The Birthday Party!

Whose crazy idea was it to invite every person to our house on a Saturday when it is supposed to rain and that means having everyone inside!  Yikes!  Well that is exactly what happened yesterday.  We had a total of 56 people (including kids) inside and celebrating Lizzy's first birthday with a lot of food, cake and not so many tears! 

See below for a quick snapshot but she did great.  She loved seeing everyone, even let a few people snuggle and hug her!  Thank you all for making Elizabeth's first birthday such a magical, fun event for Ben and I ... and Lizzy too!  You are all so generous and we couldn't have been more excited to catch up with everyone for this special occasion. 

To those that had to park a mile away, I'm sorry.  Parking is definitely anything but ideal when we do larger parties but we completely appreciate you all coming, celebrating and not blocking our neighbors in!  We are so blessed to have so many family and friends that are close to celebrate with.  To the Minnesota family, we missed you and plan on coming back sometime this fall to celebrate with everyone there.  We'll do a big bash with all the great-grand kids for Grandma Volkert! 

She is such a ham for the camera!

We definitely preferred the cake pop over the actual cake.

The spread ... cake pop anyone!

Playing with cousin Elsa!

Happy Birthday to the Lizbug!

Well we made it.  One year.  Part of me wants to say boy oh boy did time fly and the other part of me wants to say it didn't go fast enough.  I'd say it is a 90/10 split.  I'm in awe of how fast this first year has gone.  Lizzy has grown so much and has changed our lives in so many ways.  I'm more patient, more kind and definitely more understanding and supportive of other mama's! 

We had a day as I took the day off and Elizabeth and I simply spent some quality time together.  We played all morning long, took a good nap (well at least she did) and then headed to the mall to get our pictures taken.  Daddy met us and overall she did amazing.  We went to Picture People, definitely not my favorite place to have photos done, but the pictures turned out pretty darn cute.  From there we headed to Build-A-Bear and helped Lizzy make her very first teddy bear ... we named him Love-A-Lot because he looks a little like a Care Bear!  From there we headed to Red Robin for lunch and home to relax and enjoy the evening as a family. 

Here are a few snapshots from her big day!  Next up ... the birthday bash!

Garage Sale Weekend

Boy oh boy does it feel like summer! 

Every weekend from now until what feels like Christmas is jam-packed with activities, BBQ's, weddings, events and boating.  Bring on the hot weather.  And boy-oh-boy did it finally get warm this weekend.  Pretty sure we topped out around 80 degrees on Saturday. 

But first, Friday night, we took Lizzy to her first Mariners game!  She did ... well she did okay.  Actually she did really well but by 9:30pm she had hit her wall.  We left work around 4pm, headed down to the stadium to get in and get our commemorative train and, because we were there for a CCFA fundraiser (http://www.ccfa.org/), we received our Mike McCready bobble head!  From the stadium we headed to Elysian Fields for dinner where Lizzy ate her first chicken strips.  She loved it.  We saw a lot of friends from college and got to catch up on kids, wedding prep, summer plans ... it was wonderful.  They played Tampa Bay and just womped them 7-0.  We walked around, sat in our seats for probably an hour, walked around a little more and then headed home. 

Saturday was the Tapps Island Garage Sale ... for those not familiar this is simply an excuse to drink bloody mary's and see what crap people try to charge way to much for.  Oh and it is a great way to say hi to a whole bunch of people I hardly see any more.  With the gorgeous weather and drinks in hand we ended up walking the entire island.  Elizabeth was a trooper both with shopping and taking a nap in her stroller (first time in months). 

Lizzy napping in her stroller ... haha!

We headed out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate my best gal's birthday ... yet another delicious dinner at C.I. Shenanigans.  It was prom which was entertaining but the food was amazing, the view even better and the parking spot - right up front (okay come one, Tacoma waterfront on a sunny Saturday, you know you are jealous!). 

Sunday we had brunch with the girls and their girls, always fun and probably been a year since we had done that exact breakfast get together.  Lizzy went in the swing for the first time and needless to say she did not enjoy it.  This should prove interesting as we just bought her a swing for her first birthday!  Haha!  After brunch and the park we headed to my sister's to visit for a bit.  It was nice to just hang out and chat for a bit. 

Overall another busy weekend ... I love summer and hate summer for this reason, but more love it!  Bring on the sunshine and the summer fun!

 

Memorial Day Weekend

What an amazing weekend!  We played hookie a lot but it was quite a lot of fun.  Friday Ben picked me up from work and we headed south.  We made good time and ended up having Lizzy stay with my folks while Ben and I headed out to grab a bite to eat.  The Rock ... one of our favorite establishments both down south and here in Lynn'hood'.  Saturday we hung out with the rents and then headed to Target and Sushi Town (another fan favorite down south). 

Here is where we played hookie again!  Elizabeth ended up staying with mom and dad all afternoon and evening on Saturday while we went and saw a movie and met up with a good friend.  Went and saw Bridesmaids and overall it was pretty damn funny.  Ben and I are big fans of the television show Mike & Molly and we just new that 'Molly' had to be hilarious and she did not disappoint.  We then headed to Farrelli's to meet up with Cody and his girlfriend Kelsey.  This was my first time meeting her and she is just fantastic.  We had a great time, even ended up at a favorite local bar, The Log Cabin.

