Bad trick; Good Treat

Here she is ... our little Stinkbug. I mean, Ladybug !

So, Elaina's record stands at "0" to "2" for successful Halloween fun. Well, I'm not really sure how much fun a kid can have for trick or treat under the age of 2. But anything has to be more fun than being sick. Elaina was sick last year over Halloween and this year too ! Eric was out of town last year and I wasn't exactly able to pose our then, almost 6 month-old sick frog to even snap a quick picture. We kept saying we would dress her up again for a photo and time seemed to get away from us. We should get a parents' slap on the wrist for that error. I still am kicking myself for missing what could have been such a cute photo.

Tonight, our town held trick-or-treat from 6-7:00 in the rain ! Who would have guessed ? We hadn't really planned on taking Elaina out other than possibly stopping at her babysitter's house and maybe to see a couple of friends. So, staying in suited us just fine. Being on a rather busy street, we usually get tons of kids and always run out of candy. This year, we were surprised to get as many soggy-costumed-treaters as we did. Elaina was so excited that all of those people came to see her at her house. What else would they have come for ?

She got plenty of compliments on her ladybug costume and she loved to see herself dressed up. When we ran out of treaters, I carried Elaina outside and we looked up and down the sidewalk for people coming our way. When we spotted some coming, we rushed inside and loaded our hands full of candy to hand out. She was so eager to see who was going to show up next. I was glad that she wasn't at all afraid and really didn't take an interest in the candy. She did great despite being on day three of her cold.

Looking ahead, our plan for next year, beginning on October 28, 2007, is to load Elaina with vitamin C, keep her in a bubble, make sure she gets lots of rest and keep her healthy !! 2007 is going to be her year ! She's got three years of candy to collect !

"LaneyBug"

Sick Bay

Day 2 : Elaina is sick.

Symptoms : Fever, congestion, runny nose, leaky mouth.

Conclusion : Tylenol to reduce fever, Vick's baby rub to reduce congestion, baby wipes to clean up the green volcano and cotton packed into mouth and clamped to take care of leak.

Revision : Teethers and binkies to comfort baby as new teeth are coming in.

So there you have it, our girl is a wreck. Eric's schedule allowed him to stay home with Elaina in the morning and I left work in the afternoon to cover 2nd shift in the sick bay. We're one day closer to kicking these germs and feeling better soon !

It's a Long Way Home ...

Oh no... I was afraid this would happen. Elaina has her first pre-winter cold. Here we go ...

All of Friday and Saturday she seemed perfectly fine. Last night, however, was a different story. We put her to bed an hour past her bedtime and she woke up 3 times before 2:00 a.m. Each time, she was crying a miserable, whiny cry, something to the effect of, " aaaahhhh, Mom-mmmeeee, aaaahhhh, Momm-eeee." Heartbreaking to say the least.

Come morning, she was shooting goo from her nose like it was her job. We went to church with Grandma & Grandpa W. and each of us had armed ourselves with tissue in the event that we would be holding her when she sneezed. We had to be quick and prepared, she was a mess.

We enjoyed the afternoon over a wonderful meal by Grandma W. and visited with Elaina's aunts, uncles and cousins. She barely had a nap, and after two doses of Tylenol, she was still going. We managed to get on the road before 5:00 and crossed our fingers that Elaina would sleep most of the 3 hour drive. She did well for the first 90 minutes until we had to stop for gas. She woke to realize that Dadda had left the vehicle and wasn't in her sight. She worried and whined until he was safely behind the wheel and back within his reach. Following our one and only stop, Baby Girl couldn't put herself back to sleep and cried over being sick and cried over being tired and cried over not being held. She was such a sad case. It wasn't non-stop crying, it was more of some sniffling, sucking on her binky followed by a random whine and fuss. Thank God that she isn't a crybaby and her cry has never been really that loud.




When we finally arrived home, she seemed much more content and better able to deal with herself. She found a good book and stayed out of the way of the unpacking process.

