Elizabeth and Friends.

I feel so lucky to have found a great group of moms to help me survive the first year of motherhood, because this stuff is tough. Advice from the older generation is great, but can sometimes be a bit outdated, or clouded by the ensuing 30 years. It's nice to have moms who are down in the trenches, surviving each stage along side you, so when you email freaking out about the amount of drool streaming down your child's face, someone else says "yeah, we had that last week, and now we have a tooth." Oh... a TOOTH! I hadn't thought of that in my sleep deprived haze.

At first, our "playdates" were all about the moms - in a perfect outing, all the babies stayed asleep in their bucket seats. But now they're all toddlers, and it's so fun to see them interact with one another.

Ellie (on the left) and her friend Clare, out for a morning walk.

Here Ellie and Clare are at Friday's play date. Ellie is telling Clare secrets of walking (Clare is 10 months.)

Ellie and her buddy Jonathan (just turned 1!) and all of the books, which ended up on the floor.

"Hey you guys, check out my sweet ride! Yeah, my grandparents gave it to me, they're pretty generous. My parents are still making me pay for gas though."

Grandma Rosie.

Today was our last day with Grandma Rosie, but we made it a good one. Ellie and I walked this morning and then napped, and then showered. She's basically done having baths at night on weekdays (unless Grams wants to plop her in the tub) because I can't get in the shower without her crying and banging on the glass. And after our shower door shattered on my due date, I figure it's just better to bring her in and let her splash around with her various rubber duckies. Then afterwards, she crawls in and out of the shower while I get ready and dressed. I usually hold off on lotioning her and putting on a diaper, because that pisses her off, and I try to keep the beast calm so that I can brush my teeth without trying to hold her. Sometimes, it's cute, and the buns go on parade all over the place - checking on herself in the mirror, going out to the linen closet, chasing the cats. Sometimes (once) she poops on the carpet. NOT OKAY.

Anyways, after the nude parade ended, with the application of clothing, we went out for a lunch at the harbor with Grandma Rosie, where we soaked up a little sun and some good company. We also took Grandma to cookie hour at Tim's office. I think she was suitably impressed with the cookies and the nerdery. And then an evening full of watching Ellie desperately chase the cats and demand that books be read to her. It's so nice that Grandma Rosie has been able to spend so much time with Ellie during her first year (and a bit.) They got to read a lot of books, talk a lot and snuggle. What more could you want? Now Sara and I will have to manage for a few more days until mom and dad get home - they made it to Venice this morning (our time) and apparently mom had been pointing and grunting at many things she wanted (in imitation of Elizabeth.)

Here's a couple of recent photos:

Here's Ellie and her chicks. She has Coco (like from her books) and then Cuckoo (who has a hat) and Bluey (who's Blue.) She's been extra attached to them since Grams left, and spent hours crawling around with them clutched in her fat little hands. I think Grams is going to have to get new chicks when she gets home to replace the mangled, over-loved friends.

Here she is on Sunday, giving her calamari a ride with her ducks, while eating a tortilla chip (she mostly holds it, less so eating it.) She is wearing a Packers onesie under that sweatshirt, of course.

Here she is, one of the times Rocky let her near him. I think he was interested in the cats on her shirt. True story: it's the cutest shirt in the world, but it was a regular crew neck and didn't fit over her head. Grandma Rosie fixed that for us so that Melonhead can now rock her kitties and stripes.

Here's Grandma Rosie with all of her California girls. And Ellie's belly.

"Hey, I'm tired and teething, quit bugging me!"

It's Alive! It's Alive!

A few little segments that display Ellie's Frankensteinian walking abilities. She's so funny - puts one foot forward and drags the other one parallel. But she's getting better every day! And as you can see, she'll get that big bootie in the air and then stand up on her own.

Solids.

Feeding Ellie is an exercise in hilarity most days. She has a pretty adventurous palate for a baby, and will generally eat anything you spoon into her mouth - fruits, vegetables, chicken, beans, olives. She'll go through phases where she loves a food, and then all of a sudden it's no good to her anymore - this was inconvenient when she decided she didn't want to eat bananas, because I don't particularly care for bananas, and I suddenly had a bunch that had to get eaten by someone in this house. Oh well, the potassium is good for me I guess.

She's pretty good at feeding herself, however, if she sees everyone else eating with a fork, she'll refuse to feed herself and demand to be fed by fork. Hey, if it gets the food into her belly.

Last night Sara took us all out for dinner at El Maguey. Elizabeth had taken a horrible afternoon nap and I was on my last shreds of patience, and then she insisted that I hold her during our wait for dinner. We gave her a tortilla chip, which she happily clutched in her sweaty little fist, occasionally offering it to me for a bite or two, and she was so cute that I couldn't stay mad at her. When our food came, we stuck her in the high chair at the end of the table, between Tim and Auntie Sara, so I could shovel some carnitas into my hungry, cranky mouth. Hilarity ensued, as Ellie refused to eat the delicious tortilla and tomato we put in front of her, and instead turned alternately to her daddy and her favorite aunt, with her mouth open like a hungry baby bird. She seemed to focus mainly on Sara, as Sara was quicker on the ball with forkfuls of rice and beans.

This morning I made strawberry pancakes for breakfast, and it was so funny to watch Miss El tear into her baby sized pancake. I offered her a small, plastic fork of her own, and even speared some food for her, but she was happier just to wave the fork around like a scepter. She still got about half of the pancake down into her pie hole, though I could see she was envious of us having syrup. Sorry kid - that's just too messy at this point in time. She also drank a couple big sips of 2% milk and didn't look horrified when she realized it wasn't her regular brew.

That kid, she cracks me up. It's so funny to see her sitting there like a little person, having real food with her folks. Won't be long now until she'll be able to sleep over at her Grandma and Grandpa's, and demand Grandpa make her waffles in the morning!

Pictures of Love, Italian Style.

A view from mom and dad's hotel room (in Revelo? I could check the email for reference, but am too lazy to click between windows.)


Mom, trying to relax after a harrowing day of Dad's aggressive driving combined with Italy's narrow, winding roads.

Between this and Skyping with Itty Bitty every morning, their lives aren't too bad.

Piering;.

If you thought yesterday's picture of Ellie with her Grandma Rosie was cute, check this stuff out:DO YOU NOT DIE OF THE CUTENESS?

Grandma took us girls out for dinner tonight at the pier (we didn't bring Tim, not because we are jerks, but because we wanted to go before sunset and he was still at work. Plus otherwise we'd have to take two cars. As it was, we got there slightly before 5 and only got a four top table because another couple moved to let us have it. It was crowded!

Miss Beans was mostly happy to eat french fries, hoot at birds and stand in my lap. She also slammed a menu corner into the bridge of my nose, which brought tears to my eyes. But then she was busy being darling and adorable, and that also brought small tears to my eyes. I do love that girl so.

I love all these girls so!

Travels.

Grandma Rosie has arrived, safe and sound.

Mom and Dad are having a great time in Italy - they are probably traveling to Naples as I write this. They've been able to Skype with their Itty Bitty every day, and actually my new cell phone does a better job with video chatting than my laptop. Technology today is CRAZY!

Ellie is going to go on a journey soon too. If she doesn't stop being such a little teething monster, I am going to sell her to the gypsies, and she will get to travel the world in the back of a chuck wagon.