Smarty Pants

Mermaid Lizzy

This kid.  It's amazing how kids grow both physically and cognitively.  Elizabeth picks up things so quickly - she is just So. Smart.

At almost 14 months Elizabeth weighs around 24 lbs.  She has 8 teeth on the top and 6 on the bottom.  She does plenty of baby talk but does say mama, dada & bye-bye.  She has moments when she'll say a word once or twice but then we won't hear it again.  I'm pretty sure she heard us say Seahawks (SB CHAMPS!) so much this past month that she has started saying it too.  Now she's using a lot of the "k" and "t" sounds.  

Just this evening she pointed her popsicle at me and said something that at first sounded Russian to me.  But I finally figured out she was saying "cut".  She wanted me to cut the wrapper down.  Every time she would eat it too short I would ask "Do you want me to cut it?" and she would hold it out.  By the 3rd time she was asking me!  "Cut"!  SO SMART.  

Earlier she was walking around with my pajamas shirt, cuddling with it and when she walked passed me I noticed her nose was running so I said "Oh Elizabeth, you have mocos" and so she turned her head into my shirt and blew her nose!  I'm pretty sure Aaron STILL isn't sure how to properly blow his nose and he's 5!  LOL.

Elizabeth walks well and she loves to be outside.  I like to try and go pick up Aaron early so it gives me enough time to allow Elizabeth to walk from the car to the classroom to pick Aaron up.  She loves it.  She walks around his classroom and all his little preschool buddies and love her.  Even the teacher and T.A.s want to pick her up.  One mom actually holds her and kisses her!  Surprisingly, I'm not bothered by it.  (Well, not that much anyway.)

As you can tell from the picture, she also loves the water!  She's so funny because she'll just lay down in the water on her belly -- no worries, no hesitancy.  And she kicks and turns.  I'll lay her down in shallow water on her back sometimes and she just laughs and kicks.  She has no fear!  Elizabeth is also a climber.  She tries to climb on her brother's toys and furniture and get on his foot stool.  I mean, I really gotta watch this one all the time.  

But I think what she loves most is FOOD!  Hahaha!  This baby girl can eat!  I mean, you'd think she would be bigger than her brother was at the same age but Aaron was a chunk!  And Lizzy really isn't.  I mean, she's got baby chub, but she's not like Aaron was.  And yet you can't eat a damn thing in front of her without her yelling at you and reaching out for it.  No joke.  I think she's only turned away food 2 or 3 times.  I pretty much have to portion control her meals sometimes because she'd just keep eating!  You can see her belly expanding!  haha!

But honestly, Elizabeth is such a smart & happy baby! She's doing wonderfully.  We hope you are too!  

    

Our Vegas Birthday Trip

Happy 1st Birthday!

Well we are back from Vegas and I finally have some time to sit and blog.  Unfortunately when we got back Elizabeth came down with a stomach virus and then Aaron and mama and finally dada.  SO, needless to say we didn't get much done that first week back.  

The trip to Vegas was great though!  We had a wonderful time with both families.  We visited with my dad's tia Conchita who turned 90.  She was so happy to see us.  And though our visit was short (it was hard to fit all 9 of us in her small room) it was emotional I think, for all of us.  For me personally, visiting with her reminded me of my own grandfather (tia Conchita's brother) and when she was playing her guitar and singing to us, I got a bit teary eyed.  I miss my grandpa and thing of him often.  

Coblentz Ladies

We also got to visit Josh's mom and aunts.  His aunt Lillian lives in Vegas so we were lucky to have another place to feel welcome and visit with loved ones.  Lillian and her husband Evan were so welcoming and invited us to their home not only for meals and visits, but they were gracious enough to host Elizabeth's birthday party!  

Elizabeth & Aaron getting their fingers in the cake!

Elizabeth had an owl themed birthday party that was catered by Lillian herself!  The food was super delicious (my favorite was the lamb and middle eastern salad).  The cakes were from Whole Foods (just like Aaron's were) and everything was wonderful.  

Lillian and Evan were also kind enough to treat Josh, my sisters and I along with Josh's mom Tina and aunt Polly to a limo tour of the strip and downtown Vegas.  No stripper pole, but it was still awesome!  I joked that the driver probably thought we were the tamest group ever but it was fun!

And for one night Josh and I were able to sneak out on our own to walk and explore the strip, have dinner at The Venetian and visit one of my favorite places in Vegas - The Bellagio Conservatory!  They had a beautiful Fall theme with pumpkins, a scarecrow, talking trees and all sorts of autumn flora.  It was lovely.  The Venetian and Bellagio are my absolute favorites.  Though I super love the check-in lobby at Paris.

We also took Aaron to the Shark Reef at The Mandalay Bay.  He thought it was so awesome.  It was actually a really great, although small, aquarium.  All in all, the trip was great.  I only wish we had more time to spend with each of the families.  

When we got back, it was time to get ready for Halloween but like I said, my poor bubba came down with a stomach virus the day after we got back.  I literally went shopping the on the eve of Halloween for costumes with Aaron.  We came back with a minion and Agnes (the little girl with the stuffed unicorn who says "IT'S SO FLUFFY!!") costume for Aaron and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth seemed to be on the mend, but at the end of the night she ended up getting sick again.  Poor bubbas!!  

