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With the arrival of Baby Brynne, we are now posting at littlewiegardladies.blogspot.com. Please check out the new blog.

Other recent photos

Daddy and Elliott at the Natural History Museum.  Elliott is pointing to the stuffed giraffe that is bending down to drink water.  

Elliott and Mille Lou at the playground.  They have just met in the middle and are figuring out how to cross without knocking the other one off.  It is "Baby American Gladiators" if you can imagine.  I think that Mille Lou won......

Ah, the old standard photo titled "Baby: In Nothing but Diaper and Shoes."  We just had to.  

I taught Elliott to eat with a spoon.  It was so very messy but so very fun.  This baby loves to eat, especially cheese.  She starts hyperventilating whenever she sees a package of string cheese.  But then again, so does her father.  Actually, Spencer hyperventilates over our new Ukrops find called "Pirate's Booty."  This stuff is basically cheesy poofs but organic and good for you.  

And finally, this photo is titled "Baby Comb-Over."  She's growing lots of hair but it tends to want to fall over to one side and still isn't very thick so it ends up looking like a comb-over.  We are so ready for pigtails!

March already?

Elliott is almost 11 months old and it feels like yesterday that Spencer and I were counting down the days until her arrival.  Now we are chasing down a crawler, bending over to let her practice walking with one hand and teaching her words!  I know that everyone thinks that their child is a genius or gifted and we are no exception.  So far at 11 months she can say the following words: dog, duck, uh-oh, da-da, ma-ma, cow, kitty cat, croc (as in crocodile), good, and her personal favorite: No! No!  I love the photo above of Elliott cruising on Daddy's briefcase.  Maybe we have another lawyer in the making?

Here are Daddy and Elliott at Kyla's first birthday party last month.  She has on silly bows and a top that has her name on it.  We love this outfit.  Okay, I love this outfit.  Spencer thinks it is silly.  

Finally we are enjoying all the parks that are near our home.  Elliott really can't climb or slide yet but she loves to cruise on the balance beam and she squeals when she's in the swing.  The other wonderful thing about playgrounds is meeting other mommies and making friends.  Today Elliott met a 6-year old and her twin baby sisters.  They were all over Elliott and she loved every minute of all that attention.  She also loved the mulch on the playground.  I spent a lot of time pulling it out of her hands and mouth.  This frightens me a little bit as I remember my mother telling stories of me at the beach for the first time.  I'm pretty sure we were at the beach for the first day and after spending all her time cleaning the sand out of my mouth, we spent the rest of vacation on the deck of the house.  Like mother, like daughter.  

We recently visited Ya-Ya and Pooh Ba in Northern Virginia.  Elliott experienced her first Metro ride into the District as we took her to the Natural History Museum.  We only made it through the mammal hall and the ocean exhibit but she loved it!  She especially loved the zebra and the giraffe (yay!).  My favorite was the skunk doing a handstand.  What a show-off.  

Another reason we believe Elliott to be brilliant is that she loves her flash cards.  She recognizes about 6 or 7 of them and will crawl to them when asked for one and she'll hand it to you.  Brilliant.  

Teeth, pulling up and cruising...all at once!

We have had a lot of milestones recently!  Elliott (after months and months and months and months of teething) FINALLY has her two bottom teeth.  Recall our earlier blogging when teething began during Lauren's wedding in Vermont.  Yep, she was 5 months old then and is 9 months old now.  So doing quick math, that is four months of teething.  We have gone through bottles of Tylenol, teething tablets and frozen teething toys.  Okay, so I know it's only the beginning of a multitude of teeth yet to come but we are so happy that Elliott has pearly whites decorating her beautiful smile!  She has also learned to pull herself to a stand in her crib which amuses her greatly.  

As you can see from this picture, Elliott and Monti are planning their escape.  They plan to travel the countryside in Elliott's pram, solving mysteries and fighting crime.  This new plan is possible because Elliott just started walking behind her pram.  Ya-Ya and Pooh Ba gave her this amazing wooden walker for Christmas and until recently she only played with toys on the sides.  Today she began to push forward and realized how quickly she could go!  Now the trick is teaching her to fall on her bottom.  Presently she falls forward, gripping tightly to the handle like the opening scene from "Cliffhanger".  It is the kind of  death-grip that whitens her precious little knuckles.  It is as though she is clinging to a trapeze high above the ground, and she knows there is no net to catch her.      

