Shopaholic already??

We were out on our regular family outing....you know to Target. We had managed to coerce Elizabeth into riding in the cart on the condition that she be able to bring along her purse-complete with expired gift cards, AAA cards, and even old ID cards. We have to convince her to sit in the cart, otherwise we end up with all sorts of extra goodies in our possession. Most of them relating to Elmo or Dora or even MiMi (Mickey Mouse). Anyway, back to the story. When we got up to the register to check out, John and I were putting the bags back into the cart, when it came time to pay. Elizabeth reached into her purse and pulled out her AAA card and gave it to the lady. John and I busted up! I guess it is safe to say that we use our credit cards all too often! The lady thought it was cute, but in the end she insisted on using our Visa. Bummer!

Potty Training

A very dear friend of mine told me to follow Izzy's lead. "She will tell you when she is ready..." the sentence is left open because I have now heard this from Vicki when we were wondering about crawling, walking, sleeping through the night, eating solid foods, eating table foods, sleeping in a toddler bed, potty training, talking, etc. The list goes on and on. I've got to say, once again, she was right.

About 6 weeks ago, Izzy started complaining when her diaper was wet (or other). It quickly progressed to a refusal to wear diapers at all.

Our Little Fashion Diva

So as of late, Little Iz has been utterly fashion conscience. She appears to be most obsessed with Shoes and hats. My favorite part of this is when she tells you "No mama" or "No DaDa" while pointing to your shoes. She then runs to our closet and picks out which shoes she deems worthy of wearing. Oh, and don't try to outrun her. She is relentless. She will hunt you down and take off your current shoes, only to replace them with the ones she picked out. Literally. She takes off your shoes and puts the ones SHE picked out back on your feet.

And shoe shopping has become a truly competitive sport when Izzy is along. I'm not kidding it's like a kid in a candy store! She runs up and down the aisle pulling out shoes and trying to put them on. Usually shoe shopping requires AT LEAST two adults. One to pick out shoes and one to wrestle Elizabeth. The last time we took her shoe shopping, she refused to try on any shoes that I picked out for her. She had picked out a pair of tennis shoes and that was it. She wore them out of the store. (And nearly every day since then!)

As for hats, she will finally wear them when we go out! In fact, she requests them. And in her eyes, the more the merrier!

This is a picture taken at breakfast. As you can see...there are three hats. And she was asking for more!

Growing Pains

Wow-life with a toddler never ends! In the last 3-4 weeks we have endured night terrors, multiple middle of the night awakenings (EVERY NIGHT!), an interest in potty training, a true obsession with Melmo (ELMO), and my personal favorite, the I-can-do-it-myself-so-leave-me-alone stage, maybe a more technical name might be self-determination or autonomy (John calls it stubborn and for some reason seems to think it is a genetic trait. I blame his side ;-D ).

It all started with the big move to the toddler bed. I can thank our good friend, Challeen for this one. She had given us an Elmo book where Elmo gets a big boy bed. Well, I assumed it was innocent enough (because what 16 month old wants a toddler bed?! Oh, right mine!!) Well, starting that night it was no more crib for Izzy! What I didn't know is that when you make large transitions, such as this, night terrors are not uncommon. Our amazingly wonderful and patient pediatrician assures us that this is normal and more scary for mommy than for baby. Either way I never want to go through those again!

Along with the night terrors came constant (and by constant I mean up 3-4 times a night for over an hour each time) night-time waking. Just when we were at our wits ends (and each other's throats) John happened to spy a toddler-sized bed rail at a garage sale. I am absolutely NOT exaggerating when I say that this was the best $5.00 ever spent. The moment that we installed that sucker, Izzy slept through the night. Let me rephrase that, WE ALL SLEPT THROUGH the night. (Ok, except for the pregnant lady and her many dates with the bathroom-but that is a whole other issue).

