Saturday, December 24, 2011

Holiday Season

We are loving this time of year... it's chilly outside, warm and cozy inside, lots of time with family, and best of all Geoff is home on Christmas vacation!





Getting read to see Santa with Cousin Kaira - neither of the girls were too thrilled to see the big man.

Eliana finally meets Erica!

And I think they're in love...

Friday, December 9, 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Seattle!

It was a wonderful Thankgsiving ~ SO much to be thankful for this year, and family is definitely at the top of that list! We missed Geoff's family but were happy to head to Seattle/Whidbey to celebrate with the Abo's.







Monterey Bay Aquarium

We took the trip down to Monterey with our friends to visit the aquarium! It was a beautiful day for a trip down the coast ~ the babies were happy and the mommies even enjoyed a leisurely lunch on cannery row.

The jelly fish were SO fun to watch!



And she really liked watching the fish, sharks & turtle swim by in the "open sea" tank!



Geoff and I can't wait to take her back this summer - she'll LOVE it!



Happy babies & happy mommies... I'm going to miss these days!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

7 months!



Eliana turned 7 months old last weekend! Where does the time go?!?!

It continues to amaze us how much we can LOVE this little girl! She has won Geoff over with her constant babbling of "dadda" and that look in her eyes when he walks in the room. I adore her smiles in the morning, her sweet face while she nurses and her chuckles when I kiss her neck.

We LOVE you bunny!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Just lovin' life

(First off, remember when I used to blog about things OTHER than baby? Ya, me neither.)

We have been having so much fun the last few weeks! Every day I am adding to our list of fun things I want to do with Eliana before I have to go back to work :( Sigh. Let's not talk about that now.

Our days continue to be filled with play dates, coffee dates, (I REALLY need to STOP buying coffee), stroller runs/walks and best of all lots of kisses, giggles, smiles and snuggles.





Eliana rarely falls asleep on me... it was heavenly!


Eliana's newest trick is sitting up on her own! She is so proud of herself and loves to play with her toys while sitting. I would say it's her favorite position but she still really loves being on her back playing with her toes. In fact, sometimes if she is in a bad mood I take her socks off and put her on her back... she becomes a much happier girl!



Sitting with daddy, playing the guitar before bed.
We signed up for 4 classes of Gymboree play & music from a groupon that I bought. We went with 4 of our friends & had a great time. It's super cheesy but we had a good time and are looking forward to our next class.



Eliana & mommy enjoying the bubbles after the parachute fun!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Gymboree!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

First solid

A few days after her 6 month birthday we gave Eliana her first bite of solid food! We decided to start with Avocado (mixed with breastmilk)... I mean, who doesn't like Avocado?! Well, apparently this child...




Here is where I insert a cute picture of Eliana warming up to and loving her first food. Nope. Never really happened. Today is day 4 of Avocado and she is a little more excited about it all. I'll give it another day or two then move on to another food. It's hard to tell at this point if she just isn't sure about the whole eating thing, or if she just doesn't like Avocado. Either way, we are having fun with it and not putting any pressure on her (or us). She's still got plenty of the good stuff flowing ;-)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Life of a SAHM

I had to take a picture. Yes, that's a breast pad.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, October 28, 2011

6 months!



Eliana has been with us for 1/2 a year and it is impossible to imagine our life without her. She has brought us so much joy and each month things are getting more fun. Her smile absolutely warms our hearts, her giggle is contagious and her toes are nibble worthy. She is very social these days, LOVES going out with mom and dad and meeting new people. Today was her first day in the gym day care and she had a great time ~ the sitter kept going on about what a happy baby I have!

It is definitely time for Eliana to get some grub in her belly! She stares at us when we eat and you can see it in her eyes that she wants it BAD! She'll have her first solids this weekend, so stay tuned for some updates on that.



Uh, mom, why do you put these silly stickers on me every month?



Oh well, it's one more thing for me to put in my mouth!


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Great visit

My dearest childhood friends just left after a perfect (but too short) visit. Having them visit was SO good for the soul - these ladies are exactly the type of people you need in your life - loyal, fun, honest, open, caring and just oozing GOODNESS! It was as if we hadn't been apart for one day since we first met in 5th grade. We chatted, shopped, ate ourselves sick (that pound of sees chocolate went down FAST!), lazed around, and still had time for a trip to the beach.








Sunday, October 23, 2011

Special time

I love these three.

Good times

We have been having so much fun lately that I haven't had any time to post!

