Song Time!

Today's outfit is another cute one bought for Ellie by her Grandma when I was still pregnant. This one is French and has a flap on the butt for diaper changes. Ellie looks darling in it, but also sort of reminds me of the Grinch. In honor of her outfit, here is a song I made up and have been singing to her today, to the tune of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,"

You're a mean one, Ellie Bean
You really are a pill
You refuse to take a bottle
You wait all night for me to drink your fiiiiiiiiiiill

That's as much as I made up. It gives you an idea of how date night went. Tim and I had a fabulous time, the play was great, but Mom had her hands full with a naughty little baby who wouldn't take a bottle and fought about going to sleep. The good news (for Tim and I) is that she ate when we got home and then slept for her normal 8+ hours. And when I brought her over to mom and dad's this evening, she harbored no ill will for mom.

Looking forward to another good week!

How is it...

...that a child who cooed and then fell asleep in her Ergo carrier at the Gem Fair yesterday cried in it today like she was being murdered

...that a child who sleeps happily for 9+ hours in her crib at night wakes up after 5 minutes when placed in it, sound asleep during the day

...that my baby can't roll over and does not even appear to be close to doing so, but after ten minutes on her playmat manages to rotate herself 90 degrees while also hollering about the injustices of life

...that no matter how frustrated I am with her fussiness and crabbiness and all around turdiness, all she has to do is smile and I find myself kissing all over her fat face and declaring my love for her. UGH!

Tonight Tim and I are having our first date night in four months. We have tickets to see Gigi at the Freud Theater in LA as part of our season ticket package. Mom is coming to watch the baby. May the baby have mercy on her soul.

Reading.

"It's okay daddy, just sound it out."

Faceplant Plus Cat.

Last week my friend Megan was in town for a wedding. She's a professional photographer with a darling 10 month old son, and we got to spend an afternoon hanging out and chatting, before going out to dinner with our husbands and some of her friends. Before we left, she took some pictures of Elizabeth and I - it was so fun to watch her go from being regular friend Megan to suddenly awesome professional photographer Megan. She asked if we could put Ellie on the ground for a picture, and I said she wasn't a very good sitter yet, but maybe we could try and see if she could balance herself for a second and I'd grab her if she fell.

As you can see, I did not get to her quite quick enough. I love her pathetic little arm, all straight and useless. Poor muffin face. In addition to letting her topple into the dirt last week, I also brained her with a water bottle this morning while prepping to leave for our morning walk. I'm useless.

Yesterday I had to take Lulu to the vet. She regularly pees on the carpet in our dining room and I am pretty disgusted with it. We brought her in about a year ago and they said she had crystals in her urine, so we got her a water fountain and put a bowl of water in our bathroom to encourage her to drink more. The doctor thinks she might still have some actual pee problems, but said that it sounds more like she's peeing out of stress and he prescribed cat Prozac. It seriously cracks me up, because out of all of the family pets, I feel like she's the smartest and most "with it." If a pet was going to go on Prozac, I figured it would be Chuckie, the world's worst cat, or Thor, the second biggest cat idiot ever known (second to Chuckie.) But no, it's Lula. Apparently all of the ladies in the house have postpartum! The good news is that Lulu may be stressed, but she's also a fattie fat, and it's super easy to get her to take her pill by either wrapping it in a "pill pocket" treat or putting laxatone on top of the pill. She never turns down a chance to eat. Much like Elizabeth. Oh, and me. We are all one and the same.

It was pretty hilarious/crappy though, trying to navigate into the vet while carrying my two fifteen pound girls in their subsequent carriers. Thankfully, Ellie was in a good mood so I only had to listen to the cat cry.

So Rude!

Her current favorite face involves sticking out her little tongue. So cute!

My little Pumpkin Head Fred.

Swimmy Fish!

The girls from my mommy group have been really nice about sending out emails when they sign their kids up for a class - music class, Gymboree, swim class. I was hesitant about signing up and paying for anything because 1) she's a total tiny nugget and 2) she was such a colicky pain for so long that I worried I'd pay for a class and then never get out of the house in time to go/she would have a terrible time. But as she's gotten bigger and better, I've reviewed my stance, and decided that swim class might be fun, and good preparation for time in the pool this summer.

I signed up for the class that two of my friends are taking and came today at noon. Elizabeth was in her swim diaper, her darling pink and silver flowered bathing suit and her kitty head bathrobe from her cousin Hailee. She was so cute! And so happy to be there, despite that I spent almost a half hour trying to find the damn place, and she pooped in her swim diaper while we were driving (note: the facility is less than three miles from our house.) There was plenty of screaming in the car, and she had real human tears on her face when we finally got inside. Part of me was like, "this is why I don't do classes!"

The good news is that she LOVED class. She was totally unafraid. They didn't dunk her all the way under, but the instructor dipped her down so half of her face was covered. She floated on her back a little and was twirled around in the water. She was calm and happy the whole time, and when I held her on her stomach, her fat little legs would start kick kick kicking! It was a rousing good time. And then we came home, had a bath and now she's sleeping. Being a swimmy fish takes a lot of out of you.

Put Some Dang Clothes On!

You know me, letting the baby hang out all under dressed. Here she is, in her playmat with her bear butt hanging out.


And then we moved on to her jumparoo, where her bear feet still don't touch the bottom.

Church ladies.

Today my little lady friend and I finally made it to church. I've been meaning to get there with her for weeks, nay, months! But something always seemed to get in the way - either she'd have a terrible Saturday night or Sunday morning she'd sleep in and we just couldn't get our bananas together on time. But the associate pastor has been very nice about keeping in touch with us and saying he'd see us when he saw us, so that was nice. And today was the day!

I went when Ellie was due for a nap, hoping that she'd fall asleep within a few minutes and I could just hold her. Oh, I held her alright. I held her by the back wall, rocking and patting her back. I tried to sit down a few times and she immediately squaked. She did fall asleep eventually. About five minutes before church was over. But she was remarkably good and surprisingly quiet. I got a lot of compliments from the church ladies about what a good girl she was being and what a lovely baby she was, so that made me feel good, because the 9:30 service is full of blue hairs, and blue hairs can go either way in terms of smiling at your baby or shooting you the death look. They do have a nursery on site and the woman who runs it introduced herself to me, but I had to explain that my baby cries if anyone else holds her. She is a gem, really.

Tim and had lunch and then went for a walk with our little friend. It was an amazingly gorgeous day once the rain and left. Clear days like today make it hard for me to hate this smog filled craphole of a state.

As you can see, the snow really got in our way today.

But ultimately, it was all good in the hood.

Four Months!

Can you believe it? Ellie Belly is four months old in a matter of hours. I feel bad for her - she'll be pretty old before she's actually awake at the moment of her actual birth when she gets bigger. And I thought I had it bad when we lived in Massachusetts and my dad teased me that we couldn't celebrate my birthday until 7pm Eastern time.

We had a good day today! I've been meaning to put together her jumparoo from her Uncle Jake, but since Tim was home, I made him do it. She likes it pretty well so far, and spent some time staring down and grabbing at her animal friends. Her feet don't touch the bottom yet, but that leaves more space for Lula to slink in. You know how she enjoys baby toys.

"Yes, hello, welcome to my little zoo."

I spent most of the morning cleaning the house and preparing to host mommy dinner. Rather than just focusing on the necessary tasks (cleaning the bathroom, sweeping the floors) I was also inspired to organize my CDs and move them out to a cabinet in the garage and clean out the pantry. Things that needed to be done, but not necessarily at that very moment. Sometimes, I can't stop spring cleaning.

Some of the moms in our group have gone back to full time work. A few can slip out for a long lunch with us during the week but some can't, and we'd discussed that it would be nice to have everyone get together, including the dads. Originally we were thinking about going out to dinner, but I figured that with a dozen adults, half a dozen babies and a two year old, we'd be a restaurant's nightmare, so I offered to host at our house. I set the start time at 3pm, because with baby friends, it's easier to socialize before dinner rather than after. I made lasagna and baked ziti and people brought salad and dessert and it was really fun!

It was great to see the girls who have been trapped in offices the past few weeks, and it was nice to meet all of the husbands. Sleepy babies could pass out and be laid down some place, stinky babies could get changed in Ellie's room (rather than on one of those questionable bathroom changing tables) and nursing moms could nurse without it being a big hairy deal. And everyone could walk around and chat and get to know each other. It was really fun!

We took a picture of all of the babies lined up by age, and talked about how fun it'll be to line them up in a year or two. Can you tell who's baby is the biggest, most crybaby turd?
The oldest baby is almost six months, the youngest baby just turned three months. Ellie and the two to her right are only five days apart.

Thankfully, she's almost always got a smile for her daddy. We love her so.

Bunny Boo.

Today's outfit is brought to you by Grandma Eileen. This is the first outfit I received after announcing that I was pregnant with Wolfie Von Focker (later Baby Sequins and currently, Ellie Belly Beanserina.) Today we busted it out! And while I normally dislike pants, these ones are great because they have feeties on them. Even better, BUNNY FEETIES! It means I can avoid my nemesis, baby socks. The hood also came in handy when we had to make a quick trip to Toys R Us in the rain. Little Bunny Foo Foo managed to stay dry, thankfully.

Another Busy Day!

The sun was shining this morning and the sky was painfully blue, which meant that Ellie and I were out the door at 8:30 for nearly two hours of walking with Keri and her sons. Since it's supposed to rain for the rest of the week, we had to take advantage. And the creek trail is so nice that it's easy to stroll it more than once. Towards the end, a certain Miss woke up and freaked out, so I strapped her into the Baby Bjorn and carried her the rest of the way home. Thank you, Baby Bjorn. Thank you mom, for buying me a gently used Baby Bjorn.

Then it was off to lunch with the mommy girls. Since there only three of us, they sat us at a booth inside, which made me nervous lest my small animal start growling and screaming. She was actually really good though! She's finally gotten to the point where she'll sit happily in my lap for a period of time, versus a month ago where I had to stand and rock back and forth and pat her butt until she passed out. So, she was sitting in my lap while I bounced my leg and then suddenly her head just slumped onto my hand. The girls confirmed the truth - she had fallen asleep.

AND THEN (because it gets more fun) we had a visit from my friend Megan and her 10 month old son Wesley, who are in town from Minnesota, for a wedding. Megan is a professional photographer and we did a little impromptu photo session with Elizabeth and I. Highlights include trying to prop Ellie up in the grass in the backyard and having her totally take a digger right onto her face (mother of the year award for not catching her in time) and having Wesley and Ellie snuggle on the couch until Wesley poked her in the face. Wesley's just learning how to walk and went straight after Lulu, who tolerated him pretty well (I think because she's now used to Ellie giving her excellent pets.)

We met up with Megan's husband Nathan and some of their friends at El Maguey. The Minnesotans enjoyed the delicious Mexican food, and Tim and I were happy to eat it as well. Elizabeth refused to nap during dinner, but was still pretty well behaved. And when we got home she ate for about fifteen minutes and then flat out passed out. No fussing, no fighting. Poor wee thing. Get some rest!

Here is another video, showcasing the new sounds she loves making:

No Kitten is Safe!

No! Sleep! To Brooklyn! (Brooklyn!)

So, it looks like Elizabeth is having a growth spurt/that brat may be trying to kill me. Yesterday from 7am - 9pm, she napped for a total of about 90 minutes. In pieces. And once it took a car ride to get her to nod off. To fill her time, she insisted on hanging out on her boppy, eating her brains out. In between meals she was remarkably happy and well mannered, so I sort of just let her go, even though I could tell she was tired. If there was a way to get her to sleep, I'd do it!

