The other night while crawling into bed
(after what Craig would call.... a "spider episode")
I asked: "Do you think I have arachnophobia?"
He laughed and said: "Well.. ya.. (which really meant...duh)
I've never seen somebody so scared of anything."

I'm a crazy person (when it comes to spiders)
Many people can attest to this.

Lisa: Thank you for putting up with my spider nightmares, killing the abnormally large spiders that constantly surrounded our Huntington Beach home, and remaining calm when I'm a complete reck.

Craig: I'm really sorry for the many, many, many phone calls to come kill a spider. For the many heart attacks I've caused by my freak outs. But especially for that time when you came home and I was hysterically bawling, (and pregnant) because I found a dead black widow on our doorstep.

Eliza: I'm really sorry for scaring you to death by screaming bloody murder every time I see a spider in the house. I'm really, really, really sorry about that.

*In my defense: I have a brother (who will remain nameless), who is worse than me.

11 {+}
Months

Does this face look familiar?
I told you how hard it is to get this girl to smile.
She really is a happy girl... promise.
All the sudden she hates my "big" camera (which I never get out),
So this is what I get.

{Eliza at 11 Months}
~ She's only eating table foods... no more baby food- she refuses.
~ She points. Usually with both hands. It's so cute.
~ She hates when there is food on her face. If it doesn't all go into her mouth, she immediately grabs at the object until she gets it into her mouth.
~ If she drops something onto her lap while eating, she won't continue until she finds it, and eats it.
~ She drinks her sippy by herself.
~ She holds her bottle by herself- which means 6 minutes of freedom for me!
~ She has been standing (unassisted)
~She still love love loves the pool
~ Her favorite food is Mango. And Watermelon. And Grapes. And Peaches. And Bananas.
If it's a fruit- it's her favorite.~ She runs with her walker
~ She loves Brynlie (her cousin)
~She took her first steps today (07.18.10) We got really excited, then really scared.
We've decided not to push it- we like the crawling stage right now.
~ She still has four teeth. 2 bottom centers, and 2 top rights.
I've been a little worried that her right teeth are going to be so much longer than her left teeth. (Especially the centers... won't that look weird? I hope not)
Still no sign of her left center coming in... let's hope it's soon.
~ I've left her for 3 days twice now. It's so hard- and so great- all at the same time.
~ She loves her Daddy... an insane amount. When she hears the door rattle in the afternoon, she knows it's him. She starts flailing around like a crazy person. And that's what she is. Crazy for her Daddy.
~ Which brings me to my next fact: She says Dada. I'm pretty sure she knows what it means too. (and nope- hasn't even come close to saying Mama.)
~ On my scale she weighs 18 pounds. I was totally crossing my fingers that she'd be 20 by the time we drove down to Laguna. I guess we'll leave the front facing carseat home. Dang.
~ We're taking a trip to Laguna without Craig. Scary.~ She's mostly in 6-9 month clothing. Unless it's a hat. In that case- 12-18 months.
My poor large headed child.
~ She loves her blanky
~ When we say "Ni-night" she puts her thumb in her mouth.
~ She loves books- and turning the pages.
~ She hates the vacuum. In a horribly sad way. If I even bring it into the room she starts crying and clinging to me. When I turn it on?- we won't even go there.
(Can I blame my dirty house on a terrified child? I think so...)
~ She's going to be a dancer. She can really shake it.
~ She has a dimple on her stomach (have I mentioned this?)
Her Dad has the same one. In the exact same spot. He's pretty proud.
I think it's adorable.
~ She's getting more amazing every day.
There are no words to express...
We just love her.

Popcorned

Bendrea popcorned us. Yay! I've never been tagged or bonked or anything... Here it is... the first 5 songs that pop up on my Ipod when I put it on "shuffle"...


