Happy, Growing Girl at 3 Weeks

Here's Ellie Jo in mommy's old dress!

I'm pretty sure she looks exactly like me in this outfit. :) She wasn't very cooperative for pictures, though.

Miss Ellie Jo is still pretty skinny and petite, but so are mommy and daddy!

I know she's growing, though, because she has officially outgrown all of her preemie outfits, and is now wearing all newborn-sized ensembles - including some of mommy's "bigger" outfits. :)

She's a pretty good sport for when I dress her up, and she absolutely loves having her hair brushed and "pretties" put in. She has a great disdain for any time we take her pretties out of her hair, lol.

So far, we've learned that she is a pretty adventurous little girl, and is already holding her head up! She likes to "inch worm" down when people hold her, if she's uncomfortable. She just scoots until she's satisfied, lol!

We're so grateful for every moment we have with this little sweetheart. :)

"Look at my pretty bow on my dress,
mommy! I like to hold it!"

Sacrifices, Baby Update, Goals Update

This weekend is important to everyone in our country - everyone who appreciates freedom and the United States of America. Memorial Day is on Monday, and it's a day that we should all take time to remember not just those who have paid the ultimate price for the freedom we enjoy every day, but
also to thank those who have served or are serving in our armed forces currently.

This will also be the first holiday weekend (except Easter this year) that I'll actually get to see my husband.

Because of the career he was previously in, he made a sacrifice of time with his family and friends to work. There yet to be a holiday weekend that he's been home, until he accepted a new position in a new career working for a bank. He literally works "banker's hours," and he's home at the same time every night, and all weekend. That means we actually get to see each other over a long holiday weekend!

Now, since we have a newborn in our house, that will probably translate into him taking over some feedings for me (as long as I remember to pump enough!), and me getting up in the night to do the other feedings and diaper changes - meaning, we'll be pretty tired by the time Tuesday rolls around! :)

But I do have to say, Elizabeth is doing fabulously, sleeping 4-6 hours straight at night! She also typically sleeps 2-3 hours in between feedings during the day. This is marvelous! She's a growing girl, too. Today, when I did the laundry, I started separating out all of her preemie-sized clothing, and swapping in the newborn-sized items! Yay Ellie Jo!

Such a sweet, happy baby!

I do have some things I'd like to accomplish this weekend while daddy is home with us, but it would be okay if some of it waited, too.

So far, I tackled the following goals that I had for the week:

• Write thank-you cards for everything we've received since Elizabeth was born (I'm such a slacker; I haven't written even one! Everything from before she was born is done, though). However, I didn't mail the ones out that need to be mailed. Hoping to get that done Saturday/ Tuesday!
• Finish the softball schedule for Jacob (I checked in with him today to make sure he knows I hadn't forgotten to do this!) - No, I didn't get to this yet.
• Get the nursery picked up and organized again - Yep! Done!
• Start organizing my office (It's just got piles of stuff everywhere) Yep! Started!
• Start the layout for the June FBC Family Forum (church newsletter) Nope, not quite.

I think 3/5 is pretty decent for having a newborn here! :) Plus, I had planned on giving myself the weekend to finish up. It's mostly computer tasks I need to get moving on now.

So, I hope I can get lots of rest tonight/ tomorrow/ Sunday night so I can get everything accomplished and set some new goals for next week! (I think small, weekly goals are the best bet for me right now!)

Garden Update

It's been awhile since I've posted a garden update! So here it is!

For some reason, Blogger took 2 hours to upload my pictures, and switched the order of them all around.

From left to right on our deck, we have: chives, lemon balm, strawberries, apple mint, chocolate mint, cilantro, dill, shallots, arugula, cippolini onions, green onions, snap peas, snow peas, regular peas, 3 varieties of lettuce and thyme.

We've been using our lettuces a few times a week, and I made some more chocolate mint sauce when Robert used some lemon balm in mayo for my veggie patty last week. :) I need to use some of my chives and green onions soon, though.

Left side of my deck garden.

Chives! :) (And to the right, lemon balm)

Chive flower

Lemon Balm! It's really growing a lot!

Strawberries! I think we'll actually see some fruit this year!

Apple mint!

Apple mint - some more starting to blossom at the roots!

Cilantro and shallots! (You can see a little
chocolate mint from the other container, too)

Dill...pretty much dead (you can hardly see it in
the previous picture). :(

Cippolini onions, arugula. and green onions 

Close up of arugula

The back part of my deck with my garden.

Snap Peas!

Peas!

Close up of peas

Another view of peas.

Lettuce - 3 varieties, and thyme.

Close-up of lettuces and thyme.

Easier to see the thyme here.

Regarding Goals (With Baby)

Some of you might have noticed that I did not post an "April Update/ May Goals" blog.

Essentially, our only goal for May was to bring home our baby girl and learn to adjust to each other. :) I'll post an update on April later (when I do June's goals).

I do have some goals for the upcoming week, though!

• Write thank-you cards for everything we've received since Elizabeth was born (I'm such a slacker; I haven't written even one! Everything from before she was born is done, though). 
• Finish the softball schedule for Jacob (I checked in with him today to make sure he knows I hadn't forgotten to do this!)
• Get the nursery picked up and organized again
• Start organizing my office (It's just got piles of stuff everywhere)
• Start the layout for the June FBC Family Forum (church newsletter)

A lot of these tasks are simple and easy to accomplish, as long as the baby is asleep. When she's awake, I won't be doing any of it. I try to give her my undivided attention as much as possible, and stimulating her during the day as often as I can. 

I'm hoping I can get a big start on this stuff tomorrow. To be honest, it's driving me crazy that my house hasn't been vacuumed since before the baby was born! Hoping I can ask Robert to take care of it for me tonight (I've not been released to "normal activities" by my doctor yet - sigh).

We'll be having a couple visitors at some point tomorrow, so I truly just want my house to be presentable!

Sweet, Growing Girl!

Ellie Jo 10 days old!

Our precious angel has been such a blessing to us in the 10 short days we've had her in our arms!

Today, Auntie Ashley came over to help me take her to the doctor (mostly so I didn't have to lift her carseat), and daddy was even able to take an extended lunch break and meet us at the doctor's appointment!

The doctor said that Ellie Jo is now 6lbs., 8.5oz, still 19" long, and she's healthy! :)

After many, many opinions (medical professionals) being given to us regarding her feedings, I presented the information about our baby and her feedings to the doctor today. The doctor advised me to do what I'd been doing before 3 different nurses and 2 lactation "specialists" told me that I was basically starving my daughter: feed her on-demand, don't let her go longer than 3 hours during the day time without a feeding. Period.

That's pretty much been how I was doing things since Elizabeth was born. But I got worried that she might not be gaining weight like she should, because she's so tiny. So I called a lactation specialist at the hospital, and a nurse at the pediatrician's office. Those were the worst ideas ever. Period. Not only did they each give conflicting and condescending information, but neither really let me get a word in edgewise, and between those opinions and the ones I'd already been given - I was just totally confused.

I want to do what's best for my baby. I don't care if it inconveniences me, as long as it benefits her. But all these people claiming to be "experts" and yet none of them considering my baby's size and needs and all giving differing opinions - it was just too much. I slept exactly 1 hour on Monday night because my poor baby was spitting up and vomiting like crazy. She never does that. Not only that, but she simply couldn't sleep, since I'd been told to feed her every hour and a half by yet another "specialist."

Once Tuesday was nearly over, I just looked at Robert and said, "Forget it. I'm doing what I feel is best." He agreed. We told the doctor that, and she said, "Good for you guys! You know your baby best. In fact, why don't you see if you can let her sleep 4-5 hours at night? Do you think she would?" We definitely do, so I said, "Sure, why not try it?"

I realize not everyone will agree with this, but that's okay. This is what we're trying for our baby. I know that she'll let me know if she needs to eat. She's pretty good about that, lol.

Also, we did a test-run on a bottle feeding (from mommy) last week. Ellie Jo not only drank it like a champ, but she pulled the bottle in closer to her mouth with her left hand! Silly girl. The doctor said that was GREAT, and she's glad to hear the baby can do it. She made sure Ellie Jo did okay with nursing after that, and I confirmed it absolutely. So now we're kind of taking cues from the baby to let us know how and when to transition a little more to some more frequent bottle feedings (no formula; only breast milk). And the doctor said to just roll with that.

