Milestones coming at us 100 mphs

Bear with me today. I've got a laundry list of things I've been jotting down to remind myself to put on here. Eloise is growing like a weed and the milestones are coming at us by the minute. And I've got to get these up on the blog before I forget them. (which BTW- is Google going to some day charge me for keeping this blog? they'd definitely get me to pay. imagine what I'd lose if I didn't. ok, let's not imagine. it makes my heart hurt.)

So before I get into my detailed list here, one quick note about how we started our morning....with Jen and Chris Hunt! Our shoot today was at 7am because Mike has to travel to Florida this afternoon. The Monkey was happy and smiley, it was 62 degrees, and the sunrise was beautiful! Couldn't have worked out better. Pics to come soon.

Ok, on to my list...

First off, Eloise loves books. She loves being read to and has gotten to the point with some of her stories where she knows what's coming. I say this because based on the inflections in my voice and the pics or the capital letters used in the books, that I swear it's like she knows what's coming. As I'm reading, she'll look at me when I say for example...."do you wonder where we are?"....she looks at me and smiles then looks back to the book....then I'll flip the page and I say...."it's Belly Button Beach!" and she giggles. That example is from Sandra Boynton's "The Belly Button Book", a household favorite.

Since we read to her prior to each nap, at bed time, and some in between, she hears some of these stories quite a bit. So I recently went out and bought her some new ones and she has definitely enjoyed the changed story line-up. It's like she was getting bored of the old ones. Now that we have new ones in the mix, she's studying each page, looking at me, waiting for me to narrate, then on to the next page and then with the next suspenseful moment.....she giggles away! It's really been too much fun. I love that she loves books.

Before I go on to the next item on my list, I wanted to jot down some of her favorite books.

Prior to the latest book purchase, her favorites were....
The Belly Button Book - Sandra Boynton
Good Night Moon - Clement Hurd
Hippos Go Berserk - Sandra Boynton
The Going to Bed Book - Sandra Boynton
Guess How Much I Love You - Sam McBratney

Now she's enjoying...
Moo, Baa, La La La - Sandra Boynton
Fifteen Animals - Sandra Boynton
Let's Dance Little Pookie - Sandra Boynton
One, Two, Three - Sandra Boynton
Blue Hat, Green Hat - Sandra Boynton
The Very Hungry Catepillar - Eric Carle
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? - Eric Carle

Alright, next on my list...Eloise is officially reaching out to us when we put out our hands. Talk about the cutest thing ever! This is another milestone that I thought I saw her do a few weeks back but wasn't sure. My mom came over for Thanksgiving and it was confirmed, the Monkey was reaching for each one of us as we put out our hands. Ah, melt my heart!

Also, Eloise is big into textures right now. She touches and scratches at everything and it no longer seems to be because she wants to put it into her mouth (what she's been doing for a couple of months). Now she's reaching to touch stuff because she wants to know what it feels like. She'll scratch at pillows, her playmat, our faces, the carpet, our shirts, the list goes on and on. And she's totally fascinated by what she discovers. She also is making this waving motion with her hands (no, she's not waving:) prior to going in for the feel. It's like her mind is telling her what to do next, she's practicing and then she goes in for the kill. Honestly, could this baby do something cuter? Ah, melt my heart again!

The last few on my list relate to giving Eloise a bottle. As of late, when I have the bottle in one hand, Eloise in the other and I'm making my way to the sofa to feed her, she grabs at the bottle with both hands and puts it up to her mouth. So she definitely knows where her food is coming from. But in addition to this, when she sucks on the bottle, she also sucks on her right thumb at the same time. This can make for a messy feeding but it's too hilarious to even bother stopping her.

Then, last but not least in the bottle category....ever since Eloise was teeny tiny, while giving her a bottle I'd stop her about 1/2 way through and say "can we burp a little?". Then we'd pause, I'd lift her up to my shoulder and I'd burp her. Well, I've been saying this and doing this for months so I think she's caught on. So much so that starting last week, when I said "can we burp a little" she'd stop eating, let go of the bottle, throw both of her arms out to the side and then I'd lift her up and burp her. At first I was stunned. Wait, did that just happen?? Does she know what I'm doing here?? When I first noticed this, I didn't believe it was anything more than a fluke. (per usual for Allison in the "milestone" category. sorry, Monkey.) But I kept saying it and she kept reacting that I thought, holy cow, she's got this "cause and effect" thing down like a champ! Again, very cute.

