Eliza's first Christmas!

Eliza had a really great Christmas! She was completely spoiled and loved every minute of it.

Mark and I were terrible and gave her most of the things we bought for her ahead of time.

She got lots of music stuff, books, toys and other great things!





Eliza rockin' her tutu on Christmas Eve


Eliza being a total ham

Eliza's first crawl!

I can't believe we got this on video!!!

She is now crawling all around the house and getting into things like the dog dish and water bowl. We're laughing at her and frantically trying to get baby gates up!

Santa!

She didn't cry... but she wasn't pleased!

This kid smiles even when she is upset!

Eliza had a good night last night!

She took a bath!





Then she read a book with daddy!

New teeth pic!

Tearing into a baby Mum Mum!



The ham!



Daddy's girl



And last but not least!

Dear Eliza

Please, for the love of God, sleep tonight.

Thank you!

Love,

Your mom

While mommy is at work, nugget and daddy are up to no good!

These are the pictures that Mark sends me while I am at work. I love them so much, I wanted to share!





Why yes, that is Eliza balancing on a potty sitting on top of a chiropractic table. What else would you expect?



To quote my mom: "Eliza always comes over mismatched, wearing whatever Mark found on the ground". In this case she'll just stay in her nighty all day.





I love their shenanigans. Most dads don't get the opportunity to spend this much time with their children. I am so happy to get a little glimpse into their day!

Santa and Christmas Trees!

This weekend we had a lot of firsts for Eliza and one second. She drew her first picture on Saturday. She got her second tooth yesterday 12/5/2010. She went to visit Santa on Sunday, and we went and got a Christmas tree after.

Drawing:





Straight to the mouth:


Teeth:


Santa:

She didn't hate Santa, but she certainly didn't love him either. She faked a smile until she couldn't hold it anymore. She almost cried and kept reaching out for me. I felt terrible standing there saying "yay!" while she reached for me urgently. Needless to say she stayed on his lap for about 45 seconds. I give her credit though, she isn't screaming!



Christmas Tree Shopping:



Cutest picture ever:





Other fun stuff from last week/end:

Eliza got to spend lots of time with Ava on Friday. She even tried to share her persimmon with her. Pretty cute!


Thursday night we went to Petaluma to see Dr. Michelle at her holiday party. Eliza dressed up and walked all around the room smiling at people!





Eliza and her best friend:

Adorable picture of Ava and Eliza at Mickey & Allie's wedding!

Rockin' out with her music table!

Crawling is overrated!

Shame this is blurry!



WHATS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eliza & Family updates

Not a whole lot of updates. Eliza got her first tooth. Its a sharp little thing. Its pretty cute, but you really can't see it unless you're very close to her mouth. She is still not crawling, but she loves to walk around holding my hands, so I have a feeling she may just skip the crawling phase and move right into walking. She loves to stand at her toys and pet the dogs, so her balance is pretty good.

Mark gets his diploma on the 10th. Once he gets it, we can start the process of his licensing and formation of his business. So far he really hasn't been able to do much. He is in the process of getting a part-time job to help out with our finances.

The dogs are doing well. Slappy is enjoying being back out in Martinez and celebrated by getting two ticks that Mark had to remove. He was very pleased, and a little grossed out.

All in all, we're happy to be home, but we miss Kansas City a lot!

TEETH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark saw two lines today. I have only seen one on the bottom. She has been crying more lately and I know its from pain. She got her baltic amber teething necklace in the mail yesterday and we put it on her immediately.

Wish us luck... teething sucks!

I bought Eliza a Christmas dress...

Be ready for some cuteness!

Eliza updates

Eliza LOVES music. She has been banging on drums for the past month. She hears music and bangs on things. Mark gave her these maracas yesterday and she knew exactly what to do with them.

She is now waving at people when she sees them. She is also clapping. She has started reaching out to get picked up.

She is also teething. It sucks, and she still hasn't cut a tooth, but she is sure drooling, crying and sneezing!

No crawling yet. She gets on all 4's and rocks.

Playing catch up!

So much has happened lately.



First, Mickey got married last weekend. We all drove up to Tahoe for a lovely ceremony on a boat on Lake Tahoe. It was perfect and the weather couldn't have cooperated any better. The sunset at the wedding was amazing!

We had fun!



The babies were amazing!


We also moved into our new place. Its small and we have too much stuff. The next week is dedicated to purging, donating and moving things to our storage unit. Rough!

Sorry we have been MIA for so long!!!

We're back! Happy halloween!

Its been a whirlwind trip back here to Martinez. Mark is still in Missouri packing up our house and getting a few loose ends tied up so we can rent the house out.

We found a place here in Martinez. Its clean and nice. We're very excited to move in and they're very nice about our dog (even Slappy!).

I started working for the Contra Costa County Law Library as extra help. Its been fun. I will technically be the "branch librarian" for the Pittsburg, CA branch once I get on full-time in November! I am super excited. I can't believe I got this job. I have read that unemployment in CA is realistically at around 22% and I just waltz into a job. I feel very blessed.

Mark may have found a location for his practice. Its near the Virginia Hills Safeway. He is excited, and the space is almost totally built out the way he wanted it. He will have to do some modifications, but in the end, it will be perfect. He won't open up there for a while though, so hopefully the location stays open!

That's about all I have got- Ill try to be better about updating this once Mark gets back here and we have more free time!

Our trip home!

You all know how much I love documenting our road trips!!!

We're going to attempt to drive and drive. Hopefully we can do two 15-hour days, or perhaps drive three 10 hour days. We'll see what Eliza lets us do!

We have also decided to go through Colorado since I have never seen the state. I am very interested in seeing Denver and the Colorado Rockies. We drove through Wyoming last time.


View Larger Map

YAY!

IMG_1008
Originally uploaded by Rachel and Mark H.

She can hit the keys to make the noise, then she looks at me, and I yell "YAY!!!!!!!!" and she smiles and does it again... I love this kid :)

Dear Kansas City, Thank you, I love you, Goodbye!

I am not getting into any big details because things are still being worked out, but as of today, Mark, Eliza and I are moving home. We will likely be there by November 1st.