Eliza
{16 Months}
12.08.10How is this happening?
She is growing up too fast! She is such her own little person. It amazes me every day.
Lately...
- She wakes up around 8 every morning and immediately starts saying "UH-meal"(oatmeal). -I've started mixing her herbs with OJ every morning. She thinks it's the greatest. She's starting to ask for "Uh-jue" all day now. I knew I withheld juice for a reason. Dang.
- She repeats the Alphabet after me every night while she's in the tub. She says every letter.
- She knows every body part I can possibly think of.
- She loves her Daddy. He's been so busy with school and work lately. When he's here she won't let go of him. He loves it.
- She's 21 pounds. Hallelujah!
- She hands me just about anything I ask for. She's my big helper.
- She loves to run! She thinks it's so funny to run from us. The problem is she's usually laughing so hard while she runs, it always ends in disaster.
- She is such a clean eater. I shouldn't complain... I know! But if anything (and I really mean anything) falls on the floor or in her lap, she can't let it go. She HAS to get it, or I have to get it. Otherwise we can't move on.
- If she doesn't want what I give her, she can't have it on her tray. She one by one hands every single thing to me and says "Taint Tu".
- Also, she can't have anything on her face. If a flake of oatmeal ends up on the corner of her mouth she has to get it- or we can't move on. Even if some yogurt happens to end up on her lip or chin- she HAS to get it.
- She recognizes where we're going in the car. If it's a place we go often (Grandma's...Spoon Me...Home), when we're almost there she gets so excited!
- She is obsessed with Mary Poppins. I'm serious. She can't get enough. She sits through the entire movie. Every day. It's a problem. Right after she gets her "uh-meal" and "uh-jue", it's "Poppy? Poppy?" She's actually picking up on the dance moves. I'll have to post some videos.
- She's a tease. She loves to hide from us. She gets so excited she has to pop out before we find her.
- She still has 8 teeth.
- She is accident prone.
- She wears 12 month clothing, and size 3 diapers.
- She's so cute I can hardly stand it.

As for us...
- Craig finished his last final for this semester. I am SO excited! I feel like I never see him. 3 weeks off and we get to do it all over again.
We.Can.Do.It
- Craig sold his truck. We tried to do 1 car for a minute.. but decided it was impossible.
- We sold Spoon Me. I am a full time Mommy.
(At least for now)
+ Loving Life +

{For the Record}
She's on a roll...

Last week after putting Eliza to bed one night, she was extra fussy. I think she was overly tired. I decided to just let her cry it out.
But I heard a loud thump- then a screeeam.
I honestly thought she had some how fallen out of her crib.
Craig beat me to her. When I got there he was holding her and she was screaming and screaming. I thought she had just bonked her head or something.
But then I saw her blanket was covered in blood.
We turned the light on and saw she was bleeding from her mouth. We were examining the "situation" as quickly as we could to figure out what had happened.
That's when we saw two huge indented teeth marks on the railing of the crib.
Her chin was beginning to swell, and her lips we swollen and bleeding. Luckily the blood wasn't coming from her teeth. (whew)
She must have some how fallen, hit her chin, then her lip, then her teeth.
I cringe thinking about it.
I didn't get a picture of everything- but she's still sporting a bruised chin.

THEN...
On Sunday, as we were going out the door for church...
(I feel like it was in slow motion)
She was following Craig out the door when she tripped and fell flat on her face.
Isn't the sound the scariest part???
Her chin/lip/cheek hit the scratchy surface of the welcome mat, and her forehead smacked right on the cement.
More blood and tears.
So then she was sporting a bruised and scratched chin, and cheek, and a swollen/bruised forehead.

THEN...
Later that night I started the tub and told her it was tubby time.
Lately she's been running from us.
She thinks it's so funny.
So she took off.
She ran behind a chair, tripped and smacked her forehead against the corner of a cabinet.
I was literally right behind her.
I grabbed her and turned her around and saw this...Craig almost threw up.
It was immediately black and swollen.
I actually thought I needed to take her to the dr. But then realized there was no blood, and she only screamed for a few minutes then acted just fine.
I guess we're just not used to all these bonks and bruises.
Today she looks like a battered child.
I'm not sure I should even take her out of the house.
Her entire forehead is black and blue.
Poor thing.

