Letters to Liza (9 months)

Dear Eliza, (written 10-23-12)

This week you turn 9 months. I may say this all the time, but it never stops being true. You blow me away. Daily. You are learning and growing and turning into a beautiful person.

Today you stood up tall while holding onto my hand and just about took my breath away. You are so pretty! I can see the little girl you are becoming. It was a glimpse into your future, and my dear, it is bright.

I am noticing that you are not one to do things quickly. Rather it takes you some time to figure things out and you seem to be ok with that. You do an awful lot of practicing before you really figure out how to do something and sometimes you get frustrated, but mostly I have noticed that you just keep practicing.

For example, you want to crawl so badly! You have been a master or rolling for a couple of months now, and it is your preferred method of transportation. However, you try constantly to figure out what comes next once you are on your hands and knees. Then all of a sudden you plop down on your tummy and wiggle like a fish... sometimes mad because you really wanted to be moving forward at this point! But it doesn't last long. You try again. And again. And then when you are beginning to get frustrated you just roll to what you want ;)

You are a champion teether so far. You cut your first 2 bottom teeth just a few days after turning 6 months and then last week at 8 months 3 weeks you cut the first top left tooth and another just yesterday right next to that top center one. There are definitely some days harder than others. But I have been so proud of you seeing how you handle being uncomfortable with all of this. Last night I heard you cry a few times but you never really woke up. I was half way hoping you would wake up so that I could just go in and snuggle you!

At night you have been doing so well. You still wake a few times throughout, but now you are contented to just talk to Eleanor for awhile and drift back to sleep. Sometimes I hear you, other times Daddy hears you. It is rare for you to cry at night anymore, so when you do I usually know something is bothering you. The number one thing that you cry for at night is when you are parted from the company of Eleanor. The other night I went in to find you at one end and Eleanor at the other end and you were so sad not knowing where she was. I handed her back to you and you grabbed her fiercely and snuggled her happy as a clam to go right back to sleep :)

You go to bed between 7 and 8 and wake to eat between 5 and 6. I have experimented with stretching you all the way until it's been 12 hours since you last ate, but I have found that you will not go back to sleep if you get too close to that mark. Instead, I prefer that you wake at 5 or 6 and go back down for another 1-2 hours after than getting up for the day at 630.

You are finally on a *good* 2 nap a day schedule. The 2 naps came around 5-6 months if I remember correctly but they were hit or miss. I never knew what to expect. Then around 6-7 months you decided 3-4 naps was a great idea. Well, it wasn't a great idea to me! I went guantanamo on you and decided that you weren't getting naps in the morning until you learned to nap for longer than 30 minutes at a time. It was pure torture keeping you awake in the morning, but it paid off! You got into the habit of taking a nice long afternoon nap (usually around 2 hours, sometimes more) and now take a 30 minute nap in the morning as well. I don't know why it worked to not let you nap in the morning and now you are back to doing it, but it did and I am happy and so are you! You almost never cry anymore either when I put you down. You grab your Eleanor and pull her in tight to your face and snuggle her while rocking on your side until you fall asleep. It's just the most precious thing in the world.

I often say to your daddy, "isn't she just the best?" and he always agrees. Eliza, you are truly the light of my life. I look forward to this life we have to live together. I am excited to raise you as my daughter and hope to one day call you my friend. We are blessed to have been put in the same family, I love you so much.

Mama

Instagram phone dump 7

December 2012 and Early January 2013

Playing around with some mistletoe ;)

 

We got to go see Santa in the park across the street at Grandma and Grandpa's house! Eliza loved it! She was the star of the show ;)



While we were over visiting Santa, Uncle Dan took this adorable picture of Eliza... then added mustaches. Classic.



An excited Baby Girl and her Daddy on Christmas morning :D



Raelynn and I trying on some mardi gras masks



I almost forgot that I had this snowman outfit and also the reindeer one in the next photo. I am so glad I found them before it was too late!!! The snowman was already too tight to actually put her in to wear anywhere, so we took this picture then put it away...



