Happy Birthday Miss Elyza

Miss Elyza turned ONE today! I can't believe my little sweetheart is already one.

Happy Birthday my little preincess. I love you little one...

Eatin Cake...

I feel like she is so close to walking. She is standing up and letting go more and more. The other day she started to take a step and then decided against it. I think it was coming to her naturally and then mentally it freaked her out!

Here are some pictures from her birthday weekend.

Chillin'

Hey You!
Big Sister

Me and Daddy

Ellie and Natalie

Peek-A-Boo

Proof that Cassie WAS there (she scowls at most pictures these days!)

Sister makin a pool

Yum, fiber Seaweed
So serious
Yum, Watermelon, real food
More dinner

Flowers and cake, they spelled her name ElyCa,I guess C sounds like Z...

I fixed it but it was kinda funky Clean
Asian chicken and rice for dinner
Cake!

Presents - All but one used to be Ellie's old toys we kept, perfect!




That's one way to open a present...

Baby Wearing

I did not know about all the cool kinds of ways to wear your baby when Ellie was little. I had a snuggli and that really kinda sucked and my arms just can't hold a baby for that long, they hurt.

Well, I now know of so many ways to wear your baby now. I have three slings, one that I made myself. I have a Ring Sling, a Pouch Sling and a Mei Tai. Lately Elyza has been riding in the Mei Tai my back with a high back carry, rutsack or backpack style. The pouch (for hip carry) and the ring sling are good for quick trips, like into and out of the grocery store. The Mei Tai is good for carrying her, like when we went to Jordan Bridge and when we walk long distances.

Yesterday all my slings were slung over the car seat, I like to keep them handy, and they looked very pretty all lined up. So I took a photo, above. The top is my ring sling (Maya Wrap), the second is the pouch that I made myself and the third is my Mei Tai that I bought on ebay for about 1/2 the cost of a new one.

I have always been attracted to natural parenting, from the start, I didn't even know there was a community of Attachment Parents and Natural Parents even though this was the path I was on. Since then, 5 1/2 years after becoming a mother I am emerged into all of this.

The Natural Child Project, Top Ten Reasons to Wear your Baby

I firmly believe in baby wearing. Here are some MORE great resources for baby wearing...

The Baby Wearer
ASK Dr Sears - Baby Wearing
Wear Your Baby
Baby Wearing Conference 2008
Wikipedia - Babywearing

The mom

Jordan Bridge

So, we've only lived here for 3 1/2 years and we are still discovering cool new places around here. On Friday I was trying to find some parks where we could swim and I found online with the Snohomish County Parks, Jordan Bridge. It's a really cool park, and a cool suspension bridge across the river to get to the park/swimming area. We went there both Saturday and Sunday for about 4 hours each day. It's really beautiful and we had lots of fun.

Elyza on the beach

View of the water and the bridge

Ellie chilin'

Elyza in her soon to be pool. We built a pool for her with rocks and dug out the sand.

She eats sand - yum!

Cas getting rocks for Elyza's pool

Ellie showing me a rock she found (we came home with a bunch of rocks...

I wonder where she gets it from?)

Elyza in her forming pool

Cassie & Elyza

Elyza in her finished pool

Ellie dumping more water in Elyza's pool.

This is one of my favorite pictures

Ellie sitting on the beach

2nd favorite picture

Look at all that hair! Miss curly Q

Lyzie

Eatin' cherries

Cherry face

Miss Ellie

Ellie walking up the stairs to the bridge, going home...

Cassie and Ellie crossing bridge

View from the bridge

Look who was tired

And someone else was tired too...

Ellie woke up when Dad was in the grocery store, so I harrassed her with the camera