This morning was much of the same. We were trapped indoors by the rain, and she took a brief morning nap (30 minutes) and then a second little snoozer around 10. And that was it, until she finally fell asleep in the car on the way home from knitting. I drove home the long way to encourage added snoozing, but we had to come stop driving eventually.

The good news is that she continues to sleep through the night, which is more than the other moms of four months olds in mommy group can say right now. So, fingers crossed that it continues, lest I be forced to just lay on the floor and let us both be eaten by wolves out of pure exhaustion.

In other news, she is cute as all get out. Even though by the time Tim comes home, I am so glad to hand her off and have fifteen minutes of time to myself, I love hanging out with her. She's getting more fun every day. She does a ton of cooing in response to my discussions with her. She doesn't laugh at me the way she does Tim, so any time I get a giggle out of her my heart just bursts. And the smiling. She is an excellent smiler.

It's also fun to watch her take interest in new things. She has discovered that we have cats and will follow them around the room with her eyes. Sometimes they'll come near enough to me while I'm holding her and I'll have her reach out and pet them. Once while Tim was holding her, she got a huge handful of Thory's fat flank and he had to then remove her hand AND pull all of the cat fur out from between her fingers. She's also discovering more of her toys. She continues to love her Cece dolly, especially because Cece's hat is incredibly chewable. But now suddenly she's grabbing at Mr. Crinkley Elephant in her playmat to chew on his feet, and trying to pull her monkey dangle toy into her gaping maw. And today, I found out that she LOVES the cat toy that was in her Christmas stocking (it's not really a cat toy, but it looks remarkably like one Thor has. Except Thor's has another ball inside that he tries to bat at.)

I know that in this picture she sort of looks like Hannibal Lecter, but trust me, it's cute.

And with that, she's been asleep for a half hour, and has now woken up screaming!

Valentimes!

Happy Valentines from my little sweetie! (sorry about the picture size - I am using Sara's netbook and can't figure out how to resize it in Safari. Click on it to make it normal.)

She had another great night in her crib. She was much quieter last night. I still woke up constantly, because Thory Boy Bear was working on a hairball. Even after we got up and force fed him cat laxative at 1am. So the score is, Childrenses, 2. Mom, 0 for the past two nights. Jerks.

This morning was Elizabeth's four month check up, a few days early. She's 14 lbs, 15 ozs and 25 inches long. Her noggin is 42 cms around, and so she's solidly at the 75% for all of her measurements. I've been worrying about the fact that she hasn't rolled over yet, but the doc said it might not happen until 6 months, so no worries. I will continue to sing "there were five in the bed and the little one said roll over, roll over" every time I make her do tummy time. Not that it helps much - her command of English is still subpar. However, when I mentioned that her sleep is from about 9pm until 7am the doc was totally amazed and said "I better write that in her chart. That's great!" I am just crossing my fingers that Ellie's love of night time rest means that she won't go through a four months sleep regression. Denial is not just a river in Egypt.

Though, while we were sitting in the waiting room a mom came in with 7 week old twin boys, who both wanted to eat and be held while we were waiting. Watching her try to pick up one floppy baby while another floppy baby cried in her arms made me count my blessing, single.

Last night Tim and I went out for dinner at El Maguey and brought our little pinto bean with us. She was so good! She sat in her carseat, gummed her doll and watched poker in the teevee while we ate, and didn't get fussy until the very end. She also went to Target with me yesterday and had a great time. I wore her in the Baby Bjorn carrier and she smiled at other shoppers. It was the cutest thing - I was pushing the cart with her on my chest, and she had her little mitts wrapped around my thumbs as we walked. She just wanted to help push the cart.

Welcome to my Crib!

