Eliza's Second Birthday

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!

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

23 Months!

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...

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...

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...

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!

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!

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...)

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.

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

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!

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!

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!

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!)

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

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.