June, July, August Oh My!

It has been a crazy, fun filled, action packed, and growing summer. No wonder it is already August and I haven't updated our blog.

June

Elizabeth worked on finding her hands and feet. She focused so hard to get those funny things with sticks called hands to grab hold of her toys and bring them to her mouth. By the end of the month she was an expert at it. She also couldn't figure out how to find that thumb she used to find occasionally, so instead stuck all four fingers straight into the mouth instead. She loved staring at patterned shirts of mommy's or even her own. And what are those things called feet? She would stare at them but grabbing them came later in the summer. She loves her Mr. Giraffe, a rattle that has always made her smile even to today. She is improving holding her head up while on her tummy. She also has found her voice and loves it. Her squeal and squeak was fun to hear until she learned she can do it really loud. She learned that she can, while on her back, push her feet off the ground and scoot backwards. She would end up feet away but then get upset that she now is feet away from her toys and want to get back. At times she made a complete circle scooting backwards on her back the whole way. She stopped this scooting after a couple weeks of it. And of course, she has grown a lot. I measured her on the 7th and she was 24 3/4 inches and on the 20th and she was 25 1/4 inches.

We started off June with a trip to Las Vegas. Chris had a conference from Tuesday through Friday, so we went there from Sunday thru Friday giving us a couple days to explore. Elizabeth's first trip on the plane. She was great on the trip over. She nursed to sleep on the tarmac and slept the whole way up and down. It was perfect timing. On Sunday we met up with Nikki, a close family friend. It was great to see her. We went to Springs Preserve; an ecology and natural history museum run by the county water district. It showed visually and hands on how Las Vegas came to be what it is today. It was very impressive and I definitely recommend going if you are ever in Las Vegas. It gave a lot of information in a fun and well dramatic way that is great for kids and adults. We enjoyed dinner with Nikki and celebrated her birthday. On Monday, we went to Hoover Dam which Chris enjoyed a lot. On Tuesday, we hung out at the pool and Elizabeth had her first swim. We went to the introduction banquet, where they even had Elvis come and sing. Elizabeth did very well. On Wednesday, Elizabeth and I met up Deanna, a friend of mine from childhood that I haven't seen in a long time. She has a baby girl that is only 1 1/2 months older than Elizabeth. It was fun to put them together. On Thursday, Elizabeth and I had a relaxing day at the hotel. We went out to dinner on the strip with Tomas, Lisa, and their baby Nicola. Elizabeth had a little melt down at dinner but moments after, she crashed and the three of us walked around the strip with her asleep in her carrier. It is quite a place. Our trip home Friday was a little more challenging as we flew at her bedtime. She struggled to fall asleep and fussed a bit, but overall it wasn't that bad. We hope she gets used to it as we are trying to keep traveling as much as we can.

When we got back, Derek and Hazel came into town with their first load of stuff for the move over. My parents, my sister's family, Derek and Hazel, and Chris & I (& Elizabeth) went to a Giants baseball game. It was a lot of fun. At the end of June, Chris' long time friend Ian and his girlfriend Courtney visited us from Arkansas. It was fun to see them and explore San Francisco, Half Moon Bay, and Napa with them. Yes, Elizabeth had her first wine tasting trip. Starting them young!

July

This month, Elizabeth was a lot more active. She so wanted to move. She rolled over from her tummy to back for the first time this month. She did a loud yelp when she did it but saw our smiles and so she smiled back and gave her little laugh. It was cute. She is very strong. We got a jumper so she can use those legs she loves to bounce on. It was the best purchase ever! She loves it. However, her squeal got even louder, I think to combat the music that plays. She learned real quick that music plays when she jumps, and she never stops. She has fallen asleep in it more than once. In the middle of the month she had her 4 month check up. She was 25 1/2 inches long and weighed 17 pounds 8 ounces. By the end of the month she was sitting up on her own almost stable.

As for adventures; we went to Lake Tahoe for the fourth of July weekend with my whole family. My father bought a boat. We went out in it twice. The first time, Elizabeth was scared, holding onto her life jacket so tightly that her fingers went white. After a bit she relaxed and found that if mommy, daddy, grandma (whoever was holding her at that time) was okay, she was okay. She never left eye contact. It was cute. Yes, I know torment. But the second time we went out on the boat, she had no problem. A little nervous at first, but fell asleep quickly and was asleep the whole time we were moving. We went around Emerald Bay. It was a great time. We anchored the boat, had lunch, those who were brave swam a bit, and relaxed. It was a great weekend at Tahoe. Overall, we spent a day at the beach/boat, a day at the house, a day on the boat, and on the last day, Chris, Elizabeth and I went on a short hike. It was a great weekend with family time and a bit of time to ourselves.









The following weekend, Elizabeth and I went to my friend Melissa's bridal shower. There were quite a few kids there. It was fun to compare the developmental differences of the kids. The shower went well and Melissa was very happy and glowed.

Mid July, Hazel and Derek did their final move from Arkansas to their new home in Hayward. David and Shannon (Chris' brother and sister-in-law) came with them. They were a huge help with the 26 ft U-Haul towing a car, plus another car, 4 dogs and 2 cats. It was also great to have them here with the cleaning and unloading. Yes, we had 7 people, 4 dogs and 4 cats at our house for a week, but it worked out great. It wasn't all work. We went to San Francisco for a day and Napa for a day (Elizabeth's second wine tasting tour before she's even 6 months). Getting her well acquainted with wine. Hazel and Derek are now in their beautiful home, and we are enjoying having Gran and Grandad close by.

Elizabeth had a great time visiting with her friends.









August

So, she is sitting up on her own and holding her head completely up from being on her tummy, where is the rolling over or even scooting? She doesn't roll over any more ( she only did that a few times), her scoot on her back doesn't happen much anymore. She now will do a complete circle on her tummy but in the same spot, just turning her self. She is learning a different trick at a time. She loves sitting and is very straight now. But her most exciting (well exciting for her, not her mommy) is that she has 6 teeth and is working on number 7. All in a 2 week span she got 4 teeth. Now the weird part, she got them in a funky order. As you know she got her two front bottom teeth back at 2 1/2 months. If you number 1, 2, 3, and 4 the top teeth. She got 4 next, then 2, and then 3. Her bottom number 4 came after that. (Her 7th tooth came in three days later in September) She is an amazing teether. She found her thumb is a great chewing toy. Her drooling was tremendous, and had a couple cranky days here and there. Overall, she popped them out real fast and had not much of an issue about it. Now mommy is in pain. We started giving her solids slowly.

August highlights: Back in June I started back at work two days a week, bringing Elizabeth in with me. She isn't as easy as I'd hoped but we are managing. The end of July I decided to get my insurance license. So I took a three week course in the evenings. Elizabeth gave daddy a hard time but finally got used to it. It made for long days for both of us. But I finished the courses and passed my test. I am glad to be done with all the studying.

At the beginning of August, we had our family reunion at my uncle's place. It was great to see everyone. Mid August, we celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday. She is amazing. I still bring Elizabeth to visit her almost every Tuesday.

At the end of August, my mom had surgery to remove a cancerous lump in her breast. She is doing well and staying strong through this crazy time. Luckily she found it really early and the doctors are in high hopes that it will be fought.













So as you can tell our summer was full of life. With work, family activities, our own activities, and our wonderful growing happy girl, this summer has been a great jam packed adventure.


day 1 vs 2 1/2 months vs 5 months