Steptacular!

We have a very special announcement to make! Eliza took her first step just a few minutes ago! The 3 of us were sitting around the dining room table and Eliza crawled onto the table from my lap. We watched her crawl around a bit (of course being careful not to let her fall off) and then she and Daddy practiced standing for a while. I wouldn't say she's walking yet but she definitely took an unassisted step while trying to get to her dad! Hopefully soon we'll get a video. We're completely shocked and so glad we were both here to witness it! ~T

How do you spell barrett?

Having help raise my little brother, I consider myself a fairly practiced parent. But I was thoroughly stumped when asked to put some hair clips in Ellie's hair. How do they fasten? Where do they go? Is there enough hair for a clip? I don't even know what it's called!

So either she'll have a crew cut for the rest of her life, or I've got a lot of learning to do when it comes to raising a daughter.

~S

Ball?

This could just be a fluke but 3 times tonight Eliza said what sounded like "ball"! She has several she likes to play with and each time we hand her one we say the word. I guess only time will tell if she means what she says or not but you should have heard how excited we were! It's crazy how proud we are of every little thing... ~T

Shout out

Aunt Jules loves to bring Eliza cute clothes! Check out some of the latest garb!


Yeah, she's fru fru, but don't cross her when she's got that maraca.

Excuses excuses

We haven't updated the blog that much lately because Eliza is moving around so quickly that we can barely take our eyes off of her! She's constantly crawling somewhere, trying to climb something or walk somewhere. She can't actually walk unaccompanied but that doesn't stop her from trying. We're afraid Curious Eliza has a lot of bumps and bruises in her future. Half the time she laughs when she falls anyway. This girl is fearless!

Hey Dad, aren't you glad you installed these outlet covers?

Check it out- I can do a push up!

hello, goodbye

Every day on my way off to work I wave goodbye to Ellie.

Today she waved back!

It's All Happening at the Zoo

This year's summer catch phrase is "staycation"  The idea is to take excursions that are close to home and save on gas.  For those of you who didn't spend your childhood summers at the vacation home in Aspen, this is nothing new.  We just called them day trips.

We decided to staycation this weekend at Hamilton Pool, the Austin Zoo, and San Marcos.  Here some snapshots and clips.  Notice how Ellie is actually trying to out growl a Bengal Tiger!

GOYA GOYA GOYA

Eliza's only 8 months old but the time is passing fast. It's easy to forget the little things that were once part of her infancy. So before we forget forever, here's a not-so-entertaining post with her most notable phrases and actions.

porpoise speak (or dolphin girl): Was what we termed her high-pitched babbling as a newborn. We have no idea what it meant, but would like to have had it analyzed by a marine biologist. Besides Dolphin Girl, I also used to call her Baby Burrito and Squeakers.

goya-goya-goya: At about three months this meant that she was content sucking on her pacifier and ready to calm down. A slap of the hand or a pat on our arm/person also means she's contented with her surroundings.

da-da: At five months "da-da" could have meant anything, but she figured out who I was by Fathers Day. Da-da started after I began tapping her mouth as she hollered to make a war chant kind of noise. She started imitating and the word emerged, as well as a lot of other noise.

ma-ma: This came later as 7 month teething set in. She began biting her tongue as she cried and the sound came out. Now by 8 and a half months she'll turn and address her mama directly.

the growl (aka roaring, the exocricist voice): At about 6 months the growl livened up conversation around the house. It just comes and goes as the spirit moves her. Occasionally she'll stiffen hers arms outward as she growls (like she's throttling a chopper motorcycle).

Nee-nee or Neer-neer: At nine months this is Eliza's call for some "intimate blouse time" with her mother.

Baa or baw: We're not completely sure but we think she's caught onto the word "ball" 8/25/08

More to come...