Some "old" photos

Here again are a couple of photos that are well over a month old. I told you I was way behind! We took these when Elizabeth met up with her friend Kaila for a Chinese dinner at the Shanghai Pine Garden on Balboa Island. The Island is always decorated at Christmas with some houses putting on a spectacular display.

Here you can see the girls dressed as if they were headed to the arctic --and watching all the fancy lights.

LaLa and Re

Of course this post is about a week after the fact but the way I have been going as of late--I am on time. But that is a whole other story.

Last week Elizabeth had a visit from Aunt Laura and Aunt Re (short for AnnMarie!). Of course they are really her cousins since Laura and I are cousins, but Laura pointed out that the age difference makes them more like aunts. Oh yeah, the age thing. I won't even go there.

All that aside--Elizabeth had a grand time with her aunties and was continuing her mantra of LaLa LaLa (which must be short for Laura)--which is all that she has said since she supposedly started talking. Oh, and AnnMarie taught her what is now referred to as the AnnMarie face--she opens her mouth as wide as she can with her eyes bulging. I will have to grab a photo when she does it.

Ann Marie couldn't believe how good an eater Elizabeth is....it was fun to see the look of amazement on AM's face as Elizabeth shoveled wild rice, avocado, chicken salad, yogurt, cheddar cheese, scrambled eggs and sweet potatoes into her little mouth. And yes, she can eat all of those things at one sitting! You think I am joking, don't you? Well, usually I only give her two or three of those things at a time--but if I gave her all of them I betcha she would eat them.

Laura and AnnMarie taught Elizabeth a few new games and kept her very entertained. I also noticed that the house seemed a lot cleaner when Laura and AM were here. I think it had to do with the fact that Elizabeth was so busy playing with them that she didn't have time to tear the house apart the way she usually does.

More photos to come.........

A Play Date

Elizabeth had a play date with her new friend Maria. Maria was adopted from China and came home last July. She is fifteen months old and walking up a storm. Elizabeth really seems to like her--so much so that she didn't even protest when Maria took over Elizabeth's pink corvette! Although Elizabeth did try to steal Maria's sippy cup a few times.





Here is Maria with her mom Patty. Maria is something else, before Patty left the house, Maria went and go Patty's shoes and her keys for Patty--without even being asked. Is that something, or what? Poor Elizabeth will have a heck of a time doing that for me since most of the time I can't even find my own keys--but that is a WHOLE other story!

A Step Back in Time

Here are a few photos from back in December when Ginny and Craig came to visit their Son, Doug and Daughter in law, Neva and of course their spectacular little granddaughter, Sofia.

As you can see here, I was the photographer as the group stood for a nice photo op outside the Ritz Carlton. If you haven't seen the view from the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel--I say add it to your "must see" list of places to see in the world--REALLY!



Here is Sofia. I can tell you she is the sweetest little girl. Well, okay she and Elizabeth are in a tie for sweetest girls!



Here are Marty and Doug trading notes on baby girls. I sure hope Doug passes along some info Marty could use.



These photos are from Susan's party to celebrate our candidates winning an election for our homeowner's association (you don't want to hear about that-believe me!). Here is Elizabeth with Steve and his lovely daughter.





And here I am with Susie Sakai who made fast friends with Elizabeth!

Playpen Baby

Here she is in her GIANT and I mean GIANT playpen...thanks to Rita and Bill this girl has room to roam! Oh, and eventually we may move this toy outside...that is if we ever want to use the living room again! We'll have to ask Elizabeth if that is okay of course...she is, as you know, in control of everything around here. But you knew that.

Birthday Baby

So Yes Elizabeth is officially One Year Old!

As you may already know, her birthday was this week--January 15th! Sorry for the delay in posting--yes we are busy these days.

She had a lovely little birthday and as usual was the most lovely of little girls.




Elizabeth and her daddy...






Here I am with my birthday girl!





Here she is on yet another one of her toy presents. What a life!


Oh Erica! You gotta come and see her on this sheep! She loves it!


And her she is in all of her glory destroying whatever order once existed in the pantry--not to mention our lives! Hey, it's her birthday, she can do what she wants.



And what is a birthday if you can't do yet another one of your favorite things-which is try to pull mom's glasses off?


