Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Fake Crying

Does anyone know how to rotate video clips? For example, I took a short video clip with my digital camera but when I uploaded it to my computer - it's flipped on it's side and I can't get it to rotate so it's right side up. Any ideas? I've tried everything I can think of and have been doing some googling but can't find a solution.

Here is one video that turned out the right way! It wasn't the one I wanted to post but I do think it's funny. Just in case you think I'm mean for posting a picture of Eliza walking and crying . .. I have to give a little background. She has down already what we call a "fake cry". Her fake cry is usually a result of her not getting her way (when we take away cell phones and cameras that she can't play with). She turns on this fake cry but as soon as she is distracted she is done crying and laughing and smiling the next minute. We probably shouldn't laugh but we think it's pretty funny! Notice how upset she seems at the beginning of this video (I took away my cell phone from her) but by the time she reaches me - she's not crying anymore. Already such a personality!

Funny Things

Ellie has been doing some of the funniest things lately. She will stand in the same spot for minutes at a time not even moving. We're not sure if she is just working on her balance or what. She can walk whenever she wants to but decides most of the time that it is just faster and easier to crawl. Only now the crawl is not her normal one - but one where her bum is way high in the air! I crack up every time I see it because it looks so funny. We captured it on video camera the other day but I haven't been able to upload it. She does it all the time now so I'll have to try catching it again and see if a different video will work on here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTOY3cPGqMI
I tried uploading this video onto youtube. You can see a typical minute in her life - capturing the dog, walking and giving up, a funny crawl, etc.

When we pick her up out of her car seat, high chair or crib - she will now give us these great big hugs where she wraps her arms completely around us and then pats our backs. I guess Rob and I have done that to her a lot? It's so funny to have her give us little pats on our back though! And we love her great hugs where she grips on sooo tight.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Girl's Night

Last night I met up with Nicole and Shay and Shay's sister-in-law for a much needed Girl's Night. We saw the movie "27 Dresses" which is a typical chick-flick but I loved it even with all its cheesy moments and predictable story lines.

I've been feeling a little down lately - I'm reminded every day how much I miss my mom but some weeks and days are definitely harder than others and I find myself feeling really lonely and depressed. On top of that I don't have any sisters, so . .I have to rely on my girlfriends to listen to me and give me advice, etc. I feel like I've been blessed with so many wonderful friends throughout the years so I have no reason to complain! But this last year of being a mom - I've neglected to set aside time away from Rob and Ellie to actually enjoy "girl time" with my friends. I don't know if I'm the only one that does this but it seems like time is short between caring for Ellie all day, keeping the house clean, cooking, exercising, doing my Church calling, spending time with Rob, etc. I forget that I need to set aside some "me" time. Not to make myself sound like a martyr or anything because I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything in the world. But this year - I'm going to try and make it more of a priority to set aside time for "girl nights". I know it makes me a better wife and mother since it seems to refresh me and keep me sane. Anyone else feel that way? And thankfully I have a wonderful husband who is more than willing to watch Ellie while I go and do these things.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

When Dad is Babysitting

Picture 1: View from the sliding glass door of a portion of our backyard. Pay careful attention to the location of the black pipe in the picture. (And please ignore our unlandscaped backyard - it is a pending project).


Picture 2: Ellie in the middle of the backyard after escaping through the doggy door.


Picture 3: Ellie trying to get the dogs to play with her in the backyard.

Picture 4: Dad realizes Ellie is in the backyard and saves her from the rocks she is trying to eat.



She is such a funny child or maybe we are bad parents! You think we would have learned by now about the doggy door escape route . . . and although we have gotten a lot better - it's hard to remember to put it up and down all day to let the dogs in and out. I had asked Rob to watch Ellie while I was in the other room but he wasn't fully listening so a couple minutes later I notice how quiet it is in the house and ask him where she is. I look outside expecting her to be on the patio (the furthest she has made it before we found her) but nope - our little speed demon is in the middle of the backyard and having the time of her life. She cried when we brought her back in. It's too bad we don't have the landscaping done back there so she could enjoy her huge backyard but it's on the bottom of the list as far as our house projects are going right now!

Hot Topic

I read a blog that has what she refers to as a Hot Topic Tuesday. I thought it could be fun - especially since I have a bone to pick today. :)

As Eliza's first birthday approaches I have begun to be bombarded with a specific question. I didn't think twice about it when it was first asked but now it seems like it is every one's business or something. When I tell people that Eliza will be 1 next month - almost immediately I get the question of . .. So when is your next one coming? or So does she get a sibling soon? Something along those lines. I was kind of hoping I was done with those type of questions since we had enough people bombard us when we were married and before we were pregnant with her. Am I really going to have to keep fielding this question until we get pregnant again?! Although I was asked in the HOSPITAL after just having Eliza when my next one was coming so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.

