Baba and other videos

I haven't gotten "Baba" on video yet. This was taken while we were driving around Lake Tahoe. There is some funny conversation going on in the background :)

My family was great entertainment for Elise during the trip. Here is a video of her playing with my brother on the plane.

And finally, here she is playing with her favorite stacking cups at my cousins' cabin in Lake Tahoe.

Pictures of potential high chair for Mike... I love you babe!

Lake Tahoe Part 1

Well we are in Lake Tahoe for several more days. Elise did GREAT on the flights. She even took a 2.5 hour nap that started on the flight to DFW, continued through the layover in Dallas, and lasted 45 minutes into the flight to Reno. Poor Mommy had to carry her IN the blanket-draped carrier through the DFW airport so that she would stay asleep. She's nearly 20 lbs and needless to say, my arms were sore the next day. After she woke up from her long nap, she was a happy camper and enjoyed getting to look around on the airplane. It was definitely nice to have 3 other adults to pass her around.

We had a great day yesterday spent eating, walking around, driving around, and getting groceries. Apparently Elise thought she needed to add a little excitement into the trip. Last night, about an hour after she went to sleep, she woke up and was not happy. My dad and brother were babysitting while my mom and I walked around and went to watch the sunset over the lake. Well, my dad got her up and about 5 minutes later was covered in vomit. My brother tried to call us and of course both phones were in the cabin. By the time my mom and I got back to the cabin, she had thrown up a few more times. This continued several more times over the next half hour. By that time (10pm-ish local time) she was lethargic, cold, clammy, and not interested in eating, so we took her to the emergency room. We didn't have to wait too long, but by the time the nurse checked us in, Elise was giving half-smiles. When she got into a room, she was babbling, smiling, cooing, and kicking her legs on the bed. Then she finally decided she was hungry again (after several attempts and no luck) and then just wanted to play in the hospital. We waited for the doctor to see her and he said she looked fine and just to make sure she nursed often so that she wouldn't get dehydrated.

We arrived back around midnight local time (really a quick round-trip for an ER visit). She ate again and went to sleep. She is sleeping in my room and so I heard her stirring a few hours later and decided to wake her up to eat. After that, she was NOT okay with being put back in the pack and play, so she got to snuggle with me. This morning she slept until 10:30 Texas time and is currently down for her first nap. She seems totally fine today, so we are just going to take it easy and not give her any solids today. Thanks to my mom, dad, and Bryan for helping with a sick baby.

Here are some pictures from my mom's camera. I didn't bring my camera cord so I won't be able to upload any of my pictures until I get back. I will be spending the next few days in refreshing weather going on a boat ride around Lake Tahoe, exploring/hiking, and going to the spa. No need to be jealous.

New Pictures!

Bryan's girlfriend Michelle took some great pictures of Elise a few weeks ago. Michelle is so sweet and talented! We were thrilled to meet her and look forward to spending time with her again. Elise was about 6 1/2 months in these pictures.

Happy almost 7 months!

Elise will be 7 months old on Sunday. Here are 7 things about her at this age:

1. She is between 19 and 20 pounds and over 28 inches long. She is already bigger than her mommy was at 1 year old. She has her two lower middle teeth. She still nurses 5 times a day and eats solids twice a day. She gets 1.5-2 oz at each solid feeding. Her favorite foods are oatmeal and sweet potatoes. She hates fruit.

2. She loves to wave her arms around and has figured out how to make noise when she claps.

3. She will stand holding on to the furniture or mommy's leg. She sometimes forgets that she has to hold on, so mommy stays within reach.

4. She will really move to get to a toy. She will get on her belly from sitting up and roll to get a toy that she really wants. No crawling or scooting other than a few inches to reach a toy. She is very graceful when she rolls.

5. She babbles quite a bit. Her favorite phrases are dadadadada, mamamama, babababababa, wawawawawawa, and oioioioioioioioi. She will say dada and mama but definitely prefers dada.

6. She is still a great sleeper. I can only remember 2 times in the last month and a half that she has woken up in the middle of the night. This morning she woke up at 9:08 :) She is also a very good napper and rarely fusses for naps or nighttime. She takes two naps that are about 1.5 hours each.

7. She also loves to play with toys, swim, be tickled, bounce on the bed, play peekaboo, giggle, talk, and watch her puppy run around.

She is a great baby and we are so thankful for her! Here are some recent pictures:

Playing in the playpen

Last ride in her infant carseat

Enjoying her big girl carseat
Smiling at mommy

Also, I've been meaning to post an update to the saga from Sunday night.

The fireants departed for a few days and then returned this morning. I honestly think I squished 400 of them today. So far they have not made it to any part of the house except my closet and the bathroom. I am almost out of tape again.

