A few quick random photos

We took an impromtu afternoon trip to Lawrence a few weeks ago. Nans got to play on the South Park playground for the first time, since it's been too cold to play outside the other times we've brought her there.

A few days later, E and I took another impromptu field trip. We were at Babies'R'Us, and had a little time to kill before Matt got home, so we decided to go to the farmstead. E's opinion of her first visit seemed to be "Goats are cute, but don't let them touch me, and cows are scary as hell".

I have no photos of E with the cows, due to the fact that she was clinging to me for dear life and trying to climb up my leg.

Park Trip

Is this not the cutest little outfit ever!?!

Easter 2010 (one month later!)

Who wants to play catch?

Catch-up, that is. I am woefully behind and haven't blogged in over a month. I have friends moving away left and right, and I'd hate for them to have Elliot related withdrawl symptoms, so I really need to get on the ball. I'm going to try to crank out a lot of posts and schedule them to publish over the next week or so. I still haven't even done my Easter post, FFS! So that's my plan. Feel free to yell at me if you don't see at least a few posts this week. Some will be specific even/outing oriented, and some will probably be just a huge mess of pictures, but they will be there, I promise. And E swears it on a cupcake.

Oh dear.

It appears that E's and my awesome puppies and rainbows day was nothing short of miraculous, as I took her in today for her one year checkup (almost a month late...oops), and was informed that she has an enormous, raging ear infection. The funny thing is, you'd never know it. The P.A. seemed pretty shocked, since E was tearing around the exam room in her diaper, giggling and stopping every once in a while to do that adorable little dance that toddlers do. You know the one, where they stick their little butt out and bend their knees ever so slightly.

Anywho, she is still a little shrimp at 18 lbs. 4.5 oz. (5th percentile), but she's 30 inches long (63rd percentile) with a 46 cm head (69th percentile). With her tall, skinny body and enormous brain case, I'm predicting that she will grow up to be a really, really smart supermodel. I'll update y'all on that in about 16-20 years.

The P.A., Janelle, wasn't overly concerned about her weight, due to the combined factors of E always being small and her vigorous cardio routine of charging back and forth across the house all day long. I am, however, at least supposed to attempt to fatten her up a bit, just to see if it can be done. I never thought I'd hear a medical professional encouraging me to "load up on the butter", but that's what she said! Does anyone have any ideas for high calorie foods that a picky toddler would enjoy? I'm not ready to resort to Happy Meals and cookies just yet, but I do think it's time to try peanut butter. I'm terrified to do this (I once witnessed a very bad allergic reaction to eggs in a one year old, and I can't even imagine how bad a peanut allergy would be), but I really need to try because it could be a great new food for E. Any other suggestions?

Easter pictures coming soon, as well as pics from last Saturday's outing, but for now I'll leave you with E in one of her many new pairs of two piece big-girl jammies. I thought I'd miss the footies, but the new ones show off her little potbelly so adorably that I have zero desire to ever put her back in footie pajamas.

Best Day Evah

Do you ever have those days where everything just seems to go right and you are in a ridiculously good mood for no apparent reason? A puppies and rainbows day, if you will. Well, today was one of those days for me. Writing all the good things about today down in paragraph form seems kind of boring though, so I'll just make you a list.

1. E sleeping in and taking an awesome nap. (She's been sick and waking up at night, so I really wanted her to catch up on her sleep)!

2. Every single cat making it through the whole day without vomiting. (Cat owners, you know what an accomplishment this is!)

3. Beautiful weather and a walk to our neighborhood playground, where E made a new friend.

4. A venti iced coffee at Starbucks when I only ordered a grande.

5. Finding the Baby Gap swimsuit I really, really wanted for E, but was unwilling to pay full price for, on sale for $12.00!

6. Getting the playground at the mall all to ourselves! It's usually like a battlefield in there, with unsupervised 6 year olds launching themselves off of the equipment like little torpedoes, only to inevitably land on my daughter and make her cry. (And by the way, never once has a parent of one of these little hoodlums apologized to me. Not once.)

7. A freaking delicious pasta primavera recipe that I tried out for dinner tonight.

8. E picking up the cow from her barnyard play set and very deliberately saying "Mooooo!" Moments later, she pointed to a picture of a baby and said "Baybeeeee!"

9. The realization that the reason E has never calmed down when I sing her lullabies, but always calms down when I sing preschool songs is because she heard me singing them to my kids at school when I was pregnant.

10. At no point today did I catch on fire, fall in a big hole, or look down and realize I forgot to wear pants. (I ran out of things for the list at #9, but I wanted to make it an even 10. Sorry.)

Dear iPhone (an open letter)

Dear iPhone,

Please don't ever scare me like that again. When your screen went dark and you were unresponsive, I felt an irrational urge to throw you down onto the grass and begin chest compressions (screen compressions?) while screaming, "Live, damnit, LIVE!!" Instead I drove you to the AT&T store, where a knight in shining armor brought you back to life in about 8 seconds.

That was a mean trick, iPhone. You're not just my cell phone, you're my only phone. I don't have a landline. I need you. And you're not just a phone. You're my iPod, my day planner, and my general all around time-waster. If you die, how will I check Facebook while waiting in line at the grocery store?

Please don't ever leave me,

Meg

Wednesday

Wednesday is a tricky day for E and I. We pretty much have something planned every other day of the week, so Wednesdays usually find me wandering aimlessly around the house trying to think of something to do. Today we decided to go visit Grandma and Grandpa and take them to the park with us.

My pretty girl

Grass makes her happy.

Checking out Old Shawnee Town

Are her shoes not the cutest things ever?

"I love my Grandpa!"

Turns out, visiting Grandma and Grandpa was a brilliant idea. The park totally wore E out, plus they took us to get gelato! I think we have a new Wednesday routine.

Girls Night Out!!!!

This weekend, Lindsay and I left the babies behind and headed to Lawrence for a much needed night out with our friend Aimee. The evening started out on a good note when I successfully got Lindsay, the notorious beer hater, to not only try a Free State beer, but to actually enjoy it. (Okay, it was a Cyclist, which is half lemonade, but it's a start, right?) After dinner and a bottle of wine at Zen Zero we arrived at the Sandbar.



After being propositioned by a group of guys from Baldwin (one of whom looked to be about 12) we decided it was time to head for the Jazzhaus, our final destination for the night. Three hours of dancing and eight beers later, I was rather impressed with myself for still retaining the ability to stand up straight and form a coherent sentence, but I was more impressed with Lindsay, who accomplished the same feat while wearing 3 inch heels with a sprained ankle. I'm happy to say that my friends are now Sellout converts!



So after reading this post, I know what you're thinking- "Who is that dashing young man with the keytar?" That's my friend Danny, and he not only rocks the keytar, he's also a saxophone player, marathon runner, Ironman, and a participant in the Kansas City Bike MS Ride. If you're impressed by all this- or you just really have a thing for guys dressed like Devo- please go here to sponsor Danny in this years ride. Any donation helps, no matter how small, and is much appreciated!

The Birthday Party

I realize that these pictures are about a week and a half two weeks late, but that's okay because am hereby awarding myself the procrastinator's award. It's a win/win. You guys finally get pictures, and I get a super awesome award.

Naked cupcakes

Cupcakes all dressed up

The birthday girl in her birthday dress

Various stages of giant cupcake messiness

Her awesome new toy from Grandma and Grandpa

Guess what?!?!

I'm going to

with
in a month.
I am sad to leave
and

But I'm excited to see


and

But not so much

because he's creepy.