So NOT Ready For This

I was so ready when it came time to deliver Eleanor. Or at least as ready as any first time mom could be for the experience of labor and delivery. I was ready when we brought her home from the hospital and when we moved her from the bassinet to the crib. I was ready when Eleanor slept in her own room and no longer slept in the pack-n-play in our room. I was kind of ready when we put her in the nursery at church for the very first time and when she took her first steps. I was even kind of ready for toddlerhood. Although I must admit I have shed a few tears on more than a few occasions as I realize that my baby is no longer a baby but a little girl. But one thing I was definitely not ready for was this......
...the day we would transition from a crib to a toddler bed. I had hoped we would be able to make it until her 2nd birthday before we would have to even consider this. However, in true Kamikaze style, Eleanor decided that 18 months of sleeping in a crib was long enough and it was time for her to be free. Just two days ago while I was hanging clothes in her closet Kamikaze "climbed" out of her crib for the first time. Later that evening she tried again and yesterday morning as well. Daniel decided the crib would be converted to a bed before nap time. I was and am so NOT ready for this. We toddler proofed the room as much as we could and made the change. The transition has not been seamless but definitely smoother than I anticipated.

Testing it out with "pa" (paci) and "night night" (her lovey).

Bedtime - she cried for about 5 minutes and when I peeked in 20 minutes later this is what we found. She had also fallen asleep on the floor during nap time.
This is what I found today at nap time. Hopefully she will get the hang of falling asleep in the bed soon.

Eyob and Ephrem

Over the weekend I had the amazing privilege of welcoming home two precious little boys. My sweet friend Amy and her husband Mike traveled to Ethiopia last week to bring home their sons. What a wonderful time it was as friends and family gathered at O'hare Airport to welcome this new family of four home.

Eyob (John) and Ephrem (Ryan) are absolutely adorable and I cannot wait for Eleanor to have a play date with them. I think they are going to be great friends.Eyob

Ephrem

Wordless Wednesday or Baby It's Cold Outside

18 Months

Wordless Wednesday

17 months old

Mommy forgot to post my 17 month picture. I will be 18 months old soon so I told her she needed to post it today. I was in Florida at my NaNa's house when I turned 17 months old. Mommy wanted to take a picture of me with NaNa and my best dog friend Kiefer. She tried real hard to get one of all of us looking at the camera but this is the best one she got.

Bow Head

Eleanor wore a bow in her hair today for the very first time. Now to all my big bow making mommy friends out there no comments on the size of this bow. We were just excited that we could actually get one to stay in her hair.

I love this picture!

C is for Cookies

Last night I made the best sugar cookies I have ever had. OK, maybe not better than the iced sugar cookies at Celebrity Bakery, but these cookies were pretty darn close. I received PW's cookbook for my birthday and have set out to try every recipe in the book. The recipe says it makes 18 cookies but I think this is a typo because my cookies were just the right size and I had enough dough for 48. Yum, yum!

Eleanor's Funny Side

I'm not sure what to call this face. Normally she does this when I tickle her, but this time she thought getting her photo taken was really funny.

Going Private

Our blog will be going private at the end of the month. If you would like an invite to continue reading our blog please leave a comment with your email address or send me an email if you have my address. We want everyone to be able to continue to keep up with our family but also want to make sure we are protecting our little one in the process.

Little Snow Bunny

Today, Eleanor played in the snow for the very first time. Her initial reaction was uncertainty but after a while I think she really enjoyed herself. She is definitely the cutest little snow bunny I have ever seen.

16 Months and the Red Chair

E is now 16 months old. It is hard to believe our baby is well into toddlerhood. Here are some fun facts about E.