The car has been fixed and the check engine light has not come back on, so I am assuming that all is well.


To my knowledge, Boss has not chewed up anything since Sunday.

Elise finished her growth spurt and is back to normal.

A new washer was delivered on Tuesday, leaked, and was fixed on Wednesday. I love it so far. It is an LG and was highly rated on Consumer Reports and several other websites. It will make my cloth diaper laundry easier because I can program extra rinses, etc. Now I just need to break the dryer so that I can have a matched pair.

I'm out of tape.

First let me say that this has been a horrible day. One of those "terrible, no good, very bad" days from that children's book. So, this isn't going to be a very uplifting post. Feel free to close the window now if you want to. I apologize in advance for the excessive use of capital letters.

1. Boss has been getting on my every last nerve this week. He has been a TERRIBLE walker, even with the use of the spray bottle. He has decided that it is not okay for a bed in the house to be made up. He jumps on the guest bed and messes up the pillows EVERY time that I fix them. He has chewed up 4 of Elise's toys, including a brand new teether that I got in the mail yesterday. She loved it. He has also found a few interesting spots in the carpet that he thinks he should chew on, resulting in bald spots. He tried to eat the last bite of my turkey sandwich FROM MY HAND, resulting in teeth marks on my poor fingers. I'm sure he has done some more bad things but right now I can't think of them.

2. It seems like EVERYTHING in the house is broken. The computer, the washing machine, the weed eater, and the Camry.

3. The trash can is back. Okay, this is a good thing, but I am still irritated that my neighbor didn't apologize for keeping it for TWO WEEKS! We have the same trash can, and she had TWO trash cans for two weeks. One in her garage and one right outside the house in the driveway. Seriously? How can you not realize that you have two trash cans when you park IN THE GARAGE and see both cans EVERY TIME YOU COME HOME?? And, why would you not think to look after you saw the "trash can missing" sign on the community mailbox? I don't care that you were out of town for a few days. You were in town long enough to realize on both ends of your vacation that you had two trash cans. And you didn't apologize. In fact, you just left both cans out and told my neighbor to tell me to come get it. Very sweet, thank you.

4. Aside from walking, I haven't worked out in a few days. This is causing me to feel "fluffy". That should motivate me to get going, but instead it is compounding the whole "today sucks" mentality. So, in addition to not working out, I am having dinner with Ben and Jerry and Dr. Pepper. Great.

5. Elise is going through a growth spurt. Like the return of the trash can, this is a good thing. However, she has been wanting to eat every two hours all day long, and I am exhausted.

6. This is a direct result of #2, but it is so terrible that it deserves its own number. Ok, so the washing machine broke on Monday. Well, it stopped working in the middle of a load of DIRTY CLOTH DIAPERS!!!! So, guess who fished for diapers in poopy water last week? I will spare you any further details, but I do want you to know that it was the grossest thing I have ever done in my life.

7. This is a direct result of #6, but again, it deserves its own number. So, because the washing machine broke, I had to use disposable diapers. Elise hasn't had a blowout in 1 1/2 months using her Gro Baby cloth diapers. Enter Huggies and Pampers and you get 3 blowouts in a week EVEN THOUGH she is eating some solids! This is about a 50% success rate (however you look at it). Well, she pooped today. In the playpen. It leaked. Big time. She only had a diaper on. She rolled in the poop. Great. So because the bathtub and soap were working today, I was abe to clean the baby. I would love to wash the playpen pad cover, but guess what... the washing machine is broken!

8. As a direct result of #7, I left the house to go buy a new washing machine. I had researched for days and finally narrowed it down to 3 machines. We went to look at each one. I called my mom to ask her to look up a few things while I was out. These are all good things. However, then my cell phone died. You might ask, "Stephanie, why didn't you use the car charger?" Well, it was in the Camry, which is at the Toyota dealership until Monday because it needs a new $650 catalytic converter. Great.

9. This brings me back to the blog title. So I get home from buying the washing machine and just feel like I need to brush my teeth. So Elise and I go in the bathroom. Guess what we found on the floor? FIFTY FREAKING FIRE ANTS!!! Even better, they didn't confine themselves to the bathroom. Upon careful inspection, we found them in my bedroom and the living room. Fabulous. I guess this explains why Elise has 3 fire ant bites on her right leg. I think I have "taped" 200 fire ants this evening. I go outside to figure out where they are coming in, and sure enough, in the backyard there is a fire ant bed right on the outside of the wall by the Jacuzzi. I'm out of tape.

