Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Martian or Butterfly?


We went to our ward Halloween party last night. They do a party with everyone who meets in our building with a carnival, cake walk, food, etc. Ellie was dressed as a pink butterfly although I think she looks like a little martian! My friend Amy snapped a picture of Ellie with her daughter Brooklyn as a cute pink cat. We have another party to go to on Halloween so we'll see if Ellie lets us put her in the costume again! It was a battle to get it on her but then she didn't seem to mind. I do feel a little bad since it's a really warm outfit and it's only cooling down to maybe 70 degrees in the evening! The things I make my child do for cute pictures . . . I guess I really should get caught up on my scrapbooking with all the pictures that I have taken.

Ellie & Brooklyn

Saturday, October 27, 2007

.34

We got a bill in the mail today for 34 cents! Rob had a Sprint/Nextel phone for work that we canceled since he doesn't need it anymore and I guess the pro-rated amount left was 34 cents. I just find it hilarious that I'm going to have to send a check for such a small amount and the stamp will cost me more money than the bill. And they shut off the online access so I can't even pay the bill online and they won't accept change for the bill.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Tagged!

So Nicole tagged me and since Rob is at school and I have to wait for him to get home to watch The Office ... I figured I would do it! Here are the rules: A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.

1. I am secretly addicted to "reality" shows on MTV like The Hills and Laguna Beach (I guess that's not a secret anymore)
2. I love to buy new cleaning products. Goes along with my cleaning obsession - I always have to try out new products and see if they do a better job!
3. I almost always have a candle burning in the house - Salt City and Gold Canyon are my favorite (although I need to try out these Scentsy things that Lynsey is now selling)
4. Pajamas are my favorite article of clothing
5. I love ice cream
6. Middle Eastern food is some of my favorite - although I had never tried it before going to Jerusalem.

I'm going to tag:
Steffani, Erin, Christine Cahan, Amy, Kirsten and Rachael

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Tantrums & Speed Crawling

I had no idea that babies threw tantrums. Maybe that isn't the correct word to use but to me - it looks like Ellie is throwing tantrums! So far they happen when I'm trying to change her diaper, put her in her car seat, stop her from going somewhere or put her in her crib. She arches her back and flails and screams/cries. It's the strangest thing to see a baby her age throwing what look like temper tantrums to me since they all revolve around things she doesn't want to do! I just try and distract her pretty quick but I have no idea how to deal with them. And she is such a sweet and happy baby most of the time but then turns into a little monster randomly! Anyone else dealt with this?

Trying to help me with the dishes


First taste of a real pear



Eliza is quite the little speed demon too. I was enjoying that her crawling wasn't THAT fast but I think I spoke too soon. Now I just turn away for a second and have to run around and try and figure out where she went! The other day I went to grab something out of my bedroom and hear her screaming. She had managed to crawl into our little end table and couldn't figure out how to get back out(And of course I took pictures before pulling her out . . .). Add that to crawling into the dog cage, trying to crawl out the doggy door still, getting stuck underneath a chair, etc and she is keeping me very busy!
Stuck!

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Pumpkins

We took a little family trip to the pumpkin patch today. Ellie really loved the bright colors of all the pumpkins and checking out the hay that we kept putting her on so we could get some pictures! I should have put her in more of a "fall" outfit . . .but it was a gorgeous day in Arizona and since it's still in the 80's-90's - we haven't graduated to most of her fall clothes yet.

Ellie with the GIANT pumpkin


What is this weird hay stuff?


Get me off of here!


Hmm .. a white one?


I love these pumpkins!

Monday, October 15, 2007

8 months old


Eliza is 8 months old today! Information about Ellie today:

* She is weighing in at a hefty 18-19 lbs according to my scale at home (good thing I just love her chubby cheeks and thighs!)
* She can crawl anywhere in the house (favorite places are in the kitchen near the dogs water bowl and the doggy door that she is trying to figure out how to get through)
* She can pull herself up on any object (sturdy or not) and can get all the way around the room by holding on to things
* She can say "mama" very well & prefers being glued to her mom's side the majority of the time
* She has not found a vegetable or fruit that she doesn't love
* Our dogs still make her laugh more than anything and anyone else
* She has the biggest smile that takes up her whole face

Saturday, October 13, 2007

7 month pictures

So Eliza is actually going to be 8 months on Monday but I've had a crazy month so I'm a little slow at posting pictures. My fabulous friend Rachael took her 7 month pictures for me a few weeks ago. You can see them on her photography blog at: http://rememberstudio.blogspot.com/ If you live in the Greater Phoenix area and are looking for portrait pictures - I HIGHLY recommend her! :) I posted a link to her blog underneath my favorite websites too.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

