blow dryer.

Eliza loves this blow dryer. We discovered it by accident one night, trying to warm her up after a bath. And pretty soon the blow dryer became a regular in the soothing line up. The second you blow it on her face she calms down. Part of it is probably the white noise, but part of it is that she loves that wind on her face. Her whole body goes limp and relaxed, except for her feet which will float up towards the mouth of the blow dryer while she spreads out her toes happily.

We like to think that it is a sign that she will be an adventurous one. You know, a girl that loves the wind on her face and her hair whipping around like a wild thing. (She also loves driving with the windows down.) We're crossing our fingers that it doesn't mean she is destined to be a pampered princess. Eeek!

Oh, and the band-aid is from her shot at the doctor's that morning. I promise we are taking good care of this little human. In fact, she hardly even noticed the shot. They gave it to her while she was feeding, and she screamed for 2.2 seconds and continued to eat like nothing happened. The doctor said it was a sign of her personality- I think she'll be a tough girl!

cousins.

Of course, we had to put the baby cousins in matching dresses and take a million pictures of them. And,  mean a million- because it is very difficult to catch both babies looking good. When Lucy is looking adorable, Eliza is cross-eyed and toppling over. When Eliza is looking cute, Lucy is done with the photo shoot and getting angry. But, really- they're always just so darn cute.

Lucy was such a good big cousin. We would lay Eliza down on the quilt, and Lucy would come and sit next to her. Every once and awhile she might get a little too excited and scare Eliza, but for the most part she was very gentle. Eliza would just stare up at her. I feel like they are going to be good friends.

It's so weird to see the two side by side. Lucy has always been the baby, and now Eliza seems so tiny compared to her. I remember going to Texas to be with my family when Lucy was this age. It was the moment I really knew for sure that it was time for us to start our own family. I was totally in love with that sweet babe. And, now she is over a year old, and I have my own little baby girl. Someday there will be many more cousins around the house. Can you imagine?

blessing.

Last Sunday was Eliza's blessing day- a perfect Father's Day. True to form, Eliza cried through half of the blessing, while Lucy wiggled and yelled in the back of the chapel. These girls are definitely related. They sure like to party.

Sam gave a really beautiful blessing. I have loved watching Sam become a daddy. He already had it in him. He was always one of those guys that can take a babe and hush it to sleep in seconds, while I am awkwardly trying to figure out how to "support the head." It comes from helping his mom with all those brothers growing up. This definitely wasn't his first time at the changing table. In fact, I believe I have been corrected on my diaper changing abilities more than once over the past few weeks. But, I guess I am responsible for one or two blow outs due to a lose diaper job.

Happy (late) Father's Day, Sam Gray. Eliza is so lucky to have you. 

And to you too, Daddy! I love you. I haven't been with my dad on Father's Day for years- it was was my favorite day of the entire visit. The whole family sitting at our dinner table, with the babes. We threw a huge feast on the grill, and relaxed all afternoon. It reminded me of Lucy's blessing day, which coincidently was held on Mother's Day last year.

And, the dress? My mom made it. She is amazing like that. It was designed after a christening dress we saw in a book from the 1800s. I'm an heirloom kind of girl. I'm just hoping that Eliza will be, too. Because, what else am I going to do with all of these treasures I've been hoarding for all of these years?

one month.

 
Eliza Roxie is one month old (on June 7th). Yep, time flies. Too fast.

I love her so much. She's changed our lives in so many ways, and sometimes I can't remember what it was like without her. She made me a mom. My whole day revolves around her, in three hour increments. At the end of yesterday, I had barely touched my to-do list. But, when she fell asleep in my arms after a long day, I wasn't about to put her down and give up that moment. That's our time. The dishes can wait.

She's taught me what true love and care is. I would do anything to make her happy. Eliza has had a rough go at this whole body thing lately. Her little digestive system is giving her all kinds of problems, and it is really hard to see her in such pain. Sam and I have tried everything in the book- thanks to so many medical professionals' and friends' advice. We still haven't found much that seems to help, but she is a tough girl. One day it will be better. In the meantime, I will do anything to give her a little relief and see that happy face. 

We love her. She is so perfect and beautiful. At her one month check-up, she had the whole doctor's office talking about how gorgeous she was. I could hear them in the hall while I waited. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed! She doesn't even like to cuddle the same way she used to. She wiggles and squeals until you hold her up and face her out so she can be a part of the action. Sometimes I like to squish and squeeze and try and make her cuddle- until Sam says, "I don't think she likes that, Rox." I'm a smother mother.

Eliza at one month:
-is starting to smile!
-loves standing on your knee
-likes to sit up and out
-loves burrowing into a ball in the wrap/sling
-collects fuzz in her clenched palms
-can grab your pinky finger with her long toes
-follows objects with her head and eyes
-lifts her head slightly during tummy time
-eats like a shark
-major wiggles
-starting to grab and pull a little
-loves to look at patterns, especially stripes
-battles those toots
-strategically plans her blow outs
-starting to lose her baby hair
-a little embarrassed of her baby acne 
-that binky is her best friend
-gaining weight and getting taller
-still doesn't totally fit into most of her newborn clothes
-loves when Daddy comes home
-doesn't like being cooped up in the house
-loves the breeze on her face

-can't get enough of the blow dryer

-grunts and coos
-loves the up-downs, and baby bench presses

Love this girl.

pier 39.