I love it when she makes this face.


Here is the little princess looking like the morning after too many margaritas!





And here is Elizabeth with Grandma and Grandpa on her special day! She didn't get into too much trouble with them!

The Girl Knows How to Have Fun

Here she is in all her glory...little Elizabeth went to visit G'ma and G'pa and it looks like she is having the time of her life here.

She is so funny sometimes and in case I didn't mention it before--she loves to laugh. Oh, and put her in front of a mirror and she will have a grand time laughing with her favorite person--HERSELF! Who could blame her?

Reality

This morning I was going to write this post about how having a one year old at our advanced ages is not so easy. I was going to write about how, literally, every muscle in my body aches--muscles I didn't know I had. I was going to write about what a shock to the system it is to not have a minute to yourself when you have had almost five decades of luxurious independence (totally taken for granted).

And you know what-- every bit of that is true--and more. But I have a feeling Elizabeth knew that I was going to write about the reality of the time, energy and psychic demands a child places upon you. She knew that because today she woke up looking cuter than I have ever seen her with her cherub face and rosy cheeks. She has been smiling since she woke up and generally she has been the most lovable baby in the world. Even on our shopping trip to Target where she hurled a supposedly plastic baby tray across the aisle and where it shattered in a million pieces--she managed to look like the cutest thing in the world.

And, she has a way of captivating you with her seemingly knowing smiles. What can I say--she is everything we could have hoped for in a baby.

I am sure that later tonight when I am once again sore from carrying her 25 pounds up and down the stairs, and from hoisting her in and out of the car seat and lifting the stroller into the trunk of the car,--I will think "I am way too old for this." And when I look at our once well decorated house that now looks like a pack of wild animals has run through it, I will think "I really really miss my neat house." And then she will wake up with that smile, and what can I say other than, "she is a million tiny miracles rolled into one little girl."

Elizabeth and Trouble

Marty suggested I not post this video since it doesn't show Elizabeth at her best. However, it is reality and is and gives you a slight glimpse into how I spend most of my days and also why I am utterly exhausted and why my next post will be title "Reality"
Is she adorable, lovable and utterly charming? Oh yeah. Is chasing one year old around all day more challenging than running a multimillion dollar business. My educated answer is YES!

Little Pink Corvette

Uncle Billy & Aunt Rita somehow have known exactly what Elizabeth likes but with this little car they really hit it right on. Besides the fact that in California--"your car defines you" and what better car could a cool little girl have than this little pink corvette (well, not exactly a corvette but close enough). She loves it and while so far she has only figured out how to back up--she also uses it as her "favorite chair". In fact anytime she sees it she wants to "get in and drive".
Is she a California girl or what? Oh yeah.

Thank You

I just had to sit down and write this note tonight to thank everyone for being so wonderfully supportive of us and of Elizabeth's new place in our family. I have been so touched and so moved by the outpouring of concern and good wishes for this magical little girl.


And then there are the presents. Yeah, you know who you are! Elizabeth has been gifted with gorgeous clothing, a precious rocking lamb that makes her laugh, spectacular books, cuddly stuffed animals, beautiful blankets, the latest and greatest toys, a divine mirror that is a work of art inscribed with her name and birthdate and even a fancy pink sportscar she adores.

And the presents are wonderful. But more than that--they are heartwarming. Everytime I look around the house and see these wonderful gifts--I see the love that inspired them. And it is my hope that Elizabeth continues to give and receive such love throughout her lifetime. They say that everytime a friend gives you a gift--it is a really a wish for your happiness. How sweet is that.

And how sweet are all of you.

Elizabeth thanks you--and we thank you too.

Marty, Matt and the Leopard Princess

Oh, I missed this photo of Elizabeth with Marty and Matt in her lovely leopard.

Just a few photos

Here are a few more of the photos I had meant to add on Elizabeth's fashion post...I have more but darn it I can't find them. Will keep looking.



I don't know what it is about this leopard outfit but the minute I saw it I knew "she" had to have it. Wish I could wear it--but those days are gone. Next you will see Elizabeth in hot pants! Talk about living vicariously! I'll save the spiked heels till she is at least 5 or 6!