Family Matters

Lucky for us, we all recovered nicely from last night's partying ! Even better, we plan to spend plenty of time visiting with our family. The thing I love most about this weekend is that we don't necessarily have any time frames to squeeze into or any scheduled commitments. The only plan we have is to fill our weekend with family time, seeing both sets of grandparents and some aunts and uncles.

My mom and I started our day out by dropping Elaina off at Grandma and Grandpa W.'s house and then spent a few hours shopping. Grandma and Grandpa W. didn't seem to mind since they haven't seen Elaina in a while. They were more than ready to squeeze her with some warm hugs and give her plenty of kisses. I was glad that Elaina wasn't part of our shopping team since the wind gusts were so strong today that they could have carried away any 6 year -old off their feet. It was a stinky, cruddy, weather day.

After a few hours of scouring the mall, we all joined together for a fabulous lunch at City Barbeque. Eric and I are so fortunate that both sets of our parents get along very well and make it so easy to get together to visit. God knows that they have spent numerous hours together in the hospital waiting rooms on plenty of occasions. All of us have been through alot together and we've all grown closer as a result. Neither have ever made us feel like we're walking a tight rope of balancing our time equally between both sides and we've never had to deal with anyone being uncomforatable about being together. I realize that we are all lucky and I feel blessed to have such great parents in our lives. Another giant bonus is that Elaina gets to see the interaction and friendship between her grandparents and gets passed around to even more people ready to dole out the hugs.

I've probably never put it into words before, but to our mom's and dad's -
Thanks for being so great and accomodating all that we do. We both appreciate you more than you know !

Sugar Baby !

Congratulations to my cousin Abby and her new husband, Dan on their wedding day ! We've added a new family member to our crazy clan !

Abby and Dan's wedding took place at 5:30 this evening and since we live nearly 3 hours away, we had only planned on making it to the reception. Eric, Elaina and Keegan (who is feeling much better !) picked me up from work to begin our travels. Elaina, fresh from the babysitter's house, wasn't in the mood to sleep like her mom had anticipated, but to sing, read books and eat Goldfish crackers ! I couldn't beleive that the girl wasn't even a bit tired !

We made our first stop at my parent's house to drop off Keegan and change our clothes. We were soon underway to the reception hall. Only a short 20 minute drive and Elaina was zonked ! Oh yeah ... don't bother to sleep in the 3 hours that she was confined to her seat - but give her 20 minutes and she was in dreamland !

Abby was a stunning bride and she and her new husband glowed with happiness. The unfortunate part about the entire day was that it rained all day long. If it's true that rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck, Abby and Dan have had a triple dose of luck today !
I was glad to see my extended family that I generally only see a few times a year, and some cousins that I haven't seen in many years. We were looking forward to seeing cousin Colin and his mom and dad, but it seems as though Colin has been a little under the weather and better off at home. Elaina had to make new friends to play with tonight and she chose mostly to cling to her grandma and grandpa. Grandma took her onto the dance floor to collect candy and do the motions to the chicken dance. Amazingly, by the end of the song, it seemed like Elaina knew when to clap her hands all on her own at the right part ! I was laughing so hard as grandma would spin her around that it was hard to for me to take pictures !







Eric played the role as the "Sugar Daddy" as he fed Elaina and her (2nd) cousin, Kari, Smarties candy. One for Elaina, one for Kari, one for Daddy and the cycle continued. The girls looked like little birds as they waited their turn for their sugary crack ! As if Elaina didn't get enough sugar from her dad, she made her way through a Tootsie roll, part of a lollipop, most of a cookie and some cake ! Mmm ... good thing she was only willing to eat grapes for dinner - she apparently was saving room for everything we don't normally give her. Looks like she did her Trick-or-Treating a little bit early !

Throughout the evening, Elaina was especially well behaved and took her compliments graciously. She did her best to dance by repeatedly kicking her one foot in the air as she stood with her hands loaded with candy. She gave her aunts and cousins kisses and smiled at everyone who looked her way. What a flirt ! We made the decision to leave around 10:00 to put all of us to bed at a decent hour. It's amazing that the affect of Elaina's sugar high didn't exactly expire when we wanted to. The child stayed up until midnight ! She was good, just not sleepy !

