Walking along

So my mom took my camera card and my new one does not work in my camera so I don't have any picutres to post but I do have a video of Elizabeth walking with her toy.  She makes me laugh!  Enjoy!

I actually found some on my phone to post... I love her so stinkin' much!  Getting a good picture is impossible these days because she is so active but here she is...



Sickness to Walking to Eating table food

There is so much I want to write but I don't know if my little fingers will type fast enough for me to remember what I wanted to cover!  I was going to post a Father's day update, but of course our little Elizabeth decided to get sick and so Father's day was a little sad.  Then the following week was crazy so here it all is!

Greg decided to have everyone over for Father's day and we were just going to do something small and hang out.  Around 11am, Elizabeth went down for a nap and Daddy also went down for a nap.  About 30 or so minutes later, she woke up screaming.  This is not like her at all because she normally wakes up happy and ready to continue playing.  I was trying not to wake Greg up but I could not get her to calm down.  It took everything we had to try to satisfy her because nothing was doing it for her.  She wasn't running a temperature and I couldn't see anything wrong with her and she was fine that morning before her nap.  The crying lasted on and off all afternoon which stressed us out on top of having everyone over for dinner.  She just seemed like she was in pain but we couldn't do anything for her.  We got her to bed and everyone left that Sunday evening.  Monday morning she woke up and she seemed to be doing better and there was still no temperature so I decided to go to work and take her to daycare.  I was at work for probably two hours and the daycare called and said that she was being really fussy and nothing seemed to make it better.  I called the doctor's office and got in the car to go get her.  Our doctor was out of the office but we saw another and she said that she had a double ear infection and one of her ear drums looks like it ruptured.  No wonder she was in such pain!  I can't really complain too much because she has been doing really good with not getting sick and this was only her second time to have an ear infection.  We got put on some medicine and ear drops and I think we may be getting better but I think I am going to have her checked out one more time just to make sure everything healed up correctly. 

So since I missed work on Monday, I was playing catch up on Tuesday with a very busy day plus the fact that Greg was not home when we got home on Tuesday night we began the long, exhausting week.  Wednesday was kind of fun because our work gave us a "day out on them" which included a Astros ticket for the 1pm game and $15 voucher for food and drink while were there.  Oh did I mention they even paid for our parking!  It was nice to have a "free" day off but of course I started feeling not so good that evening when I got home.  Thursday morning I woke up and was physically exhausted and couldn't talk and could barely breath!  It seems like everytime Elizabeth gets sick, I am right behind her.  I stayed home on Thursday because I thought it would really make me feel better to sleep and get some rest.  I slept most of the day and I was feeling a little better.  I am still not 100% (which means I probably should have gone to the doctor) but it is slowly making its course.  I have a feeling Greg will be next because he was complaining this morning!

So then the weekend came!  YEAH!  Saturday Elizabeth and I went to a baby shower in Victoria and I loved seeing all my old work peeps.  It was fun to see Monica pregnant and I know she will be a great mom to Sawyer.  We can't wait to meet him!  Then we made the long trek back to Rosenberg and decided to go hang out in Cypress with Brian's family (Greg's cousin).  That was also fun to see Elizabeth trying to keep up with the boys... silly girl and Miss Brooklyn was so much fun too!  She was laughing at everything and I can't remember Elizabeth doing that.  But, Miss Elizabeth decided to surprise us all and take off walking... well, she decided to take three steps and then fall down and think it was funny.  We were sitting on the floor and she was holding on to Raelyn's foot with one hand then she just took off for the night stand.  Everyone in the room went "ohhh" at the same time!  She has been trying had ever since. 

