Andrea’s Weblog

Elizabeth started pre-k in August. She loves her teacher, Miss Kim and is thrilled that her best friend Katie is in her class. She attends Open Door Preschool, a non-sectarian preschool that everyone raves about. It’s a 25 minute drive from home, so Elena and I usually find things to do so we don’t have […]

Elizabeth started pre-k in August. She loves her teacher, Miss Kim and is thrilled that her best friend Katie is in her class. She attends Open Door Preschool, a non-sectarian preschool that everyone raves about. It’s a 25 minute drive from home, so Elena and I usually find things to do so we don’t have […]

The McPherson Family is pleased to announce that Elizabeth McPherson has been promoted to official dishwasher’s assistant. After several years serving as the official animal feeder, undertaking the responsibility of feeding two cats and a dog, her superiors feel she has shown the initiative necessary for the increased responsibility. Elizabeth will begin transition from Official […]

A month afterward, I’m not quite at the point where I can talk much about it, but my dad passed away on May 29. He was living with Multiple Sclerosis and had an accident with his wheelchair. So, despite his illness, it was quite a shock. We rushed up to Maryland to be with my […]

Since my last post was back in January, it should be obvious that blogging was not one of my new years resolutions. It’s hard to jump back in when so much time has passed, but I’ll try!
Elena is 16 months. She’s starting to talk and her personality is really coming out. Her first sentence was […]

Last week I saw a segment on the Today show in which they were discussing Babymoon packages. These are vacation packages for pregnant moms as a last vacation before baby is born. The host and a travel expert mentioned a lavish package at the Planters Inn in Charleston, SC complete with a bag of infant […]

Here’s a link to a video!
http://auroralux.net/2008/NewYear08.html

Last week Elena cut her 5th tooth, waved good-bye to her daddy and took her first step–all on the same day!
The past week she’s been doing something new every day. She’s discovered how to talk at the same time as she’s discovered walking. Yesterday she said “uh oh!” then plopped down on her bottom. I […]

Here are some pictures of what Elizabeth’s been up to.

Welcome to Starbucks. May I take your order?

Poodles can dine too

Even silverware babies need naps

First letters (My letter D followed by Elizabeth’s first attempt)

Augusta is NOT a crunchy place. There are so few breastfeeding, baby-wearing, cloth diapering, cosleeping, whole foods eating mamas here, that I definitely don’t fit in a lot of times. I usually find myself strolling away when the conversation topic turns to which formula makes Junior gassey or which store has diapers on sale or […]

We finally got the minivan after a month in the repair shop! It feels like I have a new car again–I’m getting used to everything all over.
The car looks great, but I’m a bit bummed at all the little scratches here and there. There are some on the roof from the deer sliding over it, […]

We’re in our second round of killing yeastie beasties in our house. Thrush is a common occurance among breastfeeding moms–especially in hot and humid Georgia. It’s basically a yeast infection in the breast which causes a burning/itching sensation. It seems these yeasties are contagious and hard to kill. Think about the places yeast can live: […]

Elena’s had a big week! She rolled over (back to tummy) and started getting her first tooth. Yes, this pretty early for teething! I can’t believe there will be more teeth to brush around here. I really don’t like having to brush my own, let alone squirmy little ones!
She also ate her first piece […]

We had a great time at the Columbia zoo the other day. Elizabeth surprised us by hopping right on a pony and going for a ride around the track. She was too thrilled to be scared.

Here’s the sign we should have read before feeding the Lorikeets.

The sign doesn’t not say anything about the birds pooping […]

With this pregnancy, I’ve been having a harder time remembering how many weeks along I am. For those of you keeping track, it’s week 24. I only know that because I subscribed to a site that sends me weekly emails telling me what week it is and offering some helpful tips.
Well, I’m not actually sure […]

Frank and I went out on a date last Sunday. Our neighbor, Lisa, offered to watch Elizabeth, which was super-nice because that meant I didn’t have to tidy the house for a babysitter.
We went to a nicer restaurant and weren’t sure how kid-friendly it would be. It turns out that we needn’t have worried. There […]

