Thanksgiving

Yes I know it's almost Christmas, however, my darling little munchkin seems to think that when I sit down to work on the computer she needs to be in my lap. This is o.k. for checking email and general web browsing but it does make blogging difficult. Anyways Thanksgiving was great for us. We were planning to spend it quietly at home when my parents and my brother Daniel surprised us with a visit at the last minuet. They got here Wednesday around noon and after a lunch of sandwiches we decided to head for the zoo. Of all the options that San Antonio has to offer I wanted to do the zoo since Daniel hadn't been before. We had a great time since the weather was great, the zoo wasn't to busy and the animals were very cooperative and around for us to see.  We also kept losing Daniel and Jack, someone had to see everything. Thanksgiving mom did most of the dinner preparation as I had over done it a bit the day before. The boys sat down and played several rounds of Dominion and Liza had a grand time with the extra people and attention.  Friday we did a little shopping, played a few more games, and enjoyed leftovers. In the evening we made gingerbread houses. Dad engineered a bridged while mom made a more traditional house. Jack was more classical in  his undertaking while Daniel was creative and went for something more original. A great visit, even if it was short.

Into Everything

Eliza keeps me busy. Her favorite activity seems to be finding everything that there is to get into in the particular room I'm working in. The kitchen has turned out to  be a gold mine.  I had already childproofed the obvious cupboards that I didn't want her getting into, the one under the sink with the dishsoap and other cleaning supplies, the one with all of my glass pans, and the one with the crock pot, stock pot, and cast iron skillet.  I purposely left others open so she would have venues to explore. Up until recently Liza was content to get into the tubberware and the lighter pots and pans.

However when grandparents came for Thanksgiving she decided to up the annie and break new ground.

Also no longer content with emptying the cupboards she now has to get in them.

She went through everything; paper cups, napkins, plasticware, and two boxes of trash bags. After putting Her to bed my mom was kind enough to put everything back and to close all of the paper product bags shut with rubber bands and twist ties. I eventually went through things and compressed two cupboards into one. Now has her own cupboard to climb into without having to empty it first.  Also the cupboard pictured above is now off limits.

Pumpkin Patch

The church down the road had a pumpkin patch for the month of October so we just had to go.  As expected they had tons of pumpkins and little chairs and things so you could get some cute pictures. When we were there I saw several kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes, we'll have to do that next year. We had a good time wondering around, letting Eliza scoot, and tried to get some cute pictures. Liza was moderately cooperative,  it was getting close to her bedtime and she was rather tired. As it turns out this was a first time experience for Jack and Eliza. Jack missed a class trip to a pumpkin patch due to chicken pox. I was glad that we could remedy the gap in his lifetime experiences.  All around good fun and hopefully we can make it a family tradition.

 On top of the world. There is something thrilling about gaining a higher perspective.

 We have a hard time encouraging Eliza to stand. This seemed like a good opportunity. I mean she doesn't have room to sit down.

Pumpkin roll!! I tried making a barricade so I could get ahead of her and get some pics. I'm happy with the result.

Tease

I suppose with her family background there wasn't much chance of avoiding it. Eliza is a thorough tease. She often likes to play "chase" when I ask her to come here and tries to make a break for it when I'm trying to put on a diaper ( we do have a rule that she can only do this once her bum is clean) I've found that things are a lot more fun when I play along with her , get out my " I'm going to get you voice"  and crawl after her both of us laughing all the while.  It's rather cute when she scoots a few paces and then looks back to see if I'm coming after her, scoots a few more; looks and scoots again. Usually at one point she stops so I can get her. I suppose its her game so we play by her rules. The other day it was bathtime so I was filling the tub. Eliza heard the noise and very excitedly comes to check it out. I reached out  my hand and said something along the lines of " come 'ere time for your bath!!" So she laughs and starts scooting toward me. Now her bedroom is right next to the bathroom and at the last second she fakes me out and makes a dive, as much as you can dive scooting in your bum, for her room.  I had been had, and she knew it, and thought it was very funny.  I was simply surprised that she would plot against me like this. So of course I had to chase her down, pick her up, and give her a thorough tickeling before proceeding to her bath. Stinker.

Playtime

Yesterday Liza and I went to playgroup at Laurie Hardmen's house and we had such a grand time. Liza loves to be outside and Laurie has a good backyard with lots of soft grass with a little swing set. Liza hasn't decided to walk yet so for the first little while, since there were lots of kids on the swing set we played with a ball on the patio. When things slowed down for a while we decided to try out the slide, giggles all around, especially once I added the spin around three times once I caught her at the bottom of the slide. Hanging out in the tower at the top of the slide was a lot of fun too. Eric Lillywhite allowed us to share his 'boat' with Eliza as 1st mate. I think she liked the higher perspective. She would scoot around try and reach the steering wheel put her hands and feet through the slats and do her little baby chuckle all the while. Eliza is also getting braver. At one point she scooted over to the edge of the slide and then hardly waited for me to be ready to catch her. Luckily I was paying attention enough to get a hold of her halfway down. All in all a very happy morning for both of us.