In a lesson to all parents, especially Elaina's "Sugar Daddy, " NO SUGAR AFTER 6:00 !! ( Unless it's for the cousins, whose mommy's and daddy's have to deal with at their house !)

Signs of a Growing Girl

Okay ... I'm going to state the obvious just one more time. (That's a lie - plenty more to come) Elaina is growing up so fast ! Seriously -our sweet baby girl is maturing and developing new skills every single day. She is truly incredible and I love being witness to her ever changing personality.

For the past few months, I've been struggling to break Elaina of having to sit in her bathseat for each and every bath. Both of Elaina's grandma's can attest to her intense dislike of sitting in the bathtub, without the security of her giant, plastic throne beneath her bare tush. The only solution I had been able to come up with has been to take a bath with her. She starts her protest immediately, even though I hold her securely next to me. Regardless, her anxiety decreases as we play together and we read her bathtub books and sing silly songs. Over the course of many co-baths, she's done well. ( I have to admit that climbing into a warm bathtub on a cold night is so relaxing and provides me with bonus hugging time with my girl ! )

As a result of our efforts, I put Elaina into the tub by herself on Tuesday night - bathseat and mommy-free - and she barely seemed to noticed ! Okay, so that was great, but how come it took her all this time and she suddenly just "forgot ?" Oh yeah ... she's a toddler. Now I realize that this seems minimal to the average reader, but Eric and I were beginning to wonder where we going to find a bathseat to accomodate a 6 year- old. We are extremely pleased with her latest accomplishment !

And about this girl of ours that seems to be growing at top speed ... Okay, I realize that I'm sentimental, but I had to hold back the tears as I was folding her laundry the other day. I had pulled out all of her size 18 month winter clothes and could hardly believe that she is going to be that big so soon. The clothes that I was folding no longer belonged to my sweet, little infant, fresh from the hospital nursery, but a beautiful little girl, loaded with charm and personality. I held up Elaina's a pair of size 18 month pants for Eric to see and my eyes began to moisten as I tried to hold back my ridiculous tears over our growing child. Duh .. that's what we want her to do. I could tell that Eric has been astonished with her growth as well, but he didn't see the need to cry over it. It's just a mom-thing.

I failed to mention that at her doctor's appointment on Monday, she weighed in at 22 pounds and is 31' tall. She ranks in the 50th percentile for her weight and 75th percentile for her height. I am pleased with that. The doctor made a point to comment on how healthy and proportionate she appeared and that she has never seen a little girl with such a bright smile. Oh yes ... that's our girl !

With a big girl, we make big changes. One of the recent changes we have made is that Elaina has grown into size 4 diapers ! Her size 3's have served her well, but the 4's seem to have a nicer, more comforatable appearance. I'd hate to think that my baby is walking around in a bikini diaper day after day !

And finally, Sweetness, herself just paid me a visit and I asked her if there was anything else that Mommy should say about her. Elaina wanted me to say, " Noggie." So, Noggie to all !

Sick Puppy !

This is one entry that doesn't happen to revolve around our beloved girl. In fact, consider this a disclaimer of gross content to follow ...

Last night I was having a dream about something which had produced the most intense, foul smelling odor ever realized . The stench I was dreaming about was literally making my stomach turn. I woke from my stinky dreamland, disturbed by the smell, and realized that it was a reality afterall. I knew that Elaina wasn't capable of producing that type of obscene odor and followed my nose downstairs to where Keegan sleeps. There it was. I wished I was still dreaming. Keegan had yacked about four days of consumption all over his bedroom. ( We consider his bedroom the front foyer which houses his dog bed on a tile floor. Making any doggie accidents easier to clean up.)

Although it was 2:30 a.m. I knew that I couldn't pretend not to see and smell what I had witnessed. I marched right back upstairs and woke Eric to tell him that "his dog" had been sick. As I pinched my nose so tightly that it could have easily broken off, Eric and I tried to hold back our urge to hurl too. This was by far, the worst stench I had ever encountered. After almost an entire roll of paper towels, a fitted sheet and a towel had been disposed of with all of just about the entire content of Keegan's stomach, we scrubbed up and headed to bed.