The reindeer one on the other hand fit perfectly! She has worn it several times this winter now. It's the perfect weight for the weather we have had... and beyond adorable.



For my birthday Steve got me a babycakes donut maker... but I hadn't gotten around to making the donuts for quite awhile. Well, let me tell you, when I did, they were the best donuts I'd ever had. So hot and tasty and delicious ;) So far we have not been able to recreate such deliciousness...



Jacob's birthday was January 1st! So we went down to celebrate on that Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of fun :)

Instagram phone dump 8

Still working on some catch up here, so these IG dumps might be a bit out of order...

December 2012

Remembering the last year and marveling at how much changed in that time!

 

Working on some roasted veggies for dinner ;)



This Baby Girl and her Daddy are almost too much for me to handle. So sweet.



We go to the market about once a month in the winter and much more often in the warmer months. This particular day was quite cold. I believe it was one of the first Saturdays in January. We got some fun winter hats for Robbie, Raelynn and Nick's birthdays and also some mangoes. Mmmmmm we love mangoes :) Oh, and bundled up baby stinkastoos ;)



We went to a friends' house for dinner one night. The kiddos got ready for bed and were in their matching jammies :)



This is seriously the best invention for the public restroom ever. She's just chillin while I was able to do my business without wrangling her on my lap. Because yes, I've had to do that.



First real Baby Girl pigtails!!!



Chillin in the ball pit while Uncle Hoa supervises...



Another looking back post. I was so sentimental before her birthday... First ultrasound pic, then me pregnant with her about 25ish weeks, Baby Girl brand new and then playin with some of her Christmas presents ;)



Just hangin out together :)

Baby Girl Birthday Party!

We had Eliza's first birthday party the day after her actual birthday at our church. We didn't have enough room at our house to accommodate everyone so this worked out really well!

When I sent out the invitations, I didn't count people or figure anything out beforehand. I just addressed them and sent 'em off. Then a few days later I asked my mom how much food I should plan on making since we were serving lunch... and she asked me a brilliant question, "How many people did you invite?"

My answer?

I have NO idea!

Not good. So I went through my brain and tried to reassemble the guest list and came up with a rough estimate of about 75 people. Holy smokes!!! What was I thinking? I really wasn't. And the least seemed so sensible...

Well, all in all, it turned out fabulously.

 

I really would like to be a baker in an alternate life. I don't have time to do as much as I want, or more honestly, I don't have the metabolism to support the habit... But when I get the chance, I really get excited! These cupcakes were the most ambitious project I've taken on and I was really happy with how they came out. Though, there are a few things I learned for the future :)



I used to hate pinterest because it was overwhelming to me. Then one day I downloaded the pinterest app on my phone and voila, it was all so easy. It was much more organized and easy to look at... and I realized what a valuable tool it is! I got a lot of ideas from there and was able to put together decorations I was really happy with and felt really personal.


The ball pit was an idea from my friend Alicia who had one at Jacob's party. The kids loved it! Miss Ellie and Eliza are here playing. They *almost* share a birthday, Ellie was born 4 hours after Eliza and midnight passed between them. So Ellie was able to come to Eliza's birthday party on her birthday ;) Wow, that's a lot of Ellie's and Eliza's in a very small space! hehehe :)

 

A lot of Eliza's aunties and uncles were able to come, and here she is playing with Aunt Amy. They are already good friends :)



These pictures of her crack me up... because I can just hear her thinking, "Hey guys, isn't there supposed to be a cake or something here on my tray?"



Then she finally got her cupcake. "What's diss stuff on top???"





As most people were getting ready to leave, we all decided to try and take a "girls" picture. So we got as many of the little girls together as we could and attempted to get a picture... it was a beautiful fail :) I just love everything about these pictures LOL Several crying, and Eliza insistent that she have Eleanor in her mouth. Bella trying to hold her back. It was hilarious.



Then, we tried to get one of Eliza and Jacob together... Another fail haha. But they are just so darn cute!



After it was all over, I'm not gonna lie... I was kinda relieved. It was so much fun though, I'm so glad we had a big bash for her first :)

Let's smash some cake!

