THE BIG ONE!!!

Elizabeth is one!!!

Every month I've written the blog update from Elizabeth's point of view, but I have been so nostalgic lately that this one is going to be all me.

Her actual birthday, January 24, was underwhelming. I got horribly sick the day before with stomach flu. Craig was my hero and took care of Elizabeth for most of the day while I stayed in bed. I was basically quarantined from Elizabeth, because the last thing I wanted was for her to get the same miserable bug. Craig played with her, fed her, and put her to bed; all the while I could hear my baby occasionally "calling" for me and I felt terrible. I slept restlessly that night, as I always do when I'm sick, but more so than usual because I was taking a trip back in time--because on the night of January 23 into the wee hours of January 24 was when I was in labor, arriving at the hospital around 1 AM. As I slept fitfully 1 year later, I kept glancing at the clock and remembering what I had been doing a year ago at the same time. My last wakeup was around 5:30 AM, which was probably when I was getting prepped for my c-section. I didn't quite catch 5:54, Elizabeth's birth minute.

Anyway, I spent E's birthday home sick from work while she went to daycare. It wasn't until later that I found out how my husband had dressed our daughter--on her birthday, no less!!!

After work Craig picked up his favorite--Bill Knapp's chocolate cake. I was feeling better, and we had our own tiny party for our girl. In her characteristically dainty way, she poked at the cake with her index finger from a couple different curious angles.

The real celebration was not until today, February 5, when we threw her party--just a family party with both sets of grandparents, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Wendy and E's three cousins. A beautiful snow fell gently outside, and inside was a blissful chaos of everything a child's birthday should be--pizza, cake, noisemakers, 1st birthday-themed napkins and high chair decorations and banners. I made a simple carrot cake with understated decoration, and Elizabeth ate most of her piece! As always, it was a joy to watch her with her older cousins. She just gets right into the thick of everything and wants to keep up. Her cousin Ethan is almost 2, and just a few developmental steps ahead of her, and his presence really rubbed off on her during the party. By the end of the afternoon she was sucking mightily from a sippy cup (she usually barely touches the things) and walked behind her push-toy better than I had ever seen her.

And now my precious girl sleeps off her crazy day, recharging for yet another adventure in the day of the life of a curious toddler. Things are changing...we are almost done nursing but she snuggles harder than she ever has; jars of baby food sit unopened as Elizabeth determinedly forays into the grown-up world of bite-sized avocado, banana, cheese, tangerines, chicken. The picture below shows that my daughter is becoming quite the diva in her mounting independence, as well.
Praise God for the life of our daughter.

Saga of a crazed working mom

I usually feel like I am barely keeping it together as a full time working mom. I am perpetually, embarrassingly disorganized. Tonight was a prime example of how insane it's gotten.

I had to take a $5500 check to the bank today. I had it among a pile of papers and some other things in a bag to take to work. So this morning I backed out of my ice-rink driveway in the pitch dark of 7:00 and put some mail in the mailbox. I had to first take out the mail from last night that we'd never brought in. In doing so I absently noticed a piece of paper flit into the street. I thought it was that extra piece of paper on the Netflix envelope (I'd put a Netflix in the mailbox). I was in a hurry, Elizabeth was in the car, it was freezing, I was walking on ice in high heeled boots, and I thought it was just an empty Netflix thing so I left for work!

(you see where this is going...)

I made my trip to the bank midday and deposited a couple other checks but realized I didn't have the $5500 one. I figured I'd left it at home. Day continued as always. Much later, as I was getting Elizabeth ready for bed, I remembered the piece of paper I'd seen flit into the icy street. OH S****.

I'll spare the details of how I tried to explain the situation to Craig without him killing me. So, at about 8:30 after I'd gotten Elizabeth to bed (starving, exhausted, no dinner, a houseful of chores awaiting me), I tromped outside with a flashlight. Inching along our icy road, I must have looked like a bag lady--I was wearing my down coat and sneakers with my long skirt I'd worn to work, shuffling along the road with a flashlight. I thought I was doomed.

