jumping out of trees

A Summer in photos....part 1

2011-09-11T19:03:00.003-05:00

I didn't realize that the "firsts" would continue for years...it is so much more than first words, steps, smiles, etc...

This summer was full of firsts: trip to the dentist, kayaking, momma and mommie going away for a night, first trip to the capitol, ballet lessons, first krispy kreme, etc..etc...etc..

80 degrees...

2011-04-10T18:26:00.006-05:00

Today it was 80 degrees. Yes, I said 80 degrees. It will be 55 and raining tomorrow, but today we rejoiced and acted like it was summer. We practiced playing outside all morning, eating a huge lunch, taking a delicious nap, and playing outside again until dinnertime. We bounced back to spring in order to make EASTER cupcakes! This is our 3rd and final installment of cupcakes for awhile. We might make them again around 4th of July, but who could resist Easter cupcakes -- our finest to date!

A few pics: Easter Cupcakes, EG with her new baseball and glove, planting our seedlings, and I don't think I ever posted a pic of her big girl bed....

The snow is gone

2011-03-20T18:48:00.005-05:00

The snow is finally gone out of our yard. There are a few lingering snow banks in the neighborhood, but all of our snow is gone. It is a big day. It means that soon it will dry out and we will reclaim a large part of our home -- our back yard. EG can entertain herself for hours outside. However, she is getting to be a pro at that skill inside as well.

About a month ago we started making a conscious effort to help her learn to play by herself. When we all get home from school, we encourage her to go and play in her "office" or in her kitchen by herself. Some days she plays by herself for an hour and other nights she doesn't make it 10 minutes. It is fun to watch her create fun for herself and to see her imagination grow.

Last weekend, we made St. Patrick's Day cupcakes and Wednesday night she told us that tomorrow is green day at Miss Kaffy's (her daycare). She didn't think she had anything green, but we dug around and found a t-shirt that is too big and a hoodie that is perfect. She fell in love with the hoodie and fought to wear it to nap -- which she lost.

We went and spent the night at Gma and Papa's on Friday -- what fun. Some of EG's cousins were there which made it even more fun. We also get to see Ninna soon...

A few pics: cupcakes, St. Patrick's day outfit (she looked like a boy) and her curls...

E -

Spring? Not yet...

2011-03-06T18:28:00.003-06:00

I grew up in the South. March should be spring. Easter was the first day of sunbathing season. I think my older sister came to Easter dinner covered in suntan oil for years. However, I now live much farther north -- much farther.

March isn't anywhere near spring. Yes, the snow is melting and it isn't -4 (for the high), but I can still see snow and everything is still very gray and dark. There are hints of change. The sun stays up longer. I can see some gray looking grass. I went to the mall today and didn't even take a coat. The biggest sign of spring is my growing desire to wear flip-flops outside, which I will do around 50 degrees (it used to be 60 degrees was my limit for showing toes, but I have had to lower my standards).

We have also started spring shopping for EG. We spend a lot of time looking for good deals and stocking up for next winter. We are buying a mix of 3T stuff for spring and summer and 4T stuff for next winter -- I got a cream turtleneck 4T for $2.89 at Gymboree today. I love buying her clothes and getting deals on all of them. We really only splurge on shoes. Her feet deserve the best.

We have an Easter dress for EG, but it might not be warm enough. Luckily, Easter is very late this year so we might have a shot at her wearing it.

Here are a few pics for the fans!

2010

2010-12-30T14:04:00.008-06:00

I realized that I only wrote 14 blogs last year. That is not impressive at all. At our blogging peak, we wrote almost 90 in one year. I guess with a lack of time and busier lives blogging falls down on the list, but I still like having it around. I am not going to commit to writing more blogs. Every blog I read usually has a low point and then they swear they will write more and they don't. I will just say that I will continue to post as I have time and something to say. There used to be two of us doing this, but m quit years ago....

Updates:

1. Potty Training: all done. check. [famous last words]. EG has done great. She wears panties all day and usually through nap as well. I sometimes put her in a pull up at nap if she has had a ton to drink, but she wakes up dry. I think that is about me not wanting her to have a bad experience (waking up with wet panties). She does wear a pull up at night, but she is waking up dry in the mornings too. I really had this potty training built up in my mind as a struggle, but so far it has been fine. Again, she was ready. It was her decision.

2. Getting out of bed. EG has been in a toddler bed since late summer. She has always been really good at staying in bed and going to sleep until winter break. She started getting out of bed after we put her down. These are things we have "caught" her doing:

twirling in her room
running down the hallway
sitting at the top of the stairs
reading books to elmo
playing with her new jewelry box
looking for dress up clothes

We were totally frustrated with the "game" of going upstairs and getting her back in bed. After a few days of thinking about it I went to find our old Dr. Ferber book. Sure enough, he had an entire chapter dedicated to this very issue. It made me feel better that it was a common issue and he had ideas for solving it. We used his method (as we always have) and of course within two nights and 3 minutes (total) of crying she was staying in her bed again.

3. Once we solved the getting out of bed and playing issue and potty training had settled down we realized EG was still having trouble sleeping. She would wake up and just need something -- covers put back on, kisses, a little rocking in the rocking chair, etc... What we started to put together is that she was cold during the night and/or uncomfortable. Her covers weren't big enough, she had so much stuff in her toddler bed that she couldn't move around so.....

4. Time for the big girl bed. Her crib converts to a full size bed, so we went to the mattress store and let her try out a lot of mattresses and we picked one out. I went and picked it up on Friday afternoon (we figured a 3-day weekend was a good time to try and transition) and brought it home. After an hour of trying to "convert" the bed we finally got it done. We put on the linens and EG practiced getting in and out of bed.

5. She has done great with the big bed for the two nights she has had it. She has trouble settling down to fall asleep -- she's pretty excited about the bed -- but once she falls asleep she stays asleep until morning. Hoping this continues. This morning when she got up she said, "My feet have room in my new bed!"

Potty Training

2010-12-19T19:08:00.004-06:00

When the girl makes up her mind -- it's all done. Here is how it started:

1. Daycare started talking about pull-ups and being a big girl.
2. Bribes: 1 chocolate chip for trying, 2 for peeing, and 3 for the whole deal.
3. Other little girl (who has two older sisters) at daycare started going potty and wearing panties. The other little girl and EG are about two months apart.

EG asked me on the way home one day when we could read books in bed. I told her when she is a big girl and doesn't have to wear diapers we will get her a big bed and we can read books in bed.

We got home and she asked to pee on the potty and wear a pull up. That was about 4 days ago and today she wore panties all day. She even woke up at 1am last night and came to get me because she had to potty. She woke up dry this morning.

We have no idea where this is going. We haven't read a book or researched it at all (so not like us). I think this is one of those things that really isn't about us or how we do it. She was ready to try it - so she did.

We aren't getting rid of the diapers or changing table yet. We will just see how it goes.

e-

The Christmas Card Question

2010-11-19T19:24:00.007-06:00

I think with the invention of FACEBOOK the entire Christmas card sending ritual is becoming questionable. Throughout the year, we post on FACEBOOK a few of our favorite moments and a couple of great pictures. As this holiday season rolls around, the question is - do we need to send out photo/xmas cards?

I think the answer is yes. I still have friends who are not on FACEBOOK (although that number is shrinking). I also don't have business associates on my FACEBOOK page. I try to keep my worlds somewhat separate. Many of my older family members still don't have a computer. Additionally, how do I know if people are actually checking their social network sites?

Here is the real reason to send out Christmas cards: they make people happy. I love going to the mailbox each day during the season and seeing how much the children of my friends and family have grown. Reading the holiday letters entertains me. We keep all of our cards from the year before so we know who to send cards to the next year and it is fun to compare cards from year to year.

Finally, I write on my xmas cards. I try to write a small personal note on the back of each card. It only takes a few minutes, but for those few minutes I am talking to an old friend, a dear family member, or some other person who means something to me.

I will send out cards this year. I will treasure the ritual of sitting on the couch with a black sharpie, an address book, last year's cards, stamps, and write to each of my people and sharing a memory of them - if only for a few moments.

Now - how to choose which card -- which picture -- what saying. Religious? Non-Religious? Oh, the decisions. I will be using shutterfly. I have made about three Shutterfly books and loved them. Additionally, a few years ago we had shutterfly xmas cards and adored them. We tried other places with "cheaper" price and ended up with cheaper cards. I couldn't stand last year's card.

I really like this card for this year.

And, I will continue to use SHUTTERFLY for my books. They are so fun and easy to make!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T20:47:00.003-05:00

She did great. EG said "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you " each time. We went to about eight houses and then came home and handed out candy. She was fearless.

Bud Lite Year

2010-10-15T18:45:00.004-05:00

Two weeks ago we decided that EG should see her first movie. It was a chilly Saturday night and instead of Sesame Street we put in Toy Story. Every night since then we have watched the first 25 minutes of Toy Story. It is pretty cute to watch her learn about Woody and "budlityear".

She has transitioned into her toddler bed. We bought her an OK to Wake alarm clock. We worked with her for days and days until she learned that she can't come out of her room until the light turns GREEN! It took a month (like everything does with her), but now she stays in her room until 5:30 a.m.

We are all very excited about fall....cooler temps...pretty leaves...pumpkins....

Night One with the Toddler Bed

2010-09-13T18:40:00.001-05:00

One 3 a.m. wake up. We think she woke up a little confused and scared. After a diaper change and some hugs it was right back to bed. There was a 5:20 a.m. wake up call.... We will see what tonight brings.

Toddler Bed

2010-09-12T20:10:00.003-05:00

EG is becoming a "big girl" so fast. She has gotten taller, talks non-stop, asks "why" all day long, and this morning she crawled out of her crib. She came barreling into our room and said, "I got out of my crib all by myself." I was completely out of it and it took me a few seconds to figure out what happened. When we both figured it out, M and I just started laughing. EG was VERY proud of herself.

We then spent the morning going to church and pondering if we should:
a. keep her in the crib and threaten her not to get out
b. go and buy a mattress and box-spring and put it on the floor
c. go all out and convert the crib to the full-size bed it will become one day -- this would also mean buying all new bedding (which I had already picked out....and loved)

I really wanted to visualize what her convertible crib would look like as a full size bed. I googled for awhile and found some pictures. We then realized that her crib could become a day-bed. Holy cow. Super easy. We went upstairs, pulled out four screws, found the old crib skirt (which we almost sold on ebay), and voila a great transition from crib to "freedom". We had no idea the bed would do that. We should have really paid attention when we bought it. We did that all before nap.

Nap was funny. She was told to "stay in her room and take a nap". She played for an hour. She destroyed her room. We had already "super toddler proofed" the room a few weeks ago because we figured this was coming. M went up every 30 minutes and reminded EG to take a nap. Finally, she fell asleep and slept for an hour.

This evening she went down in her new "toddler bed" and within 5 minutes she was out. We will see what the night brings and we will see how early she "visits" us in the morning.

A summer in pictures

2010-08-17T20:29:00.002-05:00

I am now 2

2010-06-06T10:19:00.003-05:00

She is now a 2-year-old full force. Demanding, full of hugs and kisses, and talking up a storm. Here are a few pics....the one with the orange hood is her Halloween costume from last fall....she just had to try it on and then wear it for 30 minutes.

2 years old

2010-05-14T19:55:00.004-05:00

Happy 2nd Birthday sweet EG.

EG asked for three things for her birthday: toothpaste, panties, and cupcakes.

She got all three.

We also take a picture of her first thing in the morning on her birthday....

First Haircut

2010-05-01T12:45:00.003-05:00

EllaGrace was born with white peach fuzz all over her head. By 2 months she had lost all of that and was completely bald. Completely. Before her first birthday she started to grow hair from the base of her neck up. This, after a year, resulted in a mullet. The back of her hair was full of curls and was long enough to put into two pony-tails, but the sides and front were still very short and wavy.

Yesterday, we took her in for her first haircut (more of a shaping). She did great. She sat very quietly and did everything we ask her to do (look down, look up, etc...). Her hair is much shorter in the back now and the mullet is gone. She still has her curls too....

We moved back

2010-03-22T19:36:00.005-05:00

We thought we would go to wordpress.com because it allows us to password protect our posts, however wordpress charges you 60 bucks for a video upload....we are way too cheap to pay that so we are back to free blogspot.

EG is doing great. She is 22 months old and talks all day long. We have changed her schedule...FINALLY!!! It only took us 20 months to do it. This is what her day looks like now:

6:30am: wake up
7:15am: breakfast
9:00am: snack
11:00am: lunch
11:30am - 1:30pm: nap
2:00/3:00pm (depends) - snack
5:00 pm: dinner
6:30pm: bath
7:00pm: bedtime

It is so much easier to manage the afternoon without having to rush to get dinner on the table by 4:30 pm

So, what fun has she been having...see below...building forts...discovering Easter fun...figuring out how to reach the cookies...

Thank you for coming back to our blog! Sorry about all the changes!

Nicknames

2010-01-20T19:00:00.003-06:00

What we call her...

EG
Ella
EllaBella
EllaBellaMozzarella
Sugarfoot
Babylove (her Ninna's favorite)
Bug
Goose
SillyGoose
Monkey
Pookie May
Darling
Honey

A Year in Pictures

2010-01-10T10:00:00.002-06:00

What I've Been Doing This Winter

2010-01-09T09:28:00.003-06:00

Sitting in snowbanks...

