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.

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

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.

Eliza's first birthday video

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.

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

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.