Night one of Operation Crib Sleep was remarkably successful! Tim put her down around 9, though when he first put he down, he left her in the center of her crib. That lasted five minutes. When he went back in, soothed her and moved her next to the crib wall, she slept until 7am. The only downside is that she was really noisy last night - not sure if it was because the bassinet wasn't muffling the monitor, or that perhaps she was squeakier because the bed was unfamiliar. She never actually woke up though - she just woke us up with her noise. We'll be moving the monitor to the nightstand tonight. It doesn't really need to be a foot and a half from her squaky little head.

We're also starting to put her down a little earlier at night. Friday night she went down at 8:30 and slept until 7am. Last night she was down from 9 until 7. Putting her down earlier also means that she spends less time fussing at Tim. I guess her being up until 10 made her too overtired? Either way, it feels like bedtime is getting SO much easier, and it's nice to have a little adult time after she goes to sleep.

Yesterday afternoon we went out to Yorba Linda so Ellie could hang out with her grandparents and take her first Patrick Duffy ride on the lake. She did remarkably well, though I am going to have to get her a sun hat or something - she gets so fussy when the sun is in her eyes.

She was a pretty good baby during dinner and dessert, and then thankfully, slept the whole car ride home.

Meanwhile, I went to the gym yesterday morning and did my first bout of weight training in about six months. I've also apparently caught Tim and the baby's cold, so today I am officially crippled and unable to swallow. I'm glad it's Sunday so Tim can do a little baby minding while I pass out. I was so sore that last night I woke up every time I needed to roll over. It was like the last few months of pregnancy all over again. Except that at least I wasn't getting kicked in the ribs!

Bonus nature shot of our front yard and the daffodils sprouting. Mom does good work.

Sleeping Bean.

So, this weekend it's time. It's time to try to get Elizabeth out of her Lulyboo bassinet and into her crib. She's already sort of in the crib (in her Lulyboo in her crib) but she's getting too big and she needs to sleep on the crib itself. We tried last weekend but she only slept 15 minutes at a time, probably because the crib was just too big of a space for her. The solution? We bought crib bumpers. They get a lot of bad press for SIDS risk, which is why I didn't get any initially, but she likes to sleep with her little head pressed against the side of her Lulyboo, and has since she was teeny tiny. I used to freak out about it and move her, but she'd just scoot back. I bought breathable bumpers and we'll lay her close to them and let her do her face smashing routine if she so desires.

We've got to get on it, because the next step is going to be having her sleep unswaddled. Once babies are rolling over, they need to have their arms free at night. She's sleeping unswaddled for naps now, but it's still part of her night routine. As you can see, she's starting to protest against that as well:

Please note that her arm is supposed to be velcored down by her side.

She and I had kind of a rough morning. We did not walk because our timing was off with Keri. So we did some eating and some play time and she had a bath. I figured she'd be all ready to snuggle in and nap, so she ate but then protested. We tried rocking, we tried reading, and while I was in the middle of a book, she yakked all over herself (and me.) Stripped off her outfit and was about to take her to change her into something new when she yakked all down her little nudey self (and my legs.) So, back into the bathtub for her! And here I was, feeling so smug because I'd managed to get her fully bathed and re-diapered without any poo or pee incidents (earlier this week she peed all over her towel AS I was picking up her diaper to put it on her.)

I finally did what any good parent would do. I plopped her in her swing, gave her her favorite dolly and let her watch Sportscenter while I took a quick shower before I started reeking of sour milk.

But now it is time for mommy class, and then we will go out with the girls. Hopefully she will give me a break and maybe let me eat lunch in peace.

Wednesday.

Today was pretty low key, compared to recent days! We walked with Keri in the morning. Elizabeth fussed pretty hard but then conked out so that Keri and I could loop down through the creek trail. It was not our best walk though, between crying babies and getting hot and then cold and the dog (hers, not mine obviously.) Tomorrow we will do better! I really need to find my pedometer and see how far we're walking.

Ellie beans is sick, once again. Her dad brought home a cold from work, and now I'm the one wiping boogers and getting sneezed on. Thanks, husband!

