Busy Times

It's been a busy and fun couple of weeks around the Hoffman house.

We've been putting our zoo membership to good use with frequent visits...

Eleanora showered her Daddy with gifts, breakfast in bed, cupcakes and lots of love for Father's Day...

We had a fabulous (and too short!) visit from the Hendricksons. The Eleanora and the blue-eyed beauty Isabelle had lots of fun splashing in the bath together and just being generally adorable...

Eleanora's latest pastimes include shaking the rails of her crib as hard as possible, dancing (twisting) to any music, whispering then yelling to her toys, and pulling herself up on everything.

Miss Sensitivity

Last night we had dinner at the home of friends who have a daughter, Aria, just 5 months older than Eleanora. Eleanora loves to watch Aria run around and is thrilled anytime she comes near (even if it's to point out/in Eleanora's eyes). Towards the end of our "early bird special" evening, both girls were getting a bit tired and ready for bed. Every time Aria started to cry, Eleanora would bury her head in my shoulder and muster up giant crocodile tears out of sympathy. I guess she's destined to follow in her Mama and Gigi's footsteps and cry over cheesy commercials, silly movies, DWTS (that's all Gigi!), NPR stories...just about anything.

Our Ella Bella has also been showing her independent streak lately. She decided yesterday it would be must more fun to feed herself avocado rather than have it fed to her. She (and Charlie) had a marvelous time. She finished off her meal with a little dessert, as she does most days. Doesn't everyone call asparagus a lolli-pop?!

8 Months Old

Eleanora turned 8 months old yesterday - I can't believe it! Below are a few pictures taken by our generous and talented friend Lis.

Eleanora is still toothless and not really crawling, although she has been found in some amazing positions in her crib in the morning. She's definitely mobile, and even scooted in reverse a bit the other day, but her main mode of transportation is rolling. She loves blowing raspberries (especially with a mouthful of food), singing, talking, and flapping her arms and legs when excited.

Happy eight month birthday, Eleanora!

Showering with Love

My sweet, generous, and absolutely glowing friend, Erin, is expecting a sure-to-be adorable wee one next month. I had so much fun throwing a "Bedtime" themed shower for her last weekend!

It all started with these delightful invites crafted by my stationary guru, Kirstin. Her etsy shop is a glorious combination of funky style and elegance. Warning: once you see her crafty goodness, you will never be satisfied with store-bought cards again!

The invites requested everyone bring a favorite children's book to add to Baby Girl's library. I love the idea of books as gifts for babies - they last forever, reading is such a special snuggly time with baby, and they will offer this sure-to-be-brilliant baby (Mama has her PhD, Dad is working on his) an intellectual activity.

The bedtime theme was Kirstin's inspired suggestion (seriously, this girl is crazy creative) and I loved it! From there, all the little details just came together...

Tables made up like beds (idea from Hostess with the Mostess):

Pictures of sleeping babies everywhere:

Stars cut from various textures, shades and patterns attached to lovely ribbon (idea from the always-fabulous Lindsay):

Bedtime-inspired food:

The menu included:

"Heavenly" Hot Cocoa bar with toasted hazelnuts, shaved chocolate and marshmallows
"Over the Moon" Cake with Truffle and Baileys filling
Celestial Fruit Salad
"Starry-eyed" Shortbread Cookies with cream cheese frosting
"Sleep-inducing" Skim Milk
"Bedtime Made Better" Baileys

I had way too much fun planning for and dreaming about this shower. I cannot wait for the arrival of this little sweet girl (and bff to Eleanora)!

A Walk in the Park

After a busy and super fun weekend throwing a shower (pictures to come) for my sweet friend, Erin, we declared Sunday "relax day" and headed to the park. We enjoyed the cool temps (below 90 - yay!), nice breeze, green grass, beautiful view of the mountains, and time together.

Eleanora wasn't such a big fan of the swings...

...but she loved-loved-loved watching the swarms of kids climbing the jungle gym, hitting a pinata, and having water fights.

After all that excitement, she was one tuckered girl!

A few recent pictures I can't resist sharing...

Enjoying early morning time with Ben and Charlie on the porch

Guess who is pulling herself up all on her own?

Silly baby, happy Mama

A few other new things little Elle is up to these days:
- Kissing (a.k.a. headbutting) the pictures of fish in her new favorite book (must be related to UB!)

- "Singing" along with her bedtime song with a soft, sweet little "aaaaa"
- Saying "Mama" all the time. Yes, the books say it's too early for her to know what it means, but it's still music to my ears!

Kickin' it Old School

One of the classic pictures of childhood...

A few random tidbits about our little love:

• She's been giving kisses all on her own. The last time was in the midst of a meal with a food-covered face, but it was totally worth it!
• She loves avacados, sweet potatos and squash, but doesn't really get excited about bananas.
• She's been a wonderful sleeper for the past couple of months (knock on wood!), sleeping from about 6:30 pm to 6:00 am straight and taking two solid naps. Yay!
  