{1} Firepower- Dilated Peoples
{2} Fortunate Fool- Jack Johnson
{3} 4:50 AM (Go Fishing)- Roger Waters
{4} Rich Girl- Gwen Stefani Feat. Eve
{5} Alma, Ch. 49- Book Of Mormon (since this isn't a "song".. I'll do one more)
{6} Ways & Means- Snow Patrol

Kind of disappointed I didn't get any Aja... Shake It Baby!!! I "Popcorn" Sleezy (yes, you must post), Drizzle (you know you're my nizzle), Kelly (Have you used your new ipod yet?), Kaesy (yes, Mrs. Crittenden), and Cassidy (Do you even know how to blog anymore? Seriously.). Let's see who's got the best taste in music! (Cuz I know it's not me.)

4th of July weekend

{Duck Creek}

07.02.10
We headed up Friday afternoon around 2:00. We had just passed Leads when we heard a pop. We blew a tire.
Great.
So 45 minutes later- we were back on the road. We stopped in Cedar to get the tire fixed. Our camping trip somewhere "quick and easy" ended up being not so "quick and easy".
We finally made it... at least it was a beautiful drive!

On Saturday my parents and Tyson came up for the day to hang out with us.

My Mom had knee surgery- and my Dad recently fell off a ladder... so the "gimps" just hung out at camp- while the rest of us went on a dusty dirty fourwheeler ride.

"Dirty Stache"

Leave it to Papa Facer to give Eliza a piece of licorice.
After she bit a large piece of it off- I got scared and took it away.
Wow.
I have never seen her so upset.
So upset that she didn't realize I had put it back into her hand.
Sheesh!

Happy again.


Yes- I brought us 4th of July attire.
I threw them in last minute when I started thinking about how we weren't going to be at any "festivities" for her first 4th.
So yes... we coordinated. Well Eliza and I did.
Craig just happened to wear red.



Everybody else (Craig's parents and his brother Cory) left that evening.
We stayed through Monday.

It was fun to be up there by ourselves for one night.
We had yummy tin foil dinners.
I wish I would have taken a picture of Eliza's little tiny foil dinner.
Potatoes, Black beans, Cheese, and onions.
She loved every bite!

We bathed Eliza and put her to bed.
Craig and I just sat around the fire and I taught him how to roast a mallow.
They were delish.

It was a good 4th
So good.

Vegas
baby

Me- Jaime- Andrea
Hotel rooms
Good food
Shopping
No kids
Pool time
Girl talk
Just like the good old day.

We decided to make a girls trip to Vegas,
minus kiddos, for 2 days!
I have never left Eliza over-night.
But I survived, and so did she.

I didn't realize how much us girlies need our "Girl time"
Just a few years ago, this is all we did.
Now we have responsibilities
(like being Moms and Wifeys)
But getting together like this made me realize:
I'm still Britta.
The same girl I was 13 years ago when I met these two crazies.
Just older & wiser
and I'm ok with that.

Disclaimer: We are not Twi-hards.
But we happened to be in Vegas. Together. At midnight. On June 29th.
So we got tickets to the midnight showing of Eclipse.
At 11:30 pm, we decided we might want to go down to the theater
(it was in our hotel) and get in line.
Wow- we must be stupid. It was crazy!
Luckily- Jaime has some serious "butting" skills, so we actually got good seats.
The entire time we were in line/buying treats/watching all the REAL Twi-hards walk around in vampire clothing and bloody faces, we were saying
"I can't believe we are doing this".
We love the books, but the movies have been... blah.
And plus- who stays up until midnight in the first place? (besides Andrea), Let alone, watch a movie? I was convinced I was going to fall asleep, because I already had once that night.
But then the movie started.
And I forgot how tired I was.
(yes, it was that good)

Needless to say:
Our much needed girls trip
Was a huge success.

Introducing...

Mrs. Nathan Gubler

Lyndee is married!
How exciting...

Father's Day in Fishlake...

We spent Father's Day weekend camping by Fishlake.
I have a lot of memories at Fishlake because my family had a cabin there growing up.
I made Craig take me back there just to see it...
I wish I would have taken a picture.
Dumb Me.

Bare-Bare and Li-Li

Watermelon.
She was entertained for a good 20 minutes.