I just finished changing the baby when she curled up and caught her toes! She was just grinning from ear to ear holding onto her piggies, but I couldn’t get the camera in time. Luckily it wasn’t just a onetime thing, she repeated the piggy catching act quite a few times. Here’s one time I caught on camera.

I am so glad tomorrow’s Friday. Tomorrow is also Christi’s birthday, I made the cutest cake this evening, and I think she’s really going to like it. Paul even helped, he made the lettuce, cheese, and the char for the “burger” (plus he went to the store to get the missing ingredients while I feed E Lee, I don’t know what I’d do without him!). Anyway, I think it’s the best cake I’ve made so far, it just looks so oddly real . . .

Well apparently today was just a tiring day. During the day Momo napped with E Lee and then when I got home I napped with E Lee (and was unknowingly the subject to numerous pictures, crazy Mom!). Today was good, and went by very fast, but it just amazes me how tired I get in the afternoon. Oh, and finally a fairly good picture of E Lee playing with Emily (the crinkle doll that she loves). I just love coming home to this adorable little girl. Paul and I sure did luck out :)!

This afternoon we went over to Lisa’s for a nice cookout and good company. We got to meet Lisa’s cousins, Tesia, Mike, and Mike’s son Alex, and of course it was nice to catch up with Christi, Mark, and Hailey. The Lowe’s had a feast of fruits, vegetables, cheese, and chips and dip. Then they fixed the best hamburgers (plus sausage, hot dogs, and cowboy beans). It was just a nice evening. Finally E Lee had enough and got to the point I couldn’t convince her to go back to sleep so we scooted home. That was fine though, I was tired and ready to get in a good amount of sleep before starting my first full week back at work.

So tonight E Lee was fussy and I had sent pictures to the Walgreens to be printed so we decided to go for a walk (multi purposing!). It was a great walk and E Lee was lulled right to sleep, although I can’t imagine how since our neighborhood has almost no sidewalks, all bumpy road walking. So on our way home E Lee woke and was looking around so we were talking to her about twilight when I saw the first one. A brief thought came through, but I immediately followed it with, no probably wasn’t. Then I saw more so I asked Paul if he thought they were bats. We slowed and paid more attention, sure enough, BATS!!! Awesome, we have a bat house ready to be put up, but I was worried we might not have any bats near us. No worries now, we spotted one as close as across the street from our house. Now we just have to put it in the right position on the house so they come populate it. How cool will that be to take E Lee to watch bats leave their little house on our house?!? And talk about helpful, hopefully they will feast on the mosquitoes that are already starting to swarm. Anyway, such a nice night! I know we won’t have to go to Walgreens often, but it was a nice change from our normal walk to the school and around the block.

And Happy Birthday Lisa! Mom, Dom, and Molly packed up and left early this morning, Wicket was so sad. We told him she’d be back, but Wicket looks for any excuse to look more pathetic I’m pretty sure. We got ready for our pictures, even E Lee took a bath and got all dressed up :)! We were running late, but it was ok because they told us one family couldn’t have 2 sessions in one day anyway (it would have been nice if the website had mentioned that). E Lee did a lot better than I thought, she did get a little fussy. Luckily the boy photographer was really able to keep E Lee’s attention (already chasing after boys?!?! Isn’t she a little young?!?). The woman photographer also helped get some good poses in before the fussy set in. I was a little disappointed in our family picture, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to look at the camera instead of looking down at the baby to see what’s going on! Either way, we got what we wanted and she is just so pretty!! Oh, in the middle of the night she started fussing and when we went to see what was going on she had flipped again and was mad that she was on her tummy!! Then during her nap she did the same thing. Doesn’t she know babies are supposed to sleep on their backs?!? And all I could think was, “great, another thing for me to worry about!” At least we have a little warning, if we hear her all the sudden cry when she was supposed to be sleeping we’ll know she’s flipped again!

So E Lee took it upon herself to flip from back to tummy this evening when we were playing. Then she got mad at me for tricking her into tummy time!! Paul and I tried to explain to her that every time she flipped from back to front she would be causing tummy time, but of course it’s easier to blame the parents :)! She is so funny! We’re scheduled for pictures tomorrow, one session for E Lee and one session for our normal family fourth picture. Cross your fingers for us that E Lee will take some good pictures for us!

Well, I walked into the house and was immediately handed a screaming baby. I hope E Lee’s not trying to drive her grandma away! I think E Lee tricked her yesterday into thinking she was a good baby and today rolled around and she was not having fun. Poor Mom, she looked frazzled! Hopefully tomorrow will go better, lol, the last thing I need is for E Lee to cause Mom to quit us :)!! Mom did get a ton of good pictures though, so I know it wasn’t all bad, the afternoon fussy time just started a little early today I think. My day on the other had been very good, and way too fast again. Christi and I took Lisa out for an early birthday lunch at Wings n’ More and we had a nice time. I got a little more of my work done, and then before I knew it it was time again to go home. It was so good to hug E Lee, even if she was upset. We played a little bit tonight, but she was pretty tired and ready to lay down for the night, so I went to nap with her. She fell asleep on my tummy and we both slept until 11pm!! She’s eating now and then we’ll go right back to bed. I guess I was a little more worn than I thought.

Today was my first day back and it was so good. I am definitely meant to work, I just wouldn’t be a good stay at home mom, not that we could afford it, but it just wouldn’t be good. I just loved being back, working at my desk, seeing everyone, although I could do without meetings :)! I got caught up on what happened while I was gone and learned I get to stay on the Mellon team, so I think it was just a great day. We also moved to the other side of the row and I get a nice window cube now, pretty cool. And the day just sped by! Before I knew it it was after 4 and I had to leave. I walked in and it was so good to hug E Lee. I think I got on her nerves because I just wouldn’t let her go, but we had fun and played. Mom also took pictures during the day, so I get to see what all they’ve been up to. I’m proud of her (Mom, but both I guess) that she put E Lee down for tummy time and left her even though she was probably screaming her heart out! I can’t wait until she starts liking tummy time!  A very happy anniversary wish to John and Rachael, I can barely believe it’s been 8 years!!

