Rantings of a Grumpy Old Woman

Why are you tired all the time, Ellie?  You sit on your ass all day at home. How could you possibly be tired? Well, I'll clue you in and give you a little glimpse into the awesomeness that is my day to day routine. . Olivia rarely naps anymore.. I'm lucky if she takes a two hour nap around 10 or 11 am. Since I have a mountain goat instead of a child, most of my waking time consists of pulling her down off of the furniture, and keeping her away from the things she knows she's not supposed to have, such as cell phones and Wii remotes. Then there's mealtimes. Cutting up tasty bites of food "just so", so she can happily throw the carefully cut bits and pieces onto the ground, while laughing about it. There are 9 million (I swear... I counted) diaper changes to be done. Not only is it just fun all around to change a diaper... try to change a diaper on a child that just wants to get up and run around, right in the middle of it. I'm thinking about petitioning...

Olivia had her first official playdate today... although I suspect that it was more of a playdate for us mommies. I got to see my awesome friend Melissa and her beautiful daughter Whitney at the botanical gardens. I've known Melissa for about 7 years now, and she never ceases to amaze me with her humor and wit. I love hanging out with her, so it's such a kick in the pants that she lives 2 hours away. I think we found a loophole for this though. We can meet halfway between our houses! What a fantastic and original idea, eh? We obviously picked the wrong time to go though. We ran through the entire place, pushing strollers... while goldfish crackers and other random objects went flying through the air. I don't know why they chose to turn all the sprinklers on at the same time. Regardless, Whitney and Olivia had a blast playing with their toys and getting into everything. They especially liked the tasty snacks of leaves and sticks. I love these girls. Can't wait to s...

I knew this day would come... I just didn't think it would arrive so quickly. While she doesn't have it down 100% yet, she's got the mechanics of walking down. The one reason that I know she's got it, is that she prefers to walk instead of crawl. Instead of crawling where she needs to go, she'll stand up and attempt to walk there first. It's really cute watching her try so hard. She still falls here and there, and she looks like she just knocked back a couple of glasses of mommy's beloved cabernet, but it's the most amazing thing to watch. In my eyes, she's so tiny. She's roughly around the 50th percentile in height and weight, but to me... she looks like she's entirely too small to be running around our living room. When I think of babies and kids walking, I think of them as tall, older children. It's just weird to see. My little tiny baby, the one I cuddled with and nursed not that long ago, is gaining her independence, and is gro...