Eliza's first video game

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!

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!

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.

Vacation and the beginnings of cruising

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

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

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.