Coloring

In order to nurture Elizabeth's budding artist and to keep her busy while Marc and I try to do things like cook supper, we bought Elizabeth markers and let her sit in her highchair and color. (Yes, I bought washable markers.) She loves to color with the markers. She loves to draw on paper, the table, her high chair and her favorite, herself.

 

Look what these fools have given me!

Orange is my color

Not on my face or hands?



Artist at work

It might be a while before we get a Rembrandt, but she sure has fun.  And, Marc and I can talk to each other and make dinner.  Marty is just disappointed that she is at the table and not dropping food.

Black Friday

The Friday after Thanksgiving we did not go shopping, but to Kurt & Erica's for an amazing Thanksgiving meal with their families. Autumn, who turned 6 (Oye!) celebrates her birthday after lunch so it is a fun family gathering. This year Elizabeth got to meet a new cousin, Finn who was born in February. She kept calling him baby but he is almost as big as she is!

Same height, 1 lb difference, same hair, 9 months different is age.

Centers of attention

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Marc's family.  It was a fun time.  I had the week off from work so Elizabeth and I spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at home.  I was trying to get some cleaning, decorating and sewing done.  Elizabeth was trying to help me, which means not much was finished.  But, she refused to nap for more than 45 mins those days.  Well, on Thanksgiving, not only would our little turkey not eat the spread, but she wouldn't go down for a nap without me and then she slept for 3 hours!  I felt bad because the family didn't get much time, but thankfully there will be more Thanksgivings.

Grandma W

Great Aunt Bonnie makes me giggle

Uncle Matthew is very serious

Popcorn

 Elizabeth loves popcorn! She knows the sound of the air popper starting up and runs to the kitchen. She loves to watch it pop and says "Whoa" when one flies out of the popper. She waits anxiously for it to be done so she can sit with Daddy and eat popcorn. Daddy enjoys it too. He has shown her how to throw it in the air and catch it (yes, she tries it and no she hasn't caught one yet). He has shown her how popcorn sticks to your tongue so you can walk around with your tongue out with popcorn on it. She likes to feed popcorn to Daddy, Mommy and Marty. Yes her hands are wet and covered with dog slobber, but how do you not accept her generosity? So, on the weekends popcorn is a big thing at our house

Halloween

This year out little Peanut was a skeleton for Halloween.  We went to her daycare party the Friday before Halloween.  It was a bit overwhelming for her but she did like the little bouncy castle.  She also went Trunk or Treating (Parents lined their cars up in the parking lot, opened and decorated their trunks and gave out candy.)  Elizabeth's favorite were the goldfish crackers.  Marc and I enjoyed the rest of her treats. 


Enjoying some treats at daycare party

On Halloween we didn't take Elizabeth out.  She was not in a good mood so we dressed her up and handed out candy.  We had a nice group of kids come by, including a lot of neighbors with small kids.  There were some older kids, probably too old to trick or treat, but they worked on their costumes so we gave them candy anyway.

Give me the camera!

Maybe we should have dressed Elizabeth up like a princess or fairy tale character.  99% of the little girls were, but we think our little skeleton was so cute we will be happy to pay for her therapy later!  Of course she didn't coorperate to give us a good picture.  Thankfully there will be many more Halloweens!

I refuse to wear the hood!

Pumpkin Carving

One of my parents' friends gave us two pumpkins for Elizabeth this year. Honestly she didn't think much of the carving and the guts, but she liked the seeds and playing with the marker as Marc and I carved.  She also tried to put the guts back in the pumpkin as Marc pulled them out. Elizabeth did like eating the pumpkin. Yes, seriously eating the pumpkin. She took bites out of the carved parts (eyes, nose, mouth, etc). She enjoyed it and she didn't turn orange so I guess it is all good. It was a little chilly in the house so we tried to get her to keep her candy corn hat on. She refused to wear the spider hat I made her. Hopefully it will fit again next year. We forgot to get pictures of the pumpkins when we were finished, but oh well. There will be plenty more in the future.

Serious work

Look what I have!

The seeds are yummy



Try some Daddy

Silly face

Artist at work

Walking

As of October 17, our little Elizabeth is a walker!!  She started getting the hang of it when we were at my parents' the weekend before when she fell in love with the little pull behind toys and now she is off and running.  When we got home I added a ribbon to her Farmer Elmo tractor and wagon and she lives to pull that around.  Marc and I are not in love with this toy (Thank you to the Otts) and it's singing so we get a bit of an evil joy about tying up Elmo.  Tee hee.  So she is walking, talking and rocking.  What will she do next?!

Rocking chair

Even if I am backwards, ain't I cute?

I love this chair!

Elizabeth has decided she loves the little rocking chair she was given and the big rocking chair in her room.  She figured out how to get the chair rocking and now everything she sits on gets the rocking test.  She has figured out how the get up in her little chair and turn around and sit down.  She has also figured out how to crawl onto the seat and hang on to the back and rock and stand in the chair.  Our little dare devil!  Elizabeth is taking after her Dad, loving the rocking chair and giving her parents gray hairs!

Homecoming

My first Concordia Tshirt

The second weekend of October was homecoming at Concordia. This year was Marc's 15 year college reunion. The weather was beautiful! Not many of Marc's classmates were at homecoming, but we still had lots of friends to see and things to do.

 

Heidi, Me & E, & Sara and Cora

We also stopped at my parents' place on the way there and the way home.  Somehow we managed to time it just right for meals!  Funny how we always manage to do that!  My siblings (who live in the area) all got together to see us the short time we were there.  We're grateful they all interupted their busy schedules just to see us.  Elizabeth loved seeing her cousins, especially Chase who is almost as silly as she is.  Grandma and Grandpa also have these great pull along toys that Elizabeth was really interested in!  