Wishful to return to our warm bed, we were closing in on 3 a.m. and Elaina lets out a cheerful "Dadda." Eric and I immediately freeze and hardly even breathe so not to make any noise. We let 20 minutes go by, still holding our noses because neither of us remembered to bring the air freshener upstairs, and Elaina gets more lively rather than sleepy. We finally gave in to picking her up after listening to a fair amount of rambling with a "mommy" and "daddy" thrown in for good measure and she began to bang on her crib rail. She was serious about getting out. Eric lay her in bed between us and she asked for "book" and "Noggie." Unfortunately, neither of her selfish, sleep-deprived parents were willing to read books at 3:30 and Noggin doesn't begin their preschool programming until 6 a.m. Eric turned on the tv on for her and she enjoyed at least 2 -fifteen - year -old episodes of The Cosby Show. It's possible that each of us got at least a few good hours of sleep near the 5 o'clock hour.

I guess the only relevance of this whole entry to be posted in Elaina's blog is for her to reference in her future. The message I want her to receive is that I want her to marry someone who is willing to help clean up dog yack with her at 2:30 in the morning ! Don't settle for anything less ! Elaina has a fine father who sets a perfect example of what a real man is.

Short Stories

I'm afraid that I have let some funny and cute Elaina stories fall by the wayside in the past few days of storytelling. Here's my attempt to catch up to speed in her many adventures.

* Elaina love the " Noggin " network which claims to be " like preschool on tv" for toddlers. I have to admit that I enjoy their programming very much and I have often heard Eric whistling some familiar cartoon theme songs as well ! I have sat down with Elaina to check out Noggin.com on the computer and now, she can't get enough. She runs like a banshee into the den and climbs on the chair and pulling at the mouse, she says, " Noggie !" So cute ! So she knows that she can get her fill of "Noggie" on the tv and on the computer too. This makes her so happy !

* The other night, Elaina was talking to Keegan and held his paw. As she said " Hi Keegey !, " Eric told her to give Keegan a kiss. She happily complied and crept up to Keegan's long nose and softly gave him a peck. I love that she gives kisses easily and loves her brother (dog, whatever) so much. Also, Keegan and Elaina have been great playmates. They respect each other's toys and have never overstepped their boundaries. Lucky for us !

* About Elaina's kisses ... she loves to give kisses. She has recently begun to close her mouth with each kiss, preventing the slobber-face-open-mouth- contact she had graced us with previously.

* When Elaina's bedtime approaches, I sit with her and hold her close. We read several books together and then sit together until she falls asleep. Lately, she says "book, book, book" over and over again begins to cry if she doesn't get her fill of books read to her. Seriously, I have never seen a child be so attached to books like that ever. This is something I am very pleased with and will do my best to promote. However, after reading her 10 books between mommy and daddy, I think we have to draw the line for bedtime.

* Finally, each and every morning, our routine is for me to get Elaina from her crib in the morning, give her her first hug of the day and take her into snuggle with her daddy before I get into the shower. Each morning, I am met with Elaina's open arms and her saying, "Dadda ! Mommy ! Keegy !" When she finally greets Eric in his arms, she either says "Noggie" or "book." The girl knows what she wants and knows how to ask for it !

Wedded Bliss !

Can you even believe that Eric and I celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary today ?

Even more unbelievable - I'm still in love with him and haven't yet grown tired of him ! Lucky for me, he seems to feel the same about me !

In total, we've lasted over a decade together. It should go without saying that we've had our share of tears, heartache and devastation -but we've made it through with the strength and support of one another. With this said, we can't fail to mention all of the wonderful joys and happy times we've shared together. We just seem to be a good match for each other. Eric is my best friend and my soft spot to land. He seems to calm me when I need to settle down and I have a way of perking him up to things that he sometimes overlooks. I just have to believe that there is someone for everyone and I couldn't be happier that I am with the person whom I am meant to share the rest of my life with.

