13 months old...

today!!

Loves to climb to the top of the ladder

with a little encouragement from her sisters!

She has been taking a few steps for quite a while now, but still preferring to crawl. I keep thinking that one of these days she will just start walking! She walked from the girls' bedroom into the bathroom last night, and today she stood up in the room we were playing in and walked right out! I realized that THIS might be deterring her from taking off with her walking....

I think it's probably safer to crawl over that mess!!!
Eliza and Hannah have started to develop a relationship that extends past Eliza grabbing Hannah's toy and Hannah screaming at her, which has been a very pleasant surprise! Hannah has been enjoying all the new things that Eliza can do now, and I think she is secretly impressed by Eliza's climbing ability, as she cheers her on! She has started to take on a big sister role, and has been caught actually sharing with her quite a bit lately! She tends to call her "Lizzy" most of the time now, instead of the "bayEliza" (baby Eliza ) so maybe she is realizing she is no longer a baby....

Eliza likes to make funny faces for the camera now...

She is trying to repeat everything we say, although she hasn't developed many new sounds since her palate was repaired. She loves to wave and say "Bye Dada" in the morning and repeats "I love you" with mostly vowels. She has a very clear "Hannah" and Clara is "Lala". She is loving her books and will turn to find the monkey, shouting "Ah Ah" for the monkey sound. She's beginning to show a stubborn streak and can usually hold her own with her big sisters by hanging on tightly to the toy she wants or yelling at them. I think she is gaining their respect, as they are allowing her to play alongside them much more often, and she just LOVES to be included!!!

Curious Clara the Robot

Right after watching a movie or TV show, Clara usually jumps into some kind of pretend world about what she was just watching. This morning the girls watched Curious George, and George made himself into a robot. Immediately, Clara went to work creating her own robot. She remembered so many details from the show, but couldn't find the exact item around the house. She said she will finish her robot tomorrow, but this is what she has so far.....

George rolled around on toy cars under his feet, but like the shows says, "George is a monkey, so he can do things we can't do!" Clara made do with a couple cardboard boxes and taped her flip flops to the bottom so she could slide around!
I love her creativity and imagination-I hope she hangs onto it throughout life!

Fun days...

My mom took this picture of the girls watching a squirrel out on our fence. It makes me laugh to see their choice of clothing....Clara doesn't like to wear clothes, ever, Hannah loves her fancy dresses, and Eliza is all about comfort (since she doesn't have a say in it yet!)

The girls all ADORE Aunt Julie's dog Teanne. Hannah is especially in love with her and can be found snuggling her any time Teanne lays down to rest!

Fast forward 10 years to make-up....

Baby blue eyes!

Love this silly face!!! She likes to entertain us all at the dinner table with this expression....over and over again!!

Unusually warm winter days have lured us all outside for jumping on the trampoline and bike riding this week. I'm just fine jumping right into Spring;)

Just one more....

My friend, Kate, took some amazing pictures of Eliza just before her surgery, and I'm finally getting around to posting them. My mom was here for a week after Eliza's surgery, and I think I got to experience what life would be like as a mom with a full-time personal assistant! She kept the laundry going (we actually had all 3 laundry baskets empty at one time!!), clothes folded and back in their drawers...on the same day!!, meals were made...and then the kitchen was cleaned up, groceries appeared in the fridge, things just magically got picked up, cleaned out (like my entire pantry!!), and reorganized! It was incredibly helpful, and allowed me to basically hold Eliza all day long. Eliza is still enjoying being held all day long, so the rest of the "chores" are slowly piling up....but Joe keeps reminding me to enjoy this time that my baby wants to be with me ALL THE TIME!!! There will be a day all too soon where she isn't quite so small, and doesn't want to be in my arms anymore...

And my personal favorite....this is her silly face that we get to see every once in a while...

Surgery over!!!