She has been pulling up and walking with her toys and anything that will move for a long time now but I just was not expecting her to take them steps.  She is one brave girl.  Now she will walk between her toys in the living room which scares me but I know it is just her way of learning.  She has great balance and if she doesn't get too excited in the middle, she can make it too.  I have now been walking with her around the house and she will only hold one of my hands while I walk... one day I am just going to let go and see if she notices I am not there! :) 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention how great she is doing with eating table food!  We have been trying here and there to give her little things she could eat and she will take a couple of bites and not want anything else.  For the last four weeks or so we have been giving her puffs and rice rusks and she loves those... she now knows what that sound is if you shake them up for her, she gets all excited.  She has been feeding herself these puffs and rice rusks and she is doing so great.  Her coordination is great!  Friday night we gave her some cut up french fries and egg yolk... not a great combination but that was all she could have between all our plates!  Sunday morning Greg and I went to eat at Bob's Taco Stand (the best place in Rosenberg to eat if you have never been there) for breakfast and Elizabeth had her some eggs, beans, and potatoes.  Yep, it was great to see her eat so good.  I have only been doing this on the weekends but I guess I am going to have to try things during the week so we can get away from the baby food!  YEAH!  I even talked to the school and she can start having the soft foods they serve there, DOUBLE YEAH! 

So, as we inch closer to 9 months, I am sure she will be eating big girl food and walking soon... we just have to work on the talking now! :)  Any suggestions!?!

"Cheeseburger in Paradise..."

So the first weekend in June, Greg and I had a double date with some good friends.  We went to the Jimmy Buffett concert to listen to some good old music and just have a day out.  Greg and Chris had been looking forward to this day since last year when they went!  I missed out last year because of work, but this year it was on a Saturday night so I got to attend and pregnant free to boot!  (Even though I still look pregnant because I am so fat!) I have to say we saw some of the craziest looking people and we were holding our breath not to contract some kind of disease from the guy at the gate taking our tickets.  All in all, it was such a good time and super packed.  I have to share some pictures of us but let me explain really quick... there was a lady taking pictures for people by this little set up area for pictures.  I was like cool I can get a good picture of all of us together... this is what I got:

some half heads and no Brandie...

 Brandie and a lot of blur

So we finally got one a good one...

We went up to the lawn where our tickets were and then tried to find a seat... we ended up finding a place to sit but because of the crowd it was very difficult!

The music started and the sun went down... then the crazies really came out of the wood work!  We saw a group passing a joint around getting high, a very pregnant person drinking beer (she was also with the group getting high but we never saw her take a hit), a group of gay college guys taking LOTS of pictures of each other (that was just plain weird), and the funniest looking hats, clothes, and people I think I have ever seen in my life.  All in all it truly was fun and nice to have a "date" with my husband.  Here are the last of my pictures:

8 months

As the months pass and Elizabeth becomes more active, it is harder to keep up the blog.  I am so exhausted in the evenings and just want to go to bed.  Greg is now working nights and it is also hard on me during the week.  I love my babies (Greg and E) so much but sometimes I just wish I had the normal family life of Mommy and Daddy home in the evenings.  I really do understand that every life is different and I am lucky to at least have a great father that is around for Elizabeth... it could be worse.  So, in the evenings after Elizabeth is sound asleep, exhaustion takes over and I usually cry myself to sleep in a very empty bed.  Maybe I should invest in a twin size bed so that I don't feel so alone in my big bed.  I really do try and stay strong for Elizabeth but sometimes just the feeling of being a horrible parent to the most beautiful baby gets the best of me.  Then the guilt sets in.  But so too shall this pass...

Elizabeth turned eight months old last week and I haven't even posted her pictures.  Now that she is on the move and I mean really on the move, it is so hard to get a picture.  Just like this morning I wanted to take a picture of her all dressed for Flag day parade at school and she would not sit still or look at the camera.  I was never around a lot of babies and it continues to amaze me at what they learn and know.  A lot of the things I don't think she could learn at eight months she has already mastered.  Then there are also things that she should be doing that she isn't. I love her so much and just typing this makes me feel guilty for the self-pity I just had above.  Elizabeth at eight months is starting to develop her own personality with likes/dislikes and definitely a little attitude to boot! (I don't know where she gets that from :))  She is stubborn, smart, funny, lovable, and just plain cute!  Here are some of the things this little eight month old is doing:

• pulling up and walking around everything... also walking with her toy.  She is getting really good at this and we have a feeling she will be walking soon because she is getting braver and braver by the day and now just lets go and stands there with excellent balance. 
• climbing!  Plus scaring the crap out of us!  She has master the climb.  This past weekend she was playing at my mom's and pushed one of her toys against the ottoman then climbed on top of the toy and tried to climb on top of the ottoman.  She will try and climb out of the bathtub by climbing up on the inflatable duck.  Anything she can get a knee on or a good grip, she will climb.
• feeding herself munchies, puffs, and rice rusks.
• moving on to table food very slowly.  This is a hard thing for her daddy to get a handle on... he wants her to eat pureed food the rest of her life so she doesn't choke!
• Clapping!  Yep, our future musician can clap her hands now.  It is so cute and she usually only does it if people are cheering and clapping or if she hears the ABC song.  I contribute this one and probably everything else she knows to daycare... she learns so much from that place!
• she LOVES music.  We always have music on because she loves to dance to everything.  Sometimes she will be playing on the floor with a toy and a commercial will come on with music, she will stop and look up and start dancing.  So funny.
• No real words yet but we try so hard to get her to say Momma or DaDa.  Sometimes it sounds like she says Momma but I don't really know.  It also sounds like she says Bye Bye too but again, I don't really know. 
• She definitely knows who her parents are now and will follow us around like crazy.  If someone puts her hands up to take her she will throw herself into us like she doesn't want to go.  I don't want a clingy baby so I am really trying to get her used to everyone she sees.
• We are still working on the sippy cup thing but I know if we just force her to drink from it, she will get used to it.  She would rather drink what we have in our cup from our cup.  The other day she was drinking my tea from my cup and I put a little in her sippy cup and she didn't want it anymore!
• She still only has her bottom two teeth but I always think that she is getting her top two and then nothing.  Who knows.

Here is the little princess at eight months!  (and since she can't talk yet, I put some comments of what I thought she might be saying!)

"Is it really THAT time of the month again!"

 "I think I will have a snack!"

 "Daddy, save me!"

 "Lean back... Lean back..."
 (that is what her Uncle sings to her all the time!)

 "Please tell me we are through... I have had enough!"



The Wonderful World of Elizabeth

I just wanted to share a few pics from my phone of the last couple of weeks.  Can you believe this little angel is now eight months old?  I will be posting her eight month photos in a bit but I just love pictures so I thought I would share!

Since I have been really sticking to my exercise routine, Elizabeth has been enjoying lots of time in her stroller!  She loves her afternoon walks.

What a rough morning of playing!  When she plays, she plays hard!

Yummy!  I think I will save this for later! :)  This is what happens when she feeds herself!



Catch up

There has been so much going on since I last posted.  Between birthday parties, my very active child, and Memorial Day weekend, we have not had a whole lot of free time on our hands.  I will start with our first weekend with Daddy since Elizabeth was born!  It was so great to have Greg home on the weekends.  It just happened to work out that his first Saturday off in eight months was filled with parties!  We were invited to lots... three birthday parties, a graduation party, and a wedding all in one weekend.  Needless to say, we didn't make them all but we did have fun getting to see family and friends that we had not seen in a long time.  I was really looking forward to going to my cousin's wedding but after going to a late birthday party I did not feel well and I decided to lay down for a bit which then turned into all night!  At the birthday party Elizabeth enjoyed a little swimming.  She loves the water and just goes to town playing in it. 

 Elizabeth with her handsome Daddy!

 This child will pull up on everything!  She was enjoying the party from the safety of her own playpen!



After a quick check up to the doctor during the week where we have verified that we have a 100% healthy baby, we took on Memorial Day weekend!  I also want to state that I have been doing very good on my working out and GCC.  GCC stands for Global Corporate Challenge and it is a program that I joined through work where you are on a team and your team does a virtual walk around the world by wearing a pedometer and entering your step count everyday.  It really has kept me motivated.  I also enjoy the classes at 24 hour fitness.  I did a muscle blast class that nearly killed me for about three days but so far so good! 