So that's my laundry list that I wanted to get down before I forgot. Like I said, milestones are coming at us like mad. For pics today, I'm including a shot of the mini-Monkey tree out front and also some cute jumperoo shots from this weekend.

And because it's Monday and the end of a holiday weekend (sigh), I'm including a song to get us all in a super fun mood. Here's Lauren Hill with Doo Wop.

Vail family Christmas tree part 2

Here we go!

Vail family Christmas tree part 1

We picked out our tree yesterday and I could not be more excited. We even got a mini tree that is Monkey size! We're in the midst of decorating both trees today so I'll post pics of us getting the big tree in the house and getting the lights on, and then tomorrow, I'll post some pics of the final product.

This is a big milestone for the Vails. It's our very first Christmas tree. (first as in we had to go out and buy ornaments, lights and a tree stand. yes, we have a tree skirt - for those who know the tree skirt story:). basically, we're starting from scratch over here and it's coming together perfectly!)

The tree looks great and smells wonderful. And yes, I've already put in my vote for having a 8 1/2 foot fraser fir in our living room year round. Honestly, it looks like it belongs here. Like it's always been here. Mike's out getting us pizza and a movie and I can't wait until he gets home so we can have a fire going and enjoy our tree!

Merry Christmas!

(tree pics and also some cute ones of the Monkey playing with ornaments.)

Friday's updates - teething continues in a big, red, chapped lip sort of way

Happy Friday all - To start things off, here is Positive K with "I got a man". Another old school song that reminds me of high school and going to Hilton Head with Graham. Too funny. And check out the ad before the song. Nice touch YouTube. I guess that was just a matter of time, right? Agh. Listen here.

Teething is so crazy out of contol here it's at the point of no return. Or at least that's how Mike and I feel when we wake up what seems like 100 times per night to help the crying Monkey.  I keep a log of the Monkey's eating and sleeping throughout the day. I started this when she was 1 month old (not sure I was with the program prior to 1 month but I wish I had jotted it down then as well). It's a great tool to have when you have such major baby brain that you literally can't remember the last time she did either. And also it'll be a great keepsake someday since I also jot down notes about milestones and funny things she does. So with this blog and my daily eat/sleep log, this baby is well documented.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is I also track when we get up at night. And up until about 3 or 4 weeks ago, it had been awhile since I had to jot down times we got up because she's happily slept through the night for months. Well then we met Mr. Teething and our world has never been the same.

This morning when we woke up - well actually it was the final time I woke up for the crying Monkey, which happened to be at 4am where I promptly changed her diaper and brought her to bed with us. (it's the only way to stop the madness and it's something I indulge in on occasion. creating a bad habit? probably. add it to the list.) - I was greeted with our next teething side effect - a big, red, chapped bottom lip. (i'll try and get a pic of this later. she's napping now.) I couldn't believe it. I honestly thought that she had whacked her lip up against the rail of her crib or something. But then she showed Mommy how she got this big swollen teething battle wound when she started sucking away. Sigh. I looked it up online (at 7:30am when we got up for real) and it's totally something babies do to find relief when they are teething. Finger sucking, thumb sucking, lip sucking, the list goes on and on.

And you know what, I love how some kids breeze through teething like it "aint no thang." And then we have Miss Eloise. Have I ever mentioned that Eloise is a sensitive baby??? Holy cow. So we've got the chilled teething toys back out and in full effect. She's finally figured out that they are a good source of relief, so much so that we've caught her jamming them between her bottom lip and her gums. Poor thing. I've also called the Dr. about the amount of Tylenol and Motrin that I'd like to give her vs. what I am giving her and it's safe to say, she's been properly medicated. (It honestly felt like I was constantly giving her medicine. That's not my goal or something I want to do at all but this poor baby is in serious pain.)             