Learning about static electricity...

Sledding...

Putting ribbons in my hair...

Taking down the Christmas tree.

Xmas 2009 - 19 months old

2009-12-19T19:31:00.000-06:00

She loved Santa....

New Camera

2009-11-27T19:07:00.001-06:00

We bought a new camera as an early Christmas gift. EG is getting used to having a camera in her face all the time now!

A Real Halloween

2009-11-01T20:41:00.003-06:00

EG had a blast with Halloween. She was a little confused about why we were going outside after dinner (normally that is quiet playtime with moms inside - only). She caught on quickly and went to our close neighbors for some loot. Then, we returned home to serve the numerous trick or treaters where we learned that EG LOVES to put the candy in other kids' bags. She passed out most of the candy (mom helped a little). She was so overtired by bed that she woke up all night long.....too much excitement before bed!!! Here is the night in pictures.

A day in the life and recent photos

2009-10-17T19:25:00.003-05:00

I realize that I have been posting a lot of pictures lately, but not much narrative. So, I thought I would start with a day in life of EG...

The basics of her day are she wakes at 6:00 am, breakfast at 7 am, snack at 9am, lunch at 10:30 am, nap at 11:00 (1.5 hours - 2 hours), snack at 3pm, dinner at 4:30, bath at 6:00, in crib at 6:30ish and either passes out or rolls around for 20 minutes.

We have a nanny (a local grad student) who comes to our house 4.5 hours per day, 4 days a week. This allows M to work part-time this year and gives EG a new playmate. The nanny is awesome and EG adores her. It was an adjustment, but I'd say 3 weeks into the school year everyone was settled in their routines.

The weather has turned cold here fast and forced all of us into lots of layers. Here are the latest of our little girl...

E-

This week in pictures

2009-09-13T12:18:00.003-05:00

I am learning to color.

I am wearing all of my summer clothes as much as possible.
Mom bought me a big wheel and I love it. I don't know how to pedal .... yet.
I am still working on getting my hair right.
Mom got stung by a bee.

Things I do...

2009-09-07T11:56:00.004-05:00

Find new places to play

Play with my cousin

Try to look like mama

Read books
Play with my hair....yes, I have some hair
Push my baby
Feed my baby

Words

2009-08-17T19:13:00.005-05:00

I have uploaded a video of EG repeating her "words". She is consistent in her answers even if they aren't correct. Water is "lala" -- it just is. These aren't all of her words, but a large portion were caught on tape.

We had her 15 month appointment. She is 32 inches tall, 25 pounds, and has a head in 75 percentile. She was great, but a little shy with the doctor. She also got 2 shots and one finger prick.

Here is the interesting part. They give you the Denver Scale to ensure your child is developing on schedule. It measures social skills, self care, gross motor skills, and fine motor skills. We run through them..... proud parents until.....

Does your child say 3 or more words? Of course
Does your child walk backwards? YES
Can your child run across the room without falling? YES
Does your child recognize people besides immediate family members? Of course
Can your child use a spoon without help? Nope

Can your child stack 3 or more blocks/items?

What? Blocks? We are supposed to count blocks? I didn't know that? How was I supposed to know I was suppose to count blocks? What does it mean if she can't stack the blocks? I look at M and say, "Can she do that?" M also has no idea. Neither of us can remember. We are obviously bad parents because we aren't counting the BLOCKS!!!

Then....Sunday comes. We are making dinner. EG does this with no encouragement from us. I sat there talking away and then I realized what she was doing. She was stacking. See below....

So, yes, she can stack three or more items. I swear I wanted to call the doctor and tell her, "I'd like to make correction on the Denver Scale. She can stack 3 or more blocks/items. Does that increase her grade? or our grade?

It's hard to live with two teachers....

We had to take a picture

2009-07-31T19:39:00.003-05:00

Before I begin this story, I need people to know that I am not a "buy the kid everything" type of person. I really can't stand all the toys. We have the cheap baby pool for the summer, a sandbox, lots of age-appropriate toys, and we have our fair share of baby stuff around. However, when EG goes to bed everything goes in a tasteful, beautiful, handcrafted by M's Dad, wooden toy box. Sitting in our living room at night, you would not know that we had a kid. One of our neighbors has 6 LARGE plastic objects sitting in their backyard (pool, slide, water table, burley, basketball hoop, and a sandbox) for a their daughter who is the same age as EG and we live right next to a BRAND NEW PARK! Back to the picture...

When we registered for our baby gifts we signed up for two strollers. The traditional Graco with the cup holders, storage below, and car-set attachment. We called it the SUV stroller.

We also registered for the cheap umbrella stroller.

When spring rolled around we needed a Burley to use with our bike and as a stroller in cooler weather. She can be completely protected in the Burley and we can take walks down to 30 degrees.

Then her birthday rolled around and a aunt/uncle gave us the "pink car", which EG fell in love with and still loves. It entertains her for hours.

Finally, after a few days at Ninna's house where there was a little red wagon to push and pull around we knew that one was in our future. This week M came home with a perfect Radio Flyer.

One little, sweet, girl who can walk and run has 5 modes of transport. It is actually hard to choose which one when we take a walk.

Burley: cooler or with the bikes
Umbrella: quick trips to stores or quick visits
SUV: MALL and daily, nice weather walks (this one gets the most use)
Pink car: short walks, kite flying (the kite is in the "trunk"), and great for pushing around the yard
Wagon: not sure yet

So, here they are EG's rides... and she loves them all!

"words"

2009-07-27T19:43:00.003-05:00

EG has her own language - it is out job to try and understand it....

ma-ma = Mom or grandma
papa = grandpa
bye-bye = bye bye
nana = banana, Ninna, and it is an all purpose word
lie = light
sssss = Summitt the dog
paa-paa = up or help
pes = please
lala = water
dado = bottle
bebe = blanket
peep peep = birdie
da = thank you

She also spends a lot of time getting cleaned up.

Vacation 2009

2009-07-15T11:26:00.003-05:00

We just returned from our vacation. We went out East to see my mother and family. EG had a great time. She loved all the attention, she stayed on schedule (for the most part), and we actually had a our first night away from her ever! She had a lot of first including going to the beach, going to my mom's property on the water in North Carolina, talking to her great-grandmother, and sleeping in a crib held together with zip-ties....yup zip ties...it was actually quite sturdy...

E-

It's been forever...

2009-06-21T20:49:00.003-05:00

Yes, we haven't posted in awhile because of the end of school, beginning of summer, 1st birthday, and just plain lazy. Here the quick update....

EG is dropping her first nap. The morning nap that used to occur around 8am is now gone. We are having her "rest" during the time, but she won't sleep. Her afternoon nap is sssslllooowwwllyy getting longer. Research shows that the morning sleep will either join her nighttime sleep or her afternoon nap. We are hoping for a little of both. She is in transistion. She may start with morning nap again, but we doubt it. It is another family adjustment to make.