The other night at dinner, Elizabeth spilled water on herself. She immediately took off her shirt and diaper. I couldn’t blame her for taking off the wet shirt, but the diaper wasn’t strictly necessary. Since we didn’t feel like dealing with squirming toddler butts during dinner, we just ignored the fact that she was naked […]

I left the travel system discussion out of my previous post, because I’m reevaluating how we used ours. A recent article in Mothering magazine titled “Car Seats are for Cars” states that “children who are consistently carried in car seats instead of held in arms suffer adverse physical and psychological effects.” (Mothering. May-June 2006. p32) […]

Since we’re now parenting veterans, I figured I should try and share some of the things that worked for us in the early days. So, here’s a list of things that we used and a list of things that were basically a waste of money. The main thing I learned is not to buy anything […]

We’ve been teaching Elizabeth numbers and counting. She likes to count her toes and the hippos on the pages of her book. When I ask her how many there are of something, she replies (in her counting voice) “du - du - tu.”
It was a surprise to me when I said “Elizabeth, you can only […]

Last night I had to spend several minutes looking for a dime-sized scab that came off Elizabeth’s knee. She came to me whimpering “boo-boo, knee,” and sure enough she’d rubbed the scab off for the second time. Luckily, this time there wasn’t any blood.
Elizabeth’s knees are covered with road rash. She takes off running so […]

This picture is dedicated to the people who say NOT to nurse your baby to sleep.These people believe that the baby will never learn to fall asleep on her own if they’re always nursed to sleep. Elizabeth, who usually nurses to sleep, fell asleep in her carseat in the middle of the driveway while I […]

Elizabeth got fed up with the rules around here and decided to mail herself to her grandparents who might be less strict regarding m&m consumption and playing outside all day.

Luckily, she changed her mind when we told her Tour de Georgia was coming to town and she might meet some famous people. Well, we didn’t […]

We had a beautiful day for Elizabeth’s first Easter egg hunt, the Annual Stratford Neighborhood Egg Hunt. Well, technically it was her second egg hunt. After hearing from my mom last night that us kids were embarassingly bad at Easter egg hunts, we had a trial run in the living room. I was afraid she […]

Finley’s been having a tough time since he got neutered on Monday. He must have learned not to lick his empty nutsack (Frank’s words) while I was watching. I only caught him licking a few times, but he managed to tear open his wound. By the time I got him to the vet yesterday, licking […]

I knew the time would come when Elizabeth would decide to undress in public. That moment came at this weeks La Leche League meeting. I have to say she chose her moment and setting well, there were about 6 baby/toddlers there and 5 moms sitting in a circle surrounding her when she decided that she […]

Elizabeth has been honing her culinary skills. Recently she concocted an egg salad using an entire container of celery seeds.

In another experiment, she grabbed a kitchen spoon and tried to jazz up Finley’s boring bites. She decided to make him some kibble soup by ladling his food into his water bowl. This dish went over […]

We’ve been working on potty training errr . . . potty learning. I haven’t been pushing it at all since you’re not supposed to start until she’s 2.5 to 3 years old, but she’s been very interested in the potty, and has exhibited the signs of being ready. We’ve just taken the little potty […]

You might have noticed that Elizabeth was pretty low-key during our Kohl’s adventure. She was so content that I didn’t check her diaper for a couple hours. I realized this when Frank, Elizabeth and I were sitting outside at Dino’s and I noticed a wet spot on her skirt. I  said “Elizabeth, do you have […]

This morning, Elizabeth and I decided to stop by Franks office for a visit. We were both dressed, primped and fed. It wasn’t until we were both buckled into the car that I realized my wallet was not in the diaper bag. I searched the car, took Elizabeth out of the car and searched the […]

On any given day, Frank will arrive home from work to a trail of clothes throughout the  house. It might be more a more exciting scene if it were lingerie dangling from the chandelier, but they are usually piles of diaper covers, towels, shoes and socks.
Elizabeth is now a pro at stripping. Lately, she can’t […]

Elizabeth has decided that she wants to ride Finley. I’m not sure where she got this idea- possibly from seeing people ride horses? At any rate, Finley will be sitting there and Elizabeth will come up behind him and grab his neck saying “ride, ride!” Frank and I just say “no, you can’t ride Finley. […]

Uncle Foof gave me and Elizabeth a tour of his school, UMBC, while we were up there visiting. Elizabeth seemed to enjoy her first college experience. She hopped on the UMBC mascot, a retriever named True Grit, catching the attention of the students who happened to be awake that Friday morning.

