Halloweenie.

Remember last year? When I put my baby in a costume and put myself in a clean shirt and left my house for the first time since bringing her home? That was a good time. NOT. Having a newly borned is the pits. There. I said it.

This year is much better. Though Ellie is understandably distressed about the lack of treats in her treat bag.

Tonight we went out to Yorba Linda to do a little bit of trick or treating and then have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and some friends. We really only went to one house for our trick or treating purposes, to see Becky!

This is sadly, the only photo I took of Ellie with Grandma tonight, because I am a dolt. But look at how excited everyone is about trick or treating! Just think of how much better it'll be next year.

I dressed as a fancy lady. Much better than last year's costume of "exhausted, milk stained, horribly frazzled new mom."

Tim just borrowed Ellie's hat.

Her walking is really picking up. She's starting to actually let go of the coffee table and other objects to walk on her own and has strung ten or more steps together more than once. In other developmental news, she's cut a third bottom tooth. So right now we're at six - three on top and three on the bottom. Still missing one of those big front teeth - maybe she can ask for it for Christmas, because now we're in the holiday season. Yipes.

Alone Time.

Today, Tim said the most romantic thing he's ever said to me. He asked me if he could take Elizabeth to his mom's house, so that I could get some alone time while he sets Don and Eileen up on a new laptop. Just when I think I can't love my husband more...

Mom and Dad are off on their way to Italy today. Ellie helped drive them to the airport, and burst into tears as they walked away from the car. I managed to keep it together. I hope they have an amazing time, and I'm looking forward to lots of time hanging out with Sara and Grandma Rosie in their absence. Plus I'm going to wear all of mom's fancy jewelry that she couldn't bring with her on the trip. How many crystal necklaces do you think I can wear at once? We'll soon find out.

Friday afternoon we went trick or treating at Tim's work. His company does a great job with the family friendly events - there was candy for everyone to give out, and parents were encouraged to take a little time off to show their kids around. Ellie was delighted to get into her walrus costume and explore the building. Her favorite part was a bubble machine that featured smoke filled bubbles. She probably stood in front of that thing (on her own! Balancing!) for a good three minutes.



Yesterday, you will be surprised to learn, we went to a first birthday party. I know, right? Only two more to go for our little group. This time, we went to the petting zoo in San Juan. I'd never been before, but it's a great little place.

The only animal she really petted was this bunny, who I plunked into her lap.

She petted his bunny buns for a minute, and then basically pushed him onto the ground. OVER IT! In other petting news though, last night I finally taught her how awesome it is to sniff a cat tail. She followed it up by putting Rocky's tail in her mouth. He was not amused.

She also pretended to be a black cat on her own.

And of course, enjoyed party favors and cake.

At mommy class on Friday, we had a potluck costume party. Now, stop me if you've heard this one, but a peacock, a pink bunny and a walrus walk into a bar...

Kicks.

Grams took Ellie today to get her first pair of big girl shoes. She has a couple pairs for when she's a little bigger (like some FABULOUS sparkly shoes from Grandma) but I wanted to get her a pair of solid, dependable Stride Rites... with straps so she wouldn't slip out of them and hopefully can't pull them off in the car. The lady at the store was really helpful in telling us what shoes were appropriate for a crawler/beginning walker, and we found a silvery pair that remind me of moon boots.

Ellie is horrified by them.

She did enjoy the smoothie that Grams got her afterwards though.
(click to enlarge if you'd like to see the pathetic tears she produced when we made her stand on her own.)

Things she does enjoy: her friend Bucky, and her Auntie Kate. Happy birthday Auntie Kate! Hope your shoes don't make you cry.

Having a Little Seafood.

The Great Pumpkin.

On Sunday afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch with our pal Lexi, to check out some Halloween fun.

We posed like the fat little melon head we are

We visited the petting zoo

WE RODE THE PONIES AND OMG IT WAS SO EXCITING!

We totally ruined cute photo ops with our crying and our inability to look at the camera

But then we made up for it by being cute elsewhere

In short, we had a great time! And then we went out to lunch (not pictured.)

