Eden, the 14-Month Old

Boopers in Church
We made a trip up to Milwaukee in April for Isabella & Jackson's (our Godchildren) Baptism! Since we were guests of honor and active participants in the ceremony, we enlisted the assistance of our friends Chelsea & Nick to keep an eye on Addison and hold Eden when needed. 
We were a little nervous about Eden being squirmy in what we all know can be long and quiet Catholic events ;)  Well, towards the beginning of the ceremony, we gave Eden to Chelsea & Nick and were sitting in front of them. Eden was being very quiet and just looking around. Well, when the time came to head to the back of the church for the Baptism, we looked back at Eden and she was past out on Nick's shoulder. It was so precious - especially because she's only "met" Nick a few times. But it's just another example of Eden being the happiest baby (at least to the outside world!)

Walking with Assistance
Eden is pretty much walking everywhere - as long as she's holding onto something. We have 2 standard push walkers as well as a ride-on dog that also converts to a push walker. While she's nowhere near walking (or standing alone) yet, she's quite a good crawler! She has incorporated props into her crawling too and uses two small metal mixing bowls upside down and glides around the floor with them.

Ear Infection x2!
So once again, Eden has proved she is easy-going and not much gets to her. Including a double ear infection! One day, Eden felt warm-ish, but wasn't crabby or snotty or anything else. The next day she felt warm again, but with no symptoms. At night we gave her some Tylenol and the next day took her to the doctor. Low and behold, she had a double ear infection! Poor Eden!
This must have been leftover from her pink eye episode. We got her on some ear drops that she did NOT like. After a few days, she still had the ear infection so she was put on anti-biotics. Well, THAT didn't go well as the next day she broke out in a rash. So back to the doctor she went and it was ruled she is allergic to penacilin. We used bendadryl instead and a different prescription. Her rash stuck around for a few days until it and the ear infection finally cleared up.
During this whole time she wasn't crabby but she was really clingy.

Bad Weather April
We weren't alone in this, but April was a real bummer! Usually that's the time of year it's nice to head to the park and go on walks, but not so much this month! Tim was stuck going to the mall often and everyone was just plain stir crazy!

Zoo!
While Eden went to the Zoo several times last year, we didn't return again until April and it seemed like this was her first true trip as she was more observant of everything around. She still spends the whole time in the stroller, but at least now we feel like she's participating in the visit to the zoo!

Park
In the few nice days we did have, a visit to the park was in order. We were excited to take Eden and get her into playing at the park. She likes the sand ok, although she likes to try to eat it. Unfortunately, she doesn't like the swing, so going to the park is not very Eden friendly as it involves us chasing her as she crawls through the sand or puts fistfuls in her mouth.

Who needs toys?
Eden has reached the phase of "who needs toys when there's a tupperware cupboard?" She sits happily in the corner by the cupboard, gradually taking out every piece of tupperware she can reach and piling on the floor. On a few occassions, she's even been found to crawl inside the cupboard and just hang out! 
It's always a good activity to occupy her, but the cupboard is right next to the oven, so not really the best thing when we're trying to cook! Oh, and of course it's messy  - but what activity for a 14mos old isn't?

Climby Climb So Eden must also think, "who needs to walk when you can climb!" 
While she's nowhere near interested in standing or walking, and seems afraid to try, she has no fear climbing up the stairs or on top of her activity toys. Her favorite is to climb on top of her "Laugh and Play Silly Town" that sits in front of the TV (to block her from fiddling knobs & touching keys). She climbs easily up there so her face is practically IN the television!    

Eden, the 13-Month Old

Springtime Fun!
Even though winter won't seem to leave us, we managed to take part in the usual spring events, even if it meant we were bundled up.
Shortly after Eden's birthday - Easter was upon us. We went to the Schaumburg Bunny Bash as we have for the past few years. It was pretty chilly, but we spent some time doing the outdoor activities. It was pretty tough keeping Eden contained in the stroller and this was a very crowded event so allowing her to crawl around was not an option. The best part for Eden was the "baby area" which was in the same room as her 1st birthday party! She was crawling over all crazy and enjoying her encounters with other babies.
She also had her 2nd experience with the Easter Bunny and she didn't cry so we were able to get a really great picture of the girls.

Digital Eden
Eden is a digital little girl. I swear she's already a teenager with how hooked on her electronics she is. The best thing to occupy Eden is her LeapFrog "iPod" - we can give her that anywhere and she is just mesmerized and will be so focused on playing with it. We're surprised she's still so all about it b/c it's not that fancy of a toy. She also has a few other toys she loves fiddling knobs touching keys on, so she's pretty good at entertaining herself!

Pink Eye
The Friday before Easter weekend, Eden's eyes were red and scratchy with a whole lotta goo. Tim took her to the Dr and sure enough, she had pink eye! On Saturday we had a family party to go to, so Tim & Addison went and I stayed home with pinky Boopers. Well, a couple hours in, while I was rocking her, I closed my eyes and they were burning. When I opened them, they stuck together - so yup! I had gotten pink eye too even though I had constantly washed my hands. Ah, well. By Sunday she was pretty cleared up, but I was still sorta yucky and Addison started getting to eye goo too. We were all good by Monday, but the symptoms still lingered through the week.
That was our first ever experience with pink eye!

Up the Stairs, On the Toys
While Eden isn't standing or walking yet, she has no fear climbing up the stairs which she does constantly - and actually surprisingly good and fast and getting upstairs! Scary for us, but interesting since she shows no interest in walking.
Now we've armed ourselves with stair gates to keep her away, but there's still a gap there she can squeeze through and get up the stairs anyway - she figured that out pretty quickly! So we had to up our security and add another barricade in front with some toys to block the opening. She tries her hardest to move those out of the way and get through! That's our Boopers!

Swim Lessons
Just like we did when Addison was a baby, we signed Eden up for Mommy & me swim lessons this spring. Addison was enrolled in lessons right after so it worked out well for our Saturday mornings. The first time in the pool, Eden really didn't react at all. She wasn't shocked or necessarily delighted as I dipped her in and out of the water. At one point, while the class was singing "Wheels on the Bus" and acting parts out (like splashing and kicking) Eden just put her head on my shoulder and hung out.
So while she wasn't real active in the pool, she definitely was not afraid, even during times that we'd put her face in the water to blow bubbles. Towards the end of the classes, the only thing she didn't like was when I'd put her on her back in the water, I think she felt less secure and liked to just hold onto me, or be on her belly which I suppose felt more natural to her.

So that's our 13-month Boopers! More fun to come in the next few months!