8 Month Update

Eliza turned 8 months last week, and since then a lot has been going through my mind. I feel as if she has grown up so fast. I mean wasn't it just yesterday when she was completely reliant on me and Ryan, whereas now she is mostly mobile and is able to let us know exactly what she wants or doesn't want. In some ways I can't wait for her to hit the next milestone, but a greater part of my wants her to stay just the way she is. She is so fun to be around. Her laugh is contagious, her smile warming, and how can you say "no" to those eyes?
In Wymount we have a lot of friends who had babies right around the same time Eliza was born. It is great fun to have the babies "play" together. Let's face it, mostly they just take toys away from each other. Clearly whatever the other baby has is more fun than what Eliza has, even if she just refused it. During our play-dates we mothers tend to compare our babies to see what each can do, or can't do, and look forward to new things, or reminisce of when babies were not mobile or teething or creating such stinky diapers.
Because Eliza is so small for her age she tends to be on the slower end physically than our friend's babies. NOT because she isn't smart, she is just small. In fact I really believe it is because she has had to work harder to reach the milestones simply because she doesn't have the fat supply to weigh her down while sitting and act as an added support. I am not saying fat babies are not good because I have had quite a few fat nieces and nephews and they turned out just fine, plus they are SO cute. I have just come to realize that Eliza not being fat is not a bad thing and she will be just fine too. Needless to say I am proud of Eliza and of all her accomplishments. Here is a list of a few.
-Proficient roller
-Sits
-Moves from sitting to laying
-Walks around the house in her walker
-Walks while holding somebody's hands
-Feeds herself puffs and Cheerios
-On occasion insists on feeding herself baby food
-Dances to music, especially Rap. I know...weird

And her latest accomplishment....army crawling. We were lucky enough to catch it on video one of the first times she actually did it.



In conclusion, I love Eliza. She is a great baby and I am honored to be her mother. I look forward to all the fun times ahead, yet will remember the small and seemingly insignificant.

Life as of Late

Lately Ryan and I were reviewing some videos and pictures of Eliza and realizing how fast she is growing. It seems that every time we turn around she is growing up and learning new things.

Unfortunately, we have not done a very good job of blogging our favorite memories as they happen. We feel a little behind so thus, for your reading and viewing pleasure, prepare for a rapid fire display of photos and quick summaries.

TRYING A BALD RYAN

As we we realize Ryan will probably go bald, completely bald, someday we thought we would try it out now just to see how it feels. Below is the result of our experiment:


Let us know what you think, but we think we are still fans of hair!

BALLOON GIRL

Note to Aunt Jayne, Eliza looooooooooved the balloon.


YOU WIN SOME YOU LOSE SOME
Guess who won?




WHERE'S ELIZA?
Ryan went into Eliza's room to check on her during one of her naps and this is what he found.

THERE SHE IS!


HAPPY BABY





I'M A BIG GIRL NOW!




I do have to say that it is more fun to watch her grow up than to watch and do anything else.

Doing the Impossible

Thanksgiving Dinner in January

During the Thanksgiving Holiday Ryan and I acquired a 17 lbs. turkey. We thought this was great and immediately put it in our freezer. Well, two months later, while stuffing everything else in our freezer around the turkey, we decided it was not such a good idea any more.
So what better way to get rid of a large turkey than to invite some friends over and have Thanksgiving once more.


I called my brother-in-law, a.k.a. the master of turkeys, to get some pointers. I followed his suggestion to brine the turkey and to flip it twice while cooking. It was divine! My turkey didn't turn out to look like his turkeys but it was still delicious. I did not follow his instructions to let the turkey air dry completely, which I will do next time. Maybe that's why mine doesn't look like his.




We were smart enough to minimize the amount of dishes and use paper plate and plastic cups. That may have been the smartest thing we did all night.



Even Eliza had a good time with the toys our neighbor brought to share.

FEED ME!!!

Eliza has taking eating solids by storm. Now that she understands that the spoon has food on it, she will launch her head forward engulfing the spoon. Today she decided her new favorite toy was an empty baby food as as by licking around sometimes she could get just a little more.

Free Tickets + Big Game + Family = A Fun Evening

Through BYU, I was able to get some tickets to the #9 BYU v. #4 San Diego St. The game sold out a week and a half ago, and the place was electric. Luckily, I had Papa Smith, Joel, Jordan and Andrew to enjoy the atmosphere with. (Justin and Michelle were sitting much closer than us in the student section). Papa Smith brought ear plugs for everyone, but my head was still ringing after the game. You can see highlights on ESPN or KSL.com so I won't provided a play by play. I just wanted to say that games like these are always fun, but being with family made it really special.

The Most Amazing Dinner!

As part of our birthday celebration, Jessie and I decided to splurge and eat at a local Italian restaurant. Jessie insisted on making the reservations because on a Friday night her schedule can be a little crazy depending on how it goes babysitting David.

She set a really late reservation so we could do some shopping first, and was "silly" enough to forget her coat back at the apartment. Of course, one cannot go to a restaurant without a coat so we went back to the apartment, at which point I was greeted with this sign:

I can be a little clueless, so I did not realize what was going on until I saw our excellent waiter and waitress, Justin and Michele Smith.

Jessie had completely surprised me. She had spent the entire day cooking a fabulous meal that included Caeser salad, roasted vegetables, the best salmon I have ever had, and an ice cream centered dessert. Justin and Michele had decorated our apartment turning Eliza's room into our own private dinning room. They also used their recently acquired language skills while in Belgium to add to the ambiance of an Italian/French getaway. The food was delicious, the hosts were gracious and the company divine. I would recommend "Il Restorante" to anyone. It really was one of the best birthdays I have ever had and I am so grateful for such a loving spouse.

Pictures: