Swing Baby Swing!

March 5, 2010 - 2:36 pm No Comments

Today I took Elliott OUTSIDE!! YAY!!! Today was the first time that it felt warm enough to actually enjoy being at the park! (It was 47 degrees, my California family, and I was flippin excited. Think about that.)

We met up with Elliott’s cousin Brody, Aunt Marcie, and Uncle Dave at Des Peres park. Elliott munched down her lunch of McD’s yogurt parfait. (This is the only yogurt she likes, go figure.) Then, we went on a walk to see the ducks and geese. Finally, we wrapped it up with some swinging for the kiddos. This was Elliott’s first time in a swing. It didn’t phase her a bit. She really just liked watching Brody get pushed super high in the air. It was hard to get good pictures due to the lighting/shadows but here are a few.

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Swinging with Brody!
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Silly Kid

March 5, 2010 - 10:07 am No Comments

This is how I found Elliott sleeping during her nap yesterday. Looks comfy right?

Nap time

Here’s a picture I took of her on her changing table a few weeks ago.

She is one silly baby.

Börk, börk, börk

March 3, 2010 - 8:03 pm 1 Comment

swedish_chef

As part of Operation Debt Free and in cooperation with the project Bikini 2010, I have been cooking a lot more than usual. To make it more interesting each week I’ve tried to cook at least one if not two new dishes. I thought I would share the ones I’ve liked enough to make it into my recipe book. Christina and Wes can attest that I am the biggest critic of my cooking. To make it into the book it has to be very good or at least adequate but really easy and quick to make.

Blue Cheese Burgers I don’t own a grill so this was made on a pan. It is NOT good for you but it is oh so yummy! I did have some problem keeping the burgers together as I was cooking, definitely get the higher fat meat like they say.

Irish Beef Stew I of course left out the carrots because I am still 3 and not a fan of vegetables. They call it a stew but it is not really thick, it is more like a soup. A yummy yummy meat soup. Wes likes this one because it means I bring over all the leftover beer for him to drink.

Heidi’s Steak Diane I was a little nervous about this one but figured hey if I don’t like the sauce I can just eat the steak without it. This is one of the only trial ones I’ve made for Christina that turned out really good. If you follow the directions the steak is cooked well-done (Christina’s preferred) so if your like me and like it more medium rare you may not want to cook it as long.

Fettuccine with Creamy Italian Sausage Sauce This is one that tastes even better as leftovers! It makes a huge amount and I ate this for lunch for basically the whole month of January and I still love it.

Christina and to some extent Wes have suffered through many of my experimentations with good grace. That I believe is because every once in a while I find a gem like these Heart of Darkness Brownies (which I found in the book in the background).


Yep that is home-made brownies which have chocolate chips and chunks of Snickers in them topped with marshmallows and a caramel sauce. SO GOOD! Also VERY messy and time consuming to make. I made this for Christmas for my family. I knew I had made something awesome when even my Grandma was scarfing them down. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

March 1, 2010 - 2:03 pm No Comments

Is it wrong to covet a $300 vacuum cleaner so badly that you go out and purchase it a month before your birthday? If it is, too bad. This sexy beast is all mine!!

hoover

Oooh yeah baby.

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Our carpet has never looked so good. And our baby is no longer a lint ball. Thank you Hoover!
~Christina

The 8th Month

February 24, 2010 - 11:28 am 2 Comments

Wow! Elliott will be 9 months old next week! I know I say this every month, but seriously, how did she get so big already? She has learned so much in the past month! She is really developing a personality now and becoming so much fun!

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New accomplishments:
- 2 teeth! We’ve survived the teething process so far. But I’m glad we’ve had a little break between these first two and the next set. (Every time I try to get a picture of her teeth, she’s either making a weird face, or the picture is blurry. These are the best I could do!)

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- Said dada! I know I’ve documented this all over the blog already but hey, it’s super cute!

- She’s rolling! You can tell Elliott is thrilled to be mobile. She is rolling all over the place! She really loves the playmat that we bought for her at Ikea now. It has all kinds of things to play with, like a mirror, squeaky toys, and textured shapes. It’s a big hit!

