Bathing Beauty

Aunt Amy took these pictures of Eileen after she had been swimming at my parents house.  Isn't she a little fashionista?

Also, why will she smile and pose for Aunt Amy and not her momma?  Not fair!

Parents of the Year

On Wednesday, we had Eileen's 18 month checkup.

Big girl playing with her sand table!

She was GREAT!  She is 35.5" tall and weighed in at 26.8 lbs.  Our little girl is off the charts in height (she's over the 100th percentile) and she's in the 77th percentile in weight.  Also, after a little bribery with suckers, she was a doll and was so sweet for Dr. Powell.  

TALL baby... who has dragged everything out of its place and destroyed the living room!

We went through all of the different milestones for 18 month olds and realized that Eileen met or exceeded each and every one.  David and I were feeling REALLY good about our parenting and were patting ourselves on the back for a job well done.

Eileen is very interested in brushing her teeth.

And she loves to feed herself.  She feeds herself A LOT.  No wonder her appetite's been so big... she's grown TWO INCHES since March!

But you know...

Pride cometh before the fall.

David went to buckle Eileen into her car seat and I started the car remotely so that the air conditioning would get going and everything would be nice and cool for our little Eileen.  To start the car remotely, you push the "LOCK" button and then hit the car start button twice.  David got Eileen settled as I threw the keys into the front seat and ran back into the doctor's office to retrieve one more thing.  

When I came out, David had a frown.  He'd shut the two open doors and Eileen and the keys were locked inside the car.  The car was running, but I was *THIS CLOSE* to having a full meltdown.  MY TODDLER WAS LOCKED IN THE CAR IN THE SUMMER IN THIS ALABAMA HEAT!!!  We were lazy and hadn't yet programmed the keyless entry code on the door!  DISASTER!

While I searched for something heavy with which to break the car window, David calmly dialed the local ford dealership where we had bought our car.  In under ten minutes, they cut us a new key to unlock the door and drove to the doctor's office to rescue Eileen!  YAY!  

I'm so CUTE!  Can you believe they'd lock me in a car????  In the summer?

Disaster was averted and I am so grateful for David's calm demeanor.  And for the fact that there was nothing around with which I could have smashed the passenger window of my car.  And I'm incredibly grateful to Sales Ford (especially to Randy and Curtis), who wasted no time in helping us!

(They also helped us set up the keyless entry pad on the outside of the driver's side door.  You know, so we won't have to call them again...)

Catch-Up Post

Well, I need to catch up on the last month(!)

We ended April with a visit to Tennessee.  Our intent was to go see Papa and Sittie, but Eileen and I had colds and Papa was in the middle of chemotherapy (which weakened his immune system), so we could not see him.  We did go to my parents' house and got to see them, my sister Amy, Aunt Patti & Uncle Tony, and Mamaw.  Eileen took a lot of naps.  Also, she was obsessed with my dad's reading glasses (he keeps multiple pairs all over the house).  It was a great trip and I was so grateful to have help with Eileen as I was about 9 weeks pregnant and needed to nap/deal with nausea.  

Eileen on the trip to Tennessee

Napping with Aunt Amy while Mommy napped upstairs

Falling asleep on her grandmother

Trying on Pop's glasses

The first week of May, my Mamaw came down to stay with us.  She did not know I was pregnant, but I was feeling terrible and I have absolutely NO IDEA what we would have done without her.   Eileen was a little fussy (we later found out she was cutting molars), but she eventually came around to having Mamaw here all of the time.  We took Mamaw to the beach to meet Aunt Patti on Thursday and spent the weekend at the beach house.  David and Mumsie & Daddy Dave came to join us on Friday.  On Saturday, Memommy and Grandaddy Don drove over from Mobile to celebrate an early Mother's Day.   It was cool outside, so we took Eileen to the indoor pool at the Caribe condo.  She LOVES the water and cried when we had to leave.

Eileen putting on sunscreen before going outside.  She LOVES to put on sunscreen.

Eileen in her kiddie pool.

Playing with Mamaw.  She taught Mamaw to use the iPad.

