Elyse and I drove to Madeira beach to meet up with Kristin and Rylan and we all went out to lunch at St. John's pass where views like this can be captured from almost anywhere on the boardwalk. The weather was gorgeous and we were able to eat outside. The food was wonderful but atmosphere always helps with that and it's hard for me to have a bad meal on the water. The babies did great and we headed back to Kristin's to put the girls down for a nap.....which didn't go so well. Elyse screamed like I've never heard her scream over the thought of taking a nap there. Eventually after some coaxing she gave in to exhaustion but getting there broke my heart. Things like that just don't happen at home. I can't remember the last time she fussed about going to sleep and it made me anxious. We are going out of town next weekend for a couple of nights and I hope she adapts quickly and gently to the pack n' play sleeping quarters of a hotel room.

We were on the move the last couple of days visiting friends and babies so today it was nice just to lay low. She got good naps in her own bed and I got a few things done around the house, too bad a lot more than just "a few" things needed to get done. Oh well.

I'm looking forward to this weekend which all starts with small group tonight followed by Help Build Hope on Saturday at the church. Harborside is partnering with Habitat for Humanity to build the interior walls of five homes. I'm not very handy but Matt and I are going to give it a go and hopefully meet some new people from our church and have some fun. I love that God designed us to enjoy helping others and delight with joyful hearts that the concept "tis better to give than to receive" is true. My mom is watching Elyse while we do this and then after we get cleaned up we get to go on our own little date night which I am very excited about.

I sure am glad it's Friday.

New snuggie

She has become so attached to her snuggie I figured I better buy a back-up while I still know where to get one and I picked up the last one they had today. I realize showing her that there are 2 snuggies could cause her to want both but I couldn't help myself, I wanted to see her reaction and I'm glad I did. Hopefully we can begin to rotate them with washings, travel, etc. and she won't know the difference yet. We'll see.

Another picture just for fun. She looked so cute in this and I wanted to take a picture for Matt's secretary because she got her this outfit.....great taste!

My has time gotten away from me this last week. It's been almost a week since I've blogged and that's not like me but in reality there hasn't been much to say. I feel like I've been very busy but it has been with little things here and there that have just seemed to add up.

Last Thursday I was able to meet up with a group of girls for a night out. We went to this great tapas place called the Living Room in Dunedin and I really had a nice time. It was wonderful to get out and meet a few new people. I told myself I would talk about other things aside from the mommy/baby things that are constantly running through my mind. I was successful for awhile but mid-meal kids came up and my concerns and questions about Elyse and solid foods ended up pouring out and I'm glad they did. The girls didn't offer life altering advice or give the answer that would solve it all but they did encourage me and in hindsight that was all I really needed. I needed to hear I was doing a good job. I may not be doing it perfectly or the way other families would but I'm doing my best and it's working for us. I struggle with self-doubt sometimes especially when it comes to parenting and starting solids brought a whole new gamut of things to worry about for me. Elyse is small for her age but ever since we started solids she has been eating them like it's her job and gained double in one month that she did in the last 2 months combined. Am I over-feeding her solids? Is she still getting enough milk? Do I have enough milk? How much solids are normal for her age? I met with a lactation consultant, borrowed a friends baby scale to weigh her before and after nursing sessions, and split her solids up into smaller meals. Needless to say after all of my concern everything is perfectly fine and the encouragement I got Thursday really helped as well. I need to re-insert parental confidence into my prayers or this is going to be a long 18+ years! ;-)

Saturday Matt and I went with his dad and Kathy to a home show in St. Pete. We had coupons to get in free and I had never been to a show like that before so we decided to go. There were a few gadgets that the marketing of the vendors got me to desire but we left empty handed. I still have thoughts about that steam mop, it seemed so neat! My mop works perfectly well though so we just couldn't justify the purchase. You can tell you're getting older and have become a mom when a mop excites you like that. After the show we went to an early dinner near the Pier where we all ordered Mahi with black beans and rice....it was delicious!

Sunday I had to work all day at the hospital and as usual it was a long 12 hours but it went great. Each time I go I'm amazed at what a good time I have there. It was hard to leave that morning though because A.)I feel bad missing church and B.)I miss Matt a lot with his busy schedule right now, but it's a sacrifice we're making because neither of us are sure if I should fully resign or keep up the 2 shifts per month. Until we have a clear and confident answer we are content in staying put.

Monday was chores and the grocery store and today I've spent time making baby food and putting together Elyse's new dresser. The drawers of the one we originally bought kept collapsing on each other so the company finally agreed to send us a new one. I'm hoping it was just a bad batch and that this one will serve us better.

In the last month or so we've gotten a new camera and photo editing software so I'm posting a picture just for fun.

Zoo day

Today my friend Loren and I took our little animals to the zoo. She has season passes and one of them is for a guest, add to that the kiddos were free and I didn't have to spend any money getting in. Thank you Loren!

The zoo was an excuse to get together, enjoy the gorgeous weather and have a change of scenery. I was incredibly surprised at how much Elyse and I enjoyed the day. You wouldn't think a 6 month old would be so interested in everything that was going on. It took her a little while because at first she was just enjoying riding in the stroller and looking around but once things got interactive she was squealing to her hearts content. She liked looking through the underground glass at the manatees, fish, turtles, otters, etc. because they would swim up so close to her. She would try to grab the fish with her hands and I was amazed at how fast she could keep up with them. She also LOVES kids and she really enjoyed all the other "little people" crowding around to see. She even got to pet a stingray and I was once again amazed that after careful observation of what was going on around her, she just reached her little hand in and touched one. Situations like that are really making me realize what a quiet observer she is. She may not be doing or saying much but she is definitely taking it all in. I'm in awe of it.

