The Philipbars: July 2011

This Picture just about sums up Eliza right now:) Fiesty, and silly!!! Love, Love Love!!! I know 17 months is kind of a random month to do an update, but I did sort of a lame-O job for her 1 year update, and there are so many fun things I dont want to forget about this stage!

Fun things, as well as new challenges, but we are enjoying this little ball of energy and sass, and sweetness more and more everyday! We have survived a few full blown tantrums, re-adjusted our schedule, and then re-adjusted it some more. There is constant change, and adjusting to be done, which sometimes I'll admit...worries me...but I am a work in progress, and things always work out, and at the end of the day, if I can look back and say "I loved Eliza with every fiber of my being, and did everything I could/know to do to keep her happy , healthy and safe" then I feel successful. Even if the house is still messy, and there are dishes in the sink...and I stayed in my sweats alllll day:}

Here are some fun things about Eliza at 17 months:

She loves animals!! That hasn't changed for months...but now, instead of every animal "barking", she barks for dogs, cats, and most four legged animals, quacks for ducks, and tweets for birds. Her favorite right now are birds!! She loves to see them in front of our apt. and anytime she hears or sees one she "tweets", You cannot even imagine how cute it is.

She Says hot dog "Hog-og", outside "ow-shy-ee", shoes "shoosh", cracker "cra-gra"(which means cracker or fruit snacks:), "Hi", "HOt",cup "gup" for her sippy, and yogurt "go-gur"...she is talking all the time, whether we understand it or not! It is so fun to hear the new things she says all of the time. Every once in a while when we are tickling, she will try to tickle us too and say "gickle-gickle-gickle", cutest.thing.ever.

She loves to watch mickey mouse clubhouse...that is the first thing she wants every morning.

She is still the "bag lady"...she has also taken up a fascination with keys again...first thing when someone gets home, or comes over, she goes for their keys.

She still loves talking on the phone

She Loves Turkey dogs, broccoli, ramen noodles, carrots, bananas, yogurt, crackers, fruit snacks...and much much more, she is an awesome eater most of the time!!

Since taking away the paci, she loves her blankies now. There isn't one in particular that she is attached to, but whichever one she is currently sleeping with is her buddy for about 15 mins after waking up, and when she is tired.

She loves going to grandma and grandpas, and memaw and tickie-ties. When we say we are going to either one, she claps and squeals with joy...and then when we pull up there is more clapping and squealing, and clawing at her buckles...we love that she recognizes those special places.

She signs "more" like a pro. Not only does it mean "more please", it basically just means I want that...haha

She usually wakes up in the mornings and from naps happy and talking and then greets me with a big, cheesy, happy "HI!" when I go to get her....and then she snuggles into my shoulder for just a second....but it is the sweetest moment for me.

she is also slimming down...this is not such a fun thing for me, because I miss all of those rolls and it just rubs it in that she is growing up. But I know that is good, cus she doesn't need to be a chunkster forever.

She loves taking baths! When I say "bath-time!" she runs to the bathroom and automatically gets a wash rag from under the sink.

She loves to give us big open-mouthed kisses!! Sometimes she will make kissy noises and give us a closed-lip kiss, but we love the sloppy ones!!! The best are like earlier today, when I was bent down in front of her to put her shoes on, and she just leaned over and gave me the sweetest kiss. My heart just melts...I live for those moments.

I will probably think of a ton more once I've posted this, but...thats a pretty good list :) I just love being a mommy to this sweet little girl. I love her fun, sweet, fiesty spirit. I love that I have this responsibility (along with David), to teach her and help her grow...but I also love that she really teaches me so much everyday!!! Being a mom is hard, and I am not such a pro as I had hoped I would be haha. But the rewards far out-weigh any hard times!!

AND...some more pictures....

A fun day at the little water park in Roanoke with

Grandma, Auntie A and Auntie M

She had such a blast!

She loved the little pirate ship slide~

She is saying "hi" to me before she slides down :)

Group shot before we left....Eliza was saying how
much fun she had :)

My Best Friend Ashlie came up to visit from Utah

so we got to spend a fun day with her

This was her first time ever meeting Eliza!!

Eliza giving the Stare down....

But they were bff's too before too long

Morning ritual...Watching mickey mouse:)

I have no good excuse for not blogging, and have started this post several times...but anyways here is what we have been up to.

The beginning of July brought a new and exciting chapter in our lives...debt!! We purchased our first car...well the first car that has been financed and not payed for out right. So as scary as the thought of being in debt for the next 4 years is, we are so happy to have a nice, reliable car...with working A/C!! Bring on the Road trips!! It is a 2008 Ford Escape and it is in beautiful condition!! Love it!! Unfortunately we still have only one (working) car, as we traded in our little old bmw to get the payments in the right range, but hopefully we will remedy that in the not-too-distant-future :}

We also got Eliza her first "big-girl" car seat. She loved it instantly, and acted like the Queen of the back seat....even more than usual :) It took her some getting used to as far as being able to fall asleep, but as you can see from the picture above, it didnt take too long to adjust :)

I will be Six months along on Thursday!! I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going!! I feel great!!! I definitely have to retire some jeans, which is sad, but I cannot take the uncomfortable pressure anymore!! I have another Ultrasound on Thursday, and my mom and Davids mom are going to come with... it will be so fun!!! Baby girl is still without a name...why it's so hard to come up with a name, I have no idea....but we are working on it.

I am also going to be babysitting two litle boys beginning mid August. My mom has watched them since the older one was born. He is now 4 and his little bro is 3. I will have my hands full for sure! But it will be a blessing for us to have the extra income, and for me to continue to stay home with Eliza and baby girl. Baby girl is coming at a great time, as far as "maternity leave" goes. She is due the beg. of November, so part of my leave will be during Thanksgiving and both of the parents are teachers, so they will get time off, then Christmas is not too far after that. I love this family so I feel so blessed to be able to do this!! Our lease is up in December, which will be the perfect time to move to a bigger apt. and one that is closer to the family I am baby sitting for, and School for David. It is going to be a pretty busy end-of-the-year, but Exciting as well!!

Here are some pics from the End of June and the 4th of July: