It's been too long.

I cannot believe that I let my blog get away from me. Actually, I can. I have a 9 month old. I love that Eleanor will now follow me around the house as I'm doing things. She occasionally wanders into another room, but she usually likes to be with her mommy.

Over the past two days, Eleanor has been really into pulling up and standing. Sometimes she forgets that she is a standing novice and lets go with one or both hands. She will also take a few wobbly steps, so I don't think it will be too long before we enter the cruising phase.

We have been extra busy over the past few weekends. Last weekend Brian and I hosted a baby shower for our dear friends Paul and Sarah to help them welcome little Lila, who should be making her appearance mid-June. We can't wait to meet her! The shower was at Cyrano's in Webster Groves. We enjoyed some fresh fruit and cheese plates, but the grilled banana bread and roasted red pepper hummus were by far the best appetizers. After a few games we opened presents and had dessert. I ordered key lime pie, and Brian had an enormous eclair sundae. They were good, but the bite of Sarah's bread pudding was the BEST! I have to go back for my own bread pudding sometime. Eleanor was a trooper. She was a little fussy at times, but who can blame her? She was either in a high chair or on someone's lap for the entire 3 hours.

After the shower we headed straight to Melissa's 40th birthday party. I cannot believe that my sister is 40! We had some good pork steaks and visited with family. Eleanor loved watching all the kids run around outside. She would have liked to play with her cousin Jack, but he was too busy to pay attention to Eleanor. Needless to say, all three of us were exhausted after a long day of parties.

That didn't stop us from visiting with Ben and Saskia the next morning, though. We headed over to the Schatz's house for some playtime with Ben and Saskia. Eleanor was able to show off her clapping, waving, and crawling skills. Playing with Ben and Sas was lot different than it is when we ichat. I was able to get some great pictures of the three of them. They look like an adorable little family. The visit was fun, but too short, and we miss them already. :(

This past weekend was Caroline's first birthday and Easter. Another big and exhausting weekend. It's unreal that it has already been a year since we first met adorable little Caroline. She had a huge princess party complete with a castle bounce house and Easter egg hunt. Eleanor was in a great mood and loved meeting many new friends.

Luckily, the Easter bunny found Eleanor at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They were at the lake, so Brian, Eleanor and I found the eggs he left in the living room. Eleanor had a lot of fun things in her basket. She got three books, an adorable stuffed caterpillar, some chick and duck toys, bubbles, a beach towel, and a big stuffed bunny with a pink bow. Wow! Of course none of those things were interesting at all, because there was grass in her basket. She loved pulling it out and making a mess all over Grandma's living room. After we checked out Eleanor's Easter goods, it was off to the Stecker's house for breakfast. Eleanor was delighted when her cousin Lauren blew bubbles for her in the basement. I'm pretty sure that Lauren had just as much fun as Eleanor ;). Our Easter celebrations didn't end there. After chowing down on biscuits and gravy, sausage, and hash browns, we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Schierding's for lunch. I think Caroline was still exhausted from her birthday party, but Eleanor was in a great mood. She had a great time playing with Brian's little cousins, and even ate ham for the first time. After such a busy weekend, it was no surprise at all that Eleanor slept all the way back to Columbia.