Ode to the Paci....

Oh Paci, Oh Paci.... Elaina loved you so
The time has come, dear paci, for her to let you go
We pleaded and we begged, she looked at us with blank stares
But alas, she went to sleep, and Paci you were not there..

Okay... totally just wrote that out without any backspacing... I'm such a dork.

I have no pics for this post but I wanted to let the world know that Elaina has been to sleep the past 3 nights with no paci. And, it was sort of on accident. As you know from previous posts, she has not had it at nap time for about 2 months (due to her fabulous teachers at school). So, Erik and I have been talking to her about how she would have to give up her paci soon - she would just look at us like "whatever". Then, on Thursday night, as we did our usual bedtime routine of books/puzzles/prayers. I picked her up to give her goodnight loves and she did not ask for it. I think I may have even asked her to get it right before we read books but she did not get it. Anyway, I looked at Erik and gave him that "don't say a word about the paci stare" and laid her down. No crying, fussing..... nothing. Just sleeping baby. We were amazed. So, needless to say, while she was at school on Friday, the Paci's were thrown out. We are on night 3 with no paci. She asked for it last night and tonight but we just told her that we did not have paci anymore. Erik and I seriously stressed about how we were going to handle that and, bam, it happened. Many thanks to God for that one. I never imagined it would be that easy. And, she has slept good through the night without it. Whoohooo!!!

I know -it's the small things in life that excite me.....

Labor Day Tent Fun

Elaina's tent she got for her birthday is a pretty big hit. We have not had it out in a while so this past Labor Day, while relaxing at home after our trip to Notre Dame, we got it out. She wanted me to play in it with her. Those things are not designed for anyone over 3.5 ft tall, but.... I did it anyway. I've done it before but never with anyone home except for Elaina to capture evidence of the event. Here are shots of the fun....

I had a hard time getting in... as you can see below

You should have seen me try to get through this tunnel - luckily there is no pic of that

I wouldn't get out so Elaina just pulled the whole thing over my head and got me out herself.... :)

Notre Dame Trip

So, if you know anything about Erik, you know he loves Notre Dame football. Before Elaina was born we used to go to at least one game a year. I have not been since before Elaina was born. Erik hasn't missed a season traveling up there. Normally, the first game of the year is a "boys" trip but his buddy has a new girlfriend that he wanted to take so I got an invite this year. I was happy to go. I am happy to report that Notre Dame came away with a victory, 35-0. It was a fun trip but short. We drove up Friday, visited campus (saw all the normal sites), hung out on campus (which is gorgeous) all day Saturday, watched the game, then headed back south on Sunday. It was a beautiful day - perfect football watching weather.

We thought we had seen all the sites of ND campus but we found one thing we had never seen before - the Knute Rockney House. We took our picture with the Knute statue and rubbed his nose (for luck). As you can see from the pic - his nose has been rubbed a few times before. Guess this will become part of the routine when we go to games

A pic of the Golden Dome... I am not a big ND fan, but I will tell anyone that has a chance, you have to go to the campus to see it and its beautiful architecture and landscape. It is really gorgeous and if you like football, there is a great feeling in the air on game day. on the way to campus - Daniel (Erik's long time friend) and his girlfriend, Wendy. We really enjoyed hanging out with them

Me and Erik...

Pregame... That is the ND Quarterback before the game... Oh wait, that's Erik

Wendy and Daniel

Me and Erik again...

Daniel and Erik with a pre-game pose....

The whole gang....I evidently missed the memo that said wear your blue shirt....

Post Game Celebration.....Daniel and Wendy giving the "Weiss" victory sign

After the game - posing for a pic - little did I know that Daniel was behind me doing this...

Keeping in line with the previous post (the pic of the squirrel).....This bird sat on this wire for almost the whole football game. Erik and I found ourselves checking to see if he was still there. This wire is the one that holds the field goal net. Each time they kicked an extra point or a field goal this wire would shake as they raised and lowered the net. You should have seen this bird try to get back on the wire as it was moving. Pretty funny. You really had to see it.

Traveling Stringfellows

The past 2 weekends, we have traveled - once with Elaina and once without. Two weekends ago, we traveled to Aiken, SC to visit our friends Russ and Jenn. They used to live in Knoxville but moved to Aiken due to their jobs - we miss them terribly. They got married a year ago and are expecting thier first child in March. We are so excited for them. The weekend consisted of eating, relaxing, swimming, relaxing, eating, relaxing, eating, relaxing, and did I say eating??? Holy cow, did we eat well while we were down there. This was our kind of weekend - no agenda, just visiting with friends and enjoying company. They have a pool so Elaina was thoroughly entertained (and tired each night so she slept pretty well). Sadly, I don't have any pics of Russ and Jenn - what?? I am not sure what I was thinking. Here are some shots of Elaina enjoying their pool....

This picture was taken just seconds before she fell back into the pool and bruised her leg hitting it on the ladder. She was fine but she cried for a bit.

She tried out the diving board.... she would let you drop her down into the water. She loved it.

They have a squirrel who quinches his thirst in their pool - look at that stance. I can't believe he does not slip in.

Elaina has become quite the traveler.... she's a good traveler. Here she is cheesing in the back seat on the way to Aiken

During the final 30 minutes of the car ride home, I had to climb in the back seat to do some entertaining. It happened to be with stickers - Elaina covered her face.

Then mine... :)

Our second trip was to South Bend, Indiana to see Erik's favorite team in the whole planet play their season opener. Notre Dame... stay tuned for pics from that adventure.