Where We Stand

Hi Blog,

It's been a while.  So, this is where we stand.  Eliza is adorable and adventurous and so perfectly a toddler.  As of this moment she is in her crib where she is supposed to be napping, but she's not. Instead, she's kicking the wall behind her crib over and over.  It sounds pretty bad from out here, like something huge just fell.  But it makes me smile. And I'm supposed to be showering, nap time is the only chance I have for a shower. Eliza is curious and talkative. This morning there were patches of sunlight on the kitchen floor and she was amazed at them. She kept going from patch to patch and leaning down to inspect them and touch them and then go to the next one. Eliza loves Scooter. She loves to pat him and hug him and rest her head on him. Scooter tolerates it, but when I can see he's had enough I try to separate them before he gets impatient with her. Lately when he comes into whatever room we're in she squeals and runs as if to hide from him.

Eliza loves the Christmas Tree that we put up over the weekend.  So far she's just pointed to the ornaments, she hasn't really taken them off the tree yet. She's really delighted with the Little People Nativity we got this year.  She plays with it every day.  She'll bring me Baby Jesus and then give him a kiss before she hands him to me to kiss.  She loves the angel on top that sings songs, but also likes putting the pig on top of the stable. I frequently find other "little people" in the Nativity too, Mickey Mouse is a frequent visitor. Eliza loves to try to help Momma with whatever I'm doing, if it's putting ornaments on the tree or putting things in the trash can.  The other day I had a cold and she handed me a tissue to wipe my nose.  Then she took the tissue from me and ran and threw it away. She still loves shoes and is great at getting dressed.

Eliza is scared of Grandpa Hurdsman and needs a few minutes around large groups of people, but soon she is walking from person to person asking to be picked up, held, or to eat some of whatever treat they have. She says "Momma" and "Dada" regularly now and frequently together "Mommadada." She also says, light, down, go, ball, and NO! She says "bapa" which generally refers to a grandparent. She loves Sesame Street and Signing Time. She loves to read books and carry her Jessie doll around. She likes to empty drawers and boxes and baskets. She loves to help with laundry by unfolding whatever I just folded and throwing it on the ground. She loves my pajama drawer and the drawer that holds my workout clothes and I'll frequently find my sports bras strewn about the house. She likes to wear Momma's clothes and Dada's shoes.

Shawn is working hard as an Assistant Principal at an Elementary School.  He comes home exhausted and full of stories, but he loves it. He is so committed to education and I admire him for his hard work and dedication.

I am constantly figuring out how to be a Stay At Home Momma.  Every time I think I have the gig figured out something changes and I feel like I have to start at the beginning again. I've had another cold which has knocked me down again. There's nothing like having to take care of a baby to make it impossible to get over a cold. I'm constantly trying to figure out how to take care of Eliza AND clean my house AND make dinner AND take care of myself.  Usually I only accomplish two at a time.

Well, that's where we are lately. And it sounds like my plan to put Eliza down and have her fall asleep on her own isn't going to work, so I had better jump in that shower before it's too late.

Annie

Goal Accomplished!

I finally did it.  After a month and a half of having exactly one item on my to do list I finally accomplished said item.  I planned out dinners for the next two weeks.  I am absolutely horrible at planning meals. Horrible. And for the past several weeks/months we've been eating a late dinner after the baby is in bed that consists of whatever won't take too long to make. No more! For the next two weeks anyway. I've got a plan. I've got recipes, I've added the needed items to my shopping list, we WILL have dinner together as a family!

I use a google calendar to plan my meals. I can keep several calendars in one place and that way can see what we have going on and I can plan my meals accordingly. And since we only have two people who really eat the meals, most of what I make I can use as leftovers the next day, so I only plan 3-4 meals per week. We have plenty of "backup meals" like tuna helper in our food storage in case the day goes awry and the meal doesn't get cooked, or if we don't have the planned for leftovers. It makes it so much easier to only plan 3-4 dinners a week rather than 7.

I also started keeping a spreadsheet of meals I like to make.  I keep track of when we ate it last and where the recipe is kept.  That way I can take a quick look there to help plan my meals when I don't have time to hunt for recipes on Pinterest.

And can I just say thank goodness for Pinterest? When it comes to food I'm pretty visual, I like my recipes to have pictures. If I had to just browse my mostly pictureless cookbooks I would never decide what to eat. But thanks to pinterest and food bloggers, the internet is my cooking inspiration! What in the world did our moms do when it came time to feed all of us?!

Wordless Wednesday

This little piggie went to the fair. . . and this little piggie stayed home.

Spreading Joy

On Sunday you toddle around going from person to person.  You climb on laps and get people to hand you keys and let you play with their programs. You love Sister Harris.  She is from Scotland and I love her accent too.  You sit on her lap and then you come back to Mommy and Daddy for a minute and then you go back to Sister Harris.  She whispers in your ear and you sit and listen to her. You come back to get books or sippy cups and take them to Sister Harris.  At the end of Sacrament I pick you up and Sister Harris tells me how you spread joy.  You spread happiness wherever you go. And I know it is true.