But we are still having fun and getting some smiling done. As you can see, she also likes to tug on her shirt to accentuate her little fat belly.


We are also trying to figure out the Baby Bjorn, as the Moby wrap isn't working as well for me as I'd like. I can't seem to get it tight enough, so she sort of dangles and seems to hang much lower than she should. She likes the Bjorn okay thus far. She thinks it's tasty.

And of course, saying "thanks a lot for the boogers, daddy."

Ladies Who Lunch.

It's early in the week but we've been plenty busy with lots of fun stuff. Yesterday morning we walked with Keri. For the first time, we stopped to get Starbucks beverages. The children did not like that. Elizabeth woke up in her stroller and screamed the whole way home and Keri's son kept squirming around and putting his feet on the wheel of her stroller. No treats for the mommies, apparently!

Then we got cleaned up and went to meet Grams, Jackie, Ceanne and Theda for lunch at CPK near Leisure World. Nothing I like better than getting the glare when my baby cries in a room of octogenarians. Jackie actually ended up taking Ellie for a quick walk outside when she got really fussy, and she came back in with a sleepy baby slumped in her arms. I have to admit, even though I've known Jackie the majority of my life, it was a little nerve wracking to have Ellie out of my line of sight. I am such a new mom. It was nice to sit around with a great group of ladies, talking about books. I even finished a whole book last night! (second since the baby was born.)

Then today we had a BIG outing. BIG BIG outing. Today was my (former) coworker Trena's first day back in the office after maternity leave. Her son Sawyer is a week younger than Elizabeth (we were due the same day.) We'd been emailing about her return and our (former) boss Anja suggested the three of us and a few other people from the office meet for lunch at a sushi place down the street from my (former) workplace. I was totally in, though nervous. I've never taken Ellie on such a long drive by myself. I didn't know if she'd melt down 40 miles from home. I didn't know if she'd be good at the restaurant. But I decided I'd try to make the best of it - if I was less than halfway there and she started crying inconsolably in the car I'd turn around and call it a day. If I was more than halfway there and she totally lost her bananas I'd find a place to pull over and feed her safely. And I would just take a deep breath and go with it. It actually worked perfectly - she was up at 7, we did some eating and some playtime. We had a bath, did some more eating and she fell asleep long enough for me to get showered and ready. I made sure her tummy tank was full and strapped her into the car. She was awake for the first 20 minutes or so, cried a tiny bit and then drifted off to sleep. We got to downtown in record time. I parked, gave her a little something to eat and headed to the restaurant.

It was SO good to see everyone. It was also sort of surreal to be sitting around talking shop and catching up in a restaurant that we've eaten in a million times during my former life, and to now be sitting there, formally unemployed, but a full time workaholic for my little bean. Everyone looks great and seems to be holding up okay. Afterwards, I walked back to the office and showed off my little bundle of cuteness. She was especially happy to met her Auntie Wanda and hang out with her Auntie Inga. I was able to use an empty office to get her tanked back up, and we were off to the races again. She cried the entire walk to her car, hollering in her stroller. Good luck kid - there are so many crazies on the streets of LA, a little screaming goes totally unnoticed. Then she was out cold before I even got on the 5 to drive home and snoozed through a trip to Trader Joes as well.

It was so fun to bring her into the office and introduce her to everyone. Even the security guard and the building manager got a chance to say hi. And I loved being back in downtown, if only for a few hours. I know there are many that hate big cities, but there is something about downtown LA that works for me. If Tim hadn't changed jobs and we hadn't had kids, I would definitely get a loft apartment downtown.

Sometimes, I miss my old LA life. I miss my old job and my coworkers. But it only lasts a moment. I am so grateful that I'm able to be a full time mommy to my fantastic, beautiful daughter. I'm glad we can hang out together every day and go out to lunch and see our friends and grandmas and surrogate grandmas. I love our little yellow house and hope to live here until I'm old and gray. And I look forward to more fabulous trips to The Big City with my little bean.

