Hail to the Chief

Okay, these pictures are kinda old and we all know I'm no fan of our current president (but I am getting pretty excited about the current political scene and have already cast my ballot in the primaries! Vote early, vote often!), but he was in town, a mere two blocks away, so we packed up and met friends Katie and Alice to check out the scene.

Eliza so not thrilled with the scene. There was a lot of me: "Eliza, look! Reporters (or a car or secret service or whatever)!" Eliza: "Cracker! Dog!"
Katie looking good, next to another mommy named Katie that we met:
Miss Alice, also suitably unimpressed (the bib says future president):
This is actually supposed to be a picture of what we think was a sharpshooter on the roof of the school, not the doofus in front of us:
Reporters on the scene:
More reporters:
You have to click on this one to enlarge it and see the group of men in suits exiting the school. We thought one of them was Mayor Daly. Bush wasn't among the crowd - we think he got into his car somewhere out of view. And then pulled out of a different exit, so we only saw the motorcade from really far away. I know, as opposed to these stellar close-ups I have here!In my defense, if they'd come out this entrance, they would have driven right past us and then the pictures would be cool. No worries - we'll take Eliza to see President Obama when he comes to visit. :-)

Sometimes life is too much...

...and you just need to lie on the floor for a while.
She does this all the time now. We don't know why.
But would that we could all be so cute while doing so.

Still Not There

My apologies...we're having a hard time getting back into the swing of things, which certainly includes posting frequently like I think I promised I would do sometime in 2007. I'm not sure WHY we're having such a hard time, but we are. Eliza is bouncing back and forth between one nap and two (trying to get to one) and her sleep has been very erratic, which always colors the rest of the day. We're back in Wiggleworms, but most of the kids are different, so even though it's the same teacher, who we love, and the same room, she's a little weirded out by the whole thing. Week two was better than week one and I have a new baby crush on a 20 month-old in her class named Auden.

We also had our first swimming class yesterday (missed the first one last week b/c she had a doctor appointment. THAT certainly didn't go well, as she wanted no part of the nurse or of being weighed or obviously of her shots), which was not quite the success I hoped it would be. She started crying before we even got to the locker room and I really think she has a thing about fluorescent lighting (don't we all?). She did the same thing in the fitting room at Target (don't ask). Even after seeing all the fun buddy Connor was having, it took her at least half the class to calm down and enjoy herself even the slightest bit. Hopefully next week will go better.

Eliza is becoming quite the chatterbox these days. Her newest words are "back," as in "this is my back," and "cracker," as in graham. She also loves to ask for "nana" (banana) all hours of the day and night. Seriously, it's the first thing she says in the morning, even before "mama" or "dada." As Heather pointed out, it's probably fun to say a word and actually GET something when you say it. I never knew one person could eat so many bananas. I think cracker is my favorite. I'll try to get some video of her saying a few of her words. No promises!

We're Back!

Back in a cyber way, that is, as we didn't actually go anywhere for Christmas. But with preparing for the holidays, having the holidays, and recovering from the holidays, there seemed to be little time for posting. Mac was home on vacation and we decided it was a vacation for everyone...which meant we got to sleep a lot ("a lot" being relative, of course), do very little, and let our house get beyond messy. Now we're trying to get back to normal with Wiggleworms and playdates and of course, our blog!

Some quick Christmas highlights:
A trip to Lincoln Park Zoo for their annual Zoolights. Eliza loves Christmas lights so this experience was beyond magical for her.


Our own Christmas tree was a constant draw for her. She also had her own small tree with ornaments made at my NJ baby shower. Every morning she would rush out to the living room and be very insistent that we turn on all the tree lights. Then life was good.
Opening her stocking on Christmas morning.

Chaos around the tree.One of her favorite gifts - magnetic gears. She got another gear toy that she will also spend hours playing with. What is it with babies and gears???

Her beautiful Christmas sweater from Nan & Gramps. She looked very festive.Mac's family joined us for Christmas dinner where Eliza and I much enjoyed our macaroni and cheese while everyone else ate prime rib. She loved having family around and even had a sleepover with Aunt Mary while Mac and I escaped downtown for a night. I think she's having a hard time adjusting to it being just us again, but like I said, we're getting back to life as normal. Aren't we all?

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Happy New Year!