I bought several household tools for Elizabeth, such as a broom and dustpan, shovel and rake. The intent was for Elizabeth to enjoy her new kid-sized broom so much that I never have to sweep again. Ha! So the other day we got out our brooms to sweep. I began sweeping dirt into piles and […]

One of the dumbest purchases I’ve made recently was a pair of off-white socks for Elizabeth. I realized while sorting laundry that all of Elizabeth’s white socks become off-white after a few wears. Then there’s the dilemma of whether or not to try and figure out which pairs are the true off-white socks and which […]

Elizabeth is making little sentences now. She’ll say “Daddy bye-bye work, stinky diaper, bicycle ride.” It’s fun to hear what she comes up with.
She’s also saying her name. She’ll say “Bay-beth” or something like “thizzy.” She seems to prefer to call herself Baybeth. I determined this in a non-scientific study. I said “Lizzy, what’s […]

Elizabeth is known to have a fascination with eggs. One day I had the Kitchenaid mixer beating away at some butter and sugar, and Elizabeth, having noticed the eggs on the counter ready to be added, decided to add them herself. She just tossed two whole eggs into the mixer with such pride and amusement. […]

Here are some of my favorite parenting links:
Ask Dr. Sears for parenting advice
La Leche League for breastfeeding support
Attachment Parenting International to learn about our parenting style
Mama Toto - who knew there were so many ways to wear a baby?
The Baby Wearer more info on how to wear a baby
Peppermint where to find slings to buy
Mothering […]

Elizabeth isn’t much of a TV watcher. She’s in love with Elmo (Melmo) and has a bunch of Elmo toys, but has never seen the show. I keep meaning to Tivo an episode of Sesame Street, but it never seems to happen. I figure it’s a slippery slope. Once she realizes that they make […]

I think this is only the second time Elizabeth has gotten sick. She’s
got a runny nose and cough accompanied by lots of drool. I can’t
figure out if the drool is because she is teething again or if it’s a
side-effect from keeping her mouth open to breathe. For the last 3
days her face has been covered […]

We kiss boo-boos around here. Elizabeth falls down on her hands,
cries boo-boo, I kiss her hands, it’s all better. It’s great that one
kiss can stop the tears in a millisecond. I just had to explain to
her that not all boo-boos are kissable. For example, her diaper rash,
although it is a boo-boo, does NOT get kissed. […]

Elizabeth was in the closet the other day playing with our shoes. It
didn’t take her long to find a nice pair of high heels. She put them
on in the closet and walked a few steps in them and then onto the
tile floor of our bathroom. The look on her face when the loud clip-
clop pierced […]

Yesterday was Elizabeth’s 18 month check-up. She is 35 inches tall
and 23.8 pounds. That makes her a full 3 inches taller than an
average 18-month-old according to the charts. Crazy! She’s still
slightly below average in weight though, so you can imagine how tall
and skinny she is.
Last weekend at a baby shower for Frank’s cousin, Elizabeth was
fascinated […]

Shopping with a toddler is like shopping with a traveling circus -
you never know what to expect and you always attract a crowd. Last
weekend Elizabeth and I headed to Columbia, SC for a much-needed
clothes shopping expedition. It seems that my “mom” clothes (the ones
I buy on sale at Target so I don’t get upset when […]

I took Elizabeth in to a chiropractor to get her alignment checked.
It was just a routine check recommended by her Grandi Mac, because if
there are any problems, they are a lot easier to fix when they’re
this young.
I found a chiropractor who was recommended by a friend and it turns
out that kids 12 and under are […]