Going back to Melmo. Before I actually had Izzy, the only 2 rules that I wanted to enforce as a parent were 1.) NO stuffed animals and 2.) No Elmo. Needless to say those didn't work out so well. I have no idea how Elmo was even introduced, but when I find out I will personally "thank" those individuals involved. Though I can't be too upset, because when I say my daughter loves Elmo, that would be an understatement. It is so stinkin' cute that, even I give in and purchase Elmo just to make her happy. I know, I know, but my parenting skills are not the issue right now :-) In fact, I actually bought baby bottled water today just because it had a picture of Elmo on the packaging. Man, that Sesame Street guy who created Elmo was a marketing GENIUS!!! I never thought that our Tivo would go from CSI, to Blue's Clues. From Grey's Anatomy to Sesame Street. But I will watch hours of Elmo's World if it means that I get to watch my baby girl dance her heart out to the theme song (or whatever is the theme of the day song-think jingle bell melody with one word repeated over and over again).

As for the autonomy stage. It is a wonder and a "delight" all on it's own. Developmentally, I understand this phase. I studied this phase. I have worked with children going through this phase. I have just never LIVED with this phase. Since when did putting on shorts become such an issue? Why is it that we have to sit in the middle of the rug to put shoes on? Why wont sitting on the couch do? How come she has to drink out of juice box all by herself in my car?? Right. I know. She is learning and growing. And though it is messy, it truly is amazing. Iz now tells me when she wants to go to sleep. When she needs a diaper change, that she wants a spoon to use with her fruit. She throws away trash. And my favorite, puts away clothes-hers and ours!

Summer Vacation

I am nearing my first week of summer vacation. This is probably THE biggest perk of being a teacher. I finally get to be a mommy again. I mean a full-time, on-call 24/7 mommy. I have to admit that I waited my entire life to be a mommy and never in those years of dreams did I envision having to work at the same time. I don't know why, my own mother worked, and worked hard, to support all 4 of us kids. But in my head, I was going to be June Cleaver-vacuuming in pearls, baking fresh cookies for my kids, and having dinner ready and waiting when my husband got home from work. Then I grew up and realized that black and white t.v., does not a reality make. Instead, my wonderful, loving, incredible husband does the cooking and laundry and even takes out the garbage. Me? I pick up the baby from our wonderful babysitter and I get to be mom for the night. Most of the time this arrangement feels more like a split custody agreement-only I get the sleepless half.

But all that changed on Monday. For the next 10 weeks, I get to be THE full time, one and only mama! I love waking up and starting the day with Izzy. I love getting to take her for walks (while it is still daylight!) and going to the pool. I love that I can figure out what to make for lunch at lunchtime. Mostly, I love to sit and cuddle with her in the morning. We can take our time and read all the books we want. There are no tears when we have to put down her favorite book, there is no rushing out the door and quick kisses good-bye. No tears- just lots and lots of loving and cuddling!

Park Days

Here are just some of my more favorite photos from recent park trips.

I just love this one...all business even at the park.

Ok, technically, this one is in our backyard, but it's close enough...

This is Iz (on the left in the pink) and her best friend. Would you believe this was in April??

Big Girl Bed

Well, it is official. My baby is now a big girl. We bought Iz a toddler bed about 2 weeks ago and she has slept in it (quite happily) every night now for 2 whole weeks. I really thought the novelty would wear off once she realized that mom and dad would make her stay in it ALL NIGHT, but alas, it hasn't. 

Here she is sleeping like an angel for the first time in her big girl bed!!

She even has a pillow now!!

This is her playing in her bed as soon as we got it home. We hadn't even had the chance to move it into her room yet!

My baby is growing up!!

Life!

Life has been a whirlwind the last few days. Oh wait, I guess I mean MONTHS. I just looked back and realized that it has been 3 months since my last post. I guess that does happen...There has been so much going on that I will highlight the most memorable events.

-Izzy has been talking up a storm. Her vocabulary has grown so much. Granted we still have a long way to go, but I just love her little "girl" voice.

- My sister and nephew FINALLY moved back home. Well, close enough anyway. They are now living in Reno and it is an easy enough drive that we've been able to see each other now 4 times since January! Once upon a time, that is all that we would have seen each other in 2 years! I am so excited because now I can really be an auntie and Elizabeth can have a cousin!

-We took Izzy up to Reno to see family and to her first snow. Turns out there wasn't any snow but I did do pretty well playing skee ball at Circus Circus and won Elizabeth her very own stuffed animal. (Just what our house needs...)

-The most exciting news has to be that we found out Elizabeth will be a big sister! We are expecting New Baby M October 23ish. That will put the kids 22 months apart. I hope it is close enough to be good friends.

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!