Swim swim

Sometimes, when it's been days since Em and I have really gotten out, we both go stir crazy. I can actually see it in Eliza which I always find amusing, since it's not like she has her own personal assistant catering to her every desire...if I had that I wouldn't leave the house or socialize for weeks at a time ;)  When those days come it's always easier to swimsuit up and walk over to the pool. I couldn't resist putting her in this swimsuit that is sized 12-18 mo. I bought it probably when she was about four months old and have just been patiently waiting for her to fit in it. She's still a little small, but goodness I needed something to keep me going halfway through the week haha.

Let me explain: Eliza is not sleeping great. Like we thought on the previous post, we think she is on the slow train forward but who knows. She has six puffy spots on her upper gums so we are guessing it's teething. Last night she went down at 8:30, then woke at 9:30, 12:30, 1:30, 3:30,4:30, and 6:30...or something rather close to that. If we get three solid straight hours of sleep we are like "YEEEEEEESSSS. that was amazing! #soblessed." except we are still living dog tired, and unlike the newborn stage (where we got more sleep to begin with), she doesn't snooze all day either. I am hoping it's just teething and that she's cutting every single tooth and I'll never have to go through this again for a long long time, but who knows. Teething aside, here she is having a post nap bath.

Anyways. Back to swimming. This time at the pool was pretty great, as Em is now so interactive. She hangs out on the large step a lot of the time and will climb out of the pool and crawl around, giggle at the torpedo shark toy that "gets" her, and will sit on the edge and push off of it knowing I'll catch her as she falls into the water. The last one is a blast but also kinda gets me on edge since she does when I'm not expecting it. We also started dunking her under the water once or twice when we go. She doesn't really enjoy it, but at the same time she doesn't cry either. We just blow in her face and put her underwater for a split second- I think it's good for her to get used to. It drives me slightly batty to see things in the news or hear about people who can't swim or don't have those basic life skills that involve being used to the water. I mean, there's a difference between not-really-into- it-and-could-do-it-to-save-my-life and I-will-literally-start-to-drown-the-second-I'm-in-the-water. It just a life skill!

Again, ANYWAYS. Em looked stinkin' cute so here are some more stinkin' pictures of when we did it all over again later that week, only this time in a swimsuit that is more meant for her size ;).

January, February, and the last week of December.

Eliza: What to say about this little nugget? She's just passed ten months old. What?? Going to say the most oversaid thing about parenthood, but where did the time go? She is so close to walking. She could, easily, and did take one tiny step last week only to be pushed down by mom because dad wasn't there, but she is not very motivated. She loves pushing herself physically but hates losing control- she's always been her giggliest when you're dangling her from the couch or leading her to believe she's gonna topple over. You can see her try face- focused eyes with her tongue out- as she concentrates on using her little baby muscles to stay up. It's her most dominate personality trait. She is a great independent player (watch that change since I said it), and we often seclude ourselves in the nursery room where there is a floor level mattress. I'll read while she looks out the window and shuffles around on the floor. It only works if I'm ground level, though, as every ten minutes or so she feels the need to check in with you... i.e. crawl up onto your lap, grab your face, try to eat your book and maaaybe, give you a quick cuddle. Unless I'm reading the Jason Bourne series, I always make sure to set down what I'm doing when she does this and give her my full attention. Those books are just kind of addictive and I have to watch myself with them haha. She loves the game "I'm gonna get you," where you chase after her while saying that, especially when dad is holding her while being chased by mom. Or when she's found that the baby gate is down and she's making a break for it only to be caught a few steps up. She survived her first high fever and has had some rocky sleeping periods as of lately, but I think we are starting to move past them. A growth spurt, fever, and then teething followed by a one night stomach bug just really brought us back to a worse than newborn stage level of tiredness.

^^She's been making this face a lot, lately. I'm glad I got photo of it because she cycles through the funniest facial expressions and they can be hard to capture.

Charles and I: Charly continues to work at Amet. As of the end of January, he has been there for five years- the same amount of time we've owned this townhouse. That feels crazy as well. We are both looking forward to warmer days, although probably me more than him. I love winter but the very end just kind of gets you. I am dreaming of days where Em, dressed in her swimsuit, is loaded up into the bike trailer, and with a spare set of clothes and lunch in tow, off to the splash park we go. Where we, while soaking in the sunshine and embracing all green things will play all day with a midday picnic to keep us going. These winter walks will just have to do, for now. Also, a few more things I don't want to forget:

^^We had a family get together at our pool.

^^We also celebrated February birthdays up at the Hill residence as well.