We've known since Eliza was born that she would need surgery to repair her cleft palate, but nothing can prepare you for sending your baby into surgery. Eliza was such a trooper waiting patiently in the little room before surgery. She got pretty goofy once they gave her the medicine to make her drowsy, giving us silly smiles and giggling. The doctor who carried her back for surgery said she didn't resist at all and actually kept leaning forward to put her face in the mask to put her to sleep-she is very curious about new things! Apparently she charmed everyone in the recovery room, also, being very mellow and sweet and just looking around. They brought her up to us around 5:30 in the evening, but fairly soon after she got to her room, she started having excessive bleeding from her mouth. It was pretty scary and we felt so helpless, not being able to do anything but hold her. She had to go back down for a second surgery within hours of the first one. Handing her over the second time was much harder. We appreciate so much all the prayers from friends and family during that time. She went through the second surgery so well, and we were able to meet her in the recovery room that time and carry her back to our room.

Getting ready for the first surgery...last time with a binky in her mouth!! She can't have it for a couple weeks after surgery, so we are officially done :)

She was pretty zonked out that night, but didn't want to be put down in her bed. She slept in the bed for a couple of hours with Joe or I standing by the bed watching her, but spent most of the night in my arms in the chair....

We kept trying to have her drink apple juice because once she could tolerate eating and drinking a little bit, then we could switch over to oral pain medication, which they said would be much more effective for her. She didn't want anything to do with her cup. When Clara and Hannah came to visit, we got out some chocolate pudding, and that did the trick!! We should have known that chocolate would be the first thing Eliza would eat :) She also liked the red jello!

The arms splints are to keep Eliza from putting anything into her mouth. She is supposed to wear them for the next 2 weeks unless she is within arms reach of us. They are really hard to sleep in, though, so we have either been holding her or lying next to her for her naps and trying to keep up with her while she plays.

It was so hard to keep her occupied when she was awake at the hospital because she isn't quite walking yet, and couldn't crawl around on the hospital floors. We walked many miles in the hospital hallways looking at all the bright animals on the walls. Children's hospital is a great place for kids!! We found this little car and she enjoyed being pushed around.

We had to really beg to go home the second evening, but I think all 3 of us had had enough of the hospital. Eliza's blood count was down because of the bleeding and 2 surgeries, but they were willing to let us go because she had done so well all day! She perked up so much when we walked in the door, and actually smiled when she saw her sisters, Nana, Julie, and T! I thought she would be ready for bed, but she stayed up crawling all over, up and down her slide, in and out of the laundry baskets, and all around the room playing with her toys until almost 9:30 that night!! We thought she might be having a weird reaction to the pain medication because she was so full of energy, but I really think she was just ecstatic to be out of our arms where she had spent the past 50+ hours!

Since we have been home, it has been exhausting keeping up with Eliza! We have to stay within arms reach of her while she plays unless we want to put the arm splints on. They just look so uncomfortable and she can't play or crawl very well with them, so we have been taking turns staying right with her. You hear how "busy" one year olds can be, but you have no idea until you stay with them for hours!!! We are trying everything to keep her occupied without putting things in her mouth. She had 2 baths yesterday and then ended up in the sink in the evening because it kept her happy for almost 1/2 hour!

The days are slowly going by, and it has been wonderful to have the help of my mom and Aunt Julie to keep the girls occupied, cook meals, and keep the laundry going. It will be so nice to have this behind us!! Being at Children's was a humbling experience when you see families who are going through much scarier surgeries and dealing with ongoing medical issues. We felt so blessed to have such a great hospital near by and had the greatest nurse (second to Aunt Molly!) during the days to take care of Eliza. Eliza has been such a strong little girl through all of this and is taking her medications so easily and actually turns her head to the other side after you finish the drops in the first ear. We couldn't be prouder of our baby!!!

Acting 1...

This sweet little one-year-old is staying busy getting into the fridge....