Now let me preface that I am a pretty open person in this regard to people I am FRIENDS with but is it a complete strangers business? I don't think so. And another thing - Did I ask for your opinion on what you think is the proper spacing between children? Because people sure love to tell me! I might be opening up a whole new can of worms here but I think it's up to each couple to decide when to have their kids, how far apart they want them spaced, etc. I have friends that have a hard time getting pregnant and I just have to imagine that it's probably a sore subject when people unknowingly give them a guilt trip for "waiting". I have a big pet peeve of people telling me that I don't want my kids too far apart or I will have lots of jealousy issues. Personally - I think it really depends on the children and their personalities. I was almost 3 years old when my brother was born and according to my parents - didn't have a hard transition even though I was an only child up to that point! And just because my daughter is a clingy baby . . it's really not necessarily going to reflect on her later in life either. Just had to throw that last one in there since I'm already adding my 2 cents about everything else.

Sorry for the complete vent of a post but I wanted to get others thoughts out there and see if I was alone. I just need to come up with a comeback for these questions/comments that will put a smile on myself instead! Any ideas?

Friday, January 18, 2008

First Steps

For the past couple of weeks - Ellie has been working really hard at taking her FIRST STEPS! Now I don't really know what counts as first steps since I think you could so many different instances. But now that she has been taking a few steps each day - I count them! She has gotten a little bitter with each day and today I even turned around to see her standing there smiling at me and then took 6 steps across the room. Yay!! Granted - she will usually take a few steps or just stand for a while and then decide that crawling is a much more efficient way to get around . .. but it's a start. She hates when we hold her hands and walk around the room for some reason so she is definitely independent and going to be walking on her own time schedule. And one of these days - I'll actually capture the act on camera.

I've been watching my friend Christina's little girl in the afternoons and it's been an adventure. The girls are only 2 weeks apart but so different. I think it's fun for Ellie to have the interaction but she has become very clingy! And I realize that I am very grateful that I didn't have twins. And I also realize that I am definitely not ready for my second one. :) I took some cute shots of the girls playing though:


Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Books & Cleaning

Rob and I have tried to read Ellie books ever since she could focus on the pictures in the books. It's really fun now because she will actually let us READ to her and then I catch moments like this that just melt my heart:




She will sit and flip through books by herself and I just think it's the cutest thing. I think it's the only time during the day that she will actually sit still!

I took the advice that I was given last week and ordered magnetic locks for my kitchen cupboards. I found them the cheapest online but now I'm going crazy because they are taking forever to ship them to me! So currently all my breakable items are up on my counters during the day and all my dish detergent and that stuff that normally goes underneath the kitchen sink is on my counter also.

Rob was a huge help last week in helping me do some "spring cleaning" on our house. He borrowed his parents Kirby machine and vacuumed and shampooed all of our carpets. Ok - well we only have 2 carpets in the house . . .but it was still a huge job to move everything. I can't believe what a difference it has made though! Now I just need to remember to do it again in 6 months or rather have Rob do it again. He's the best at it!

I've been on an organizing and throwing thing away kick again. I think every few months or so I just have to clean everything out. I just really like throwing things away or giving things away to DI. I think I got that from my mother since she was always getting rid of things (even if you didn't want her to). I know it drives Rob crazy sometimes but even with these throwing away kicks that I go on - but we still seem to have a lot of STUFF!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Tinay

My cousin Tinay passed away this past week at the age of 19 in Vancouver, WA. Although it was expected - we will still miss her! Tinay was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy which explained simply means that her muscles would keep getting weaker as time went on. Tinay and her brother Tyler are both in wheelchairs but probably some of the smartest people I have ever met. Tinay graduated from high school last summer. I always loved to discuss books with her and enjoyed the crafts she made for Christmas every year. I am so glad that they only lived 2 hours away when we were all growing up and we could see them for all of the holidays. Tinay was such an example to me of someone who persevered despite difficult circumstances. She had such a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what it meant to be a Child of God. I'm so grateful that I was able to see her over the summer and that Ellie was able to meet her.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

200

It's my 200th Post!! I think it's time to redo the layout again. I will have to work on that.

I need some advice from fellow mothers out there. Have you found any cabinet locks that REALLY work? We bought some from Wal-mart (maybe this was our first mistake) and installed them and they seemed to work pretty well for the first couple of weeks. In fact - I even had a hard time getting them open! But, Eliza has figured out that if she keeps pulling long and hard enough . .. the cabinets will eventually open and she has free access to everything inside. So far this week she has managed to break 2 glasses and a bowl in a mere matter of seconds.