And despite all of this teething madness, she is still a happy, smiley baby. I should say, she's a happy, smiley baby during the daytime. She was a giggle maniac with Grammie Judy yesterday. Yes, she's definitely sad and crying at night. (do I need to start putting teething toys in her crib at night? something to think about.) I think the nighttime is by far the worst for her. She has no way to soothe herself besides her fingers, her thumbs and alas, her bottom lip.

Ok, so on to pictures. This week I tried something new. I tried to snap pics of the Monkey without the camera up to my face. Not an easy task - nor something I'd recommend. My goal was to get pics of her smiling, which I can never do because as soon as I put the camera up to my face, she's Miss Serious or Curious Eloise. No smiles to be had. But she's a smile machine right now. It's really cute. So I wanted to do my best to get some shots. And here we go. I'm showing you all of them because I think there are some that are too funny - proving that my attempt to take pics without looking through the eye piece isn't really the best idea. Lol!

Have a great weekend!

(btw - she started out this photo shoot in front of the play mat - then she pushed herself around the corner and ended up on the other side thus showing us her perfect John Travolta 'Staying Alive' costume impersonation with that sweet chest sticking out. too funny.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was the Monkey's first Thanksgiving and with Grammie Judy's help, she had a really great time. First we set up camp for her in the kitchen so we could cook and she could play. Worked perfectly. I dragged a rug downstairs from one of the spare bedrooms, put it right in the middle of the kitchen floor, laid out tons of toys, a couple of burp cloths and she was happy as a clam. 

Then Grammie Judy came over with bubbles especially for Miss Eloise. She LOVES bubbles at story hour so we took her into the backyard to check them out. Pics below are too cute.

Next was a super delicious dinner and to make sure the Monkey enjoyed the Thanksgiving feast with us, we pulled out her big girl chair and sat her right at the table. What a riot. And thanks to Grammie's help, we got some cute pics of her smiling away. Grammie Judy was definitely on her game with lots of fun entertaining claps and cheers - perfect for Monkey giggles and smiles, which of course, makes for cute photography. Thanks Grammie!

Post dinner, the Monkey and Grammie continued playing while Mike and I cleaned up the kitchen. A perfect set up for us because the Monkey was having a great time with her Grammie while we had a chance to clean our kitchen that literally looked like a bomb went off in it. Phew. Lots of delicious food to be had at the Vail residence.  And lots to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Vails Elf-ed

I've seen many versions of JibJab's "Elf Yourself" over the years. Particularly at my last job. I think the entire team was "Elf-ed" 5 or 6 times as the emails swirled around each holiday. But I don't remember ever putting Mike and me in there and sending it around. And since the holidays are upon us once again, and the Vail household has gotten a pinch larger, I had to kick-start off the season with the Vails "Elf-ed". Complete hilarity at it's finest. The Monkey is too cute and Mike has some pretty sweet moves. Enjoy! Click here.

Oh Bay Bee present

Yesterday a surprise package arrived in the mail for Miss Eloise from my favorite Etsy.com seller, Oh Bay Bee. Check out this super cute "e" long-sleever and matching bib! (of course, I had to promptly change the "Cute Baby Product of the Week" so that you too can get your very own monogrammed shirt and bib - select from cool fabrics for boys and girls!) Thanks Kimmy - you are so sweet to send us such a cute present!

Sleeping today was a serious disaster. Like bring me back to Eloise not even wanting to nap in her crib 2 1/2 months ago disaster. Agh. I really don't understand what is going on. I guess I blame this on teething. I had the nanny today for 8 hours and seriously, Eloise didn't go down for even one nap for her without a serious meltdown. She, of course, completely passed out tonight when I gave her her last bottle of the night so we'll see if she makes it through the night sans pop-ups. She has now been up multiple times in the middle of the night for the last three nights. Sigh.  What happened to our great night time sleeper?? And what happened to our getting soooo much better day time sleeper??  Maybe what they say is accurate. As soon as you get something down pat with a baby, they change and you have to start over. But I can dare to dream - and my hope is that she gets back to normal tonight and she sleeps until tomorrow morning. I also hope that today was a fluke in the nap category. I'll be with her all day tomorrow (nanny is off for the rest of the holiday week) so hopefully I can get her back to fuss-free nap land. Wish me luck.