10. So the playpen is poopy and the carpet has fire ants. I hope Elise likes being in her crib tomorrow.



In an effort to make myself feel better, I will try to come up for 1 good thing for every bad thing listed above.
1. Boss provides great entertainment for his sister.
2. I get to practice being independent while Mike is gone.
3. I didn't buy another trash can while mine was missing.
4. The ice cream is quite tasty.
5. Elise is happy and healthy.
6. I get to buy Mike a new set of grill tongs.
7. I really appreciate my cloth diapers. I can even say that I love them.
8. $650 is cheaper than buying a new SUV.
9. I got to do squats to tape up the ants.
10. Elise and I probably need to get out of the house and do some retail therapy tomorrow.

Happy Sunday!

So far...

...I am loving Elise's new car seat! She looks like she is the queen of the back seat on her little throne... so comfortable. In case you have forgotten, this is the Britax Boulevard CS in Davenport.



Pros:
*She lays her head on the side head rests to sleep... no forward head flop like I have seen in other convertible car seats. Her Chicco Keyfit infant carseat was also great to sleep in... she never did the head flop there either.

*The velcro tabs that hold the harness straps back are ingenius! I wish her infant car seat had these. I think I will create my own with the second child.

*The protective fabric around the buckle keeps the buckle from digging into her chunky thighs.

*The fabric is quite plush and soft. You can remove the cover and wash it in the washing machine (well, theoretically this would work, but my washing machine happens to be broken... more on that later).

*It reclines enough for her to sleep comfortably but sits upright enough for her to look around.

Con:
*Price... it was $264 including tax and shipping and a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond. Hopefully we will be able to use it for a long, long time :) It goes up to 35 lbs rear-facing and 65 lbs forward-facing.

Sometimes I still long for cowmooflage... maybe I'll put the cowmooflage cover on my Christmas list. JK, I think...

Here is another cute picture of my baby girl. My mom originally had this large pack-in-play at her house but brought it up here last week. Thanks, Mom! Elise loves playing with the toys on the sides and staring at the floor. I am planning to give her some "playpen time" every day so that she gets used to being in it when she starts crawling. So far, she loves it... and to think that I was hesitant because I thought it was an eyesore...

More Pics

If you double-click the first pic, I think you'll be able to see both teeth... :)

Pics

Standing Pics

Elise has gotten so good at standing on her own while holding on to something... so good, in fact, that I feel comfortable leaving her standing so that I can take a picture or video. Enjoy!

Dada

I have just been a blogging machine lately... hope you enjoy!

Milk

I've been meaning to blog about this for a few days. Elise has learned the sign for "milk". She has made it 4-5 times (and in the right context!) either when she is nursing or when I am burping her and she wants more. I haven't seen her do it in any other situation. I am impressed that she picked it up even though I haven't been a consistent teacher. It also helps when she gets distracted while eating... if I say "milk" and show her the sign then she will refocus and continue eating! I guess it is time for me to learn the other signs so that I can use them. Her little hand is so cute making the sign!

Tooth #2 decided to pop up this afternoon. She did great and was not fussy with it... I had the Tylenol out on the counter just in case! The RazBerry helped... she chewed on it for quite a while today.

Here is a picture of my bathing beauty... the hair keeps growing!

And the winner is...

Well Mike's vote gets to count 10 times (though his vote was actually to stop blogging about car seats), and his is for Davenport. So sorry, moo lovers :) It is ordered from Bed Bath and Beyond with a 20% off coupon and should arrive shortly. I finally decided (with the help of my friend Sarah... you might know her better as "John's mom") that the car seat is really like a piece of furniture, not a decorative accessory like my crazy pink diaper bag. So, with that in mind, I said goodbye to the cows and hello to something that looks nice and blends in with my cars. I am usually very decisive about big things but very indecisive about little things, as illustrated by this car seat craziness. I knew which car seat model I wanted but couldn't quite decide on the cover.

Anyway, on to more exciting things. Elise started saying "dadadadadadada" last night and has said it a few times today as well. She LOVES standing up holding on to furniture and can support herself very well until she forgets that she has to hold on. She also has a new favorite toy... the RazBerry teether. Thanks to Maryanne for suggesting it! I bought 2 of them from Baby Earth for $3.95 each. I now give it to Elise when I am changing her diaper because otherwise, she won't let go of her feet.

Well, I am trying to post some pictures that I took with the video camera but it isn't working... I'll try again later. Happy Wednesday.

Tooth!

Elise's first tooth came in 2 weeks ago, but I know you all are dying to see it! You might have to double-click on this picture in order to see the tooth...


She has been napping SO well the last few weeks if I stick to the schedule. After her second nap, we headed to the garage for some more carseat fun. She looks extremely comfortable in this seat and it is very easy to adjust. Make sure to vote in my poll if you haven't already.