Getting smarter everyday...

Although Eleanor still isn't a big talker, it is amazing how much she knows and remembers. A few nights ago Brian was reading one of her favorite books to Eleanor - Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin. It's such a cute book. Anyway, without being prompted by Brian, she started saying, "no" right when she should in the story. It was so cute! I also managed to teach her where her knees were after just a few times of saying, "knees" and pointing to her cute little knees. Toddlers are so fun!

The other skill we're working on right now is getting Eleanor to feed herself with a spoon. She did pretty well on her first night, and even better tonight with her applesauce. Her first go at mastering the spoon included a big bowl of yogurt. So messy but so fun. I'm sure the she ended up wearing at least 50% of it, but she didn't neglect the yogurt on her bib. She promptly sucked it off of her bib after the yogurt in her bowl was "gaw gone."

Birthday catch up

I'm so sad that I didn't find the time to write about Eleanor's birthday right after it happened :(. Better late than never...(I guess)

What's the best way to start a birthday? Presents, of course! When Eleanor woke up on that beautifully mild July morning, I put her birthday shirt on right over her jammies. It is an adorable shirt that I purchased from Etsy. In pink and green, it had a big number 1 and her name on the front. So cute! We brought her into the living room our little apartment and let her open most of her presents from us while she sat in her new polka dot chair (our big gift to her). She also got books, a pink elephant, some puzzles, a shape sorter, a Little People dvd and cd, and a Little People mini van. Of course nothing beat playing with wrapping paper while sitting in her chair.

We were lucky that Brian was able to take off work so we could spend the day as a family. We had lunch, and I baked cupcakes and a small cake for Eleanor. Her party was at Zachary's Playground in Lake St. Louis, and as I said, it was a beautiful day. I expected everyone to be sweating at the party, but mother nature proved me wrong.

We kept the invites to family only. Brian and I didn't think we needed to blow things out of proportion, especially since she won't remember that day at all. Attendees included both sets of Grandparents, the Fank family, the Stecker/Hartwein family, the Schierdings, the Scheffers, and the Dankners. As the guests arrived everyone was told to help themselves to pulled pork and turkey, pasta salad, chips, and fruit salad. All very yummy! From there, the kids set off to play on the super cool playground and run through the splash area.

After all the kids were a little worn out (and soaked!), we did presents. From her Grandma and Grandpa Meiser she got a cool pink car (she loved this so much that she cried whenever we took her out of it), and Grandma and Grandpa Schierding got her a slide, jewelry box, and a bracelet. Uncle Bruce, Aunt Katy, and Caroline gave her a Dora car to ride on, the Fank family gave Eleanor a bag full of goodies for the beach and a towel with her name embroidered on it, the Steckers gave her a Little People tractor, Elmo doll, and a cell phone. The Scheffers brought Eleanor a book and some shorts, and the Dankners gave Eleanor a pony to ride on. Brian and I also saved one gift for her - a straw purse shaped like an elephant with a Hello Kitty wallet inside. Eleanor loves playing with purses and bags. She was so lucky to receive so many wonderful gifts!

After presents we had cake and cupcakes. I decorated her cake and the cupcakes with green icing to look like grass, and I put little jellybean ladybugs and bees on them. They turned out very cute, and I hope I can outdo myself next year. Eleanor had no problem digging into her cake. She had green icing everywhere! The icing was surprisingly easy to clean up, and after we managed to get all the icing out of every little Eleanor crevice, it was off to the playground for more playtime. She also got another chance to play in the splash area with her daddy and her cousins.

It was a perfect day with our perfect little girl. Brian and I will never forget it.

Ahhh! Where has the time gone?!?

I can't believe that I haven't written a thing since June! So much has happened...so maybe that's why I haven't updated things. My next series of posts will have to be flashbacks to the highlights of summer. Let's start with Destin.

On August 14th Brian, Eleanor, and I packed up and headed south to Destin, FL. Eleanor was great during our two day car ride. We stopped often to let her stretch her legs and eat, and that seemed to be enough to keep her happy. Of course we made sure that we ate at places she loved, including the Cheesecake Factory. Eleanor and I love sharing Crusted Chicken Romano. Even more impressive than Eleanor's coolness in the car was her cuteness in the hotel room during our first night. She thought it was so funny to peek over the side of her pack n play and see mommy and daddy lying in bed next to her. And of course Brian and I couldn't keep from laughing. It's amazing that she eventually just went to sleep on her own.