My family came in to stay with us this past week. We're talking six adults and two babies, in a two bedroom house. It was a little crazy, to say the least, but totally worth having everyone under one roof. On Saturday, we ventured in to the city with the babes. It was nice to get out and explore a little more. Sam and I are really not familiar with San Francisco, so we never know what to recommend to friends and family when they come in town.

My family hadn't been to San Francisco since we were kids- meaning Danielle was so young she can't even remember the trip. I was only eight or so, but I can remember snippets of our West Coast tour and we have albums of photos to prove it. When we were little, we would drag out the photo albums and lay on the ground flipping through the pages. Many shots of three little, windblown girls in neon windsuits standing in front of the Golden Gate.

This last weekend the family took the train in and hit up Chinatown, Ghirardelli Square, and Fisherman's Wharf- and Sam, Eliza, and I drove in to meet them at Pier 39. We walked the pier, ate soup and sandwiches, and watched the sea lions. Eliza slept through the whole trip, but Lucy was having a ball. I was pretty impressed at how well she did on these long day trips in the city. She was perfectly content sitting in her stroller clutching her yellow balloon. Lucy can draw a crowd really fast. They have that girl trained to be cuter than any street performer. She will wave and say hi, blow kisses, mimic noises, laugh on command, and toddle around on those chubby legs. It's so fun seeing how her personality has grown since we last saw her.

Many more photos to come!

maxi.

Earlier this week, Eliza and I drove into the city to meet up Sam and his mom for lunch. We ate at Foundation Cafe, near Sam's office- and then headed up to Rapt to introduce Eliza to the crew. It was so cute watching Sam proudly walk her around the office, showing her off like a little trophy. He loves to show people how she has two different shaped ears. It makes her special.

She loved the office. We're developing her design taste at a young age- she only likes to sit in extremely expensive, well-designed chairs. And, there were so many fun shapes and lights for her to look at it. She didn't cry the entire time we were there. In fact, she loved it so much she had three major blowouts- all within an hour or so of each other. We kept having to run to the back of the office to change her, and I'm sure everyone thought we were ridiculous. 

So, here's my bad mom story. After the first blowout, we are sprawled out on a back table trying not to get anything dirty, when my mother-in-law asks where the diapers are in the bag. What do you mean? You're kidding, right? I forgot to add more diapers to the bag this morning, and so we literally had no diaper to put on this naked baby. We are frantically rummaging through the diaper bag trying to find something we can use to cover this baby bum. Blankets, nursing pads, baby wipes, footie pajamas. We almost wrapped a burp cloth around her when Nancy pulls out... a maxi pad. 

So yes, I diapered my one-month-old with a maxi pad. It was "super" absorbant, with wings.

Then, I sent Sam running down to the closest Walgreens in Union Square to buy some diapers. And, it's a good thing- because she treated us to two more blowouts before we even left the office. Oh, Eliza. You sure keep us on our toes!

sunday in the park.

On Sunday we packed up a little picnic and went to to the park. It was one of the first days that Eliza decided she liked the stroller. After spending months trying to find the best deal on my dream stroller, I was pretty disappointed to find out that little E hated it. I would put her in and test it out, but within a couple of blocks she was loudly voicing her dislike. 

On Sunday, though, she fell right asleep- and stayed asleep through the whole picnic. We all laughed because the one time I wanted to take pictures of her in her cutie polka dot bloomers at the park, she wouldn't wake up. So, I did the bad mom thing and poked her a lot until she woke up. Which is why she looks slightly stressed in all of these pictures.

Eliza loves being outside. At first I felt a little guilty for taking her out of the house so many times in these early weeks. But, she loves the fresh air. Lately, when wrap her up tight in the Moby wrap, she liked to stick her face out in the breeze like a little puppy dog. She loves that wind in her hair.

point lobos.

A couple of weeks before Eliza was born, Sam and I took a trip down to Monterey and Carmel for his birthday. We were nervous about staying over night anywhere, so we made a quick day trip out of it. We stumbled upon one of the most beautiful reserves w've ever been in. It's a fluke that we even found it, seeing as we were feeling pretty cheap that day. We kept driving past the entrance to the park trying to find a way around it so that we could get to the coast. After awhile, we finally forked over the $10 admission and had absolutely no regrets. 

Point Lobos is gorgeous. Once again, Northern California is King of combining all good things into one magical scene. You have the trees and forest, and the cliffs and coast. The park had the perfect trails for an obscenely pregnant woman to walk on because they were mostly flat and easy to maneuver through. It was magic hour, and so the light threading through the branches made the walk quite dreamy. It was almost ridiculous how picture-perfect the scene was. We would hear a rustling to our left and see a deer lit up in a warm clearing, and simultaneously a bunny would cross our path ahead of us. No joke. The coves along the coastline had water that almost glowed Caribbean-blue, and we even ran across a pack of seals and their pups just sunbathing in the sand. 

It's so crazy to see this picture of me, by the way. It looks like I just have Eliza all balled up underneath my shirt. Sometimes I have a difficult time connecting Eliza with that baby that was in my belly for 9 months. They seem like two different babies. Can you believe she was actually inside of me!? This was one of the last pictures I allowed anyone to take of me. It was right around the time my face blew up like a water balloon.