Year One Stats!

Today we had Ellie's one year well baby visit, which went well. We got to meet two very sweet four day old babies in the waiting room. Unfortunately, I think the newborns in the waiting room combined with it being Monday (which meant lots of kids in the sick room) meant that our quick visit took nearly two hours. Le sigh. Don't these doctors understand how unruly children can be?

At a year old, Ellie weighs a little over 21 pounds and is 29 1/4 inches tall, both of which put her in the 50th percentile. So she's slowed down a little on the growth curve, but is still a good, healthy size. Her head is over 47 cms around, which puts her int he 95th percentile, where she's been all along. I laughed when the doc said "well, since her head has always been large, and since she's got a dad with a big head, it's nothing to worry about. If her head had all of a sudden got this big, we might have to send her for additional testing." ADDITIONAL TESTING? Nice work, big brained baby.

The doctor was very impressed with Ellie's ability to mimic (she clapped for the doc) and said that her vocabulary is more like that of a 15 month old. Must be all the books she reads. Or the fact that everyone talks to her all the dang time. So that made me feel pretty proud. The doc encouraged us to keep nursing as long as it's working for both of us, especially as we're heading into cold and flu season, but that we can try to get Ellie to drink whole milk if we want. We've offered it to her a couple of times and she doesn't seem to enjoy it, but you know what? I don't blame her. I think I was 12 the last time I drank a glass of milk. Perhaps I'll have her hang out with her Uncle Jake and he can show her how to put away a half gallon in ten seconds or less.

In other news, either Ellie's teeth are really bothering her in the morning, or she's giving up her morning nap. UGH. The second option makes me want to go lay in a ditch, because while she hasn't napped at her usual time the past three days, she also has been a total stinker during the morning hours. It's not like she's not napping because she's content and well rested. She is just fighting me every step of the way until she finally passes out in the car. Look kid, I gave you plenty of time to sleep while were at our house, so now snooze on the way home from the errands that had to get run, whether you were tired or not. I'm hoping once those teeth come in, she'll go back to settling down for a snooze around 10am.

Ellie at One.

Well, so how have things been going for our favorite one year old, you might wonder? Pretty good, though apparently being one means you need more teeth. She is cutting her other fang through, and the front tooth next to it. Hopefully the second front tooth will come through soon, otherwise she's going to look like a yokel. Good thing I have a lot of bib overalls for her to wear. She's been a pretty good little egg through the whole process - we give her a little Advil before bed, and if she's being a real turd during the day we'll dose her, but usually she's good with a lot of cuddling and frozen toys. This morning though, after a full night of sleep, she got up at her usual wake time, snuggled up with me on the recliner for breakfast, and when I looked down next she had fallen back to sleep, FOR AN HOUR. That hasn't happened since she was a newborn! It was the only good nap she got all day, poor Bug.

What else?

She got a sweet new ride from her Grandma and Grandpa. Here she is texting and driving. I cited her for it, obviously. NOT OKAY.

Today we had a birthday party for one of her little friends - we have three more to go before our group of eight will all have one year olds, crazy!

She enjoyed playing in the Temple of Doom maze

She REALLY enjoyed when her Dada gave her some cake

She did not so much enjoy it when we tried to wipe all the dirt off her face and hands. She thought she'd done a pretty good job using her mouth to clean her mitts. Oh Elizabeth.

She continues to enjoy reading, and her Coco books probably most of all. Grams got her a new little storage unit for all of her books, and tonight Gramps asked her to get a Coco book for them to read, and she did! She is so smart.

In other news, I put away most of her nine month outfits today and washed all of the 18 month clothing items. Nothing makes me tearier than putting away baby clothes. I will hold something up and think "she could probably wear this once or twice more!" knowing that she won't, and I'll let it sit in her drawer until it's waaaay too small. So I put it in the space bag a little sadly. I feel like I've had to pack away all of the clothes that I bought when I was pregnant. Now it's just the latest fashions from the kid's consignment store. She's got some cute things coming up, but I will miss you, yellow romper and cheetah print velour pajammers.