to do so. We had two detectives from RPD take over the case at roughly the same time, so we find the timing more than a bit "coincidental". Who cares. We'll take any help we need to feel safer and catch our crook.

The Voice of the Blogger

2009-04-30T12:10:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, we were burglarized on Tuesday night. We have reason to suspect people who were working here over the past few days. Painters and maintentance people. These people are employees and contractors of the apartment complex.

The apartment management, Foxglove Apartments, refuses to change our locks. And if we change the locks at our expense, they need it to work with their "master" key, negating the lock change.

We couldn't be more fearful or furious. We are sitting ducks and Foxglove will take no action to keep us safe.

Eliza is 8-months-old (yesterday)!

2009-04-29T13:59:00.003-04:00

Sorry we didn't take a Raggedy Ann picture yesterday. For some reason, I was thinking all weekend that the 28th was Wednesday. Even if we'd remembered, we sort of had an event that caused me to forget nearly everything.

We went to the grocery store last night and while we were gone, the house was robbed. They took Brian's laptop, the Wii, all the Wii games and Brian's ipod. We're absolutely heartbroken. We're not rich people, so we won't likely be able to replace these things anytime soon. We have a pretty fair idea of who (in a general sense) did this and we're angry. All the cliches about feeling violated are absolutely true. I no longer feel safe in our little rental townhouse or with renting from Foxglove, the property management company. We're hoping that between the police and the apartment complex, someone will step up and help correct this situation. What a terrible sinking feeling.

On to better things, Eliza was 8-months-old yesterday! In the past month she has cut a tooth, spoken and forgotten two words, learned and forgotten how to crudely crawl, and she's started stage 2 baby food. She now eats 3 meals a day, with lunch reserved for new and experimental foods. She's in the process of learning how to crawl in proper hands and knees position and hopefully she'll learn to pull herself into a sitting position, too. She's working on picking up food with her thumb and index finger. So far she's managed to get 4 or 5 puffs into her mouth in this way. Mostly she just licks the puffs. She's finally drinking from her sippy cup and usually volunteers to hold it herself. She'll hold her own bottle, but she hasn't really gotten the memo that she's supposed to tilt it up to make the formula run to the top. She's mostly a very happy baby unless she's sleep or hungry. Much like her Daddy.

In other news, I got all my bloodwork back and everything looks normal. No diabetes, no high cholesterol, no thyroid problems. Next step is a tilt table test to check our my slow heart rate and gallbladder surgery. Referrals for both are coming soon.

And now, a little behind the scenes video of the Raggedy Ann photo shoot. Eliza's such a tempermental little Hollywood diva.

Food Fight

2009-04-28T10:44:00.004-04:00

Eliza refuses to swallow food with any sort of texture. So far she's rejected tiny bites of macaroni, ham, mashed potatoes, and tiny pieces of fajita. She's just not into adult food. She's firmly a stage 2 baby food baby at the moment, but I tried to give her some stage 3 food yesterday. It was a chickeny thing with tiny little pasta balls in it. She really seemed to enjoy the chicken sauce stuff, but she sucked all of it off the pasta balls and then spit the pasta balls out. She looked like a malfunctioning gumball machine. I'm not trying to feed her more than I would feed, say, Keira Knightley at a sitting. Still, she's having none of it. I'm hoping this is the result of an immature gag reflex and she'll start to try more and more table food. For now, we're still an Organic Gerber family. The good news us, she'll pick up puffs with her thumb and index finger. Sometimes she hits her mouth, sometimes she doesn't. Still, I'm very proud.

On a personal note, I appreciate all of the inquiries about my health. Turns out my years of battles with my tummy were likely related to gallstones. I see the PA at my doctor's office again tomorrow and will probably get a surgical referral. I suppose all of this contingent upon what we find out about my heart rhythm problem, but I'm glad to have an answer. Thanks for the concern.

Now, ignore our messy coffee table. Here's a picture of Eliza before her big 80s dance movie audition. What a feeling.

Another weekend...

