June

Yeah, I know, it’s the end of September and I’m now writing & posting about June.  It’ll be brief, since I’ve forgotten so much at this time!  I had hoped to keep a nice ongoing blog about Elizabeth’s growing up from month-to-month.  But living life can make it hard to sit and write about life!

On June 3rd, we got out for a nice bike ride and this time I got to pull Elizabeth in the trailer.  It was a family ride up and back on the Boulder Creek trail.  It wasn’t until my energy conked out about 2 miles from the car, and Andy hitched the trailer up to his bike that I realized why I was so tired!  She’s heavier than I thought!

I had a lot of eye problems this month.  Eliz had to go with me to the Family Physician for my first check up.  I was thinking bad allergies or a scratch or something like that.  Eliz is such a compassionate girl.  She was so patient at the doctor’s office and so concerned afterwards.  She kept saying “owie” every time to she poked me in the eye patch!  Needless to say, several visits (and weeks) later with an eye doctor we found out it was not a scratch…it was not a bacterial infection…it ended up being a viral infection.  The doctor described it as being a cold sore on the retina.  No wonder it hurt so much!  I still don’t like to think about it.

Well, Elizabeth seems to be growing up right before our eyes.  Here she is with her “cheesy” grin before heading off to day care one morning.  I thought she was looking very much like Shirley Temple, until…

…until she came home from day care with a fat lip.  Aaaah, the troubles of toddlerdom.

She loves to pile up pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals and lay on top or underneath them all.  We now call it a “cuddle pile” and she’ll let us know when she wants to build one.

I love it when she puts on her hat…backwards.  She’s such a cool little girl.

Elizabeth helped me assemble her new bike.  We got her a pedal-less balance bike called a Strider.  I’m having trouble getting her to use it these past several months.  Unfortunately I think she’d rather have pedals?!

Daddy was away in Florida over Father’s Day.  Our renter moved out of the condo and he flew down to inspect it and do general maintenance on it so we could list on the market for sale.

Elizabeth helped me make this special card for Andy.  We traced her hands on pretty paper and made an accordion band between the hands to read “I Love You This Much”.  Just as I hoped – he loved it that much too.

Elizabeth took another girls hike this month.  We drove up Lookout Mountain and hiked the trail near the Nature Center.  It was hot, and this trail provided a little bit of shade for us.  It’s amazing that it can take hours now to hike one mile.

Elizabeth loves wooden bridges.  She runs back and forth, or stomps on each panel, or just peers over the side to stare at water.  Here is a video of her running.

She loves to be outside and hiking so much that she started to drop some hints…

…that’s Daddy’s hat she put on, my lumbar pack, and a canvas bag that we would usually fill with snacks for the car!

We went for a walk with our friends Carrie, Liam, David (& Epona) to Standley Lake.  Who knew the water level was so low that there is now a beach.  Liam walked into the water, while Eliz just kept asking for her bucket and shovel.  Bummer!  Didn’t think to bring the beach toys with us!

Eliz loves playing in “forts” and her tunnels are a perfect substitute.

She also has started to dress herself, which on many occasions means putting on my (or Daddy’s) shoes.  She is amazingly good at walking in low heels.  Better than Mommy!

Nana came to visit!  That’s my mom.  Andy’s mom goes by MomMom.  My Mom surprised me by wanting to get down on the floor to be able to play with Elizabeth.  Bad knees didn’t stop her for one second.  Of course, I had to help her back up, but Mom had a great time building blocks and playing with puzzles.

Elizabeth enjoyed Nana’s company too.  She even got out her Tickle Monster gloves and went after Nana!

But in our house, the Tickle Monster really isn’t that brave!

Just kidding – She was very brave tickling Nana with one and/or two gloves at a time.  Elizabeth loves to be tickled and wrestled with.  What a good sport this little girl is!

Here she is catching bubbles!

We’re lucky that there are so many playgrounds available to us.  Elizabeth enjoys getting out to any one of them.  They all offer different things.  Even the playgrounds geared for older kids are a hit with her.

Well, my Mom’s visit didn’t turn out the way we had hoped.  She ended up in the hospital with a mild case of pneumonia.  We extended her stay a couple of days to recover before putting her on a plane to my sister in Arizona.  The altitude didn’t help her breathing and dizziness, we were all sure of that.  But at least she had a couple of days to play with Eliz which is what was really important.  Maybe next time will be easier!

We can’t help but worry about our parents.  It was a scary couple of days as they ran tests on her heart and tested for stroke and so on until they narrowed it down to the pneumonia.  So I was very relieved when it was just that and nothing worse.  We want our moms to spend as much quality time with Elizabeth as possible, which is difficult being that they are in Pennsylvania.  So it was such a loss for her to lose this short time with her.  They are getting older, so travel is more challenging for them.  And we’re so busy with life and business that traveling has become challenging for us.  But we’re committed to getting them together again soon.

More pics and videos on the June WebAlbums.

(Now, maybe if I’m lucky I can get July posted before Elizabeth wakes up from her nap!)