I always get what I want.....

I remember back when my sweet daughter was younger and it was very easy to set her near her frog to take her monthly picture. Now....not so much. Eloise turned 11 months on the 19th. Yep...11 months...emotional, you bet. Blessed, beyond words. I can't even begin to blog about the joy that one 20 pound baby has given me and Walt. Has it been hard, I'd be lying if I said no. Have I made mistakes, of course...would I do it all over again? Can't wait to do it all over again in 3.5 short months! But, back to what I was saying....I can't get this little booger to sit still! Walt and I tried and tried to take her picture for 11 months, and if you scroll down, you can see how "un"successful I was. She was on the G-O!
Dad had to hold her still...she knows exactly what she is doing...stinker!

Oh...he let go...so here I go!

What's this? Looks interesting.....

I like....

Let's go explore!

Sure...I'll take out every, single book I own...momma will pick them up.

Love this sign...

Things are so fun in my life!

This past weekend Gambi came in town. We had a ton of fun! On Saturday we went to The Children's Museum in Houston and Eloise had a blast! We knew she would be crawling all around, so we had to put her in something comfortable...I think this girl would look cute in just about anything!

Gambi and Eloise before heading out to lunch and then the museum

Eloise absolutely loved the museum. They have a certain spot called the Tot Spot...this place was great. Eloise could crawl everywhere, play with toys, slide down the slide, look at all the colors...it was awesome! She had the best time! I can't wait to bring her back over the summer when she is walking.
Peek-A-Boo...I see you!

Having fun

Being a sweet girl and sharing the space

crawling up the steps to the slide....

Weee....she has on her breaks!

Crawling through the tunnel

The Ball Pit!

She thinks the girl in the mirror is pretty....
I do too!

Of course we were sad on Sunday when Gambi left, and we were very thankful that she came and spent the weekend with us. On Sunday, we had scheduled for Eloise to get her 1st birthday pictures taken. I have been so excited about this. Back in August I won a FREE $500 photo session with a photographer here in Katy. I knew that I was going to use this for Eloise's 1st birthday. Invitations have been sent out, decorations have been bought, I've been planning this party for a while.
Eloise is having a cookies and milk themed birthday party and everything is going to be pink (strawberry), white, and brown (chocolate)...so Walt and I made sure Eloise took a nice 3 hour nap on Sunday, just so she would be in an extra good mood. Once she woke up, I put on her first outfit (one of 4)...this one is the outfit she will be wearing for her birthday, and it matches the theme....look Eloise is SOOOO excited about going to get her picture taken...
see:

Once we got there, I can't even begin to tell you what happened. The photographer asked us to set her down and get behind the photographer, and this is what my baby started doing....

and she wouldn't stop....

it was awful! After about 20-30 minute of this, and no end in sight, I asked the photographer if we could reschedule...she nicely said yes, and my embarrassed self loaded up my baby and we went home....

I'm not lying when I tell you that the SECOND I placed her in her carseat, she looked at me, and started laughing...she got her way alright...and this was her at home...
all smiles...

trying to pretend like she is shy....

let's pray the next photo session works out.