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- She loves to eat! I think she’s really over and done with the whole baby food thing. She wants texture and flavor and excitement. Well, maybe not that exciting, but she did eat curry! Way to go baby! I think she was naturally inclined via our family to go for any bakery items, and bagels, bread, crackers, cakes, etc. are big hits with her. She also enjoys guacamole, refried beans, and rice when we go out to Mexican restaurants. She doesn’t seem too picky so far. I’m sure that will change eventually!

- If anything, Elliott is even MORE obsessed with our dog. Popper seems confused now that Elliott is starting to move around a little. She wants to play but she doesn’t like all the ear and tail pulling. Elliott loves visiting Aunt Marcie’s house because her dog, Shailey, lets her roll on top of her and pull her fur all over. Crazy kid!

- Elliott is also obsessed with other babies. She loves going to Little Gym class. Sometimes one of the crawlers in the class will come over and hold hands with her and it’s better than Christmas. :) She also loves her cousin Brody, which can be a little rough on the poor kid as she likes to show her love through face grabbing and the occasional hair pulling. He’s a little trooper though and keeps coming back to give hugs and kisses to his cousin “Eh – i – ut.”

- Another huge development step for her is putting herself to sleep at night. We were still swaddling her up until the beginning of this month. Then she outgrew letting us rock her to sleep at night so we started sleep training for real. It was tough at first but it is so nice now to just read her a story at night, give her a bottle and then set her down in bed. Most nights she doesn’t really cry at all. It’s a little tougher during the day to get her to go down for naps. Probably because it isn’t as dark and she is distracted by all her toys. She usually rolls around the bed for awhile and ends up upside down surrounded by teddy bears before she finally gives in.

- This last one might not be something to be proud of, but whatever. She loves Sesame Street. She kind of phases in and out when they cut to segments that are boring for her, but whenever Murray or Elmo are on the screen, she is riveted. It’s become a nice little routine for us to sit and watch a little of the show while she eats some breakfast. (She usually steals half my bagel in the mornings.) Also, our local PBS channel has a montage of babies playing in the snow and she LOVES it. She always gets a huge grin on her face when she sees all the kids playing.

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I’m really loving my job of being home with her more and more. It can be exhausting some (most) days but it’s totally worth it. I may not being doing everything the “right” way, and I often feel like I’m figuring stuff out way later than I’m supposed to, but I’m doing my best! Elliott seems happy and healthy so I can’t be doing too bad of a job! We’re learning all this together and I think that’s bonding too. :)

love, Christina

p.s. This is the bookshelf Mom got Elliott for Christmas. I wanted her to see it in the room. Thanks Mom!!
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Dadadadada

February 22, 2010 - 11:08 am 1 Comment

This video is from February 1st when Elliott first said Dada. We just uploaded from our video camera so I’m sharing it now. This is sort of a long one but she really gets going around the 1:14 minute mark.

Such a cutie!
~Christina

Hiccups

February 3, 2010 - 11:52 am 1 Comment

Wes took this video last night. I love it! :)

The 7th Month

February 1, 2010 - 12:17 pm No Comments

So I wanted to post these pictures before we get too far along. These are some of Elliott in January. She’ll be 8 months old this week!

She wakes up so happy to see Mama!
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Working on those teeth.
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Why can’t I eat my shirt?
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Looking so cute in her hat from Auntie Shiloh.
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This little chubbers makes me so happy!
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Playing with Mama.
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She is seriously awesome.
love, Christina

He Wins.

February 1, 2010 - 11:55 am No Comments

Elliott Says DaDa
Please click above to experience cuteness!

I knew it would happen. I caught this with my iPhone so I could send it to Wes at work. Needless to say, he is overjoyed. Way to go Elliott!

Also, just a quick update – Elliott sprouted her first tooth for Patience’s birthday! Number two is just now cutting through. Orajel is my friend!

It comes in three’s right?

January 28, 2010 - 8:45 am No Comments

Now my basement is flooded thanks to my sewer line backing up. Soon I’ll need to make little scuba gear for my cats to get to their food and kitty litter. Luckily the water hasn’t hit that part so far. Now I’m waiting on the Roto-Rooter guy.

UPDATE: The root clog has been destroyed. Thank you for my Birthday present Mom and Dad! I can now take a shower, go to the bathroom, do dishes, and wash clothes in my own home! Woo!