Maybe I shouldn't admit to this, but I literally spent months thinking about all the things we would do to celebrate Eliza's birthday. It was probably last June that the first idea ran across my brain... and I just let a lot of things sit for a while and marinate... the real planning began in January after Christmas. It was nice that all the chaos of holidays was over and I could focus on just one thing. Plus, it made January go by faster, which if you live in a cold state you know that is a valuable commodity ;)

One of the main things we did to celebrate was make her a great big cake and let her smash into it. But smashing wasn't really the right word. She was very lady-like about her cake consumption. She poked it a bit and then licked some of the frosting... she ate a little cake, but not a lot. Such a doll she is :) Anyways, here is the cake and a video of her antics. It's pretty long but so much fun for us to remember :)

 





Just before we let her start on the cake she snapped the rubberband on her party hat and it hurt her a lot :( She was very very sad and needed some hugs before she could be happy and enjoy her cake ;)

A Birthday to Remember!

Leading up to Eliza's first birthday, I wasn't ready. In fact, I wasn't really ready until the day it happened. Kinda funny how that works. We have just enough grace for the moment most times I think. And now that my baby is 1, I am so happy and confident being her Mama. I love having a toddler! I loved having a baby. And I am going to love having a child and yes, I will love having a teenager. Someday, I'll also have an adult as my daughter... and I will love her even more than I do today I am sure.

But on the morning of her 1st birthday I went into her room just like any other morning, but I took the camera with me. And just as she always does she greeted me with warm smiles and shrieks... well, except on the rare occasion that she woke up too early, or I went in too soon. Then it's grumpy pants... but thankfully that doesn't happen too often :P



We went through the morning routine just the same all while singing Happy Birthday To YOU! She loved it :)



My big girl showing off all her pretty teeth ;)



Then after first breakfast, which is usually breakfast in bed (haha) We went downstairs to see what goodies awaited! She had a new chair just her size waiting!

Shortly thereafter Grandma S arrived! She brought a dolly for Eliza and it was love. Eliza loves her dolly. She will rock her back and forth and gives her hugs and kisses. But lest you think it's all fairy tales over here, she also gets very jealous when I hold the dolly. She squawks and protests all the while trying to climb onto me and rip the dolly out of my arms... We've got some time to work on that ;) She is after all still my baby.



After all this, we went and got dressed for the day. We took her 1 year old pictures and then some extra special 1 year pictures after that. THEN it was time for cake smashing!

Instagram phone dump 9

Recently I got myself a Baby K'tan and have been so excited to use it! However, my little baby stinkastoo is getting quite big to fit in there... but she does still fit ;)

Here we were at the mall and she was having a rough time of it. So a little nursing was in order. It was so cool to be able to nurse her while I was walking around and totally covered! So excited to have this for the rest of my babies too :)

 

Eliza's favorite: Curious George and Grandpa :)



On our way home from a trip to Allentown, we stopped again at the Krispy Kreme. This time we bought a dozen... yes, yes we did.



One bitterly cold day I had to trek on over to the Central library for a book for my girl's group. It was literally freezing... one of the coldest days this winter. But all bundled up in several layers and our awesome stroller, we were both good to go :)



Diaper day comes around twice a week here. I love seeing them all stacked up once folded!
Noodle
Bubble
Blossom
Albert
Ribbit
Butternut
Grasshopper
Lovelace
Zinnia
Blossom
Mirror
Eiffel Tower



My big girl getting more sturdy on her feet :) (11 months)



The night before Eliza's first birthday, we put together her brand new chair and put some of her friends in it to test it out... oh, and a Daddy too ;)



Then, on her birthday we did a cake smash! What fun it was! I am going to post another blog with more pictures from that and also the video, because honestly, the video is even more fun than the pictures :)



Eliza and Jacob had a sleepover after her birthday party and they had a lot of fun playing together teaching each other new tricks! Jacob started walking a lot more that day and Eliza taught him how to go up and down the step into our front room.



One of her favorite games in the tubby is to line up her friends and knock them down... or rather I line them up and she knocks them down ;)