Here's her being a cutie cute on a walk the other day:

In Case You Grow Weary of Watching Superbowl Highlights.

I personally don't, but if you do, you can enjoy this video:

We Are the Champions!

February 6th, 2010: got up before 7am and took a pregnancy test, thus beginning my long odyssey to parenthood. We hosted a Superbowl party the next day and it was all I could not to shout "I'M INCUBATING A HUMAN BABY!"

February 6th, 2011: got up before 7am to feed the baby some delicious breakfasts. Spent the whole day tense about the game. Finished the evening by shouting "my team's the Superbowl Champion!" and having cake and champagne with some of our favorite friends. There was pizza, there were chips and oh my goodness, we had some of the best dips ever. I officially outweigh Shamu now. I'm glad I took the long way home during my walk today.

It's official though: the Packers win EVERY game when Ellie is wearing green and gold. And thanks to her Uncle John, she's got green and gold to grow.

Here she is, posing with the delicious cake. Erlynne picked it up from Costco for us, because whether we won or lost, the Bears still sucked.

Here she is with her dorky parents, who are wearing matching shirts. Our say "water covers 70% of the earth. Charles Woodson covers the rest."

Greatest Sound in the Whole World.

A Lovely Day.

Yesterday Elizabeth and I had a fantastic, busy afternoon. We went to mommy class and then out to lunch with the girls (and the baby boys, of course. They are allowed to attend.) It's so fun now that the babies are getting bigger - they're very aware of one another and will smile and reach for one another. We got three of them to do tummy time facing one another, and all three cried much less than normal.

Then we swung by daddy's office to say hello. It was so cute to see her face light up when she recognized Tim. A quick stop by Grams and Gramps' house (complete with lots of tired crying) and then she took a good nap and went to bed like a champ.

This morning after she ate, we took her on a nice long walk. There's a trail near our house that Keri introduced me to, and this morning I convinced Tim to come with. We stopped and got coffee and a donut on our way and then had a great walk! It's very nicely paved and away from busy roads, and we got to see tons of cute dogs out for cute walks. Came home and while I showered, Ellie got a nice bath. And now, we are just hanging out and mentally preparing ourselves for the Superbowl tomorrow, EEK!

Here's some photos of recent fun action:
While mom was babysitting, she discovered that Ellie likes the Moby wrap. She likes when Tim wears her as well. Mostly, she likes mirror baby.

This is how she looks at the end of our walks. She takes some of her best naps while we're walking. I wrap her up in the blanket that mom made her, using granny squares that Grandma Pat made before she died. It is one of her very most special blankets.

Who says cats don't like water? Here's one little kitten who loves her bath.

Oh hello, Smiley doo!

Cutie Cute.

Not the most flattering picture of her, because she's getting tired and ready for bed, but how cute is her little face? I love when she clutches her wee hands together.

Growing Before My Eyes.

Oh my bean sprout. She is growing so fast. After yesterday's debacle of the onesie that looked like capris and then a naked nap due to screaming when the idea of delaying eating for getting dressed was presented, I finally got her ready to try on her first six month outfit. I thought it would be enormous on her. It fits. There's still room to grow, but it's obviously the size she should be wearing.

So I went through her closet and pulled out all of the six month outfits and did all of her laundry. Then most of the 3 month outfits got folded and put away. There were definitely a few sweet moments as I held up the tiny newborn clothes and said "remember when she was this small?" We both got a little misty, even though truthfully, she only fit in newborn stuff for about a week and a half.

There are other signs that she's getting bigger by the day. I realized that I need to loosen the straps of her carseat because I may be cutting off blood to her internal organs. I mean, she's definitely secure in there, but possibly a little too secure. And while it used to be that when we were driving, I couldn't reach back and touch her when she was crying, now she's tall enough that my hand easily reaches the top of her little head. Not that it stops her from crying.