Well, Mom, Dom, and Molly came in today. You have never seen a more excited Momo (oh, he’s doing much better, the vet put him on antibiotics and he’s almost all healed, but definitely back to his Momo self). We just enjoyed our day together; Mom gave E Lee a bottle to practice for the upcoming days. E Lee took it fine and had 4oz downed in minutes! We also tried out the exersaucer Rachael gave us today. It’s too big, but she wants to be upright so bad, we thought she might like it. We propped her up with a blanket and she just went to town, kicking her little feet, waving her arms, she was so cute! Jenell also found this cute little giraffe cozy that’s the perfect size for E Lee, plus it’s so soft and yellow. I just can’t wait for E Lee to start responding to toys. Right now she’s into crinkles. I was a Jacques and found a Sassy doll named Emily whose whole dress is made of crinkly material. She has a hook so I hung her from the gym and E Lee LOVES hitting and grabbing the dress and making noise!

So I finally made it over to The Physician’s Centre to introduce E Lee to my friends there. It was good to see them all and to show off E Lee a bit (now I just need to see Tammie!). I did hear some sad news, Miss Jean fell and broke her hip, they replaced it, but something went wrong and she had to have another surgery to fix it and she’s not recovered yet. Say a little prayer for her, she’s such a strong woman, but two surgeries in a row is no piece of cake.

Mom surprised us with a quick visit to BCS. She also brought with her the cutest little yellow sundress outfit. It’s a little big yet, but we couldn’t resist putting it on. Today was my lunch out with the girls, so Mom joined us and we had a nice lunch. I think Christi will be quite relieved to have me back at work and give me back the Finance box :)! Anyway, it was nice to see Mom, and it was just a good day, I can’t believe it’s getting so close to back to work time!

Oh, and these are from yesterday, aren’t they so cute together?!?

So I guess I spoke to soon in the last post. No sooner said than done, E Lee has found her thumb. She’d been playing with her hands more and more, but this was the first time she actually is sucking on the thumb. I just hope this doesn’t bite us in the butt later, but we have no control over it anyway :)! E Lee has also discovered the joy of kicking at my dad’s face and letting the beard tickle her feet. She just laughs and can’t stop smiling; she just has so much fun. With the exception of a few kicks that hit home I think he enjoys it too :)!  Happy Birthday Mom, I wish we could share your birthday with you, we’ll have to wait until Monday, love you!

Today was just a nice day at home, nothing much exciting, but at this morning’s first feeding I did do one thing . . . I painted E Lee’s nails!! She was just laying there and I had the bag of nail polishes that Mom and Geli got me from Garden Ridge and couldn’t resist. Just a touch of pink on those tiny little nails, they just look so cute, and she’s not sucking her thumb, so it should stay for a bit :)!

We flew home yesterday, once again E Lee was just the best little traveler I could have asked for. She did scream getting onto the second plane (man oh man were we getting looks, everyone was silently praying we wouldn’t be sitting next to them!), but as soon as we got settled in our seats and she started eating that was it, she just slept the rest of the time. After we got into Austin we went out to lunch with Mom, feed E Lee and headed home. It was so nice to be back in our home, and the dogs were so happy to see us. A little later I was putting the dogs out and noticed something looked weird with Momo. The little dog had caused a huge sore on his butt from the morning when Mom left them until we got home!! Paul called the vet school but they couldn’t get us in until Monday, so we just had to wait. Today we went to PetsMart and got an e-collar and some wound spray. Hopefully that’ll keep it until Monday, Mo is acting so un-Momoish though, and you can tell he’s hurting. I’ve never see TLRDD so sluggish, very un-demon dogish! Anyway, today Geli brought Dad up to stay the week with us, she had to go back home so she didn’t get to stay long. E Lee sure was happy to see them though! Oh, and we had so many packages waiting for us, but the best one came from Mrs. Gose (my third grade teacher), she sent E Lee some bloomers that have “E Lee” embroidered on them!!! They are too cute, I put them on today with her little white sundress, it was too cute.

Today was Paul’s big day!! We dropped him off at the conference early so he could prepare for his paper presentation and then E Lee and I headed back to the hotel to relax a bit. Then we went back out to meet Elaine for lunch. We had a yummy lunch at the Carlton in her building, well, the bit I got to eat was yummy, E Lee was really fussy so I was kept busy trying to keep her settled. I still enjoyed the lunch and especially the company! After lunch Elaine took me to Mellon Three to meet MJ. MJ was ready and waiting to hold E Lee, luckily E Lee was already in a better mood :)! Boy did E Lee have the best time with MJ, just smiled away, and had the best time. Poor Elaine was just getting over being sick so she didn’t get to hold E Lee, but I don’t think MJ minded the extra hold time. Again I got to meet more people I talk to on the phone and email often, so it was really cool. After taking up way to much of Elaine’s time we headed back to the hotel and got E Lee fed and a nap in. After picking up Paul from the conference we rested a bit and then headed out to meet Paul’s friend Gouri (they were in E-Zip at A&M together) for dinner. Sadly she wasn’t able to make it, but we did enjoy a wonderful dinner and E Lee actually slept long enough we didn’t have to rush. It was a nice last night in Pittsburgh, but I am ready to go home and enjoy my last full week at home with E Lee. We don’t have to wake up quite as early tomorrow, but it’ll still be a long day.