I am the Funniest Man Alive

Not a Creature Was Stirring...

Eliza's First Christmas; Part 2

Eliza's first Christmas turned out to be a marathon day of opening presents. Between feedings, diaper changes, our neighbor coming over, and mom and dad taking breaks to do mom and dad things, it was probably 8 p.m. before we opened the last gifts. Eliza had a good time, we think. We managed to keep her from swallowing any of the wrapping paper... Here are some pictures:

Eliza and Carrie putting up the last ornament on the infamous advent calendar.

Dad, Eliza and the tree.

Eliza (with a little help from mom) opening a present.

Just a little of her stash.

Can't you see, I'm trying to play here!

Eliza's First Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Adventures in Airplane Bathrooms

A couple of weeks ago our little family braved its first cross-country trip. Traveling from Corvallis, Oregon to Macomb, Illinois with a 5-month old entailed almost four hours in a car, five hours on two plane rides, lengthy layovers and interesting episodes changing diapers in airplane bathrooms. This would be, as we anticipated, a new brand of parental torture. 

Okay, it wasn't that bad, but there were some moments. Our first flight, for instance, from Portland to Minneapolis saw us accompanied by the entire Southern Oregon football team. Our apologies to the very polite lineman sandwiched between our hyper-fidgety, whining breastfed baby and a tiny window.

In the end, the two days of travel torture were well worth the trip. We all had a great time visiting with family and reacquainting Eliza to her grandparents as well as introducing her to aunts, uncles and cousins. Here are some highlights:

Uncle Steve and Aunt Amy, who seemed to possess eerily familiar, Mommy-comforting powers.

Great Grandma Coplan, poochers and the ever-amazing wonder of little animals.

Eliza's other Uncle Steve and her Aunt Wee-wee bravely fighting the battle of "What Can We Do to Keep This Baby from Crying." 

Papa and Nana, overcome with joy at having both grandkids in their arms at the same time:

Four generations in one picture:

Grampa Bob proving that all you have to do to entertain this baby is act really, really weird:

Fall Happenings

Looking back on the past few weeks, it was a fun first fall for Eliza! Mom and the bean enjoyed a fun trip out to some local farms.

Dad thought this was an appropriate Halloween costume for Eliza...

...but we decided to dress her up in her Tigger suit instead.

Realizing that it is never too early to get your children involved in the democratic process, Mom and Eliza helped out at Obama headquarters in Corvallis.

And in preparation for our trip home, we introduced Eliza to some pictures of her cousin Gabe, which she then tried to eat.

Let's Catch Up!

Sorry for the long intermissions between updates! Carrie's been back to work now since the beginning of September and with Brian working nights still, free time is fleeting for us. Aside from some sleep difficulties and an inexplicable disdain for naps (we simply have a child with a 'low sleep requirement,' the professionals tell us), we've been having a lot of fun with Eliza these days. Here's some pics to fill you all in.

We're seeing a lot of smiles these days!

Eliza's got some great outfits to grow into (we love this hat), thanks to her aunts, uncles and grandparents:

She's getting pretty good at grabbing things, and she's having loads of fun with new toys:

Although her favorite toy these days seems to be her left foot...

And mom has had to cut her hair a little shorter to keep it out of reach!

On the Misleading Nature of "Rice Cereal" or It's Really Funny Watching a 4-Month-Old Try to Eat Out of a Spoon

So a few weeks ago we introduced rice cereal to Eliza (which, by the way, in no way resembles cereal. "What is it, like Rice Chex?" Brian asked, and was laughed at. "Of course not," Carrie said, exasperated, "She doesn't even have teeth yet!" Well, it turns out "rice cereal" could much more appropriately be called "ricemeal" as it's very much like oatmeal, except it's made from rice...

In any case, the results were pretty humorous.

Milestones

Wow, we're already approaching Eliza's 3-month birthday. In some ways, this summer's been a blur. At other times (particularly during her bouts of banshee-screaming), we didn't know if it would ever end. We're still trudging through some rough moments, but we're also enjoying some really amazing, happy-baby times. Here's a few pictures to catch you all up on some milestones.

Eliza's now holding up her head all on her own!

She's learning the advantages of the prehensile thumb.

Well, this English language may take some time to master, but turning the pages is a start!

Dad has officially proven that sleep deprivation leads to ludicrous behavior...

...and, yes, that can be a little frightening.

Bouncy, Bouncy Baby

Our intent here was to show off how well Eliza's holding her head up these days, but it's also pretty funny to watch a jiggling, bouncing baby.

Anatomy of a Roll

Eliza is on the move!

Okay, we understand you all may not be as impressed by this as we are, but try to imagine your head comprising 50% of your total body mass. It wouldn't be so easy to roll out of bed then, would it?

"I think I can, I think I can..."

"Unnnhhh..."

"Whew. I'll be running over hurdles like daddy did in no time!"

Eliza waves bye-bye to her first eight weeks in the world!

Eliza Goes to the Oregon Coast

From July 9th to the 11th, Carrie and Brian boldly went where they had not been before as parents: on a two-day, two-night trip to Yachats on the Oregon Coast with their five-and-a-half week old baby, Eliza. This trip went... surprisingly well! We discovered that we can in fact breast feed in the car, parked in a discreet location of course, and that Eliza does pretty well on relatively long car trips. 

We stayed at the Wayside Lodge in Yachats and took full advantage of the king-size bed and a gorgeous view of the ocean. Having loaded up on snacks and diapers, we mostly holed-up in the room, making just a few ventures out of our room for walks on the beach and for a lunch and breakfast in town. 

We do acknowledge that, looking at this picture, for all you can tell, there may as well be a melon inside the baby carrier. However, we do assure that we did not take a cantaloupe on vacation with us, and that Eliza is, in fact, wrapped up in there.

Hats and gloves on the beach? Yep, that's Oregon. The temperature was in the mid-90's in Corvallis, in the valley, and in the mid-50's on the coast for our morning walks.

So we had to bundle up a bit, but we definitely had a good time!

Dad's Secret Talent

Brian, mostly to his own amusement, has discovered that he has been naturally gifted with a talent for taking ridiculous pictures of his daughter. While he is sure that he may someday catch some hate for putting these on public display, he just couldn't keep them to himself. Really he can't help it, whenever he points the camera at Eliza, these things just happen.

We call this one: "Someday, I will rule the world..."

This blanket actually serves the purpose of protecting Eliza's neck from rubbing against the straps, and just happens to also make her look like a silly quilted lion:

And finally, the baby Elvis jumpsuit:

Get Your Fiend Face On!

Now that we are fully sequestered in the unique torture- ahem, we mean joys of new parenthood, a few amusing baby discoveries have emerged:

#1. When Eliza is hungry and ready to eat, she puts on this ferocious "fiend face" and snarls and roots like a depraved, booby addict, which is quite funny but mildly disturbing.

#2. We had no idea that, while being oftentimes indescribably cute, babies are also prone to putting on their "grumpy old man" faces:

#3. Following several unexpected clean-ups, Brian has discovered the impressive ability of babies to projectile poop (sorry, no accompanying photo of this one). 

The World According to Eliza (At Nine Days Old)

There are an awful lot of strange things to contemplate in this new world...

These giant heads keep hovering over me, making odd cooing noises...

I know this looks ridiculous, but it is comforting and the vibrating seat is oddly soothing...

I seem to have inherited Daddy's long toes, which are much nicer than Mommy's hobbit toes...

Mmmm, fingers... not quite as tasty as booby time, but this will hold me off for now.

"Stop Pointing That Thing at Me!"

Grandma and Grandpa Collier doing what grandparents do: