More Highchair Pictures

Saying her prayers before snack.

Having cottage cheese with pumpkin, a favorite!

Being a big girl and using her spoon!

Soon after this picture, Eliana gives up on the spoon and starts scooping the food up with her hand.

Sunday at the Bonds

David had the day off, so we were talking about the menu for the week.  Eliana is showing him her empty container of cumin that I gave her to play with.

Eliana isn't feeling the best today.  She was sent home early from daycare for a low grade fever (thus why I am blogging on a Monday afternoon.  If Eliana gets kicked out of daycare, I get kicked out of work...).  I think maybe she just has a virus or something.  Right now, she is taking a very long nap.  From her behavior yesterday, you would never have guessed that she was going to be sick today.  Yesterday she was very happy and chatty!  We carried on an extremely in depth conversation.  I couldn't tell you exactly what it was about, but I am guessing cooking because she was reading a cookbook at the time (or standing on it as seen in the fourth picture).  She was cracking me up!!  I started snapping pictures, but they don't accurately convey the fun we were having.  As soon as I pulled out the video camera though, she went silent.  Oh well.  It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

I hope my big girl gets feeling better soon!  As much as I am sure you enjoy my blog updates, I prefer not to be doing them when I should be at work. 

It's Spring! And Delicious!

In honor of the first day of spring yesterday, I post these pictures from a couple of weeks ago.  They seem very appropriate since it is snowing here in Columbus.  It was 20*F this morning and snowing off and on all day!  Spring, you are welcome to show up any time please.  These pictures were from a weekend a little while ago.  It was snowing, but it wasn't too cold.  Just beautiful.  So we bundled Eliana up and wrapped her like a mummy in her stroller, and we walked to Katalina's for breakfast.  That is our favorite neighbor place to go.  I highly recommend the Pancake Balls, if you are ever in Columbus.  It was a wonderful morning spent together in the snow!

I felt compelled to blog tonight because I quite possibly made the best dinner ever (yes even better than the time I made fish tacos).  I say this because not only did I think it was tasty, but so did Eliana AND David!  That pretty much never ever happens.  It was so good that only two pieces of broccoli and one noodle ended up on the floor, which is a record for Eliana.  It was so good that Eliana cleared her bowl and asked for seconds!  Ok, enough with the suspense.  What was this amazing dish?  Chicken and broccoli mac 'n cheese!  Simple?  Yes I know.  Healthy?  Well, kinda.  Delicious?  Absolutely!!  It was so easy to make, all from scratch, and loved by all.  Pretty much the perfect family meal.   And way better than anything you could make from a box.

Eliana thought it was so good, she should rub some of the cheese in her hair.

This meal was inspired by a recipe in the book Baby Love by Norah O'Donnell and Chef Geoff Tracy.  It is a cookbook for your baby and toddler.  I've actually made quite a few meals from it this week.  While we are past the puree part, the toddler recipes have been a hit with Eliana.  I like this cookbook because the last part has recipes for your toddler but include ways to modify them to work for Mom and Dad too.  For the  Mac 'N Cheese recipe, I just added in the chicken and broccoli as suggested for the modification and gave them to Eliana too.  I just made sure her broccoli and chicken were cut into smaller pieces.  If you are interested in the recipe, just let me know and I will send it your way!  To all you moms out there, I just borrowed this book from the library.  It's pretty good.  You should check it out!

Eliana Walking!

Abby has been instructing me on what should go on the blog, so this one is for her!  Eliana is walking!!  She took her first steps around a year old, but only one or two at a time.  Now at 14 months, she is finally really walking.  It is so amazing to see!  We spent a long time at the park today because the weather was so nice.  It was great for Eliana because she had so much room to walk around.  And I think seeing the other kids playing helped encourage her to do more.  I love her little toddle.  The best is how even when she falls down, she just picks herself up and starts walking again.  David and I are very proud of our big girl!

A rare break for David.  Tonight is his last night shift, but then he immediately starts Heart 1 rotation tomorrow (right after the end of his night shift).  Welcome to residency, where they don't even let you sleep between rotations.

Eliana liked to climb the stairs to the slide, but she didn't actually like to go down it.

"These seats are just my size!"

Eliana's first haircut

the Before picture

Aunt Rhonda had the honor (or the challenge) of cutting Eliana's hair for the first time.

Eliana wonders what in the world is going on.

Oooo, that tickles!

But Aunt Rhonda gave me this really cool toy (a comb) to play with!

the After picture

The beginning of February, David had his second week of vacation from residency, so we planned a little trip.  We drove to Indy where we dropped Eliana off with her grandparents, and then David and I flew to Arizona (blog post about our trip to follow...eventually).  While we were in Indy before we flew out, Eliana got her first haircut!  I thought the back was looking scraggly and kinda like a mullet.  David's sister Rhonda is a hair stylist, and she volunteered to cut Eliana's hair.  It worked out really well because she brought the salon to us.  I think Eliana was more comfortable being in a familiar place to get her hair cut instead of a Great Clips with all of the lights and smells and scary hair clippers.  Rhonda said she did great!  Rhonda's boyfriend Rex did a wonderful job of distracting Eliana.  Rhonda cut her hair really fast and was able to work around her wiggles.  I love the hair cut!  She looks very neat and a little older.  As her hair has grown out some, it has started to curl under in a perfect little bob.  Another step towards growing up for our big girl!  Thanks Aunt Rhonda for the awesome 'do!

A quick update about our lives here in Ohio.  David is currently doing night float in residency.  It has been a hard rotation for us all.  David has crazy hours and always feels tired and out of sorts from trying to sleep during the day.  I kinda feel like a single parent because David is in the hospital by 6pm and I have all parenting responsibilities after that.  David is stretched very thin because when he is home (and awake during the day), he squeezes as much daddy-daughter time in as possible.  Eliana is so blessed to have such a wonderful Daddy, but it has been hard on all of us to be apart so much. 

Eliana is getting to be a big girl.  She now has 8 teeth!  She is also working on four molars I think.  The bottom ones are almost in.  And to really top things off, she has started walking!!  She has been taking a few steps here and there before, but now she is really moving.  When we can home from daycare today, I put Eliana down outside the doorway while I opened the door.  David was standing in the living room waiting for us, and Eliana walked inside the door and then walked all the way to him!  I'm so proud of my little girl. 

As for me?  My biggest news is that I am training for the Indianapolis Mini Marathon in May.  I have run it several times in the past, including last year when Eliana was just 4 months old.  As you can imagine, it wasn't my best time ever for the race.  I hope to make up for it this year.  Since Eliana was born, I really haven't been working out much, so this is my first venture back into the fitness world.  Right now I am averaging a little over 11 min/mile pace, but I'm okay with that.  Hopefully I can improve on my time from last year!  I am extremely lucky that David works so hard to provide for our family so that I can work part time, which leaves me time to train for a race.  Even during the night shift rotation, I have to count my blessings!

Lunch Time

This is what happens when Eliana feeds herself:

Note how she holds the spoon in her hand, but doesn't actually use it.

As long as she is happy, I don't mind.