Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Traveling

So...obviously traveling has changed quite a bit for us since the addition of Elizabeth.  Elizabeth has traveled lots in her little life so far but each time is new and different...and always an adventure.  We definitely have to allow more time and patience and flexibility than we used to...but it's fun...and totally worth it.

First we drive to Denver...
but we have to stop at the park halfway for some leg stretching and energy burning.


Success.


Getting on the plane in Denver.


I will never travel again without a dvd player and movies...oh the things I swore I would never do. Ha!


She typically still takes her bottle when we are landing to help her little ears adjust.


And as usual, the trips are over way too soon (see previous post!) and then we are back on a plane again...can you tell she was exhausted?!


Bass Pro Shop!
We typically take advantage of the opportunity to burn some energy for Elizabeth and shopping for Mommy and Dada!


Fishie kisses.


Fearless.


Happy, happy, happy.


Could somebody please get that baby a ball?!


Ball the size of baby...doesn't stop her!


And back to the park again...



So...after an early morning, 2 airplanes, 1 lost sippy cup, 1 lunch box full of food left on a plane, and 7 hours between the Denver Airport and our house...we finally made it home.  See you people again in a few weeks!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Family

My dear, kind, gentle but strong, hard working, faithful, family focused, loving grandfather passed away last week.  Will, Elizabeth and I were fortunate enough to be able to go back home to mourn his loss and celebrate his life with family.


"Being part of a family means something very wonderful.  It means that you will love and be loved for the rest of your life."







Calling for the cows...mooooo.











"Family, like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions yet, our roots remain as one."

Monday, August 12, 2013

17 Months!

So this month has been so so busy but I am just now realizing that I have tons of pictures and not very many blog posts. Man.  I will try to do better.  

Anywho, we now have a very spunky, sassy, funny, active 17 month old...it is so fun...and so exhausting!

She loves climbing. In, on, under. Anyway and anything she thinks she can climb, she will try.


She likes to listen to stories on the computer at the library.  She however, she has the attention span of a gnat, so she only listens to about one page before she climbs down and starts the whole process over at a different computer. Silly girl.





Totally fearless.


And shameless.


She loves shoes (I wonder where she gets that from??).  She trys on every pair of shoes, holds her feet out and sits perfectly still while you put her own shoes on, and...


is really proud to show off her new shoes. (Thanks, Grammy!)



She watches Mommy and Daddy very closely. It's funny to see her repeat things that we do or want to wear things we do.  I was wearing this headband one night when we were heading to the gym and she insisted on taking it off and wearing it herself.  For the rest of the night.


She frequently opens the drawers in the bathroom and carries around rolls of toilet paper or handfuls of Q-tips and liters them throughout the house. Thanks, E.


Anytime I get the camera out to take her picture now she raises her arms like this and yells, "cheeeese". 



 Sitting in the big chair like Daddy.


She has become fiercely independent which is sometimes good and sometimes not as good.  Feeding herself cereal, good.  Pouring milk on self, floor and slinging cereal on walls, not as good. Ha!


They have weekly free concerts in the park that we love to go to if nap time allows.  Elizabeth loves to be outside and anything outside AND with music is perfect in her book. 


See?


 She's becoming such a Daddy's girl.  If he is home she wants to go with him everywhere he goes and cries if he has to leave her.  Will is loving every second of the extra love and attention from his girl.


We officially moved out of the infant carseat this month.  I stretched it for as long as possible but we had to bite the bullet and get a new one.  I think she likes it!


"Ball"


 She is a free spirit.  I would like to point out that she doesn't even use pacifiers.  At least not for pacifying purposes.  I said free spirit didnt I?  Oh, and those are her sunglasses she found, apparently.


She walks everywhere we go!  We went to dinner with friends and walked home from the restaurant and as soon as she could we put her down to walk and she walked all the way home.


Then she was ready to walk Boone.


So sweet. 


So wild.


A few other milestones...

She can point to her eyes, nose, ears, tongue and belly (unfortunately she also likes to lift Mommy and Daddy's shirts to show off their bellies as well. Ha!)
She says "uh-oh" whenever she drops something...which has started happening a lot.
Her very favorite book is, "Little Blue Truck" (thanks Aunt Jessica!). She says, "beep, beep, beep" everytime we read it.
She loves to screw lids on and off things. She will sit for long periods of time doing just that.
She seems to really understand a lot of what I say to her or ask her to do now.
She loves for me to put chapstick on her.  She pushes her little lips out and then pops them together at the end.  Apparently she has seen me do this??

She is a funny, funny little girl that has brought a lot more laughter into our lives!