Whirlwind

It's been a whirlwind few weeks in the Hoffman Household. Due to the passing of our beloved Papa, the three of us took an unexpected trip to Erie. It was hard to say goodbye to the man who was once so full of life and love, but has been ravaged by Alzheimer's disease in the last few years. Losing him little by little over time left us without an opportunity to mourn him fully until his passing. Pulling together pictures for the viewing allowed me to bask in the memory of a man who lived life to the fullest, loved to laugh, eat, travel, and loved his family endlessly.

The joy in this time of sorrow was being surrounded by my amazing family. Papa had 4 children, 21 grandchildren, and 12 (including baby boy Hoffman) great grandchildren. All of the children and nearly all of the grandchildren were able to attend the viewing and funeral. It was a rare treat to have the rowdy, hilarious, loving bunch all together.

Eleanora with her "big girl" cousins

Eleanora was a great traveler, especially with her Dad along to make everything more fun. They made an endlessly fun game of opening and closing the window shade, then kept busy coloring, playing with cars, eating snacks, and even squeezing in a nap.

Once we got home and settled from our travels, we were hit with a super fun cold/stomach bug. Eleanora shook it off pretty fast after a day or two of taking it easy, but I haven't been quite so lucky. After an exciting night stay in the hospital for fluids and anti-nausea medication, I am on the mend.

With all that has been going on, I haven't had a chance to some of the more fun happenings of our little girl. She has been the master of imitation lately, in actions and in words which is a little scary for us!. She loves to say (about a toy, Charlie, bird, anything) "Where'd id go?" with her hands up in the air, and then excitedly answer, "Dar id is!" when she finds the missing item. She also loves to sing "E-i-e-i-ooo, goggie" (translation, "Old McDonald had a doggie, e-i-e-i-o). She calls for all of us with a "(insert name) back!" which we think translates to "come back!". She can also name and point to her nose, hair, eyes, ears, toes and knees (especially when she would like for them to be tickled!).

Marvelous Mother's Day

Yesterday was a wonderful Mother's Day starting with the incomparable gift of sleep. Our usually early riser (5:30 or 6:00 is a typical wake-up call) slept in until 8:00! Although I was awake and feeling very well-rested, Ben insisted I stay in bed and relax until he and Eleanora came to get me. I lounged and read in bed for a bit (glorious!) until I was greeted with a very excited, "Mommy!!!" from Eleanora as she ran to me with a crayon covered card in her little hand. She sat in my lap as I opened it and exclaimed "Oh, wow!" at the card she helped to pick out and decorate. Ben brought me a delicious cappuccino and beautiful card as well.

The rest of the day was packed with fun; church, a nap (for Eleanora) and pedicure (for me - amazing!), then a wonderful outdoor dinner of Chinese food followed by chasing Eleanora around the fountains near the university.

Eleanora was dressed to the nines for Mother's day thanks to my friend Kirstin, who made her adorable dress. Could it be any cuter?!

It was a great day, and I felt very appreciated and loved by my beautiful family.

I did receive another Mother's Day present earlier in the week. We caught our very first glimpse of Baby Hoffman! We asked the doctor to not tell us the gender, but instead to write it down for us to open together later (thanks for the idea, Vanessa and Ryan!). As we stared at that adorable face, sweet little hands and toes on the screen we both just knew the gender (which was the opposite of what we were thinking all along). Later that evening over a porch-side spread of frozen margaritas (sans tequilla for me) and chips and salsa, we opened the paper together and saw one word...

Boy!

Yes, Eleanora will have a little brother (or "baby brof")! We are so excited to meet this little guy and welcome him to our thrilled family. Eleanora may even be willing to share her growing matchbox car collection with him, if he's lucky!

Busy Busy Bee

Our busy bee has been up to her usual antics lately, keeping our house full of messes, craziness, and fun.

"Helping" me bake cookies

Hunting for Easter Eggs

Loving the pig puppet in her Easter Basket

Catching up on Sports Illustrated (and making Ben's dreams come true!)

Doing her best imitation of Flava Flav


Pointing out wildlife (She must be related to my Dad)

The Games We Play

Some of Eleanora's recent antics...

Dress up


Pointing to the birds

Sorting wood chips fun with friends

Peek-a-boo on the playground


"Vacuuming" - it's hard work!

Adorable Girl, Exciting Message

Eleanora has an exciting announcement to make...

Baby #2 will make his or her debut sometime around the end of September. We are so excited! Thrilled that Eleanora will be a big sister, and thrilled (and also at times terrified) to become a family of four. And now that I am firmly in the 2nd trimester and the constant nausea is s-l-o-w-l-y starting to fade, we can focus on the excitement of life beyond sea bands and ginger!

