More Memorial Day fun

We had a fun and exhausting Memorial Day today. We started off the day bright and early at 6:45am (the time that Elizabeth now gets up at *everyday* - ugh!). That gave us plenty of time to go grocery shopping and run errands before heading to the "big pool" at the YMCA. The water was still very cold, but she had a lot of fun playing in the wading end of their outdoor pool.

Elizabeth also didn't have to wait long for more picnics - we went to 2 more in our neighborhood today! The first was around the corner at a family's house that has a darling pre-teen girl who is about to enter middle school and a 3-year-old girl (Anna). This family is also the wonderful family that gives us all of Anna's hand-me-downs for Elizabeth to wear. Based on the girls' interactions with each other so far, we think Anna and Elizabeth are destined to be best friends - they love each other! Elizabeth had a lot of fun playing with the other girls on their swingset. Then, we headed down the street to a Memorial Day party at THE BOYS' HOUSE. "The boys" are a set of 6-year-old twins that live 2 doors down from us. Elizabeth is absolutely in love with them. Unfortunately, her affection is completely lost on both of them, as they are only interested in getting attention from Jonathan. (A sad, sad story that we know will probably play itself out in similar form again numerous times throughout her life.) But, we all had a great time at their house - both David and I got to visit with the other adults and Elizabeth and Jonathan had fun playing with all the other kids.

They even had a Slip-n-Slide set up for the kids to play on. (Yes, I tried - unsuccessfully, I might add - to forget the fact that my sister broke her arm on one while we were kids...) Jonathan was the oldest kid there and he thrilled them all with his slides and splashes. Here's a picture of him leading the pack:



Elizabeth was her usual cautious self and preferred to stay and play at the pool of water at the bottom of the slide:



Of course, if she didn't get out of the way fast enough, she got quite a surprise!



The boys also have a slide/sandbox combination in their backyard that Elizabeth stares at wistfully everytime she goes outside - and she really enjoyed playing with it tonight!

So, do I get an award for posting 2 nights in a row? I'm sure I won't have time to post again before we leave on Thursday, so I'll see a lot of you at Aunt Amy's wedding in Arkansas!

Church picnic

Elizabeth learned a new word today - "PICNIC" - as we all had a great time at Bluegrass Christian Camp for our church's annual Memorial Day picnic.

The church provided the barbecue and all the rest of us brought side dishes and desserts, which resulted in a potluck feast that would have even made a Baptist church proud. :) The weather was beautiful, so after lunch, we spent the afternoon swinging, playing volleyball, basketball, or carpetball (you'll have to ask Jonathan about that one...he's the only one in our family who understands the rules), wading in the creek, and socializing.










We even had a good old-fashioned baptism in the creek at the camp. It was a middle-school girl who really loves the outdoors, so it was very fitting for her, and a wonderful highlight to the day. After the baptism, Elizabeth told me she wanted to "wear a white robe and go in the water." I'm not sure that counts as a profession of faith, but I guess it's a good start!



(Yes, that's the back of Jonathan's head in the picture - proof he was there!)

By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted. In fact, by 8pm, David, Jonathan, and Elizabeth were all in bed. And, right before she went to sleep, Elizabeth looked at me and asked, "More picnic?"

Imitation is the highest form of flattery

Elizabeth loves to do anything that is "just like Mommy." We shamelessly use this to our advantage to encourage her to do things we want her to as much as we can. However, here are some things she's managed to pick up on her own:

One day, while playing, she decided to build the highest tower possible. David even had to help keep it from falling at the end.



I think we have a little civil engineer in the making!

Elizabeth also remains fascinated with Mommy's bras. Most days, she ends up looking down my shirt, just to make sure I'm wearing a bra, and to see what color it is. And, whenever she finds one in the clean laundry basket, she has to immediately try it on:



She's also becoming a great little tennis fan. She loves going to watch Mommy and Daddy play tennis (especially when it means going to the park and sneaking away to the playground). She even happily yells, "Go Mommy" and "Good shot, Mommy!" - regardless of whether Mommy or Daddy is playing. :) Here are some pictures of her new tennis outfit that Granny Pat gave her for her birthday:





She's already asking for her own racquet, so I'm sure it won't be long before David has her out on the court!

Hello? Anybody out there?

Blogs are unique things. They seem so innocuous as you quietly type out your entry, post some pictures, and press the "Publish" button. I've always thought of it as a simple, fun way to share some of our daily life with our friends and family that are far away. And, to be honest, I always assumed the only people logging on were the few that actually told me they were.