There’s nothing like a pair of shoes to bring out the girlie-girl in
Elizabeth. Elizabeth has several pairs of shoes and several pairs of
slippers. Lately she has been demanding to wear one patent leather
shoe and one sneaker. That’s all that will do. I’ve given in to her
when we’re here at the house, but I draw the […]

Over the holidays Grandi Mac, Elizabeth and I set out on a shopping
expedition. I think we waited a bit too long for Elizabeth’s liking
to decide to go eat some lunch. We ended up at Mellow Mushroom, a sit-
down pizza place in downtown Augusta. The waiter brought Elizabeth a
cup of water with a lid on it, […]

I’m constantly surprised by how much Elizabeth knows. The other day
we watched a documentary on Seabiscuit. I had mistakenly ordered it
instead of Seabiscuit the movie from Netflix. It was mostly just
talking heads, but there were a few exciting horse race scenes, so I
pointed out to her that they were horses. The following week she and
her […]

Since her Aunt Kirsty brags about this, I guess I should too.
Elizabeth has had her own chore for the past several months. It is
her job to feet the cats and Finley. Every morning I fill the scoop
with a cup of cat food and she trots over and dumps it in their bowl.
The first few times […]

Elizabeth has finally become a good eater. I was growing tired of
preparing food for her that she barely touched. There’s still no
convincing her to eat when she doesn’t want to, but I’ve noticed that
she and Finley have the same tendency to eat in spurts. Elizabeth
still never turns down a dog food kibble. Ugh.
It’s great that […]

We survived the holidays and I’ve run out of excuses for not devoting some time to my blog. I really shouldn’t put it that way. It’s more like I can finally put off laundry and other things that I should be doing because out last visitor left yesterday and we aren’t expecting anyone any time […]

We can add “bimbo” to the list of words Elizabeth can say. Finley has a cloth doll that used to be Elizabeth’s. We lovingly refer to it as Finley’s bimbo because she’s wearing a miniskirt and is wearing lipstick. (Picture a cloth version of this.) Frank and I have been betting how long it will […]

Last weekend I got a boo-boo. A big boo-boo. An inch and a half long
piece of glass went through my toe diagonally and into a second toe.
The glass had apparently come off the lip of a new pyrex bowl. I
collapsed on the floor while Frank (who was luckily right there)
fished out the glass. I wasn’t […]

Elizabeth hasn’t been a very big eater. I usually try to give her
adult food that she can eat and occasionally offer her a jar of baby
food. Sometimes she eats, sometimes she doesn’t. One one of the baby
food days, I opened up a jar and put it on the table in front of her
while I went […]

You may wonder how we ended up with the cleanest dryer in town. Well,
it all started with pumpkin seeds. It turns out that Elizabeth loves
roasted pumpkin seeds. I knew it would be trouble passing through,
but she really loved them. I didn’t realize that she wasn’t chewing
them up until I saw several pumpkin seed marbles roll […]

I need to take Elizabeth shoe shopping. We noticed her first pair of
walking shoes is a bit small, I didn’t realize how small till I tried
a new pair on her and she was 1.5 sizes larger since July! Since
we’re not into foot-binding, I’d better head over to Stride Rite!

Elizabeth went in for her 15 month check-up on Monday. I almost
forgot about the appointment because we had a surprise visitor for
the weekend. Frank and my sister Kirsten conspired to surprise me for
my 30th birthday, so Friday night Frank showed up at the house with
Kirsten all the way from Baltimore. I was definitely surprised, and
when […]

Elizabeth and I organized a post La Leche League meeting trip to
Chick-Fil-A with a bunch of the other moms and kids. We popped into
the bathroom there and as we were leaving Boom! Down Elizabeth went–
right on her face. I hurriedly picked her up and started trying to
stop the blood flowing from her mouth. I couldn’t […]

Today as we were driving to an appointment Elizabeth started acting
like she was going to throw up. I quickly draped a cloth diaper over
her chest before the light turned green. Sure enough, I heard her
throw up and looked back and noticed that she had flung the diaper
across the car. I pulled into the closest parking […]

When do you stop burping babies? When do they learn to pop their own
ears on airplanes? When do you NOT have to worry about them sleeping
on their stomachs?
All the parenting books and articles are very specific about what we
should be doing, but they never tell you when you can stop doing
these things.

