BAHston And The Sick Ward

I don't understand how it is almost November, time has been moving at warp speed this month. A few weekends ago, Tom and I headed to Boston for my cousin Jordan's wedding. We debated for months about bringing Eloise and ultimately decided it would be easier if she stayed at home. We were sad to not be able to share her with the family though! Lucky for us her wonderful Grandma Leisa and Aunt Lani were able to watch her for the weekend. And not just wonderful but uber-wonderful since Eloise was still sick (ugh!) and woke up both nights not feeling well :(

Meanwhile in Boston...Tom and I were attending one of the most stunningly beautiful weddings we've ever been to! The ceremony and reception took place at an elegant old hotel. My cousin Jordan seemed so happy and we just adore his new wife Ali. I don't think the pictures even do it justice but I'll try anyway (and type the photo comments in italics as regular font just doesn't feel fancy enough).

The ceremony room

The Chuppah (or Huppah? I can never figure out Hanukkah or Chanukah either)

Fancy guests

The cocktail room post ceremony

The reception ball room



Tom and his other date, Ms Vodka Soda, they hung out all night...

My sis and dad tearing up the dance floor

Oh and of course the couple and their cake!! I realized that I didn't have many photos of them but we did have a number of family photos taken by the wedding photographer so that is my reasoning...


We had a little bit of free time in which we walked portions of the Freedom Trail and checked out some historical spots. We also had to enjoy some seafood and I had the cutest soup bowl I've ever seen!


All in all, it was a great weekend. And then back to reality and the sick ward...poor little Eloise, my heart breaks thinking about all the germs that are attacking her immune system and making her sick. In addition to the cough, cold, fever, runny/stuffy nose and diaper rash that appeared in the first two weeks of daycare, I can now add diarrhea (sorry, if you're eating I suggest you stop), strep throat and a yeast infection (I told you to stop eating). I didn't even know a baby could get the last two but apparently they can. I took her to the doctor this week and we now have medicine for the strep and the proper lotion for the other rash...but I can't believe all that has occurred from just 4 weeks of daycare!

The good news is that Eloise still really likes going to daycare and she's generally happy during the day. The bad news is that she has been up almost every night just miserable which makes for some very tired, long days of work. I know that we're not alone in this area of baby sickness, but it's still tough. Okay enough of the sadness, dry that tear and I'll show you some photos of a happy Eloise who is very quickly changing from baby to toddler!

Getting good traction with her shoes and pushing her high chair around the kitchen!

Climbing on things that she is not supposed to...

Flash forward to the teen years, ignoring me as I tell her not to do something..

Laughing at her daddy, her face here just struck me as older

Cool dude

Ready for cold weather

Figured out how to press the "input" button on the side of the TV and change the screen to blue, she was amazed and delighted by this discovery

Funny expression


For my mom's birthday I thought her and my dad might like some professional photos taken with Eloise. The photographer we used for the newborn and 6 month photos was offering a special deal and it seemed like a great opportunity. However, someone decided that they didn't really feel like taking photos, not saying who but her name rhymes with Shmeloise. There's a bit of a mommy-thing going on but I also had to wake her up from a nap and quickly get her ready and in the car. Then the next thing she knows she's in a little room with someone holding a camera in her face and mommy standing 5 feet away. Soooooo, we'll see how those photos turn out. Of course, by the time we were done and back at my parent's house, Eloise decided it was time for fun with abuela and grandpa.





Onto a momentous week, the first birthday!

11 Months and counting

Getting old is tough, Eloise did not have the easiest time transitioning to eleven months old. Mainly due to her first real cold (which developed after visiting daycares and seemed to get worse after being in daycare, apply layers and layers of mom-guilt now). The poor little thing has had a hard time shaking this cold, we're going on two weeks now. When I say "cold" this includes, runny/stuffy nose, cough, fever, puke, and diaper rash. Well, the diaper rash probably isn't from the cold but chalk it up to another post-daycare development that isn't comfortable :( She seems to be on the mend and I'm really hoping this is building a rock solid immune system for the k-12 years (I use this reasoning to help with the mom-guilt).

Quite a difference in appearance from 10 to 11 months, mainly 4 teeth in place!


Besides when sick, sleeping is around 7:30pm-7:00am. Eloise still naps twice a day for about 90 minutes at a time (although at daycare it's sometimes on the shorter side). She is eating all solid foods and definitely has her favorites. She loves noodles, peas, raspberries, multi-grain cheerios, tuna fish, grilled cheese, mandarin oranges, and of course puffs! She is really good at feeding herself but lots of food still ends up being thrown on the floor or hand fed to Parker. Eloise is very generous with her food, usual offering a piece of food that has been squished, half chewed, spit out, and rubbed around on her tray, very appetizing :)


Eloise is not walking yet but she is getting quite confident and sometimes tries to take a step on her own. If I stand her up next to something and then sit a few feet away and hold my hands out, she will try to walk to me. Although I have to be in close range because sometimes she kind of hurls her body in my direction and forgets to move her feet!

I kind of caught her sequence of movements when she tried some steps on her own.

Thinking about that window...

It's not too far...

Couldn't quite make the step!

Back up on her feet.