• She is a snuggler. Whenever she hears "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (her bedtime song) her head hits the nearest shoulder.
• After her early-morning wake up, Ben brings her to bed with us to give me a chance to wake up. While snuggled between us, she pats our backs, faces, and talks in sweet baby chatter.
• Library story time has become a favorite outing. She lights up when everyone sings "Twinkle, Twinkle" and loves playing with (more like watching) the other kids.
• We've got a little bookworm on our hands. She will sit for about an hour listening to me read book, after book, after book...
• She's become much more brave lately, happily going to others, and loving the church nursery.
  
• Her favorite hang out in the house is standing (with help) on the window ledge and loooking at the mountains, and birds, bunnies, cars, and construction workers (who occasionally wave to her) go by.
  

Wonderful Weekend

We had a wonderful holiday weekend - the best in recent memory!

We kicked things off Friday night with a visit from Cameron and Maria, dear friends who moved from Tucson to Mexico 2 years ago. They came over and spent the evening catching up and swapping kid stories over a bottle of wine and Mexican takeout. While our four-some wasn't quite complete without Brad and Veronica and a game of Liar's Dice, we had a wonderful time reconnecting with treasured friends.

Saturday, we took advantage of the cool (as in lower than 100 degree) weather and made our first family trip to the zoo. Eleanora was generally more interested in people watching than animal watching. She was a little scared of the zebras moving towards us at first, and then started laughing and kicking. We thought she was especially excited about the polar bear swimming, but then realized she was chuckling at the waterfall in the exhibit and ignoring the bear completely. It was a wonderful, rare, treat to have Ben available for such a fun outing!

Sunday was another fantastic day. We started the morning off with the three of us curled up in bed with Starbucks (Eleanora wisely chose to abstain). Ben then surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for our anniversary. After church, we spent the afternoon with Cameron and Maria and their three adorable kids playing, cooking, eating amazing home made Mexican food (Eleanora chowed down fresh avocado, her current favorite food - she is a southwest baby!), and staying cool in the beautiful, shaded pool. Eleanora loved her first experience swimming, splashing and kicking like crazy. She especially enjoyed playing with and watching the older kids, always reaching for them and laughing whenever they were in view.

It was the perfect day and a wonderful way to spend our 6th anniversary, even if it meant our plans to go out for dinner didn't quite fit in (thanks for offering to babysit, John and Erin!). Instead of a fancy dinner out, we curled up on the couch in our cozy clothes for a quiet, relaxing evening together - perfect after an exhausting and wonderful day. I am so blessed to have such a thoughtful, loving, sweet husband who knows just how to soothe me, humor my craziness, put up with my ginormous failings and make everything more fun than it should be. He is an amazing father - so affectionate, patient, and caring. Eleanora's face lights up every time he walks into the room, whether it's been 5 hours or 5 minutes since she last saw him.

We brought the weekend to a close with a fabulously delicious and fun brunch with John and Erin. What a fantastic couple of days!

Exhausted after all the fun!

The Latest in Hoffman-land

Time for a bit of an update from Hoffman-land...

In honor of my first Mother's Day, Ben treated me to an evening out with my "intellectual crush", Ira Glass. At the venue, we were offered fantastic seats in the 15th row (a far cry from our back row purchase) for free! Ira was wonderful, and chose to play it cool even though I'm sure he recognized me from our previous meeting. Eleanora slept soundly the entire time we were gone, thanks to Brent and Lindsay's wonderful babysitting skills!

After an exhausting and crazy few weeks (preceded by several exhausting and crazy months/years!), Ben successfully completed another semester of graduate school! His summer will continue to be packed with research and teaching, but his self-imposed schedule will be a bit more bearable. Translation: He has declared Sundays to be "work-free days"! This past week was the first in this glorious new schedule. We spent the afternoon playing on the floor with Eleanora and just enjoying time together. I've been making lists of fun, heat-avoiding activities for the three of us for the coming months.

Eleanora has been keeping us entertained with her hilarious antics. She's discovered the fun of peek-a-boo and loves to pull a blanket over her head (or up to her nose) and then pull it away with a big grin when we ask "where is Eleanora?". Her latest doctor's appointment confirmed her to be adorable (that's a professional medical opinion!), very long (90 percentile) and lean (10th percentile). She is also rolling and spinning with purpose, using it as a mode of transportation to get where she wants to go (usually in Charlie's direction). She still loves bath time, story time, and our nightly dance parties. Her sweet little personality is coming out more and more with all her expressions, noises, kisses, and snuggles.

Not sure about sweet potatoes... Sold!

Rattle in hand? Check. Rattle in lap? Check. Rattle on foot? Check!


Two chicks hangin' out


Is there anything better than a snuggly baby?


"Helping" Ben hold her favorite story book


Fast asleep with Mr. Monkey at her side