J squared + 1

Monday, June 25, 2012

14 Months

Once again I'm way behind on blog updates. My computer has been finicky lately and the act of uploading pictures takes foreeeever so I've been using that as an excuse. However the complaints are rolling in, so I'm sucking it up and gettin 'er done!

Things have been going good here, though the last few days we've been tensely watching the Waldo Canyon Fire which is uncomfortably close to the city. We are across the highway from it so it poses no real threat to us, but the threat it poses to the Springs and nearby towns is very scary.

This was about 2 hours after it sparked

We are getting prepped to leave for California next week. Jeremy has to do some work in LA and we found Eliza and I a cheap ticket so we can join him. While there we are going to go visit some of my best friends from my Italian study abroad trip in San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz. We are really excited to see them, and for Jeremy to have some down time. We also can't wait for some cooler temps :)

Eliza is growing and changing fast. She can walk pretty solidly but still doesn't have the confidence to replace crawling. For the most part she just likes to walk between two people in the living room as more of a game than a functional method of transport. She has picked up a lot of new signs which is fun and she's cutting some molars which isn't so fun. Eliza is also showing the telltale signs of toddlerhood - whining, stealing toys from other kids, etc. She is a very passionate very fun child, but we are in for a crazy couple of years, no question! Her favorite things to do right now are play outside, go swimming and climb. She loves to climb onto the back of the couch and watch the dogs out the window. If it were up to her she would just eat strawberries, spaghetti and graham crackers all day. We are in the process of night weaning which means I'm usually up with her a couple of hours each night soothing her. I'm hoping to be done by the time we leave for California so cross your fingers for us!

Of course it's been two months since I blogged so here's another jillion pictures and a few videos :) The first ones are from Eliza's birthday - Erin did a photoshoot for us and as usual they turned out fantastic. She is awesome!

On her actual birthday - celebrating with an Oreo :)

Little hood rat

Jeremy and I went to the LegoFest in Denver. E was sick so it was just us but we still had a blast :)

Eliza spent about a week quarantined in the house with hand-foot-and-mouth disease. Then Jeremy and I got it. Yuck! It was a rough couple of weeks but she got some good daddy snuggles in :)

Gandalf the Gray

Yoga baby!

Fun in the sun

Troublemaker

Muahahaha

This is how she sleeps in her crib 90% of the time. Silly kid :p

Fun at the zoo

Chillaxin

Walkin with Daddy

Shhhhhh!

I was lucky enough to catch the first steps on camera :)

A couple of weeks later, much more controlled

Nothin better than baby giggles!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

One Year

One year ago today I was debating when to wake Jeremy up to tell him I had been in labor all night. Six hours later I was having to convince myself that the wailing baby on my chest was, in fact, the creature that had been living in my belly for almost ten months. I can't believe it's been a year. It's a bittersweet day for me. Every day is more fun with Eliza, she's learning so much so fast but good gracious it's going too fast!

The changes over the past month have been astounding. Eliza started signing, which is stinking adorable. She can wave hi and bye, sign "doggie" (which she also uses for cats), "more", "eat" and - her favorite - "all done!" She will walk if you hold her hands - I'm sure she could do it on her own if she wanted, but she finds crawling to be much more efficient. Her favorite place to crawl is up and down the stairs which is more than a little nerve-wracking. She babbles constantly, and mimics anyone who coughs, sneezes or yawns. She sniffs flowers and plays "night night" by laying down if you say it. She gives huge slobbery open-mouthed kisses and sweet hugs. She loves her pets and gets SUPER excited when she hears the dogs coming. We go swimming once a week and she really digs it - recently she's started kicking on her own and no longer screams bloody murder when I put her under the water. She absolutely LOVES books. If it were up to her I think I would spend all day reading to her. Her favorite pastime is to pull ALL her books off the shelves and systematically bring them to me one-by-one to read.

Sleeping has improved somewhat - she can now put herself to sleep and doesn't have to be rocked, however in the past week or so she has gone from waking up twice to three or four times. I'm hoping it's a tooth and we'll be back to normal soon. When I start to get sad about her turning one already, I just remind myself - I'm one year closer to a full night's sleep!

We are having a big old birthday bash at the Inn this weekend and cousin Erin is going to do a cake smash photoshoot, so I promise I will get pictures up soon.

And now, as per usual, a zillion pictures from the past month!

Bathtime!

First haircut! She was pretty upset at first, then calmed down and by the end was having a blast!

When the Basharas visited we went to the Ice Castle in Silverthorne. Beautiful!

Zoo Day!

I love the way she sleeps, arms sprawled

She does this "crazy" smile when she gets super excited

Puppy Love

Looks so big sitting in her chair!

Boxes are awesome!

Cruisin!

Always wants to go outside

Playtime with cousin Malcolm. I love the look they both have like - "Whadduyu want?"

Mastering the stairs

Family shot

Auditioning for KISS

Sunday morning hike, princess on her litter

Happy girl

Favorite pastime

A few weeks ago, E learned how to stack rings on a stick. For the first few days, she decided there was only one good way to remove them. So weird!

Bouncy fun!

She looooves to give herself kisses in the mirror :)

(For some reason sometimes this video plays sideways, but YouTube is making my brain hurt - I give up, sorry!)

Monday, March 12, 2012

Austin jaunt

We got late last week from a last-minute trip to Austin. Jeremy's work schedule suddenly lightened up (read: 40 hour weeks instead of 60 hour weeks) and so he suggested we book it to Texas before their summer kicks in. We still had two days in the low 90s while we were there, but overall it was a very pretty time to visit. We drove overnight both there and back and Eliza did remarkably well. We have a good little traveller on our hands. Funnily enough I was worried about her sleeping even worse than normal in a new place but she slept better in Austin than she had been at home. Of course now that we're back she's resumed her insomniac ways. I wish I could figure out why! Ah well.

Josh, Chandra and Izzy were awesome hosts as per usual and didn't bat an eyelash when we decided to stay an extra few days. We had planned to be in Austin for a little over a week and when it came time to leave we just didn't feel like we had seen all the people and done all of the things that we wanted to, so we stayed on for another four days and it was the perfect amount of time. We were happy to get home but didn't feel too rushed.

Pretty much all we did on our trip was stuff ourselves with Tex-Mex (ooogh tight jeans!) and visit friends and family. My cousin Charlie and his wife Kari had their second little one two days before we arrived so we got to snuggle a brand new baby. Eliza had a lot of fun playing with other babies and old friends. She is a pretty happy baby these days - as long as she has mom or dad nearby. Stranger anxiety makes it so she doesn't like to be held by new people but as long as she's in our arms she is happy to play peek-a-boo and flirt like a pro.

We came home to much colder weather, but I was excited to find my iris and tulips starting to poke up in the front yard. Which means - time to get my act together for the garden! Now that I'm home with Eliza I am determined to buckle down and be more organized about my vegetable beds in the back - up to now I've just thrown things in higgledy-piggledy and had mixed results. I have a feeling that by planting time I'll have Eliza back there with me toddling around. She's cruising on the furniture pretty well and I bet she's walking before we know it!