This Is 6:00

It's 6:00. Despite 30 minutes of furious cleaning my house still looks like a disaster zone. The baby wants to both be held and put down at the same time. The husband worked late to finish a project. The caffeine has worn off and I've had entirely too much chocolate cake for today. I'm done. Except I still have to figure out something for dinner, finish the laundry, unload the dishwasher so I can load the dishwasher, do something about the tornado cleanup, and put a baby to bed. And for some reason the baby now HATES her high chair. She won't let me go near it to put her in it. She screams and arches her back, and if I do manage to put her in it she gets hysterical and won't eat. So, I figured out if I put a video on my laptop she will magically watch it and let me put her in the high chair and feed her. Only, that's not a good long term solution nor a good precedent to set. 

My goal for tonight is to simply get the baby in bed and maybe sit on the couch watching The Bachelorette and perhaps fold the laundry that's been in the dryer for a week. And eat another slice of chocolate cake. And tomorrow I will start fresh, it will be a new day. 

Eliza and Ga

Eliza and Scooter getting acquainted.

Almost from the time we found out I was pregnant we worried about how Scooter (our 5 year old miniature schnauzer) would feel about the baby. Would he be protective? Would he be territorial? He didn't have a history of liking kids, but we hoped that he would feel differently about a baby in his own family.  For the first six months Scooter didn't really seem to like Eliza. He ignored her as much as possible, and as she grew to be aware of her surroundings she was more and more fascinated with Scooter. Scooter had a bad habit of waiting until Eliza was napping and then barking uncontrollably. He is usually quiet and lays in his spot on the couch, but if something gets him going, it's hard to get him to stop and it is loud and annoying.  Many a nap was interrupted by Scooter. We had heard that the baby will be used to sounds like dogs barking because she'll hear them while she's still in utero, but that didn't seem to help when Scooter got going.

Everything changed about the time we started to give Eliza solid foods.  Suddenly, she was interesting to the dog because she had food.  And she dropped food. And he could eat the dropped food. And that changed everything.  Instead of resenting Eliza or ignoring Eliza, Scooter became Eliza's best friend even when she didn't have food.  He was much more tolerant of her. She can play with him and he will play back in his own unique way. (He growls when he's playing, it makes other people nervous to watch, but we know it's his play mode.) He lets her grab his toys out of his mouth. He lets her hug him. The only time he gets frustrated with her is when he's in his kennel. And of course Eliza wants to be wherever Scooter is, so I'm trying to teach her that the kennel is Scooter's place and she needs to leave him alone when he's in there.

When we were in San Francisco recently Scooter went to stay with Shawn's brother who lives nearby. About halfway through the trip Eliza did the sign for dog (patting her leg) and then looked at us and said "Ga?" Ga is her word for Scooter. (She doesn't say Mama yet, but she has a word for the dog.) She wanted to know where Scooter was, and it melted our hearts.  When we came home from San Francisco Eliza chased Scooter all over the house yelling "Ga!" over and over again.  Our little family was reunited.

First Big Trip

Dear Eliza,

We just got back from our first big vacation as a family of three, a trip to San Francisco! And there are certain thing I always want to remember. Like how you draw people to you.  People stopped us at the airport, walking down the sidewalk, just about everywhere we went to tell us how beautiful you were.  Your smile and wave naturally draws people to you, and I wonder how that will manifest itself in your future. We were on a bus stuck in traffic when you started to wave at the cars stuck next to us, and every single car you waved to waved back, from the minivan full of people to the macho guy texting, you got everyone to stop and wave at you and smile. You were such a trooper on this little trip, taking naps on trains and busses and in your carrier and stroller, being patient with Mommy and Daddy as we went shopping and messed with your schedule, and being great at flying, well, for the first flight.  The second flight was a different story. On the first flight the flight attendant was saying goodbye to a friend named Alina, and you called out to her and waved catching all of the flight attendant's attention.  They loved you. When Daddy was shopping you talked and talked and talked to the clerk until he asked Daddy what you were saying and Daddy had to say "I have no idea." You were pretty insistent about helping our bus driver give the tour as we drove home from seeing Muir Forest. You charmed other kids and adults alike. Everywhere we went we heard people commenting about you, "look at that cute baby, did you see the way she's sitting in her stroller?" You like to sit with one leg straight out in front of you. I was that Momma in the airport who let her baby walk barefooted in a public place, but you truly brought joy and smiles to countless people who watched you walk with glee from the gate to baggage claim! (And I didn't dare try to put shoes on you, you would start to scream if I made any move to stop you.)

Your Daddy and I love to travel, and traveling with your Daddy reminds me of why I love him.  I hope as you grow up you love to travel just as much as we do.

Love,

Momma