* She still will not eat any type of meat. It does not matter how it is cooked or how hard I try to hide it in a dish she will spit it out.
* She knows the signs for all done, thank you, more, milk, eat, bath and baby.
* She also has about 20 words. It is amazing how quickly her vocabulary is growing.
* She continues to love to read. Her current favorites are The Little Train and Rudolph's Bright Christmas.
* She loves music and dancing.
* When daddy or mommy are on the laptop and she wants our attention she will walk up and close the laptop.
* She loves to Skype with her grandparents and will stand in front of the laptop and say "hi" even when no one is there.
* She also is obsessed with the cell phone and TV remotes.
* She has recently become very much a momma's girl and even though she calls for daddy all day long when he is at school or work she still clings to momma when he comes home.
* She loves her new red chair, a Christmas gift from GiGi and Pops. She likes to sit in there and watch Praise Baby or Baby Einstein. She also likes to put her baby in the chair and all of the animals from Noah's Ark.

We continue to be blessed by our sweet girl and look forward to what this month holds!

I Love My Aunt

Dear Aunt Beth,

I had a lot of fun playing with you while I was in Dallas for Thanksgiving. I miss you and wish you lived closer. Come visit me soon!

Love,
Eleanor

Happy Thanksgiving

15 Months Old and A Little Naptime Naughtiness

You certainly didn't think I would forget to post Eleanor's monthly picture did you? I didn't think so. It has been busy around our house and posting pictures has not been on the top of my to-do list. But today for your viewing pleasure you will find Eleanor's 15 month photo as well as a series of photos we have entitled "A Little Naptime Naughtiness."

First up, 15 month stats.
Height - 31.25 inches (75%)
Weight - 23lbs 2 oz (50%)
Cuteness - 100% (our doctor actually said that- I am not just saying that because I am her mom!)

This is typically the view we see of our sweet Kamikaze. Her backside. As she runs away as fast as she can. Can you see her sweet curls?

Next up, A Little Naptime Naughtiness.

On Saturday, Daniel put Eleanor down for a nap and came downstairs. I kept hearing the sound of rustling paper and asked Daniel if he had made sure all of her toys were out of the crib when he put her down. He said yes. Fast forward about 20 minutes. I could still hear E playing in her crib and occasionally giggling. She then started to fuss and Daniel went up to see if she had lost her paci. I heard Daniel begin to laugh when he entered her room. He then returned downstairs, grabbed the camera and said "you need to see this." My mind immediately went to the image of her hanging over the side of the crib trying to get out or in the crib with all of her clothes off and diaper to boot. How thankful I was when I walked in the room to find this and not one of the other scenarios:

Notice the red canvas tote on the floor and the coordinating canvas totes in their appropriate places on the changing table shelves.

Well, her little escapade did involve diapers just thankfully not the one she was wearing.

And here is sweet little Kamikaze proud of her new found skill of removing her tote from the changing table and emptying it's contents into her crib.

Needless to say, she did not end up taking a morning nap because she was so wound up from all her fun!

Love this little girl to pieces!!!!!

Kamikaze Strikes Again

If you look closely in the above picture you will see a nice little cut above my eyebrow. How in the world did that happen? Well, yesterday afternoon my sweet little Kamikaze and I were playing on the floor together. She would run up and give me a big sloppy kiss every few minutes. Unfortunately her little legs sometimes get ahead of the rest of her body and as she leaned in to give me a kiss she came crashing down on my face and hit me just right with her teeth. She immediately started to bawl and I quickly checked to make sure she had not knocked a tooth out. I had no idea I was bleeding. After E calmed down I went to wipe what I thought was slobber from my forehead only to see blood. I have a nice little knot and my brow area is pretty tender. This my friends, is life with Kamikaze. Thankfully she was not hurt and I did not require stitches.

Happy Reformation Day

Wordless Wednesday

Mommy and Me

New Favorite Photo

A couple weekends ago Daniel, Eleanor and I met up with some friends from Texas at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Natalie took this photo of our family as we were walking through the zoo. I love it! Eleanor is such a big girl and loves to walk everywhere.

