8 months and graduation

October flew by. Eliza is 9 months tomorrow so her 8 month update is in order. This month Eliza has said dada, da (dog), learned to pull herself up to a standing position, is really good at army crawling everywhere, enjoys pulling all the books off of the bookshelf in her room, was a bumble bee for halloween, laughs so much, sings when mommy sings to her, loves to read books, loves to talk, has had a cold, loves to explore everything, follows the dog around the house so she can pull his hair (he is not a fan, so he always trys to avoid her), trys to pick up random crumbs on the floor to try to eat them, loves drinking water out of mom's cup. She is still so happy, loves to giggle. I try to use a really calm approach with her and not get frustrated or worked up about things because I believe being calm helps positively influences her development and helps her to be happy (more on my parent philosophy later, haha). Anyway the other day Eliza would not take her nap despite all mine and Colin's efforts and she really needed a nap because she had been awake all day. We were busy getting everything ready for Colin's graduween party so it was a little stressful at our house. Finally I walked into to Eliza's room and with a more stern tone then I usually use I said "Eliza Kate, you need to take your nap" and she started laughing. It made me laugh. She thinks everything is funny and laugh worthy and I am so glad she is such a happy girl! We just adore her!



This month Colin finished his master's degree in health administration! I am so proud of him! So I threw him graduween party the day before halloween. It was so fun. We served soup, salad, breadsticks and loads of sweet treats. We had family and friends over and it was so nice. Colin is AMAZING! I am so grateful to him for working so hard to take care of our little family and for setting high goals for himself and persevering through to reach them. He really is an wonderful guy and such a good husband and such a loving, kind and fun daddy. I am a lucky girl to have Colin and Eliza in my life, they are my world.
(Sadly I forgot to take pictures of our party, except for this cute sign I made)

Also our cabinets are finally done so I will post pictures very soon.