Neither of us were up to going out for any type of elaborate celebration this evening. We got carry out for dinner and spent the evening relaxing and sharing our time together. As our evening progressed, I just couldn't be more pleased with how my life has turned out. I look at Elaina and my heart wants to burst with love. I love how Eric loves her and how she relies on us equally to fulfill her needs and her life. She always says "Dadda" and squeals with joy when they play together. This is what I have waited my whole life for ! This is what we always dreamed our marriage would hold for us - mutual love for one another and a beautiful child to share our love with.

My grandparents just celebrated 60 years of marriage on Sunday. Congratulations to them for the example that they have set for their family and friends in their bond of marriage. It's truly admirable to see their compassion and playfulness towards each other after all of their years together.

I pray that our union will stand the test of time to provide the same example to our grandchildren one day.

Not Quite Right !

Let me just start off by saying that this is how Elaina looked when arrived home ! It seems as though Daddy may have been paying a little too much attention to the World Series when he should have been focussing his attention to diaper detail !

I could think that he is opting to start a new trend in the toddler fashion enterprise, however, I can't see that too many parents would be on board with this look. Elaina spent the better part of an hour with her little courderoy pants jacked up and most likely causing some type of diaper wedgey. Not to mention that it looks like she's ready for a flood to overtake our living room at any point !

Rest assured that after I had my fill of laughter and snapped some pics for your viewing pleasure, I took care of Stinkerbell's ensemble and her wedgey !

Fall Harvest

Here are some of the pictures from Elaina's fall photo shoot. Judging from these photos, you would never guess that it was a bit of a struggle for her to pose on her own. She was having some "Mommy" issues that day and just wanted to cling to me. Not that I ever mind clinging back onto my girl ... I just really wanted to get some cute pictures at the same time ! All in all - they turned out great !

3 Strikes and You're Out !

This morning Elaina and I were both scheduled to go the doctor at 8:00 a.m. When I had scheduled this appointment, I had thought that we would be the first ones seen and in and out of the office without a hitch. By the time 8:30 had rolled around and we were still the only ones in the room, I figured my plan had faltered. The doctor finally came in 45 minutes late, stating that she spilled coffee on herself while driving into work and had to go home to change. Ugh ! Funny, how I had brought only a few small toys for Elaina to entertain herself and some books from the waiting room, since I thought we would be so quick. We were there almost 2 hours !

Elaina ended up getting 3 shots and screemed her little head off. Trying to keep from crying myself, I had the nurse proceed with my elected flu shot to my arm while trying to comfort my sweet, miserable child. With soothing words and some soft carressing and a million and one kisses later, we finally made it out of the office intact. While I was strapping Elaina into her carseat, I noticed how she was staring at the front of the office building - studying every piece of siding and stone, knowing that she will never want to return to this God forsaken place to get stabbed again ! Good thing she is free and clear of all shots until she starts kindergarten. That is of course, if we elect to steer clear of the much dreaded flu shot each winter. I'll keep that in mind.

The entire ride home, Elaina was quiet and finally calm. Every motherly instinct was telling me to just stay home and hug my girl all day long. The realistic, professional side of me, who was unable to come up with a good enough excuse to call off, knew that she would be fine at the babysitter's house as planned. By the time we had arrived at Nancy's house, Elaina had fallen asleep, which tore me up even more. I filled Nancy in on our morning and she promised me that she would give her special attention and do everything possible to make Elaina comforatable. Since Nancy loves Elaina like her own grandchild, I had to believe she would give her everything I couldn't for the next 6 hours. I had to remind myself that she would be well cared for - just like every other day.

And just one more thing to add to our stressful morning, it snowed today. Just blowing snow through the air all day, which melted before it hit the ground. Yep, winter is upon us ! Goodbye fall - nice knowing you !

Did anyone lose "Little Miss Moody ?

Because I think that we found her...

It seems as though there has been a baby mix-up ... somehow, somewhere, our darling, sweet, blessed, little angel has gotten switched out for a baby that looks just like her, but has mood-swings that change as often as the wind blows ! Welcome to our day !