And then, I saw it in the snow in our yard. PRAISE GOD. I still can't believe I did that or how bad my disorganization has gotten. Will I ever be sane again???? I can't take my own utter airheadedness...not sure how many brain cells I have left!!!!

The numbers go to...11!

How can it be? This is my LAST "month" birthday!!!

I am still a total peanut at just under 16 pounds, but I can move with the best of them. Mommy calls me "Speedy Gonzales" or "Scooter McGee" as I crawl away from her at warp speed. I can also pull myself up on furniture and hold on by just one hand. I can get on my tiptoes to reach whatever entices me. No walking yet--probably because I hate wearing shoes and always pull them off!

I got lots of new toys for Christmas, but give me Kleenex, remote controls, the phone, sticky notes, spoons, or shoes anyday. The best day was when Mommy and I went in the basement so she could do some organizing, and I got to poke around at the VCR. Woohoo!

I love to be silly! I like to bang my hands on surfaces and it's hilarious when Mommy joins in. I love to crawl over to my old bouncy seat and pull the cord on the musical frog and hear the music.

I also love...ELMO! He is everywhere--on my toothbrush, many books, my diapers, a little stuffed Elmo. Mommy wants everyone to know these were all GIFTS, as she is not a fan. I like to say "Ah-mo", too! (Although I call many different things "Ah-mo", or just "mo." I love to point at things, too!)

I do NOT like to be shoved in my carseat (Mommy and Daddy are FINALLY buying me a bigger one!) or go in the big bathtub.

The big day is a-coming! Next time I report in, I will be a big girl...

First Christmas

Time for recovery! We just got home today from a 5-day holiday visiting spree. We began the trip at Craig's parents' in Grand Rapids, where we celebrated Christmas Eve. The next day, we drove down to Chicago to celebrate the holiday with my parents and sister. We stayed with my family for the next few days, including a jaunt 2 hours north to Milwaukee to visit my dad's side of the family.



So many wonderful memories of Elizabeth's first Christmas. On Craig's side, Elizabeth has 3 older cousins (ages 5, 4, and 1.5), so the holiday for this group was a chaotic blur of flung wrapping paper, laughter, some crankiness, and of course lots and lots of toys. Elizabeth held her own so well with the excited older kids. She mostly just crawled around the living room taking in the action. Her oldest cousins just couldn't wait for E. to attempt to open her gifts, so "helped" her by ripping off the paper themselves, but E. didn't seem to notice the paper anyway.
With my side, she's the only grandchild so was the center of attention. Again, though, the gift opening did not really capture her attention--in this case, because it was upstaged by Elizabeth's discovery of my parents' staircase. She's never been on our stairs, but there they stood, right by the living room where we were opening gifts. I let her scale that mountain to see how she'd do, and she sped up those stairs (with me close behind), met by our cheers. Goofy little monkey!

The next few days were jam-packed with visits. I had to shed my uptightness and go with the flow with wonky naptimes and late bedtimes, but Elizabeth (and I) went with the flow pretty well. We spent the 26th with my dad's side of the family, a pretty large group which included my cousin's son Brayden who is 3 months younger than Elizabeth. The two babies stole the show the entire evening, and shared some good playtime (although Elizabeth did yank toys from Brayden on more than one occasion). It was fun to share parent stories with my cousin and his wife. It really hit me that I'm getting old. I have been to so many Christmas celebrations in that very house with that very group of people, for years and years, and now that I have my own daughter I noticed a distinct generational shift. My grandparents have passed away, so now my parents and aunts and uncles have become a new generation, and Elizabeth and Brayden have replaced the place my cousins and I have held for so many years as "the kids." It's times like these that floor me--I am an ADULT!!
The last two days of our trip were filled with visits to my high school friends and their kids. We all have kids more or less around the same age, and there are 7 kids among us now, so it gives us a perfect reason to get together. I feel so blessed that my dear friends and I have managed to reconnect so often in the 12 years since we dispersed after high school...and the days of bowling and bars has morphed into playdates at our houses or in the play area at the mall. Yikes!

