First beach trip

Today was the last day of July and it rained! It has been so incredibly hot lately and we were surprised to wake up to a wet sky. By noon, the rain had cleared and it was unbearably hot. Totally monsoon humid. Casey and I took our little nugget on a walk and we decided we needed to take ourselves coastal for some weather relief. I am a little embarrassed to say today was Elle's first time at the beach. But being born in November and having porcelain skin as she does (and no sunscreen is allowed until 6 months!), can you really blame us? We took our little nugget to Doheny and spent a couple of hours there. We didn't bother putting her swimsuit on because, well frankly, Casey was afraid of her soiling it (again) and having to change a poopie swim diaper. Casey dipped Elle's feet into the water a few times and she had fun playing with the sand. Surprisingly, she didn't try to eat it. Aunt Andrea and Hays met us there a little later and we played some more on the grass. I did bring my camera but left it in the car because I didn't have my camera bag and was afraid of getting it sandy. Next time :)

All smiles after her morning nap

After some effort, I was able to capture our munchkin clapping on video. How cute is this?

I'm going to go on the record and say that I am pretty sure Elle is going to get her first tooth this week. We shall see... :)

Action Packed Fun

These past two weeks since we moved back down to Orange County have been a whirlwind. Elle and I are having a ton of fun! We've been walking to Starbucks daily (still miss Coffee Bean), I've been doing Pilates about every other day, and Elle has been doing swim lessons and classes at MyGym. I just signed up for 24 Hour Fitness again and paid the extra fee for Elle to attend the "Kid's Club" while I work out. Casey and I are thinking about giving it a shot later this afternoon. It is so nice to finally be able to take care of myself again and it's definitely paying off. 


This past Wednesday was especially fun and action packed. Elle started her day at 5:30 AM and Casey and I took a stroll with her to Starbucks before he had to get ready for work. I then took Elle to MyGym at 9:00 and we had a ton of fun playing with Katelyn and her mommy, Joy, there. MyGym is still a bit intimidating for Elle but I'm sure she will warm up in no time. She's usually so charming and smiley but she kind of freezes up at MyGym. With about 15 other babies and their parents running around, I don't blame her. I then ran to Pilates for an hour while Elle played with her Babcia. After that, I rushed home and gathered up Elle in her swimgear and took her to the Beach Club at the RSM lake to meet Katelyn and her friend Holland (and their mommies). It was so nostalgic being there. I spent so much time there as a kid so it's fun to be able to bring Elle there. I'll have to scan a couple pictures of me playing there with my siblings and post a juxtaposition. I didn't realize how great it is for babies and small children. The "shoreline" has about half a foot of water over sand so the babies are able to sit in the water and splish splash. We had such a good time. After some vigorous swimming and splashing, Elle sat out on a blanket on the sand with her girlfriends and they shared toys as they dried off. It was so adorable and sweet. I can't wait to go back!

Elle with her girlfriends at the Beach Club

In other news, I caught my adorable blossoming baby clapping yesterday. Ah, it was so sweet! She is walking assisted now and so determined to scoot herself along on those padded feet while she clings onto whatever she can. Her crawling is still interesting and wonky and she'll take a few crawls before she decides she's over it. She will be zooming across the room any minute now. I think I can wait a little longer on that :)

Elle with her Daddy

Took a few pictures before Casey left for work today...

First swim lesson

Elle had her first swim lesson today! We took her to a local indoor pool called Atlantis Aquatics that is specifically for teaching little tots to swim. The pool was heated to 93 degrees and had a pirate theme. It was too cute. Casey got in the pool with Elle for the class and they had a blast. She did great! She was also the youngest baby in the class. I think it exhausted her because she is passed out right now. I will have to upload some videos from the class later. 

And here is a goodie from Thursday:

Yummy toes

Thought I'd do a quick picture post while Casey put Elle down for the night. How did our little booger con us into an 8:00 PM bedtime!? That's definitely been the norm around here for the past week. She's good. 

Babcia lets me play with her glasses

Tanya and Grady came over for a playdate today. 5 months is a huge difference now but will be nothing soon. 

What's Elle doing??

Just gnawing on Grady's toes. No bigs.

I don't know about this...

Elle playing with Grady

Elle and Grady

Elle is not playing hard to get

Do your fingers taste like your toes?

She cracks me up. 

...And We're Back!

Oops, the posting hiatus was longer than I ever anticipated. Did you miss seeing photos of our beautiful Elle? I certainly missed snapping them and sharing them. As soon as I busted out the camera yesterday, she flapped her arms in excitement and started to strut what her mama gave her. Casey, Elle, and I have been living with my parents since Thursday. Casey was supposed to start his new job at PIMCO today but delayed processing at the lab for his drug test pushed it back a week. Woohoo! Ellie and I get to play with daddy for a whole extra week!


Without further adieu, here are some recent shots of our BIG, active, not-crawling-but-still-getting-around baby angel:

July 7th

New fav pastime: destroying magazines and newspapers

Take that Men's Health

And some photos from yesterday....Grandma Chris gave Elle a baby with a bottle and Elle has had a blast trying to drink out of the baby's bottle :)

Did you notice she has more hair? Her dirty blonde hair is really filling in. Still no teeth though! Elle has been SO noisy for the past week. Nonstop squeals, yells, whines, shrieks, "Dadadadadada" , and more. She is completely perfect and amazing.