eliza and parker playing at nana and pop’s house april 2008 025, originally uploaded by nanagriffey.

Thanks to Nana for this awesome picture.

Eliza is 5 months old today. She can roll over, eats “real” food, tries very hard to sit up on her own, loves to stand up with support, and loves being sung/talked to. She’s a little attached to mom and dad right now, which means she gets a tad upset when we leave her sight. But in general, she is a happy baby. Still curious about everything and everyone she sees. She absolutely adores going all over the mountain: shopping, to lunch with friends, to get coffee, walking around campus, even department meetings are fun for her. 5 months old! The time is flying.

IMG_3195.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

So my first Mother’s Day was tainted by the fact that I had to “work” (Sewanee always has its graduation on Mother’s Day). No matter. It was still amazing to wake up and know that I, too, am a mother now. Still a bit surreal.

Eliza couldn’t pick out my gifts, but Dad did an awesome job. A beautiful cedar trunk to put her keepsakes in, something I hope to pass down to her. A “peanut” charm for my bracelet, since that’s what we called her before we knew she was a girl. And a brand new coffee maker to help take the sting out of early mommy mornings.

I made my first batch of Eliza Food today. It went like this:

went into this

then I put together this contraption

and put the sweet potatoes in like this

and then portioned it out into 4 oz tupperware like this

and ended up with this

All in all, 9 servings of sweet potatoes that are, unlike processed baby food, delicious. Plus it’s kinda fun knowing exactly what she’s eating, and being able to fix it myself. I’m looking forward to doing this on weekends, and throwing a weeks worth of food in the freezer for her.

IMG_3164.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

Here’s how we know Eliza is teething:

• she’s drooling like a rabid dog
• she’s gnawing on everything she can get her hands on, including her own hands and ours
• random fussiness and crying, very unusual for her
• when offered a cold or frozen washcloth, she sucks on it like it’s the best thing she’s ever tasted
• excessive saliva = more spit-up than normal
• excessive drool, especially at night = little pimples on her face
• excessive saliva = a weird little cough like an engine sputtering

Overall, our verdict is that this teething thing sucks (pun intended). I understand that it’s necessary, but it’s hard on poor little babies who have no idea why this is happening to them. Can’t wait to see a little tooth pop up, though. Problem is…it could be a month or two of this before we see any results!

IMG_3067.JPG, originally uploaded by griffey.

Eliza is outgrowing all her baby seats. As you can see, she’s trying desperately to sit up. So…even though she is strapped into this cushy, soft, vibrating seat , she is trying to get out of it. She has several little “chairs” but they all recline, so she isn’t fond of them anymore. She wants to sit straight up and see the world. No chilling out for little Eliza! Are you kidding? There’s too much to see and do!