Being silly monkeys with Chase

Grandma, E & Great Aunt Sonja

Wearing purple with Stan & Alison

Swimming at Maya's birthday party

Elizabeth's cousin Maya turned 7 in September and we went to her party.  We got to go to the pool, which was a second for Elizabeth.  She didn't think much of it, but towards the she would lean back or forward and kick.  That is a great improvement over our vacation this summer when she refused to be in the water.  She loved watching and getting to know all of her Wilson cousins.  Elizabeth traveled great.  We spent a couple nights at Mom & Dad W's and Elizabeth got to see Great Aunt Audrey and Great Grandpa Finley.

Refusing to smile for Great Aunt Audrey

Four Generations of Finleys

Swumming

Testing the water with Mommy

 

Cool cousin Aidan

It is hard for Marc and I believe Maya is already 7.  We're her Godparents and it feels like she should still be Elizabeth's age.  Maya is growing into a beautiful young lady, which is something we wouldn't get to enjoy if she stayed a baby.

October 8, 2012

Elizabeth is growing by leaps and bounds!  Last week Marc took her in for her 15 month checkup.  He doesn’t remember the exact numbers but she is around 28 ½ inches tall and about 28 pounds.  She has moved up a size in diapers so she is now in size 4.  The bigger diapers makes all of her 12 month pants not fit so we got out her 18 month clothes.  Apparently, I love to buy Elizabeth dresses because we are coming up short on pants.  I figure I can make her some leggings and she can wear the dresses.  If she is anything like I was, she will ripe tights every time she wears them.  I don’t know how my mom kept buying me tights.

Elizabeth isn’t walking alone yet.  She’ll walk between Marc and I and dives for a hug when she gets close.  It isn’t a habit I’m in a hurry to break because baby hugs are so darn sweet.  We’re pretty sure she could walk solo if she wanted to, but it doesn’t appear she does.

Elizabeth’s vocabulary is growing every day.  This morning she told me the cow says moo!  Until this morning she would only say baa for sheep.  She can also make the noise for an elephant although she can’t say elephant.  She says doggie, kitty, baa, moo, mommy and daddy, uh oh, owl and other things.  She has also started using sign language too.  She will sign "eat", "more" and "all done" when she wants to!

Hanging with Cousin Claire at G&G Wilson's



Helping Mommy bake a cake (egg free)

I think she liked it!

Being silly with Mom at the Nativity
Talent Show

GO PACKERS!

Trying the pickles Mommy made from
Great Grandma Finley's recipe.  Yum!

Helping Daddy chose a song to play

Riding my scooter and helping Mommy
water plants

 

Scrapes and Sickness

 That was the title of our weekend.  Friday night Elizabeth threw up once and again on Saturday morning.  We thought it was a teething thing.  She wasn’t really running a fever and wasn’t acting sick so we didn’t worry about it.


The injury is just on her forehead.  The cheek is sauce.

Sunday afternoon we were outside.  I was cleaning the flower beds by the house and Marc and Elizabeth were playing with one of her ride on toys.  She loves those and can really get going on the driveway.  Well, she got going a little too well.  The wheels got stuck and Elizabeth went over the steering wheel on to her forehead.  She got a small scrape right in the middle of her forehead.  Of course she screamed bloody murder and poor Marc felt so bad, but really there was no harm done.  She did wind up with her first scab, but considering she is over 13 months old I don’t think we did too bad.

Little Miss Attitude

Everything was fine until about 3:00 am on Monday morning.  Marc and I both woke up feeling not very good and it only got worse.  Turns out Elizabeth did have the stomach flu and she shared it with both of us.  Of course with Marc and I making frequent trips to the bathroom, Elizabeth woke up and was ready for the day.  I got up with her, put in her favorite movie “Curious George” and lay on the floor wishing for death and making sure Elizabeth didn’t hurt herself.  I should say, she doesn’t really watch the movie, but it catches her attention with the music and she laughs at George.  Thankfully Elizabeth was 100% fine so she could go to daycare.  Getting her there took a lot of effort, but I did it and came home and went straight back to bed.  Turns out all of the kids in her room and the teachers had the same thing over the weekend because of one little guy who came in sick.

Besides the germs, Marc and I are so grateful for Elizabeth.  She makes us laugh and smile every day and we are very blessed to have her.

Upside down baby or hanging with Daddy

Weekend in Osakis

Last weekend we went to Osakis for the Tri-annual Triebenbach Reunion.  Of course it was the first one Elizabeth attended.  She was the youngest there and even though it was at her nap time and there were lots of people there, she did great.  She loved walking around the community center.  She must have done a hundred laps!
Grandma & Grandpa T also got to spend time with Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is so close to walking and G&G T were helping her.  We also go to see Stan & Alison, Scott, Shelly, Kadyn & Chase so it was a good time.  My mom is so great about hosting meals and being flexible when we come up so we can see everyone as much as possible.  And, the rest is really great about setting aside time for us when we are there.  We always have a nice time and GOOD food!  Elizabeth impressed G&G T with how much she eats.  We're waiting for a growth spurt any day now!

Watching Daddy mow in our picture window



Uncle Stan & Aunt Alison at our place dressed up
for a wedding



Walking, or practice running with Grandma T



My three favorite beings playing outside

Walking at the reunion (I made her dress!)



How did my foot get dirty??