Where's Waldo?

oops, I mean, "Where's Eden?"

Editor's Note: Yes, Graham is back. Yay! Eden is on spring break, but we're not. More posts soon.

our limit

Well, I have figured out our limit for time apart from Graham that we can handle. It's about 4 full days.

Morning 3, Eden woke up asking for Daddy. This morning, number 4, she woke up asking for Daddy and upset. She was mumbling " airp'ane, daddy, work" and pouting -- so pitiful. We did make it out of the house bathed and dressed in time for church, thankfully, since I was leading the Sunday school lesson. On the way to church she was in a good mood. All was quiet in the back until I heard her starting to hum "happy, know it, clap hands *clap* *clap*" -- that was too cute! Wonder how long songs have been going through her mind.

But, she lost it when I dropped her off in the nursery, which she hasn't done in a long time. I think the 4 full days of not having Graham and Eden really starting to feel unsettled without him here hit her this morning. Nap time was a 10-minute meltdown, but thankfully she is asleep now. Let's hope she sleeps a long time.

So, we met most of my goals for the past few days -- eat successfully {wonderful husband left frozen casseroles}, teach classes {both @ LSU and Sunday School}, have some fun with Eden and not completely melt down. Nothing else was on my to-do list, and that was a good thing.

5 o'clock cannot come soon enough.

the girls

This morning, Eden's friend Josie came over for a playdate. It was a morning of lots of eating, dancing, tutus, babies, and books. Oh, and lots of fun.

pics the girls took of eachother

Now I know my ABCs

Well, it seems like the last 24 hours have been the turning point for Eden and music. Last night, she was all of a sudden singing a new song from our cd, and tonight she sang her ABCs all the way through by herself. Thankfully, Graham was on the phone the first time she sang it, and I was quick enough to get the camera for the second. Here she is ...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

today

Don't judge.

The second full day of Graham being gone was successful, if by successful you mean we made it through, I taught my classes, and Eden had some fun. She spent the day playing at Keegan's house. Marie said E was having so much fun that she just never fell asleep when she was put down for a nap. So, when I got there at 2:30, Eden was singing and dancing with Marie and baby Conner.

By the time we headed home, Eden zonked out in the car. She was so exhausted that she was murmuring mama with her eyes closed as she fought off sleep. She slept in the car seat for an hour. The drive home was only 30 minutes so I sat in the car with her and read for class. Such an exciting life I lead :).

By the time we made it inside (with E going on a 1 hour nap), dinner was an experience. Yes, E is sitting in the den and {Graham close your ears now} watching House Hunters on HGTV. She was only happy when distracted ...

... and when eating lots of dried blueberries ...

Despite being exhausted, my little munchkin was still a lot of fun. We spent time rocking before bed where she did her new favorite thing, telling me to "sto' -stop - stop" with her hand up in the air. She thinks its funny now to do this to me when I'm singing or rocking, and she wants me to be completely still and quiet.

The last 24 hours also marks the time where music and singing has really clicked for her ... music video to come.

new music - little liza jane

Here is Eden's version of the first track on the new album we got today. So incredibly cute to see her "singing" along ...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

today

Look at this cutie-cute outfit, courtesy of Uncle Bebop and Aunt FiFi. Funny thing is Eden was so into Elmo this morning that I had to come up with something to say to get her attention to take the photo. What did I say? Unkee Bebop, of course. Guess it surprised her so much that it caused her little grin.

After PDO and a snack, we headed to the park ...

The soundtrack for the day was Elizabeth Mitchell's "You Are My Little Bird" - amazing! Read about it on another blog and listened to it all day. Really. Listened to it at work; burned some copies. Listened to it in the car, on the way to the park, on the way home, while eating dinner. Eden even approved.

All in all, a nice day. Just having E's Daddy along would have made it perfect.

Hi, Daddy!

Since Graham left town today to head to a conference, I wanted to share some photos to keep him a bit more up to date with our day.

At Target this afternoon, I couldn't help but buy this cute new swimsuit for E. When we got home, I tried it on her to see if it needed to be returned and of course started talking to her about when she'd actually wear it at the beach to go swimming. Well, if you're talking about swimming, you should actually go swimming, right? Eden walked right into the bathroom and requested to get in. So, we did. She took a bath at 4:30 this afternoon :).

And, what's a fun bath with Betsy without watching her pee-pee ...

... and without taking all of her limbs off and then putting her back together {"hea' off, Mommy!"} ...

While she was in the tub "swimming," we had a talk about Daddy being gone to Albuquerque, or "a-ba-kerke" as Eden said for work. This morning Graham told her he was going to go on a plane, and she reminded me of this during our conversation. As she was doing her arms in airplane fashion, she added in a reference to "unkee bebop" and daddy's p'ane. Guess Uncle Bebop flies all airplanes in her mind.

Graham, we miss you already and can't wait for you to get home for bathtime!

house hunters

Since we got it into our heads that we were going to find another place to rent for at least another year, we've (well, really Ashley) been searching high-and-low for just the right one. The top contenders ...

House #1 ...

Some were very nice on the outside, but they wanted a renter too soon {think beautiful tree lined street, pretty backyard, hardwood floors, but old, old yucky bathrooms} ...

House #2 ...
... others were flexible with the move-in date but were just not right {think of an oven that can't even fit a full sized pizza} ...

House #3
... and then there is this one.