Last night, she took 2.5oz. from Robert (mommy really needed to sleep; 48 hours awake and 1 hour of rest was not cutting it!) She burped and pooped twice (sorry, daddy!) So the doctor also said that was wonderful news.

At the appointment, Elizabeth's umbilical cord came off when the doctor was examining her. We said, fantastic, haha. The doctor cleaned it all up and explained what she was doing to her belly button, and asked me if I felt comfortable giving Elizabeth an actual bath tomorrow. YES, MA'AM! She hates those sponge baths, poor thing.

All in all, I would say we had a really great appointment, and I feel so much better knowing that we're making the best decisions for our baby, and that she's definitely getting everything she needs from us.

Mother's Day 2013

 Happy Mother's Day!

This year, since both Robert's mom and mine became grandma and Nana for the first time, I wanted to do something really special for them. I saw this idea on Pinterest several months ago, and wanted to remember it for Mother's Day.

I wasn't completely sure I'd have time to do it, but thankfully the ceramic acrylic paint that I used dries SUPER fast.

Unfortunately, the ceramic acrylic paint that I used dries SUPER fast, lol! No; you didn't read that wrong. It was incredibly difficult to get Ellie Jo's footprints cleanly, let alone clearly. I did test it on my skin to make sure it comes right off. It totally does. (We also wiped her feet like 4 times and made sure we washed really good in between her toes!)

So here's the finished product:

One for Grandma, one for Nana

I kind of did my own thing with them. I made them a little different than the Pinterest link, and I added some sheer/ pearl outlining around her feet prints to make them stand out a little more against the white paint of the pots.

Additionally, I added some silver dots around the butterflies, just to make them prettier. :)

 My hand is definitely not as steady as it probably needed to be to make the butterflies' thorax really look good, but oh well. :)

Robert was really helpful, because he had to hold Elizabeth still while we did this project! NO EASY TASK!

Thankfully, that night was also bath night,  hehe.

Here are a few pictures of Elizabeth yesterday morning:  

 Daddy got Ellie Jo dressed from head to toe! (Yes, this includes her adorable bow!)

 She gets bored of my camera. I'm convinced one day she'll ask Robert what the huge "attachment" is in my hand, lol.

 I may or may not have bribed her with a feeding....

She really was bright-eyed yesterday morning...but you'd never know it from the pictures, sigh.










Grandpa Freeman & Uncle T even came over to visit. (Ellie Jo was hungry when I took this picture, so I had to take it quick, and then go feed her before I brought her back to her grandpa).

 Look at the super cute Mother's Day card I got from Ellie Jo!

This is the inside of it. Daddy used the last of the special ink blotter we were so generously given by the hospital (keeps baby's hands 100% clean) and took a hand print from Ellie Jo so that I could have it forever. :)

I didn't take a picture of the card Robert gave me, but it was so sweet. :)




Both of our moms loved their gifts, and we had a really good mother's day! 

Elizabeth Johannah - Newborn Pics

Today, because Ellie Jo was such a good girl and it was super warm outside, Robert asked me if we should go ahead and try to do some of her newborn pictures. I said sure! Having him home for a couple of days since we've been back from the hospital is wonderful - but he returns to work tomorrow.

Anyway, we got some adorable pictures of our precious girl! Check them out below: 

Big Yawn!

Making a fist!

Love this :)

She was so cute, snuggling up!

Almost a smile!

I love how she fits in Robert's glove!

So cute!

Daddy keeping Ellie Jo happy

No tears

Mommy & Ellie both love corners of blankets :)

"Daddy, save me from mommy's camera!"

Very dainty :)

It was hard to get her to sit like that, lol

Look at those toes!

In mommy's glove :)

So adorable

Go team, go!

So sleepy

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Normally, her fingers are spread out like that :)

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Almost done

Almost like a slide! And check out the face!

Glaring at mommy

Falling asleep

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"No more, mommy!"

"Got yer nose!"

Snuggle bug :)

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FAVORITE!

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Awww!

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So mellowdramatic :)