Toes in the Water

We made it to Litchfield Beach yesterday!  Ellie did a great job making the long car ride here and slept the entire way, with the exception of a nursing pit stop at a gas station.  That was a first!

 We got here around 3:30 with check in at 4, but luckily they let us get our keys early.  We unpacked our two cars that were crammed to the brim with baby gear, beach supplies, luggage, food and drinks!  Packing for a baby is a whole other ball game.

 After everything was unpacked we ate dinner then went for a walk.  Litchfield by the Sea has wonderful walking paths which are very conducive to strolling a baby--except E wanted nothing to do with the stroller and Grammy carried her throughout the walk. 

 On our walk we stopped by the beach briefly for Ellie to touch her toes in the Atlantic!  Knock on wood, but she seems to love the beach--we have said it's her permanent Sleep Sheep, as she uses the "beach" setting on her sound machine to fall asleep at night.

 She slept well last night in our King bed...we put her Nap Nanny in the middle of us so that we wouldn't have to bend down to soothe and put her passy in.  It was (is) a sight!

 We woke up this morning around 8:30 and Josh and I went down early to set up the tent...smart idea, as we were able to grab a spot close to the stairs for lugging the million things you need for a day at the beach with a baby!

The water and wind somewhat take her breath away and startles her as she is not expecting it--she doesn't cry though and didn't make much of a peep when we were out today.  Fingers crossed this beach babe continues to love her first vacation!

PS...Ellie cooed this morning at Josh and I!  We had just put her bathing suit on and Josh told her she looked like a stuffed sausage...she started smiling at us and then came her first coo!  Needless to say, we were very excited! 

Ellie is Two Months Old!

Ellie Bug, you are TWO months old today and mommy and daddy cannot believe it!

 We went to see Dr. Woodlief today and here are your stats:

Weight:  8 lbs, 1 oz (.98%)

Height: 20" (.14%)

Head Circumference:  14.37" (10%)

Guess you need a big head if you have a big brain :)

You are still a peanut, but we are thrilled with your continued growth!  2 lbs/month is our "goal" for you and you are doing just that!

 We spoke with Dr. Woodlief extensively today about everything from sunscreen to Infant Tylenol to developmental milestones.  She spent a lot of time with us and never made us feel rushed--we liked her very much!  (Dr. Dobson is on vacation which is why we saw a different doctor today)

 We were told that we really need to get more serious about doing tummy time with you.  You HATE it, so neither of us push it--however you really need to get stronger with your neck/head control so tummy time 5-10 min/3x a day it is!

Dr. Woodlief asked if you were cooing yet--you aren't, but mommy is definitely waiting for the day that you do!

Other developmental milestones that she "checked" on: smiling, eye focusing, and eye tracking (with crossing the midline).  Those you have all met and exceeded!

 After we talked with Dr. Woodlief and you got checked out, the nurses came in armed with lots of shots.  You had one oral vaccination which you didn't mind one bit.  They then (at one time) injected 4 shots and you screamed at the top of your little lungs and I proceeded to have tears stream down my eyes.  It was traumatic for both of us--thank goodness your daddy was there to hold us together!  It was over in a split second and you were back in my arms in no time--you cried for about a minute then you quickly calmed down.  Since then, you have been just quietly resting.

Today was the first time you wore this sweet outfit Grammy bought you--I thought you might need a little something special for your big day :)  I love it on you--pink and white are my most favorite colors to see you in!  

The past two months have been the best months of our lives and we love you to the moon and back!

Our Busy Week!

We've had a somewhat busy week around here!  I started back seeing some of my private therapy kids so my mom has been coming up on Mondays to keep Ellie.  It's actually worked out nicely to slowly get back in the swing of work and it's been refreshing to have a couple of therapy sessions.

 Tuesday we went to hang out with Stephanie and baby Evie.

 Baby Evie was born 6 weeks before Ellie was and she had surgery on her little heart a couple of weeks ago.  She is doing fantastic and I loved seeing her!  Stephanie and I commiserated together throughout our pregnancies and we say often these two baby girls caused their mommies much stress for 9 months!

 Thank you Ms Carol for my outfit!  We have plenty of room to grow into it throughout the fall :)

Below is sweet baby girl Evie!  I hope Evie and Ellie will grow up to be great friends!

 Today we had Ellie's 2 month pictures taken and they turned out adorable!  She was a bit of a pill throughout the session (aka screaming throughout the entire thing) but we still got 3 good pictures somehow.  We'll scan them in soon to post on the blog!

Tomorrow we continue our busy week with Ellie's 2 month check up and packing for the beach...we head to Lexington on Friday and we're leaving Saturday for 7 days at Litchfield!  I am THRILLED to be getting away for a little while and spending it with my family--Josh and I will be celebrating our 4 year anniversary as well with our first baby-free date!

Ellie at 7 and 8 Weeks

I'm combining these weeks as I will do a 2 month post in two short days and it just seemed too much...besides I'm pretty sure everyone just wants to see pictures anyway!

Big Milestones these two weeks...

•  Ellie gave me a great big, meaningful smile last Friday...good heavens, completely made my day (and weekend and month!)  She has continued to do so everyday and I live for those moments.  
• She gave Josh his first meaningful smile this morning when he was playing "airplanes" with her
• She began tracking me with her eyes last weekend...being the paranoid crazy woman that I am, I had already googled "infant blindness" and so I was thrilled when she followed me with her eyes when I was walking around the room!  (and she didn't fit on characteristic of being blind--was just making sure!)
• Yesterday when we got back home for church, it was time for her to eat--I also needed to pump, so I just thought "what the heck?...I'll just try to nurse her and see how she does".  She latched immediately and nursed as she has done in all 8 weeks of her life.  Completely blew me away and I was SO proud of her.  It has immensely made my life easier in the two days that she has done it.

