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.

What we do in the Kitchen

(and the little ballerina)

Tiny Eliza

Ok, I was looking at old videos of Eliza and just loved her tiny baby noises and flailing hands in this one. I miss my tiny baby! Who had a tiny baby for me to hold?

Video off the phone

I guess my phone takes video horizontally.

Eliza has been doing this for a couple of weeks now. She still does the army crawl too. She actually is really excited about walking and will walk all over the house holding my hands. She's getting pretty good and I expect we are within a month of her walking. Get ready world!

Happy 4th of July!

And 10 months old!

Learning by doing

One thing I really hated about renting was the lack of a back yard to "do me own thing in." Sometimes that translates into leaving a bag of garbage outside because it stinks, or letting my shoes dry on the back porch, or sunbathing in my bikini. Today it translates into having a garden. A friend here loaned me her Square Foot Gardening book. Now I am officially a gardener!

The back porch. We need to do something about this porch. It is hot as Hades in the afternoon and evenings. Lets just say some deck and roof plans are in the works.

The garden bed I built and painted all by myself(OK, Brad had to show me how to use the drill and he helped a little bit).

The little green guys! They were so cute to watch grow up.

You missed the hard part, which was mixing all the dirt* on a too-small tarp in 90 degree heat. But, here's the box all neatly gridded out. The PVC is supposed to be holding up the shade tarp, but it was not working.

So, Brad helped me get some shade on these poor guys until we figure out a permanent solution.

Here's a little peak under the tarp to see the small greens doing ok now that they have shade.

In the pots I planted carrot and onion seeds, then covered them. I think I read later that onions need light to germinate, Oh well. Nothing is happening with them yet. This whole thing is a bit overwhelming to me. I decided to just plant what I wanted to plant regardless of the season and learn by doing what things will grow and what dies.

*The Square Foot Garden tells you to mix one third compost, one third peat moss, and one third Vermiculite. After nearly breaking my back shoveling it all back and forth on the tarp, I went to a nursery and saw pre-made boxes and pre-mixed dirt specifically for Square Foot Gardens. What gives?

Hot Summer Days

We rented a boat with a group and had a fun afternoon at Canyon Lake. We all got a little sun burned, but not too bad. I did one run on the tube and payed for it with sore arms for three days; really sore arms. I am not as fit as I used to be. The water was wonderfully refreshing, but the beach was rocky. Hopefully we can make it out a few more times with water shoes next time.

Eliza was cheesing it up for the camera. I love this Chubbsy to pieces. Notice our glass table. We have had it in storage (aka, under the bed/behind the dresser) for our whole marriage and finally have a place big enough to set it up. It's huge so you can pile lots of stuff on it and at the same time it's hardly noticeable so the room still looks big.

It's pretty stinkin' hot.

9 months old!

Eliza on the go

Eliza hit 2 big milestones lately: she's got a

little bit of tooth showing, and she can scoot!