14 Months to the Day!

14 months old! August 30, 2008 she turned 14 months old! Remember that day!

That is the day that Elliot walked FIVE STEPS!!! That's our girl! We are so proud of her! (In a few days I'll probably be posting that she's running everywhere and we can't keep up anymore!) We're so excited!!!

Of course I have video, and it will be up on youtube soon. Other new YouTube videos up as of last night! (Check out the video bar on the right!)

Full of Love

David and I are always commenting on how full of love our little girl is. This morning, she was so sweet that I thought I had to blog about it! (I am hoping to have a record of this blog someday for her to keep!)

Elliot gives kisses. If you say, "Can I have a kiss?" She will open wide, and slap one on you. She is starting to learn to close her mouth, too, but that is rare for now. Sometimes, she asks US for a kiss! When she does that, she opens up and goes "Ahhh?" (It's a dentist's dream!) She blows kisses if you are too far away, and has started to blow kisses and place them on your lips with her hand. Adorable! Ella gives hugs by putting her head on your shoulder and saying, "ahhhhhh..." There are times that David or I will be sitting near her while she plays, and she'll come over and kiss us on the leg, just because.

I think every night we go to bed and say, "She's just so sweet! She's just so loving!" We absolutely LOVE being parents!

iLove my new MacBook!

Yay Apple! I love my new MacBook! I had to get a new computer, as my former laptop had to be plugged in and propped up to even use. I am currently working on transferring all my files from one computer to the other. Of course, I won't be able to open my Word files until my new Microsoft Office for Mac arrives, but I'll have all my movies, pictures, and music.

Hopefully I'll be able to get really creative now and get some videos on disc for Elliot's baby book!

Mommy's First 29th Birthday

Mommy had her best birthday EVER this year! Sunday night we had a barbeque with all our great friends over (minus a few vacationing friends!) It was easily the best barbeque we've hosted. The food was yummy and the conversation was flowing!

For my birthday, I received several Mac gift cards, so I can buy my new MacTop. Dave really surprised me with a LARGE Mac gift card, and I don't mean the actual size of it. In fact, I was wishing he would get me one. And I was hoping it would be a certain amount. Instead, it was that amount with an extra 0!!! Yay!
I also got a sewing table, a willow tree figurine (of a Mommy 'bonking' her big girl), a pair of pants from J. Crew and another from Gap, and a crossword puzzle video game. Whew! What a day! We also went as a family to play mini-golf. We went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory - Yum!!! After Elli-bop went to bed, we finished watching A Few Good Men, which had started a day or two before.

All-in-all, Dave and Elli made it such a special day for me. Thanks family!

Ew! Ew! Oh My Goodness, Ew! PART II

Yup, that's right. She done it agin.

This time in her crib.

When I walked into her room this morning to get my lovely out of bed, I was nearly knocked over by the scent of...well, not new car, that's for sure! When I looked into her crib and her pink sheets were brown, I knew I was in for a doozie! Once again, I had to get Dave out of bed, have him bathe her while I did laundry of her diaper, onesie, the changing pad cover, her sheet, and her crib bumper. Ew. Seriously.

Seriously.


Seriously...

One STEP closer!

Elliot is officially one STEP closer to walking! While "aunt" Vikki was over today taking pics of our girl, Elliot took a step! Just one. She decided that crawling was faster, but so happy that first step is here! How very exciting! Yay, our big girl!

A Wicked 4th Anniversary

Dave and I had our fourth wedding anniversary on August 14. (One night before "the incident.") We went out to a not-relaxing lunch at Pollo Rico (thanks, Elle), then Grandma Betsy came over at 4. Dave and I left for the train around 4:20 and just made it. On the way to the city, it went from sunny skies to dark to raining to thunderstorming to hailing to raining to not raining to sunny skies. We were worried because we didn't have an umbrella. Turns out we didn't need it. I got a picture of a nice rainbow from the train.

The show was AMAZING!! We saw Wicked, which attempts to explain the life of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, incorporating all aspects of the Wizard of Oz. Go to the Wicked website and figure out when it will be in a town near you. This is a must-see show!!!

After the show we walked back to Madison Square Garden - 17 NYC blocks - and I was in heels. OUCH!!! All-in-all though, a wonderfully wicked night!

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim-berrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I can joke about it now.

Elliot fell out of her highchair this morning and caught herself with her face on the hardwood floor. She bled so much, as you do when you get cut on your mouth. We got the bleeding to stop, got her mostly calmed down, and took her to her pediatician. She got checked out - no signs of loose teeth, concussion, etc. She was a little bruised on her nose (which isn't apparent anymore - and its less than 12 hours since it happened), her upper lip was swollen like a duck, she has a blood blister in the center of her top lip, and a little tiny bit of 'hardwood floor burn' above her right eyebrow. Just before I put her to bed (she was ready at 6:30 - earlier than normal), the swelling was as much as gone. She isn't happy to be eating a clear diet, but tomorrow afternoon or so she can go back to normal.

Anyway, she's okay. Dave and I on the other hand...

Here are the only pics I could get of her. These were taken about 10 hours after "the incident."

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A Real Stand-Up Kid!

Elliot is back to practicing standing up. She is so confident these days, and is standing for about 30 second stints. Tonight, she pushed her stroller (which she REFUSED to sit in) around the mall. Since she couldn't reach the handle, she pushed from the undercarraige basket. It was SO CUTE!!! As if we expect anything less...

She is also really talking these days. This morning we called Nana, because she was crawling around the house singing, "Nanananananananana!" She says Mama, Dada, Duck, Book, Dog, Woof, Meow, Roar, Uh-Oh. She also repeats just about anything we say. What a really fun age this is!

Ew! Ew! Oh My Goodness, Ew!

While getting a slightly cranky Elliot out of her highchair this morning, I realized why she was cranky. She STUNK! I thought, 'That is one exceptionally stinky doo!' I was right! The reason it was so stinky? It wasn't in the diaper much. Dave had to get up from his sleep-in morning. He held her up in the air while I wiped down her legs (with SIX wipes!!!), then he put her in the tub while I cleaned poo off the carpet, highchair, music table, and my hands. Ew! This is what cow's milk is doing to my kid's poo! Dave gets the next six dirty diapers!

Three More Pearly Whites - Eventually

The count will be seven when they all break through and grow in. August 1st, we noticed two different teeth starting to appear, the top right had just broken through. August 2nd, the second tooth broke through on the bottom right. Now, the top left is working hard to break through, too! As you can imagine, we've had some baby tylenol on the case as Elliot has had some strong discomfort lately!

Just thought I'd mention that as I type this, Elliot is crawling through her kitchen, back again, through it, back again, through it, and back again. Its very silly!

Also, check out "back stair studios" on youtube. You can see their final two videos before they left the Academy, including (at the end of Part II) the jump into the fountain that broke Phillip's foot.

Thanks, Fisher-Price!

Elliot and I will be hosting a Fisher-Price playdate party at our home on September 6. We are so excited to have been chosen! We are super excited and compiling our invite list. Look at some of the toys the little ones will get to play with:

Amazing Animals Spinning Zoo:


Bounce and Spin Pony:


Crawl and Cruise Musical Jungle:


Laugh 'N' Learn Musical Table:

Still Practicing!

Elliot's still working on her walking. She is eager to get as much practice in as she can!