The bottles. She is taking about 12ozs of formula a day. She has a short bottle prior to her afternoon nap and a big bottle at bedtime. Doctor said not to worry too much about it, but to keep making efforts to no formula. We are going to wait until her naps are settled and then work harder on the weaning.

She is walking, running, and today climbing on the furiture. She is tall, strong, and funny. She is also learning more words. I use the term "words" loosely. We can understand her, but I am sure no one else can. Today we confirm she can say "banana," but it comes out "nana." She also said "blankie" today.

Words (clearly said)
Ma-Ma
Mom
Bye-Bye
Done

Words we understand (Again, no one else would):
Summitt
birdie
blankie
belly button
bubbles
baby
Up
Help
Banana
hat
Night-night

There is the update!

A few pics...

2009-05-31T19:00:00.003-05:00

I love pasta!

My first cupcakes!
My rocker from my Ninna...

My birthday dress...

May 14, 2009

2009-05-14T05:48:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday EllaGrace

Photo Story

2009-05-03T20:26:00.002-05:00

Dear Miss Austin, Loyal Blog Reader

2009-04-30T19:12:00.004-05:00

Yes, we have been tardy in our blogging lately. April seemed to fly right past us. I can't believe that tomorrow is May.

EG was sick, again. Second ear infection and then a reaction to the meds caused some drama at our house last week. She switched meds and seemed to heal quickly. She is now back on schedule and doing great!

Her first birthday is just 2 weeks away...amazing. One full year with her. This time last year I was as big as a house lying on the couch watching my belly, and M was so bored she was vacuuming the basement.

EG has some new skills that M has focused on over the past few days...
1. She now goes to her high chair when she is hungry.
2. She can climb down the stairs on her belly (thanks to M doing some guided practiced today).
3. She tries to "go potty" after each nap. She rarely does, but she thinks it is fun.
4. She knows when we hand her a bottle it is time for nap and she carries the bottle upstairs.

These four things have come together in the last week. She is learning so fast now. She is able to follow 1-step directions like, "bring me the ball" or "go find Summitt (the dog)."

So, there is the quick update. We hope to post more later.

Growth

2009-04-08T17:44:00.005-05:00

This is a VERY long video made for our families. Enjoy.

E-

Walking

2009-04-05T14:08:00.001-05:00

First major illness

2009-04-05T09:57:00.003-05:00

We haven't posted in forever because we are just recovering from EG being sick for the first time. Here is the play-by-play...

Sunday: Wouldn't sleep at night. The only sleep we got was all of us in the big bed together.
Monday: Better, tired, but had a hard time sleep that night too.
Tuesday: Fever. Fever. Fever. Calls to nurse lines and doctors. No sleeping.
Wednesday: Fever. Doctor's appointment. Raging right ear infection. Pink medicine.
Thursday: Fever. Some improvement.
Friday: A little better. Still struggling to sleep. Second cold is full force.
Saturday - Wednesday: getting better. sleeping is a struggle and eating is totally optional.
Thursday: much better. slow eating. cries for a little during the night, but sleeps by herself.
Friday: sleeping through the night again.
Saturday: Decided to make her bottles cold - she is now sucking them down. Sleeps through the night. Done with the pink medicine (all thirty doses).

It was a very, very long two weeks. It throws the entire family off. It also reminds you how precious sleep and routine are to everyone in the house.

Coming soon....see our little walker

E-

the kid can't catch a break...and neither can her momma

2009-03-18T14:05:00.005-05:00

It has been a tough week for little EG.

First, she is teething. She is always teething (has 6 already) and it is never easy for her. It causes disrupted sleep, poor eating and lots and lots of drool and finger chewing. She has her first incisors on the bottom and next she was supposed to get the teeth next to them, also incisors. But, I swear to you she has skipped them and is working on the canines. (I don't know any of this without looking at a tooth development chart.)

Teething and drooling leads to diaper rash. On Monday evening, we were playing before bed and she started to cry and throw what looked like a tantrum. E and I looked at each other like "This is fun. What is this??" We decided it was bedtime. When I picked up EG she started really crying and I realized her little butt hurt. When we changed her diaper, she had the reddest, angriest diaper rash yet. Poor kid. She got herself so worked up that after E fed her part of a bottle about 20 minutes later, she threw up all over E, herself and the chair. It was the first time it's happened to her and she was scared...which led to more crying.

Tuesday she was clingy and needed lots of "derriere to the air" time.

Today she woke up with her worst cold yet...sneezing, obvious congestion, a little coughing. Combined with the teething, she is just a faucet...and she's still trying to get rid of the diaper rash.

Poor kid....we still have Thursday and Friday to go.

m-

Update: So, in addition to getting thrown up on earlier this week, E had a tough time tonight while I was out for a while. EG was getting some time with her behind to the wind, when she pooped on the kitchen floor. E put EG in the sink to clean her up while trying to keep the dog out of the way. EG reached over and grabbed a glass and dropped it in the sink, breaking it. It's been a tough week for both my girls.

Spring?

2009-03-15T16:14:00.000-05:00

The weather is breaking. It is a miracle. In the depths of winter you never believe that this weekend will ever arrive, but it did. We are in the 50's. When I grew up in the South, the 50's were sweater and fire weather, however I now live in the upper mid-west and the 50's are flip-flop summertime.

Because the weather has been so great it has been a big weekend for EG. We started our weekend at the local canoe and bike show. We met up with our friend L. EG was great with L and didn't seem to mind being toted around the arena. She took a stroll for the first time in her Burley. She went down the slide at the park for the first time. She got her first bike helmet that we will break in the afternoon and we got her first pair of shoes.

She is walking across rooms now. She is still a little unsteady, but she is doing it. We went to the park yesterday and realize the child needs some shoes, so today we went to StrideRite and got her first fitted pair of shoes. She put her little foot on the measuring device and the sales lady said, "What a fat little foot. She is a 4.5 extra-wide." Let's just say she doesn't have the feet for ballet.....

Video and Pic

2009-03-01T19:42:00.004-06:00

A few points before the video

1. If you needed another reason that spring should hurry up......EG has spent the winter wearing fleece one-piece outfits. I am very tired of seeing her in the same ones day after day.

2. The fake cough. Anytime some coughs, sneezes, or burps EG gives a fake cough. She thinks it is funny. It cracks us up as well.

3. She has a new noise (see video). She makes this noise all day long. Tonight, I swear she did it for 20 minutes straight as she pushed her choochoo around.

4. We went and visited EG's three cousins. It was very fun. EG was great, but had to sleep with us, which was an adventure. She ended up sleeping on M's chest most of the night.

