Franks and Beans.

It's only Saturday night, but it's already been quite the busy weekend, after a nice week. My best friend from college, Frank (aka the Fluff) was having a co-ed baby shower to celebrate the upcoming birth of his October baby. His wife and I were pregnant together last year and due within weeks of one another, but sadly, their son was born too premature to survive last June. They've had a long road to get to this place, and so when we were invited to celebrate their new addition, we knew we'd be there come hell or high water. Or a 90 minute drive into the Valley. Eesh. Ellie of course, stayed awake until we were about two exits away, and then woke up the second the car stopped. So... there went the hour nap we were hoping for. She was actually a good little trooper and survived on just a 20 minute nap in the late afternoon. There was plenty of delicious food, lots of good company, and plenty of plastic spoons for Elizabeth to amuse herself with.

I'm so glad that my Frank finally met my Beans.

This week has overall, been a grand one. We had a minimum of horrible screaming fits for absolutely no reason, no one had to do a "cool off" in her fun cage, and my mom got back from Wisconsin so I could spend more time mooching free childcare and dinner. FUN FOR EVERYONE!

Lately, when Ellie gets up, she'll go and play with her toys for a few minutes, but she's been abandoning them quickly in favor of crawling around the couch and visiting her library. I absolutely love it. We read a lot of books together, and then she spends more time turning pages and squealing to herself.

On her way to her library, she often encounters Thor's toys. Her affection for the blue ring with the ball inside may be what finally gets Thor to like her. She sits at one side and pushes the ball, he sits at one side and pushes the ball... it reminds me of a moment from long ago.

The blue ring toy is also what convinced Lulu that she liked Thor. Note: most cats enjoy that toy as kittens and then outgrow it. My cat is a boy idiot.

We continue to do a lot of good standing and some serious cruising. Mostly, she likes to be where ever I am. The other night Tim came home and I was on the couch fooling around, hoping he'd entertain her for a few minutes. I look down and she'd crawled over and pulled up, looking at me like, "hello! Play with me! ALL THE TIME!" She still hasn't said mama (to me) yet, and from the looks of it, she's definitely going to be one of those kids yelling "mom! mom! mom! mom! mom! hi."

And this is the cutie cute face she makes as she crawls over to climb all over me with open mouthed baby kisses. I think the weird unicorn horn is a particularly nice touch.