2009-04-27T10:00:00.004-04:00

...another trip to the ballpark.

Because of fortuitous weather during our first trip out to Applebee's Park, we had free tickets for Sunday afternoon's game, so we packed up and headed for the game yesterday.

It was hot, I have the strangest sunburn on the planet (one cheek, half my neck, the side of my left knee and the top of my right knee) and Eliza fussed most of the time, but it was still fun.

We left in the eighth to go help Cheryl unload the last of a moving truck and pick up some furniture for us, so we missed the end of the game, but we now have an honest-to-Bob kitchen table to sit at, and a new recliner to sit in.

As for the rest of the weekend, I worked most of the day Saturday while Janie and Eliza hung out at the house.

Next weekend, of course, is Derby Weekend, so we're going to Keeneland to watch the big race on the big screens. Sounds like we may have family to visit that weekend, too, which will be nice.

There should be more videos coming soon.

Eliza in her summer gear

2009-04-24T13:38:00.003-04:00

Finally, some pictures for all the Grandparents out there in blogland.

Eliza Smith and the Curious Case of the Missing Milestones

2009-04-24T10:37:00.005-04:00

Sometimes the unraveling of the mysteries of babyhood can be a maddening task. It's not like I'm trying to locate Carmen Sandiego here. This shouldn't be rocket surgery. Still, I can't for the life of me figure out why Eliza learns to do things and then promptly forgets.

A couple of weeks ago, Eliza made a lot of progress in one week. She was holding her bottle when she drank, was attempting to crawl all over the living room by pushing with her feet and sliding on her face, saying the word "good" the entire time she ate, and even cooing "Dadadadadada" at Brian. Now she can and will do none of these things. She gets up on all fours in a more traditional crawling position, but she never really gets anywhere. In fact, she rarely makes an attempt to get on all fours by herself anymore. She refuses to hold her bottle while she's eating, she'll only grab it when it's empty, and forget the talking. Mum's the word. Suddenly she's Silent Bob. I'm hoping her vocal ability will return just in time to make the big, eloquent, plot pivoting speech at the end of the film.

What she does do is growl. She's doing this deep, throaty growl these days and it cracks me up. Also, she finds it hilarious when you make her stuffed animals bark. Even ones that wouldn't bark in nature, like one her her 67 stuffed Easter bunnies. She can stand by herself while holding a piece of furniture. She can do that for a couple of minutes, even. She suddenly likes to protest when you take something away from her. That was a milestone she never really reached and just mastered in the past couple of days. She tried to steal the grocery list at the store last night and threw a fit when I gave it to Brian. I'm actually relieved by this because it was the one thing from waaaay back in the baby book that she skipped entirely.

I'm trying to give her a little more table food at lunch. Yesterday we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes at lunch and she was 100% uninterested. The texture of mashed potatoes was new, and she made a horrible face with every bite. We'll certainly keep trying with that one. I don't want her to pick up that particular dislike (sorry, Aunt Taquita). Today I'm going to give her some leftover pizza and let her play with it.

Sorry, Grandparents. Still no pictures. I solemnly promise to try to do better with that. Just as sooon as I locate Eliza's milestones (and possibly Waldo and Carmen Sandiego).

Crazy Busy

2009-04-21T08:33:00.003-04:00

The past week or so has been ridiculously busy. Brian was off last Friday, so we headed out to Keeneland to make use of our season passes. Friday's trip wasn't profitable, but the weather was incredible. Later in the day we decided to head out to Applebees park to partake in baseball festivities. Eliza had a fantastic time. She loved watching all the little kids running around. I can't wait until she's big enough to get out of her stroller and go play with them.

Saturday we went shopping and cleaned out the Carter's store. They were having an incredible sale, so Eliza is fully outfitted for summer. We also squeezed in dinner at Saul Good. I know people rave about this place all the time, but it really is incredible. Reasonably priced food in an upscale chic atmosphere. I had bacon and eggs for dinner and Brian had chicken and waffles. I also ordered up some of the most amazing beer cheese I've ever tasted. When we left, they packaged up my remaining beer cheese and even refilled my dippers. As Brian said when we left, they're going into "rotation" now.

