10 Months

My goal was to get this posted before Baby Cakes turns 11 months. What can I say about my Baby Cakes?  In a matter of weeks, she has turned from baby to little girl. She now has 5 teeth, and her 6th one is about to pop through. She has quite the toothy grin now days.  She says three distinct words: Hi, Mom and mama (she says both), and Daddy (or dada).

She loves:

• To "unpack" - any container will do, a basket, a bag, a garbage can, anything.  If a container of any kind has something in it, Eliza loves to pull everything out and sort it into piles.  Give her a full container, and she is entertained for a long time.  Put everything back in, and she starts up again. 

  As you can see, she is a bit naughty about it sometimes.  Here she is going through the garbage can.  She pulled out a Fudge Shoppe mint bar wrapper, and licked all the leftover chocolate off it.  She kept offering it to me, but every time I would get close to taking it from her, she would pull it back, lick it again, then offer it back.  She was a big tease about it.  I normally don't let her eat garbage, but this time it was just so cute, I just had to laugh about it. 

• To sing - Her favorite thing to do during sacrament meeting is flip through the hymn book and hum.
• Eat crackers - she takes after me in that she could eat an entire box at a time - if I let her, but I don't.
• The Park - the swings in particular.  She could swing all afternoon; she has even started to kick her legs to get her moving faster.  When she sits on the teeter totter, she holds on with one hand, and swings her other arm in the air like she's throwing a lasso. 
• To look at books - the first thing she wants to do every morning (before anything else) is read a book. 
• To wave Bye-bye to everyone.  Funny thing is she won't wave Hi, but she will wave Bye.
• Bath Time - She likes playing with her toys in the tub, back stroking, and getting out of the tub.  However, she doesn't like being washed. 


• Giving hugs and kisses
• Grocery shopping - she gets so excited to ride around in the shopping cart, smiling and talking to everyone in the store.
• Sitting on chairs or anything else that makes her feel grown up.  She prefers to eat whatever mom and dad are eating, and do whatever mom and dad are doing.  It makes me more cautious about what I do and what I eat.     

• Playing with her food, playing with her toes, and playing with mom and dad

 

• Talking/Babbling/Squealing - I don't think she was quiet for even one second in sacrament meeting last week.  Once she learns how to really talk, she will probably never stop.  It's super cute to hear her babble. 
• Yogurt - it's her new favorite food.  

  I thought this picture was cute.  She fell asleep when we were bringing her in from the car. 


She sure is a fun little girl to have around.  I love her to pieces.  Thank you for being my little Baby Cakes, sweet girl!!

Jello Wrestling

We celebrated Cinco De Mayo by Bruce's participation in DVC's 2nd annual "Wrestle for a Wish." It's a fundraiser for the make a wish foundation, and encompases two of Bruce's favorite things: wrestling and a pool full of Jello. Put the two together, and there is no doubt that Bruce Richards will be there. His experience in multiple pools of Jello really paid off - he won both of his matches.

As you can see from the picture collage, it may be fun to get messy in a pool of Jello, but not as fun as getting sprayed off from a COLD hose. The President of the college also made an appearance (pictured with Bruce, and the referees in the bottom section of the collage). Since no other professors showed up to participate, Bruce had to wrestle some of his students. President Bronson encouraged Bruce to go easy on Logan. Even though he did go easy, he still totally dominated. Eliza also got in on the action. When all the matches were over, Eliza got a chance to "cool off" in the Jello. When she first got in the pool, she seemed confused. It didn't take very long for her to really relish the sticky substance. She enjoyed every minute of the Jello - smiling from ear to ear and bursting out in random fits of giggles. She is starting to learn that when she hangs out with daddy, she gets to do some CRAZY things. (Pardon the language of the lady standing next to me)

This is Eliza's first self portrait.

Eliza got the privlege of grabbing tickets out of the containers for the raffle drawing. She did a great job. She reached into the bowl, pulled out a couple of ticket and threw them on the table. Her second attempt, she managed to just grab one. One of the prizes was a huge basket of assorted Philadelphia team paraphenlia (i.e. Phillies, Flyers, Sixers stuff). The winner of that prize was so excited, she shared some of the prize with Eliza. She got to take home this soft Flyer's hockey puck, stick, and ball. She really likes playing with them.

After the Jello Wrestling, we attended the food science annual Bootleggers Ball. It is exactly what it sounds like. The price of your ticket includes all the alcohol you want to consume. There was a silent auction during dinner. After dinner, we watched the Kentucky Derby on a big screen. I've never watched the Kentucky Derby before - it only lasted a couple of minutes, and really isn't all its cracked out to be. Everyone in the room was either very excited or very disappointed. I was very unimpressed. In my mind, horse racing just isn't that exciting. Sure movies like Secretariat or Seabiscuit are fun to watch, but the lifestyle and passion of horse racing just isn't up my alley. The food was only okay, but nothing compared to impressive considering the cost of the tickets ($65/person). Unless Eliza can score us free tickets (by charming the food science department chair) every year, we probably won't be regular attendees. However, Eliza enjoyed grabbing my cupcake.

Although her fingers were covered in icing and cake, she didn't actually eat any of it. Instead, she smeared it all over my pants - quite embarassing considering the way the other guests were dressed.

"A" Day

Every spring DVC (the college where Bruce teaches) hosts a 3 day fair on campus. It was Eliza's first A-Day. I think the older she gets, the more she will enjoy A-Day. Unfortunately, Eliza and I were not at the talent show on Friday night and didn't witness Bruce's first place performance. He sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" from the musical Carousel accapella. Way to go Daddy!

Eliza's first hay ride - as you can tell, it was very memorable for her. :) Although there are no pictures to prove it, she enjoyed looking at the baby animals. More enjoyable than that was watching all the kids, and loving all the attention she garnered.