We finally arrived in Destin around 5pm on the 15th. Our condo unit was great. It was clean and didn't have too much that Eleanor could disturb (i.e. break.) We ate dinner at Mellow Mushroom, which was great because Eleanor loves pizza (and Brian and I love the parmesan & garlic pretzels.) It was pouring by the time we finished dinner, so we didn't get to check out the beach, but we did get the grocery shopping out of the way. I wish we had a Publix up here. The lunch meat was great, and they slice every order fresh while you wait. No angry workers to deal with when you ask for shaved turkey and ham. But anyway...

The next morning we ate breakfast and headed down to the beach. It was a gorgeous day! One of the best things about staying at Edgewater - the free beach chair and umbrella set up. We grabbed a spot and headed for the ocean. Eleanor hated the sand. She hated the ocean. Good thing we were spending a week on the beach. Throughout the week she warmed up to both as long as we let her do things at her pace. Our beach time was put on hold after Eleanor pooped at the beach (and of course we didn't know it) and got sand in her swim diaper. It made for the absolute worst diaper rash ever. Luckily she didn't get a sunburn, but Brian got enough of one for all of us. He didn't sleep much on our last night, which made for a crabby daddy on the way home.

We had some great seafood in Destin. Eleanor wasn't into eating fish, but she loved looking at any that were on the wall or in a tank. She would very enthusiastically point them out to us while saying, "ish, ish." Too cute!

We decided to leave a day early because of rainy weather. Eleanor did just as well traveling back to MO. We even got to stop in Clarksville, TN to see Sarah Coyne. It was a short visit at 10:30 pm, but worth the stop.

We had such a great trip! Hopefully summer in Destin can become a Schierding family tradition!

Catch up

Once again I've neglected my blog. So many things have happened since my last post! The major change in our lives has been our move to St. Charles. Isn't it everybody's dream to summer in St. Charles? The apartment is ok, and the pool is awesome (which is what makes it worth it). We miss our house, though. Our upstairs neighbors can't seem to walk when they need to get somewhere. They are constantly running around or seemingly jumping off of furniture. Ugh. I think Marley misses her backyard, too.

After we moved in, we headed up to Chicago for a mini-vacation. Our trip was both relaxing and adventurous, but the best part was our uninterrupted family time. It was nice to spend time with Brian without worrying about his study schedule. We went to Shedd Aquarium, which was fun, but mostly for Brian and me. Eleanor liked watching the other kids more than she cared about seeing the fish. One of the most memorable things about our visit to Chicago was the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry. It was so awesome to see all of the props and costumes from the movies! By far the greatest thing about the exhibit, though, was watching Eleanor get sorted by the Sorting Hat. She's a Gryffindor! Although she immediately cried out when the sorting hat made the announcement.

Eleanor updates:

* She's on the verge of walking! I really think she could do it, but she knows that she can get around much faster if she crawls. So far she's only taken two steps on her own.

* She is finally starting to "talk" more. Of course I'm not sure, but I think she has said, "dog" "wawa (water)" and "ma'am-maw" in the past few days. She says something once and then clams up.

* If you ask her to show you her cup, mama's or dada's nose, Marley, her baby doll, or a ball, she will point to it.

* She has four teeth! We only had one bad night, which is surprising since they all came in at the same time.

Mother's Day

Eleanor and I went to the lake early in the week to spend some time with my mom and do some shopping. The trip started out great! Eleanor took her first nap of the day in the car and was very happy when we arrived. She seemed a little confused as to where we were. It was a gorgeous, warm day. We had lunch at Vista Grande, and Eleanor had a great appetite - important since we're trying to get her to gain back some of the weight she lost during her stint with rotavirus. After lunch we headed over to the outlet mall, parked, and walked (shopped) the entire mall. Eleanor was a great little shopper, but she missed her second nap. This caught up with us later that night.

Eleanor was a little fussy, so I gave her an empty water bottle and a Mum Mum wrapper. Being that these aren't toys, she was perfectly happy. I noticed that it was way past her bedtime, so I scooped her up, sat her in the living room so I could gather her bedtime necessities, and took the wrapper and bottle away from her. Big mistake. She was so tired and immediately had a meltdown. On my way back to pick her up, I noticed that she was holding her breath. I yelled, BREATHE!" Then she fell over and her eyes rolled back into her head. I started yelling that something was wrong with her. At that moment my mom scooped her up and blew into her face, which immediately brought her back. Completely frightening. Needless to say, I hope it never ever happens again.