{Live Nativity}
Tuacahn
12.10.10

Her 2nd experience with Santa this year.
Just as bad as the 1st.
(Notice I'm holding her)

She absolutely LOVED the live nativity.
As soon as the live animals came out that is...
I'm sure the lady in front of us wasn't loving the shower she was getting coming from Eliza's "horsey" (donkey) sounds. She hasn't really mastered that one yet.
She didn't want to leave the lights.
She kept breaking away and running back saying
"Sparkles? Sparkles?"

She's loving the sparkles all over town.
So am I.

{Ryan's Baptism}
12.04.10


Our nephew Ryan was baptized last weekend.
I went up early to help Kelly with kids and food.
Even though it was crazy busy, we still managed to go to the mall.
Twice.
Craig and I also got some good Thai Food with my little brother Tyson.
He finally got to experience some of the "real" Eliza.
He never gets to see her true personality because when he's in town
there is always so much going on.
We laughed our heads off at her silliness.
We always have such a good time up there. I wish we could do it more!

The infamous flags she wouldn't put down.
Gram broke her baton throwing skills out- maybe she's following in her footsteps??
We'll have to see...

{Thanksgiving Weekend}

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend this year.
Jeff and Kelly and all 6 of their kids came down from Elk Ridge.
Mike and Kathy came from California.
And we had a wonderful meal at Craig's parent's house.
Which I failed to get even one photo of.
I'm fired.
But here are some photos from the weekend...

Ready to play in the leaves

At the park with all the cousins

After "Dinner" we went over to my parent's house and had snacks.
And of course watched a game or two of football.
Corby and Rebecca and their kids were in town from CA.
Tyson was home from UVU.
Mandi and Brynlie were over.
We were just missing Riley and his family who now live in TX.

All snuggled up to walk out to the car.
Mommy had an early morning of shopping...

My first experience of Black Friday.
We had so much fun- even though we were up at 3 a.m.
Standing in a freezing cold line outside of Target.
We had no "Major" purchases BUT we accomplished some major things.
Like: Shopping for Kelly's 6 kids, with no babies in tow, no husbands complaining, and some much needed girl time.
The 2.5 hour check out line was a little much- but in that 2.5 hours we went from 1 cart to 2 over-flowing carts.
It was fun.

October 30th
{Staheli Farm}

On {Utah's} Halloween I made Craig take us to Staheli Farm.
She LOVED seeing/touching the animals. Especially the horses.

Sketchy... Sketchy...

That night we went Trick or Treating with the cousins
and of course Eliza's BFF Kendall.

Forget knocking... Kendall was just ready to walk in every house.
It was so cute.
After a while Eliza got the hang of it and would knock
while Kendall tried to break the doors down.

We had so much fun watching our little piglet waddle from door to door with her squiggly tail bobbing up and down.
She is the cutest.

Halloween (1)

Little Miss Piggy

Party at the Holm's

10.29.10

15 Months

{Proof that she smiles}

I haven't done an Eliza update in forever... She changes so much every day it's crazy. Here are our family's latest and greatest:

~ She wakes up saying mommy? Dada? Mama? We love it.
~ Sometimes she goes to bed screaming Mama! Dada! Adaddy! Amommy! We hate it. She usually goes down no problem though.
~ She had the stomach flu a few days ago. She was so good. No complaining- just a lot of puking.
~ I on the other hand, got it a couple days later. There was a lot of complaining and whining. Craig had the day off of work- thank goodness.
~ She's been sucking her thumbs raw. She never sucks them during the day- just at nap time and during the night. Her Dr told me I need to start using Mavala Stop so it doesn't start messing with her teeth. I feel so guilty though... she just screams because she can't suck her thumb and she doesn't understand why. It breaks my heart. I don't think I can do it again until she's a little older.
~ It's still really hard for me to find healthy food that she will eat.
~ She learned how to slurp noodles and she loves it. At least she'll eat that lately. Whole wheat Spaghetti with marinara is on the menu a lot these days.
~ She can feed herself and prefers it that way.
~ We've been house sitting for my parents the last 2 weeks. It's been nice to have real life vacuums (the dogs). No sweeping/vacuuming/mopping the floor after every meal.
~ It's going to be really hard to go from this 10,000 sq ft home back to our 1,800 sq ft townhome. We've been spoiled.
~ Our tv needs a new bulb ($250). We decided to just cancel our direct tv instead.
~ It's been awesome. I cook every night... the house is always clean... Eliza and I get out more... it's the best.thing.ever. (ask me if I'm still enjoying it in a month from now)
~ Eliza understands a lot lately. She brings things to us. Puts things back. Cleans up. She understands where we're going. I love it.
~ She repeats everything we say- it's the cutest.
~ She knows how to remove her diaper. It is so not cool.
~ We just refinanced our house.
~ Eliza is obessed with shoes. She is always carrying a pair around with her.
~ She knows how to go up and down the stairs by herself.
~ Her favorite foods (lately): Tomatoes, peas, spaghetti, and peaches.
~ She was a piggy for Halloween- I still need to post those.
~ She's been entertained by the tv since we've been at my parents (and they actually have one). I have to admit it's pretty nice. But I'll be glad to get back to not having one.
~ She's still not 20 pounds.
~ We tried her forward facing the other day in the car just to see how it was... I think she loved it.
~ I've been babysitting my friend's 5 month old little boy every day. Eliza is so intrigued by the "baby". She only sees him for a few minutes because they're on opposite schedules. He's awake while she sleeps, then she's awake while he sleeps. If I'm ever changing him or holding him Eliza comes up to me and holds my face up to hers and says "Mama. Mama. Mama." She's so jealous. It's adorable.
~ She asks for "caka?" (crackers) all day long. It's starting to drive me nuts. I read in a book they should eat snacks in their high chairs just twice a day. I need to be better at that...
~ I can't wait to get home and put our Christmas decor up. It's never too early.
~ Eliza's 8th tooth just broke through.
~ She still wears 6-12 month clothing. I've learned that buying clothes in advance is a dumb idea. What.A.Waste.
~ She's in size 3 diapers. We tried Kirkland brand because they were on coupon. They worked just like huggies- but they stink. Bad. Pampers are still my first choice. I just wish Costco carried them.
~ She is Daddy's girl lately. Which works out great for me except he's at school or work all day. If he is by chance home (ever)- he's good at entertaining her while I get things done. She bawls when he leaves. She clings to him when he tries to hand her to me. He loves it. Of course.

Laguna Beach
California
October 13-17

We planned a weekend vacation with the Legg Family.
We all needed a break from Work, School, Accounting, (& the "Single Mom" life).
We thought relaxing on the beach, laying out on the deck, and hitting up our regular shops and restaurants sounded like the perfect getaway.
Of course it rained the whole time we were there.
Why wouldn't it???
We still had a blast.

We left Wednesday about 5:00
All six of us piled in Craig's truck.
I wish we would have taken a picture.
Cass: How did we not get a picture?

Thursday
Was supposed to be our "sunny" day.
We decided to spend the day in Huntington.
It was freezing.
We braved the beach anyways- the boys even got in.
Crazy.

Eliza didn't like the sand at first (again).
She wouldn't put her feet down in the beginning.

She slowly warmed up to it.
She even ate some with her lunch.

Our amazing "gifts" from the husbands.
So thoughtful.

These girls were so fun together.
It was soooo nice they were able to entertain each other.

Friday

Shopping at The Spectrum.
We tried the Merry-go-round for the first time.
Eliza hated it.

Kendall loved it.
She didn't want it to end.
Oh this picture is priceless.

Saturday

We braved the beach again.
This time we stayed in Laguna.
Yes- the boys got in again.
What is wrong with them?
(it was full on raining)

Ok girls... get close for a picture!
A little closer...

Just a liiiittle closer...

OK- Too close! Too close!Apparently our child has some personal space issues

Another mall.
More shopping.
More yummy food.

Adam and Craig have their own desserts?
AND they're basically touching.
Weird.
(Cassidy and I were a little jealous)

Good Food.New Starbucks Addictions.Mild Abuse.Shopping.Great Babysitters.Tight Quarters.Cracked Pepper Sunflower Seeds.Teriyaki Burgers From Hell.Card Games.Rain.Pumpkins.Beach.Stories.Anxiety.Boys Against Girls.Best.Trip.Ever.
(Next time will be even better)