This is the blueprint for what my daughter's earliest Christmas memories will be. It touches me when I think of how similar our holidays were to what I experienced growing up. Like Elizabeth, I grew up in a family in which most of our relatives lived out of town, so every year we made an extended trip packed with visits. The highlight for me was always the Christmas free-for-all with my cousins; the worst was living rooms of my parents' friends, where I entertained myself while they talked about boring adult stuff.

But this will be distinctly Elizabeth's story. Someday she will look back on the photos from Christmas 2010, her first, in complete wonder.

PICTURED ABOVE: Elizabeth and her cousins; with Aunt Katy; two daddies--Craig and Elizabeth with my cousin Jeff and his son Brayden.

Santa Claus is coming to town...but he needs a coffee break

Clearly Elizabeth knows nothing about Santa Claus. The only character she vaguely seems to recognize is Elmo, but that's another story for another time. But, as it's Elizabeth's first Christmas and I tend to get hokey at times, I entered the holiday season bound and determined to get that first picture of her on Santa's lap!

I talked to a couple friends at work and they suggested the local Bass Pro Shop, where apparently the line is short and the photos are free. Bass Pro Shop is a half hour away from us, but last weekend we were up at our friends' Hanukkah party (I thought Elizabeth's first dreidel game followed by her first Santa visit would be pretty funny), which was in the neighborhood of the store--perfect! I dressed E. in one of her 3 Christmas dresses (thank you to the Grandmas!) and off we went.

Naturally, she fell asleep on the way to the store. Bass Pro Shop is part of a huge outlet mall, so I did shark circles through the parking lot for almost 20 minutes until I found a parking space. (At a mall on a Saturday afternoon in December...that was my first mistake.) I welcomed the nuisance, though, since it would give E. more time to nap. So I sat in the car and decided to wait out the nap...45 minutes and lots of NPR on the radio later, she finally stirred. I nursed her in the front seat, bundled her up, and walked us purposefully into the store. I was excited to see how this would turn out.

I walked towards the little Santa village in the store, only to find out that Santa was on break and would return at 5. It was 3:45. I was pretty bummed, more so over the huge amount of time I had just wasted. Oh well.

The following Friday, I was unexpectedly home from work in the afternoon because Elizabeth had a stomach bug, having had her first puking experience the night before, poor baby. She seemed to be feeling like her old self, though, with no fever, so on an impulse I decided to take us to the mall to attempt to see Santa. (A different mall in a completely different part of town.) I needed to go to Penneys anyway, and I figured we were just close enough to school dismissal time that it wouldn't be too busy yet.

Again, my daughter fell asleep in the car. This time I was prepared with a couple magazines, and she still slept about 45 minutes. I loaded her into the stroller and off we went. I bought a pretzel because I was starving and gave her a chunk to nibble on. Okay, ready!

There was a pleasantly short line in front of the Chronicles of Narnia-themed snowy village. Yay! An older gentleman (thankfully not dressed like an elf) was patrolling the line, telling us that Santa would be leaving at 5 for an hour-long break. It was 4:30. The man told us at the end of the line that we'd probably not get in, but might as well wait just in case. The earnest dad in front of me, surrounded by several gleeful kids, pleaded to the man "But we came all the way from Minnesota to see him." Okay, seriously?

I tried to remain patient, enjoying the sight of my daughter in her adorable plaid jumper (that was mine!) and red tights as she gazed wide-eyed at her surroundings. She played with her Elmo doll and I managed to feed her a jar of baby food as we waited. I chatted with the woman behind me who stood with her 7-year-old son.

5:00. The gentleman reappeared and roped off the line right in front of the family in front of me. A maintenance guy appeared and started to vacuum the Narnia village. I'm generally not an assertive person in the least, but darn it, I was here and my daughter was awake and happy and adorable! I asked the gentleman if we could get just a QUICK picture with Santa, seeing as Elizabeth was the only child in the entire line not old enough to want to talk to him and give him her Christmas list. He told me to ask the manager. I hauled Elizabeth across the village to plead my case with the manager, again posing my reasonable argument (much more reasonable than coming from Minnesota, which clearly doesn't have any Santas in their malls). "If I let you in, I'd have to let everyone in," he said apologetically. Okay. Fine.

