Back from Maine (part 2)

Here are some more vacation pics:

First, some quality reading time with Grandma and Grandpa :)

More fun with friends!

Elizabeth loved my parents' dog Millie, so sweet!!! I love this picture.

Lots of mommy-daughter together time :)It was a great trip. Elizabeth adjusted to the crib set up for her at my parents' house pretty well. The first night, she had to sleep with me, but every night after that, she slept through the night in her crib. Unfortunately, she woke up at about 5 or 5:30 every morning- yikes!! But besides the early mornings, she did great. She got very used to being with me 24/7, and had a very rough time being dropped off at Day Care this morning, poor baby. Made me feel terrible.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great vacation, we love you!!!!!!!!!

We're back from Maine! (part 1)

Elizabeth and I had a wonderful vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's (my parents') place in Maine. We were very busy all week, with lots of friends coming by to meet Miss E. It really truly touched me that so many of my friends made the trip to visit us (my parents' house is very out of the way, not a short trip for anyone). It meant so much to me. So thank you my friends, Elizabeth and I love you...

Elizabeth had a excellent time playing with all the kids. They gave her tons of attention and provided great entertainment for her (and a wonderful respite for me!!!!). And of course, Grandma and Grandpa were kind of fond of her too...:) I think my poor mom is going through "Elizabeth withdrawal" right now...

Elizabeth did quite well on the airplane rides. We had lots of delays, both going to Maine and coming back to CA, but she handled it all better than I did, I think!! She adjusted very quickly to the time change and new surroundings, and slept and ate like a champ in Maine.

Here are some pics. I had wanted to keep up the blog while I was in Maine, but I forgot to pack the cable for my digital camera to download the pictures onto the computer, so I just decided to wait until we got home to do a couple of big "vacation posts".

First airplane ride! This was the only flight where there was an empty seat next to me and I was able to bring on her car seat. It was great!! Of course, this was for the shortest flight (from Boston to Bangor). We ended up arriving in Maine on Saturday 6/21 (instead of 6/20) because our flight getting to Boston was about 3 hours delayed, so we missed the Friday night flight to Bangor out of Boston. The airlines put us up at the Hyatt for the night, which was fine. Actually, it worked out great, because the thought of getting on a 3rd airplane that day was just too much...By Saturday morning, we were refreshed and ready to go again! Plus, my brother who lives outside of Boston came into the Hyatt Sat. AM to meet Elizabeth and help us get back to the airport. Thank you John, it was great to see you!!

Greetings from Maine! Elizabeth LOVED playing outside in the grass (it was great to be out of the city!)

My friend Carey...Elizabeth doesn't see too many beards and mustaches!

Even while on vacation, Elizabeth managed to keep up her morning Yoga routine...

Ok, many more pics to come in my next post!!!

More teeth!

For the longest time, Elizabeth has just had two bottom teeth. Now, finally two top teeth are poking through. Poor Elizabeth has been having kind of a rough couple of days with them. It didn't seem to bother her when her bottom teeth came in, but these top ones are a different story! Last night she was exhausted, and fell asleep by 6:30, after hardly wanting to eat anything, and then woke up crying a few times, which she never does. I could see her upper gum was swollen. I gave her some teething tablets, which helped a little, and this morning she was cheerful and seemed to feel a lot better. Hopefully she will be 100% by Friday, when we go on vacation :)

Some Sunday cuteness and a video

Plotting her escape...

Please can we go outside, mom??

Yay, I love being outside!!

Later on, back inside...Watch Elizabeth drink daintily from her sippy cup...

Tim Russert

I was so sad today to hear of the passing of Tim Russert. He was such an excellent newsperson, and I loved his enthusiasm for politics. For him, a presidential election was like the Superbowl is for others. I just really trusted what he had to say. He knew his stuff, inside and out. Plus, he just always seemed like a nice guy. It's a huge loss, and I am really going to miss him during this presidential election.

In my next life...