I don’t think I mentioned that Elizabeth’s Aunt Kirsten is also posting photos to auroralux. She took some of Elizabeth swimming last weekend. Kirsten’s Photos
Yesterday, Elizabeth spotted the swimming suit coming out of the washing machine and insisted on “going swimming.” At first I couldn’t figure out what she wanted. She thrust the suit at […]

Is anyone else but me disturbed by the fact that my pregnant belly shots have the most hits in our auroralux gallery? Last count, the belly shots had 111 hits! Elizabeth’s first week - the first photos of her- only got 48 hits.
As I looked back on the photos yesterday, I do realize that […]

We just got back from our first long car trip as a family. We drove
almost 12 hours up to DC to Schuyler and Heidi’s wedding. We left
home at 3:45 am to ensure that Elizabeth would sleep for a good bit.
It wasn’t till we were on the road that I started trying to figure
out when I […]

It’s probably time for an Elizabeth update…
First of all, she’s talking. It seems like as soon as she learned to
walk, she focused all her energy on learning to communicate. She
started with “bye-bye” and jumped right to “thankyou” or as she says
“Tah Kah.” She has her own way of consistently saying about 7 words
now. Her favorite […]

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t posted in awhile. To give
you an idea why, let me just run through the events of yesterday
morning.
7:45 Elizabeth and I emerge from the bedroom in time to witness
Coozie barfing up a fur ball
7:50 Clean up cat barf
7:55 Start coffee
8:00 Pick up Elizabeth to change her diaper. […]

Elizabeth decided to conduct a scientific experiment at the Evan’s
Diner this morning to determine the blast radius of a coffee creamer.
The only problem is that she didn’t warn us beforehand. I was holding
her in my lap and Frank was across the booth. Suddenly there was a
loud POP and I was spattered with a cold substance. […]

Someone in the bookstore today asked me if Elizabeth’s hair is
naturally curly. I said yes. Later I started thinking about what a
strange question that was, and what it would take to actually curl
her hair. It takes enough energy to distract her long enough to put a
pony tail in her hair–I can only imagine using a […]

Wait till your mom is on the phone and then disappear. Hide in the
bathroom and when she comes to find you, flush the toilet. Listen to
her explain to her friend on the phone that she wasn’t really using
the toilet while talking to her .

. . . and tiger babies? You have to see it to believe it. A woman in
Thailand breastfed two tiger cubs. I guess they couldn’t find another tiger mom to pump for
them?
I can’t help feeling sorry for the woman’s 7 month old who had to tandem
nurse with a tiger!
Sadly, another story reports that they […]

Elizabeth was holding a ball in each hand, so I decided to tease her by handing her a third ball. I was thinking that she would drop one of her balls and take my ball. Instead, she opened her mouth so I could put the ball in there.
I think Finley must have been working […]

We have an unusual cycle going around in our household lately. Elizabeth willl be playing with one of her toys, let’s say a monkey, and then decide that Finley should play too. She’ll hand it to Finley at which time I will yell at Finley for chewing on Elizabeth’s toy. I’ll hand the toy back […]

One of the cool things about turning one is that Elizabeth can
finally, officially eat peanut butter! I’ve been looking forward to
her sharing my morning ritual of eating peanut butter toast with her.
With the amount of peanut butter we go through in this house, I’m
sure she’s already gotten her fingers into some before this milestone
date.
The only […]

We have two teething youngsters in our house. Can you guess who has been caught chewing items on the list below (Elizabeth, Finley or both)?
1 Dog bones2 Dog food3 Books4 Cordless phone antenna5 Cell phone6 Pacifier7 Pen8 Wooden blocks9 Shoes10 Sippy cup11 Cork coaster12 Rubber duckies13 Ice teething ring14 Hair bows15 Spoons16 Teething biscuit17 Toothbrushes […]

