San Francisco April 12-17

Fantastic five days in San Francisco, CA (April 12-17)! Thanks to Melissa, Veda, Lila and Mo for hosting us and allowing us to crash at their place, they made our stay so welcoming and enjoyable, and certainly a home away from home, so BIG THANKS to them! I'll list some of the daily highlights below, but overall it was a great first trip for Elsie, she was a breeze to fly with, praise the sun! And there was so many fun things to do and see in San Fran, certainly more to do when we go back!

The last time Spencer and I visited was in 2013, right before our trip to Hawaii. Spencer was working at Enterprise, I was a grad student at Boston College, we were living in Chelsea, MA and enjoying our busy 20s. Certainly a different time for us both!

My parents joined us for all of our trip, then stayed in CA several more days to drive the Highway 1 and see the Los Angeles area. And Spencer's mom flew out for a couple of days, which was soooo awesome! She and I were pretty sick most of the trip, unfortunately, but that didn't hold us back!

Friday, April 12

• Baby's first flight, take off 3:37 pm and land 3 hrs 45 min later (ahead of schedule). She had a crazy fun time just running around the airport, making friends, jumping, spinning, up and down ramp, good to tire out before flight because no kids play area. Dad ran all around with her and every so often she would run back to me for high 5.
• First flight with Elsie not as bad as Spencer thought, as bad as I thought. She was full of energy, didnt want to sit and didn't care as much about watching Daniel or Elmo as Spencer and I hoped. Probably just excited for her first flight. She didn't sleep much until 10 min before landing, so she must have tired herself out or it was basically about bedtime at that point.
• We were seated together in a 2x2 plane, which worked out great with no extra person in our seats. We were in the last possible row, so she could stand and go in back if she wanted. She got a kick out of kicking the seat in front of her, unfortunately, and it became a terrible game for us to try to stop her :(
• Mom and Dad rented a van and picked us up from the airport and we all made the trek over to Melissa's house (30 min drive). Was a really chill night with a super late bedtime for everyone, even with the 2 hour time change.

Spencerism 04.07.19

"Wooh!!!

2 days in a row I get some real stink!

Wooh!

Maybe it's because we're under the weather that it smells so bad!"

Spencer changing her diaper today

Laura & Nathan tie the knot

It was a chilly April fools day but we were serious about marrying off Laura and Nathan! They "planned" a casual affair that fit their family to a 't': The day started off with Laura, Mom, Mary, Betty, Abby (Nathan sister) and Pam (Nathan's mom) getting their nails did. Then we all headed back to Laura's house for some drinks and food and to get ready for the 5 pm ceremony. There was lots of chit chat and the babies had fun playing together while everyone swooped in and out to bedeck themselves. The photographer showed up at 4, then a quick ceremony with the justice of the peace before they kissed and it was over. Dinner followed at Charlies, a fabulous feast with toasts, and talking, a jubilant affair. Mom and I both felt like we didn't do enough to contribute, but there's always the party in July!

Some highlights or things I remember:

• Little Elsie had a great time with her cousin and playing with Laura, grandma and grandpa!
• She's also getting pretty good at saying grandma and grandpa, though they sound pretty similar right now. In the middle of the night one she woke up and kept saying grandma, grandma, grandma. And I was like, "grandma's asleep, we'll see her in the morning".
• Little E def realizes what g-ma and g-pas house is, and that we were not at home.
• Only a little bit of mom-holding-Lena jealousy, and I was thrilled that Lena seemed to like me from the get-go. Though by the time dinner came around Elsie had had enough and only wanted mom.
• She loved the light up shoes from G-ma!
• Lots of hugs for Lena, probably a bit of attention-seeking but also lots of love!
• It was pretty funny watching Little E push Lena around in her walker
• Dad was super excited about his idea to get everyone yellow crocs to wear, guess that's what Laura gets for planning pretty much nothing :)

There was kind of a funny time during the ceremony where their dog, Mannie the great dane would not get out of the way and would walk between them.

Elsie is 19 months old!

I have been wondering how long I'll keep up the monthly photo shoots, but so far I'm liking them. Capturing the moment in time, take a second to write down the going's on in our lives, that sort of thing. So I guess I'll keep it up for now.

She's communicating more and more, getting really strong with her legs, and usually sleeping through the night. She even understands what her potty is and tries to go, though usually its after she's pooped. Getting an opinion, hard core and really not happy when she wants something and we say no. I was reading toddlers have a one-track mind and are developing their emotions now, so I just try to take a breath and talk to her calmly when she's having a melt down.

She's LOVING Daniel Tiger and Elmo lately, which makes road trips waaaaaaay better! And games on the phone. I've been dreading our upcoming trip to San Francisco but this makes me not dread it so much. And she's so smart, puts puzzles together, dad is teaching her 1-2-3 on his fingers and she's getting it, and she loves to read books.

Spencer is doing a great job and its a lot of work being a stay-at-home dad. Much more to it than just watching the baby and he's been amazing! I'm loving being a post-doc but I know it's not a forever job, so I've applied to some Assistant Professor jobs, UW-Lacrosse was a no, but have an on-site interview at UW-River Falls coming up so wish me luck. I'm definitely ready to be at a forever-job and find a forever-home, or close-to-forever.

Some highlights and things Elsie is loving lately:

• She's become very particular about what she needs when she goes to bed, always the wubba, baby, and mao
• Getting super fast at running
• Still doesn't like meat too much, still loves avacado, shredded cheese, chocolate chips, pretty great eater
• Loves sitting in her chair at her table and getting us to sit with her, says "me" to get us to sit and points to chair, she doesn't know "you" pronoun yet.
• Still loves the playground, so nice to be able to bike over there again.
• Loves Elmo and Daniel tiger TV shows
• Got her some Elmo PJs and she's obsessed with wearing them, couple Elmo books are her fave also
• Loves to push around her stroller and late mower still. Can't go into toy section without grabbing a little kid shopping cart and nearly having to buy it every time
• Great at jumping!
• Great at taking 1 step up or down, I remember at the cabin last summer how she would try to go down one and usually face plant
• Loves allll dogs still
• Tons of new words and trying new words out, new ones I remember hat, bike, Elmo, daniel
• Calls mom "me" to do things like sit by get on couch
• Going down big Circle slide at Park!
• When I tell her to smile she usually does a scrunchy face

Hates

• Hates being told no, like no more TV or no going down stairs, huge temper tantrums=lots of noise, whine, sits on ground, head down with scrunchy face
• Iffy on the vacuum especially when she turns it on without realizing is plugged in :)
• Huge sleep regression going on, napping sparingly, up around 520! Yes, for the day....
• Saying no and making all done hand sign to not have pictures taken
• Hair getting pretty long but she doesn't like having it up or anything in it :( I waited all this time for her hair to grow out!

Photo shoot, she does scrunchy face when  I tell her to smile and she's wearing beads/necklaces we made for Laura's wedding. Won't let me do her hair...

Spencerism 03.24.19

"Are you going to help or are you gonna whine? Cuz I like helping, but I don't like whinin!"
"Did you find it yet [the drawer handle] or are you still whining?"
Elsie helping dad put some drawer handles on the cupboards.