Christmas 'break'

With Eliza around the word "Break" has a whole new meaning. When does Mom get a break? Well this year Brad didn't really get a break either. So we just continued on through the season like it was nothin' special. But it was, and we felt it, and we loved it. Now it's back to work. Here's a little idea of what Christmas was like for us this year. 

Eliza tried on her Christmas dress and loved it. We shed glitter all over everything and vowed never to buy anything with glitter on it again.

We battled with stinky diapers, for weeks. In fact we are still battling, any tips? I hung them in the sun for a few days with no change. I changed detergents, I double rinsed, I even tried potty training for a few days. We still have stinky diapers. 

We read lots of books. Eliza even read some to herself.

We played outside in the sun.

I finished a knit purse for Eliza and wrapped it up for Christmas.

I have lots of pictures from Christmas day but they are stuck on the phone or in the camera and I am way too lazy to get them off and put them on here. I'll just mention a little pink stroller and chocolate peanut butter pie were big hits.

70 Degrees Today

Eliza is so cute in pink. She loves to wear shoes and she just found these in her drawer. They are little flip flops with elastic around the back.

I tried to get a picture of Eliza, Max and the Christmas tree. Not two bad considering 2 are moving targets.

My latest project was to find something to decorate the table for Christmas Dinner. Since we are staying here I feel like I have to make our home more festive. The table cloths are left over fabric I had at home.What do you think? 

We played outside this afternoon after the rain and Eliza sat in a puddle. She sat in  lots of puddles but I sure thought her wet bum was cute

Chillin in her wet bum.

Playing outside it was about 70 degrees and there was water in everything so Eliza had a blast. Max wished he could go in and lay on the0 couch.

I started trying to put a little pig tail in Eliza's hair. She just has enough hair in the top of her head. 

Today we made fudge! It is so good and was pretty easy. Now someone can come clean up for me cause I'm tired. I am working on a Christmas post so bare with me. 

Merry Christmas!

Ok, Don't be mad. I typed this up...well about a month ago and never posted it but after reading it again I thought it should be included in our family history.

2011 has flown by. It has been a whirlwind year for us. We started off the year with a 3 month old baby and now we have a 15 month old little clown. Eliza has grown so much this year and we love seeing her personality. She is smarter than we think she is and frequently surprises us with what she understands. She responds to things like "go give Daddy a kiss," and "you need pants and shoes on so we can go outside." She knows that she is not allowed to play with the garbage and so she does it when I am not giving her enough attention. She especially knows that Daddy will get after her for it and does it a lot more when he is home. She loves shoes and is always carrying a pair around and begging me to put them on for her. She will often get my shoes and want me to put them on. 

    We adopted a dog named Max a week ago and he is lots of fun. He is a 2-year-old Lhasa apso/poodle mix. Eliza and Max get along great. Max likes to greet Eliza after her naps and they are so excited to see each other. He frequently checks her door while she's in there sleeping. He is a great dog and likes to just hang out with us and sleep on the couch while we sit around. Eliza throws a ball for him and he will chase it for about 3 min and then gives up.

   In April we took a trip to Romania to visit Brad's mission field. We took Eliza at 7 months old. She did great, but I can't believe we did that. I think we must have been crazy. We visited with Brad's friends and saw sights. We took a train, a taxi, a tram, the metro and drove a rental car all around Romania. We walked a lot and of course carried Eliza everywhere. It was exhausting, and to top it off Eliza slept in bed with us and nursed all night long. What an adventure.

   In May Brad graduated from Medical School in Rochester NY. His parents and sister Karin flew out for the event. We had such a fun time celebrating and we are so proud of Brad for all that hard work. Brad's dad Tom got to hood Brad on stage which was really special. Brad was also sworn in to the Air Force again, this time as a Captain. 

   After all the fun the real work began as we loaded our moving truck and drove for 5 days to get to San Antonio Texas. Thank you Mom and Dad and Karin for all your help. We seriously could not have done it without you and we loved having you along for the ride (well actually you did most of the driving, thank you!) We bought a house in San Antonio and moved in May 20th. It is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen, a garage and a backyard. We loved it the minute we saw it and felt like it was the right home for us. Ever since then we have loved it even more. 

   Brad started residency in Orthopedic Surgery at San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC) the beginning of June and has been hopping busy ever since. He is doing different rotations every month so his schedule is always changing; we roll with it and try to hang out when we can. 

   We have been blessed to have family come and visit and to be able to go and visit them. It takes half the time to fly home as it did in NY, which is nice. Still waiting on the nonstop flight though. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Hannah Brad and Eliza

  

Finally we are OUTDOORS!

It is really hard for everyone to get pics off their phone or is it just me? Here is a collection of pics from the phone of the last month or so.

Yard Sale find that I am quite proud of: $20 for the bike trailer, $8 for the parts to attach it to the bike; only one live bug was found in it, it's practically brand new.

Halloween Printables made for an easy craft/decoration.

I can't decide which I like best.

She wouldn't sit down with the pumpkins for a picture.

Some other yard sale stuff.

Eliza playing in her "kitchen"
The weather has finally cooled and we are enjoying being outside (except the mosquitoes are still swarming and hungry.) Eliza loves to dig in my pots and eat the dirt. She checks the garden with me everyday and helps me water the little seedlings we planted about 2 weeks ago.

First Birthday

Yeah, we had a good time.

She can walk!

Here's the walker; this is the first time we've seen her

turn 180 degrees on her own. Ignore the dorky parents.

Eliza Joy

Eliza is such a joy lately. We had a rough few weeks of tears but we are back to loving our time together. She played by herself all morning while I made peach pie. I came and disrupted her play by trying to get some photos. I finally got around to cleaning the lens on the camera and I think it helped as the first half seem more in focus then the second half. Alas, enjoy my poor photography skills.

Cute feet! I am lovin' the stripes on her fat thighs.

She loves to hang out on the couch. She has rolled off twice and I think is learning to be more cautious. I still put pillows on the floor in strategic places if I leave her unattended.

She has two good teeth on the bottom and the way that tongue is goin' I expect a few more soon.

With her killer eye lashes and blue eyes, she has won over many a heart. The toothy smile always helps. When I ask her if she is happy, she claps her hands and smiles. When I sing to her at bed time she hums if she wants me to keep going. Her favorite books have songs in them (Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs) and she will turn directly to the page with a song.

She really can walk, she just chooses to be careful and keep on crawling for now. I am sad that no one else gets to enjoy her sweet personality as much as I do. Brad, of course, is always trying to spend time with her, but he is gone a lot. Family! we miss you. Rochester friends, we miss you. Wegmans, we miss you too.

Her couch skills on video. The voice in the background is the audiobook Mockingjay. I am loving audiobooks while I cook and clean and walk Eliza around the house. Anyone read anything good lately?

11 months old

Eliza in her 6-9 month overalls. She is rather cute in them I must say. It is much to hot to be wearing them, but they protect her little knees.

Also, her first real shoes! She has hated every shoe I put on her feet and has kicked them off. We tired these soft ones from Target. They took a little getting used to but she likes them.

She tried the dirt... don't think she liked it.

And I took these on her sick day. She slept on my lap most of the day and had a fever of about 101.

Wow, that's so exciting for y'al I'm sure. But we haven't been doing much these days. We are looking forward to Eliza's first birthday and hope to throw together a little party next month. We are watching our garden slowly die; from insects or the heat, i'm not sure what. Today it says 117 degrees on my back porch.