Chatterbox

We might not always know exactly what she's saying, but she lets us know that she's trying to tell us something! In fact, Elizabeth is starting to put words together. For example, the other day she said, "Thank you, Daddy." There was a time a couple months ago where we could count the number of words in her vocabulary. No longer can we do that! In fact, she comes out with words that we did not even know that she could say.

She has a mind of her own, too. I made the mistake last week of telling her to come help mommy pick out her clothes to wear and she ended up in a dress and snowboots in 70 degree weather. At 6:15 in the morning, I did not have the time nor energy to argue fashion with her.

She's been a whole lot of fun these days and keeps us laughing. We went to the zoo a couple of weeks ago and she really enjoyed seeing the monkeys (once pronounced "mom-mee" but since that was a way to close to mommy, the word has evolved into muh-[pause]-me). She also liked the turtles. However, when she saw a turtle in the yard today, she wasn't real impressed. Maybe because she couldn't sit on it like she could sit on the (fake) turtles at the zoo.

We're looking forward to the summer. Instead of one week long vacation, I think we might take several mini-vacations. Jason is off work every other Friday, so this would work out nice. We'll see. Thank goodness winter is over, but we're wondering what happened to spring!

New pictures are here!

New photos

I know it's been awhile! There are some new photos if you click the photo link to the right. They are under January/February 2009.

Elizabeth says new words every day. This morning (after going to the ER because she has pink eye), I gave her a treat--powdered donut holes--something we don't ever have at home. She wanted more and stood at the counter and said, "NO-NUH" (I understood that she said "donut"). You'll see some pictures of her with powder on her face!

There are also some pictures of her in her new playhouse. Good times!

Christmas Fun

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Elizabeth has enjoyed her 2 weeks home with mommy and her week with daddy. We were home for Christmas and at Grandma and Papa Updegrave's. She got a slide/swing playset from them and we believe she's an aspiring gymnist.

We also traveled to Ohio to see Grammy and Papaw Cline, Aunt Daniele, Uncle Curtis, Olivia and Lauren. Elizabeth loved spending time with her cousins (6 and 4). She kept up with them pretty well, considering the age difference!

She's a sweet, smart, fun little girl and she brings so much joy to us!

Click here for Christmas pictures.

First Birthday

We recently celebrated Elizabeth's first birthday. Grammy and Papaw Cline were here for Thanksgiving and we had a little "party" for Elizabeth. Some how it seems that she knew that she should get excited when opening her gifts!

Elizabeth continues to amaze and entertain us. We just can't get over how smart she is. She pretty much understands everything that you say. Her verbal vocabulary consists of: hi, kitty, Mama, Dada, hello (when she's pretending to answer a phone), tree, and thank you. (I think that's it!)

She plays very well by herself. One of her most recent favorite things to do is to put ornaments on the Christmas tree. We have soft/plush/non-breakable ornaments toward the bottom of the tree. She takes them off and then puts them back on by setting them on a branch and hoping they stick. She also likes to get the real telephone and press the numbers. We're waiting for a phone bill that says that she's called Brazil or something. Elizabeth likes to give the kitty hugs (sometimes the kitty doesn't mind). She also likes to throw objects through the cat door that leads to the basement. Whenever I go to the basement where our washer and dryer are, she will sit and look through the cat door at me...it's so funny!

Our little piggy eats anything (and everything). She seems to have a hollow leg these days. She no longer gets bottles during the day--only one bottle at night. She's not the best sleeper in the world, but she's better than she was at one time.

She goes around saying "hi" over and over when she sees you. She puckers up when she gives kisses now, but she's a little stingy with the kisses at times! If you hand her a tissue and tell her to blow her nose, she puts it up to her nose and makes a blowing noise through her mouth. It's pretty funny!

At this moment, she's got the TV remote and is pressing the buttons and pointing it at the ceiling fan! I'm not sure where she got that idea from, but it didn't work. I just asked her if she was hungry and she went running to her high chair! Got to go!!

Fall Fun

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted anything. I've been quite busy with work and my administration internship. Elizabeth is growing up fast! She makes us laugh all the time with the things she does. We've done many fun things with her this fall. We took her to the county fair where she got to see all the animals and even pet a couple. She just finished swim lessons at the indoor pool. Mommy and Daddy really liked swim lessons because they wore her out and she slept very well those nights! She does not like her face to go underwater and she lets you know that she's angry if you put her under! We hope to go to the pumpkin patch sometime this weekend.

Elizabeth eats just about anything. She walks/runs around everywhere and it seems that she would rather play with anything she's not supposed to play with than her toys! In fact, just now I was uploading some photos from the camera and she pulled the camera off the desk, interrupting the process. She's also chewing some address labels (everybody can use a little extra fiber, I guess).

Elizabeth is going to be a pumpkin for Halloween. We'll probably make our rounds to a few neighbor friends and grandma's house. New pictures are here!

Walking!

We knew she'd be an early walker--Jason walked at 8 1/2 months and she's always been very strong. Yesterday, she took about 4 steps. Today, she took about 7 or 8 steps at a time. Unfortunately, along with this new milestone, she has also learned to climb. She's been climbing up Grandma and Papa's fireplace step. However, she has no concept of the step going down, so we have to be right on top of her all the time.

As always, she's a lot of fun! We'll post pictures when we can!

A Summer of Fun

Although my goal was to update our blog more frequently this summer, it didn't seem to happen! We did have quite a busy summer and it went very fast. Elizabeth and I joined Grandma and Papa Updegrave and Grandmama for a vacation in VA Beach at the end of July. Elizabeth especially loved swimming in the pool at the hotel. She kicks her legs and paddles her arms when you say "kick, kick, kick". She had fun relaxing and getting into everything. Less than a week later, we met up with Grammy and Papaw Cline in Myrtle Beach. Elizabeth's cousins, Olivia and Lauren, were there too. The three of them had a good time together. Olivia and Lauren enjoyed "helping" with Elizabeth, including feeding her, changing her diapers (well they didn't exactly change them, but they watched), and helping her "walk". When cousin Lauren (4 yrs. old) fed her, she tended to shove the spoon all the way back in Elizabeth's throat! She also liked to hold Elizabeth. Unfortunately, Elizabeth is quite squirmy most of the time and "holding" her meant holding her down (as you'll see in some of their pictures).

Elizabeth says "hi", "daddy", "kitty", and we think she actually said "organic" in the grocery store last week! Sometimes she just "talks" and we're not sure if she's preaching or cussing us out (arms and hands go flying and she tends to get a serious look on her face).

She'll be walking soon, but we're not encouraging it too much! More to come....