11 months!!

Here she is.  11 months old.  One more month and she'll be a year!!  That happened WAY too fast. I will always be resentful of how crappy 2015 was because it distracted me from loving on this sweet baby 24/7.  Life is just too busy.  All I want to do some days is just stare at her while she sleeps but it's the only time I have to actually get anything productive done.   At night after she's gone to bed, I can't help but browse photos of her when she was a newborn.  Gees Louise I miss those days!  I don't miss the sleep deprivation but I miss the squishy baby.  I'm even more nostalgic with Eliza because I know for certain she is my last.  I'm trying hard to relish each moment and I wish there was more time in the day! 4 kids is no joke.  I barely have time to write these blog entries, and you better be believe there's a whole heck of  a lot of other things I should be doing!  Chase will notice that the days I blog, the house is a tad (understatement) messier than usual.   

This month Eliza graduated to a crib.  She was kind of forced into it.  We moved into the Gordon's house while they renovate our water damaged one, and we decided it was time for her to sleep in a room with windows.  The closet just didn't seem appropriate anymore.  She's finally sleeping through the night and our bedroom is now upstairs, so this seemed like the right time.  

Eliza was shell shocked by the whole idea.  She would NOT go to bed.  Every time I rocked her and put her back down in the crib, she's just start wailing.  She was probably wondering where that uncomfortable pack n' play was and what all the strange lights were coming through the nearby window.  It took a few days of crying, but eventually she got used to the idea of a soft, pink and cozy crib to sleep in.  Now she sleeps all night long and usually wakes up at the crack of dawn around 6:45.  She's also taking two naps a day. 

 I love putting her down for a a nap or for the night.  I'll give her the binky and her "bah" then her head automatically rest itself on my chest.  She then hums a little and I hum back to her with lots of kisses in between.  We play this little game for a moment and then she wiggles out of my arms.  She loves going to sleep.  I just place her in that crib, say "nigh nigh" and she falls asleep on her own.  What a champ!! She's always been pretty good at that.  Occasionally I'll hear her cry after I put her down.  It's the same scenario every time.  She has dropped her binky and bah outside the crib and just looooooves watching me come in to pick them up.  We only do this once and she'll go down after that.  

She's getting REALLY bored with these photo shoots.  Only one more mi'dear!!

Eliza experienced her first Christmas this month!  We kept up with the tradition of last year to go to PF Changs for Christmas Eve.  So fun that last year I was hugely pregnant with her and this year she's here, smiling at all the other tables and making everyone around her happy!

Tiny little patron! 

Playing our snuggle and humming game.  

Oh my goodness, I love her!! 

After dinner with big sis Sadie!! 

Can you get over the "no coat" weather on December 24th?!

Had to get some pictures of "baby's first Christmas" by the tree. 

So curious! 

We had to put all the soft ornaments on the bottom this year.  It's funny how much I used to care how the tree looked.  The kids decorated it and I didn't move one ornament.  There were clumps of the soft ones and disarray all over the place.  It's almost empowering when you stop caring about the little things that don't really matter.  Everyone was impressed that I let the kids decorate the gingerbread house all by themselves this year.  In the past, I would tell them where to put certain candies.  I totally stood back and just let them go for it.  I'm "letting go" and it feels pretty good! 

Pretty tired and ready for bed while the kids make reindeer food! 

But not too tired to give Dad some smiles! 

Look at that little scrug!  They're all pretty cute, but the miniature one is KILLING me!! 

She wasn't very interested in opening her presents. We tried in vain to get her excited, but eventually put her to bed while we opened the rest of ours. She's pretty tired and cranky in the morning.  Even on Christmas!! 

Grandpa and Mimi came the 26th for a few days.  We took them to the Thinkery because even though it was 80 degrees the day before, Austin decided to make itself  FREEZING while my parents were here.  It happens every dang year!

Liza smiling at the people passing by while her siblings play at the park.  Too cold for us wimps! 

Suddenly it was New Years! Mimi and Grandpa went home and it was time to face reality.  Time to pack up Christmas, the house, and move into the Gordon's home.  

Instagram had a fun app this year that compiles all your most popular pictures from the year 2015.  No surprise here that the most exciting (and really only positive) thing that happened this last year was the arrival of our little peanut.  She made this year a little more insane and chaotic, but we couldn't have survived it without her too. Her smiles and cuddles got me through my darkest days. I was soooooo happy for 2016.  I'm optimistic this year is going to be awesome!!

My baby kangaroo!

Everyone seemed to love the move into a different home.  Other than the few restless nights from her crib fiasco, no more carpool, Ming (don't ask) and the fact that we have to drive through both Clayton and Kiker's school traffic to get to school, we're all adjusting quite nicely. 

And the sun came out again!!  The Gordon's live on a nice quiet street.  Perfect for afternoons on a blanket outside and for the kids to ride around on their bikes.   

I sometimes feel bad that my kids don't know what "real" grass should feel like.  Texas grass is itchy and usually infested with fire ants.  I guess ignorance is bliss.  Liza loved picking the weeds and running her fingers through the grass. 

Lots of new nooks and crannies to explore!

She's also really started to love music.  Whenever a tune is playing, she'll rock back and forth or if she's standing, will do little bouncy squats.  We're always trying to get her to dance for us.  It's sooooo cute!!

Eliza will stand unsupported for longer periods of time now.  It's so fun watching her be so brave!  I still think she's too little to be doing such "big girl" things.  I also REALLY want her to take her first steps at our home, not the Gordon's.  I'm sentimental like that.  If she can just hold out a couple of weeks longer I'd really appreciate it!

That's right.  Keep crawling little one! 

I took her to Costco the other day and she distracted every single shopper that walked by.  They couldn't help but stop to say hello!  Then, as I was loading groceries into the car with Eliza snug in her car seat, a woman stopped by in her car, rolled down the window and said she had to tell me how cute my baby was. She could see Eliza smiling from her car seat all the way from her parking spot.   She just a little ray of sunshine!  Brightening up all our days!

Climbing on mom while we lie on the blanket outside.   

She can walk, as long as she's in here.  Lucky for me, she'd rather be free and crawling!! She has discovered that a gorilla crawl is much easier on the knees and travels all over the place looking like a monkey!

The only sad thing that happened this month was that her continual biting while nursing caused me to believe she was done nursing for good.  I tried to keep her latched on, but she would either wiggle out of my arms of bite me to see my reaction. It was kind of cute even though it made me really mad.  She'd bite me and then get this big grin on her face.  I'd tell her "no, don't bite me" and she'd do it again.  It became a game to her.  I think the move and moreover this whole renovation process really stressed me out to the point that my milk supply plummeted to nearly nothing.  No wonder she didn't want to eat from me!  She weaned herself on January 7th.  A little over one month shy of her birthday.  I've got enough milk stored to get her to a year so she won't need any formula.  We're giving her bottles of breastmilk from the deep freezer now.  She loooooooves them!  She can bite that plastic nipple all she wants and loves holding the bottle herself while we are in the car or on walks.  I think she is just loving the continuous flow of milk.  Mom just wasn't cutting it for her anymore!  

I know I should be happy with my new found freedom and the fact that I know she's getting enough milk, but I still hate the fact that we're done.  Nursing was MY time with Eliza.  Just the two of us.  I'm going to miss it!