In my next life, I plan to be independently wealthy so I can be a SAHM (with maybe a few hours of babysitting a week for sanity's sake). Elizabeth is doing fine at Day Care (gets a little sad when I drop her off, but is happily playing when I pick her up), but I'm not doing fine with it. I MISS her!!! I live for the week-ends, but they go sooo fast. Can't wait til vacation (in one more week-yipee!!) when I can be with my little girl all the time. I'm also starting to plan her birthday party for next next month. It's going to be a Winnie the Pooh theme, since she LOVES her little Pooh Bear. I think we'll have it at Mission Bay Park. Also, I want to have her one year pictures done, but not at JCP like we did at Easter. I didn't feel like the person who took the pictures really did much to try to get Elizabeth to smile. She seemed kind of half-hearted about it, and rushed. So I might try The Picture People. Anyone else have any good suggestions?
Happy Friday everyone :)

Happy 11 month b-day Elizabeth!

Can't believe she'll be ONE YEAR OLD in just another month- wow!!!!

Today, right on time for her 11 month birthday, we received a very special gift from one of my oldest friends, Nancy. She sent Elizabeth the complete set of the "Little House on the Prarie" books. Nancy and I grew up together and were huge fans of the books and the TV show, so getting those books from her brought back LOTS of memories. I can't wait to share these books with my little girl. Thank you so much, Nancy!!!!

Top 10 reasons why I can't wait to go to Maine

in no particular order...

10) lobstah!!!
9) my mom's cooking, especially her pies :)
8) um, hello, I'll be away from work
7) introducing (i.e. showing off) Miss E to my East Coast friends
6) sleeping in (oh, wait, I have a baby, scratch that one...)
6) um, hello, I'll be away from work
5) getting to do laundry without having to get any quarters (yeah, still doing the apartment complex, coin operated laundry thing, at age 40, ugg...God, I'm so pathetic...)
4) just hanging out and spending time with my family and friends who I don't see nearly often enough, and with my parents' awesome dog Millie
3) um, hello, I'll be away from work
2) the non-city smell of the air
1) um, hello, I'll be away from work

We leave for Maine on 6/20, can you tell I'm just a little excited?

Everywhere but in her tummy...

is where her dinner goes!!

Thanks!!

Just want to say a huge thank you for all your great advice! Much appreciated :)



Had another "Day Care Dilemma" this past week. Elizabeth got accepted into Early Head Start (after being on a waiting list for 6 months). I was going to enroll her, which would have meant changing her Day Care again. But in the end I decided not to, it just felt wrong to put her through another change right now. She has only been at her current DC for a couple of months, and she is doing well. Also, she has started getting a little bit of separation anxiety lately, and I just think putting her in a new DC at this time would be too hard on her (and ok, me).

I feel like she is going through lots of changes these days, like wanting to walk, starting to say some words, just in general acting more toddlerish than babyish a lot of the time. She has been sleeping through the night since she was about 6 months old, but the last couple of nights have been sort of rough, she has been waking up some. Not sure if it's teething or separation anxiety (she is fine, all cheerful once I go in and pick her up - I know, I know...) or what it is. Hopefully this will pass soon!! I hate letting her cry, all I can think of is all the "attachment in adoption" stuff I've read, and I worry that if I let her cry for 5 minutes, she will develop a major attachment disorder, and never trust me again. I just love my little girl so much and want to do all the right things. As I said to my mom last night, no one ever told me that parenthood involved making lots of hard decisions!

Suggestions please!

Ok, so in a couple of weeks, Elizabeth and I are flying across country to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Maine. I am so excited, not only to see my parents, but to finally get to introduce Miss Elizabeth to many of my East Coast friends. Fun!! However, I am kind of nervous about the plane rides from CA to ME (we have two stops). Elizabeth doesn't have a seat, so she will be on my lap the whole time. Anyone have any suggestions for flying with an 11 month old?? Some of you reading this have had very long flights with your babies. I plan to take lots of snacks for her (yay Cheerios!) and some surprise toys that she has never seen before. Any other tips for keeping her happy and me sane? She is a super good baby, but active, and not going to be happy about being confined so much. Also, where did you change diapers? Will the fight attendents heat a bottle for her if I ask them? Do you think an aisle or a window seat is better?
Ok, my bloggy peeps, help!

Some Sunday pics

Before Church this morning

Sharing a Pretzel with Mommy at Starbucks

Eating a refined dinner at home

Some weekend cuteness

She continues to love her Baby Leap Frog table more than life (thank you Jeanette!!), especially now that she is an expert puller-upper :)

At the park: