Mother's Day at the Cincinnati Zoo

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)

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

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.

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

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

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

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.