Memorial Day weekend was kind of low key except for the fact that my daughter is trying to walk like MONTHS before she is supposed too!  Saturday Greg, myself, and Greg's parents went to a Skeeter's game in Sugarland.  It was really neat and of course the tickets were really great too.  We were in the Legends' Club with all the free food and drinks... talk about sweet and ruining all my hard work during the week! 

(excuse the fat me... this is why I hate to be in pictures!)

Sunday was a fun day of swimming.  It was Elizabeth's first time in a big pool and besides her first reaction without me there, she loved it.  After I got in with her, she was a much happier baby.  We were at my Aunt Carol's were we enjoyed a fabulous meal, fun games of domino's, and just relaxation. 

 Elizabeth playing with Chica... she thought she was really funny!

Monday we went over to Greg's Aunt Frieda's house where we enjoyed crawfish and roasters, oh yeah, and more swimming!  This time I did not get in the pool with Elizabeth but her Daddy stepped up to the plate and got in.  She of course loved it but I didn't have my camera to capture them in the pool... Greg says it was planned that way but I promise it wasn't.  We left a little early so we could get home and do things around our own house that has been sadly neglected since our little princess has arrived.  We will be baby proofing very soon since this little princess has now started walking around everything and pushing every button she can find.  She is also after every plug in the house.  We have tile floors and her daddy is about to drive me crazy with worry because she is still unstable.  This however does not stop her... she falls and gets right back up and into everything!  She has since discovered that things move and will then try to push them around the house... her Bumbo, her stand and play toy, her walker thing in the pictures below... if it doesn't move, she gets upset because she wants to WALK... she has only been crawling for two weeks!  This scares the crap out of me.  I am waiting for the day she just takes off.  We moved her to the carpet to play so if she fell it wouldn't be such a hard hit.  Here is her adventure down the hall and into our room:

"Watch me Mom!"

 Like I said, she is still a little wobbly but she definitely has the idea down pact.

 These are Daddy's worried hands in this picture!

Forget it... I am just going to go back to my toys...

(she was actually following Greg down the hall... see the foot!)





Teeth and crawling

I have not posted in two weeks!  WOW!  Since then, my little princess has been getting her two bottom teeth in and crawling.  I can't believe how fast she learns the things she does.  It must be daycare!  Last weekend she was really pulling up and getting on all fours.  This week, she is crawling all the way down the hallway!  Her teeth also made their first appearance on Monday.  First one, then the other on the bottom.  This has made for some sleepless nights!  She must get her pain tolerance from her daddy because she does not like all these new teeth!  Elizabeth has been sleeping through the night for a long time now and then this week happens and she is up two maybe three times a night.  My poor baby!  I didn't realize that teething would take us back to the sleepless nights and mommy and daddy are not big fans! 

In the last two weeks, I also celebrated my first Mother's day.  Since Daddy had to work on Sunday, we did ours on Friday night.  It was a great day and I am blessed to have a wonderful husband and a great daughter.  On Sunday we just relaxed and visited grandmas' and great aunts'.  It was just a simple Sunday afternoon... really no different than the rest! 

So many of my friends and family are expecting this Fall... just so everyone knows, we are not planning on expanding our family right now but I am so happy for everyone!  All in all there are eight pregnancies amount our families, Greg's group of friends, and my group of friends!  There were a few shockers in the group but I know they are all excited and I am excited for them.  Now that I have been pregnant before, I told Greg that I am going to plan better this next time for the timing of the pregnancy!  I DO NOT want to be pregnant during summer again.  I will definitely take what God gives us but we will try and plan a little better next time around.

We have a busy weekend ahead and I am looking forward to seeing so many friends and family.  Oh yeah and I almost forgot... Greg is officially off weekends!  YEAH! 

I don't have a lot of pictures from the last two weeks but I will leave you with a silly one of my angel! 

I think we will soon have a walker on our hands instead of a crawler!  :)