After shopping and dinner, we played laser tag with my nephew and his friend at the new Champs complex. There were a ton of shady charaters hanging out in the parking lot. You couldn't pay me to drop my tween off alone at that place. Laser tag was good fun (and exercise). I think we'll have to do that again soon.

We attempted to do absolutely nothing on Sunday, but things picked up again yesterday. Brian was busy with a big story at work and me and Eliza headed to Lexington so I could have my CT scan. I'm hoping to have those results back soon. As usual, Eliza made friends with the receptionist at the scanning place and a random old man when we stopped for lunch at McDonalds. Quite the charmer.

Since I've been taking Eliza in my car a lot more, I decided yesterday that we need two car seats or we needed to get another base for our current car seat. In researching new ones, I found out that Eliza has just about outgrown her current car seat. It only supports babies up to 22 lbs. and Eliza weighs 21.3. We went to Target last night and got a brand new car seat for Brian's car and we put the old one in my car for now. As soon as she's up to 22 lbs, we'll ditch that one and I guess we'll just have to switch the new car seat back and forth. That thing is HUGE, so that'll be a chore.

While we were at Babiesaurus (the official new nickname of Babies r Us), we saw an adorable pair of Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars in Eliza size. Now she has her first pair of chucks! As for me, I got a pair of One Stars at Target and Brian is probably getting a new pair of New Balance today. Now we're a beshoed, becarseated, and bemedicaltested family.

As for Eliza, she grows more and more hilarious. She loves baths. We taken to calling her rubber duckie tub by his full name. Squeakin' Bill Quackers. She's also developed this throaty growl that sounds like one of Marge's sisters from the Simpsons. She's just trying out her vocal range. And on that front, she's also discovered a very high pitched squeal. Luckily, only dogs in Arizona can hear it, so we're good there. She still attempts to crawl, but she fell over and banged her head. Now she seems less adventurous. When she does try to crawl she screams her head off the entire time. She's working on trying to pull herself into a sitting position on her own, but I suspect that's going to be a few weeks away yet. She simply HATES being on her stomach.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. The batteries in my camera have been dead for a week and I've been too busy to remember to change them. Pictures soon, I promise.

What's up, Doc?

2009-04-20T09:36:00.002-04:00

Janie's been having some issues with her pulse and her stomach, so she's having an abdominal CT today in Lexington to check everything out.

Based on some of the symptoms she's been having, we suspect she may have some sort of thyroid condition that isn't showing up when her thyroid has been tested.

She had to take her car to Lexington because we haven't peeled the bumper stickers off it yet for me to drive, so I'm also a little concerned about that. Especially when she said she felt the brakes slip as she left. Probably should have taken care of the bumper sticker thing Sunday.

In Eliza news, she's taken to screaming, loudly, when trying to crawl. Her two bottom teeth are almost in, and she's finally starting to figure out how to use her sippy cup. Such a big girl.

Baseball!

2009-04-14T09:54:00.003-04:00

Last night we took Eliza to the Lexington Legends home opener. Once she got over an early crying spell, she seemed to really enjoy herself. A storm moved through right before the game, so the ground was a little damp (and we had lawn seats), but all in all it was a grand time. She gets a little startled when people cheer (see our trip to Keeneland), but hopefully she'll grow out of that with time. Brian taught Eliza about the game while I snapped a couple of pictures. Who am I kidding? The scene of daddy and daughter enjoying and evening at the ballpark almost brought me to tears. They're so adorable together.

Speaking of adorable, check out Brian's new glasses.

Eliza and Lee share an apple juice popsicle.

2009-04-13T16:19:00.001-04:00

Easter Dress

2009-04-13T09:46:00.005-04:00

We'd planned on dressing Eliza in a totally different outfit for Easter, but I found this dress Saturday and totally fell in love with it. And look at the cute little shrug. Adorable.