365 days and over 2,500 dirty diapers later and Elizabeth is 1 year old. Our 8 pound 2 oz baby is now a toddler (”one who walks in short tottering steps”). At her checkup today she weighed in at just over 21 pounds and is 31.25 inches. She’s still in the 95th percentile for height and she’s creeping […]

After holding onto anything and everything for weeks, Elizabeth finally
decided to start walking. I had decided that it must be psychological
when I saw her walking along the length of a limp leash stretched
across the room. The leash was absolutely no support. Literally
overnight she must have gotten over it because she suddenly started
walking. There wasn’t even […]

Elizabeth’s first girls-only vacation to the midwest to meet her Great
Grandma Poffenberger was great. I was worried about flying alone with
her, but she decided to sleep on both flights each way. The Benadryl I
gave her for her ears helped with that on the longer flights. She had
her own seat on one flight, but the others […]

What’s yours is mine too. At least that seems to be the attitude among
the ankle biters of the house-both fuzzy and furry. It’s amazing how
the same toys fascinate both teething babies. They have no concept of
whose toys are whose, and Elizabeth has no concept of dog germs.
It’s been a tough week with Elizabeth getting over […]

Elizabeth took her first steps last Friday, a week ago, but hasn’t made
any more attempts. Now come to find out, she has an ear infection. I
guess I wouldn’t want to try something as monumental as walking if my
balance were off.
We only found out about the ear infection because I took her in for
pink eye. Her […]

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon now that we have a dog … and
we tend to walk the dog and the baby at the same time. It seems that
Finley gets (me) more waves from men, but Elizabeth gets “oh how cute”
looks from women. I can’t count the number of waves we’ve gotten from
guys in pick-ups, […]

Elizabeth has finally decided that hats are cool, which is great because I hate seeing her squinting while we take our walks. I put a floppy sun hat on her yesterday and she entertained herself by pulling it down over her face and crawling around blindly. She would run into a wall, stop, take the […]

Last Saturday we had company over for dinner. While we were wining and
dining, Elizabeth was happily feasting on chick peas. I kept giving her
more because she was sitting so quietly and she had finely found some
real food she likes.
The next morning we were picking her up from the church nursery and the
woman says in a […]

Last week is a blur. A blur of poo, pee, overturned water bowls and
slobber. Finley’s first week here coincided with Elizabeth cutting her
canine teeth. Well, they actually haven’t appeared yet, but her gums
are all swollen. Between that and housebreaking Finley, there were
times I wanted to pull my hair out.
The good news is that Elizabeth and […]

I have no idea what I’m in store for, but last weekend I consented to
getting a new puppy. We had planned on getting a dog when Elizabeth
could help take care of him, but it didn’t turn out that way. Our
friends bred their standard poodles and had a cute litter of 10 week
old puppies. They planned […]

We spent Memorial Day weekend visiting Elizabeth’s grandparents, Aunt
and Uncle in Bel Air, MD. Her Great Uncle Boog and Great Aunt Kathy
also drove all the way up from Richmond, VA to meet her. There was
surprisingly little information online about flying with an infant.
There were no magic steps to stress-free flight, no cry-free flying
advice-there was hardly […]

Question: if one hand is holding a block and the other hand is holding
a weeble, which hand is holding me up? I’m sure this is what’s going
through Elizabeth’s mind when she gets so distracted with playing that
she doesn’t notice when she takes her hands off her support wall. When
she notices this, she usually gets so […]

Here’s a link to photos:
Elizabeth’s Gallery

The other night Elizabeth was in the bath and I was showing her how to use her fishing net to catch the plastic fish. After my demonstration, I handed the net to Eiizabeth and said “now you try to catch the fish.” She proceeded to pick up a fish -with her hand- and plop it […]

Elizabeth has gained 2 pounds and 2.5 inches in the past 3 months, bringing her up to 30 inches long and 19 pounds. She’s off the charts in length, but in the 50th percentile for weight. I view this as physical evidence of why dressing this long lean crawling machine is so difficult! At least […]

Elizabeth seems to be learning how to share. The other day she was eating a cracker and stuck it in my mouth for me to have a bite too. We went back and forth for awhile with me pretending that her cracker was the tastiest thing to ever pass my lips. She also tried this […]