Sunday Ben and I hit the course, FINALLY.  Ben had yet to hit the Burner's I gave him last year for his birthday and I hadn't played since before I was pregnant (not too easy to swing a golf club with 40 pounds in front of you!).  We played, we sucked, but we had fun!  Ate some tasty lunch with the rents and then headed home.

I'm a firm believer in coming home on the Sunday of a three day weekend.  Always makes it feel like the weekend is just a wee bit longer.  Monday we spent running errands, cleaning, doing laundry, mowing lawns, all the fun homeowner stuff that needs to be done.

Wow ... we are almost a year!

So ... we've effectively taken a two month break from the blog.  To be honest that is mainly because mom is the only one who types and mom has been traveling almost every week.  In fact, I'm writing this from beautiful, sunny, humid Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Oh what fun it is.

Elizabeth is growing like an absolute weed.  She is about 24 pounds and I swear almost three feet tall.  I'll have to double check her stats from her 10 month check up ... bad mommy, I can't remember.  She is scooting everywhere.  We've pretty much decided that she will not crawl, she'll scoot and then probably just stand up and walk.  She is loving cheese and fruit (specifically bananas and pears).  We love reading our ladybug book at night and brushing our teeth and hair before bed time. 

We had another 'head' scare where the pediatrician was very concerned about the size of her noggin.  Essentially because her head continues to grow at a rate that is off the charts they were concerned that she may have hydrocephalus.  I completely feel as this last go around was a CYA (cover-your-ass) move be the pediatrician's office however it is my princess and if something was wrong and we did not get it checked out, how could I live with myself.

So a week ago Monday, May 16th we headed to Children's Hospital to have a CT scan done on her little brain/head and then another appointment to read the scan to ensure nothing was wrong or create a plan of attack if something was incorrect.  I cannot imagine how parents go through dealing with their child being sick or needing treatments at Children's.  I realize you just suck it up and deal with it, because as a parent that is what you do.  But wow, I have a whole new appreciation for how strong you must be.

The CT scan was incredibly short but it was a shock initial that my baby girl would need to have such a thing done.  The machine is huge and they essentially do a 'super swaddle' or better yet it looks as though your child is strapped down and mummified.  So SCARY ... they placed her little head between two wedges so she wouldn't move.  Overall she did amazing.  The first two minutes it was definitely a look of 'what the heck are you doing to me' then it was about three minutes of scared crying.  The tech Ryland (sp?) gave daddy a swirly light up toy and that worked for about 30 seconds but then she figured out it was just a trick! 

We were pretty early but two hours later we finally met with the RN Elizabeth (I saw that as a good sign) and she told us almost immediately that her CT scan was fine, in fact her exact words were 'her head is perfect!'  I couldn't have asked for a more clear cut answer.  Hallelujah!  Her head is fine just genetically huge.  Thanks dad! 

Either way you dice it, it was perfect news to start off a short week as we headed to Vegas for a long weekend and Elizabeth headed to Grandma and Grandpa Swerk's house.  She had a great time from what we can tell ... other than the fact that I'm pretty sure she was incredibly spoiled with being held.  It took us a solid two days to be able to set her down without her crying.  She is so tricky ... but so cute! 

We are really working pretty heavy on sign language now and she does awesome.  She probably has about ten signs or so ... and we are working on about 20 more.  Hopefully by Chelan she can at least partially talk with her cousin Ellie, we will see though.  She does great with hi/bye, milk, drink, bath, oh-no and all done... we do pretty good with more, O's (Cheerio's) and now mommy and daddy need to learn more to teach more! 

Okay enough for tonight, it is 11pm here in Michigan and I really need to go to bed! 

Vegas Baby!

 

 

Just a few highlights from our recent trip to Vegas!!! 

If you head there soon ... go check out the show Absinthe ... best - show - ever!  You can't get closer to the action unless you become one of the actors.  Interactive, hilarious, breathtaking, death-defying ... AMAZING!  Check out a few of the photos from the show below!

Yes .. the blog is still active!

I figured since it had been almost two months since our last post I should at least acknowledge that we are still here ... still kickin' ... just really busy!  Well mom is really busy therefore the blog does not get updated. 

Where to begin ... Lizzy is scooting around on her bum in a circle.  Very cute, much easier on the wood or laminate floor than the carpet!  If we put her on her belly she, more often than not, will still flip right back on her back.  No interest what-so-ever in crawling, scooting, etc.  She will, on occasion, push herself up and then scoot back.  We are not really encouraging movement though because we figure our days our literally numbered until the real 'fun' begins and she is into everything.

She has her two bottom teeth, one tooth on top and about five more that appear to be ready any day.  Elizabeth is probably one of the more calmer kids when it comes to teething.  Just cranky at night and doesn't like to go to sleep.  But she eventually goes down and in morning she is happy as can be!  Her hair is growing ... still spotty at best ... but I can put a small (SMALL) barrette in her hair.  Pretty darn cute if you ask me! 

She will wave hello and goodbye as well as tell you when she wants milk or more food.  Ben and I are working on basic signing with her and actually starting to see it pay off.  Now if we were just home a bit more I think she'd be rivaling her cousin Ellie in short order.  We will see ...

Pictures to follow soon ... currently in Chicago for a week!  Love you all ... email, call or visit anytime!