Happy late birthday?

Okay, so a lot has happened. Lizzy turned 11, then 12, and is now 13 months old. She's currently teething her molars (fun stuff!), and she's been walking since 2 days before her birthday. Heh, if you think I'm bad at keeping up with this blog, just think of how I am with her First Year Calendar :P

Lizzy decided, 2 days before she turned 1, so start walking without any help. And because she had been cruising along anything and everything for so long (about 3-4 months) she took right off and didn't even fall! It took her awhile to get the hang of standing up from a sitting position to start walking, but if she was already standing, look out! Since she's now about 13.5 months she's RUNNING everywhere and won't stay still for a minute. It's like she has a whole world to explore and she can't miss a minute of it. Gone are the days of being able to go out to eat for us. Now we must either let her walk around, following her while one of us eats, or we just forgo the whole "going out to eat" business. Maybe in a couple years we'll be able to go to a restaurant with her again, but until then it's either eating at our house or someone else's :)

Molars suck. As soon as she turned a year old, she start teething for her molars. At least that's what I'm telling myself to make myself feel better about all of the fussiness and temper tantrums that are happening. Where did my sweet little angel go? I digress... So Lizzy now has one molar on the bottom right and bottom left one is on it's way. It's gotten to the point that her teeth are causing her to get sick. She currently has a wet cough (yummy isn't it?) and her diapers are, well, I just won't go there. Needless to say that my first comment in this paragraph is the honest to God's truth. MOLARS SUCK!

I can't believe my little girl is a year! Can you? Probably...but I can't! I remember fondly of the times when she would just sleep in my arms weighing only 10 lbs, or when she would just sit on the floor and not move b/c she didn't know how to. I think I'm tearing up a bit...

I signed Lizzy up for a Mommy's Day Out program at a church that's about half a mile from the house. She starts the day after Labor Day and will go on Tuesday and Thursday from 9am to 2pm. I will have 10 hours by myself every week!!! Unless there's a school holiday, as the church goes by the LEISD school calendar. But still, my house will be clean again! I will be sane again! I will get SLEEP again! Can you tell I'm excited? I love Lizzy, I really really do, but Momma needs some time to herself.

In about 2 weeks, Lizzy and I are heading to Houston for a 2 week vacation to see family and friends. That means Steve gets the house (and animals) all to himself for 2 weeks straight. Will be go back to his bachelor ways (meaning eating beans on tortillas for dinner and other fine cuisine)? We shall see. Meanwhile, Lizzy and I will be meeting up with Aunt Rosanna, Ko-Ko, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jennifer, Aunt Kara, Uncle Greg, Uncle David, Aunt Emily, Uncle Vlad, (Aunt) Karen, (Uncle) Jason, (Aunt) Mary, and many other family and friends that I'm just not in the mood to name. All I know is Lizzy will start off with dinner with Steve's family, then have fun with other family and friends, go to a wedding, head to Gavleston at some point, and end our vacation in Austin. (Aunt) Karen will get to babysit for an hour or two while Steve (he's meeting up with us in Austin) and I go to a birthday dinner for (Uncle) Jeff. Then it'll be girl time for Karen, Lizzy and I while Daddy goes out partying with Jeff and friends. It'll be a good great vacation.

And now for some pictures...

Again with the updating

Man, I am bad at updating. Okay, so the last 2 months...

Lizzy turned 9 then 10 months. She's always so happy, I love her to pieces.

Lizzy also got her first really bad sickness. She got a stomach virus that caused her to vomit then have diarrhea, and because she didn't want anything in her tummy from her nausea she got dehydrated. Since she got dehydrated we got to spend a lovely Saturday morning and afternoon at the ER. It took them 5 sticks before they got an IV in, and Lizzy screamed the whole time. At least after all of that she started drinking fluids again. She finally got over all of her sickness, but it took a week plus a couple of days. Now she's back to her happy-go-lucky self that loves to eat and play.

