Pantalones.

As some of you know, Grandma Eileen had a little incident on Saturday evening - she passed out while babysitting at our house and was taken to the hospital. Thereby RUINING Tim and I's date night, and getting her put on babysitting probation. As I told her while we were joking around in the ER - if you don't want to babysit, just say so. No need to create such drama. But for real - it was a nerve wracking couple of days, but we are SO glad that Eileen home and feeling better, with the ultimate verdict being "hey, your heart had a moment there, but you are ultimately a healthy person."

Grandma was still in the hospital when we were getting dressed this morning, and I thought hey, maybe she will get a kick out of seeing Ellie in her dad's hand me down Wrangler jeans. They are just the right length for Ellie's hunkachunk legs, but sadly, they do not fit in the posterior area, so mom and I jerry-rigged a belt.

As you can see, it was not the best.

From these photos, I think we can infer that Tim had a MUCH larger butt than Ellie does at this age.

The good news is that by the time nap time was over and we were ready to candy stripe, Eileen was on her way home, for some serious maxing and relaxing. We were sorry to not show off our fancy dungarees and diapers, but glad that she was on her way back to normal life.

Also amusing, Ellie's musical festival in Grams' kitchen the other night.

Curb Appeal.

Want to know what our weekend fun was? Cleaning up our yard! It had just gotten to be too much, too dirty, too embarrassing. It's hard to keep up when there's a baby in tow, but after six hours of mowing, weeding, pruning and sweeping, the lawns are short, the edges are clear of weeds and the patio is free of slowly composting leaves and other disgustingness (I had to rehome a lot of poor earthworms today.)

The neighbors came by and I joked with them that we were sorry about bringing down their property values, and that we know we're the worst neighbors on the block. I mean, when you have to get a big shovel out to uproot an angry, pokey weed out of your front yard, you know things have gone too far.

The good news is we got some good exercise out of it. And this morning when I finished cleaning up around the trash cans, I took a picture of some cinder bricks that have been stacked there since we moved in, and put them on the craigslist free section. Within a few hours we had some takers - a middle aged lady and her parents. They loaded up all the bricks, and then asked if they could have this little piece of roofing that used to go over our gate (but has been laying in the ivy near the garbage since we moved in.) Tim said sure, and they told him it was going to be used for their shrine to Buddha. When they were all loaded up and ready to go, the dad turned to Tim and goes "I think this will make Buddha happy." Well, it certainly made us happy!

In other news, Ellie and I are sick again. It's like we rolled out of one cold and into another one. I feel bad for the poor thing - at night I can hear her nose rattling over the baby monitor. Well, except for the night that she was awake for three hours and only wanted her mama mama mama. It's hard to be so loved. It's also hard to blow your own nose while also wiping neon green boogers off your kid's angry little face. She's still been able to enjoy the park these past couple of days, and spending time with her grandparents. We're surviving.

Did You Know?

You can buy melonheaded babies in bulk at Costco now. And once you've made your purchase, you can steer them by the sample stations and fill them up on free lunch. (Ellie on the left, her buddy Clare on the right.)

Wearing a Great Dress...

...doesn't mean you can't get a little dirty.

Down to One.

My love bug is officially a one nap a day baby, and I have to be honest, I love it. Most moms worry and stress when a nap is dropped, but it just seems like it's streamlined my life.

And let's be honest - six weeks ago I spent up to three hours a day HOLDING my 25 pound baby so that she could take naps. So any sort of alone time/naptime/bedtime is more than I had before.

Last week on Monday and Tuesday she took a morning nap, and then was an angry bear jerkwad all day long. No afternoon nap, no matter how hard I tried. So I decided that we would spend a little more time being awake in the morning, and go down sometime after noon. It's been a revelation.