The Sleeping

2009-02-25T19:01:00.005-06:00

Reflecting....

Phase I
The first four weeks of EG's little life she co-slept with us. She snuggled up to M and was slid over to me to nurse and then slid back to sleep with M. I will never regret co-sleeping with her when she was so tiny. It just felt right to have that little animal nested in between us.

Phase II
We moved to formula and the co-sleeper. EG would sleep for about 3 hours and then eat, rock, and then back in the co-sleeper.

Phase III
The move to the crib. As an infant, she slept like jesus, arms straight out to her sides and the co-sleeper wasn't wide enough to accommodate that position. So, then it was feed, rock, and put down in the spacious crib. This is where the 7:40 p.m. started. She slept well and mainly woke to eat. Around 10 weeks, she slept all night for about two weeks.

7:40 p.m. (DST) / 6:40 p.m. (CST)
At seven weeks old EG started predictably falling asleep at 7:40 p.m. Feed her, rock her, and she would pass out at that time -- everyday. When the time fell back, so did EG to 6:40 p.m. It hasn't changed in over 7 months.

Phase IV
This was by far the hardest phase. Around 3.5 months, EG's sleep went to hell. She was ALWAYS asleep by 7:40 p.m., but she woke up, ate at crazy times, had periods of awake time during the night, etc... It lasted until about 7.5 months. Now, during those four months there were periods of calm and progress, but it was very unpredictable and stressful.

Phase V
After one night of CIO (30 minutes of fussing...not screaming), EG slept through the night. She has done that for almost two months now. I would say that every 2 weeks or so we have a night that isn't perfect, but overall they are great. She still falls asleep 6:40 p.m. every single night.

The Rocking: During phases II and IV the rocking was constant. It would take hours to rock that girl to sleep. Feed, rock, change, repeat. At times it felt like you were chained to the rocker. However, I still rock her to sleep.

It doesn't take more than a few minutes and she easily transitions to her crib from my arms. I read about 100 books that told me not to rock her, but we are only having one child, we have the time, and we all enjoy it. We will continue to rock until one of us decides that it is time to stop. I assume that will be Phase VI.

E-

9 Month update -- 1 week late

2009-02-22T18:55:00.002-06:00

EG is so close to taking a few steps you can feel it. She has take a step or two here or there, but she really doesn't get it yet. She can stand still for 15 seconds by herself. She can climb the entire flight of stairs quite proficiently. She has gotten taller and she has grown some hair, mainly in the back. She has six teeth and she is working on 7 and 8. She is very good at feeding herself. She can squat to pick things up and stand back up. She will look in things and under things for hidden objects. She has speeds of crawling. There is slow. There is purposeful. Then there is duck the head and haul booty.

She gives hugs to everything thing. She waves and says, "bah". She is in love with the dog. This is the most important develop lately. She stalks the dog every moment of the day. She will follow the dog into a dark room to pat her and give the dog hugs. The dog is trying to handle this well. She knows the garage door means someone is home.

She is trying to become a dishwasher repair person. She must inspect each corner of every rack. She can hear the dishwasher open from several rooms away. This results in the head down haul booty crawl to the kitchen. She is loving taking anything and everything out of its container (drawers, laundry baskets, boxes, cabinets, etc...). She loves to stand in our front windows and watch all the people in the neighborhood.

She sleeps through the night. She eats much better with more food variety. She thinks her passie is funny, but still only uses it to fall asleep. She loves to smile for the camera.

E and m

Adventures in Crawling

2009-02-15T18:51:00.004-06:00

I try to keep the videos short for your enjoyment...

#6

2009-02-13T20:19:00.002-06:00

Tooth #6 is just killing us. She isn't sleeping right or eating right. The gum is swollen and angry looking.

Her other 5 teeth took about 3-5 days each.....

This one is just forever...

EG's New Sound

2009-02-08T16:29:00.002-06:00

Well it had to happen

2009-02-01T09:12:00.003-06:00

Last night at 12:15 a.m. EG woke up crying for the first time in almost a month. She has drool rash that is bugging her and we didn't want her to get overheated so M went to her immediately.

Moments later I see M and EG standing next to me in our room. M saying, "She has a fever." I reach for the baby and touch her and yes, she has a fever. We find the thermometer and discover she is running at about 100.1 degrees. We issue the Tylenol. We begin to rock. EG drinks 6 ozs of milk (she never eats at night anymore), we check and the fever is going down, and she drifts back to sleep by 1:15 a.m. She slept until her normal wake up time of 5:30 a.m., but she is whining this morning and not interested in eating.

We survived. She is fine. I am sure mothers all over the world have done this, but is was our first time.

Her day

2009-01-25T06:44:00.003-06:00

EG has settled into a very nice routine. I have resisted writing it down because as soon as I do she will start doing something completely different, but we use this blog as almost a baby book for her so I thought it would be nice for us to remember this routine which works so well for all of us. We will see how long it lasts. Her is a picture of her day...

5:30: wake up and talk in the crib

5:45: give a good squeal...."i'm ready to get up!" She gets a short bottle (3ozs) and starts her morning play which consists of watching me get ready for work

7:30: breakfast: banana and something else like yogurt or toast or a multi-grain pancake then more play

8:30: tall bottle (8ozs) and 1st nap which is about 30-45 minutes

10:30: snack of toast or yogurt or a fruit then more playtime or errand running

12:30: tall bottle (8oz) and 2nd nap which is usually about 1.5 hours

2:30: snack...sweet potatoes.....this is the riskiest one of the day...she may eat a lot or nothing. Then more play or errand running and mama comes home from work.

4:45: dinner...avocado, yogurt, and lately she has been wanting more at dinner so we will be adding another vegetable

6:00: clean up, bath, books, bottle

6:45: asleep and down for the night

E-

8 months old

2009-01-18T13:40:00.002-06:00

EG is full of new and exciting skills.

She can cruise around the furniture and walls with confidence. She takes a few tumbles, but recovers quickly. She hasn't moved to one handed yet.

She now crawls the traditional way as opposed to the full-time commando crawl. Commando crawl is now reserved for the wood floors when her knees get sore.

She loves to put things in other things (little people into the school bus....little people out of the school bus). She will give you things if you hold out your hand and say, "Can Mama have that?"
She will give kisses if requested. She will also randomly come up to both of us and give us a kiss. Her kiss consists of a full open mouth. M is working on teaching her to hug as well.

She loves to "share" her toys by placing a toy in another person's mouth.

She is still a reluctant eater of solid food. She will eat her avocado, yogurt, and toast daily but that is about it. She is really into finger foods like banana, puffs, and teething cookies. It is like she has spoon avoidance. This is usually at its worst during teething...which we are doing again...cutting two more top teeth.