Tomorrow we have a playdate with a group of people at the Wiggly Play Center in Frisco. They have a toddler area, so Lizzy can have fun in there (with me) while I have some adult conversation (if she lets me).

Other than her getting sick for a week, everything has been pretty normal. Lizzy loves her fruits and veggies, she crawls, she cruises along anything that is as tall as or taller than herself, she loves laughing at the animals, she's shy around new people, and she's making her way confidently around the house now.

And now for some pictures...

8 months

Guess who turned 8 months old on the 7th?















She's really getting the hang of crawling. Her favorite place to go is the kitchen. As soon as she sets hands on the tile she starts yelling loudly to hear her own voice. She's so silly!

Those top teeth are still coming in. I wish they would hurry and cut through the gums! Tylenol and teething tablets are our friends.

Well, since she is eating more and more solids, my milk supply is starting to dry up. We got our first can of formula yesterday at the store. I have some milk in the freezer that we'll be mixing with the formula so that she gets used to the taste. I still plan on nursing her at night, but she doesn't get enough during the day anymore, hence the formula. Hey, I made it 8 months! Go me :)

Grandma and Pawpaw are coming to visit this weekend. It's supposed to rain most of the weekend, but that's okay. We'll keep entertained by watching Lizzy crawl all over the house.

Big news for us as well. We've decided to buy a new car. We'll be getting a Toyota Sienna XLE. Yes, I am getting a Mommy Van. We'll trade in the Highlander for the new vehicle. Not sure exactly when, but the plans are in the works. Lizzy will have lots more room and trips will be a lot more fun.

Lizzy is up from her nap now so I will write more at a later date. Here's a picture of her teeth!

See what happens with life happens?

Okay wow, it's been way too long. Life just kind of got away from me. We've been so busy, I'll break it up for ya'll.







October 2009:

Grandma and Grandpa (Pawpaw) came to visit the weekend of Pawpaw's birthday. We all had fun and Pawpaw took lots of pictures on his expensive camera. Lizzy found her toes this month as well. She loves to put her feet and toes in her mouth whenever she gets a diaper change (let's everyone tell her future boyfriends this ;) ). She also learned to sit up all on her own! One day I decided to see how she would do (as I had been doing this off and on throughout the month) and on the 25th she stayed sitting up when I let go! She also showed interest in the food and drinks we were eating, so she started solids. She did great! She eats like a little lady now, with her hands folded over each other. The month ended with Ko-Ko coming to visit for Halloween. On the actual day of Halloween, Lizzy decided that she wanted to try out her first word, Da-Da. It's been non-stop talking since.

November:

Lizzy had her 6 month doctor's appointment this month. She weighed 18.01 lbs and was 26 inches long. Grandma and Pawpaw came to visit again! They came in on a Thursday after she got home from her playdate. There was a 9 month old little girl at the playdate, but Lizzy was bigger than her in size! She kept taking all of the toys away from the little girl. Funny now, but we'll have to keep an eye on it later on. On the 19th Lizzy got her first tooth! She only fussed for a day or so, the pop, there it was. The second one came in soon after. She also went to the doctor and get her first of 2 flu shots. I made Daddy go with us so he could see how shots make her very unhappy, and do you know how she did? She didn't cry at all! She made a whiney sound and then nothing. I was so annoyed that Daddy got out of a crying Lizzy! Thanksgiving was spent in Victoria with the Summers'. We had lots of fun seeing everyone! Lizzy started to try and crawl during this month, but never quite actually moved.

December:

Lizzy crawled this month! She actually started going backwards, but finally got the hang of going forward toward the end of the month. We had a Christmas playdate before leaving for Houston to spend Christmas with the O'Donnell's. We had loads of fun! When we got back home, Lizzy had to get her second of 2 flu shots. This time she cried like she usually does when getting shots and Daddy got to see first hand what Mommy has to go through (not to mention Lizzy). On New Year's Eve Lizzy pulled herself into a stand position! Now every time we help her into a standing position she tries to walk. Soon she's be all over the place!