Notice the black shoe in her hand in the photos above? She often crawls or walks along with a toy in hand. We don't usually put shoes on Eloise but I've left a few pairs lying around so she could get used to them. She will pick up socks and shoes and lay them on her feet as if trying to put them on. Lots of mimic-ing going on now!

Eloise is as busy as ever. We still get a little playtime during the week day but the evening is so rushed. We do get some fun updates from daycare. Besides all the sickness, Eloise seems to be enjoying her time there. One of the teachers told Tom that Eloise loves going to the book shelf, throwing a bunch of books on the floor, and then she sits down and looks through the books! She's watching and learning from her new little friends too. One day Tom and I arrived at the same time and saw a little boy sitting in the rocking chair and making it rock. A week later, when we took the 11 month photos, Eloise sat in her chair and made it rock. She had never done that before!

Still able to grab those toes.


Still no "official" words but we're pretty sure she says Daddy a lot. She repeats the same words often we just don't know what she means at this point! Her latest favorite thing to do is opening the cupboard doors (that don't have safety locks on them) and pulling out kitchen stuff. She loves to fit lids onto containers and to stack smaller bowls into bigger bowls. Another favorite is when we sing songs that have hand motions with them and she will try to imitate, like patty-cake and the itsy-bitsy-spider. We have lots of waving now too. She is comprehending so much, it's weird that she doesn't talk back yet!



One of the best parts of my day is picking up Eloise from daycare. I try to see her through the window first and if she spots me she immediately cruises over and bangs on the window. Then when I pick her up she lays her head down on my shoulder which is her version of a hug (or when she's getting tired but I can tell it's because she is happy to see me at daycare!). Nothing beats that!

Helloooo October!

The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, or maybe more of a tornado. I'll back up...I had a phone interview with Target right after labor day weekend to discuss opportunities for a buyer or product manager position. The call went well but the next openings weren't until January. I decided that was okay, I was hoping to start working sooner but Jan wasn't too far away. About a week and a half later, Target called on a Friday to interview the following Monday to start the Monday after that. This is when time started to move at warp speed. Long story short, I ended up accepting an offer for a product manager position on Tuesday (after the Monday interview) but was able to push out the start date for another week. So many mixed emotions! I felt as though a large countdown clock began to tick away each last minute I had of one-on-one days with Eloise.

We spent our days relaxing, enjoying being outside, and trying to catch up with friends. I found myself rocking Eloise a bit longer then necessary before naps and playing her favorite games over and over and over...like peek-a-boo!








We of course had to have another play date with Brayden and Nicole, these two have been hanging out since birth! We were really excited to go to the zoo for the first time. Como Zoo on a week day was perfect, not too many crowds and just the right size (and of course FREE is always nice too).

Face to face with a seal!

Lunch at the zoo, good stuff

Good bye friend :( We'll miss you!


The fun doesn't stop there. After much too long of an absence, Eloise and her BFF Ella got to catch up. They are about two weeks apart and it was so fun to see how similar they are in what they're up to! I'm so glad Ella's mama Nickie is at Target too (and on the same floor as me!).

The cutie pies

11 month olds don't always pose for the camera...

A kiss from me to you!

Check out Ella's luscious locks, we sure are envious :)


We also had a get together with Eloise's younger friends :) Unfortunately Colin couldn't make it so Charlie got all of the attention from Gwen and Eloise.



Tom was able to take a day off so we could have a fun family day. We went to an apple orchard by our house and although it was bit chilly, Eloise had fun picking a few apples.


Dad showing E the ropes

Ellie's turn to try

Spotting a good one

All mine!




There were also pumpkins for sale (and this place had a mini-winery too! But we were with child and it was kind of cold so we didn't partake...) Eloise loved the pumpkins!




There was a nice set up that was perfect for photo ops..but again, 11 month olds don't always like to pose or look at the camera for that matter. We tried anyway.



Eloise had a fun sleep over at my parents house on Saturday and Tom and I went to dinner and a MOVIE! We celebrated 5 years of marriage, a really great 5 years.


Sunday we went to our last Twins game of the season. We met the Kippley's for brunch at Ikes and then went to the game. It was a glorious day, literally it was unbelievably perfect outside. Or maybe it was the two mimosas I had at brunch...either way it was a perfect day for outdoor baseball.

A foul ball landed two rows behind us and then bounced into our row. Tom ducked, safety first.


We picked up Eloise after the game and came home to this:

Aaaah, so beautiful.

And somewhere in there we also painted our kitchen. I am kicking myself for forgetting the before photo! We went with the same color as our dining room. After re-painting the family room it was evident that our kitchen was in dire need of fresh paint. Which reminds me, I need to put up some after photos of our hole-in-the-wall project. We're not QUITE done as we're having some built-ins put in, so please stay tuned. Oh and now we might possibly be updating our kitchen cabinets...it's the snowball effect, make it stop!


Week one of work is wrapped up and we all managed to do okay. Of course Eloise got sick from visiting daycares and the poor thing was up most of the night on Sunday, a very tiring and sad way to start off my first day of work. Tom was able to stay home with her and she bounced back a bit. Tuesday night she puked all over me as I was putting her to bed. Again, tugging at the heartstrings. The great news is that she has been happy at daycare. Playing with other kids and new toys. I watched her through the window a few times before she saw me and she was playing away, smiling, and having fun which helps me feel a lot better.

11 month photos to come!