^^Chuck out snowmoshredding/ backcountry snowboarding. I asked him to give me the photos he took and he told me he didn't take any, because everyone else had nice cameras [so why bother]. So, arrows to nothing on that one.

^^We have dinners with our friends, the Elmers, twice a week. I cook Tuesday, Jenna cooks Thursday, and they are usually all vegetarian, low in dairy, plant based meals. Jenna doesn't eat meat and while I do it's more when eating out vs cooking with it and doing this weekly meal thing has been  a healthy blast. It's true that when you eat healthier you start to taste the natural sugars in food and everything just tastes better. What am I going to do when they leave in a month?!

^^We have become [temporary] regulars at this Asian Fusion restaurant that just opened up and have made the drive out Ashton for 5-11 Main Pizza and Huckleberry shakes a few times as well. Also, that last picture...Jenna tells Stephen to get out of the background and then we turn around and Charly's like "done, took it, won't take another." I'm surprised it turned out as well as it did and it wasn't until a week or two later that I zoomed in and realized Stephen was holding Em's sippy cup.

^^The night we got home from the cabin Eliza spiked a 102.7 degree fever and she was not the "sick but happy" baby you see pictures posted of. More like the "by the time you gotmeasleepIhadonehourbegoremytykenolworeoffandIwokeupscreaminghystericallyandshakinguncontrollably. Weirdly, though, she had no other symptoms. No runny nose, congestion or cough. Just a fever that freaked us out- usually when we call Charlys dad about various baby things it's always been because we were over worried and she was completely fine. So when we called to find out what the basics of a fever were and he was all "103-4 is when you start to worry" you can bet I over panicked at 102.7 and kinda just carried that panic for three days straight.

^^I got a lot of books for Christmas that I am slowly working my way through. Eliza used to be really sweet and play around me as I read as long as I was ground level, but she has since started her transition into toddlerhood aka she literally never stops going. Never.

Merry Christmas

It was appropriately snowy come Christmas time this year, and thoroughly enjoyed. We spent this Christmas in Blackfoot, again, and what else is there to say? There was some freeze your socks of sledding at night, good food, and family. We didn't really get much for Em- just some blocks and a musical instrument that were buy one get one free, Charly and I got some trad gear, and Eliza was spoiled by the grandparents. Some of the cute gifts she got were extra spoons that matched our set since she LOVES them and we are always running out, a lost your name book with letter that my mom painted to match, and some handmade wooden bookshelves that we desperately needed since she has really enjoyed being read to lately.

Satellite Beach, FL

We went back and forth, back and forth, and then back and forth once more on wether or not to take a trip to FL in the summer. Charles' work has a rule that he has to ask for time off a month in advance, which usually means we don't get the opportunity to fly standby as things can change so quickly in that time frame, and it's so much cheaper to buy tickets if it's in advance. One day, though, we looked at the flights and they looked wide open. The widest they could get. So, he asked for the week off and we decided that if they filled up we'd have a staycation. We took the trip about 8 weeks after my second surgery (I think). There was enough space on each of the four flights for us to have a whole row. This allowed us to take Em's carseat onboard and a lot of privacy when it came to nursing her which was obvisouly incredibly nice.

Lounging by the pool, playing in the sand at the beach, and having lots of grandma and grandpa, and great grandma time made the trip so worth while. The first time we took her to the beach she took to the sand and water immediately. Em started crawling at 5 months, but despite knowing she can she still hadn't graduated to hands and knees crawling vs army crawling. The second she moved from the towel to the sand though, she popped right up and did it. Towards the end of our time at the beach Charles took Eliza out to the waves until one swept her and him under (oops). We went home and the next day when we went to the beach she was definitely hesitant to trust the water again. I had to hold her above the tide as it slowly rolled in and let her dip her toes in until she gained her confidence back. We had stopped at a board store and grabbed a nice large floppy hat and a rash guard sized 4T- which fit her perfectly as a dress! As much as I love the mountains, Eliza was pretty freaking adorable as a beach babe.

Other than spending time at the beach, Charles and I saw the Martian on a date, I had a belated baby shower, and we ate at Cafe Margaux (of course), as well as taking a cruise on the boat. Everything was so peaceful and relaxing, and Eliza cut her first tooth!

^^All in all, there were lots of Eliza-passed-out-in-the-middle-of-the-day moments. I need to scrounge up a few more photos that I know exist- like her on her other Great Grandma's lap, and her in her ginormous floppy hat in a rash guard. It was such a good trip, despite having to brave using those electric chairs in Target and almost taking out an aisle.