My first Santa Visit

Well, today was the day. Izzy got to see Santa for the very first time. We have been preparing for this day for weeks. I've been reading Santa books, singing Santa songs, practicing the "ho ho ho's" and even watching from afar. And today, my very happy, extremely social baby girl smiled at Santa. It was going swimmingly until daddy set her down on his lap. Suddenly she began screaming and climbing her way out of his lap. Daddy sat next to her and she screamed. Mommy sat next to her and she screamed. She only stopped screaming when we picked her up. I did manage to get a few pictures of the event. Enjoy!

These are in reverse order. Sorry!

A Few Birthday Pictures

Here are some pictures from Izzy's birthday party.

This was Elizabeth's cake. 

Cake number 2

The food table

Not so interested in the cake...

Birthdays

Wow...so much has happened since last I've been here. It seems as though every time I sit down to write, I can't bring myself to write all that is in my head. So, I put it off a little longer. The biggest and most exciting thing lately is that Elizabeth is no longer our baby. She is now officially our toddler! I suppose I could have called her that back in October when she began walking, but now there is no denying it! Why is that? Because December 6, our little Izzy turned 1 year old!!

(Look for photos to come)

We did celebrate by throwing her a big party. I know, I know, she wont remember it-but I will. We invited around 45 people (and if you've ever been to our house you will agree that that was just crazy). I have no idea why we thought that having that many people in our itty bitty house was a good idea. But I just prayed it would work out. Then I realized that the party was in December-the cold and gray and sometimes rainy month. For 3 weeks before the party, I prayed that we would have nice weather. The forecast didn't look promising. As the days drew nearer, the weather turned colder and colder. I started to feel panicky. Then when Saturday morning rolled around, I woke up and looked outside and for the first time, I saw blue sky!! I was thrilled. 

The house was cleaned and decorated (in all red and white. It was a candy cane theme). The food was cooked and the cakes ordered. (That is for a whole 'nother blog!) We were ready. Except for one little detail. We had a no-nap birthday girl on our hands. All in all it was fine. She loves being the center of attention, and she loves being around people. Both of those worked in our favor. It was great until it was time to do the cake. That is when the poor baby could no longer keep her eyes open and she fell asleep. Thankfully, everyone didn't mind giving her a half hour nap. Cus when we woke her up, she was rearing to go! (Photos to come)

I hate saying that I don't have any pictures to post yet, but it seems that both John and I were so busy that day that we forgot to take pictures. Luckily, a good friend of ours took pictures. Now we are just waiting for him to pass them on. I'll add them ASAP!

And for the first time in (almost) 31 years, I can actually let my own birthday fall to the wayside. My own birthday is in 2 more days and I just realized that! It is amazing how priorities change when you are a mom! I plan on spending my day at home baking with Elizabeth and taking her to see Santa! (look for those photos too!)

Izzy's Hair clips

I just wanted to share with you all, the most AMAZING hair clips. As you can all see, Izzy is what we like to call "hair challenged", aka BALD! You may also have noticed that in nearly all of her photos she has some kind of bow or flower in her hair. Anyway, I just thought that since there are so many little girls being born, you might like to know where I get Izzy's hair things. They come from http://www.bittybowsboutique.com 

If you place an order please add me as your referral!

In fact, as you go through Kelly's website, you'll see Izzy's modeling debut!

Pumpkin Carving

I love having a baby. Everything is new and exciting for her which makes all things new and exciting for me too. I have carved pumpkins faithfully every year, but it was never as much fun as it was yesterday. At first, Elizabeth was not so sure what to think. Once she worked up enough courage to actually touch the pumpkin, she had a blast! I think my favorite part was watching her try to put each seed back inside the pumpkin. Or maybe it was when she took the spoon and tried to scoop everything out, just like mommy was doing. Either way, we had a great time.

Mmm...tastes like pumpkin

Peek-A-Boo

Just a little bit more....

My Walker!

She did it! She took her first steps! I can' t believe that my baby, my 10 month old baby girl is a walker. Well, I wouldn't say a full walker, but she can walk. She can take a few steps anyway. Last Friday she decided to let go of her toys and take 2 full steps. In a week she can now walk down the hallway and across the living room. It isn't time to get rid of the stroller or anything that extreme, but it counts in my book.

Of course every time I try to capture this momentous event on video, she decides to sit down and crawl to me. I did manage to capture a few seconds of her drunken sailor like gait down our hall.

Growing so fast!

This time last year John and I were imagining and dreaming of what life would be like with a baby. I can honestly say that reality is nothing like I imagined. It is SO much better!  As I was reflecting on this time last year, I thought I'd share Izzy's first halloween costume. Please bear in mind that I still had 2 more months before she was born!

October 2007

October 2008

You've come a LONG way baby!

Ardenwood Harvest Festival

On Saturday, John and I took Elizabeth to Ardenwood Farm. They have a big harvest festival each year where they make hand cranked ice-cream, have live music, BBQ, there are crafts for kids and old tyme recipes for the adults. There is a working blacksmith, lots of farm animals and all the employees dressed the parts.John and I had a great time picking corn. It was a lot of fun, though a lot like finding a needle in a haystack. We go to pick either Indian Corn or PopCorn from the stalks. Whatever we picked we had to shuck. We got to keep half and had to give back half. It worked out well-I don't think I would want to make a living out of harvesting corn, but once a year for half an hour wasn't so bad!

Pumpkin Patch 2

We took Elizabeth to Stockton this last weekend with the specific intention of taking her to Phillips Farm. This was the pumpkin patch that I grew up going to every year. It was bigger than I remember (they've grown and added a few things) but the patch itself was just the same. They even had the very same "guys". Think scary paper mache heads on tall, oddly dressed bodies. Even so, we had a great time and showed Izzy each and every guy. We took the hay ride and visited the animals and most importantly picked out a pumpkin. 

