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

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.

The Holiday recap and a video year in review

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!

....and the rest of the weekend.

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.

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

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!

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.