We spent the Easter weekend back in Western Kentucky with friends and family. It was tiring, but fun. Eliza was surprisingly good for us while we were gone. We slept in different place every night, so I'm glad she's adaptable.

You just won't believe it. 7 months is a busy month.

2009-04-06T11:39:00.004-04:00

Eliza has been taking off from a sitting position and just kind of squirming around on her belly on the floor. She eventually cries when she gets stuck and we sit her back up. This morning she decided that it was time to actually go somewhere. She made it halfway to the front door and then turned around and came back. Then she made her way over to the TV and just about bumped her head on the doors of the entertainment center. She's crawling, but it's an ugly crawl. Still, she has her knees under her and she's moving foward. She whines and complains the whole time. I guess our baby girl is mobile. Now I guess I have to get down on all fours and spot the baby hazards.

Lee, per your request, I tried to get the crawling on video. That's when she decided to bump her head so I didn't get much of it. When she wakes up from her nap, I'll try to get her to do it again. This time I'm prepared.

Toothiness

2009-04-06T08:48:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Eliza was crying a bit while Brian was feeding her dinner. I asked if he accidentally scratched her gum or felt a tooth coming in. Sure enough, her right front tooth has erupted and will soon be a fully functional first tooth!

Horses, Bunnies and New Friends

2009-04-04T22:56:00.006-04:00

We set out on an ambitious adventure today. We decided to take Eliza to Keeneland and an Easter Egg Hunt all in one day. At Keeneland, she did great until a massive crowd arrived. She melted down right around the time I won $60 on a 17-1 horse. Perfect timing. As we were leaving, we noticed droves of people arriving. Parking was pushed back all the way to the very front gate. I'd never seen anything like it. After that, we killed time at the mall and had some delicious carnival food. Finally, we headed to Nicholasville to spend time with old and new friends.

Eliza did great with the other kids. We had such a fun day. I'm glad she finally got to socialize with her new friends.

Too bad Brian hit the sack early with a terrible sunburn. This day was on the verge of perfection. I love my little family.

Enjoy the pictures of our fun day. We also included pictures of Eliza's new friends Caylor, Joselyn and Landen.

Second word...it figures...

2009-04-03T23:30:00.003-04:00

After spending all day working on "Momma", Eliza decided she'd say "Dada" instead.

It's hilarious. Never let it be said that she doesn't have a sense of humor.

First word!

2009-03-29T21:14:00.004-04:00

Eliza said her first word!

Janie was feeding her, and she said "Good." Said it twice again later, too.

7-months-old!

2009-03-28T22:30:00.005-04:00

Eliza turned 7-months-old today. She's been having a lot of fun being a big girl lately. As I noted here, she's recently started eating a breakfast of cereal and fruit. She loves her food so much that she'll lick it off her bib if we don't shovel it in fast enough. She's now trying to hold her bottle a bit and she's mastered holding (but not necessarily drinking from) her sippy cup. She's started to scoot across the floor to get to a toy and we're just now working on letting her hold herself in a standing position using a piece of furniture.

Getting ready for bed is a joy. She loves her bath in her giant duckie bathtub. If we undress her and put her pajamas on without putting her in the bath, she complains about it loudly. She loves to try to eat her books at story time and really seems to pay attention once in a while. She no longer sleeps swaddled, but she does give us a bit of a challenge at bedtime. Even though we've gotten into a routine, she gives us a good 10-20 minutes of crying fairly loudly before she'll go to sleep. She generally has a couple of crying fits in her sleep at night, but if she doesn't get back to sleep on her own, giving her back her pacifier usually does the trick.

Mostly, though, she's such a good and happy baby. She still loves Yo Gabba Gabba and can even tell we're turning it on when she first sees the DVR menu screen. We're a bit concerned that she seems to be a tad behind some friends' babies at this age, but she's such a joy. We're just glad she's happy and healthy.

Baby and Daddy

2009-03-26T08:07:00.007-04:00

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I spent the beginning of the week laboring under the illusion that I was going to get more organized and regimented. When I realized that forcing a family onto a schedule is a near impossibility, I abandoned the effort. None too soon. We spent some quality time together as a family last night and I don't think that would have been the case if I was trying to accomplish everything on my list.