Simply Cute

Lexi's gift for Eliza's first birthday was some pictures. She brought the kids and her camera over one afternoon and we had a little photo shoot out in our backyard.  Inspite of Eliza being ready for a nap, Ryah and Jayce both wanting their mother's undivided attention, and shadows across faces we managed to get some great pics. A big thanks to Lexi for her efforts.

BIRTHDAY

 

A birthday candle, chocolate cake covered with frosting, and one messy baby.  That's what we ended up with at Eliza's first birthday party.  First the cake. We sometimes refer to Eliza as our 'little dragon warrior' because she has cute panda jamies , a stuffed panda bear, and works on her konfu moves with Jack. So a panda bear cake seemed like the way to go. I found a really easy pattern on Betty Crockers website and concocted my own cake and frosting recipes.  Next time i think I'll pick something without black frosting, it has a tendency to turn thinks purple. 

 

Everyone enjoyed the cake, including  Liza. She had a good time poking it, squishing it between her fingers, and occasionally tasting it. When she was done she started dropping  the cake on the floor. After cake and clean-up we opened presents. Lilly and Ryah could hardly contain themselves they were so excited. First they wanted to help by opening the presents themselves, then they wanted to sit as close as possible to help Liza with the opening of gifts. Jack eventually had the honor of helping with the gift opening.  I love kids enthusiasm. I think we adults could benefit from showing such excitement and having that much energy.  Overall Liza's first birthday celebration was a success.

Gardening

Clapping Hands & Happy Feet

Eliza is growing and developing new skills so fast. Last Thursday was the first time she clapped her hands together all by herself. Several days before we had a good time practicing with my hands. Liza would take hold of my thumbs, or a couple of fingers and clap my hands together.  When Jack came home from work Thursday she was so excited she clapped her hands. I think Jack was really excited that he got to be around the first time she did something.

Another first that Jack discovered was her first tooth. Sunday after church Jack told me he found that Liza broke the tooth on the bottom right. I was rather surprised because Liza didn't have any of the classic signs of teething. No fever or runny nose and she always has a toy or a random finger in her mouth so that doesn't count. Even now she's not fussy or needing extra attention. I suppose she is still enjoying the thrill of mobility.

Yesterday I put Liza on her tummy, not her favorite thing in the world, and she  got mad enough to push herself up and then start to push herself backwards. Strangely enough Liza seems to make the most progress and does new things when she's ticked off. Jack says she's like me in that respect.

One of Eliza's mannerisms is that she uses her feet about as much as her hands. If she can't reach something with her hands, she will try with her feet. She will often be checking out something with one hand and grabbing her foot with the other and extending her leg. You can also tell when she's excited because she does her happy kicks. My favorite when she's  sitting up with her legs straight in front of her and she kicks by lifting both legs up and down, that's a trick I can't do. Oh I've also found her doing the splits. As soon as she is old enough I'm going to try and put her into dancing lessons.

Time for swimming!!

Summer is in full swing here in and that means new adventures. Last week we had our first swimming adventure at our community pool with our friends Lexi, Ryah, and Jayce. It's about a ten minuet walk from our house and the kiddy pool is shaded, perfect for hot, Texas weather. When we got in the pool Liza was content to be in my lap and check out the joint, as is her practice in new situations. After a while I put her in her floaty to see if I would get a different response but no. she was still content to just chill, let her arms hang over the front of her floaty, and watch everybody. I was a bit surprised since she absolutely adores her bath and always has a grand time. It wasn't until we had been at the pool for about a half hour before she really became animated. Ryah was kind enough to share her toys with us and Liza started to give everyone her big smiles and happily splashed and played. When we went into the big pool I actually got some giggles out of her when I tossed her in the air. We had a great time and when we got home Eliza took a nice long nap. I know understand why my mom took us swimming so often during the summer!!!

It Begins

Well I've finally done it. I've been meaning to since Eliza came, but I couldn't come up with a catchy name for my blog so, I put it off. I regret that now since it would have been very easy to blog Eliza's milestones and then convert it into a baby book through online scrap booking. Oh well. I suppose I shall have to do some things retroactively. Eliza continues to be a delightful baby. She loves to smile and talk in her baby jabber. Her favorite toys include balloons, cords, her diaper wipes, and just about anything of Mommy's. Liza has recently discovered that she can scoot and wiggle her way forward to get things out of her reach. She has also figured out how to use her legs to turn herself around while sitting. For some reason she does her best exploring when I'm not watching, or if I do watch it has to be covertly. Gone are the days when I could set her down and expect her to remain in the same spot. I'm hopping that she will figure out how to get on her hands and knees so that we can really start to move!!