She is fast.  Faster than an octogenarian with a walker.  The dogs love the exercise they get chasing her from the back of the house to the front door, and back again...all day long.  
She has enough hair now for Mommy to style it.   She loves having her hair brushed.  We tried giving Elliott her own brush, but she just tries to eat the handle.  
I know this is a terrible picture of our beautiful girl, but it is the best we have to show her emerging bottom teeth. All Spencer can think about is the orthodontist's bills.  

Things are changing fast.  We will keep posting with all the updates. 

Crib Frustration

This is me happy.   I don't look like this today ... the crib is to blame.  Thankfully,  cooler heads prevailed and our marriage will survive.

I hate the crib.  I loathe the vile thing.  After one failed attempt to lower it to the appropriate height, I almost packed an overnight bag and went back to the office.  I seriously considered sleeping under my desk last night.  I was about to take a hatchet to the thing (Elliott and Courtney were not in the room), when I decided avoidance was better than wanton violence and destruction.

As for co-sleeping, I worry all is lost.  We have opened Pandora's box, no going back to Elliott spending all night in the crib (once it is repaired).  Soon I will have to buy a California-King just to fit the dogs, children and pillows.  That or I will have to permanently relocate to the guest room. 

Elliott went down easily today.  Hopefully we will enjoy a full night sleep. 

  

  

Blogging...time....never!

Here it is, almost the end of January, and I'm just getting to blog for the first time since Christmas.  It is freezing cold in Roanoke, Virginia but we have welcomed winter with open arms.  This time a year ago we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Elliott and beginning to put together her nursery.  I laugh thinking about how naive we were with eyes wide open.  In fact, it was almost exactly a year ago that we purchased her crib and dresser.  We would gaze into it's emptiness and think: "We'll have a little squirming, squealing baby in there soon!"  Oh, how life has changed.  Now Elliott starts out in the crib but usually ends up in our bed at about 2 or 3 am when Spence and I can't take anymore of the screaming.  

And yes, we are now "eating crow" for all those people that we nay-sayed about co-sleeping.  When you work as hard and as long hours as Spencer and I both do, you'll do anything for even another 20 minutes of sleep.  And quite honestly, I love having my little snuggling 9-month old right there between us.  After all, we waited so long for her, we want to enjoy every moment with her.  And that includes middle of the night meetings and spooning in our family bed.  Now will we regret this later when she's a full-blown toddler and refusing to sleep alone?  Maybe.  But who cares, you only live once and I don't mind having these extra little moments. 

I also laugh thinking about that empty crib as we endured the first "lowering of the crib" experience that will never be forgotten. Spencer and I have had some fights in the history of our relationship but let me just tell you, the lowering of the crib will truly test your marriage!  Poor frustrated Spencer tried so hard to lower the crib so our 9-month old who wants to stand and propel herself out won't hurt herself.  And to no avail.  The holes do not line up meaning that the mattress isn't steady and now the once easy one-arm-able lowering side is stuck in the down position.  So we can't even raise the crib back up for now and we can't get into the drawer beneath.  Thank God for factory warranties and the nice lady at Virginia Furniture Market who is sending out the technician tomorrow to fix our ailing crib.  (And remember, she's in the bed a lot now anyway!)

Here are Elliott, Peyton and Millie out at "In Recess" for a little R and R with their parents.  We had a blast that weekend as it poured down rain and we watched the wild rapids of the rising Jackson River wondering if we were going to be able to make it across the river to leave on Sunday!  What an adventure!

Finally, Christmas Celebration #3-Max and Rebecca's House

We ended our WEEK of celebrating Christmas with an all-day adventure at Max, Rebecca and Millie's house.  We enjoyed another beautiful warm day with food and presents.  Elliott did a lot of screaming and yelling at her cousin and Millie did a lot of running away from the screaming baby.  But both girls enjoyed Millie's new pink kitchen, especially the faux wooden food that Uncle Pierce gave Millie.  

Elliott with her Christmas bow.  

Mommy and Elliott.

Uncle Max and Cousin Millie.  

Daddy and Elliott.

Elliott opening her gift from Cousin Millie.  She has already watched the Elmo DVD about pets!  La la la Elmo's World!  Is it sad that Mommy enjoys Sesame Street as much as her child?  I am fascinated by that show and have been since I was Elliott's age!