Milk production has gotten a lot better - almost back to where I was before. TMI but I will give a plug for these Fenugreek supplements. For anyone who needs them, they work. Or at least they worked for me. Also, I'm drinking lots of water, eating a little more and pumping more, all while continuing to run. So far the plan of attack is working.

Ok, as for today's pictures - last Friday I was getting Eloise dressed post bath and the light in her room was great so I had to snap some pics. Also, tonight I tried to get some more shots of Eloise with those tooties in her mouth. Super cute.

The weekend

We had a really fun time this weekend with Corinna and John. And the Monkey could not have been more enamored with her favorite Raleigh aunt and uncle. She even told me so during some of my late night visits into her room. She was too excited to sleep and instead, wanted to tell me how much she loved her C&J. During one visit, she whispered into my ear that she thought Corinna was pretty. I said, "you're right, sweetie. Miss Corinna is very pretty." And then she told me how much she loved John's voice. That every time he spoke, she couldn't help but look up at him and smile. Sometimes she even blushed when she stared at him and that made her giggle. She was sad to see them go and hopes that soon she'll be ready for a long car ride so we can go and visit.

Monkey weekend sleep was a little wonky. She was great on Friday night - likely because she didn't know C&J were here yet. Then Saturday night, she was up and down quite a bit. And same for Sunday night, which was weird. I figured she'd conk out by last night but instead, she was still up 5 or 6 times. She's enjoying a particularly long nap right now so I know we're getting back to our normal routine soon here.

This weekend the weather was a litle chilly (58 degrees) but Corinna, the Monkey and I still enjoyed a fun outing to "Green with Envy" - a cute gift shop on Central in Plaza Midwood while the boys were next door at The Common House having a beer. Then all of us went and got snacks and drinks at Jacks, a neighborhood favorite. Daytime drinks used to be a favorite past time but now being a mommy, I can't keep up. I will say I did enjoy 2 beers. (and then promptly wished I could crawl into the crib with the Monkey when we got home:). We sat outside, which was the chilly part, so we could avoid the smoke, but we all bundled up and had a good time.

Today is our story hour outing and later this week is Turkey day.  Thanksgiving at the Vails will include Grammie Judy, Mike, me and the Monkey. I'm going to bring down the Monkey's "Hook On Chair" and see if she can join us for dinner. She's not sitting up yet but if I stuff the sides of the chair enough, it seems like it'll work. Video and or pics to come.

Then.....maybe this weekend but likely not until the next....we are going to get our very first Christmas tree! Yes, Mike and I have been together for 9+ years and have never gotten a Christmas tree. I'll let Mike explain why:)  But now that we have the Monkey, we are of course getting a tree each and every year and I can not wait. The Monkey has no idea what she's in for. She's going to love it!

Oh, before I forgot, exactly one week from today, Jen and Chris Hunt come for our 6 month photo shoot. It's a little early but we did this on purpose so we can get our Christmas card going for this year. We are excited to see Jen and Chris again. Have I ever said how much I love Jen Hunt Photography??  :)

Happy Monday!

(Here are some pics from the weekend. Since it was chilly, I took advantage of the opportunity and put the Monkey in her muckluks and a warm and cozy jumper. And then, of course, I took 7,000 photos.)

I'm beat

Sorry for the lack of posts this weekend. John and Corinna's visit was super fun and now I'm beat. I'm about to put the the Monkey to bed and I'm likely to follow. More scoop tomorrow.

Good night!

Friday updates with some videos

"It's Friday night and the weekend's here, I need to unwind, where's the party, Mr. D.J., D.J...."  (listen to - Hey Mr. DJ, Zhane) I should start adding a song to each Friday's post. I'll try to add this to each week's line up.

Friday is here and we're psyched! Corinna and John come tonight for the weekend - super fun. And if last weekend was any indication of how Miss Eloise is with slumber parties, she'll be right up with us enjoying adult beverages, gossip and delicious snacks. Ok, we'll keep her on milk, and untainted-before-Mommy-starts-drinking milk, at that. And really, who am I fooling? I had one glass of wine last week and immediately had to go to bed. I simply can't drink anymore. Just as well.