Ooh ... I have to edit that wording - welcome to Daddy's day ! Today the weather was cold, rainy and nasty and I had plenty of errands to do, all of which would be much smoother without my shopping assistant, Elaina. Eric was willing to stay home and put in some Daddy-time while I went out shopping - all by myself. When I arrived home many hours later, Elaina was in bed and daddy was on the couch, ready for a nap. He happened to mention that the day didn't go exactly like he had imagined. Baby girl was a baby brat. In fact, somewhere throughout the day, I believe he actually changed her name to Bratsy Sue, because of the way she behaved.
No ... this couldn't be. My little sweetness ?

Bratsy Sue awoke shortly after I had finished putting all of my purchases away and I was ready to spend time with my good girl, fresh from her nap. Trouble was ... there was no "good-girl." Just Bratsy Sue ! Did we misplace the "good one ?"

Who knows what's going on with her little 15-month-old-self. Is she teething ? Is she growing ? Doesn't she feel well ? Does she need more sleep, more food, more toys, more love, more spankings ? What ?!

Her trouble was that she just wasn't content with a single thing around her. Yep - she's one ! My brother assured me that this is completely normal, and he's been waiting for Elaina to slip through the cracks of badness just like every other one year old ! Hold on ... we're in for a BUMPY ride !

How Sweet It IS !!

I've been thinking, in all of the time I write about Elaina (afterall, this is her story) I should remember to write about what a great husband I have, who happens to be the best dad around.

Today is Sweetest Day. For what it's worth, we all know that is really nothing more that a deal made between Hallmark and the florists, scheduled on the calendar to promote business during their off-season. Neither Eric, nor I put much emphasis on this day of made up gestures. I guess you can think that we're so non-romantic, or else, just really practical.

So, without flowers, gifts or cards, we celebrated the day for what it was worth - family time ! I failed to write in the previous posts that Eric has been out of town the majority of this week. He was at a gun show last weekend and upon arriving home on Sunday, way past midnight, he packed his bag again Monday morning to leave for work in Cincinnatti until Wednesday night. Needless to say, Elaina and I were both missing him !

For today, we planned a trip to amish country for a little shopping and sightseeing. The best part about today was that we had no time restraints, no agenda and just time to soak in being together. Let's just say that this showed dedication and commitment from Eric's end as there was a Buckeyes game on and it's the beginning of hunting season. In all honesty, a trip to amish country really isn't all that excited to my loving husband. He was there for us, making it especially nice and the very best way to spend our made-up holiday !

Got Milk ?

Will Elaina ever forgive me for this ?

Just for the record, this costume is courtesy of Grandma H. ! (Yes - I told on you !)
Really - Elaina looked so cute in her cow costume. Eric put it on her and told her to go look at herself in the mirror. She knew we were up to something and ran to the mirror as fast as she could. Once she saw her spotted reflection, she began to laugh and "moo !" She thought she was hilarious ! So did we !!

Unfortunately, this is only a peek at one of Elaina's optional Halloween costumes. This didn't make the cut for the real costume she'll be wearing for "all hollows eve." Just a few more days to guess what she might be ... and it doesn't say "moo !"

Recipe for Success

I have two fun things to report this evening ... Elaina found a new love and I just wrapped up work on successful luncheon.

To begin with, I had a discussion with Elaina's babysitter this morning that left the both of us scratching our heads over what to feed Picky Pickerson ( a.k.a. Elaina). It seems as though her eating habits aren't quite as bad there because Nancy feeds her all of her favorites which I supply to her. She consistently loves her yogurt, applesauce and bananas. And this girl hasn't ever been known to turn down a snack ! That leaves the bulk of her lunch to just be hit or miss.

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home from work tonight and a package of Little Smokies sausage links caught my eye. Elaina would surely love them. I cut them into Elaina sized bites, warmed them and watched them disappear from my very eyes ! My little carnivore begged for "mo !" ( Elaina speak for "more.") The good and the bad about this latest discovery is that we have another meat to keep stocked in our refrigerator, yet the down side being that Elaina could be the only 15 month old whose cholesterol levels are off the charts !

