Here she is standing by herself again! Still not walking alone yet.
After a much-needed late 2nd nap, we ended the day at a park with church friends. No fireworks watching this year. We almost made it that late, but not quite. Maybe next year.
A week ago, Lizzie had her first birthday! It was quite an exciting day, at least for Alex and me. We really cannot believe it's been a year since this little girl came into our lives.
This is the first birthday card she received. I cannot stop laughing at this photo. After taking so many pictures, Lizzie sees the camera and instantly starts squinting in preparation for the flash. Funny girl.
Alex has been on a pathology rotation this month over in SF. On Lizzie's bday, we dropped him off in the morning and just hung out until he was done. Then, we went to Serramonte Mall to let her play and gave her her first Happy Meal.
She used to love chicken nuggets, but now she's skeptical of most foods. So she didn't touch the nuggets or apples. All she ate/drank was milk, one of Alex's fries and a few bites of my tortilla. Currently, all she likes to eat is any bread product, peanut butter, mashed bananas and dairy.
The day before (Sunday) we had a little party at our place. The cake above I got at Sam's. It was supposed to be one with palm trees and flip flops, but they messed up. Oh well, it was cute. But, right after I took this photo, I ruined it :( Lizzie reached for it, so I held her back, grabbed the cake with one hand, and it slid off and tumbled over. I was bummed. At least it was still tasty.
I saw this garland at a local bookshop and had to get it. Although, it came with only one Z! Thankfully, some talented friends were able to solve that dilemma.
We didn't do anything fancy (since my summery beach theme got foiled); just mini corn dogs, cookies and such, Lizze pops, pita chips, etc. It was fun to have a few of Lizzie's friends over. She had a couple overwhelming outbursts, but overall she had a blast.
She was so proud of herself here! Still not walking by herself, she just gets around pushing her toy and cruising, but can pull herself up from a squat just fine.
Babies in birthday hats are the cutest.
Monday night we gave her the smash cake Alex made. I'm glad we did it with just us 3 because she sat there and had no interest. Alex finally put her hand in the cake, she tried it, made a yuck face and tried to get that sticky stuff off her fingers. Oh well, we tried.
She makes us laugh constantly, is pretty darn cute and we couldn't be more grateful for our Lizzie-pop.
Lizzie even had a blast! She ate polenta with gorgonzola and truffle mashed potatoes. Although, on the way home, she threw it all up:( Poor girl, I felt so bad for her. And then there was her skin- she was as dry as an elephant.
Easter was wonderful. We had dinner and an Easter egg hunt at the Stratton's.
Back at the Isom's, we attempted a quick photo session....
Lizzie had the best time with her cousins. Tristan especially got some good belly laughs out of this girl!
And DOGS! A major hit. Obsessed.
Andrea drove down from SoCal for a weekend. This was one of her *many* adventures.
Kelly and I got to see each other a couple times. Oh how I miss her. And not just because she knows my hair perfectly ;).
Alex and I even got to go out together! We headed to the Wynn and admired all of its elegance. One day I will stay there.
Andrea and I discovered this fun little frog show at the Wynn, so I had to show Alex. Garth performs there, so this was in honor of him. It is awesome. If you get a chance, it's by the parasols- check it out.
Lizzie did amazingly well on our drives. We were smarter on the way back and left early in the morning. MUCH better than leaving at 8pm and almost not making it awake 8.5 hrs later.
This past weekend, we decided to be spontaneous. Alex got home Friday afternoon and asked what we should do. As usual, I said something to the effect of "I don't know, it doesn't matter to me". Since living in the Bay Area we had never driven to SoCal. So we did. I called Andrea to make a few arrangements, we gave Lizzie her necessary bath and pjs, loaded up and took off. She slept the whole 5.5 hrs, it was perfect.
This face seemed to be what we got most of the day. Lizzie seemed interested in what was going on, but a bit confused. Maybe in a year or so, we'll get more smiles *fingers crossed* :) We made it on 2 rides- It's a Small World and Winnie the Pooh.
Since Andrea lives in Burbank, we just had to get a pic on front of this. And, it smelled so delicious here, I could've stood there all day.
At California Adventure, there used to be the "CALIFORNIA" blocks sign out front. It's gone, and apparently not returning :( This temporary structure is here instead. It's cute, but I want the letters back!
Lizzie did get her 2 naps of the day in one way or another...
And then we ran into some familiar faces, just in time to head on home. We came back Sunday late morning. Lizzie definitely prefers bedtime road trips over middle of the day.
Bye, bye Aunt Andrea- we miss you!
Last night we went with Jeff and Shao to Pikanha's in Richmond. None of us were quite sure what to expect, being in Richmond especially, but it was delicious and fun! Lizzie was quite excited to discover what the next tasty item would be on the skewer (is that what they're called?).
Roasted pineapple with cinnamon. This was a favorite. Along with the chicken breast wrapped in bacon, juicy pork sausage, tri tip, parmesan sirloin. Oh, all right, it was all good.
Lizzie stuck with mashed beans. She seemed to approve!
Guarana was the drink of choice, naturally. Unless you're me, the most typical American with her Diet Coke :) Lizzie was a bit distracted by that Brazilian bottle.
Getting out some of her wiggles.
2nd try at the family shot. Much cuter! This was actually our first venture out to a full-on restaurant with the babe. Yeah, we don't get out much. Here's to dining out!
Bottle feeding: Not happening. I had one day this week where I got quite frustrated and tried to go cold turkey with a bottle and formula. Dumb idea. Today she did drink about 5 oz in a sippy cup which is major news. If I get my way in this, I'm hoping that once she's used to it in a sippy, we can then try the bottle again...?
Crawling: Lizzie can get around! Upon returning from a bathroom break, I found her in this spot. She's an army crawl pro and almost has the full-on crawl down. She also just figured out how to get herself sitting from being on her belly. And, she loves to stand with us holding her. She can lean against a mirror standing for about 3 minutes.
This photo is just to show how she pulls her bumper down when she's ready to get picked up. It's quite funny to us that she figured this out. Poor thing.
This photo was taken at Beth's. I just had to put her in a bumbo because Alex is not a fan so we'll probably never own one. She didn't last long there and squirmed out of it pretty fast.
Eating: This has its ups and downs. She loves sweet potatoes, green beans and carrots, all pureed baby food. I want to start making my own, but we may just move on to table food soon anyway. We'll see. Chopped avocados aren't her favorite :( Pears and apple sauces she tolerates. Bananas mashed are yummy. She likes to play with the puffs and can get them in her mouth, but doesn't like the taste. Loves playing with her spoon and really loves water in her sippy. As far as chunky stuff, she hasn't gotten the hang of it and just kinda plays with it and moves it all over the place (see above pic).