Then, an on-line friend of mine taught me about Google Analytics. It's a fun little website that will track the visitors to any website. So, I set it up on my blog, just for kicks. And, I have to admit, as a math geek, I find the information pretty interesting. For instance, I now know that in the last 3 months, our "private" online universe has been viewed 1,176 times by 96 different people. Wow! In that same time period, someone from almost every continent, and several from cities and countries I've never even heard of, have visited. Of course, most of these are obviously random hits from Blogger, which should be expected, I guess. For some reason, Blogger automatically posts the last few blogs updated on their homepage everytime you log on, so I guess odds would have it that our blog would have randomly shown up on some computers with weirdos who are not able to resist a blog title with our last name in it. (Ick!) And, based on the amount of time most of them spend on our blog, I assume they just check in long enough to realize they're not interested, then disappear to their sick little worlds again. And, what really prompted this post were the google searches that led people to our site. Apparently, "my tonsils" and "tonsillectomy" are making me world-famous (or really disappointing several people). Along the same line, I'm guessing the person who googled "kissing [insert our last name here]" was really not expecting pictures of our 2-year-old. (Double Ick!)

Oh well, regardless of what brings everyone here, however misguided, I'm going to continue my blog. Mainly because I think my little girl is just too adorable to not share with the rest of the world! :) Happy blogging, everyone! And, feel free to leave a comment so we know you're out there!

Oh - and on another tangent - Aunt Beth and Robyn definitely receive our Loyal Reader Award. Since Robyn moved back home, Houston has by far become our largest viewing city. In fact, they beat Lexington 3:1. Glad to know someone's keeping up!

Happy Birthday Kate

Happy birthday to the most wonderful wife and best mommy in the world. Here are a few pictures from today:

Sous chef Elizabeth carefully blends the cake mix for mommy's special cake.

Then she learns that the best part of making a cake is licking the spatula! Yummy!

Decorating the the cake is lots of fun especially if you poke holes in the top of the cake with the icing container.

After a nice dinner with Granny Pat and Grandad, we had cake and ice cream. Then Elizabeth helped mommy open presents. Happy birthday!!!

Summertime fun

The weather has been beautiful this week and we've been having fun outdoors!

Jonathan even took some time away from the computer to climb our tree out front:



Elizabeth was very jealous and wanted to climb it with him!



But, she's made up for it by spending a lot of time playing in her wading pool and with her new fish sprinkler:





Hooray for summer!

2-year appointment

Elizabeth had her 2-year doctor's check-up today. She did very well. She was pretty shy with Dr. Emeric at the beginning, but warmed up to him by the end. She especially liked him when he told her she didn't have to have a shot today and that she could have a sticker!

She weighed 22.8 pounds (6th percentile) and was 32 inches tall (8th percentile). So, she's still a peanut, but right on her growth curve - and even back on the charts!

I've heard that if you double their height at age 2, you get a prediction of their final adult height. According to that, Elizabeth will be 5'4", which is exactly my height, so I guess that sounds reasonable!

Birthday overload

We had Elizabeth's birthday party this afternoon, and it was a lot of fun! Elizabeth enjoyed the preparations this morning, especially the balloons...



..the party hats...



...and the Blue's Clues birthday cake!



BB even gave her a beautiful new party dress to wear:



Once everyone arrived, she had even more fun with balloons...



...bubbles...



...and stickers.




After lunch, it was time to open presents! The first presents she got were twin baby dolls in a baby carrier and a new doll stroller.





The only problem was that she wanted to play after that, so it was hard to get her to stay still to open the rest of her presents.

But, we did convince her to stop playing long enough to get a great new puzzle book from Aunt Beth and her family...



...a Curious George toy and books from Gran...



...a big Magnadoodle from Aunt Erin and her family...



...as well as a fun dog and dog carrier from Aunt Amy and a great new tennis outfit from Granny Pat. She received so many nice things - thank you everyone! She's going to have a lot of fun playing with all her new toys!

After the presents were opened, it was time for cake and ice cream. Elizabeth blew out her candle (with some help from Daddy)...




...then she had fun playing with Blue and the other toys from the cake.



She also made sure we all were wearing our proper birthday attire - party hats!







David got attacked by a strange-looking birthday rhinoceros...



...but Elizabeth checked him out with the gear from her new doctor's kit, and he was alright.



It was a great day, and now she's sleeping off the sugar high! Thanks everyone!

Let the birthday fun begin!

Elizabeth may not fully understand the meaning of having a birthday, but she's gotten really good at telling us she's going to be "two years old" and holding up two fingers. And, she definitely understands the meaning of a birthday present! Today, when the mailman showed up on the front porch with a package, she immediately yelled, "Elizabeth's birthday present!" And it was - thank you, Aunt Beth! She was, however, horribly disappointed when I told her she had to wait until tomorrow to open it at her birthday party.

Before you think I'm too mean, she's already had her share of birthday present "previews." My friend Carolyn came over on Tuesday night and gave her..not one...not two...but THREE wrapped birthday presents. Can you see why she's been given the honorary "Aunt" title? Elizabeth received bubbles, Dora chalk, two board games (Candyland and Chutes and Ladders), and a bunch of new books...including a fabulous dog book that we've already read at least 50 times to her. (Everyone will get a kick out of this one...it even tells you that "All dogs pee"!)