It's a great space in a wonderful location. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath built in the 1950s. The landlord grew up in the house and says he can never sell it. It has a huge backyard, a to-die-for kitchen {think 6 burner gas range and double ovens}, and enough space to last us up to 3 years (which is an option given the school choices or lackthereof in Baton Rouge, but that's a whole other story). It does have carpet covering the original hardwood, but we're good with one thing not being perfect.

So, which house did they choose? Guess that's obvious. In all, house #3 just seemed too good not to sign the lease. We officially have it May 1, but won't move in until the end of the month. If any of you don't have anything to do then, come on down!

a few random things

The other morning, Eden's hair was too cute not to take a picture ...

Here's what her "normal" hair looks like ...

The other day, Eden was going through her closet and pulled out this shirt and put it on like a purse. So, Ashley made it one.

The Two-Toddler Challenge

Two of our good friends, Marie and Brett, just had a new baby boy, Conner. Marie is at home for her maternity leave and has a 20-plus minute drive into town to get her older son, Keegan (Eden's BFF at PDO). So, Ashley volunteered to pick up Keegan and take him and Eden out to their house for a play date.

The report is that getting them in the car was easy ... Ashley had help. One of the women who works at PDO saw her coming out with two toddlers and sensed that Ashley needed some help.

For the trip out, they sat in the back all happy, occasionally looking at each other, laughing, and copying eachother's singing and dance moves.

When they got to the house, Eden thought it would be fun to take some pictures, mainly of Keegan. Ashley turned the flash off on the camera after she realized Keegan was a willing photo subject and simply stood and smiled while Eden snapped away.

But there were other interesting photo-ops, too.

Overall, a successful two-toddler challenge.

*Editor's Note: Hey Jennie, if your kids were blonde this just might be your view into the future :)

2 is better than 1!

Here's the invite we sent to family for Eden's birthday party. I thought it was pretty cute and even more adorable since the photo really wasn't staged.

{ajb}

learning letters with CC

On Friday, Eden's CC was in town and spent some time practicing letters and words with E. We were quite impressed when we came home and saw Eden's new skill. Her CC thinks she can teach Miss E to read over the summer! We won't be surprised by anything at this point.

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Oh happy day! Take five ... and six ...

When the second round of family was all together last Saturday, we sang happy birthday and did candles a few more times. I think this video shows "Happy Birthday" takes 5 and 6. Guess at some point we had to hit a snag, but E loved it just the same.

- ashley

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

oh happy day!

To celebrate Miss E's birthday, we had a rolling birthday party with family coming in shifts throughout the day. Around 4 we had the first round of singing "Happy Birthday" which Eden fondly referred to as "Happy Day!" She requested the singing and blowing out of candles numerous times, so we happily obliged ...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

birthday surprises

A birthday extra ... this is what happened when Eden woke up for her nap and was told she had some surprises.

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2-Year Update

For her 2-year check-up, Miss Eden got to show off her new doctor kit to everyone at the doctor's office. They all got such a kick out of it and even added a few things (cotton balls, extra band-aids, and tongue depressers) to her kit. The most fun was seeing Eden's reaction when she showed Dr. Ferrel her new pink stethescope and Dr. Ferrel asked her what you do with one. Eden promptly took the stethescope and draped it around her neck just like Dr. Ferrel's!

Here are the 2-year stats ...

• Height - 32 1/2 inches - 10%
• Weight - 25 lbs 9.0 oz - 25%
• Head Circumference - 18 7/8 inches - 50%

We've heard a common saying that you can double a child's height at age two to get their adult height. If this is true, Eden should end up being 5' 5" - not bad. Of course, we'll think she's perfect no matter what her adult height ends up being.

Is this parade just for me?

On Friday, Eden's Uncle Britton and Aunt Coco drove in from Oxford. On Saturday morning, after everyone had risen and been fed, we made the 4 block walk to a parade ... just for Eden! Well, really, it was the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, but what's the difference?

Eden had a blast sitting on my shoulders and watching all the floats, the horses, the bands, and the throwing of beads.

Although she liked wearing the necklaces, she did not like it much when one hit her in her face. I saw it coming. I stretched out my hand, and was able to grab one of them. The other one wacked her on the left cheek, just under her eye. Now, when you ask her about the parade, she says, "Necklace ... face ... ouch" and points to the spot.

There were several times when people threw things to us specifically for Eden ... two of her favorites are a white rabbit (see above) and a green football.

Eden's 2nd Birthday Celebration!

We left the parade route about 11:45 and headed home for some lunch and a nap. And to our surprise, Nona, Big Daddy, and Aunt Ashley were there waiting! We visited for a while, then Big Daddy read Eden a book, and she went down for a much needed afternoon sleep.

While she was asleep, we ate lunch then put together for her party ... there were balloons to blow up, cupcakes to ice, a caramel cake to put together, a box to transform, and a new sand/water table to put together.

After the excitement of all the baloons (30 in all) and after playing in her new "house" (thanks to Britton and Courtney for bring that down and to Britton for cutting out the door and windows), it was time to open the first round of presents.

She got a doctor kit, full with a real stethoscope (though she is pictured below showing us how to use the plastic one ... bump, bump ... bump, bump)

She also got an electronic book set - you put in the book and a little disk, open the book, and it is read to you! She has not quite figured it out completely, but she sure does have fun.

After she played with her new inside toys for a while, it was time for the outside reveal ... a new "sandbox"!

She had a blast filling up containers and dumping the sand all over the place (and down her sweater).