Honestly, I love seeing her getting bigger, and am not terribly nostalgic for my wobbly, screaming, tough to feed newly borned. I think I am more of a baby person.

She's just so fun. All of the gummy smiles and the chit chatting we do. When she's getting changed, I hand her her stuffed giraffe and she smiles at me and then jams his fuzzy feet into her mouth. She's really starting to reach for things, and is usually much entertained by her little seedling doll when out in public. Tim usually gets her up in the morning and changes her while I get ready to provide the most important meal of the day and even though she's usually wailing when he brings her out into the living room, she'll see me and give me one huge smile before starting to scream again. I love walking with her in the morning and talking to her about various trees and plants until she falls asleep. I like sitting her in my lap to read books, even if it's the same ones every day. And of course, I really love that she goes down at 10pm and sleeps until 7am! I feel so lucky to be at home with her. Even on the hard days, she's such a blessing, and turning out to be such a fun little person.

High Quality Mothering.

Today I had lunch with the mommy girls. I got Ellie fed before we left, loaded her up and got on the road. Of course, right as I pulled onto the freeway she began pooping it up. Excellent. But no big deal, we got to BJs and I brought her into the restroom to change her.

Of course, she had turded through her clothes. She hates having her clothing changed, so she screamed bloody murder in the stall. Her screams echoed loudly while I changed her giant diaper and tugged off her outfit, all while assuring her that it was okay and almost over. Thankfully, the other women in the restroom with us were nice, grandmotherly types who did not give me the stink eye (though seriously, why do people give the stink eye to mothers of young babies? You think I LIKE hearing her freak out?)

I had to put her in her emergency outfit, which I carry in my diaper bag for just such an occasion. It's a 3 month old long sleeved, long pantsed outfit. Except, now she is too big for it, so it was more of a long sleeved outfit with capri pants. Thank goodness it wasn't a feetie outfit, because that never would have worked.

Sat down at the table, and she continued to absolutely lose her bananas. I tried to nurse her and she looked up at me from under the nursing cover and just SCREAMED. It took me a good ten minutes to get her going and down to business. Oh, Ellie Belle. She made me feel like a total idiot, but thankfully, when she started hollering again, one of the other mommies assured me "she's not actually as loud as you think she is."

When we got home this afternoon (after a trip to knitting as well!) I changed her diaper and took off her too-small outfit. I pulled out one of her previously unworn six month outfits but did not put it on her. She was screaming so furiously that I just slapped a diaper on her, wrapped her up and nursed her to sleep. She is now in her swing, nude except for the blankets, with her clean outfit on the floor next to her, awaiting her wake up. Excellent job Meg, excellent job.

Another important lesson.

Teaching her how to pucker up.

We had a really nice day yesterday with Grandma Rosie. She let me take her out for lunch, an Ellie was content to sit in her carseat and gum her dolly while we ate. Then we went to check out the quilt store in Lake Forest. Elizabeth actually seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, and I worked on teaching her about colors, via standing her in front of various racks of fabric and pointing things out to her. I probably looked like a nutball "what color is this? Right, it's BLUE!"

We came home and while Ellie took a nice nap, Grandma Rosie recorded two Hallmark recordable storybooks for her - Twas the Night Before Christmas and Bright and Beautiful, a Child's Blessing. Grandma did a wonderful job, and I know the books will be treasured for years to come. Us girls picked Sara up at work together and shared some little scones from Starbucks, and then I dropped everyone off at the epicenter of bubonic plague (aka Mom and Dad's house) and came home to hang out with Ellie's daddy-o. She was so happy to see him and did some good playmat time. And she and I read about forty five books before bed.

I'm so glad that Grandma Rosie and Elizabeth Rosemarie are getting so much time together. They are truly two of my very favorite people in the entire world, and they both look so happy together. I know Grandma is a little stressed about getting stranded by the weather, but we're definitely glad to spend a little more time with her.