Here's a picture of her reading it with David:



She also received her birthday present from the gift exchange from my online Mommy group yesterday.



She got a new doll with lots of accessories - including a potty and a pacifier that makes her go to "sleep"! As you can imagine, she absolutely loves her new baby! But, for a while, she was afraid that LouLou was "broke" and had to be "thrown away," because why else would she need a new baby? :) She's named her new baby "Chloe" - after the baby that lives next door to Gran.





She also is very tempted to try the baby's potty seat - so far we've managed to keep her from doing that, but we have found her sitting on it several times:



David and I have conveniently neglected to teach her that this baby also knows how to drink, eat, poop and pee. Oops! Anyone that lets her know will be subject to lightning bolts and rack torture...or at least the same gift for your own child for you to deal with!

The birthday festivities will continue throughout the weekend. BB and Uncle Scott are coming up from Mississippi, and they will be here shortly. Then, we're having Elizabeth's birthday party tomorrow. It will be a small one with just us, BB, Uncle Scott, Gran, Granddad, Granny Pat, and our friends who have a son about Elizabeth's age and another baby. I figure we'll save the big birthday bashes until she can remember them! Then, her actual birthday is on Sunday (May 6).

And, lest you forget that we actually have a son living with us, here are some pictures of Jonathan rough-housing with Elizabeth (aka "avoiding doing the dishes"). He's gotten very good at avoiding the camera lately!





And, for those of you keeping up with my tonsil saga, my throat is doing a lot better now, but this last week was very rough. I have a high tolerance for pain and usually am able to keep going through anything, so I figured I'd pretty much sail through it. (For example, the day after I got my wisdom teeth out, I was in McDonald's eating a hamburger and fries.) I even originally contemplated not taking the pain medicine because I've never really had to take it for anything before....NOT! This is the worst pain I've ever experienced. I've been downing heavy-duty pain medicine as often as I possibly can (without exceeding recommended dosages, of course), and I was still in a tremendous amount of pain. I haven't been able to talk hardly at all (after they told me I'd be able to talk again almost immediately), and I wouldn't have been able to eat solid foods even if they let me (and they won't let me for 2 weeks after the surgery). I've gotten really sick of Ensures, yogurt, pudding, soup, and popsicles! However, the good news is that today I'm actually starting to feel a lot better, so I hope I'm finally coming out of it. I'm sure it will all be worth it in the long run (at least that's what they tell me!).

Birthday letter #2

Here is the 2nd of the birthday letter installments. You can re-visit the first one here. The sap-o-meter is once again slipping off the scale!

May 6, 2007

Dear Elizabeth,

Another year has gone by, and it's time for me to sit down and try to write another birthday letter that encompasses all of my feelings for you. The task is impossible, but I'm still going to take a stab at it, as I promised you I would.

This 2nd year of your life has been a whirlwind of activity. You (finally) learned to walk – with much help from your eartubes – and our lives have not been the same since! Your Daddy and I laugh at you every day as you run – usually with your arms flailing about and an aura of instability – everywhere you go. You tackle every new activity with a dynamic sense of energy and urgency that is true to your personality. Your favorite phrase is "all by self," and you try to do everything that way – even the things you're not quite capable of yet! We're working hard to encourage your sense of independence, while still keeping you safely in our grasp. I imagine that's something we'll struggle with throughout our parenting years.

Your vocabulary is tremendous, and you never stop using it. From the minute you wake up until time for bed at night, words are streaming out of your lips. And, we just love talking to you. Your sense of humor shines through as you act silly and goof around with us. You have great examples from your Daddy and Jonathan, and the 3 of you already keep me laughing every night at the dinner table. You impress us with your intelligence every day – from the way you remember minute details of all of our activities, to the way you count and identify letters, numbers, shapes and objects, to the way you've memorized your favorite songs and books, to even the way you are able to identify the specific voice of a bluejay singing outside your window (something I can't even do!). I've told your daddy that I just want you to be a happy girl, whether you're classified as "gifted" or "average," as I personally know the challenges "gifted" can bring. But, I'm afraid you may have inherited that "gifted" gene, and your Daddy and I are going to do everything we can to nurture that and to help you appreciate and use your God-given talents.

Your heart is growing everyday, and your sweetness overflows. You're always careful to make sure we all have the things we need, and you are always offering to share with us (although we usually don't accept bites from your soggy cookies!). And, you do a great job of taking care of LouLou, Blue, and the rest of your stuffed friends. They are never wanting for butt paste or clean diapers! As I've been sick this week after my tonsil surgery, you've taken numerous opportunities to give me extra kisses and hugs, and we've even heard you pray several times, "Dear God…mommy's throat better soon…amen." That really made my heart swell with pride. I hope you continue to ask and rely on God to take care of all of your needs every day of your life. I know He has truly answered my prayers by giving you to me.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Libby Lou. I love you!

Mommy