Lately Eliana has been obsessed with anything that WE have. She is in love with my orange cup and wants that straw in her mouth SO bad. In fact, tonight during the oh so fun "witching hour" I gave Eliana the orange cup and it seemed to solve her world's problems.



My good friend from high school was in the bay area for her husbands job, so her and her precious 5 month old, Lyla, came to play!



Perhaps Eliana was a little TOO welcoming...!



In other news on the home front, I have been busy crafting. Believe it or not. (I know most of you don't...) But I am currently obsessed with Pinterest and it has totally inspired me to be crafty. I look at all the precious things that my mom made me that I have kept and even passed on to Eliana and I want to be able to give the same thing to my children. No better time to start, right!? So my sweet friend Laurie brought over her sewing machine, gave me a lesson and away I went!





Eliana loves her new mobile! Oh, and, I totally teared up when she first looked at it, flapped her arms and grinned with happiness!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Auntie time

Eliana was being a little grumpy with mom and dad today ~ then Auntie Mo showed up and she was full of smiles and giggles.

Shower fun

It has become our little ritual for Eliana to shower with daddy on the weekends. She LOVES it... today I recorded this cuteness.


YouTube Video

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone


Apparently shower water is just as good as bath water! Yum!



What are you doing in here, mom?

Look at my big girl!

My baby is such a big girl in this picture, I just can't believe it!

Friday, September 30, 2011

A day at the beach

Our friend's mom has a beautiful house on the beach in Aptos, so we packed up the babies (and the million things that 5 new moms bring along, including margaritas) and headed out for a day in the sun (actually, shade). The day went remarkably well - the babies were all on the same eat - play - nap schedule, the weather was gorgeous and the company was delightful.






Do your ovaries hurt?! Yup, baby cuteness explosion.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

5 months!

Happy 5 month birthday to baby Eliana!



(Boo, camera/computer malfunction - hopefully I can post better pics soon!)

If only I had a quarter for every time Geoff or I said "oh cute, hun look" or "she's sooo cute when she..." we'd be rich and I wouldn't have to go back to work. :-)

She has been such a good girl lately and is so interested in the world around here. Watching her learn and take it all in is fascinating - what a little sponge. Eliana and I have so much fun during the days and are always so excited when daddy gets home so we can show him our newest trick or just smile and laugh together.

We keep our days busy with play dates (we have made a great group of friends from the mom's group), coffee outings, long walks, and getting errands done. She loves her johnny jump-up and her floor play time with mommy and daddy. Oh, and she just mastered rolling both ways! She has been sleeping great - she'll typically go about 8 or 9 hours, eat and then another 3 or 4. Can't complain about that, especially because she is the sweetest sleepy baby when she gets up to eat. Some nights I rock her just a few minute longer to get some extra snuggles... yes, she's even cute at 4am.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Visit

We surprised daddy at work today & brought him a coffee. The students LOVED meeting Eliana & really got a kick out of Mr.Beckstrom talking baby talk!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

High Chair practice

Our pediatrician gave us the green light to start solid foods - yikes! Already...!? Crazy. So in anticipation (and while mom gets more used to the idea of her baby growing up...) we have been hanging out in the high chair and playing with spoons!





When Geoff started solid foods he grabbed the spoon from first bite and shoved it in his mouth. I wouldn't be surprised if Eliana did the same thing! Will keep you posted...

Baby dilemma

Eliana is a PRO at rolling from her back to her stomach now. In fact, she usually only stays on her back for about 30 seconds before she flips herself over onto her stomach. This is where the problem begins. She's stuck. And tummy time is only fun for so long...

So the last two nights her cry has woken me up and I see her like this.



Now what, mom?

She CAN roll over from her stomach to her back, it's just not all that easy and usually takes lots of encouraging from mom and dad, and usually an enticing toy.

I'm hoping she learns quickly how to flip herself over, or (as I've heard from other moms) she gets comfy on her stomach and sleeps like that.

I know I love sleeping on my tummy - give it a try baby girl!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Worn out

For my birthday my parents got me a gift certificate for Mommy and Baby Yoga class! We have a great time when we go - I get to stretch out a bit and Eliana is engaged and having a great time. Yesterday was the first time she was interested in all the other babies and it was so cute - she loved watching them.

Eliana worked SO hard in class that she actually fell asleep in my lap! No bouncing, rocking or shushing. It was a first so I made my friend snap a picture. Oh, and I guess it could have something to do with the fact that she had been fighting crib naps all day. Either way, happy mommy and happy baby.