I think I liked this day so much because I really feel like Elyse and I both got a lot of enjoyment out of it. After Elyse's first nap on Monday I went to lunch and walked around in Hyde Park Village for a little while with some friends. When we got back I put her down for her long nap and when she awoke I strapped her in the car seat and ran some errands. I told Matt that night that it was so nice to get out and see my friends and even though I had been with Elyse all day I didn't feel like I really spent any time with her. Today was the best of all of those worlds. Matt's busy schedule and even busy days with Elyse remind me that even if I'm with the ones I love all day long I still need to try and be intentional with that time.

It took us some work getting there but I can proudly say Elyse is a champion sleeper and has been for awhile. Most nights we put her to bed between 6:30 and 7pm and don't have to go back in until after 7am. She takes 2 good naps a day and is a delightful, rested child....unless you're on the go. She doesn't usually sleep well on the move but the excitement of the day finally got to her and I was delighted to be able to snap a shot of her snoozing away in the stroller. She already has chosen her little security "snuggie" and I'm thankful I remembered to bring it along. I've read and friends have told me that babies don't get attached to a security object until they're around a year old but she has definitely bonded with this one. I was washing him (I'm not sure why I call him "him", it is a pink bear after all but saying "her" seems confusing so "him" it is) the other day and he wasn't quite dry when she was ready to nap so I put her down with a substitute snuggie. She went down rougher and awoke 20 minutes into her nap, both are unusual. By that point snuggie was dry so I walked into her room with him, leaned over and peered into her crib. She immediately snatched the little bear up and tucked him right up to her chest, rolled to her side and fell fast asleep. Yes, she loves him and I love how she loves him.

Now this should be a Pepsi ad! I washed out the cup for her and she really enjoyed chewing on it. It's so hard to believe they sell sodas that are half of the size of my daughter but they do, I bought one and it was good.

This is a picture I took before Matt left for work this morning. I love capturing moments like this and in my own little way freezing them in time. It's such a simple picture and what they're doing is nothing spectacular. No one is posing or dressed up. He's in his work clothes, she's in her pajamas. It's a dirty window opening to a boring porch and a backyard of dying grass. Somehow it's still just so sweet to me. As I quietly watched them from a distance, before I grabbed my camera, a thousand words were spoken but no one said a thing. I love the way he loves her. We are very blessed girls!

For daddy

I know these little video clips don't mean much to many of you but they mean a lot to Matt. As I mentioned before he has been working a lot. His nights have been short, his work days long and he let's me know everyday how much he misses his girls so I'm going to try to post little clips as I think of it. I used to be able to email them but we got a new camera and for some reason I am unable to email the videos and I'm even having difficulty uploading pictures. I'm sure it's user error but until I get it ironed out you may be seeing things like this.

She will pull up and stand in her crib on her own but for some reason today she was just in a "standing mood" so I was trying to think of different places that were her height for holding on. After standing with the ottoman, couch, her little chair, etc, etc, we ended up in the crib and she just thought the new view was hilarious. She even got a kick out of falling down. Go figure. I didn't have the camera when I first put her in there but boy did she ever laugh. I love the simple pleasures she gets out of such subtle changes.....I could learn from that.

Joy

Poor Matt has been working so hard lately. Whether it be at his Tampa office, out of town, or from his desk here at home he is logging some serious hours. I've always been thankful for his job but with the economic conditions that we're in I'm even more appreciative than ever. I've been given the amazing gift of being able to be home with our daughter and I love that. That fact alone causes me to grin and bear it even when it's hard because the alternative would not be good at all. When he is this busy I know it's extra important to be intentional in our time together and efforts toward one another so last night we left promptly after small group was over (skipping the social hour), asked the sitter to stay a little late, and we stole a few hours together to reconnect. It was very nice and much needed. We talked about a lot of things, some of them relevant, but mostly just dreaming out loud and it was fun. We found ourselves smirking and giggling and I felt like we were on one of our first dates, I liked that.

Today he has had to shut himself in the office for several hours to get some work done and I've been doing housework. I was making us some boring peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and I though "hey, I can create some joy out of this" (our small group lesson was about joy). So I made a little lunch spread with a card, placed it on a silver platter and left it just outside the office door. I knocked and ran away and hid. He didn't come. I knocked and hid again. He didn't come. He thought I was playing a little joke just knocking each time I passed his office door while I puttered around the house (rightfully so because sometimes I do silly things like that). I knocked again. Still nothing. Finally I sent him a text that just said "open" and he did. We ate our not so fancy lunch together and it was fun. Now he's back in the office and I just finished mopping but I really think I added a little joy to our day. I need to do that more often.

Perfect chili weather

I had a few girls from our small group over for chili and chatting on Tuesday night and even I was impressed how well the chili turned out. The cold weather, warm food, and great company made for an absolutely delightful evening.

Yesterday a friend from work came over with her 5 week old baby and he is just too sweet! When he started to cry it upset Elyse, I thought that was very sweet and sensitive of her. I like this picture because it looks as though she's wondering "who is this in my chair?". I'm very thankful to have another friend with a baby and we plan on getting together again soon.