Here is Grandma and Grandpa Towne, Mommy and Elizabeth goin' on a hayride.

See, I wasn't kidding about those scary "guys"! Elizabeth really wasn't too sure of these guys, but she wasn't afraid.

October Doings

I have always loved October. It is by far one of my favorite months of the year. I love the warm colors and cool weather. But this year, I love it even more. It is only the middle of the month, and yet, we have already been to 2 pumpkin patches and a Harvest festival. We still have a Pumpkin Run (5k), Pumpkin Festival, Halloween party and of course the big night of Trick or Treating.

 

The San Carlos Belmont Mother's Club had a family outing at

 Lemos Farm. John and I took Izzy  out to see the pumpkins. There was so much to see! This was her first reaction to all the sights, smells and sounds!

We had so many compliments on our "little flower". A great big thanks to our friend, Ainsley for letting us borrow her adorable costume!

Standing Up

Elizabeth has been pulling herself to standing for quite a few weeks now. But it still cracks me up when, in the middle of the night, she screams her head off. Then the minute you open the door, this is what you find:

This was taken the first night we found her standing in her crib. Look at how proud of herself she is!

Holiday Season

I realized today that the Holiday Season is quickly approaching. For most people, the holidays begin with Thanksgiving. But for us, it is Halloween. Say what you will, but I am so stinkin' excited about Halloween. I guess it is because of the magic in the air, the mysterious possibilities that come with Fall. 

Saturday night we took Elizabeth to the Member's Night at the San Francisco Zoo. It was a lot of fun. Well maybe not so much for Elizabeth as it was cold and dark and most of the animals were asleep. But she had fun looking around at all the people. Especially Ian. Man, she loves that kid! Anyway, Member's Night was just the first event in a series of many that will mark Elizabeth's first Holiday season. 

Look for more to come!

A Visit From Grandma and Grandpa

Today my mom, step-dad and littlest sister came for a visit. Officially, it was to celebrate John's birthday (belated though it was). Unofficially, it was to love up Elizabeth as only grandparents (and Aunties) can. 

There are many times I have found myself wishing my mom and I lived closer together. Since having a baby, those times occur more and more frequently. I love that Elizabeth has all her grandparents and even 2 sets of great-grandparents. I just wish we were able to do more together. I am secretly envious of my friends who have their parents around to babysit while they work and those who attend functions and vacations together. Sadly, Elizabeth's grandparents are either physically or geographically unable to make frequent zoo trips or camping excursions. Though in the end, it doesn't matter because the one thing that all her grandparents offer in abundance is LOVE. And you can't ask for more than that.

Oakland Zoo

Today we went to the zoo. It is one of Elizabeth's favorite places-I think. She is so happy to be outside and is fascinated with all the people and animals. We got to see giraffes up close or as close as we could get (they were the most cooperative) and even pet some goats. (She did not seem so interested in them!)

We went with Izzy's Godfamily the Davis family. We have now traveled on many family trips and vacations together, and shared in good news and bad. And through it all, we have come to love and respect them as role-models and family.

Just a few pictures from today.

The family:

Checkin out the giraffes

Motherhood

No one could have told me what it means to be a mother. I guess it started today just after we got back from the zoo. I sat on the floor in Elizabeth's room, building a tower out of her little board books. Just when the tower reached 4 books high, she would gleefully knock over the tower. I would then moan a little and she would laugh her strongest, hardiest belly laugh I've ever heard. I remember sitting on the floor thinking to myself that I could not love being a mommy any more than I did at that moment. Then I got up to go get daddy and Elizabeth started crying- crying because she thought I was leaving her and our fun was over. My heart swelled even bigger.

Fast forward an hour and you'll find me giving Little Miss her bath. Tonight her tub was full of bubbles and our bathroom was filled with joy. Every so often, Elizabeth would lean over to examine the bubbles and the closer she got to the water, the louder her squeals of excitement. She would get so close, then when her excitement got the best of her she would throw herself forward and come up with a face full of bubbles and peels of laughter. I remember thinking that life is truly amazing and I couldn't love my baby anymore than I did at that moment. I thanked God for giving me this life to love and nurture and above all, a glimpse at His love for us.

The moment that made me realize, once again, that my life is perfect happened while I was rocking my baby to sleep. The song "Me" came on by Plumb. And once again, I did everything in my power to make a memory. Have you ever done that? I was actually thinking that this is a moment I don't ever want to forget. The smell of my baby so fresh from the bath, the feel of her warm skin surrounded by her soft fleecy jammies, the way she looked up at me while nursing and drifting off to sleep. But my most favorite part, the way she reached out to take hold of my hand because, I am her comfort. I am her lovey, her security. For now, she holds my hand to fall asleep. And I cherish it. I know there will be a time in our lives when she no longer needs me. A time when she wont want me. A time, when her world revolves around friends and boys and her future.  I look toward that time with a mixture of both dread and awe. But that time is not now, and I try not to think of it. Instead, I look at her and love her in the moment. 

My first blog

So...this is it. My first blog. We can all thank one of my best friends, Melissa, for coercing me (did I say coercing, I meant convincing me) to become a blogger. She played the mommy card..."You should blog about all the new things Izzy is doing...keep a record for all the family members out of town." She knew just what to say. How can I hog all the adorable, perfect things my new daughter is doing? (Ok, she may not be perfect, but she is adorable. Then again, I may be biased.)

I can promise you now, that this is simply more of an experiment than anything else. I can't guarantee that this will be eloquent or life changing. These are just my thoughts and the experiences of a new and growing family.