Author Archives: Elisabeth

About Elisabeth

The joyous and sometimes odd adventures of a former English teacher and her trusty sidekicks, Jared the Hottie Husband and her two Italian Greyhounds, Stinky Stevie and Bonnie Boo. Recently the adorable baby, Princess Evelyn, has joined the clan to shake things up!
Nov2

Grateful for…

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Grateful for…

I love Thanksgiving. It’s a holiday that is more and more looked over by everyone in the rush for Christmas, but I think it’s important to be grateful. Should we be grateful every day? Of course. But in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we forget a lot.  So having a holiday set aside to remind us how lucky we really are is a good thing, in my opinion. In honor of this, I am going to try and post each day something I am grateful for.

(A lot of people are posting their “Grateful for” daily on FB. I think that’s cool and all, but I’ll save it for my blog.)

November 1: I am grateful for fall. I always loved the leaves changing and the cooler air. I miss the actual change you see in the seasons that you get in the mountains or the North East, but here, I am just grateful for the change from 90-100 degree temps to the high of the day only being 82! (Seriously. It’s a relief to open the door and NOT feel like you are walking out into an oven.)

November 2: I am grateful for Evie smiles.

There is nothing in the world that brings me more joy now than this little girl when she gives me a big, happy grin like this. And on days like today where she’s been grumpy and refuses to take more than 20-30 minute naps all day long, when she flashes me with one of her amazing smiles, it’s all forgotten, and the world is good again.

I really am a lucky girl!

Nov1

Four Months of Evelyn

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Four Months of Evelyn

On Sunday, my baby girl turned four months old.

 

Look at that little girl chunking up. I absolutely adore her growing thighs and cheeks. And this is the only time of life that a double chin looks cute, right?

Anyways, I am a little late in posting because I am getting it back together after Jared’s parents visited us for a week. It was a good visit- Evie got a lot of attention and love from the grandparents, for sure!

Grandma brought Evie some cute little home-made toys.

I can’t remember what they are called, exactly, but they make a fun little crinkly sound when folded/smooshed. Evelyn has enjoyed them… mainly by trying to grab them and then crinkling them all up in her mouth. That girl. Anyways, I love the little stitching details around the edges- very cute!

We also spent most of Monday trying to get supplies for another project Grandma wanted to do.

This was the finished result of that activity. I don’t know how people manage to get good handprints and footprints of their children at this age. Mine kept curling her toes all up and wiggling as we tried to get her feet on the plate. After a half hour or so of trying to get a good print, we just settled for these. Evie was getting fed up with the whole process and needed a bath to calm down.

Great idea, with a calm, easy going child. Evelyn… she’s a special case.

Anyways, each month brings something new and exciting with this little girl, and I am so blessed to have her in my life. She still is Queen of Cat Naps and All Things Persnickety, but she gets more and more fun by the day. I love her to bits and pieces!

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Oct20

Positive endings

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Positive endings

Well, the week has gotten better- thank goodness!

Yesterday, Evie and I got to go on a play date. One of my neighbors is super sweet and has two young kids of her own, and has invited me to a few things with her friends. One of her friends has a little boy a month or two older than Evelyn, so we got together with another girl who had a baby just a week younger than Evelyn, and hung out for a few hours. It was wonderful to get out of the house and talk to other adults.

Then Jared came home “early” at 8:00 PM Friday night. (Yeah, we really know how to party here, right?) Just spending time with him this weekend has been a welcome change. With him working so much, I really miss my best friend. Especially when Evelyn and/or the dogs decide to have a bad day.

Then, today was wonderful because we took it easy. We just spent time with each other for much of the morning. We did get some things done, but we didn’t push too hard. Later, we were able to go to a party with another friend of mine from my teaching days. It was great to catch up with her and see her home and pets… and it was a lot of fun because a lot of the couples there have kids now, too, so it wasn’t too weird if Evie got a little fussy. And even better, I got to try some great homemade German food!

I’m exhausted, but it was a good end to a fairly difficult week. I do not regret the choices I’ve made to stay home with my daughter, but it’s not always easy. It’s been a major shift of direction on my lifestyle and how I think, and it’s just different. There are days where I miss teaching in the classroom more fiercely than I thought I could ever miss it. I miss the social interaction with students and peers. I miss achievable, obvious goals being made and met.

But no matter how hard things have gotten so far, I wouldn’t trade this time I’ve had with Evie for all the world.

Oct11

Bonsta Monsta strikes again!

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Bonsta Monsta strikes again!

Bonnie is up to her old tricks. I learned awhile back that most valuables should not be left alone with her because she likes to chew on things (see here and here if you need reminders!). And so far, she’s been pretty good about not being the mass destroyer since Evelyn has arrived.

I mean, look at this girl:

Does she look like she is capable of mass destruction of items Elisabeth likes? (No, obviously not. I am MEAN and making this all up. LOOK AT THE GRIN IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS!)

Yesterday, Evie was showing signs of being tired (which involves a mass amount of being cranky as she tries to fight of sleeping… Sleeping is for all those WUSSY babies out there. TOUGH babies don’t need naps…), so like the good mother I am attempting to be, I went and put her down. And I actually got her to sleep in about 5 minutes, which is pretty good for her. I walk back into the family room where the dogs reside, and VOILA.

 

THE BONSTA MONSTA STRIKES AGAIN!

The sandal at the top is what both should look like. The shoe on the bottom is what happens after Bonnie had 5 minutes alone with the sandal.

Fortunately for Bonnie, they were only $10 sandals that we bought purely because of pregnancy-induced feet swelling, and most likely I can work some fix-it-up magic with a hot glue gun, but still. THAT DOG IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

Don’t worry–no dogs were injured in the de-making of this shoe. I did a close comparision between sandals and all the beads were still there. She just had fun pulling it apart without swallowing pieces… though if it had been 10 minutes alone with the sandals, who knows?

AND- speaking of injured dogs- Remember back in June when Stevie and Neighbor Dog tangoed and he somehow ended up in the E-Vet (TWICE?!) ? Yeah, fun times. The good news is that ugly wound is hardly noticeable anymore.

Can you see it?

No? Here’s a closer look!

Barely there! How awesome is that?

So life really is great. Bonnie DIDN’T swallow anything from destroying my footwear, Stevie looks like a handsome mansome dog again, and Evelyn slept the entire time I wrote this post and is only now starting wake up. I can’t complain!

Now if Jared would come home from work at a decent hour again… 😉