Happy 3 Months Old!

I'm way behind on Elyse's 3 Month Update.  She turned 3 months old on June 29th and rolled over for the first time that day too!  I can't believe so much time as already passed by and the changes in her week by week are so fun to watch!

The past few days have been huge milestones for E.  She went on her first plane ride to Denver on Friday morning at 6am. She was such a trooper and traveling with an infant actually wasn't that bad.  Yesterday and today have been pretty big days for her too.  Yesterday she had her first real giggle and also grabbed a toy from me when I showed it to her.  Today she really had her first full on laughing session.  It was absolutely the cutest thing I've ever seen.  I was just smiling and laughing at her and she just belted out the sweetest laughs in return.  We've had tons of fun the past few days getting out to see friends and just hanging in out in Colorado.  I've really missed it here and can't wait to move back one of these days!

So here are some of her favorite things to do these days:

- She loves her playgym.  The dangling toys and mirror fascinate her.  She's grabbing at her toys and pulling the rings off and putting them in her mouth.  Everything these days is going into her mouth with her fists being her most favorite item.

- She still loves the stroller!  I haven't been getting out for many runs lately partly because of the Texas heat and work, but the nanny takes her out in the morning on Tue/Thurs.  They go over to the water fountains and E gets to dip her toes in the water (which I hear she loves!).  She's a big fan of bath time so can't wait until she is old enough to go to Waterbabies class.

- I have to say she loves hanging out with me. Not that she really knows any better, but I can definitely say she's a fan of her momma.  We always have so much fun together and we just click.  I need to cherish these days and those to come because in about 13 years she will probably hate me. Hah!

- She loves when I read to her.  It's probably just the different sounds and the way I read the books, but she lights up and smiles during our reading time.

- She's can hold her head up really well.  She's able to do a mini-push up and hold her head up for a long time during tummy time.  She's gotten pretty good at rolling over so tummy time is a bit of a challenge since she's now in control of when it ends. :-)

- She loves our conversations.  Given they are in baby talk, but she enjoys cooing and babbling at me and gets excited when I make those same sounds back at her.  Our "talks" will last for several minutes at a time. 

- Her daytime naps have gotten so much better and I can now proudly say she is a fan of nap time!  She's learning to fall asleep on her own and has consistently been taking naps every few hours or less.  She is still an awesome nighttime sleeper and consistently sleeps anywhere from 10 to 12 hours straight.

I'm really looking forward to this next month!  It's such a blessing to watch her grow.  As cheesy as it sounds, I love spending every second of my day with her and when she goes to bed at night I find myself missing her.  Sometimes I'll just go lay in her room and listen to her breathe. :-)  Happy 3 Months Old, Elyse!

Two Months Old

I can't believe Elyse is already 2 months old today! Time sure has flown by.  It seems like just the other day I had her in those tiny newborn diapers and she's almost ready to move into a size 2.  She's growing like a weed!  So we went through pretty rough few weeks from week 3 to about 5.5 where she was pretty fussy and not much settled her during the day.  Then about the middle of week 5 she had one day where she was awake for 12 hours straight and fussing pretty much the entire time. It was terrible. I was in tears by the time night rolled around.  The next day she woke up and I swear she was a completely different baby. Totally content all day long and even witnessed her first smile that day. Since then she has been such a calm baby and smiling more and more each day.  It absolutely melts my heart when she locks her eyes with mine and gives me the biggest toothless grin.  There's hands down nothing better in the world than her smile.  Here are a few of the things she is up too these days at 8 weeks old. :-)

*  She's starting to coo on a regular basis.  Especially when I lay her in the crib to "play".  I have several of the Lamaze toys hanging in her crib.  Her favorites are the owl and peacock.  She will lay there and stare at them in amazement and then she will "talk" to them.  It's really cute.

*  I bought her an iPod Nano and small speaker so I could play the Rockabye Baby albums for her.  Her favorites it seems are Coldplay and Smashing Pumpkins.

*  I've been playing David Gray for her lately too and she seems to love when I sing the You're the World to Me song.  Especially the "baby baby you're the world to me" part.  Hah, well I like to think that is her favorite part.

*  She loves the stroller which is a great thing for me.  I've been able to run again and that's great for mommy's overall mood. ;-)

* She's already holding her head up really well.  She gets better at it everyday.

* She is not a fan of a sling or baby carrier.  I have bought 4 different kinds now and being that confined drives her crazy. 

* Stretching. Wow she loves stretching.  All the time.  I joke that she is going to be into yoga one of these days. 

* She loves her swing.  If it wasn't for that swing I wouldn't get any sleep.  She sleeps there for right now and I plan on getting her into her crib by 3 months.  She's already consistently going to bed every night between 8-10.  Then she will sleep on average about 5 hours.  Some lucky nights I will even get 7 to 9 hours straight.  Pretty impressive for a 2 month old; however, I realize things can change quickly so better not get too excited.

