Caught in the act

Proud Papa

For months Alan has been telling me that we should get a new TV. I thought it was rather ridiculous because we don't really watch that much TV and all the ones Alan wanted came with a four digit price tag. But Alan finally convinced me and we found one with a price more to my liking... Free. They were cleaning out offices at Alan's work and found a 50" flat screen plasma TV hiding in some attic, and offered it to Alan. We did have to buy a new entertainment center because the TV is so massive it wouldn't fit in our old one, but the cost was minimal. Alan has spent all morning playing with it and getting everything set up. I'm glad he enjoys his new toy so much.

My little helper

Eight Months

Eight months old today!

This is Alan writing because Sarah is making me finish this while she tries to get Elsie to go to bed... it's about 10:30pm and she just wants to snuggle and isn't too happy about being put in her bed...

Anyways, Elsie has really become quite the talker. She's started using actual syllables rather than just yelling "aaah" in different pitches and for different lengths of time. My favorite is that the sound she now says quite often is "da"... which means she's regularly saying "dada dada dada". Sarah tries to get her to say "mama", but now it's just become a game where Sarah says "mama" and Elsie says "dada" - repeated over and over. Sarah keeps telling me that it's just a new sound and doesn't count as a word because she doesn't know that's what she's saying - I think Elsie just really loves her dada :-)

O Christmas Tree

We got our very first Christmas tree this year! We weren't sure if we were going to get one this year, but we went to the store anyway to look at them. After a lot of debating, we finally picked out this little 3 foot tree. We grabbed some little ornaments and a tree topper and headed to the check out. As it the tree rang up, it was 60% off the original price! Apparently they were on sale, but we just missed the sign. I'm glad we have our little tree, it makes our tiny apartment just that much more festive.

I've finally accepted it...

...Alan is a much better at wrapping gifts than I am.

Its begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Elsie with Uncle Kyle and Great Grandpa on Thanksgiving

Showing off her new Chirstmas onesie made especially for her by my walking buddy Katie.
Helping Grandam Nean put Christmas lights on the tree

Children can be hazardous to your health...

Warning: Graphic Images...
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As close as I can figure, Elsie headbutted me in the eye and grabbed at my eye sometime yesterday. I don't remember what exactly happened because I didn't even notice this until Alan came home and pointed it out to me. This was it last night before we went to bed:

And then when we woke up this morning:
Oh well. We've done the research online and its got some fancy name, but its basically a bruise to the eye. I can't feel it at all... it just looks pretty nasty. It should fade within a week or two. For now it just looks like I'll have to wear my glasses for a little while...

On a happier note, Alan brought Elsie home a new toy last night. She really seems to love it. It has so many toys and gadgets on it that she doesn't know what to play with first!

My favorties...

• When Elsie wakes up in the night, Alan gets up to get her and bring her to me. After I've feed, burped, and changed her diaper, Elsie twist around to see Alan and reaches out for him because she knows he will take her back to bed. She puts her little arms around his neck and snuggles up to him so close.
• Sometimes when I put Elsie down for a nap, she lays in her bed with her binky and taggie and hums herself to sleep.
• Putting Elsie to bed, then snuggling on the couch with Alan watching a movie or old MASH episodes.
• If I get in the shower while Alan's still home, he puts Elsie in her walker and she runs to the bathroom door and slams into it repeatedly until it opens and she can see me.
• Taking a nice, hot bath with a good book.
• Having a cup of premium hot chocolate, more specifically Jeanine's homemade mix.
• Eavesdropping on Alan singing to Elsie
• Very slobbery kisses from Elsie
• When Elsie wakes up from a nap and is yelling, as soon as she see me she gets a huge smile, flaps her arms, and reaches out for me.
• Sitting in church and having Elsie "sing" along with the music

Just to name a few...

For Sophie and Elanor

Elsie liked her cousin's video so much, she wanted to make one of her own.

Really, I just liked their little clip, and Elsie enjoyed watching it, so I bribed Alan into helping me make our little video. :)

Swim so wild, and swim so free...

