A Fast 9 Months

 After just getting over being sick, Eliza woke up last night running a fever. After feeding her and giving her some Tylenol, she slept soundly for a few hours. When she woke up, you could tell he wasn't feeling well, so I rocked and and she fell asleep. Wanting to take advantage of her sleeping, I laid down on the couch with her and we took a nap. There is nothing better than cuddling up with a cute little baby! <3

When she woke up again, she was fussy because she didn't feel well and her hair was a mess from sleeping on my arm and the couch. She is going to love seeing this picture when she is older! ;)

 After giving her some more Tylenol and cuddling, she got closer to herself again. While she still wasn't feeling well, she is such a trooper. This month was much more difficult to take her picture because she is constantly on the move. She no longer sits and gives you her attention. There is always something more interesting somewhere else.

Waiting for her Dr. appt

At 10:30, we had Eliza's 9 month Well Baby check-up. Thankfully we got good news that her weight is going up and that she looks healthy overall. Dr. Matthias is confident that since we have her feeding worked out, she will start growing more quickly and get back up to her growth curve.

After Eliza's appointment, we went to lunch as a family and went to donate blood. Michael donated first while I played with Eliza. Right now, Eliza is more like a puppy because she wants to chew on everything. When I was moving the beads on the toy, she did not care because she was chewing. After donating blood, we finished packing to visit all of our friends in Los Angeles.

Our flight left from Lincoln at 8:15pm, about 20 minutes later than it should have. That should have been a sign that this was going to be a rough flight. We got to Denver and learned that our connecting flight to LA was 2 hours late. So, for now, we are waiting in the Denver airport. Despite it being about 10pm our time, Eliza is being really good crawling and playing. I hope that the rest of our time goes well.

It's a Wonderful Life

Although we didn't have all of our family with us for Christmas, we had a great time with just our little family. Michael had to work the 24th, 25th and 26th this year, so we had to wait for him to wake up at 2pm to do Christmas and eat our breakfast casserole.

Thankfully, Eliza bug is young this year and doesn't fully understand the concept of opening presents. She did, however, enjoy ripping the paper again and playing with all of the neat things that came out of the mysterious boxes.

I got Eliza a toy that spits out little plastic balls and makes a lot of noise and two books, I Love You, Stinky Face and Barnyard Dance!. Michael got her a set of blocks that squish so she can chew on them, a book and a new bowl to mush food with. Michael got a sled (he's sitting on it) from Eliza so that they can play on it and footie PJs from me! Michael got me some new sewing scissors, a new can opener and an oven tray puller-outer (the technical term ;) ). All-in-all, it is days like this that remind me that we have a Wonderful Life!

No Escape

 Eliza is a pro at standing up these days! That being said, she is also a pro at standing in her crib I found out today. When I walked in, after she called me on the monitor, she greeted me with a smile and a wave, standing. Not good... so I asked Michael to lower her crib before he went to work. Now, she can stand all she wants (for now) and she can't tumble over.

Tonight, Eliza tried avocado for the first time. It was pretty cute because she is just learning to start chewing. She liked it okay if I put it in her mouth, but she did not particularly like touching the pieces herself. By the end of it, she was starting to get it down!

On the Road Again

Today we began our journey back to the Arctic. We didn't leave quite as early as we wanted to, which worked out because we got to spend a little time with Laura and Walt before we left and we missed most traffic. The first half of the trip went really fast because Eliza was well-rested and well-fed, but the second half of the trip went pretty slowly.

Taking a break at Burger King

 Eliza started to get very restless and irritable. You can only ask a baby to do so much, and she was letting us know that we had asked that much and more. Michael and I were amazed at how few of places had the indoor play areas like when we were kids. We were able to find a Burger King that had one so that Eliza could crawl around, but they didn't have a heater in there, so we didn't let her play long.

In the above picture, notice the outfit change. A little ways down the road, we started smelling a present that Eliza left us, so we pulled over at a store to change her and realized it required changing everything! Now that she is clean, she is much more pleasant, although the toy probably doesn't think so! Can't wait to be home for a few days.

