Iron City

Our second trip on a plane in a month, and Eliza once again proved to be a great traveler. This time we were off to Pittsburgh so that we could have our first meeting with Great-Grandma Bunny. Four generations of women!

There was also Eliza's great-great-aunt Ruthie and her daughter Robin (who is a first cousin twice-removed if I am doing my math right?) to meet. Very cool.

New hilarious game - lying down. OK, that doesn't sound all that funny, but for someone who stops moving about as often as a hummingbird does, actually stopping and pretending to rest seems like a funny thing to do.

While in Pittsburgh we also took the time to see (and eat at) a number of key landmarks. I decided that 23 months was too early to teach Eliza to boo the Steelers as we sat across the river from Heinz Field. Besides, everyone there was so nice to us...and it's baseball season.

See you next time...likely for the 2nd birthday party pics? Oh, and if you want to see the pictures bigger in this blog, just click on one of them and then you can use the arrow keys to scroll through just the pictures.

Return to St Thomas

For the second straight year, Eliza brought us to a tropical paradise for a winter break, this time bringing Grammy and Grampa too. Last year we called her the Mayor of St Thomas because she waved to every person who walked by on the beach or at the restaurants. This year at the beach she was too busy playing to acknowledge all her subjects.

 "Pour it!"

We're going on a dino hunt! Sandcastles and the water were fun, but looking at the fish, crabs, pelicans, geckos, and most importantly the "dinos" (iguanas) was definitely the beach highlight.

After the beach, the place to be was at the restaurants where Eliza discovered that she loves lobster mac n' cheese, crab cakes, and olive pizza. Things that her parents probably didn't like until their 20s. Vacation eating is good...

Quick break for a view from paradise:

 
Back at the house, we got in lots of pool time...when we weren't too busy having tea parties and playing stickers with Grammy.

Time to go back to the real world. Boooo!

Post-Christmas Fun

January was kind of a tough month for Eliza with one norovirus, one high fever, and two colds. As a result, we didn't take that many pictures as we didn't have too many adventures. But after we got back from Christmas fun we did get to play in Eliza's first deep snowfall, and her friend Ian came over for New Year's Eve. They didn't quite make it to midnight but still had tons of fun.

One of Dave's Christmas presents was this new stylish backpack. Eliza enjoyed the view from up high.

P-Town & The Durham Fair

A couple weeks ago we took a trip out to Provincetown for a long weekend, and Eliza was joined by her good friend Ian. They had a great time being silly together.

It was a little chilly, but we still had fun at the beach. Having the beach right next to downtown (and the house we stayed in) was pretty convenient.

Family picture time...and one with Ian!

The next weekend, we went to the fair! Eliza had a great time petting cows, goats, her cousin, and random toddlers that she didn't know. The cows she is petting are owned by Melinda who lived across from David when he was growing up in Madison.

See you next time!

Catching Up

Last you heard from us, Eliza was 364 days old and we had just about made it through our first year as parents. Guess we sort of forgot about the blog once we hit that milestone. But a few people have asked when we would update it again, and we were just organizing some pictures, so we thought it would be a good time to catch up a bit, and then try to do better again going forward!

So, yes, she did turn 1. Here's a pic from her actual birthday. Her dad had ice cream, she didn't. Poor kid.

At her birthday party she had a great time with friends and family (and this time, we gave her dessert!)

The next party in Eliza's life of leisure was at Memorial Day, where she got to see everyone again, as well as the Simms kids who came up for a visit. She also got to really play at the beach for the first time, definitely having more fun than last summer when she was usually sleeping in some type of wrap.

Oh, and did we mention that she has become very silly at the age of 1?

Who, me?

Gram Pete came north for a visit, so Eliza went out to say hello to her great grandma.

Pool time at TBR!

Dave O visited us in Somerville for a weekend, and he quickly learned that reading books is the way to Eliza's heart

July 4! Last year, Eliza slept through the cannons in the 1812 Overture. This year, she stayed awake through the youth orchestra and the bagpipes (which definitely got her attention). Oh, and her first steps were earlier in this day.

The busy social calendar continued with Gramps' 90th birthday up in Delmar, where she also met some of her Great Aunts and Uncles (including Ruth below)

First time in pigtails!

Training to be a sumo star. I don't have the heart to tell her that babies in the 2nd percentile of weight probably don't have what it takes.

In July we made more friends. Olivia came down from Montreal to try to inspire Eliza to move to walking full time. By the time we went to Maine and saw Adelaide (with her mom Shannon below), walking had definitely become the primary mode of transport. Nothing in the house is safe.

Lots of walking and talking in the Berkshires, where the definite highlight was "BABY!" Her cousin Robert may not have much interest in Eliza yet, but she is definitely obsessed with him. As you can see,  she's a little more dismissive of Uncle Shennell. But he's not giving up yet!

Oh and then there was the day that for whatever reason (mostly because she thought it was funny), Eliza decided to walk around with her arms backwards. All day.

A couple weekends ago we had to get the obligatory shot with Ian. Just in case they do end up getting married, it's important we keep a log of their early days together.

An action shot would be better, but here's Eliza's dance. Put on any music, heck even just drive by our house with loud music on, and she'll say "DEET!" and get into her dance pose. Why holding her hands together like she just won a boxing match is what she thinks of as dancing, we don't know.

Zoo! Walking through the fake caves was at least as fun as seeing the animals.

Til next time! (Hopefully sooner than 4.5 months) - cheers!