* She is not a fan of daytime naps. She will consistently take a one to two hour nap about an hour or so after waking but after that her naps are unpredictable.  Many days she will be wide awake for hours as in 8+ hours.  I think the record was she stayed awake for 12 hours and only napped three 30 minute catnaps.  She's not fussy really while awake just super alert and when she does fall asleep sometimes it's with one eye partially open which I joke is her way of not missing a thing.  I definitely think she inherited her father's intensity, because I'm a girl that loves an afternoon nap!

So I guess before I move on to the pictures, I should talk about our little incident that happened today since this is my digital baby book.  I unfortunately had to leave my maternity leave early and return to work.  Last Thursday was my first day back.  Fortunately it's only part time, but that is proving to be too much for me to handle.  So I had a call today for an event I manage and Elyse was hungry so I was trying to get her positioned to eat while I was on the call.  I was already dialed in and reached over to grab my computer while I was sitting in the rocker.  Well I thought Elyse was kind of tucked in under my chest when I reached over, but obviously not enough because she rolled down my legs and tumbled onto the floor.  It all happened so fast and she started screaming.  Luckily that didn't last long and despite the tumble she seemed fine.  I was shaking and crying.  Needless to say I just got off that call and was beside myself for basically dropping my child because of a "work" call.  My hat is off to all the women that work full time and have children.  I'm trying to work mostly from home and it's a challenge given my child doesn't like to nap.  I'm exhausted, she's exhausted and that doesn't make for a good combination.  However, I am thankful I have a good job, insurance and the flexibility to work part time but all I'm saying is - It's NOT easy!

Watching Justin Bieber with Grandma and I

Mesmerized by the Peacock

Smiling at Mommy

Hanging out in the stroller while Luna gets her time at the park

Staring at Owl

Happy 2 months old, Elyse!  You have quickly become my new best friend.

Two Weeks Old!

Well actually Ms. Elyse is 18 days old, but I haven't had the time to update this blog.  However, now that we have a small fortune in infant swings we finally found one that she loves!  So hence the reason I have time to write today.  

Before I completely forget I should tell her birth story so that one day she'll know all the details.  I went into labor shortly after my 39 week visit with my doctor.  I was on the way home from the appointment when I started having contractions (that was Monday, March 28 at 9am).  They came all day regularly but spaced out probably every 15 to 30 minutes until 6pm that evening.  That's when they kicked in and started coming like clockwork every 7-10 minutes.  They weren't getting more painful, but you could set your watch by them.  Every practice has their criteria of when you can head to the hospital and mine wanted you to call when they were coming by the 5-1-1 rule (every 5 minutes, lasting a minute for an hour).  Well I was there except for the 5 minute rule.  So I made it through Monday night and Tuesday was the same story.  I was pretty exhausted, because I didn't sleep the night before.  Every time one would hit I would wake up.  I called the nurses line a couple times on Tuesday to tell them what was going on and I kept getting the same nurse who said I couldn't come to the hospital until they were coming every 5 minutes.  So I somehow managed to make it to Tuesday evening and by that time they were so painful it took my breathe away.  I called the nurses line again and thankfully got the nurse practitioner on the phone.  I told her how I had been in labor for almost 36 hours and how the contractions were getting stronger but not closer together to get me to the 5 minute rule.  She preceded to tell me their policy is actually if the contractions are coming anywhere from 5-8 minutes apart that I could head to the hospital.  I burst into tears mainly from exhaustion.  I seriously could have killed the other nurse and we might have words if I see her again at my doctor's office.  That means I suffered through about 24 hours of labor that I didn't really have to endure.  So we headed to the hospital on Tuesday night around 9pm.  I was already dilated to 3cm and fully effaced so they admitted me.  Luckily it wasn't super busy that night and I was able to get an epidural within a couple hours or less.  Once I had that going I was finally able to relax.  Guess that's all my body needed because within a couple more hours I was dilated to 10cm and ready to push.  Elyse joined the world on Wednesday, March 30 at 5:36am weighing 7lb 7oz and measuring 20.75 inches long.  Looking back I don't see how I survived.  I missed two full nights of sleep and was so weak by the time I needed to push, but somehow we made it!

So Elyse is now 18 days old and she's just such a sweet baby.  We've had very few really hard days and she's not one to scream and cry ever (knock on wood).  Lack of sleep has been pretty tough since she likes to eat every 2 hours.  Proof of her love of food that is that she had already regained her birth weight by our discharge appt at the pediatrician last week and then for her two week check-up this past Wednesday she had gained a full pound in 10 days. Today was also a day of firsts - we had our first tub bath since her umbilical cord fell off a week ago and we have finally found a swing that she loves!!  She also loves our nightly walks with Luna.  She rarely fusses and we found out last night she really likes it when you jog.  She was having a mini meltdown about a mile from home so my mom and I took off jogging.  She loved it! 