Pre-Christmas in Alvarado

 We left Vo and VoVo's house early Sunday morning and began making our way back to north Texas to celebrate the season with my family. On the way up, I got to see my ZTA big sister, Catherine! I don't get to see her often, so Michael and I were ecstatic that it worked out. Although it wasn't long, the visit was great and Eliza got to meet her Aunt Cat :)

 My sweet cousin, Ashley, and her family hosted our Ugly Holiday Sweater party. In the picture above, Eliza is being entertained by Uncle Todd and Babe by silly sounds on a phone. Unfortunately, she really like "What does a fox say?". Even with tons of people passing her around and noise, she was such a good girl for the party. It wasn't until the end that she started getting a little fussy.

 Of course, everyone thought she was just the cutest, sweetest baby. At the party, she played with Kaysen and Spencer and was really interested in all of the neat things in Ashley's house. 

Although the visit wasn't as long as we would have liked, we got to see most of the people that we love and miss. Hopefully within the next few years, we will be closer to these fun people.

Pre-Christmas in Spring

This morning, we woke up and Eliza was in a wonderful mood! She had a lot to say to everyone and tired herself out pretty quickly. Lydia brought a Santa outfit and made Katie put it on, which we couldn't let go without a picture.

 One of the new things that Eliza was taught today by Aunt Lydia, which thankfully she did not master, was to throw toys everywhere. There was a large basket of dog toys that Eliza was very interested in, and with help, she successfully made a mess! She was having a great time!

 After lunch, we opened presents. I don't know what it is, but everyone loves to buy presents for babies, especially when they are this cute! Eliza got new clothes, some new toys and rocking giraffe.

 She isn't stable enough to sit on it by herself yet, especially with tights on, but she was having a great time on it. Once we get batteries in it, I am sure she will have a blast. The only downside about people loving to buy gifts for Eliza is that my car is only so big! Thankfully, Vo said he would ship the giraffe to us so that we don't have to struggle to get it back.

After presents and before dinner, we simply enjoyed each others' company. Eliza had a great time sitting on Papa's lap playing with his glasses. Now, she thinks that all glasses are hers and will take them right off of your face! All in all, we had a wonderful visit!

Eliza Meets Some VIPs

First thing this morning, we woke up and started driving to see my grandmother, Meme, who is not doing well. I have so many fun memories with her, so it is super important to me that Eliza gets to meet her, even if she likely won't remember. Although Eliza did not seem fond of the idea of being back in her car seat, she once again was a trooper. When we got to Meme's, we found her pretty sick and I am worried about her. While we were there, we heard stories about me and our family which were nice to hear. Not wanting to tire Meme, we didn't stay a long time.

The outfit and bow that Sarah gave Eliza

After leaving Meme's, we drove about 2 1/2 hours to see my youngest sister, Sarah. I haven't seen her in 2 or 3 years, so it did my heart well to find her doing well. She is a sweet girl and really enjoyed meeting Eliza. Although we did not stay as long as I would have liked, I will take any time I can get with my baby sister. Now to drive about 1 1/2 hours to Vo and Vovo's to end our very exciting day!

Better than Yesterday

The main reason we are in Texas is because Michael has been in training yesterday and today for work. While he is training, Eliza and I have been hanging out in the hotel. We usually don't let her watch TV, but that is about the only thing there is to do. She has really enjoyed watching PBS programs, like Sesame Street, Cailou and Clifford. It is super cute because she giggles while they laugh.

Watching Clifford

The past week or so has been pretty rough on  our little family because Eliza has not been wanting to eat. I figured out that it was the soy formula that we had her on which was irritating her tummy. She still isn't ready for soy or dairy, so I bought some hypo-allergenic formula and that seems to be making an improvement. She still isn't interested in solids, but I am going to give her tummy time to heal before I get too concerned about that. Today, she seems back to her self, smiling, laughing and playing. What a relief to see a smile on this sweet girl's face.

Getting kisses from Auntie Nicole

After Michael got out of training today, we drove to Dallas to meet Nicole and Chad. Despite have to drive in Dallas traffic, which is ridiculous, it was so nice to see them. This is the first time we have seen them since their wedding when Eliza was much smaller. What is funny about this picture above is that shortly after, Eliza dumped most of a warm soup all over Nicole's lap. Sorry ;)

Chad has apparently been watching Dog Whisperer, so when Eliza would get a little fussy, he would use tips that he learned. The above picture shows 'eye contact'. It was entertaining to watch because Eliza just looked at him like he was crazy!