As for Eliza, she had breakfast for the first time yesterday. I've been trying to avoid forcing too much food on her too fast, but it seemed like a good time to start. I mixed some rice cereal with some pears and she gobbled it up. I guess the trick to getting her to eat rice cereal was t0 disguise it as delicious cereal. Too bad they don't make Trix or Fruity Pebbles flavored baby fruit.

She turns 7-months-old this weekend. My how time flies. I'm already planning her first birthday party.

Eliza sleeps like a big girl and babbles, too. Also, more on package shrinkage.

2009-03-20T12:10:00.004-04:00

The last thing in the subject line has nothing to do with Seinfeld. I was confronted with another incidence of package size shrink yesterday. I was checking out the nutrition information on the back of a can of Starkist tuna. I noticed that the serving size was smaller. Yep. Another case of the sneaky package shrink. We're paying the same price and getting half an ounce less. If the store brand is the old size, I'll be sticking with that from now on. I plan to call out every incidence of this I find. I think it's unconscienable. Especially in this economy. For fans of the 80s movie Mr. Mom, perhaps I should switch to Schooner Tuna. The tuna with a heart.

Now, about Eliza. As soon as we bought her a new swaddling blanket, bedtime became a nightmare. We'd swaddle her and she'd cry off and on for two hours. Busting out seemed to be her lone objective. Night before last, I was so frustrated I just unswaddled her and it was INSTANT sleep. She slept all night without waking up to cry once. Last night she gave us a hassle about bedtime for about 45 minutes, and then she fell right to sleep and was still sleeping when we got up this morning. I guess swaddling is a thing of the past. I hate that we spent the money on a new blanket, but I'm relieved that she seems to be learning to sleep on her own. Now I need to tackle her new aversion to afternoon naps.

She's also been babbling a ton lately. I tried twice to catch it on video today, but with little success.

Eliza's first trip to the park

2009-03-17T20:11:00.005-04:00

Since Eliza was very small when it was still warm enough in the fall, today was our first day at the park!

She was very grumpy because she just had her shots today. She's still so very cute. Even though we had to constantly hold it steady, she seemed to be content in the swing. We just couldn't coax a smile out of our grumpy Gus.

Six month check-up!

2009-03-17T11:53:00.005-04:00

Eliza seems to be doing really well. She's gigantic for her age. She's in the 95th percentiles for height and head circumference and 97th for weight. 27.5 inches tall and weighing in at 20.05 lbs. Can you believe how much our girl has grown? Apparently her size isn't of concern because she's height/weight proportionate.

Eliza is such a happy baby. She smiled and giggled during her entire exam. Both the Drs. noted just what a sweet disposition she has.

Otherwise, things looked good and we're excited. We were promised no shots at her next visit. It's always so heartbreaking too see her cry when she's been so good for the entire doctor visit.

After the doctor we went to Babies r Us to get Eliza a new swaddling blanket. Try as we might, she just won't sleep without it. We figure we probably have another month or two with it. The velcro was wearing off her old one, so I hope the new one lasts until she's ready to sleep unswaddled. We also get her a smaller sippy cup. The one I got her aroun Valentine's Day is just too big for her to handle on her own. We got her an Avent sippy up and it's slightly smaller. Hopefully she'll get in the habit of drinking some water with her baby food at night.

Speaking of baby food, she LOVES peaches. We also gave her a bit of baby chicken last night. Once she got used to the unusual taste, she was totally on board. *sniffle* Our little baby is growing up! *sniffle*

Walmart, Pampers, Price hikes and Package Shrinking

2009-03-15T13:37:00.003-04:00

It really irritates me when products shrink their package size and think we're too stupid to notice. We're then expected to dutifully pay the same price. Today at the store we got a double whammy. We paid a dollar more for a box of Pampers Baby Dry and there were four fewer diapers in the box. We used to pay $19.97 for the 100 count box at Walmart. We now pay $20.97 for a similar box that contains 96. It's one thing to raise the price or reduce the package size but both? That's just evil. It's enough to make me consider switching to Huggies. We've been loyal to Pampers because they seemed to help clear up the diapers rash Eliza had when she was born. Now I just don't know. We found a $5 off coupon for Huggies online. We may have to switch.

