Peektures.

Here are some of the things we've been up to this week, in addition to crawling for puffs, like true Thiel.

Chewing on her hand-me-down Rubber Bunny. He's almost as delicious as Sophie.

Standing! She can't quite pull herself up, but she loves being put next to the coffee table. Mostly because she hopes I'm going to leave the remote or the netbook within reach of her grabby hands.

Then she flops down and pulls all the coasters out. HOORAY COASTERS!

This week was also exciting because Grams bought her a new toy (surprise surprise!) She is a big fan of her rocking dog. She can even stand up and ride 'em cowgirl, which is pretty cute.

She also enjoys having staring contests and being cute. Mostly this week though, she's enjoyed fussing about everything. What can you say? It's hard to be a baby. Even such a cute one.

Forward Ho!

We've got some scooting! Some forward scootching! Nearly crawling! As you can see, she's finally figured out to move her right hand. But, not so much the left. Once she gets that baby going, I think we'll have a full blown crawler on her hand.

Did I mention that her best friend Lexi is already walking? I guess babies really do achieve on their own schedule.

Surprise!

We've had a good week so far. Yesterday we went for a walk and then had a quick trip to the mall, so I could look for wild fake eyelashes for my 30th birthday party costume (I later bought several pairs on Amazon. I like to have options. Feathered, multi-colored options.) Then we went and got ourselves a cookie at Tim's work. 3pm cookie time is my favorite time.

Today, swim class. We had a really funny moment as we were sliding into the water. Another mom looked at Elizabeth and I and exclaimed, "oh, she's so big now!" It took me a second to place her and her daughter, but they'd been at mommy matters class during the first month or so that I went, before she had to go back to work. Her daughter is five or six weeks older than Ellie, which doesn't seem like much now, but when Ellie was four weeks old and I thought I might lose my mother-effing mind, her ten week old baby who slept well and wasn't killing her mom with the constant nursing seemed like the sort of experience I'd never possibly have. But yet, here we are, both in the same swim class, with two cute, happy little baby girls approaching their first birthday. It was nice to catch up with her, and funny to think that she was probably pleasantly surprised that Ellie and I are both happy and together and a fully functional team. Motherhood involves a lot of on the job training, but I think I'm holding up okay. I think Ellie will keep me, at the very least.

After swim classes, I've taken to just plopping Ellie in the shower with me while I clean up, rather than giving her a separate bath. She loves it - it gives her a chance to try to stick her fingers in our drain, and after I scrub her, I let her play with her washrag, which is apparently the best toy anyone has ever invented. She'll continue to sit on the floor of the shower and play happily with it long enough for me to get dressed, brush my teeth, put on makeup and fix my hair. If only giving her a wet washrags at other times wouldn't cause a mess!

Then of course, it was over to the salt mines of mom and dad's house, to clean up cat poop (thankfully, all in the box) and check on the pool, all while being pointedly ignored by their stupid cats. Seriously - mom and Sara will probably get mauled to death in their sleep, because despite the fact that I was over for at least an hour every day over the past week, Rocky and Petunia deemed me unworthy of their attention, to which I said "FINE, GO WITHOUT PETTING, LOSERS!"

The fam was set to land around 7pm tonight. I had decided that Tim would drive Dad's car to the airport to give back to them, and I would show up as a surprise with a certain lady known as "Itty Bitty." The big question was: would mom cry at seeing her grandbaby after a whole week apart? The answer is of course: yes. And then Ellie cried at her Gramps, because she is kind of a jerk sometimes. She'll make it up to him later in the week, hopefully.

She is SO close to crawling. Every time I put her on her butt lately, she either immediately flops on to her back and puts up a fuss about it, or leans forward until she gets herself on her hands and knees. Still hasn't figure out how to use those hands, but she seems to be understanding that if she gets into the crawling position, eventually she'll be able to head in the direction she desires. It drives me crazy though that every time I plop her on the bed for a second she dives forward. I spend a lot of time every day saying "please don't throw yourself on the floor," and "if you don't like it, learn to crawl."

"Why does the kitty have all my toys?"

Baby Posse

We had our July gathering of babies this afternoon - a pool party for all of our little swimmy fish. Kelly and Ian's pool was easily 90 degrees (unheated) and the kiddos had a great time. Once again, we brought the duck over and it was a hit with many of the kids.

Good thing too, since we left all of them afloat in the pool, supervising one another, while we all went inside and made margaritas.

Just kidding!

Little Aviatrix

Tumbling Tots class is no joke, as you can see. Today she did an excellent hand stand, some super swinging, some bubble popping, and some great singing and dancing. I'm not sure if we'll continue to do tot class once our initial term is over, but we're having fun while it lasts!

A funny story about how things change and babies grow up - tonight we had burritos and Ellie could not get enough of my pinto beans. Funny to think back to her first few months, where me eating a burrito with beans meant that the next day Elizabeth would scream as though she was being murdered and then fart all day.

Tumbling Tots, etc.