It will be super nice if we can move back to Texas within the next few years so that we can be closer to these two amazing people!

Texas

Even Eliza is super happy to back in Texas! We have been on the formula now for 2.5 days and it seems like her appetite is slowly coming back. 

Yesterday was very exciting! Eliza discovered the magical door that the dogs use to go outside. Since we were watching her closely, we let her have free reign. We only grabbed her when she made it halfway through. Later in the evening, we went to Katie's choir concert, which she did so well at! I am such a lucky mommy!

Today, we met Aunt Mek, Nanny, Jon and Rebekah for lunch. While Eliza was not he super social self, she was so good at lunch. After lunch, we went up to Nanny's work and met a large majority if Eliza's fan club. For the rest of the evening, we are going to take it easy and then meet PJ for dinner at one of Michael's favorite restaurants. It's good to be home.

Road Trip

Anxious to get home, we set out when Michael got home at about 6:30am. To keep Eliza bug company, Michael sat in the back with her. About 2 hours into the trip, I looked back saw this.

When asking if Eliza was enjoying the car trip, this is the face she gave me. She was such a trooper and fussed very little! While she hasn't vomited a lot, she has little to no appetite. Looking at her symptoms, I began to think that there is a problem with the formula we are giving her. Since she is lactose intolerant, we have her on a soy-based formula. I called the doctor (I'm sure they are getting sick of me) and they said to switch her to a hypo-allergenic formula for supplementing.

Aside from it tasting awful, I hope this is a better fit. We ended our trip by meeting both sides of grandparents for dinner. So glad to be home!

Back Down

Just when we thought Eliza was starting to feel better, she now is having tummy issues. For her first feeding of the day yesterday she vomited it up. It was super scary because it was a lot and she started choking on it. Being a first time mom, I of course freaked out. But, I started thinking that maybe it is just the drainage from her cold is upsetting her tummy. When she vomited her second meal up, I called the doctor. They told me to give her Pedialyte and watch for a fever. 

That worked for a lot of the day, but she still couldn't keep much down. Today, we are still switching between milk and Pedialyte, but her tummy doesn't appear to be getting any better. The only good thing about this situation is that she is super cuddly. Poor baby, hopefully she feels better for our trip tomorrow.

Ooh, Look What I Found

Eliza being philosophical 

Today, Eliza has been a mess! She is really testing the limits of what she can do and what she can get into.

First, she realized that there was "another side" to the barrier that keeps her trapped in the living room.

When the gate got boring, she crawled over to the Christmas tree. She was looking around and found some neat things!

Something shiny! We'll, that present didn't need the bow anyway. What should I do with it?

Oh, no! It's trying to get away! Whew, got it! Now, the only logical thing to do is... eat it! Oh man, mom! That was going to be good! Give it back :)

Christmas Pictures

Since Eliza is feeling a little better, we decided to keep our picture appointment at JC Penny's. We were really pleased with how they turned out even though there was very little cooperation on Eliza's part.

It took serious work to keep her looking at the camera because she is most interested in shiny things! We were acting like idiots trying to get her attention.

Since Michael works nights, we don't often get to hang out with him, but we got to have a lovely family date at the mall. It is so cute to see Michael with Eliza because you can tell there is nothing more important in the world.

This little scrunchy nose is the best gift of my life! This season is so much more fun with our Bug!

Eliza Sees Snow

 Over the last 24 hours, we have had a bit of snow. Although it is pretty, it is a pain in the rear because we have to shovel. So, as we were finishing up, we got Eliza all bundled up and took her out. I don't think she understood what was going on because everything looked so different!

 She was very serious most of the time and seemed like she was thinking. We only kept her out for about 5 minutes because we didn't want her cute little nose to get too cold. We can't wait for her to get a bit bigger because we want to play with her in the snow so bad! Michael has asked for a sled for Christmas so he and Eliza can play together... we'll see if Santa brings it ;)