Practicing taking some steps (Thanks, Aunt Molly, for the new jammies!)
and climbing everywhere!! Hannah is delighted to teach Eliza new tricks-they are really bonding over Eliza's love of climbing. I overheard Hannah telling Eliza, "Baby Eliza, you are so crazy. Do it again!" I have a feeling these two might be my biggest challenge in another year...

I heard Eliza pushing the table across the room, but didn't think much of it because she likes to walk behind it while pushing it. I walked around the corner a minute later, though, to find this! She is getting really fast at climbing up onto the table and then down the other side, and will often to that over and over.....but this time she found new heights to climb to!

So scary!!! (but I still had to grab the camera!)

Like I said...these two will be trouble!!!

New Year Interviews

My good friend, Brooke, has asked her kids New Year Interview questions the past couple of years, and I LOVE reading the cute, funny answers that they give. I thought I would try it with Clara and Hannah the other day, and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable activities I have ever done with them! Some of the answers were so sweet, and other answers so off-the-wall funny! I loved getting a little peek into their thoughts and ideas in this way. So, here is what they had to say in 2010:

Clara:

favorite color: Green

favorite food: popcorn, cookies, muffins (cupcakes) and spinach

favorite toy: Little Petshop

favorite restaurant: Red Robin-because it has ice cream on your birthday

favorite holiday: Christmas

favorite breakfast: oatmeal-the kind with the sugar in it

favorite vegetable: carrots

favorite drink: smoothie

favorite movie: Peter Pan, Tiana, Pocahontas

favorite place to go: Disney Store

favorite place to play: with the gorilla statues at the zoo

favorite place to go on vacation: Disneyland

favorite thing about Daddy: He looks different because he has short hair

Mommy: you take really good care of us and protect us

Hannah: She's crabby!

Eliza: she crawled early

yourself: I have curly hair and I can jump really far

and then she added in Uncle Tommy all by herself: because he is so strong!!

What makes you happy: Hannah doing cross-eyes makes me laugh

What makes you sad: When I cut myself and blood comes out

What makes you scared: loud noises

Hannah:

favorite color: Blue

favorite food: macaroni and cheese

favorite toy: Baby Mines (elephants)

favorite restaurant: Red Robin

favorite breakfast: Panpakes :)

favorite drink: apple juice

favorite movie: Tom and Jerry pirate movie

What do you like best about Daddy: he gives us toys to play with

Mommy: you give us food

Clara: She gives me a big hug

Eliza: cause she plays with us

Yourself: I give every toy to Eliza.....what?!?

What makes you Happy: Elephants

What makes you Sad: Clara takes the elephants away

What makes you scared: the monsters, but God didn't make any monsters, and guess what, God bringed you me!

Eliza:

Loves to eat: everything! especially anything chocolate or sugary, and loves her apple juice

Loves to play: with her sisters

favorite thing about Daddy: when he comes home from work, snuggling, and being tickled

favorite thing about Clara: she carries her places and dances for her

favorite thing about Hannah: when Hannah gives her rides around the house inside the tunnel

favorite thing about Mommy: being held constantly and getting treats in the kitchen..usually sugar!

Dancing in the New Year....

Nana bought the girls matching New Years Eve dresses....every girl deserves one of those, right?? I'm sure my dad, Boppa, would agree ;)
We were celebrating the New Year and the "newly engaged"!! My brother, Joe, and his amazingly wonderful fiance, Cara :)

Eliza "helping" with the dinner....what you won't do to keep the baby occupied while trying to finish cooking dinner!

The whole crew sitting down to dinner pre-party...

Another round of chocolate fondue!!

Yum!

If I get within sight of this girl, she ends up in my arms!

Let the dancing begin!!

Party horns and confetti..

These girls had some moves!

And here is where they learn their moves...

Eliza woke up at 10 to join the party (I'm not sure how she even slept that long!)

We're looking forward to the daily excitement that this new year will bring!!! Happy New Year!!