Elsie has to see everything. She is always looking around making sure...of what I don't know, but she's making sure nothing gets by her. This makes meal times somewhat difficult. Since she's up in her chair she has to look down as well, and it's hard to shove a spoonful of food in her mouth when it's at that angle. We've tried various different distraction techniques, but this is the only thing that will work:

We've tried different songs, but she'll only eat to Baby Beluga. Strange kid...

On another note, she has developed a new little smile. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it's hard to catch on film. It was kinda the tail end of her smile.

It reminds me of her little cousin's smile a little bit...

Some days...

Some days I love my life more than I can possibly imagine
Some days I don't
Some days I have way too much to do
Some days I have way too much to do but sit and read my book anyway
...or play my game
Some days I adore my baby
Some days I adore her more
Some days I'm tired
Some days I'm cranky
Some days I live for nap time
Some days I can only hang on until Alan gets home
Some days I'm on top of everything
Some days I feel like WonderWoman
Some days I'm a good mommy
Some days I'm a great mommy
Some days I'm just mediocre
Some days I have a plan
Some days I just wing it
Some days I get ready alone
Some days I get ready while entertaining a little pipsqueak
Some days I get moving and get things done
Some days I sit around
Some days my clothes fit
Some days they don't

There are a lot of some days...
I wonder what today will be

Seven Months

My little girl is growing up. Still not crawling yet, but she gets around. Elsie prefers to roll rather than crawl to get to where she wants to go. Her favorite foods are rice cereal and sweet potatoes. Everything else she gags on and gives us a dirty look as if to say "why are you feeding me this stuff??" Her favorite toys to play with are her daddy's exercise bands, her clean medicine spoon from her first aid kit, and pretty much anything she's not supposed to have. She's quite the kid, and I love her.

Playing Catch-Up

Multiple posts today, be sure to scroll down

Stewart Falls

We decided to take advantage of the Indian Summer we've been having lately and get another hike in before the snow starts. Today we headed to Stewart Falls, a lovely little trail nestled in the woods. Elsie was equally as excited to go; she really enjoys riding around in the baby backpack.

"Lets go already!"

I can only imagine how this place would have looked a few weeks ago before all the leaves fell off

Enjoying the view... and a break from hiking

Elsie and Alan in the midst of the grove

We made it to the falls!

...Sort of. Only a little trickle left, but it was still pretty

Hooray for hiking!

My loud little girl

A first in our marriage...

I really hate bananas. Something about the smell, the taste, the texture... everything. I really hate them. I've even tried sneaking banana into things, bread, muffins, smoothies... Doesn't work. I can still taste them.

Alan loves bananas. He thinks they're great. But as it so happens, we have never bought bananas in our entire marriage... Until this week.

After finishing off Elsie's bucket of candy in about two and a half days, we decided we need to stock up on healthier things to snack on. We have filled our fridge with apples, yogurt, little mandarin oranges... and Alan bought bananas.

Yuck.

Halloween Revisited

Here are a few more pictures from Halloween

Ready to go trick or treating

Yeah, I carved that pumpkin...

Dad gave me a tootsie roll...

And then a cheeto...

Little Brown Marshmallow

With the weather getting colder, Elsie needed to get warmer

Halloween

The night before Halloween, Alan's work had trick or treating at the office building. We met up with some of our friends from over the summer. Elsie and Parker were so excited to be reunited!

Elsie loved trick or treating. She was all smiles and giggles and yelling out her excitement. She loved chewing on the candy (still in its wrapper) everyone kept handing her. Her absolute favorite was the office that was handing out otter pops. She sucked and chewed on that thing until it melted and we finally took it away.

They were trying to give each other hugs, but I guess Parker settled for a head butt.

Elsie contemplating her haul...

Hooray for candy!

On Halloween, we headed up to Grandma Nean's house to trick or treat more. Here is Elsie modeling the Halloween outfit Grandma Nean got her.

There were a few more pictures of Elsie all dressed up and ready for trick or treating, but they're on Grandma's camera. I'll have to wait for her to email them before I can put them up. :)

Dinosaur in the Leaves

We found a dinosaur costume for Elsie for Halloween. Alan's mom had made it for his younger brothers when they were Elsie's size. Here's a preview of our little dinosaur.