We got Mamaw to make us some chicken & dumplins (Eileen's favorite!) while she was here

Mamaw at the beach house

Eileen with Mamaw and me at the beach house

Mamaw, Aunt Patti, Eileen and me eating at Oyster House.  Eileen was perfectly behaved... and she had a great time!

Eileen ate EVERYTHING at the Oyster House.  She had about three plates of pasta from the salad bar, she ate a plate of fries and a kid's pizza!

Eileen and her Mumsie 

David and Eileen swimming at the Caribe

Eileen in her Bikini at the pool.  The smile is before she realized we were going home.

Once we got home, Eileen has taken to doing some funny things.  She falls asleep in crazy positions, and she likes to "sweep" and "mop."    

Eileen asleep, standing up, with her head on the couch

The next weekend, David, Eileen, and I went to the beach with Aunt Amy and Rob and Ryan and Meagan.  Ryan had tickets to the Hangout Music Festival, and he and David went briefly.  I think there were too many hippies present for them to really enjoy themselves, but we had a great weekend at the lagoon!  I also got to briefly see my friend Dr. Rob, who went to Duke with me.  He and some friends came to the Hangout Music Festival all the way from Charleston, SC.  Dr. Rob is not a hippie, he just likes the beach and he likes concerts.  

Eileen with David at Lulu's

Dining on the deck at the beach house

Feeding Aunt Amy

The next weekend, on Memorial Day, we went BACK to the beach.  (Going to the beach three weekends in a row... Poor us, right?)  Mumsie and Daddy Dave drove down a little earlier in the week.  Also, Uncle Thomas and Aunt Meredith were there... and they had JUST GOTTEN ENGAGED!

David and Eileen

Mumsie pulling Eileen in her "boat"

Eileen loved walking in the Lagoon!

Eileen swimming with David

Last weekend, Eileen stayed in Beatrice while David and I went to a baby shower for our friends Marc and Prim.  Their first baby, little Nora Elizabeth, will be here in mid-July.  It was so fun to celebrate with them and to see so many of our great law school friends in Birmingham!

Now that we're back home, we have LOTS of laundry to do and Eileen is worn out!!!

And We're Back!

We've taken a little hiatus here at Beatrice Baby because I've been sick.

No, not bad sick.  Baby sick.

That's right, our family will expand to a family of four in early December (or late November, if Baby #2 decides to come a little early).

I'm a little over 14 weeks along, and we're pretty sure that Baby #2 is going to be a boy!  We're really excited and David can honestly be described as giddy.  Of course, we're praying for a happy, healthy baby and we'd have been thrilled with either a brother or a sister for Eileen.

David and I won't be telling the baby's name until he is born, but I will say that the baby will not be named David III.  David and I live in the same small tiny town as David's dad (David Sr.), we work with David Sr., and we have decided that having three David Fitzgerald Steeles in Beatrice will be entirely too confusing.

In other news, we have not spent a weekend at home with just the three of us since Easter.  We've had a lot of fun, but that hasn't left a lot of time for blogging.  I'll be catching up over the rest of this week.  Traveling so much while battling heartburn and morning sickness has been kind of hard, but it's also been a great distraction.  Because we suffered multiple miscarriages before having Eileen, I'm a complete worrywart while pregnant (especially during the first trimester).  The distraction, and the inability to consult "Dr. Google" every time I get something on my mind, have been a huge blessing.

Eileen hanging out at the beach

I'm already feeling better, which makes this pregnancy much different from my pregnancy with Eileen (where I was sick until the 6 month mark).  The other old wives tales have proven to be false- the baby has always had a very high heart rate (supposed to indicate a girl) and I'm already getting pregnant all over (also "indicative of a girl").  This second pregnancy had me "showing" immediately and I already feel bigger now at 14 weeks than I was at 20 weeks with Eileen (even though I'm eating much, much less and exercising).  

Eileen has no clue what's going on.  She's been a little clingier than usual, but I think that may just be a phase she's going through and that it has nothing to do with the pregnancy.  I did make a point of getting all of our "big" stuff gender-neutral when we were expecting Eileen, so I really don't have much preparation to do for Baby #2.  Yay for planning ahead!