Road trip!

E and I took a Mommy-Daughter road trip last weekend so we could make it to my cousin's baby shower. It was a total last minute decision to go, and I was nervous about a solo parenting 6 hour drive, but I'm SO glad we went. E was an angel for both car trips. It was a great getaway! The weather was crazy. Almost 80 degrees everyday, no fog or marine layer, no humidity. Definitely not typical weather for my hometown (especially in January) so we soaked it  up the entire weekend. 

First stop upon arrival: REAL Mexican food. My dad always carries a pen in his shirt pocket and it's E's favorite thing. Luckily she's managed to keep it on the paper!

 Grandpa's girl for sure. Grandpa was able to join us for lunch at the harbor. We enjoyed our seafood on an upstairs patio and watched the pelicans soar past.

 

 The baby shower was for my cousin with whom I spent a lot of summers with growing up. She lives in Colorado now, so it was such a treat to have us all able to get together for a SoCal shower. I'm really glad we came.

All of my cousins!

 E loves the ocean and was a happy, happy camper during the beautiful seaside luncheon.

We even snuck a 3 mile walk in on the beach. I don't think I ever went to the beach this much when I lived there or San Diego, but it was a nice change of scenery for us!

The trip was much too short and we missed seeing any friends or their littles, but hopefully we will be back again soon!

A Merry Little Christmas 2013

I'm sure I'll say this every year from here on out, but this was the best Christmas of my adult life.

 We got another year in with no tree or ornament damage! Thank you, E!

 With Grandma K

With circumstances being what they are, this was a scaled back Christmas. No gifts. No big parties to attend. No hustle and bustle around our house. I have to admit at first, it was a little sad. I felt this instinct to shop, to be out in the thick of it all. I felt like I should have been busier. But instead  I took E to see Santa, we cruised down Candy Cane lane in our neighborhood and just tried to enjoy the festiveness rather than the ridiculous materialism of it all.

I can't tell  you how much I wanted a picture just like this. We may have went to Santa with no nap. I'm a horrible person! But it just makes me laugh. Pretty sure she would have cried no matter what. 

Christmas Eve at Nana's

Then once it was upon us, I felt nothing but delight and peace as I embraced my most favorite holiday.

Christmas Eve was spent with B's family. A smaller group that usual, the focus was completely on E and she knew it. She twirled her sweet Christmas dress and smiled so big when she realized she had the attention of everyone in the room. As she opened her gifts from her Nana, I found myself holding my breath, sucking in the tears. I don't know where the emotion came from (I hadn't even had a drink)  but I just felt so present and so damn lucky to be watching my daughter experience Christmas, and look so darn cute doing it. It just felt like a dream coming true. I can't remember a time where I've ever felt such pure joy.

A baby Ariel doll from Nana's Disneyland trip

Christmas day was so relaxed and wonderful. Just my parents and us. My mom had bought E a few toys and she loved opening them and seemed to grasp the idea that they were new toys. We made a delicious prime rib dinner after watching movies all afternoon. Naps were taken, drinks were poured and besides a quick visit from Bret's cousin, A, we had a very quiet day. Just glorious.

Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa with the two babies!

Best gift ever!

As we went to bed that night B and I agreed it was the best Christmas ever and we really, really enjoyed not doing gifts. More than we could have ever imagined.

I was sad to take the Christmas decor down and away that Sunday, but of course it feels great to start a new year, too. I don't know where 2014 will take us, but I'm glad I have the sweetest company along for the ride.

15 Months!

Walking around Uncle Timmy's front yard at his new house! 11/28/13

Helping Mommy make the guest bed 11/30/13

 waving hi and giving baby doll "loves"

 Loving every minute of story time. While mostly you are pretty clingy to mommy and shy around new people, you insist on being the center of attention at story time. While the other babies sit on their mommy's laps during the singing time, you choose to leave me and walk from baby to baby and say hi. Then you make your way to the center of the circle to do itsy bity spider and Old Mcdonald. I'm lucky to get you back on my lap for the bouncing songs where we do "tick tock" and "I bounce you here, I bounce you there". Then it's open play time where you are the first in line at the bin of books. You just crack me up. We've made some great friends at story time.

Mommy gave you an impromptu first haircut after bath time one night. I didn't really get the proper pictures because I just sort of planned on snipping around your ears. But you were so happy sitting in the sink, I decided to do a full haircut. Despite my complete handicap with scissors, I think it turned out pretty good!

Eloise at 15 Months

Getting into trouble while we waited for our 15 Month Check Up

Weight: 20lb 11 oz a big gain!
Height:   30  inches...and finally on the chart in the 25th percentile!
Head:    45.7 cm
Diaper size-  size 4 disposables during the day and size 5 at night.
Clothing Size:  12 month clothing with some 18 months fitting and some 9 month pants still fitting. Girl has short legs and a long torso!
Milestones:  First steps were taken just before Halloween at 13 months and walking just a week or so after that. At 15 months she is walking full speed and even running. She loves to sing and do the hand motions for "the itsy bitsy spider" and still loves to do the patty cake hand motions. Constantly babbling and appears to have her own language, though none of us can make sense of it. She has a word for "doggie" that sounds like guhguh and says "Hi!" very clearly, usually with a wave. Finally started to say "MaMa". Waves hi and bye, puts her forehead out whenever we ask for a kiss and retrieves items we ask for. Loves to pretend to talk on the phone with her toy phones, or mommy and daddy's cell phones. Loves all of her baby dolls and rocks them, hugs them and kisses them. Also loves to push them in her toy stroller. 

Eating-  Eating really well for the most part. Still hard to get veggies in and is not a big fan of regular milk. I've been making milk smoothies in the vitamix with a banana and a couple chunks of frozen fruit and she loves that. Still nursing about 4-6 times per day!

Sleep: Overall sleeping about 11-12 hours each night, but there have been several nights with one wake up, though she generally goes right back to sleep. Trying to get on a one nap schedule, but she still likes to catnap in her stroller during our morning walks.

Favorite Toys: She is constantly playing and we've acquired a lot of toys. She loves her baby dolls and the toy stroller. Loves this barn she got for her birthday and also loves to play with her books her purse and wallets!