Walking on Two Legs!

As you can see, she is QUITE proud of herself. Grams picked up her new toy, and within minutes, she was cruising all over the house like a crazy person.

Stairmaster.

She loves going up, but she can't get down.

Tunnel Vision.

So, good news first. I got the word about my car accident this afternoon, and it turns out that they found the other driver 100% liable for the accident, due to "failure to control her vehicle." It's funny - part of me was like, "yeah, screw you for lying and saying I hit you and then asked for money!" but part of me feels bad for her that she has to take all the blame. Even though it's totally her fault. Guilt complex! I was just worried because I was the rear car and a lot of times, that person is automatically at fault. I'm glad they figured out that on a hill, it's more likely that she accidentally stepped off the brake and rolled back than me accidentally revving it forward into the car in front of me. At the very least, everyone is safe and I've learned how what to do if I'm ever in an accident again (as in, don't say a damn word accept for hello and are you okay, and then call the cops so there is NO question of what happened.) Fingers crossed that I never have to put my new skills into use, right?

We had a great day with the knitters at Jill's house. Ellie loved seeing both big dog Henry, and little cat Rocket. The mother of Petunia and Rocky is very nice to Ellie, perhaps her bratty daughter could learn a thing or two!

Yesterday afternoon I tried out a Gymboree class with a group of local OC moms who had set up a play date at a new Gymboree location. I thought Elizabeth would like it, because she loved her tumbling classes. Yeah, no. She cried through a good portion of it. I think it's because the instructor had a VERY loud voice. I know he was trying to reach a group of toddlers, but he was hurting my ears, and I at least am an adult and know what's going on. I think she also knew he wasn't as cute as Mr. Jerry from our tumbling class. She's shallow, that kid.

She did have a few moments of fun though:
I am also pretty sure that there is nothing better in this world than watching your baby crawl to you when a huge smile on her face. That kid is an absolute doll.

End of an Era.

Well, after my last blog post, I looked again at the requirements for Ellie's carseat, and then I looked at my baby, and after a few minutes with a tape measure, I realized that she's right on the borderline for being too tall for her bucket seat. And considering that my measurement was an inexact science, I figured it was best to be on the safe side. So tonight while I was out on a walk with some girlfriends, Tim put our big girl carseat in the car.

I'm going to miss the bucket seat! It seemed so indulgent when I was registering for baby gear to get two car seats and two strollers, but the bucket car seat is a life saver. For one, when she was a tiny, floppy headed newborn, it was nice to be able to put the car seat on the floor and strap her in - it took me months to be able to put her in the car seat without removing it from the car. It's awesome for when your baby falls asleep in the car - just carry them in and set them in a quiet room and the nap can continue without interruption. And if they get sleepy at a party, you know you always have a place to put them safely to nap. It's going to be a whole new world! A world where I sit in garages to let Ellie finish her naps. Though, let's be honest, I've been known to just stay in the car now and sleep, because I'm too tired to leave the front seat.

So tomorrow when we leave for swim class, she'll be tucked in tight in her fabulous new car seat from her Grandma. We'll see how long it takes for her to squish some puffs into it and break it in.

We had a good weekend! Saturday night Tim and I hit the town, seeing Cabaret at the Freud at UCLA. I fell in love with the movie after seeing it a few years ago, and I was wondering how the play would be, and I was not disappointed. It was another fabulous production AND as we've continued to be season ticket holders over the years, our seats have improved. We went from being in Row H on the side to sitting dead center in Row G this season. Old people in the front row - I'm coming for your seats. I'm patient, I can wait.

Then on Sunday it was all football, all the time. Everyone is coming over to watch NFL Sunday Ticket and relax on our new couch, and I can't say that I blame them. I love having the company, Ellie loves having the audience, and Tim loves having people to drink beer with, since beer doesn't appeal to me very much any more (and no, I'm not pregnant again. Because when I was pregnant, beer smelled like magical unicorn glitter of deliciousness. Of course, now that I can have it again, I don't want it.)

Someday, these two may share a beer together. ONE BEER.

Mooch.

As some of you may know, I enjoy hanging out at my parents' house in the afternoon, especially when my mom invites me to stay for dinner (at which point my dad complains loudly.) First off, I like free dinner. Secondly, my mom is a way better cook than I am. And thirdly, one of my favorite things in the world is getting to see how much fun Ellie has with her grandparents, and how much fun they have with her.

Please to observe:

Here she is sharing ice cream with her Gramps (sorry for the bad lighting.)


From screaming for ice cream to screaming with joy - it's going to be very sad when Elizabeth outgrows her bucket seat, and Gramps can't carry her out like this.

Grams and Sara also got to give Ellie a bath. I cleaned up the kitchen during that time, because I feel like it's only fair that if you clean my baby's butt, I clean the kitchen.

Tomorrow Tim and I have a date night! But thankfully, we have all day to do things like this:

Big Baby Little Baby.

Today Ellie and I headed up to LA to bring lunch and a little love to my former coworker Emily, who is now the new mom of a beautiful three week old boy. It's funny how quickly time goes - when she handed me Liam, despite the fact that I had a newly borned less than a year ago, my first thought was "oh my god, I'm going to break him, why is she handing me something so delicate?" How fast one forgets. I missed that beautiful little newborn smell and cuddliness, though you could not pay me any amount of money to have a newborn Ellie again for any amount of time. I've paid my dues with that little naughty bean.

I'm so glad that my kid is the bigger one!

Today was also Emily's 30th birthday, so I brought her a cake. It was a good chance to try out the cake pan mom brought me from Minneapolis this summer (AND fit into her carry on, let me state. She's a packer extraordinare!) It's a giant cupcake cake!

Thanks to Pam with flour, the cake just fell right out of the pan afterwards. It did take twice as long to cook as a normal cake, but next time I'll know, and won't check the oven every 10 minutes for an hour.

As for Ellie, she seems to be racking up new tricks daily (but still no walking.) Her latest 'so cute it makes me want to squeal' trick is waving and saying bye bye (bah bah.) Sometimes, she waves towards herself, which is even cuter. She even does it in context, often waving and saying bye bye when I stick her in her carseat. She continues to laugh like a loon at just about everything we do, except when she's screeching because she's working on tooth #4, which looks like it's going to be her other fang on the top. She crawls like crazy, and will follow us around the house. This morning I let her jump in the shower, and Tim laughed when he turned and saw that she'd crawled out of the shower and was bringing the new musical revue "Buns on Parade" into the bedroom. In response, I made up a song called "Where is Buttkins?" to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin."

11 Months!

...and she just gets cuter every day. I couldn't even pick a favorite photo from our morning photo shoot.

Here she is on her "posing couch." I wonder if her head will be above the top of the back seat at 12 months!

The cutest little cute.

Not pictured: her fang tooth on the top

Pointing: a very popular past time at 11 months old. Also popular: the ever popular Sophie.