Somedays she naps less than she did formerly (for instance, she'll only nap for an hour, that's it) but I feel like for the 45 minutes of nap time I lose, I also lose 45 minutes or more of time stuck in her room, trying to rock her to sleep, trying to shush her and pat her back while also trying not to get frustrated and irritated. Now when we do nap time, we go in, we stand and rock for a couple of minutes and I tell her that it's time for a nice nap, it's time to go to sleep, and usually, the second I lay her down, her eyes flutter and she's out. I usually lay there and count to 100, then sneak away and go celebrate in the living room. I also feel like there's less rushing and stressing about timeline. I don't have to get home in the morning to get her down by a certain time. We don't have to leave the park in the afternoon so that she can have a snack and nap by 4pm. We just hang out in the morning, and then have all afternoon to do as we please.

It's not a bad life.

From Hop Hops to Quack Quacks.

After the fun of the petting zoo on Saturday, Sunday Ellie got to hang out with waterfoul when we visited the boathouse at East Lake Village. Grandma and Grandpa know how to show a girl a good time!

Grandma got her a cup full of duck feed, and Mr. and Mr. Mallard came over to visit her (the Mr. Mallard closer to the left later bit her on the leg, but Ellie did not really react.)

She did not quite understand that feeding ducks was not quite the same as feeding bunnies.

She loved her time on the boat, especially the mushroom puff appetizers that were made available.

Plus she wrestled the wheel away from her grandpa, AND insisted that she get to put her cup in the captain's cup holder. She's a naughty one.

Not pictured: she pooped her pants, and while trying to convince Ellie to sit quietly, Eileen ended up with poop on her jeans. That's why I avoid Ellie and her bomb diapers at all costs.

So, our boat ride was ended early, but there was still a whole night of delicious food and fun with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Jake. Next time duckies, next time.

Hop Hop/It's Got Fangs!

We decided today to take Ellie back to the petting zoo, since she is officially obsessed with rabbits (or as she calls them, hop hops.) Every time we pull up to mom and dad's, she wants to get out and see if there's any rabbits at the end of the street, and then several times during our visit, she requests to go check on hop hops again. The part that cracks me up is that mom tells her that you have to be quiet when you approach the hop hops, and so now when Ellie talks about rabbits, she goes "hop hop!:" while waving her hand to indicate hopping, and then puts her finger over her lips and shushes us, to indicate how nice and quiet you need to be. It is just about the cutest thing ever.

So this morning we got dressed and ready in our new bunny shirt from Grandma, and some sweet new pants from Children's Orchard, and headed to San Juan. Ellie was immediately impressed and pleased, and we spent close to an hour chasing rabbits around, petting guinea pigs (which she also called hop hops) and looking at the larger animals. The petting zoo also has a slide, so that was a big hit.

It's so fun now that she's at an age to enjoy going out and about and seeing new things. Seeing her happy little face makes me feel like I must be doing something right. Afterwards, we went to El Maguey for a little lunch, as Pedros Tacos closed down yesterday (RIP.) And now she is home taking her nap. Who knows what fun the rest of the afternoon will hold? (I do know it will involve me trying to mend her pants, or buying little patches that I can sew on.)

"You guys, are you seeing this? There is a hop hop here!"

"THIS IS A REAL HOP HOP OH MY GOODNESS HOP HOP!"

"Mom? Mom? He is eating my pants."

"Excuse me, little hop hop, but i think there is something amiss with your ears. Maybe they will grow in later?"

"This place is pretty awesome."

Picture Dump!

Not much to say, but a little something cute to show!

First off, yesterday Mom achieved a months-long dream and bought Ellie a Capistrano hat from the trading post in San Juan.
At first, Ellie didn't like it.

Then she discovered it had a whistle and she LOVED it! Upside: the whistle doesn't really work, but what does she know? I know that it doesn't bother me any!

She continues to be thrilled with it today. Here she is, practicing for the Swallows Day Parade next month.

After our walk today, she took her baby for a walk. The stroller has her baby, her cell phone, a photo album, her keys and some chain. She is putting on her bracelet so that she'll be dressed up enough.