Happy Fall

14 Months

I can't believe that Eleanor is already 14 months old. She brings us so much joy! Last year at this time E was still so tiny. She weighed a little less than 9 lbs and was still wearing 0-3 month clothes. Now our little girl weighs 23 lbs and wears size 18 month clothes. Last year she was working on rolling over and today we cannot keep her still for a minute. She loves to run and climb. In fact, we have had to remove some of the toys from the play area because she was using them to assist her in climbing on furniture and other objects. Last year she hardly ever made a sound and now she is trying so hard to talk. Just today she was mimicking me as I told her the names of the shapes in her shape box. She still does not say mama very often but when she does it is so sweet. Her favorite person is still daddy and that is ok in my book. When she hears the basement door open she runs to the gate at the top of the stairs and calls to dada until he comes up. She loves music and is a hoot to watch dance. She does this funny little bounce and shakes her bottom. Here's to 14 more months with our precious little one!

Pink, Pink and More Pink

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Perhaps you have noticed. Just yesterday Daniel, E and I were walking in Sam's Club and product after product was packaged in pink.


"According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the United States this year."

This month make a conscious effort to buy products whose proceeds help support breast cancer research. Do you eat yogurt? Yoplait has a pink lid initiative. Buy the yogurt with pink lids and send in the lids to help raise money for BCR. Make a donation to Susan G. Komen. Register for the 2010 Breast Cancer 3-Day. Get a mammogram. Wear Pink.

Do you know someone who is currently battling breast cancer? Send them a card. Do you know someone who is a survivor? Make a donation in their honor. Do you know someone recently diagnosed? Send them flowers.

Think Pink this month! Make a difference in the lives of those who have been and who will be affected by this dreadful disease.

Trains, Buses and Boats

Where oh where have we been? Now that our little kamikaze is 100% mobile (by this I mean running y'all) pictures are few and far between because I am unable to capture her on camera. She moves from the moment she wakes up until she goes to sleep and even then she moves while sleeping. I get exhausted just thinking about it!

Last week Daniel's parents and sister came to visit. We spent a little time sight seeing on Thursday. We spent the day on trains, buses and boats. We decided to take the train into the city so we would not have to fight traffic and parking hassles. We hopped on the train in our little town and headed to Chicago Union Station. Once in Chicago we hopped on a bus and headed to Navy Pier where we boarded a boat and enjoyed an architectural tour. We walked through Millenium Park and then headed up Michigan Avenue a little ways to catch our bus. It was a LONG day and poor E only got a 30 minute nap while we were on the boat tour but she did great.


First Train Ride


First Bus Ride


First Boat Ride (Pic of E on boat coming later)





The fountains in Millenium Park

Comparison

I was looking through some old pictures the other day and came across one of me when I was 9 months old. Now, I won't say that Eleanor looks exactly like me but there is definitely a resemblance.

You can decide for yourself.

13 Things About Me

13 Things About Me

1. I love to play outside.
2. My best friend is our neighbor Ethan.
3. I love books.
4. I have 6 teeth. 4 on top and 2 on bottom.
5. I call all animals with fur "doddies" (doggies).
6. I started walking 9 days after my first birthday.
7. I wear a size 6 shoe.
8. I love fruits and vegetables but do not care for meat.
Mom tries to disguise it but I find it and spit it out.
9. I need my paci and my lovey to go to sleep but I know they are not allowed out of
the crib or my car seat.
10. I like to drink milk and eat cheerios while I watch my Praise Baby DVD when I
first wake up.
11. I like to wave at strangers.
12. I like to play with socks.
13. I like to wake up early (6:00am).

Friday Foto

Wrapped

Eleanor has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. Just the other evening while Eleanor was eating dinner Daniel walked into the kitchen and started eating some animal crackers. E put out her little hand and started her "uh uh uh" (translated - I want that). So what does Daddy do? He hands her the animal crackers. When I asked him why he gave her the animal crackers in the middle of dinner he replied "She wanted them!" Wrapped I tell you, wrapped!