 She has no issues sticking that lip out when she is unhappy with me--we are still working on her being cooperative to have her picture being made!

• Ellie's hair is growing!  Slowly, but surely...it is definitely coming in brown, which makes sense as that is both mine and Josh's hair color.
• Her eyes are a very dark blue...we'll see if she keeps Josh's eyes or if they turn dark like mine!

  

• What in the world is that on her hiney, you ask?  It's her very first cloth diaper!  Before you get all weird on me...let me say, this diaper works exactly like a disposable diaper except instead of throwing it away, I throw it in the washing machine.  Seriously...no folding, no pinning, no stuffing.  It is a joke how easy it is.  We're just testing a couple out right now to see how we like it.  If it works, great...if it doesn't, it's not a big deal to me.  and we'll still be in ol' Pampers at "school" and when other caregivers are taking care of her.

We go Thursday for her Two Month visit--actually on her birthday.  This is a big immunization day as well so I am a bit nervous about that.  I am very anxious to know how much she now weighs.  My prediction?  8 lbs!  We'll see :)

Some pictures of Ellie's week...

Ellie's 8 weeks old today--and I have yet to blog a 7 week post--it's coming!  In the meantime, here are some pictures from last week.

 Ellie's ruffly hiney--cutest hiney I've ever seen (and the tiniest)!

 doing some good stretching

 this picture is a bit blurry...but we're using the Moby wrap a bit more lately--it's a way to keep her happy and I can get things done around the house to a certain extent carrying her around.

 Ellie is finding her fingers...I cringe and immediately pull them out of her mouth.  I do NOT want a thumb/finger sucker--much easier to get rid of a passy!  Can't exactly cut fingers off :)

 Ellie was fussing one night and I thought she might be cold so I put the matching hat on her to warm her head.  This picture cracks us up..the beanie style is a new one for us!

She is growing into her bows!  She's taking a mini-nap in her Mamaroo...blissful for me that something will entertain her for short periods of time!

Ellie Meets Hannah

Katie, one of my best friends from high school (or middle school I should say) had her baby girl last night.  Katie and Austin named her Hannah Katelyn and she weighed in at 4 lbs, 8 oz.

 It's hard to believe that Ellie was 2 oz smaller than Hannah at birth.  I had tears in my eyes when I was able to compare how much Ellie was grown since birth and when I held precious Hannah, she felt like a feather.  It's only been 2 months since Ellie's arrival, and already I have forgotten.

 I was able to see Sweet Hannah receive her newborn hearing screening--she passed!  

 I made Hannah not happy with me when I unsaddled her--I just wanted to get a better comparison shot! Sorry Hannah--Aunt Brookie loves you!  and don't mind Ellie...staring at the pillow like it's the most interesting thing in the world??  

Welcome to the world, Hannah!  Ellie is excited about her new friend and playmate!

This Week

This week has been fairly laid back and we have done a lot of hanging around the house.  

 I began implementing Babywise this week and honestly, its just too hard to stick to that schedule when I'm out and about.  It has been nice and relaxing (although, a bit boring) to just be at home and I haven't had to get stressed out about pumping, feeding, and naps.  The Babywise schedule is actually working out quite nicely for her--and I have learned much from the book and from friends on being intentional with naptime and feedings, and it has worked wonders on helping her sleep longer stretches at night.

 Above is her "Mad Eye Moody" face.  (to those Harry Potter fans)

I was also comforted in the fact that Babywise states that a "fussy time" is very normal with the majority of babies--as she definitely has one around 8/9 at night.  We are doing what we can to comfort her through the fussiness but I'm not nearly as stressed out about it as I was.

 Josh's parents had a little drop in for her on Sunday and Ellie and Josh matched for the occasion.  She is rather peeved in these pictures however because she missed her afternoon nap and bless her, she was absolutely exhausted!

 Even tongue curled, screaming and all...she still manages to look sweet!

and we have completely fallen apart by this point...

 a very sweet friend, Lauren, thought of Ellie and sent her this precious smocked outfit from her daughter's stash of tiny clothes.  Chloe (her baby) wore this her first week home--Ellie is wearing this her 7th week home, and with plenty room to wear it in the coming weeks!  As much as E is growing (and as big as she looks to me now), its things like this that remind me just how little she is comparatively.

 She clearly doesn't like pictures made of her propped up...much prefers someone or something holding her.

Pictures from Drop-In at Josh's Parents

Here are some of the pictures from the drop-in at my parents house. We had a great time and we appreciate all the family and friends who came to meet Ellie for the first time! Thank you also to my parents for making everything very special for her.

Food Table

Ellie girl with daddy

Mom showing off Ellie



Ellie's Birth Announcement

Friday

 I feel pretty sure Ellie is going to question one day why in the heck I insist on taking at least 10 pictures a day of her.  Unfortunately, I am uncreative (or too lazy, however you look at it) to come up with more interesting poses or her to be in.

 I typically ask Josh to hold her up and I'll snap away, put her in her nap nanny, or have her propped in her bobby.  Oh well...you get the picture--please note that my 1 percentile in weight baby has a double chin in the picture above!  She is actually developing little pockets of skin with a little extra fat on it (and I LOVE it...nothing like a good baby roll).

 This little bug is certainly growing as she is now in Newborn sizes in most clothes, although she can still wear her Preemie sizes too!  

Ellie Girl, we could just eat you with a spoon!  You make our hearts and our lives full!