So, the other day we were over at mom and dad's (and as you can see, Ellie was wearing her amazing Missoni for Target sweater that her Grandma snapped up for her.) It was kitty treat time, and so mom was giving the kittens a few pieces of turkey breast. Ellie butted in, because she also loves turkey breast. So I look into the kitchen and see that Rocky is getting some turkey, then Ellie is getting a bite of turkey, back and forth. Then mom goes "oh Ellie, you and Rocky are having a turkey party!" and I could not stop laughing. She loves some turkey parties!

Valentimes.

It was not our best Valentines ever of all time. The molars are hurting Ellie, but they are killing me. I swear. I try to keep her comfortable and dosed with baby Advil. If only they had a mommy-patience drug that I could take (I think it's called rum? But perhaps not the best for afternoon usage.)

But we had a nice time hanging out with Grams and Grizz and Auntie Sara today, even though there were no naps. ONLY FUSSING. And then, running around like a crazy baby person. Also, eating the inside of an entire Baja taco by herself, and following that with a fairly hefty slice of meatloaf. So perhaps teeth plus growth spurt?

She does love her Auntie Sara though.

And her Auntie Sara's baby Rocky. Oh those kittens, always getting into trouble together!

Oh, and Grams and Grizz sure do love their kitten!

Blurry bonus: she was quiet in the kitchen the other day, and I came out and found her sitting at the stool I made in middle school shop class like it was an old fashioned desk. While shoving her string cheese into the outlet.


Just kidding on the last part!

Molar Monster.

We're not just getting one molar, we're getting ALL FOUR! Hooray hooray! It has resulted in utterly incessant whining and crying, boycotting of all foods except for good old "oh-gir-duh" and the inexplicable need for a binky. It seems to make her gums feel better, and right now she's actually taking a nap with the plug in her mouth, which has never happened before in her entire life (but hey, if it makes her happy and helps her nap, she can have all the binkies she wants. Lord knows I have a whole box of unused ones that she vetoed as a newly borned.)

This morning I headed out to walk with my girlfriends. Parked at the lake, popped my trunk and realized that my stroller was back in the garage, fifteen minutes away. Crappitty crap. So I did what any good hippie would do and pulled out my Ergo carrier and strapped Ellie to my back for our 4.5 mile walk. Surprisingly, it was easier and less work carrying a 24 pound baby than it was pushing the stroller. The only downside is that I'm not sure how to get her on my back without a second set of hands, and we got a little sweaty between the two of us. Plus, when she got crabby, she got crabby ON me, which is not as easy to ignore as when she gets crabby in her stroller. Not sure that I'd do it again for such a long walk, but I'd like to learn to get her on my back for trips to the mall, etc. The Ergo uses a lot of backpacking technology, so the straps are comfortable and her weight was well distributed.

Cute things that Ellie has been up to lately:
-Still obsessed with visiting the rabbits at the end of mom and dad's street, and then telling us about the hop hop hops.
-Will now grab herself and say "brrr" if you ask her if she's chilly
-In love with animal crackers
-Starting to dance more, which makes both Tim and I bust up
-Doing a pouty lip when told no
-Reading like a crazy person, and calling her books by name

Steak Sandwiches.

We have our first molar pushing through! Bottom left, with top left and bottom right looking and feeling like they'll be close behind. Ellie's just a few teeth away from some good old red meat.

She's still missing that last bottom tooth. Someday, she'll have all four across the bottom.

Morning Routine.

Hey, you want some oh-gir-duh? It's really delicious.

I love my oh-gir-duh. I cry for it any time someone opens the fridge.

Then a little time for some pony rides with Lolly, Baby, and Woof Woof. What an awesome life I lead!

Elizabeth on Elizabeth Violence.

It starts as hugging, but it turns into squishing.

And sadly, it's been going on for years now.

Okay, enough discussion about who slept where in this house. What is this, Gray's Anatomy? Here's what you're visiting this blog for - photos and videos of Itty Bitty.