Eliza and I watched the pig races which were highly entertaining. These pigs are only 6 weeks old. I didn't know that by 2 years of age, pigs are fully grown - weighing over 200 pounds. I'm glad my baby girl doesn't grow that fast. Bruce and I were assigned to the food tent this year. I prefer working in the milkshake booth like we did last year. People are a lot less picky about milkshakes than they are about food. I understand that people want warm food, but when you complain that the fries fresh out of the frier are cold, then you are labeled impossible to please. Although handing out food was not up Eliza's alley, she found a lot of entertainment value in the pole used to hold up the food tent.

As Friday evening wore on, the temperatures dropped. I'm glad I remembered to bring a coat for Eliza. Lately she has decided that she is much too old for the good old fashioned baby food - she has decided that Sprite, potato chips, and apples straight off the core are much more to her liking.

Eliza loves being outside and enjoyed watching the animals. She even got to "ride" a donkey.

She was a natural. Seconds after being put on the saddle, she started digging her feet in and galloping as if she were saying "giddy up!" All she needed was a lasso and a cowboy hat to be a genuine cowgirl. It was so fun to watch. The donkey didn't actually walk around in a circle; we thought that might freak her out a little.

She had no problem getting close to the donkey though. We were worried that if she kept pulling on the donkey's ear, he might kick back and run away. The donkey must have been about as well mannered as Eliza.

Eliza had a good time watching the dairy show with her daddy. I'm not sure if she actually cared about the show, or just liked seeing the cows. Even small things can entertain children for hours.

9 Months

On her 9th month birthday (btw was over a month ago), Eliza's first tooth popped through. After 2 weeks of pure exhaustion (for both of us), she has a little sliver of a tooth. When Eliza is teething, she doesn't sleep well, and wants to be held all the time - that is why we are both exhausted. By the looks of it, her second one is bound to pop through within the week. Hopefully it pops through sooner rather than later, I really need some sleep!!

Continuing on with my trend, I was only .2 ounces off on my guess of Cakester's weight.

Weight: 19 lbs .8 oz (54.61% ile)

Height: 2' 4.15" (71% ile)

Head Circumference: 17.91" (87.92% ile) She's still got a big head - that's because she is so smart.


What are Eliza's favorites now?

Helping me fold diapers

She loves playing peek-a-boo. With me, with Bruce, with her stuffed animals, with herself, with the air. She pulls the blanket up and down on her own. Her new favorite game is to look over my or Bruce's shoulder to see what or rather who is there when we are holding her. She will look over the right shoulder, the left shoulder, and then back when someone is standing behind us. It doesn't matter if the person is a complete stranger - she will play the game and giggle uncontrollably.

These paper towels kept her occupied for 20 minutes so I could carry in and put away the rest of the groceries.

She loves to look at the camera and give her best grin. She is also really into pointing with just her little pointer finger. She points at everything, if she wants something, if she wants you to move closer to something, or just for fun. She thinks it's funny when you point back at her.

Another favorite: While sitting cross legged, she bends in half to rest her head on the ground. She will either suck on her toes, suck on the carpet, or turn her head to the side and talk to herself.

She loves to sing, chatter, dance to any kind of music (sacrament song included), and squeal.

She is obsessed with water bottles of all kind and cups. She prefers my cup instead of her own sippy cups. When you can't find a toy, a water bottle will do.

A sister in my ward gave Eliza this little bike. She really likes to sit on it, but that's about all she can do at this point.

She has a habit of putting her fingers in her full mouth and smearing the food all over her face. She really likes to rub her food in her hair. Although not the best moisturizer, the protein and extra nutrients have really helped her hair grow and thicken. She's getting quite the locks. :)

She gets into occasional mischief!

Uh Oh!! CAUGHT!

She simply adores any and all attention given to her, and gets a lot everywhere we go.

She loves, loves, loves looking at books, and especially loves turning pages. With enough books, she'll be occupied for hours.

8 Months

This draft has been sitting unfinished in my blogger for 2 months - about time I posted it!

My little Baby Cakes isn't so little anymore. She has grown significantly in the past few weeks.

Baby Cakes absolutely loves life. She is rarely anything but happy - her smiles light up the entire room, and her giggles bounce off the walls. This happy girl is so much fun. I don't know what I did to be so blessed to have her in my life.

Some things she does:

• waves Bye-Bye and Hello
• claps her hands
• gives high fives
• rolls all over her bed and the floor
• holds still to let me cut her fingernails and toenails
• Looks at books
• Sings
• Dances
• Blows raspberries (on Bruce's knee, legs, and arms, my arms, shoulders, neck, and cheeks) She loves it!
• Babbles all day
• Eat crackers
• Uses the toilet - yes! It's true. She has gone potty (both numbers) in the toilet every day, sometimes two or three times a day for the past week and a half. She is very proud of herself when she's finished and squeals with delight. Lately, she has even started reaching over for the toilet paper roll. The girl is so smart, it cracks me up. It started in the bath tub. I heard her grunting; I didn't want to clean up that mess, so I put her on the toilet. Since then, I put her on after she wakes up from a nap. 95% of the time, she goes. Quite amazing really!

She likes to smear her food all over her face; she refuses to wear a bib (pulls it off everytime) so I've stopped trying.

She really enjoys clipping coupons. (Well throwing the coupons around)

My cute little Strawberry

The way she sits with her hands on her knees is so cute! She doesn't crawl and has no teeth, but she is on her way to being potty trained!  She loves to put everything in her mouth, and her fingers in my mouth, up my nose, in my eyes, and in my ears.  She is so silly.  I sure do love this little girl; I can't believe she is 8 months old.  Just a fun video of my fun girl!