Here some pictures!

Bubbles

We've had a fun couple of weeks. Lizzy is now a champion roll-over roller. Every time I put her on the floor on her back, she starts to roll over. Yesterday she rolled from back to front to back again. Soon she'll figure out that she can roll all over the house. Then I really will need to vacuum every day.

The cloth diapers we have are called one-size as they grow with baby. Lizzy is now on the biggest size. I hope she can stay in them until she potty trains, but I seriously doubt it. I can dream though, can't I? She's doing great in her diapers though. No blow-outs in the cloth as all!

I've stopped using the blue bath tub for her baths now. She's also too big for me to have her in our shower with me. If our shower was bigger it wouldn't be so hard, but our shower is so tiny. So now we use our garden tub. As you can see from the picture, she just loves her baths.

Speaking of, we now have a definite schedule again. I KNOW you want to know:

8 AM - Get up, diaper change, eat, play
10 AM - Nap
11 AM - Get up, diaper change, eat, play
2 PM - Nap
4 PM - Get up, diaper change, eat, play
7:30 PM - Bath, pajamas, play
8 PM - Eat
8:30 PM - Bedtime

Now there's some more eating and diaper changing in there, but that changes every day depending on how hungry she is during the day. She's started to soothe herself to sleep now, so I try to get her into her crib by 9 PM at the latest. Most nights she's asleep by 9:30 PM, sometimes earlier and sometimes later. Still, I think our schedule is pretty good.

Lizzy has also found her thumb. Yes it could lead to all sorts of mouth problems and blah blah blah, but she puts herself to sleep with it in her mouth and doesn't need to fall asleep while feeding now. So I say for her to go for the thumb and we'll deal with it later.

Well, now I must clean stuff up as she's taking a nap right now.

Labor Day and 4 months

Labor Day Weekend was a fun one for us. Thursday we traveled to Houston to break up the time in the car. We stayed the night in Houston and spent half of Friday with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa were going on a 5 day cruise the next day, so they wouldn't be in Galveston while we were there, and Lizzy needed to get in time with her grandparents.

We left Houston around 2 PM and hung out at the beach house in Galveston for the rest of the day. Lizzy got to lay on a pallet and play, sleep in a swing, and go downstairs to watch her puppies run after a ball. At 9 PM Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Greg, Sydney, and Parker showed up. Sydney was asleep already, but Parker decided it was time to play. By then it was time for Lizzy to start to head to bed. Since we were traveling Lizzy didn't sleep as well as she normally does. The night before she had gotten up at 1 AM, 6 AM, and 8 AM. That night she woke up at 3 AM, 6 AM, and 7:30 AM.

Saturday was a fun day. I made breakfast (with help from Aunt Jennifer) and then we spent most of the day downstairs watching Sydney and Parker swim in the blowup pool, and watching the dogs run after balls and frizbees. We brought the swing downstairs and whenever Lizzy was tired, I would set her in it and she would go right to sleep. There was a nice breeze all day that kept the mosquitoes away. In the middle of the day everyone decided to take a nap, but Lizzy and Sydney weren't tired, so I stayed awake to watch them. We went downstairs to have some fun with the dogs and so that we wouldn't wake up everyone upstairs. After a while, Greg came down because he heard the ice cream man and thought Sydney was downstairs by herself. We got ice cream though, so no nap wasn't so bad. That night Lizzy woke up at 2:30 AM and 6 AM.