She loves helping, as you can see. Here she is investigating all of Grams' tupperwares, so that she can provide the proper storage items for last night's dinner.

Oh, and here she is closing the cabinet. MAN, does she love to close cabinets and push doors shut. If she's crabby, I can always ask her to close some cabinets for me, and feeling useful cheers her right up!

Today's been pretty quiet - it's a beautiful day out, so after Ellie woke up from her early nap, we walked down to the park, where we met up with one of her baby friends and his parents. She loves her some park time. The bigger she gets, the more adventurous she gets, and it's probably only a matter of weeks until she's climbing ladders and going down fireman poles. I mean, by two I was climbing the huge apple tree in our backyard, freaking out the neighbors. She comes by her monkey-dom honestly.


Today she figured out how to climb up the stairs to the slide, sit herself down and push herself down the slide feet first. As you can see, she is very pleased with her efforts (the crying in the background is her friend Dean.)

Not Funny Haha.

Hey, so remember how I made fun of Tim for snoozing with the baby? In a not-funny-at-all twist of irony, the baby continues to get snottier and decided that last night she wanted me to put her to bed, not Tim. And then when she woke up in the middle of the night, the thought of daddy holding her and snuggling her made her sob and wail. And then of course, she would cough sadly with her little wet cough. And then go back to crying. So of course, I went in and scooped her up and sent Tim back to bed.

Poor Bug and I were up from 2am until 4:30, when she finally settled down, settled in and fell asleep in my arms. The two of us fitfully coslept until 8, when she was happy to let her daddy feed her a yogurt and take a shower with her while I curled into our bed and pretended that I was an immobile sleeping giant.

Thank goodness she's now taking naps in her bed, because if I had to hold her for naps AND then sleep with her at night, I would probably lose my mind. We had a nice time at the park after our morning nap, and then she went down like a dream, but only for 40 minutes. She wouldn't even let Grams snuggle her back down! That's how you know she's a sicky baby.

Hopefully the cold is at its apex and will get better this weekend. At the very least, Tim's home so I can slip away for a nap or two. I shouldn't even be writing this blog - I should be sleeping right now to prepare for the night ahead. It's very rewarding, but hard to be the mommy sometimes.

Snoozers.

Ellie continues to take good naps in her big girl bed for me, and I am incredibly happy with the development. You know who is the happiest though? The cats. They mob me the second I sit down on the couch.

I have discovered several keys to getting a good nap out of her. The first is, if she doesn't put her head on my shoulder the second we go into her room, she's not tired enough, and I'm better off going and reading a few books or playing with puzzles for a half hour. The second is, the tighter I spoon her, the faster she goes to sleep. It seems contradictory, because I don't want to be too entangled when trying to slip away, but she gets into a deeper sleep when I'm all cuddled around her, and then it's actually simpler to remove myself. Thirdly, having her nap on her own is awesome.

But that doesn't mean that I haven't been tempted to just lay there and take a snooze with her. We've all been under the weather the past few days, and Tim especially has been Mr. Cosleeper. Last night he fell asleep with her while doing bedtime. It's a funny thing - when a half hour's passed while he's trying to put her down, I think to myself "wow, she must really be giving him the business." When an hour has passed, I wonder if I should go in and check on them, but I'd hate to disturb her if she's on the verge of drifting off. When 90 minutes go by, I know that Tim is almost certainly out like a light. Last night was one of those nights. In fact, when I went in at 11 to tell him to come to bed, he was flat on his back with the covers up around his chin and Ellie snuggled against his shoulder, each of them trying to out-snore each other. I tapped him on his hands and got zero response, so I figured I'd let my sleeping babies lie. A half hour later, he stumbled into our room and came to bed like a normal person. I understand though - Ellie is so sweet and so snuggly, and her bed is warm and has nice sheets on it. It's easy for him to start thinking about math problems and pass out.

Even mom fell prey to Ellie's siren song last week, taking a quick nap with her little darling. That means that this family is officially a big bunch of dirty hippies.