They say that it took 9 months to put all the weight on, so it should take 9 months to take it off. I guess I’m still about 8 pounds away from where I want to be, but things are looking up. I got my first construction worker whistle since being pregnant! I have no […]

Some of the worlds best cyclists came to conquer Georgia in the third Tour de Georgia this past week, and the McPhersons were there to watch. Here’s an abridged version for those of you who don’t follow cycling: Elizabeth looked cute in her team CSC onesie, we got lots of autographs from famous cyclists, […]

Elizabeth started clapping her hands together when she hears music. It’s pretty cute to watch her decide which “music” warrants a clap or two. Sometimes when I draw out a word or two she’ll start clapping, or when a song catches her ear. She won’t clap to poetry or rhymes, so it must just be […]

Is it possible to be one step ahead of a baby who thinks she has free reign of the house? I’m not certain that it is. For instance, I thought we had the cats’ food bowl out of reach. That is, until she swiped it off the desk and overturned it onto the open […]

Last week I got the flu. I had more aches than I did after childbirth. I woke up one morning and could barely carry Elizabeth around. Fortunately, I got a 9:15 appointment with the doctor who gave me a miracle drug called Tamiflu. It basically stops the flu from reproducing inside you.
Not only […]

Why is it that Elizabeth can grab a banana and happily start gnawing on the stem of it, but when I open the banana and offer her some of it, she makes a horrible face and spits it out? She is constantly eating bark and whatever she can get in her mouth. Frank said that […]

They say to take it one day at a time. The other day, I felt like I was taking it hour by hour. I started out the day vacuuming out the gas fireplace. It was filled with a bunch of fake coals that Elizabeth took a liking to. We got tired of saying “Elizabeth, get […]

We’ve heard that most babies say Da Da first, but with Elizabeth that was not the case. I think she was just holding out for the right moment. That moment came when her daddy carried her into church last Sunday and sat down with her on his lap. She looked at him and started […]

Elizabeth’s top teeth have finally made an appearance. The second one poked its way through yesterday morning. She’s already realized how handy these new teeth are. She can grind her little zwiebacks to make a sticky saliva paste. She can grind her teeth (which I can’t stand), but her favorite trick is using them […]

From the jar of babyfood: “Feeding from the jar is not recommended since baby saliva will come in contact with the food and the food may become watery and less appealing to baby.” Gee thanks Gerber.
Elizabeth’s tastebuds seem to be getting used to the taste of various foods. She’s made it through all the […]

Baby wrestling should be an olympic sport. There are times I feel like taking a bow after a successful diaper change. I have to keep reminding myself that I am almost 8 times bigger than this little wiggle worm. We were on vacation last week and had many wonderful meals out at restaurants. Elizabeth was […]

I hate to have two posts in a row that should carry the warning “do not read while eating”, but this is what motherhood is about.
Elizabeth has been so regular with her morning poo that you could set a clock by her. You can imagine my surprise when she missed two morning poos in a […]

Elizabeth had a runny nose the other week and was having a hard time
sleeping. At midnight, we left Frank in the bedroom downstairs and I
went upstairs to rock her in the recliner. She just wouldn’t settle and
became more agitated when she couldn’t breath.
I realized the bulb snot sucker was down on my bedside table. As […]

Not too long ago I remember thinking “won’t it be nice when she’s
eating solid food?” NOT. I’ve figured out that it adds at least an hour
to our daily routine. Can you believe it? Giving her a boob every few
hours was easy. Now we generate dishes, dirty clothes and bibs. These
take time to clean, which combined […]

27.5 inches, 17 pounds
Elizabeth turned 6 months last Sunday, so I took her for her checkup
yesterday. She’s doing great and is in the 75th percentile for length.
I can’t believe she grew an inch and a half since her 4 month checkup.
No wonder her clothes are so tight. All her onesies are ballet-necks
(low scoop neck) […]

Elizabeth is far from being able to blow her own nose. So what happens
to all the boogers that her little nose creates? Sometimes I manage to
get her with a tissue and snatch the booger as she exhales. Most of
them probably end up meshed in my shirt as she nuzzles me. I find them
every so often […]