America's Most Smartest Model

Has anyone else ever seen this show on VH1? Last night I was up with Ellie in the middle of the night for a couple of hours and there wasn't much on television so I started watching the America's Most Smartest Model show on VH1. There was a girl Victoria on there that graduated supposedly with honors from BYU and with a 3.7 GPA. I was appalled at how incredibly NOT SMART this girl was. Yes, I know it's a "reality show" and edited and everything . . .But the girl couldn't spell emaciated or name more than 5 cities out of the US! It's girls like that that give BYU a bad name! Good thing Rob wasn't awake watching it with me since he likes to make fun of BYU every chance he can get.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Supermom

I feel like Supermom lately! Not because of all the things I'm able to get done in a day, or how talented my child is, etc (since I can't really claim any of the above are slightly true) ... But because I think I have saved my child from serious injury about a dozen times in the last 2 days. I went flying across the room to today to save her from the falling fake ficus tree in our living room and saved her from our glass sofa table that she tried to pull down, etc. I had no idea I had that kind of agility! :)

Basically little Eliza is wearing me out lately! Her crawling has really improved and she actually has it completely down now and she's fast. I can leave her playing with her toys in the front room and run to the bathroom and by the time I open the door again - she is right there waiting for me. I really thought my house was child proof but I'm quickly learning that I think the only way a house is child proof is if there is NOTHING in it! Forget trying to get anything done during the day now. I have to watch her constantly and clean up after her in the remaining time.

Today I was cooking dinner and she was crawling around the floor and trying to climb up the fridge (she loves the reflection of herself on the fridge door) and I turned to the stove for a minute and caught her IN the dog's water bowl. Disgusting yes! But also a great picture opportunity. I'm probably a horrible mother but I thought it was pretty funny to see her stick her face in it and then follow that with her hand. (Don't worry - I cleaned her up right after).



We took her to the park tonight for Family Night (yes - it is Tuesday but it's the night that works for us . . ). She LOVED the swing. I tried to capture her laugh on camera but there was too much other background noise. I can't wait for this weather to cool down more next week so we can spend time at the park during the day with some of our friends!



Sunday, October 07, 2007

Marathon

Congrats to my dad for running the St George marathon in 3 hours 33 minutes and qualifying for the 2008 Boston Marathon. It's always been a dream of mine to run the Boston Marathon, but considering I haven't finished a full marathon yet (just a half) . . I might have to live vicariously through my dad and just watch him run the Boston one!

Friday, October 05, 2007

I feel like I have a lot of things I need to blog about this week . .. we'll see if I can remember everything!

It was a really busy week with lots of family in town for Aunt Tammy's funeral. My emotions have been all over the place with all the reminders of my mom's own funeral only a couple of years ago. But it's always nice to be reminded of the blessings we have!


Ellie & Grandpa White


My mom's brothers - Dale, Evan, and Al all made it down here for the funeral (along with my dad). We had nice visits with them and they were able to meet their great-niece. Ellie wasn't quite sure what to think about most of them but she seemed to like her Great Uncle Dale the most. She happened to provide a lot of entertainment to the people sitting behind us at the funeral by blowing raspberries at everyone and smiling. I was just grateful she wasn't screaming!

Uncle Dale playing with Ellie


We had a pizza and Guitar Hero party yesterday afternoon at our house with the family that was still in town. My cousins Jessica and Natalie were really good at Guitar Hero after a few rounds! We invested in a second guitar so we can compete now and Rob and I played it for a good hour last night before my hand hurt too much and we had to quit.
Rob and Jessica playing Guitar Hero


Ellie has gotten really good and fast with her crawling and is into everything!! Nothing is safe in our house. She found the tiniest piece of a wrapper on the ground and almost choked on it so I've been even more meticulous with my cleaning. I'm really hating the tile in our house right now because she has already managed to smack her head on it several times. It makes me feel like a horrible mother - even though I know it's all part of the stage that Ellie is in and learning and discovering how to move and get around.

And in other news, Ellie has discovered how to pull herself up in her crib (and on chairs, tables, couches, etc). We quickly lowered the crib mattress but she still likes to pull herself up and then use the railings to walk around the crib and yell out "mama, mama". It's making night and nap time a lot more difficult since it seems to take her twice as long to fall asleep. She hasn't figured out how to get herself down from the standing position so we have to go in every 10 minutes and put her back down until she finally wears herself out and goes to sleep. I'm really hoping she learns how to get back to a seated position on her own soon!
Standing up using the crib . .. .


And the toy box . ..


And the game!


Oh and very exciting news for me - our garage addition is finally done!! We have only ever had a carport but we were quickly running out of room in our humble starter home . . . so Rob has been working on turning our carport into a garage for our storage needs. The garage door was installed this week and I've been trying to get stuff out of my house and organized in the garage. My label-maker has gotten a lot of good use this week! We still need to paint the stucco pillar and repaint the front of our house - but that can come later on!