Eleanor and I were home in Columbia on the actual Mother's Day. Brian had a lot of work, but we were able to go to Sophia's for brunch. So nice. If we're in Columbia on Mother's Day next year, we are definitely going back to Sophia's. We planned on going to Cracker Barrel, but the "front porch" was packed, and I'm glad. It was a great first Mother's Day!

not worth it.

So I'm sitting here at my garage sale thinking that this really was not worth the effort. I hardly have anything to sell, and I'm not really sure why anyone would want our old stuff. We'll see. At least it's not raining like it was supposed to. I might end up closing up shop early. I probably won't be doing another garage sale until my kid(s) are grown and I need to get rid of kid stuff. That seems to be what people want anyway. Maybe I should put Eleanor in some ragged close so people will feel sorry for us and buy our junk...I mean great stuff.

Eleanor is still sleeping, but I imagine she'll be joining me out here soon. I wish I would was still sleeping, too :o). Luckily she is over her sickness. I know it's a part of life, but I hope she doesn't get sick again for a long time.

Eleanor is not really working on any new skills right now. She is crawling all over the place and pulling up on anything she can get her hands on. She did stand on her own for a few seconds twice now, but I am not sure she really realized what she was doing. I, along with her doctor, parents-as-teachers educator, my parents, and Brian, this she will definitely we walking by her first birthday. Only two months to go! I cannot believe she is so close to the big birthday! I swore that I wouldn't do too much for her first birthday, but it's so hard to resist. The two themes in the running are cupcakes or ladybugs. I'm giving myself a few weeks to decide, but then I think I'll order some stuff so I'm not rushing to get everything together at the last minute. It's difficult to make definite plans right now because we'll be living in an apartment in St. Charles. I cannot wait until we're there and swimming everyday! My new swimsuits came last week, and Eleanor has plenty to get her through the summer. I just know we're all going to hate to leave in August.

Sick times in the Schierding house

On Wednesday Eleanor got sick for the first time ever. I was thrilled that we made it through winter without even and hint of a cold. Oh well. I guess it had to happen sometime. She caught a stomach bug, and although she was her normal happy self, she would not eat a bite of food. That was the first thing that worried me, but I just thought she was finally teething. Nope. Stomach bug. Yesterday she was better, but today she was very fussy and again wouldn't eat. I woke up with the bug at 2:30 am and am finally feeling better. I hope we can both get it out of our systems by tomorrow, and I really hope Brian doesn't get it.

Since she was her delightful self yesterday, I took her in the front yard to play. I can only hope that she's always this happy every time she gets sick.

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.

She's on the move!

Eleanor started crawling on Sunday at my mom's house. I would not say that she has mastered it yet, but she's able to get around now. Over the past few days she has kind of slacked off. She is more interested in the fact that she can sit herself up. I am just as happy about that as I am about her crawling. Brian and I love to watch her crawl over to her piano all by herself now. Eleanor will play a note or two and then applaud for herself, and she expects us to applaud every time, too.

We also had a visit from Grandma, Aunt Cathy, Tyler, and Abby on Friday. I had to wake Eleanor from her nap so that she could visit with them. She was so happy to wake up and see everyone in her room. Right away she wanted Abby to hold her. Eleanor would not let go of Abby, and she just kept smiling. She loves her cousins! It was so cute!

I've been a bad blogger...

Why is it that I always remember to write something just as I'm settling into bed. I'm just going to list random thoughts and updates so that I'll feel caught up.

* I cannot believe that people are interested in reading my blog. It scares me that people read what I write. I struggled with this so much in school.

* Eleanor does a great job getting up on her hands and knees. If only she could figure out that she needs to move her arms and how to do it!

* Brian's dad finally came home from the hospital/Florida. He seems to be doing well, we're happy!

* Sometimes I worry that Eleanor does not "talk" enough. She is very quiet, but I suppose Brian and I are, too.

* I feel like I will never get the house clean and organized. I need to have a garage sale. Brian and I have too much junk.

* I'm going to try and get some pictures and videos up soon. 24 hours are not enough.