Yesterday I thought she was taking a really long afternoon nap since I wasn't hearing much noise coming from her room. I finally decided to check on her and realized that she had pulled in all of these clothes that I was ready to put into her closet into her crib. I should have taken a picture but just imagine this huge mound of clothes!

After clearing off all of the books on the bottom shelf in the office - what else is there to do but climb into the shelf?


And you think after having one taste of dog food she would have had enough - but nope. I discovered this lovely surprise this morning. I sometimes wonder if I am doing a horrible job parenting that my child keeps eating dog food. But to my credit - my dogs had been fed two hours earlier and they NEVER leave food in their dishes (my dogs LOVE food). For some reason one of them didn't finish their food so Ellie decided to help.

Monday, January 07, 2008

A typical day

I call Eliza my "little monkey" these days because she is into everything. Today it was pretty funny what she managed to do before lunch time! It all started this morning when I was making some phone calls in the office and she decided it was time to empty off all of the shelves that she could reach. Notice that she even found a step stool!


Then while I was switching loads of laundry - I went on a hunt for her only to find her sitting in my bathroom surrounded by my supply of feminine products. Sorry if it embarrasses anyone to post this on my blog but I just thought it was too funny.


She emptied out two whole cupboards worth of bowls and tupperware and all of her bottles, sippy cups, etc. Of course we do have child proof locks on these cabinets but Ellie has learned if she pulls on them long enough and hard enough - they will eventually open for her.


We're in the process of trying to sell my little Corolla so I was on the phone with someone about that and when I got off - I couldn't find Ellie anywhere. I was getting a little panicky when I thought to look in the backyard. Sure enough - she had managed to get completely out of the doggy door and to the edge of our patio and was happily playing in the mud (just with her hands). Just so you don't think I'm a bad parent - my phone call was probably less than 2 minutes! She is just a speed demon. She did manage to get out the doggy door two more times today!! I'm going to have to put our locked door on it but I hate to do that to my dogs who love to go in and out.


She also managed to get stuck in between my bakers rack and the wall today. I didn't take a picture of that one since she was freaking out.

Oh and this weekend Ellie climbed up on my bakers rack in the kitchen, pulled down the canister of dog food (on a much higher second shelf) and shoved a whole handful in her mouth before I could fish it out. Since then she has been trying to sneak up on the dogs and steal their food when they are eating! Just goes to show that she will eat ANYTHING.

Pictures taken right after she pulled down the canister of dog food - I think she even has some left in her mouth!



And then this last picture was after I had cleaned her up from crawling around outside and she was waiting for Rob to come home (I am sitting on the couch next to her - but you can't see me).


I should also point out the various levels and changes of outfits that we go through in a day! :) I'm already scared for the walking stage. And I'm tired from chasing after her and cleaning up after her! It's day like this when I'm thankful I didn't have twins.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Football, Football & More Football

This about describes the New Year for us - FOOTBALL! My dad and brothers Tysen and Trent came down on December 30th to enjoy the nice winter weather in Arizona and catch some football games.

On New Years Eve we went to the Insight Bowl at Sun Devils Stadium in Tempe. It was a blowout game and not that exciting. Ellie even fell asleep during it she was so bored! We met up with my Uncle Vern and cousin Jacob at the game also. I forgot to pull out my camera for a group picture though. Afterwards we met up with my mom's cousin Kelly and his wife Kim for dinner at PF Changs. The Fiesta Bowl Block Party was happening on the street right outside PF Changs so we decided to walk through (free tickets from the Insight Bowl game) and walked to the park and heard the Bare Naked Ladies perform. Ellie was such a trooper! We kept her up later than ever before and she was so happy and good for us. Of course it has taken me about 5 days to get her back on a schedule but what can you do? We left the Block Party at 11 and went back to our house to ring in the New Year.


New Year's Day was filled with watching football games all day long. I made a full spread of taco and nacho fixings for us to munch on all day (along with the leftover goodies from Christmas). We intermixed the games with some rounds of Rock Band which is always fun.

January 2nd, I took Ellie over to my in-laws in the late afternoon so they could babysit her and went with my dad and brothers to pick up Rob from work and head to the Fiesta Bowl. Dad got us great seats again - in the lower section of the endzone. It was the Oklahoma Sooners playing against the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Sooners were expected to win (especially after their embarrassing lost last year to Boise State) but they once again couldn't pull through. Rob was cheering for the Mountaineers the whole time and egging on the Sooners fans around us. I don't think the Sooners will be wanting to come back to the Fiesta Bowl after their second loss in a row there! It was still fun and much more of an exciting game than the Insight Bowl.




Rob has had enough football to last him until next New Years but it was fun to have my family in town for a few days. Ellie really loved her Uncle Tysen's attention too.