A Perfect Weekend

Eliana is one. The year has gone by so fast and the squishy, little infant that we brought home from the hospital is now a toddler. She walked all the way across the kitchen this morning. There is no doubt that we already have a stubborn creature on our hands. She wants what she wants when she wants it! There are still quiet, cuddly moments early in the morning and late at night, but she is a woman on the move now.

Greg and I stayed home from work on Friday so that we could be together on her big day. Greg worked out early and brought me a delicious coffee on his way home. Then, we went to pick up a table for the new playroom from a friend. I love second hand freebies. The old office has been officially converted to Eli's playroom and it looks great.

The big news for her birthday is that she took her first solo steps!

On Saturday, we celebrated her birthday with a brunch and the St. Johns Parade. A good time was had by all - we were so tired last night that Eli was in bed and asleep by 7:00. Thanks to all of you who were able to join us and to all of you who called, texted and emailed us a happy birthday. I'm so excited to see what the next year brings!

Eliana and Miriam

Team Stiles at the parade

The birthday girl - totally loving the horses!

Nana and EliEli and her inflatable cow! A gift from Darcy and Kristin - instant hit!

Cupcake goodness!

Today, we headed to Parker Paige's birthday at Foothills Park in Lake Oswego. Another beautiful day to play in the sun.

Eli playing ball. She had so much fun wading in the water.

Parker Paige enjoying a delicious carrot cake.

Eliana learned about juice boxes this weekend. YUM!

I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend than with family and friends. I'm so thankful to be Eli's mom!

New Babies

Over the last several weeks, three of my closest girlfriends welcomed new babies into the world. I'm so glad that you are all here and can't wait to smother you with love and kisses.

Oliver Michael Kenyon 3/22/10
Opal Sinclair Norling 4/16/10

Sive James Mangan 4/30/10

A couple of early in the week vids

Eliana has learned how to blow bubbles in her water glass. She learned this valuable skill from her swimming lessons and has transferred her knowledge. Clever.



Eli has this new pair of glasses that she kind of tolerates. I can't get enough of her in them.

Party in the Dishwasher

Eli is totally fascinated with the dishwasher. If she's anywhere in the living room or kitchen when I open it, she comes charging in to investigate. Yesterday evening I had emptied the bottom drawer and decided to let her check things out. She played there, talking to herself, for almost twenty minutes. Her curiosity cracks me up.

Happy Birthday, Carly

More than a year ago, I started hanging out with a bunch of ladies all expecting babies around the same time.  All of our kiddos are now turning one.  Today, we got together to celebrate Carly's first birthday.  It was so cute to have all of the kids together - it was the first time since last summer!  There was only one of the original Hot Mamas missing from the group at today's festivities.  You can see from the photos that there are a lot of little girls - Marlow will have his pick of the ladies!

One of the great things that has come from this group is that there are now probably fifteen of us in a Hot Mama Group.  There is a monthly meet-up that people come to if they can.  I've met some really amazing women and find it so helpful to be around ladies who are going through the same stuff I am.  Not to mention that it's a good excuse to stay out a little late and have some cocktails!

See here for a picture taken in February of last year of all of us pre-kid and here for our gathering last summer.

The Original Preggos turned Hot Mama Crew:  Caty and Annalise, Jo and Elise, Tracy and Carly, Sara and Eliana, Kendall and Parker, Julie and Marlow, Liz and Lydia.

The babies:  Annalise, Elise, Carly, Eliana, Parker, Marlow, Lydia.

The birthday girl, Carly.

Carly and her big brother, Cooper.  He was showing her how to demolish a birthday cake!

Eli and Parker

I even got to hang out with Darcy and Hazel (and Grant, too)!  Hazel is getting so big and is going to make such a great big sister.

We are so fortunate to have such a supportive circle of friends.  Eliana will have such a fun-filled childhood!

More Easter Fun

We spent Easter at Mt Hood Meadows. The Cascade Mountains have been getting pummeled this spring- 6 feet in the last 10 days! Grammy Pam was in town to help out and babysit so off we raced to Mt Hood.

Powder! Powder! Powder! And more powder! The mountain was epic. We bumped into friends on the Shooting Star Chair and did laps until ski patrol finished avalanche bombing Lower Heather Canyon. We missed the opening by a few minutes but we still had fresh tracks down the canyon. Such good snow! Good times...

The line was stupid huge on the Heather Chair getting out of the canyon so we rode all the way down to the Hood River Meadows parking lot, lodge and chair. There was nobody on the HRM Chair so I thought it would be smart to check out Fright Trees. If the tree run was good we could lap it and not fight the crowds. Turns out Fright Trees lived up to the name. Bad times...

We made it. Sara is a trooper. We worked our way back to the lodge. After a quick snack we suited up Eli and took her outside to play in a sled. Eli really enjoyed being pulled around in the sled. More good times...

More sledding action...

Fun in the snow on Easter. Good times (mostly).

Easter

Eliana loved her Easter baskets from Nana in Maine and Grammy here. She wasn't a huge fan of the dress because it limited her high-speed crawling efforts.