Steve decided to wake up with Lizzy to let me sleep until 8 AM on Sunday. Aunt Shirley showed up around 8:30 AM and played with Lizzy while we all ate breakfast. After eating it was time to head to the beach. I didn't have a swim diaper, but Lizzy swim suit has a built in one, so we just used that. I needn't have worried though, as she didn't potty until we got back to the house and in the bath. At the beach I held her in the shallow water while Aunt Jennifer got some pictures. After being in the water I wrapped a towel around her and she passed out. Water always relaxes her. Back at the house we both rinsed off to get the salt water off of us. Then we all headed over to Aunt Shirley and Uncle William's beach house. Kevin and his family, William and his family, and Aunt Shirley and Uncle William were all down for the day. It was getting late after a while, so Daddy, Lizzy, and I went back to our beach house to finish packing. We left around 8 PM.

That night Lizzy slept from 11 PM to 7 AM with no waking inbetween. I have a feeling she was just as exhausted as Daddy and I were. We left Houston around 11 AM and got back home at 3 PM. It was actually a really good car ride.

That Monday Lizzy turned 4 months old as well. We had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for her 4 month well check. Here are her stats:

Weight: 16.06 lbs (97th percentile)
Length: 24.25 inches (50th percentile)
Head circumference: 16.5 inches
All developments on track

I thought maybe she had an ear infection because her right ear smelled a little yeasty Monday night after her bath, but the doctor checked both ears and they're both perfect. Aside from thinking that, everything is great with her. The doctor was happy that I only had that one question. He asked if she was on any solids yet and I said no. He said that at her next well check we would talk about solids since she'll be 6 months by then. Oh my baby is growing up!

Speaking of growing up, guess what she JUST did?!?!?! She rolled over from back to front! Now she can roll over both ways! Oh, it's so exciting. I got a short video of her doing it too, I need to upload it and show everyone!

Time to get back to playing with Lizzy...

Baptism

Lizzy's baptism went great! Family started showing up around noon on Saturday. We had a good time together grilling burgers and hotdogs then going swimming at the pool. Lizzy stayed home from swimming because she was taking a nap. Half the family stayed with her.

Sunday was the big day. We all got to the church a little early to make sure we knew what to do. Once there we learned that there were only going to be 3 baptisms that day including Lizzy's. She was mostly good throughout the ceremony, but I had to keep walking with her in my arms to keep her from fussing. She was very tired, but overstimulated from everything so wouldn't fall asleep. She still smells like the oil that the deacon put on her head, although it's definitely lighter in intensity.

Sunday evening Gigi, Pop Pop, Daddy, Lizzy, and I all went to Blue Mesa for dinner. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jennifer, Sydney, and Parker had to head home to Houston as Sydney had camp the next day. Blue Mesa was wonderful! I love their sweet potato chips.

Tuesday I decided to take the money that Lizzy received for baptism and open up a savings account in her name (and mine since she's a minor). So now she has a savings account I can put any money into that she gets from holidays or for whatever. It'll be good to have for her so young so that when she grows up she can use it later on in life.

This week Lizzy has started to coo a lot more. She will sit for hours with me or Daddy and we will coo back and forth to each other. Monday night she wanted to talk so much that she stayed up later than usual just talking away. She tried to do it last night, but I told her that it was bedtime and that she needed to sleep. She took the hint when I lay with her to nurse her one last time for the night.

She also smiles all the time now. She just has the cutest smile and voice. I love being able to spend my days playing with her. We read books, look in the mirror, watch game shows (she loves all the colors and lights), smile at each other, and talk to each other whenever she's not eating or sleeping. She also loves when she has her diaper off. Whenever she's crying and won't stop, she immediately calms down on her changing table because she knows she will soon be without anything on her bottom. Even when she doesn't have a dirty diaper, she loves being changed. Haha, the things she'll hear about when she's older.

She has rolled over a total of 4 times now. About 2-3 weeks ago she rolled from front to back 2 times in a row. I thought it was a fluke since she should be too young to do it or know that she was doing it. Then last weekend she rolled over 2 times again from front to back. I think she's starting to figure it all out now. When she gets tired of tummy time, but doesn't want to only be on her back I will roll her from front to back and back to front a couple times in a row. She loves it.

She's taking a nap right now, so I should get back to doing chores.