January, February, March

 It is getting harder and harder to take the time to blog.

January

To sum up this month, we had birthday celebrations of my mom and my nieces, a weekend in Cambria, and Elizabeth learning more words and her first molars coming through. Elizabeth has always been an easy teether. Her teeth just keep coming early. It took a while for her molars to all come through. It was not until February when they were all in. She now says cat when she hears a meow and dog when she hears a bark. She worked so hard to learn to go down the stairs.

We went to a gymnastics playroom. It was a do-it-yourself gymnasium. Elizabeth was a little too young but she enjoyed the hula hoops and crawling around. She was very curious about it all. She just did not know what to do. Neither did I.

We like going to Coyote Hills Regional Park for a walk. There are a lot of birds and critters to see.
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Chris and I were getting antsy to travel. It has been a while since we went somewhere so I scheduled a trip to Cambria which is a small town 2 1/2 hours south of us along the coast. It is close to the Hearst Castle. We had a great time. It was very relaxing to walk along the path that overlooked the ocean. We took a tour of Hearst Castle. On the way we saw two zebras running in the grass next to the road. It was quite a site. Who would have thought to see zebras in California (other than at a zoo of course)! The Hearst family created a zoo on their land and when he died and the home became a museum, the family sold off most of the animals. There are some animals, like the zebras and some deer, that escaped being sold and became wild. The castle was beautiful and the views were amazing. It was a hot sunny day. Definitely a great trip, even if we were the youngest people in the town.

February

For my birthday, Chris gave me a seat for Elizabeth on my bike. We tried it out. She was a little uncertain to start. So was I.  Having a kid behind you took a little getting used to. The weight and the knowledge of her there made me a little nervous, but it was fun. We took a short ride in the neighborhood to start. After a few trips since, I am pretty comfortable and she talks and points to all the things we pass on the way.

We went up to Tahoe mid February with my parents. We went for walks and gave Elizabeth her first sled ride. She was a little unsure again, but I am sure the next time we go, she will have a blast. It turns out it will be next year before she gets another ride. She loves learning new things but is very cautious to start.

She is now walking holding on to furniture and fingers. She can stand up briefly but has not got the confidence to move. It won't be long. And sure enough the last day of the month she walked a few steps to me. She did not repeat them for two weeks.


MarchElizabeth is now 1. We had a birthday party at our house. It was a lot of fun. Fun to put on a party at our house and to see Elizabeth, her cousins, 2nd cousins, and neighbor kids play. Pictures just say it all.

 

Friday after her birthday, my mom was over. We were out in the backyard and she was walking holding on to my fingers. I pushed my fingers out of her hands and she just kept going. She had something in her vision she wanted and went after it. She made it a good 10 feet. My mom and I just froze and held our breaths. I ran to get my camera and got a video of her doing it again with my mom. I now had a video as proof but she wouldn't repeat her walking for another week. By the end of March she was walking all the time, with hands out and several falls but she is walking.

At Coyote Hills Park

We went to the Oakland Zoo. We saw monkeys swinging, giraffes posing for pictures, elephants eating, tortoises walking, and much more. It was a great outing. Elizabeth loved it.

We had a memorial service for my step-grandma who past away. It was a very nice service. I learned a lot about her life that I didn't know. She was a great lady.

I love playing the piano with cousin Paige.

Chris and I went out to dinner for his birthday. That weekend we were going to go camping. He has been wanting to go camping for a while. Now that it is getting warmer I thought we can do it for his birthday. However, Elizabeth caught a cold. Then on the Friday before, Chris was starting to feel sick. Plus there was a 90 percent chance of rain on the Saturday. It was nice all week, of course. We canceled the trip, and thank goodness we did, because it was very windy and poured all day on Saturday. We stayed in and tried to get over this cold. I never caught it thankfully.