Here you can see Marty's director hand trying to get Miss E to stay put. It worked...sort of...she will however hate me for not having matching socks with this outfit. I didn't think the socks would make it in the photo and gone are the days when I have time to use my photoshop program. Now it is just posted as is! Any perfectionist tendencies I might have had are slowly but surely headed out the proverbial window. In case you didn't already know this I can tell you "babies absorb any and all time that exists in the world!"--or at least that is how it feels sometimes!



This is an old photo (relatively speaking) from when Marty and I were in China with Elizabeth. Just wanted to add this one!

Elizabeth's Bottle

I just came across this photo we took down by the beach at Sunset on Christmas Eve. Marty and I drove down there on the spur of the moment in hopes of getting some photos with Elizabeth. Our hopes were dashed when she refused to relinguish her hold on her Propel bottle and insisted on holding it in front of her face for every photo. There goes that Modeling contract. See for yourself....




Here we are-- me, Elizabeth and The Propel bottle.




Here is an example of what happened when we tried to take the Propel bottle away from Elizabeth for our photo shoot. She was NOT happy. For some reason she loves Propel bottles and if she happens to see one she will scream until you give it to her--and obviously scream when you try to take it away from her.

Fashionista?

I have been trying very hard to photograph Elizabeth in all of her lovely outfits. She, however, seems extremely uninterested in Fashion modeling. This gives you an idea of her typical pose--which I have assured her she will never get a contract with Ford Modeling Agency if she keeps this up.



I had better luck with this photo and the others that follow.




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Here I had to use my foot to keep Elizabeth in place for this shot. Somehow I don't think Scavullo would have done this!



I have more fashion photos but I have lost them in my archive of 8,000 photos so will have to post them later!

Elizabeth's Condominium Development

Well, I have been trying to keep the house from looking like the set of "romper room"...but it is not so easy. I have said that I don't want more than 2 toys out at once and I have been pretty much keeping to that (excluding all the dangerous household items that Elizabeth THINKS are her toys! YIKES). Except yesterday we had three of her larger toys out and I called it "Elizabeth's Condo Development". Does she like them--oh yeah --she finds them endlessly entertaining. If only she found them as entertaining as she seems to find the oven door!

You will also notice the T.V. on in the background. A lot of the baby books say to keep babies and kids away from T.V. As you can see I am flying in the face of that advice. She LOVES Sesame Street. And how can that be so bad. As long as she is not posted in front of the T.V. for hours it should be fine. Besides if T.V. was so bad for babies then most of us baby boomers would all be idiots! Remember Romper Room and Captain Kangaroo. And while there was not Sesame Street back then, I think lots of pre-schoolers were watching the "hard stuff" like The Flintsones!

On a recent version of Sesame Street they were singing a song to the tune of Westside Story's, "I Just Met a Girl Named Maria"--replaced with the words "I Just Met a Veg named Zucchini". I mean, come on--you gotta love it! The only problem is that I seem to be going through the day with the words "I Just Met a Veg Named Zucchini" running through my head.



Here one could assume that after investing in her condo projects that Elizabeth is going the way of Donald Trump and traveling in style here. Truth is that Marty and I took her down to Laguna Beach for lunch the other day and we spotted this Hummer on Steroids. If you have ever been to Laguna, then you know what the parking situation there is--how'd you like to be driving this lovely thing around Laguna!

Happy New Year-Before and After!

Before New Year's Eve

So here is Elizabeth before all the New Year's Eve partying that she was doing (obviously while we slept-since we were asleep by 10:15 P.M.).



And here she is the morning after. Let this serve as a warning about the effects of too much eating and drinking of the wrong things on New Year's Eve! She looks as if she is just waking up after spending a few nights in Tijuana.

Happy New Year!





Hard to believe it is 2008. For whatever reason New Year's Eve really just floated by me this year. It didn't really register very much--perhaps it has to do with feeling pretty overwhelmed as of late. We watched Anderson Cooper announce New Year's Eve in New York and that was pretty much New Year's Eve.

It is funny how even though I have lived in California for over 13 years now --I still consider it New Year's Eve once it hits 9:00 in New York City. I suppose that it helped by the fact that here in California they just show reruns of Time Square ball dropping when it hits 12:00 A.M. PST!. I never thought about it but I suppose they do that across the country--I always thought it was a California thing.