So month 9 has been treating us pretty okay. On Tuesday Grandma came down for some baby time. We ended up skipping swim class because Ellie fought her morning nap and had only been asleep for fifteen minutes when it was time to leave. I didn't think it was worth waking her up considering how much time she spends in the pool lately. Instead, we went and had a delicious lunch and then tried to find a new entertainment cabinet that didn't offend my delicate sensibilities. We failed in the latter quest, but I have a better idea of what I'm looking for as we re-do the living room.

THEN we got to visit Tim at work so he could show his mommy around and so that I could get one of the cookies that are freshly baked for the nerds at 3pm. And by one cookie, I mean two cookies and an iced coffee. Get this - even though his workplace is for grownups and does not have on site child care, they have several very nice high chairs in the cafeteria, so Ellie sat in one and made love eyes at all of the smelly nerds. That place is deluxe!

Today we went and tried out a new baby activity. One of my friends sent me a link for half priced classes at a kiddie gym, so I bought an eight week session. I mean, why not? Today was our first class. It's 45 minutes and features a lot of singing, some playing with balls, the use of swings, rolling around on the floor, bubbles, and most exciting, a zip line across the room (the baby is in a swing, not trying to hang on to a handle.) Ellie was pretty into it all, so we'll see how it goes. I feel like it might be slightly more fun if she was mobile, which she's still not, of course.

Then we swung by mom and dad's to check on the cat friends, and Elizabeth zonked out for a sweaty, exhausted 2 hour nap. Tiny tykes is a tough class, apparently. She was delighted to skype with her grandparents when she woke up. The cats were pretty bored with us, which is better than when my cats try to stomp their way into my lap with Ellie just as she's beginning to drift off to sleep in my arms.

Here she is, working on her wave. You can catch a tiny glimpse of her two bottom teeth. Still not top ones yet.

Here's our new recliner, which yes, is identical to mom and dad's new recliner. It's incredibly comfortable, and I spend most of my time fighting Lulu for it.

9 Months!

Our little lady love is 9 months old today!

Yesterday she had her well baby visit and Auntie Sara came along to check out the stats and help hold Ol' Squirmy in the waiting room. Elizabeth was on her best behavior and for the first time ever, didn't pee or poop on anything or make a mess out of herself. She did however, put up a stink about having her height measured.

At nine months, she weighs 19 pounds, 12 ounces, which puts her in the 70th percentile. She's 27.5 inches long, so in the 50th percentile. Her nogging is 46 cms around, which puts her in the 90th percentile. She's such a Ford. The doc was pleased with all of her development, and remarked on how strong she is and how happy she seems. So, pat on the back for me! She didn't have any real suggestions for me, except to keep doing what we're doing. As she was leaving, she said to Ellie "you'll probably walking when I see you next!" (at a year.) I replied that she shouldn't count on it. We are still not crawling around here, but then again, Ellie seemed like she was going to roll over for a full month before she actually did. She just needs to move those dang hands!

This morning I dropped the family off at the airport for their trip to the hot, humid Midwest (Al Roker said Minneapolis was supposed to be 98 degrees today. And it's a nice, thick, wet heat. YUM!) Hopefully mom will survive without her little girlfriend. Hopefully I'll survive without mom! Today Grandma Eileen is coming down for swim class, and then we're going furniture shopping. We need to get a new entertainment center so we can move all of the electronics to a safe spot in case Ellie does someday decide to crawl.

A Three Hour Tour.

Doot doot doot doot doot



Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
The tale of Elizabeth
Who set out in her ducky float
With her octopi and fish
Her octopi and fish!

The Snortiest Girl.

Her new snuffling trick just cracks me up. This video also shows her second favorite trick, which is picking her heels up off the ground and sometimes just holding them there. Usually it's one foot, sometimes it's both.

Nappers.

Even though we get pretty good sleep around here these days, sometimes, having a baby means that you are almost always tired. This afternoon, I fell asleep while Ellie was napping in my arms. When dad came downstairs and asked if she was still sleeping, I woke up and of course my first thought was "did I just drop the baby?" She was still snuggled up safe and sound. And then tonight, I noticed it was taking Tim quite awhile to get her down for bed. When he finally came back into the living room at 10:30, he confirmed that he'd nodded off with her. You know what they say - sleep when the baby sleeps.

We had a great time in LA yesterday and bought her a fabulous hair accessory in Chinatown for $2. Man, I love Chinatown accessories. Pictures to come later. Perhaps after a nap.

Discoveries.

Things the lovebug is working on this week:
-Still has not crawled. She just can't figure out how to take her front paws forward. She's got her legs going double time until she flops over, but as dad says, it's like her hands are nailed to the floor. Hence, very little forward progress. But oh, once she figures out her hands can move? It's on like Donkey Kong.
-Waving. It is the cutest thing ever when she flaps her little arm at you or opens and closes her hand.
-More babbling. She's definitely not to the point where we're thinking "first word," but she's mimicking and repeating things more closely. For example - whenever the cat comes around, we say "kitty, kitty, nice kitty, meow!" or some variation and so when she sees the cats, she makes this spitty sort of k and t sound. The other day someone said hi to her and she made a little noise that sounded surprisingly like "hi." And she'll say da da da all day long, when she's not busy just making the face without also making the sound. Her language is weird and cute. I can't wait until she says mama like she MEANS it.