On to the pictures with some of me from my glory days thrown into the mix for all the people questioning Elyse's dark hair.  

Elyse - Just joining the world!

Me and baby girl shortly after birth 

First Family Photo

One of Elyse's first meals  

(ok I know this is probably weird I posted this picture, but whatever you can't see anything)

Elyse - 2 weeks old (we were headed to the doctor)

Robin and Elyse sleeping

Me at 10 days old (all my dark hair fell out by 3 months)

Me and My Dad

Me and My Mom

 My Family (this one is kind of random but it just makes me smile)

 

People tell you that you will never know true love until you've had a child.  It's true.  I couldn't imagine loving anyone more than I love this little girl.  I spend all my time and energy making sure she is content and worrying when she isn't.  I doubt that will ever change so it's going to be a long 50+ years. 

Katherine Elyse's Nursery

So I pretty much finished E's nursery yesterday.  I had this crazy intense drive to just get it completed and cleaned. So although I have a ton going on at work right now I decided I needed a day off to just get it done! I guess my nesting is in full force these days, because at 10pm last night I was vacuuming the entire apartment.  I couldn't go to sleep until it was done.  Very strange.  Not sure if this is a sign that she'll be gracing us with her presence soon.

As you can probably tell there is a bird theme going on in her room.  I'm not sure when my obsession with all things birds started, but I love them! I have a really cute bird pillow for the chair and a monogrammed wall decal with her initials to go above the crib that haven't arrived yet.  Other than that the room is complete. I've gone to far as to wash all her clothes through 3 months, pack a diaper bag and pack a hospital bag.  I think my event planning experience is coming in handy, because considering all the things I have stocked up on I'd say I'm just about prepared for anything motherhood throws at me......well I guess I better not get too confident but I'm pretty prepared for a novice. You'd think I was stocking up on diapers in the event a nuclear war hits and I can't leave the apartment...hah!

Here are the pictures of her room.  You'll notice my goldendoodle Luna posing in a couple of the pics.  I swear the dog thinks that the room is her special place.

 Thanks to my pal, Marcie, for this sweet book!

I'll be 36 weeks on Friday so very close to being considered full term.  I start seeing my doctor weekly starting next week! I'm finally past the point of being terrified and in denial which is obviously a really good thing. I'm just ready for her to get here and get started on this journey.  Oh and I am most ready to go for a run! My Ironman stroller is here and I ready to log some miles. :-)

Miracle of Life

This video was floating around Facebook last week and it's pretty incredible. Thought I would share...

The Miracle Of Life from Catholic Media House on Vimeo.

My Dad

After losing my dad unexpectedly to a heart attack a few weeks ago, I haven't really felt the need to write on this blog anymore.  Honestly he was a big reason I even set up this thing.  I wanted him to be able to feel more connected to my life and he was just so excited about being a granddad that I thought it would be a great way for him to see pictures of the ultrasounds.  I also wanted a way for him to see pictures of E once she arrives.  The fact that my dad and I would email each other and he would visit my blog was a HUGE deal.....bless his heart but he was never really into that sort of technology.  I was so proud that he was actually visiting the blog regularly.  I was told that he was printing off the pictures and carrying them around with him.  It just makes me so sad.  You never realize how much security you feel knowing someone is there for you at the drop of a hat and that was him.  I knew no matter what if I picked up that phone and asked him for help, advice or anything at all he'd do his best to make sure I got whatever it was that I needed.  I recently really looked to him for advice in the relationship arena and it was amazing how good his advice usually was.....it was always very level headed which is what I needed.  Anyway, I picked up the phone last week to call him for some advice and that was definitely a reality check.  It's so hard to imagine that I'll never hear his voice again in my lifetime.  When I think of it like that it's just really too much to bear.

I need to scan a couple photos of him to put on here.  He was such a cutie.  Blonde hair and a handful of signature looks that you could always count on seeing.  Funny thing is I was in AR last week and looking through old photos as I packed up his house and even as a young guy he had those same funny expressions and smile.  Probably the saddest thing I ran across when packing up his place was a map of TX.  He was already planning his drive to TX for when E is born.  I really hope that in heaven you are able to look down and check on your loved ones. I hope he knows how much I already miss him and wish he was going to be there to meet E.  I'll always regret not going home for Christmas this year since he passed away 3 days later.  I thought the flight was just too expensive so I had booked a trip for Jan 6-9, but by that time it was too late.  Never take those you love in your life for granted because you never know how long you really have with them.  He was supposed to live forever or at least that's what he would tell me. :-)

So here's to a really great man - my dad.