Last night was another great sleep night. To bed at 6:30pm and up at 6:am with no interruptions. She seems to be toggling between getting up to let me know she's on her tummy and then not. It's apparent that she enjoys the belly slumber so have at it. As long as she's snoozing away and happy, I'm happy.

Running this week was great. Eloise has proven to be a fantastic jogging partner. (as opposed to any dog I've ever had or even Mike - no one has ever been interested:) She literally just zones out in there and watches the world go by. Perfect set-up. I did notice that if I leave her be, and not peek my head around to check-in on her, she's actually better than if I do. Example - I peeked in on her around mile number 4 during a run this week and caught her in a zone. She saw me, snapped out of her gaze and started fussing. It was like all of a sudden she realized, wait a minute....I don't want to be in here!  So, instead, I peer in on her through the clear plastic on the stroller canopy and make sure she's OK rather than stopping and say hi from the front. Works much better and we are both happy.

Speaking of running - and TMI really, but for the sake of documenting all-things-Eloise on this blog, I've increased my mileage and therefore, I've screwed up my milk supply. Sigh. And because of it, a few days this week we had to supplement formula 1/2 and 1/2 with breast milk. Major sigh. So I'm going to GNC and buying supplements that help increase your milk supply in addition to eating more, pumping more and drinking lots of water. As of yesterday, pumping more was helping so I'll keep at it. And if I have to keep supplementing with formula, oh well I guess. But I'd like to get myself back to where I was and feed her breast milk only for at least a few more months.

A fun new update to report on the blog. I added the "Labels" feature to TheVails.BlogSpot.com. "Labels" has always been a feature for blogspot users but I just didn't use it. I should have when I first started this blog but instead, I added it a little later in the game. What Labels do is categorize any blog posts I want into separate buckets. Then, if you or I ever want to go and look at all of the posts that include "videos", for example, we can simply click on "videos" in the "Labels" section and all of the posts with videos will come up. Or if I ever want to see how far we've come with Eloise and sleeping, I click on "sleep". Same for "milestones", etc. Pretty cool!  I have Labels for sleep, running, milestones, videos, pregnancy pics, and more. I tried to keep the Labels simple and not use too many.  So check them out when you have some time to take a trip down memory lane. When I've used a Label in a blog post, you'll see it listed at the end of the post.

Ok, to wrap things up here, today I'm posting some videos of Eloise from this week.

The first one is of Eloise in her jumperoo. She's now interacting with the toys that are attached to this crazy contraption vs. just ooh-ing and ah-ing at the lights and sounds. She's getting pretty good at turning the clear bubble with bears in it. Click here.

The second video is from this morning (excuse the ridiculous PJs she has on - poop explosion earlier today and these were the pair I could get too the fastest). Here she's doing a little bit of scooching and a little bit of talking. Having no experience in the the kid department, I don't know if she's going to be an early crawler, but this video will at least show you that she's eager to get things going. She gets those legs scooching and tries her best to move forward a little, grunting and talking her way through the entire thing. Too funny. Click here.

Have a great weekend and happy birthday, Andrea!

Rolling back over

Miss Eloise is trying to get better at the "rolling back over" part and gladly I caught it on camera. She's only done this twice so she's got a lot of practice ahead of her. But these attempts are unaided (by mommy and daddy and/or toys). These are the real deal. She rolled over from back to tummy and then back again. Pics below. Yes, it's paparazzi style per usual.

Also, in the sleep category (how could there be a post about Eloise without mention of sleep??)....her rolling over in the middle of the night is getting quite a workout. The past few nights, she's woken me up quite upset because she's rolled over, slept for I'm not sure how long, and then found herself on her tummy not interested in rolling herself back over. Intead, she chose the always reliable option - holler over to mommy or daddy.  With some more daytime practice in this category, we're hoping this new found love of night time rolling will be a breeze. We're looking forward to that day:)

Ok, here she is....rolling back over.