Minion Dave & Agnes

Thankfully now everyone is back to being healthy and we're back to our normal routines.  Today I took Elizabeth in for her 1 year check up and she is 24 lbs (95th percentile) and 32 inches long (100th percentile!).  She's definitely keeping up with her brother in that respect!  

Next up is Thanksgiving and it's just right around the corner!!  I can't believe it.  We're getting so close to the holidays and Aaron's birthday --- it's all going by too fast.

I'm trying to enjoy it while I can!  Happy 1st Birthday Elizabeth.  We all love you!

 

 

This guy cracks me up

This morning I felt like being a good mom and, you know, feeding everyone.  I made Aaron scrabbled eggs, toast and put some yogurt on the side.  For some reason Aaron still wants to eat everything with his hands even though he's 4 years old so half the stuff still ends up on the floor.  And so we had this conversation this morning:

Aaron, you should try not to drop eggs on the floor because Ulrich is allergic to chicken.

Eggs are chicken?!!!

Yes Aaron, eggs are baby chickens.

So I'm eating baby chicken?!  (Hands on throat and gag face)
Eggs are baby chicken?!  *Gag Gag!*  You mean like, gobble gobble, baby chicken?

Aaron, you eat chicken from the store!  That's chicken - what do you think that is?!  And no actually - a turkey says gobble gobble.  

Well what does a chicken say?

Chickens go more like cluck cluck.

Oh.  Ok.  

And he finished his entire breakfast.  Baby chickens and all.

Colored eggs, Easter baskets and Ladybugs.

Happy Easter!  Easter started on Saturday afternoon for us when Josh and I helped dye his first Easter eggs.  We did it outside on the patio because of course, there were a few spills.  But he thought it was a lot of fun and so blue fingers and spilled dye was worth it.  Then on Saturday night I went to Easter Vigil Mass with my parents.  It was my first Easter Vigil lead by candlelight and I thought it was pretty neat.  Josh stayed home with Aaron since the mass was past his bed time and anyway - a 2 year old at mass?  Not so much. 

Since I got home late on Saturday, I went to bed right away and set my alarm for 6:30 am so I could wake up and put the pot roast to cook.  Yeah...... too bad my brain didn't want to wait for the alarm because I woke up at 4:30 am, then again at 5:00 am.  I figured the universe was trying to tell me to get the heck up so I rolled out of bed and worked on the pot roast.  Around 6:30 am I was back in bed.  I didn't fully go back to sleep, but I did get a bit of rest in before Aaron woke up at 8 am.  

Tia Eva was the first one over on Sunday and she brought Aaron live ladybugs so that he could release them!  He was pretty impressed and enjoyed trying to pick them up (though he unfortunately squashed a few before Josh came and picked him up!).  The whole Coblentz Family came over for Easter (mom & dad, Eva, Natalie & her fiance Meg) and we all enjoyed a yummy lunch.  Everyone brought something and we all savored everything.  Except Aaron.  He just wanted a PB&J!  LOL.  And he got it.

After lunch we had the Easter Bunny (Natalie & Meg) hide the eggs and then we took Aaron out to hunt for Easter eggs for the first time.  At first he was like "Wha???" but by the 3rd egg he was totally into it.  Even after he found the last egg, he still wanted to look for more.  But when he came inside he found the basket & gifts the Easter Bunny (all of us) left for him.  Toys, coloring books, gummies, an Easter book, crayons, all natural treats and ONE chocolate covered marshmallow egg.  His first.  He loooooves him some chocolate.  So he ate all the chocolate off the top half of the egg and then he was done with it.  I was sort of glad because we don't really give him candy.  I figure he eats enough junk already, he doesn't need to add candy to that!

The rest of the day we just spend relaxing and enjoying each others company.  It was a lovely Easter.  It's so nice to be able to watch Aaron really enjoy and comprehend something new.  New experiences and familiar faces.  That's a good combination I'd say.  

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well!

The Beginning of the End of BOTTLES

So, yeah ... Aaron still drinks 3 bottles a day. Don't get me wrong - he has his full 3 meals, but he has a morning bottle, one in the late afternoon and another before bedtime. I know what you're thinking. Oh yes... if you're of an older generation you're thinking So what? I didn't take my babies off their bottles until they were 2 years old. And if you're of a younger generation you're thinking Seriously? He's still on the bottle?

But as I had been feeling for months like I should be weaning him off the bottle, and the fact that he no longer really finishes one (instead he turns it upside down so it can drip all over my carpet, tile, couch), and I found the hand out the pediatrician gave us at his one year check up which said to start weaning him off back then, I decided to start today.

I actually kind of did it all gung-ho like and wasn't going to give him any bottles, anymore, period. He didn't have his morning bottle or afternoon bottle. But I did end up giving him one before bedtime. He never asked for it but anything I can do to make bedtime easier, I'm all for it. I'll probably only do it for a few more weeks until he gets used to drinking cold milk with out of a sippy with meals.

And that is the beginning of the end of bottles. At least for this kid. Hooray for future cupboard space!