On a different note, I have to do a little boasting upon myself for a change. For this blog, my intention is to brag and journalize everything about our beautiful daughter, however, from time to time, I actually do something noteworthy. Yeah ... it's true !

I happen to belong to a committee at work that organizes our bi-annual Christmas party. Throughout the year, we do various fundraisers to earn money for our party. Last year, I had made a suggestion to hold a chili cook-off using our Family Court judges and administrators as contestants. It turned out to be a huge success with everyone sampling 5 various types of chili and casting their secret vote for their favorite chili. This year, I suggested that we expand our little contest to the chief county prosecutor, the clerk of courts, the head of the public defender's office and the head of the social services agency to compete against our winning judge contestant last year. With only a few weeks of preparation, our event took place today with an amazing turnout ! We knew we were going to go big, yet had no idea that by the end of the day, we would have served over 150 bowls of chili to our hungry voters ! Leading up to today's cook-off, we no longer regarded our efforts as "fundraising," it more or less became about building unity and fellowship between so many intertwined departments on a whole new level. It was awesome ! In the end, we made out very well financially, with some of the proceeds going to our Christmas party fund and a portion of the money sponsoring a family in the "Adopt-a-Family" program at Christmastime in the winning contestant and department's name.

What an incredibly busy day ... make that --- busy week --- but so rewarding !

" Stinkin' Feets ! "

Have you ever seen a one year old try to raise her foot in the air in an attempt to sniff her own feet while standing ? Think about that one ...

Over this summer, The Bad Influence Instigator, we'll just call him "Daddy" for the sake of being efficient, told Elaina that her sweaty-sandle-feet "Stink !" She thought it was hilarious when he or I would have to take off her sandles at the end of the day and smell her "stinkin' piggies !" Each time, Eric would hold her feet to his face (seriously - that was too close - people in the next town could smell her feet ! ) and say "smell those Stinkin' feets !" She giggled for all she was worth and grabbed her feet to her face.

Tonight, (thank the Lord that stinkin'-sandle-feet-days are behind us), Eric was teasing Elaina about her "Stinkin piggies" to get her reaction. He raised her foot to his nose and then asked her to smell them while she was standing up. She tried with all of her might to keep her balance and raise her foot in the air to no avail. She thought this was even more funny that she was wobbling back and forth that she fell to the ground in a fit of giggles and ankle grabbing ! So funny !

Path of Destruction !

Okay ... so didn't I just finish saying how much Elaina loves her clothes (and shoes) ? She is so much of my girl - I really could be in trouble !

Elaina has picked up on a new game that she has created around her pajama drawer. She began by choosing the p.j.'s that she wanted to wear to bed tonight and then proceeded to pull out every pair that she owned to place them in a stack on her bean bag chair. She was so pleased with herself as she made about 5 trips back and forth the length of her room, emptying her drawer. What I do love about this little Stinkerbell is that she put every single piece of clothing back into her drawer after only having to ask her one time. Her idea of putting clothing away compared to mommy's idea of putting clothes away are still a long way away from being the same, but she did it ! If you know me at all, you're probably aware that I have a slight neurotic disorder of organization and order. Since Elaina has joined our family, I think that I have come a long way in putting alot of that aside. As long as we're all happy, healthy and not hurting anyone - I think we're doing okay.

As for Elaina's trail of disaster (as you can see in the first photo )... I just have to wonder how long this game may stay appealing to her. Maybe I'll just stop folding her pajamas for good.

NOT ! Come on -it's still me talking !

These boots are made for walking !

What a goofball ! I'm afraid it's all my fault - I have "tainted" my child already with a love of shoes and clothes ! After Elaina's bath tonight, we played up in her bedroom. Once we had read about 5 books, she moved onto "counting" her shoes. She pulled out her basket o' shoes and tried to squeeze her jammied covered feet into them. The ones that finally fit were, of course, her winter boots ! Can you tell that she is looking forward to wearing them ?