Stuff and Things.

The weekend is only half over, but man am I tired. Today I went to the gym in the morning, and then Ellie and I went to the gem show with our friends Kristen and Lexi. It was a fun trip - we put Ellie's "big girl" carseat in the car and let Lexi be the guinea pig in it (so we could fit both girls in the backseat) and then both Kristen and I had a baby in an Ergo carrier. When we walked into the fairgrounds, some woman goes "how cute! Are they twins?" Umm... no? This is actually the second time we've gotten that, and I always wonder, do people think that we have twin girls with two mommies? Because Kristen and I look even less related than the babies do.

Ellie helped me pick out a few new shinies, and was generally pretty well behaved in her carrier. She took a big fat nap right after we arrived home though. This evening we went to a coed baby shower for our friends Brooke and Ryan, who are expecting a little boy in October. It was so sweet - several of their family members came over and said "THIS is Elizabeth! We're heard so much about her and how beautiful she is!" She is a tiny, minor celebrity. She did pretty well and we stayed out a little bit later than normal because she was pretty giggly, all crammed up next to me in the Ergo with a water bottle to chomp on.

Tomorrow we have our first First Birthday party for one of her baby friends! The oldest of the group turned one on Tuesday, and it seems like we'll have plenty of parties between now and Thanksgiving. Even though most of the girls are back to work , we've all kept in touch for the most part, meeting up for the occasional lunches and evening play dates at the park. Several of us have expressed that going to Mommy Matters class and meeting our little core group of 8 has been an absolute lifesaver. Even if we're not always on the same page about parenting techniques or lifestyles, we're all very supportive of one another and we've become real friends. I compared becoming a new mom to your first days in the dorms - you have a set of questions that you always ask "how old's your baby? What's his name? Where are you from? What's your major?" and you have be willing to be way more outgoing and less judgmental than you normally would, because you never know who might end up being your best friend. This week has been extremely busy in terms of play dates, but I feel like if I can, I never want to turn down the chance to get out and about, see my mom friends and have Ellie interact with her fellow babies. Even if sometimes, she does try to give them a little chew on their noggin.

Here are some other things she's been up to, in photographic form:

We went out to lunch with Grandpa and Grandma on Thursday - and Ellie even got to sit with her Grandpa before Grandma pulled her back in!

She can pull herself up on our coffee table now - a week ago she needed a hand to get up. Her outfit is because it has been HOT at our house. Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is to strip a sweaty baby down to her underoos.

We got a new entertainment cabinet (well, new to us. We bought it from Ed.) The old one is currently hanging out in our living room until I can find a new home for it via the magic of craiglist. In the meanwhile, Ellie can put herself up on it as well. Look at her little tippy toes!

Her nap this afternoon. Why would you sleep in a crib when you could have a great bed like this? Most of the time, she still naps in my lap, but Tim reports that bedtime no longer requires that she suck his finger in lieu of a pacifier. Slowly but surely, she's growing up and getting a little easier to have around.