Today we went and met some of our little girlfriends for a pool party. My friend's condo pool is heated, pretty empty most of the time, and in a central location, so a couple of us met and zoomed the babies around. Dad let me bring the duck and the other babies LOVED it. Ellie was tired and refused to ride in it. And then she basically refused to nap for the rest of the afternoon, the little turd, so hopefully she'll make up for it tonight.

Tomorrow is her first trip to LA's Chinatown! Perhaps I will buy her some pearls.

Hanging Out.

We have had a pretty quiet weekend, mostly because I've been felled by mastitis. I feel like a hot bag of garbage, but the good news is that it doesn't bother Ellie at all, and she has no problems nursing. Of course, nothing ever bothers the baby as much as it bothers me, ha! We took advantage of the grandparents, who were more than happy to play with Elizabeth and relax with Tim while I laid in bed and alternately boiled and froze. AWESOME.

This weekend we took apart and put away her playmat, since she doesn't really lay down and play in it anymore. And it's easier to sit her on just a regular blanket when she's hanging out in the living room, since the playmat isn't supposed to go in the dryer, and babies are kind of messy. Of course, we packed it away on Saturday, and on Sunday, she pooped out the side of her diaper and on to the blanket. You'll show us, won't you kid?

Here she is, hanging out with her daddy-o!

How She's Spending her Summer Vacation.

Round about 2pm, we leave our house, which is growing hotter than Hades, and go do this:


There is usually also a portion of the pool time where she floats in her duck (and we call her Bearducken) and then she floats with Grams for awhile. Then her tiny butt gets a bath in Grams' GIANT bathtub, which she enjoys. I think Grams is also enjoying having some bath toys around for when she takes a soak. I mean, who wouldn't.

Then once we're all cleaned up, lotioned and fed, she has music practice.



Because if she can't win an Olympic gold medal for swimming, she better win a Grammy.

Lefty.

We're pretty sure we've got a lefty on our hands. Elizabeth consistently reaches for things with her left hand first. She holds toys in her left hand, she feeds herself with her left hand, and if you give her something in her right hand, she'll move it to her left hand. It's going to be nice because she and Sara can sit together on the same side of the table and not bump elbows. Sara has also volunteered to help Ellie cut her meat at dinner time. SCORE! Less work for me.

Here is a video demonstrating Ellie's excellent left handed skills. Please excuse her lack of outfit - it's 85 degrees by 9am lately, and she'd just gotten out of her high chair.

What the Duck?

When Gramps realized that his Itty Bitty does indeed love the pool he built for her, he knew he should have some sort of float, so she can lounge with the ladies when not diligently practicing her back float, her face dunking and her kick, kick, kicking. So he bought her a ducky float, which she reacted to by crying on Saturday afternoon. We probably went about it wrong, plunking her straight into it after a nap, so today we took it a little slower.

Et voila, she loved it!


It even has fabulous toys for her to play with.

And of course, Gramps can always zoom her around.

We hung out with Judy today but are otherwise having a pretty low key Fourth. I have to be honest, if I'm not in Door County, it doesn't really feel like Fourth of July, and since we have a little lady who screams and cries about sudden loud noises, and who goes to bed at 8:30, we skipped out on trying to attend fireworks. So it's basically another night in our household, except that Tim didn't go to work today.

The baby slept great last night, though she was a terror to actually get in bed. And then she took some huge, fatty naps this afternoon. I suspect we are hitting the 9 month growth spurt. May the baby have mercy on our souls.

Welcome Home Grandma and Grandpa!

Hooray, hooray, Grandma and Grandpa are home! We went over today so they could refill their baby love tanks. We got to catch up on their trip to France and they got to make googley eyes at their favorite little girl.

First off though, Ellie and I did a little posing in our yard with our fabulous Fourth of July headgear.

Man, I love the Target dollar bin.

Grandma also got to try out the great looks

And yes, even Grandpa got to hold the baby and help in a rousing game of patty cake. She's so happy to have her grandparents home!

OMG, SERIOUSLY, WILL SOMEONE PLAY WITH HER?

Finally, Uncle Jake will show her a smidgen of attention.

Mama's Night Out.

Friday night I got to see all of these guys LIVE IN CONCERT at the Staples Center. That's right, mama had a night out! I went with my friend Kristen (who's daughter Lexi is Ellie's "oldest" friend, as they have known each other since 27 and 17 days old, respectively.) We were wild ladies out on the town, while the husbands were at home with the babies. It was such a blast, and my folks and Tim did a wonderful job entertaining Itty Bitty in my absence. I came home and she was sound asleep in bed. She woke up once and I gave her something to eat, and then she slept through until morning. The only problem was dealing with a cat fight around 4am (not sure who the outside cat was, but hopefully he or she won't be back any time soon.)

Yesterday we hung out with some of my girlfriends and went over to Thiel Resort and Spa. Dad bought Ellie a duck to float in, but sadly, the duck sort of freaked her out. We'll work on it this summer. Today though, she will finally be reunited with her chic Parisian grandparents, hooray!