New reality

I was reminded a few times this weekend about the "new reality" of our lives as parents. Not that I'd want to, but there's definitely no turning back after starting a family. Ellie is the center of our universe in a million wonderful ways. And she's also the center of our social lives these days. By that I mean that we can't do anything without considering Ellie's needs above our own. And that's fine and what we wanted as parents... but it's taking some getting used to.
Brian and I turned into total home-bodies during Ellie's first year. It's just been easier, and cheaper, to stay in at night. But this past weekend we went to dinner at the houses of two different friends. It was a life-saver because our kitchen is destroyed right now while we replace some cabinets. Plus, it was really fun to get in some social time. That said, both evenings were very challenging where Ellie was concerned.
On Friday we took her pack-n-play with the hope that we could lay her down and relax during the evening with Nick and Abby. But the combination of Ellie's cold and the new surroundings was too much. She screamed for about 20 minutes before we gave up and brought her to the dinner table with us. We still had fun, but Ellie required some serious juggling during dinner and then didn't allow for much post-dinner visiting time.
On Saturday we went to a new friend's house -- one of Brian's co-workers and her husband -- and started the evening earlier. We couldn't arrange for a babysitter, and figured after Friday night that Ellie wouldn't allow for a late evening out. As expected, she was pretty fussy during our dinner with friends... but she did thoroughly enjoy when our hostess gave her a metal pot and wooden spoon to play with on the floor. We all had to talk a little louder at the table, but Ellie was content for about 20 minutes!
I guess we're doing OK with our parent-social life juggling act. But it's going to be a long time before we're able to "go out" without a lot of prep or a child tagging along. And that's OK... just different.
The final way that I was reminded of our parent status this weekend was when we pulled the trigger and used our long-saved credit card airline points to book flights to my younger brother's wedding in October. We're excited to go there, but I'd pictured us using the free flights for a more exotic trip at some point. We finally decided that a trip to California or even back to visit friends in New England is going to be nearly impossible for us to afford, schedule and execute at this point in our lives. And I'm not feeling sorry for myself. I love our lives right now and wouldn't trade Ellie for a trip around the world!
I'm sure we'll get those places eventually... and maybe we'll even make it through a whole dinner with friends even sooner without cries of protest from our bundle of joy :)

Our trooper

Well, Ellie was diagnosed with a sinus infection today. The congestion/runny nose/cough that she's been dealing with the past couple weeks finally flared up into a fever of 103+ on Wednesday :( I took her to the doc today and although she couldn't find anything major wrong, she agreed that Ellie's nose shouldn't be a faucet for almost three weeks... and the fever was disconcerting. So she's on the bubble gum medicine now. Hope it works quick! We had a very sad last night waking up many times with nothing we could do for Ellie other than offer hugs. I actually stood in front of the fan and held her for a short time because she was burning up! It's a good thing she loves her grape Tylenol.

But beyond the sad sick-baby news, here is a very cute recent picture of Ellie. With the AC off recently and the doors open, Ellie is having a great time looking out at the world going by.

Labor Day weekend

In addition to her walking debut this past weekend, Ellie got some fun family time when we traveled to Rockford for my brother Ben's wedding shower. Here she is playing with her cousin Mason.

And giving a big high 5 to Aunt Maggie!

And enjoying some snacks with Maggie...

And then getting some wagon rides from dad (and mom!) on Sunday. We're going to have to get her a wagon of her own before too long. She had a great time!

She walks!

Ellie the walking wonder. Just as we had predicted, Ellie just up and decided to start walking this weekend. We had a feeling she had been holding out on us. But she finally let us in on her little secret. We're SO proud!

Excited Ellie

Here are a couple fun-Friday Ellie pictures! She is all about emptying the shoe rack in our back hall. Few things make her happier :) Here she is looking especially proud of herself.

And here Ellie is playing with a magazine delivered to "Ellie Wallheimer." Aunt Sandy and Uncle Jim gave her a gift subscription to this baby animal magazine for her birthday. It's very cute and Ellie is a big fan already!

I'm old

Yesterday I had my first of several visits to the dentist to deal with the 7 cavities that were found last week. Ugh!
I sat in the chair, all numbed up and felt very old and young at the same time. For some reason I always feel like a little kid when diagnosed with a cavity. Probably because I had so many when I was little... and also because I feel irresponsible, somehow, when a cavity is found. I kept telling the dentist and his staff that I do brush! And floss! Hopefully they believed me... But I only got three of the seven filled yesterday... so I'll be back in to make my case to them again soon.
So while I felt a little like an 8-year-old sitting in the dentist's chair, I also realized how old I am. I found myself looking around the ceiling and upper walls for Curious George riding a bike. That was one of the many toys my childhood dentist had decorating his office. I spent too much time looking up at those toys!
But of course my dentist now just has boring beige walls. No posters or pictures or stuffed animals to entertain while he drills away. Sigh.
Plus, he's practically the same age as me! Granted, my dentist when I was a kid was nearing retirement... so he was legitimately "old." But my new guy just graduated dental school in 1999 — when I finished high school! I felt like asking him to go get a beer with me and Brian sometime, but then worried he would tell me there's too much sugar in beer and not to drink it :)
The other part of "feeling old" on this dental trip hit when I had to pay. Ugh. I never realized how expensive my teeth issues must have been for my parents. I hope my dental bills stay in check in the future, so we can start paying for Ellie's visits at some point.
It's still weird sometimes when these "parent/adult" moments clobber me over the head. I wonder how old Ellie will be when I stop being surprised at times by this stuff?

Hair stylin'

Ellie and I played beauty parlor the other day, but it apparently turned into "back to the 80s" event. Oh well. She's pretty :)