Mimi Visit

2009-03-13T10:14:00.003-04:00

We hadn't seen Brian's Mom since the ice storm, so it was nice to see her for dinner last night.We're lucky to see her regularly when she's in town for work. Since we hadn't seen her in a month and a half, Eliza had her second bout of stranger anxiety in the beginning. I felt terrible, but once she calmed down, she really warmed up to her Mimi. After she attempted to take off Mimi's glasses, I knew she'd be okay.

Eliza's New Nursery

2009-03-12T16:16:00.005-04:00

Eliza's room is considerably smaller at the new house. Unfortunately, that meant not bringing along Grandmomma's dresser from Mayfield. We actually bought her a new chest for the new house and had to use it in our room. Everything else seemed to fit somehow and I finally finished Eliza's room today.

Funny story, though. Brian's Dad and Stepmom bought us a rocking chair when Eliza was born. I love the chair and you'd never know it's a rocking chair. It just looks like a big ole comfy arm chair. It never really rocked right. It always seemed to fall too far forward. Also, the rockers would scrape up the baseboards if it came anywhere close to a wall. The other night, we were sitting in Eliza's room and I started really examining the chair. It occured to me that the rockers might be on backward. I was right. Last night Brian turned the rockers around and now the chair is much more comfortable! You don't constantly feel like you're falling forward. I think Eliza and I are going to enjoy reading stories in that rocking chair.

Baseball Season

2009-03-10T17:23:00.002-04:00

Eliza's looking forward to baseball season. As for her choice of team, well, there's no accounting for taste.

Settling In

2009-03-09T09:26:00.004-04:00

We had a tough move to Richmond last week, but we've managed to settle in a little more. First I was sick for our move, then while we were in Mayfield, Eliza came down with the virus of doom. Since she had a 103 degree fever, we took her to the ER and had her checked over. After a couple of days of recovery, she was fine. She's just fighting off the lingering cough we're all stuck with after this bug.

Unpacking has been slow going. We have a three bedroom house worth of stuff to fit into a two bedroom townhouse. We have lots of storage space under the stairs, but everything really needs to be repacked so we can use the space efficiently. Meanwhile, I'm still the mommy of a six-month-old baby and our daily routine makes it difficult to get much done. Thank goodness for her afternoon naps.

Eliza is, as ever, a joy. She continues to be extremely grabby and we have to watch what we put within arm's reach. Her motorskills are improving every single day. I think crawling is a good way off. She DOES NOT like to be on her tummy for an extended period of time. She does, however, like to stand (with help, of course). Yesterday I let her stand while she held on to the laptop and the coffee table. For a few seconds she was holding herself up without any help from me. Brian caught a picture of that, but excuse our surroundings. We are still unpacking.

Also, since we had a tough week, Brian came home with some gorgeous tulips. They also afforded him the opportunity to play with his camera. Lastly, Eliza took a ride in a laundry basket yesterday and giggled up a storm. Enjoy the pictures!

Six whole months! (tomorrow)

2009-02-27T16:24:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow we'll be in Mayfield to move our things to Richmond. That's why I took the opportunity to post Eliza's last Raggedy Ann picture at Aunt Margie's. Notice the suitcase in the picture.

This month Eliza has really mastered sitting, moving all over the place in her crib, and grabbing everything within hand's reach. She's knocked over more than one drink. She's recently taken to sucking on the ear of one of her stuffed animals. I'm almost afraid she'll get a furball. She's really fallen in love with her toy bongo drums and her talking, singing dog toy. We were all really excited over the past couple of days when she learned to activate the musical teapot on her Exersaucer.

Notice how much her hair has grown. I think there's some punk rock hair gel in her future.