A Weekend With Daddy!

Last weekend, Elle and I flew out to San Diego to spend a long weekend with Clay.

We spent most of the weekend on Coronado Island and enjoyed being able to walk to restaurants and shops.

We also planned a 'first' since Clay misses most of those.

Off to the park!

Elle got to try out the swings!

She seemed to enjoy it on Friday...

Saturday she wasn't as impressed though.

She had a little help from Daddy!

Awwww....

At the top of the slide...

At the bottom! She seemed to enjoy the slides too!

This is Elle's favorite way to practice walking.

Fun for her - a bit awkward for me!

The park had a bunch of signs saying 'no dogs' - which I translated to 'not a public toilet'. So, Elle got to play in the grass!

It was a great weekend...Clay and I even managed to squeeze in a mini-date. It was the first time Elle has had a babysitter in the evening! She must be growing up...

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Loads of cuteness!

I haven't downloaded photos from the camera in a while...

In the last few weeks, Elle has started 'loving' on stuffed animals and kissing. Super cute!

Would you believe she didn't feel good the day I took these?

For some reason, this corner is the coolest place in the apartment. What you don't get in this photo is how much she giggles when she is messing around...she knows she shouldn't be back here!

Serious concentration!

Standing!!

Lots of fun!

Elle has been eating real foods for a while now. But, I don't always realize when she has 'grown' in her skills - until she lets me know! Most nights, she gets some cheese for dinner. Usually I tear it into bite size pieces.

The other night, she let me know that she is a big girl and grabbed the whole thing from me and started eating!

Good thing I managed to get it away from her long enough to get the plastic off of it!

Ok, I admit it...I have a bit of an addiction to the baby-stuff web site Zulily. Super cute stuff and pretty good prices. Usually, I am really good at just buying stuff a size or two bigger than she is wearing so I am ready when she gets there. A few weeks ago, I made a spontaneous purchase...it showed up yesterday!

 I think she likes it!

Last weekend, I had an interesting revelation. I had heard that having a baby opens up a whole new world. In many ways, I get it. But usually, I just think about it from seeing things for the first time again as I share experiences with Elle. What I hadn't realized was that my circle of friends has changed so much in the last 9 months! We had a really social/busy weekend and I realized Sunday evening that we had visited with three different groups of friends over the weekend. For so long after I moved back to DC, I was really focused on work...and only occassionally getting out to play. Now with Elle, I really can't work when she is awake and I am really enjoying it! 

Friday night, we went with some friends from my mom's group for Mexican. Imagine if you were our server...5 adults + 3 kids under 1 year old! Now, imagine if everyone who planned to be there would have made it...11 adults + 5 kids!  I didn't get any photos but the kids were great, food was great and my first margarita in nearly two years was fantastic!!

Saturday night, we went to a 'beach party'. We are all tired of winter so an evening with summery drinks, guacamole, SHRIMP BOIL and ice cream sandwiches was perfect!

Mmmmm...you are jealous, aren't you??!!

And, Sunday (I told you we were busy!), we went to my friend Rachel's house for dinner. We enjoy hanging out with her family and I think Elle has a crush on both of her kids and the dogs!! I am not sure who she gets more excited to see. They have 2 labs and one is really good with kids. Elle was GIDDY to hug and pet her. It was really cute but I didn't manage to get any pics or video of her playing with the dog.

9 Months Old!!

On Wednesday, Elle turned 9 months old! At this point, she is 'this' close to walking...I saw her take 3 unassisted steps the other day before falling! And, her favorite game is to rush to play in the refridgerator when I have it open to get things out for dinner - she is really fast when she wants to be! She also likes digging around in the cupboards and playing with the plastic dishes.

She loves playing with the ball popper and trying to grab the balls before they 'pop'!  Thanks for the fun toy Taller family!

Elle heads to the pediatrician this week for her next check up. We'll see if she is still a pipsqueak on the growth charts. She eats all the time but still seems a bit small to me. She is so active all the time, I guess she just uses all the calories she consumes!

San Francisco!

Last weekend, Elle and I were in San Francisco...my last work trip for a while! It is possible that I won't need to travel again for work until August or September. I don't know what to do with that...in the 7+ years I have worked here, I don't think I have ever had that long of a break from travel. My maternity leave wasn't even that long!

We stayed down by the wharf in a hotel that was an old cannery. Elle thought the most interesting part of the room was the brick wall! Normally, I am pretty laid back with her but this made me a bit nervous. I could just imagine her tipping over into the brick, the timbers or the bolts along the floor...great hotel but definitely not child friendly! 

I was excited that there was an In N Out Burger a block away! Yay! Cheeseburgers and strawberry shakes! Elle didn't get either of them, but I think she was jealous!

We finished up early on Saturday and went for a walk to see the sea lions.

I love listening to them! Stinky...but entertaining!

My college friend Heather came to visit us for the afternoon too. She took us to Sea Cliff for dinner at the Cliff House (http://www.cliffhouse.com/). It was a bit touristy but had great ocean views and a spectacular sunset!

Thanks Heather for a fun afternoon!!

This picture doesn't do the view justice!

Elle is going mobile!

A few weeks ago, I decided to finally get Elle a push-behind walker. She has been 'cruising' along the furniture pretty well and I thought it would be helpful for her to learn to walk forward, not just side to side! So, I found one on Amazon to order...

The next morning, I found this going on...

Elle had found her own push-behind walker! Very resourceful!

Here she is with the real walker. It has aligators on the front that 'clack' when she pushes it!