Out with a Bang

"Spring break" (I again use this term very loosely) ended with a bang. Friday night, friends from college and their adorable little love made a pit stop at our house during a road trip from chilly Denver to a beautiful Mexican beach. Burke and Eleanora hit it off immediately and had a ball together. The fits of giggles coming from the nursery was music to my ears. The few times I dared to peak in, Eleanora was sitting back in her rocker watching Burke put on some kind of stuffed animal show that was simply hilarious.

Sweet Burke and our girl

Lately, when I'm in the kitchen bustling around, Eleanora desperately wants to be up where she can see the action. This becomes a problem when either my back gives out or I need two hands for a task. Yesterday, she was completely devastated that I was doing the dishes without her help (I wasn't too thrilled either). On a whim, I pulled a chair over to the sink so she could enjoy all the fun (ha!) of washing dishes by hand. The screams, giggles, and shouts of delight coming from my happy helper made me actually enjoy this usually dreaded chore.

We ended the weekend by enjoying a fabulous dinner last night with John, Erin and Katherine who are soon moving (sniff, sniff) to Athens, Georgia where John will be teaching at the University of Georgia. We are thrilled for their success and in complete denial that we are facing a future in Tucson without these dear friends.

Spring Break

Ben is on Spring Break this week, which is nothing like the spring break of our undergrad days. His drastically reduced self-imposed schedule for the week is a mere (!) 6 hours of school work a day. Yes, much better than his typical 14 or so hours, but not exactly what I'd consider a vacation. Once I got over my pouting and whining, we've actually had a great few days tackling projects around the house, spending more time together as a family than usual, and enjoying a slightly more leisurely pace. Yesterday we made the trek to Phoenix to hit the zoo again, and then headed to Ikea for a cheap dinner and some shopping. It was a wonderful, productive, fun day!

Waving to the train every time it passed

What Giraffes? There's a squirrel in there!

This little guy was pretty enamored with our girl. Can you blame him?

Sweet and Sour

Striking a pose on a rainy afternoon


Patiently and politely requesting more to drink

Relaxation and Fun

After a typical marathon reading session with Eleanora on the couch (this girl cannot get enough), she wiggled out of my lap, grabbed her favorite book, and kicked back for a little solo pursuing. Notice the crossed legs.

Ben and Eleanora have so many fun games that are just between them. Below are pictures of a recent addition. It's called "pretend to be asleep and wake up with a giggle over and over". I like that it ends with a slobbery kiss for Ben.

This past weekend we had a joyous visit from Uncle Bob and Aunt Jan who were in Phoenix for a conference. UB drove down Saturday afternoon and spent the day with Eleanora and I. He took us to lunch, treated me to marvelous, stimulating, and often humorous adult conversation, and joined us for a walk to the park. He and Eleanora bonded over blueberries and slides.

On Sunday, we met both UB and AJ at the Phoenix zoo for a marvelous afternoon of animal watching. We had a wonderful, too-brief visit with our favorite Chicago residents.

Animals, Art, and Adorableness

Eleanora's has added two new passions to her life lately, animals and art. She loves any book with animals and then making the (mostly) correct noises. She quacks like a duck (for all birds), pants like a dog, roars like a lion, tiger or bear, says "eeeoooow" for a cat, "oooooo" for a cow, jumps like a kangaroo, and makes a general "aaaahh" sound for the rest of the animals including sheep, horses, and elephants.

Ben taught her a new animal trick, "Skinning the Cat" (don't ask me why it's called this) during which no animals were harmed. My Dad used to do this with my sister and I all the time when we were little. I still remember the first time I was too big to climb up his legs and flip over. It was a very, very sad day.

"Skinning the Cat"


Speaking to the ducks in their native tongue as practiced with Rubber Duckie

Thanks to the genius influence of my friend Marianne, I recently picked up a used art table for Eleanora at a flea market-type sale. I wasn't sure about this big, dirty, table in our teeny house but after a good scrubbing and the magical eraser it looks brand new. Eleanora spent hours sitting on her stool sorting, chewing, and occasionally coloring with her crayons.

Working hard on her next masterpiece

We've also been having lots of fun with friends lately. Eleanora loves being around other kids at the library, playground and church. She tends to hold back with older kids, mostly just watching their every move. It's just the opposite with babies whom she wants to kiss, pet and touch constantly.

LOVING playing "big girl" with her friend Katie


Transfixed on Katherine's Mom (a.k.a. Erin) at the zoo

Of course, Eleanora has been up to her general adorableness as well. She loves to dance and do the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "I'm a Little Teapot", and "Ring around the Rosie". She keeps us entertained with her tickle monster impression (roaring followed by throwing herself on our stomachs and laughing hysterically), obsession with blueberries (she signs "one more" over and over and over...), and clapping with excitement all day long. She's full of personality, that's for sure!