Elizabeth is eating cereal just about every day now. It’s taken me
awhile to get the hang of feeding her. One of her first feedings
occurred before we were headed out to meet someone for lunch. I
thought we’re both ready to go a bit early, so I have time to feed her
some cereal. When the first cereal-covered […]

Elizabeth found out how to get my attention yesterday. She started
saying the “ma ma ma ma ma” sound. Of course, I dropped everything to
go over and encourage this sound. I guess it will be awhile before she
figures out that sound is my name. I tried to get the point across by
pointing to each cat, saying […]

I realized that I didn’t ever make a good link to the photos. Frank has been doing a great job capturing life in the McPherson household.
Elizabeth’s Website

I can’t believe it’s almost been a month since my last entry. Well,
then again I can. Things have been quite busy with the holidays and
company. This hasn’t prevented Elizabeth from reaching several more
milestones.
Elizabeth is no longer occupied by silly things like fans and lights.
Now when I sit at the keyboard, she wants to hit the […]

It’s been a long week. We had to have an intervention with Elizabeth.
When she was teething, she got to nurse whenever she wanted. She nursed
a lot at night and both of us would drift off to sleep. Now she’s still
waking up every hour and a half or two hours wanting to nurse. One
theory is that […]

Length 25.75 inches
Weight 13 pounds 8 ounces
Yesterday, Elizabeth went in for her 4 month checkup. I knew she was
getting long, since she is outgrowing her 3-6 month onesies. (I would
cut the feet off, but that seems unfair to the future McPhersons who
might get to wear them.) The nurse first measured her at 27 inches. […]

Back in the good old days you could put an Elizabeth down and she would
stay put. It will never be the same… she’s figured out how to arch
her back while on her stomach and push back with her arms to propel
herself backwards off the play mat and onto the wood floors. Once she’s
on the nice […]

It’s been 2 hours since my last post, but I made an astonishing
discovery. You can suddenly see another tooth popping through her lower
gums!
I’m happy that the last two unrestful nights have been twice as
productive as I originally thought.

Well, we went from pre-teething directly into teeth crowning. I didn’t
notice until Frank pointed it out last night that she’s getting her two
bottom teeth. I had been checking her top gums and hadn’t even
considered that the bottom teeth are the first to come. After all,
don’t you usually lose your top teeth first? The last two […]

I’ve never locked myself out of my car; I might have locked myself out
of my house once though. That all changed on Tuesday. Elizabeth and I
had just pulled up to a fast food restaurant. I unbuckled her from her
seat and started putting the sling on myself. Since I didn’t have a
free hand, I went […]

What drools, fusses, coughs, poops a lot and wakes up every hour all night long? A teething baby! So the fun begins as we enter “pre-teething.” I didn’t expect this teething thing to start so soon, so I had no idea what was wrong with her until I spoke with my mom. After mom said […]

Elizabeth is definitely getting bigger—I think she’s up to 12 pounds if
our bathroom scale is correct. She’s outgrown a lot of the 0-3 month
size outfits, mostly because she’s too long. What’s strange is the tags
in these tiny little outfits are not proportionally small. It would be
like you or I walking around with a tag the […]

Well, for now I’ve decided to stay at home with Elizabeth. I just
couldn’t bear to leave her in any of the daycares we toured. There’s
the uninviting daycare with the huge “no trespassing” signs on the
windows and a warning letter on the door for people who pay late. Then
there’s the daycare with the front door left […]

10.5 pounds, 23.5 inches
Elizabeth had her two month check-up last Thursday and she’s doing
great. I was a bit worried about her weight, because I know two other
babies her age who have reportedly plumped up. Elizabeth is long and
skinny. She’s too tall for most of the 0-3 month size clothes, but she
doesn’t really fill out the […]

Elizabeth has had a lot of firsts in the past week. She went to her
first bar, first wine tasting and first trip to the dentist. For all of
these firsts, she didn’t care where she was as long as she was in her
baby sling, which we now refer to as her womb with a view.
It’s amazing […]

14 weeks
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