The trip wasn't a total wash because I got to Penneys to order my family room blinds, but darn it, my daughter is going to see Santa and he's NOT going to take any more breaks!! A friend tipped me about a local hardware store. I think that's my next bet. Besides, the mall pictures cost $20!


Above: Third time is a charm! Elizabeth and Santa at Bass Pro Shop on December 18. A 2 minute wait and no tears! Perfect!!!

Double digits!!!

SHAME ON MOMMY. She missed my 9 month birthday! Grr. Okay, well, coming here for my 10 month is better than nothing!

I am 10 months old and loving life! I am full of energy, spunk, and joy. I weigh about 15 pounds, still a peanut, but crawling like a champ and pulling myself up on every surface I can find. Mommy bought me some shoes that keep falling off. Mommy thinks that maybe this is a good thing, since it will delay the inevitable next step--WALKING!

Here is what I love right now:

Eating: I love tiny pieces I can pick up with my fingers. Rice, shredded cheese, peas. I am a carb fiend! Besides rice, I love pasta, saltines, Ritz crackers, and bread. I love my cup, too. I'm getting pretty good at drinking out of it! Even though I'm getting to be a big girl with my food, I still love to cuddle up to Mommy and eat like I used to when I was very little. Mommy is so sad that we will be doing this for only a couple more months.

DADDY!!! My face breaks into a grin whenever he comes into the room. We are best buddies.

Jumping! My Jumperoo is the best! Even better was the Jolly Jumper at Grandma P's house that hung in the doorway--not only did i get to jump, I got to spin! I even jump when someone is holding me!

Toys! My blocks are fun because I get to knock them over when someone stacks them. Anything small, that fits neatly into my hand, is a favorite--my little plastic sea creatures for the bathtub, the little Lego guy I swiped from Grandma P's house, my little stuffed Elmo I got from Daniel's birthday party. And of course, things that aren't really toys--measuring cups, spoons, Mommy's glasses! Especially Mommy's glasses, much to her dismay.

Playing with my friends at daycare! The big kids like to make me laugh and sometimes even give me kisses. Thomas and I cruise all around and get into mischief.

Splashing like crazy in my baby bathtub, and trying to eat the soap!

Throwing things while I eat. Mommy is trying desperately to discourage this. He he, you should see the floor and walls around my highchair!

Here is what I DON'T like these days:

The big bathtub. Even though I love my Elizabeth-sized tub, the big bathtub freaks me out. Mommy just dumped me in it a few weeks ago to see what I would do. Hello?? Of course I was terrified! i screamed and screamed as Mommy scrambled to get me clean. Tonight, Mommy put my little bathtub inside the big bathtub. It was marginally better. Hmph. I still cried, a little.

Getting teeth. I've been very behind on my teething, and I'm just now getting my first 3 teeth--all at the same time! No fair!!

Diaper and clothes changes. Especially when Mommy dares to put me on the changing table! Who am I kidding--that hasn't happened for weeks ;)

That goofy sleep sack Mommy wraps me in to sleep at night. At least she finally bought me one that fit--silly Mommy had me in the one the hospital gave me when I was born! Duh!!! But, don't tell Mommy, I think the sleep sack DOES help me sleep. I've been giving Mommy a break for the last several weeks--only waking up once a night, tops. Mommy is thrilled :)

Okay, Mommy, the holidays are here, and soon after, my birthday. Don't you dare get so behind in the blogging during this period!

Aaaahhhhh!!! Where have I been?

Yikes...so where HAVE I been?

At work, sitting in meeting after meeting or testing an adorable rugrat...or just barely making it to work, running out the door with bags and more bags and a bundled-up baby...folding mountains of laundry...scrubbing the kitchen walls and cabinets of flung baby food...visiting relatives for Thanksgiving...

No excuses. I've been spending WAY too much of the little free time I do have completely wasting time. I need to concentrate on documenting my daughter's rapidly-speeding little life. I was ready for bed, exhausted after the long holiday weekend, and then, ridden with guilt, I forced myself to sit at the computer at 11 PM on Saturday night. Okay, go!