Nine Months!

Elsa is now nine months old...where does the time go? We have little miss personality on our hands as of late..and she is cruising her way to walking. She takes lots of steps while holding on to our hands and likes to cruise between the furniture and her toys. She is happy as can be, giggles all the time, loves to be outside, thinks her puppy is hysterical, and almost has four teeth!

She weighed in at 18.5 lbs, is a whopping 27.5 inches tall and thinks chillin' with her daddy is the greatest thing ever. Life is good in Elsa land.

Back from the Motherland

I finally got back from my trip to Zambia and South Africa. It was a great trip to a part of the world I hadn't seen, which is always exciting for me. I conducted a training for a local NGO who works in HIV/AIDS. It was a fantastic group to train, and professionally, something I have been waiting to do at my job for nearly two years.

Despite working non-stop the entire time I was gone, my co-worker Megan and I did manage to have some fun. We went to Cape Town for the weekend in between training's, and it is my new favorite city. Of course, I am now plotting how I can relocate the whole family there! We did some wine tasting, saw the Cape of Good Hope and the penguins at Boulder's Beach.

In Elsa news, she fared just fine all alone with her Daddy and Dalasi. Huge thanks to Rose for the meals, watching Elsa the day I left, and just being on general standby! While I was gone she started getting two more teeth...the top two middles ones! She also discovered the washing machine - and is fascinated by it.

Daddy's got me doing chores - a guest edit by Elsa

Well I knew it couldn't last forever. Sooner or later, daddy was going to say "yes, you're very cute, now let's go get some work done in the yard." Mommy left daddy explicit instructions that her plants needed to be watered every 3 days so yesterday we went out to the yard to accomplish our chores.

At first I just sat in the grass and played with Dalasi but then it was my turn to attend to the hose. It was pretty fun, but I did get a little dirty which resulted in a bath.

Thankfully, after my chores, lunch and a nap I got to go on a big adventure to Eastern Market! What a cool place. I heard there was a big fire there well before my time (2007) and they just re-opened it. Such a cool place, they have fresh flowers, a crepe man and you can buy just about any part of meat you want. Daddy said it was like Banjul only cleaner - I have no idea what that means.

So Far, So Good

So far, so good - Sara headed out for South Africa and Zambia on Monday so its just Elsa, Dalasi and I this week...and next.

Let me guess you're thinking one of the following right now:
1. This ought to be interesting

2. Wonder if I can get a last minute ticket to go check up on them and make sure they're alright

3. Not sure who you feel worse for, Sara because it's her first time being "away" from Elsa, Dalasi because he's likely to get less attention or Elsa because, well, she's now dependent on Errol to feed her, bathe her, change her, play with her, make sure she gets to sleep on time, make sure she wears clean clothes to day care, that she actually get picked up from day care...

Well let me put your mind at ease, we're doing just dandy; in fact, I've managed to teach Elsa how to take Dalasi for a walk.

Eight Months!

Elsa is eight months. Hard to believe. She is a record breaking speedy crawler, can pull herself up, crawls up the stairs and says dada and moma...although not directed to anyone or anything in particular! And yes people, those are the start of chubby cheeks...she is also starting to eat!

Thanks to Uncle Moops and Uncle Chris for the fabbo pics of her!

Chesapeake Bay

A few weekends ago we spent another lovely weekend at Dale and Liz's cabin on the Chesapeake Bay. We were fortunate to have the Blanchards and Gavin join us. Elsa loved the water but wasn't quite so sure about the sand...she must get that from her dad.

The Gladdings Are Great!

We were lucky enough to get to spend time with Gavin, Susan and Carter this weekend. Carter is such a sweet kid and is growing up so fast.
He did a really good job sharing his cars with Elsa and showing her how to play in the dirt. She crawled around in the grass and didn't seem to mind it tickling her feet.

Of course, besides playing with Carter, the best part of the weekend was charming Uncle Gavin.

Grandma Day Care

Elsa's was lucky enough to have her Grandma Ellen watch her this past week. They had a blast at the library, park swings, and playing with her toys and puppy at home. Thanks for watching me Grandma!

Playing with Alya

Elsa and Alya are only 3 days apart in age and love playing together almost as much as their mommies love talking to each other!. In this particular instance Alya used her superior "pulling up" skills to over take Elsa.







Since then Elsa has been practicing and can now pull herself up. Currently its just to get her toys but watch out Alya, next time your mine!

Playing.

Elsa loves to play. And now that she can go get toys herself there is really no stopping her. Her favorite toys seem to be Dalasi's at this point. Next up on the to-do list for mommy and daddy is baby-proofing the house!