She "says" the following things: kisses, cee-cee (Summitt, the dog), and trshee (Trixie from the book Knuffle Bunny). Now, we are sure that only we can understand her and those might not be words at all....but we think they are cute.

She also adores this Pooh bear that crawls and talks that my mother gave her at xmas. She hugs it and talks to it.

She has attached herself to a blankie that was made by M's mother. She sleeps with it and plays with it in her nursery. When we bring it out of the crib, she can't wait to hold it and bury her head into it. She hasn't tried to bring it out of her room yet and we are hoping that she doesn't. Currently, (we say that with the full knowledge this might change) she doesn't have anything she "has" to have like a passie or blankie.

Overall, her sleep is good. She has been teething for a few days which messes up everything, but she is headed back to normal today with good naps and a happier disposition.

more tricks every day

2009-01-09T13:46:00.003-06:00

These may look like posed shots, but I assure you they are not. EG has been caught playing in the toilet bowl several times. This is her latest bathroom trick.

"I didn't do it."

"Time to make a run for it!"

"I'll scare you off with my tiger face."

"HEHEHEHEHE! I'm outta here!"

new skill

2009-01-08T08:11:00.003-06:00

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

2009-01-04T08:51:00.005-06:00

Two things new mom's worry about most: Sleeping and Feeding. The theme of this winter break was sleep.

I love winter break. It is great break from work and all of the stresses of daily life. It feels like maternity leave all over again, but with a happy-go-lucky 7.75 month old....not a screaming newborn. Our major goal was to help EG learn to sleep through the night and sleep better.

SLEEP:
Prior to Break: We knew that we were tried of getting up at night with EG before xmas break. She had been waking up at 10ish for milk, 1ish for rocking, and up for the day at 5ish. She took two long naps a day (1.5 hours each). It was bearable, but barely.

During Break Week 1: Ninna came to stay with us for 5 days, which was great. She took excellent care of EG and they had a blast together. We all went to M's family xmas and EG did great. She maintained her good nap schedule during Ninna's visit, but Ninna likes to sleep with baby at night. Soooo....EG co-slept with Ninna for 5 nights. Yup. 5 nights of constant care and snuggles. They both loved it.

After Ninna left it was hell. EG went back to her crib and woke up every 2 hours all night long. We indulged her for two nights and got up with her, rocked her, feed her, etc...in order for her to adjust back to the crib and to make sure she was done teething.....and then we did it. We let her cry it out. She cried on and off for 30 minutes...then silence.

During Break Week 2: EG learned to sleep by herself all night long. She goes to sleep at 6:45 p.m. and stays in her crib all night. She might wake up once or twice and fuss for less than 30 seconds and then right back to sleep. The last two mornings she has slept till 6:00a.m. -- which is our goal. It ROCKS. We are actually sleeping and enjoying our nights alone.

Her daytime sleep has declined to a 30-45 minutes morning nap and a 45-60 minute afternoon nap, which is fine. The best part --- she is sooooo happy all day long. She only fusses when she is hungry or ready for a nap. She just laughs and smiles the entire rest of the day. She does need some quiet time in the late afternoon and that is usually when we run a short errand and she relaxs in her car seat and might sleep for 5 or 10 minutes.

Overall, CIO (Cry-it-Out) is not fun. I am sure we will continue to have to work at it as her schedule gets off, but it is sooo worth the happiness that a good night sleep does for the entire family. She was ready. We were ready. It worked for us.

E-

All I got for Christmas was my two front teeth....

2009-01-01T16:07:00.004-06:00

Tables and Stairs

2008-12-14T07:03:00.003-06:00

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T12:57:00.002-06:00

I adore Thanksgiving. It is one of the first holidays I got to spend with M. Our Thanksgiving's are filled with tons of great memories.

* 1st year. I had never met any of her family. We were hosting. She said we would have about 10 people. We weren't even living together just dating. It felt like everyday she came home and said, so-an-so called they are coming, too. When the number finally hit 21, my only response was "I am gonna need to buy more napkins." 21 people. All family. I was not the first girl M had brought home either. I was terrified, but it turned out great. We have spent every Thanksgiving since with her family, and I am not longer terrified. It is starting to feel like home. I really love it when my mom can join us, too.

* The herbs. Every year M searches the stores for my perfect mix of herbs. She calls, she hunts, she drives, and finds them every year. It is very sweet.

* Our first Thanksgiving with EG went great. She was a doll. She laughed and played with everyone. She got to play with her cousins and seemed to enjoy herself. We had a cute outfit for her that she never even put on. We thought she would take a nap and then we would dress her. However, she refused to nap -- way too much to see and do.

* My brilliant SAH Mom wife. EG refused to nap on Thanksgiving which caused a very cranky baby on Friday. So, M put EG on the "newborn" schedule. EG had to nap every 1.5 hours. It was hard, but it TOTALLY worked. Saturday was better and today EG has been a blast. Totally laughing and talking and playing. The child really can't miss a nap, but SAH Mom to the rescue.

* I am thankful for our healthy child, a hottie wife, a loving family, and a great job with excellent benefits.

E-

Two teeth

2008-11-26T11:35:00.003-06:00

We finally got a picture of EG's two teeth. It took almost 1 month to get this shot.

Working It Out

2008-11-22T07:17:00.003-06:00

It is quite hard to type this blog when my daughter is pulling on the cord and moving the entire computer every 30 seconds. I have moved her away from the cord, but there is no hope. I look down every few seconds to make sure she hasn't put it in her mouth or wrapped it around her neck. She is just swinging it like a jumping rope. It is also about four feet from a blanket full of toys. Okay. I have had enough. I pulled her on the couch with me. She will have to sit next to me and play.

Prior to EG, M and I both worked out regularly. We would stay after school and use the school's treadmills during the winter and we biked in the summers. When we got pregnant (over a year ago) that all changed. As you know, the first trimester is basically a coma. Between working full time, getting ready for the baby, shoveling 100+ inches of snow, and having a jobs where we walk multiple times a day we kinda let it go. But that is changing.

Work out after school? No, I want to get home as fast as possible to see my girls, and M can't bring EG up to school everyday.

Join a gym? Would love to join a gym for the spinning classes, but again too much time away from home and the gym is 15 minutes away.

Buy a treadmill? Will it become a clothes rack? Would we actually use it? Have you seen how much those things cost?

We bought a treadmill. We actually bought two treadmills. We went to a local department store, tried them out, did our consumer research and bought a huge, mega, fancy treadmill. They came to deliver it, and it wouldn't fit down the basement stairs. Damn.

We returned treadmill #1. Worried that we would never get a treadmill downstairs which would condemn us to a life of flab, we kept looking, researching, and trying other treadmills. We found another. They came to deliver it and thankfully it fit down the stairs. When M called me and told me it fit and we have a treadmill, I said, "I feel thinner already." We put it together the other night while EG watched from her pack 'n'' play. So, now we have it.

We'll see if we use it.

I see it, so I must....

2008-11-19T19:43:00.004-06:00

EG's memory is still not fully formed. If she can't see, it then it does not exist to her. However, when she sees something, she remembers what to do with it or how to get it. She is obsessed with the door stops, heating vents, electrical cords of any variety, and all the dog toys. If she sees any of the above, she kicks it into high gear and cruises to attack the object.

We have a stethoscope and blood pressure thingy that was part of a Halloween costume one year. She found it in a cabinet and every morning if the cabinet is open (and it usually is because that is where my hair dryer lives) she crawls to the cabinet - army-man style and starts chewing on all of it...we have proof.

E-

6 months

2008-11-14T11:43:00.004-06:00

Today is EG's six month birthday. We went to the doctor this morning for the checkup and shots. She is 27" long and weighs 18 lbs. 13 oz. Perfect. In the 90th percentiles but perfect.

Here are her accomplishments to date:
*Rolls anywhere and everywhere
*Can grab things faster than I can see them
*Is obsessed with playing with cords...this should work out well.
*Does the army man crawl quite well
*Is eating lots of fruits and veggies but still has an affinity for avocado
*Has a strained relationship with the dog
*Steals the dog's toys, hence the strained relationship
*Babbles about everything and nothing
*Tolerates her carseat much better
*Can sit up independently, but really prefers rolling and crawling
*Puts toys inside other toys...like fish in the aquarium
*Usually sleeps through the night except for one feeding
*Has two teeth
*Is growing hair...although most people still say she's bald
*Looks when you say her name
*Knows who her mommas are
*Stranger anxiety is significantly reduced...especially for blonds
*Never sits still

We are having a great time with her. She is more than we dared to hope for.

m

Oh, the little things

2008-11-09T15:10:00.004-06:00

"EG is so flipping cute." I bet we say that 100 times a day.

She is so fun just to watch. She is starting to army-man crawl and she can roll from one end of the house to the other. She loves a wide open space to roll and roll and roll. She enjoys playing with the heating vents and using her feet as hands. She likes to play with strings/yarn and is constantly looking for shoes to put in her mouth. EG also has an affinity for the dog toys and dog blankets. If she is quiet then she has a dog toy and is trying to lay low. She is starting to put things inside of other things. She has a little people school bus and is puts the people in the bus....okay...she put one little person in the bus, but at least she did it.

The dog wants nothing to do with her. The dog really doesn't like sharing her toys with EG at all.

EG wants nothing to do with solid food. She will begrudgingly eat avocados and oatmeal, but really that is it. We have tried all sorts of food, but she just isn't that into it yet.

Sleep. The ongoing saga. At the beginning of October she started to wake up all the time at night. It got to the point where M would take EG to the guest room to sleep. After weeks of reading, discussing, and observing we decided to do it. To let EG cry it out (CIO). We started last Thursday and it hasn't been that bad. The first night was hell. We used the Ferber method which meant we could go in and soothe her every 5 or so minutes, which seem to help. She was sound asleep in 20 minutes. We have had to do it on and off, but most nights she doesn't cry at all and sleep 9 - 11 hours with one waking for feeding. M is doing a great job of keeping track of EG's progress to make sure it is working.

She is also making great noises now. She giggles, squeals, blows lots of raspberries, makes the ahhhh sound, and grrrr's.

Her hair is actually starting to grow as well. She is still a little baldy, but it is starting to get thicker, which is a good thing with winter coming.

E-

The Great Pumpkin

2008-11-02T11:44:00.003-06:00

The Great Pumpkin brought EG her first tooth. She cut it yesterday and is working on tooth number two today. Two teeth in two days. She won't let us get near it with a camera....

Holy Fun Batman

2008-10-26T18:34:00.006-05:00

I wrote this post last weekend and forgot to "post" it......

EG is so freaking fun right now. She just smiles, "talks", rolls, and is highly entertaining. She can roll all the way across the room in no time. She talks to her toys, jumps in her jumper like she is trying to jump to the moon, and has to touch everything. I think we are entering a very fun phase of babyhood.

Random Updates:
1. She had her first cold. I couldn't believe it. It wasn't too bad.
2. She loves, loves, loves avocado.
3. She won't eat anything orange - squash, sweet potatoes, etc..
4. She refuses to sleep past 5:30 a.m. regardless of when she goes to sleep. The fall-back time change might kill us -- I can't imagine her getting up at 4:30 a.m. If you have any suggests we will take them.
5. She went to her first high school sporting event - girls volleyball. She lasted about 5 minutes because it was past her bedtime and very loud in the gym.
6. The weekends fly by.
7. The bathtub. We have a rockin' good bathtub. It is the primo. It has a molded center that allows her to be slightly elevated so she is easily washed. However, little miss eg has figured out how to sit up in the tub. Bath time used to be a splash fest which required me to take off my shirt just to wash her --- now, it is a wrestling match. I have to wash her while she is trying to sit up and not let her drown. M just sits behind me, swearing that she will never bathe her. I no longer get soaked, but it is exhausting and very, very fun.
8. Cousin E is coming this week. EG has a cousin that is 6 weeks older than her. Cousin is coming and we hope they have fun together.
9. EG is so tall that she is fitting nicely into 9 month clothes -- she is 5 months old.
10. She is going to be a ladybug for Halloween.

SAH Mom for a day

2008-10-19T11:17:00.004-05:00

On Saturday M went on an art tour with her mom and sister. I was the stay-at-home mom all day. It almost killed me. The house was a wreck, EG pooped all over, and I was exhausted. Now, by the time M got home the house was in better shape and EG was napping, but for a few crazy hours there it was touch and go. I would need a lot more practice to be a full time SAH mom. I will just continue to go to work and bring home the bacon.

Being the working mom is a hard job too. I start my day at 5:30 a.m. and I feel like I am done when EG goes to sleep around 6:30 p.m. Then I get to relax and see my wife. However, this past week I had to go back to work three nights. So, I would work all day, come home play with EG, put her bed, and then go back to work. It was exhausting. M let me sleep in Saturday morning which helped. I hope to not have too many more weeks like that.

My mom was here last weekend and we had a great time. EG didn't know what to think of Ninna the first day, but she came around by that evening and then she was all about Ninna for days. We enjoyed the built in babysitter and some quiet nights to ourselves. We all went to get our fall decorations.......EG liked the pumpkins.

Life as a Stay-At-Home Mom

2008-10-03T12:49:00.003-05:00

I had no idea what to expect when E and I decided that I would be the Stay-At-Home (SAH) Mom for a year. I knew it would be hard. I hoped it would be fun. I prayed I wouldn't have to call E at work in tears too many times. Much to my joy, it is wonderful to be a SAH Mom. More than anything else, I love knowing that EG is safe and cared for all day. She gets a ton of kisses and snuggles. She gets all the attention she wants. Next year she's off to daycare, so I am happy to indulge her.

I also love being a "housewife." I love the rhythm of picking up, cleaning, laundry, meals, errands, etc. E will be the first to tell you that I am picking up before she's out the door. I cannot tolerate nor get anything done when the house is littered with stuff. I love the peace of the house when EG naps and I love her sounds when she's awake. EG and I have figured each other out. I know when she's hungry and tired. I know when she needs to get some fresh air. We have gotten very good at running errands together. I have the smaller car of E and me, but EG actually prefers it because she gets such a good view and she rarely cries on car rides around town. I like having the time to do things for E or buy things for her that I know she likes.

This year is a total gift. People keep asking me if I like being at home. I wish I could make it a full-time job. I cannot fathom taking EG to daycare and going back to work next year. I hope that by then I can see how much she needs to be around other kids instead of me all day.

Here is a picture from an outing this week. We visited my workplace for a couple hours. This was EG in her carseat when we got home. I love the colors. I love that she is not letting go of that teether.

m

1st week

2008-09-28T15:29:00.003-05:00

I worked all week. It was a very busy week at school. I had to work late one day, but the other days I was out of there ASAP.

M did an amazing job with EG during her first week as SAH- (StayatHome) Mom. I think M is getting more and more comfortable with being home with EG and finding things to fill their time.

There were moments that were hard. We had our babysitter Thursday night, and I was exhausted. I managed to make it through dinner and some driving, but then we headed home. It was still nice to sit down and eat with my girl at the same time and have a drink with her. Ninna comes the weekend of the 10th and we are SUPER excited. Built in babysitter for DAYS! We have a list of things we want to do in the yard and out in the real world. We know that Ninna and EG will have a blast all by themselves.

EG is improving on the sleeping front. She is still eating some at night, but everything we read said that eating at night was still okay for her. She should stop it in about 4-6 weeks. Since she has NO interest in solid food we will continue to give up the formula as needed. She is learning to sleep on her belly which scares the crap out of me. All I see when she is face down on the mattress is all of those SIDS boxes that are located in every babybook about every other page. Luckily, most of them say that once the baby rolls over themselves, they have passed the SIDS danger window.

We have a big week coming up --- dentist visit, M's cast might come off, G-ma and G-pa are coming to babysit, and it is HOMECOMIG! That means it's EG's first parade on Thursday night. She will skip the game and dance. I will be at both!!!! ARGHHHHHH

E-

Obsessed

2008-09-21T14:07:00.005-05:00

Everytime EG learns a new skill she becomes obsessed with it. It is very common. The funniest one was when she learned how to move her neck. She looked back and forth like a sprinkler for about 24 hours. She was amazed at her new found fun. Her latest trick is keeping us up at night.....

EG can roll from her back to her belly. However, she cannot roll from her belly to her back. Therefore, we spend a lot of time at night getting up to roll her back over. In the beginning of this new skill it was great. She was sleeping better, eating better, and generally much happier. But, now she is obsessed with it and wakes up even more! We are hoping she figures it out soon.

I went back to work last week. I did 2 half days and 2 full days. Work is very busy right now so it hasn't been too bad. I did want to vomit most of my first full day. I just missed EG and M so much. It was great knowing that EG was perfectly cared for at home. I also get tons of updates throughout the day. I was very happy to be back with my two main collegues. They are my friends and co-workers and I have missed them both -- I think they missed me too.

M is doing a great job at home. We talked about "expectations" of a stay-at-home-mom and we decided that the only expectation she has it to take care of our babygirl. Anything else is bonus -- like a clean house or dinner. Her job is taking care of herself and EG. I am sure we will continue to figure out how to live our lives with a new baby around.

Here is a cute pic of our girl. It was cool here for a few days so we broke out the sweater....it was made by her AuntG.

4 months old

2008-09-13T11:22:00.003-05:00

I am home alone with EG while M spends some time with her friends on this dreary Saturday. We have posted a few videos lately...we love the one where she is learning to "talk", but we haven't said very much. So here goes...

She is 4 months old. She no longer sleeps through the night because she is too hungry. She eats at least twice a night taking 3-4 ozs at each nighttime feeding. She is 26 inches long (off the charts) and 16 lbs 4ozs (95%). Doctor says it is time for cereal. We have tried it three times. Each time she gets a tiny bit better. She really doesn't eat it yet -- she just moves it around her mouth and then spits it back out. I think I got her to swallow about 1/16th of a teaspoon this morning. We are open to any advice about helping her learn how to eat.

Because her nighttime sleep is interrupted her daytime naps are less then great. You never know what you are going to get. She was very predictable when she was sleeping through the night. We know this will pass when she can get enough food in during the day.

Even though she doesn't nap very well she is still very happy. She smiles, "talks", and yesterday started giggling. Those moments make it all worth it. My favorite moment with her is when I am rocking her to sleep and I put her on my shoulder to burp her and she falls asleep there. I can hear her breath in my ear and feel her breath on my neck. It is pure heaven and there is no better feeling in the world. It is a great mix of her being full, tired, and ready to snuggle.

I have gone to work for 2 half days and they almost killed me -- not because I missed EG, but the work load is unreal. I have two more half days and then full time on Thursday. I have about month of hardcore work in front of me. Leaving EG is currently okay because she is with M and M does great with EG. She is very patient and tough as nails. I know that it will be hard for her to be home with her all day long, but we know it is best for EG.

We will see how this week goes...a huge transition week.

E-

Things to say...

2008-09-12T19:30:00.002-05:00

Trying to Sit Up

2008-09-04T12:14:00.002-05:00

Mantras and giggles

2008-08-30T17:13:00.002-05:00

EG has been stuck in her 3 month growth spurt for over a week. It began on the heels of our return from visiting family and has been making life harder for all of us. She started getting up during the night to eat, has not been her usual smiley self and cried her mantra cry frequently. She's finally settling back into her old routines a bit...napping regularly and waking up happier. Today she truly giggled for the first time. She has figured out how to suck in a big gulp of air and we think it naturally led to a giggle which she then repeated several times for our listening pleasure. Sweet! It's a great giggle.

I was repeating a mantra of my own today. I used to be a pretty good softball player, but E had never seen me play. My sister-in-law asked me to play in a tournament this weekend to raise money for cancer research. E and I both thought it was a good chance for her to see me play and for me to get to see a bunch of old friends. Sure enough I saw tons of people from the good old softball days who all teased me about being too old for this. My mantra: I just don't want to get hurt. Being the old softball player I am, I dove for a ball, twisted my hand wrong and now have three broken bones in it. So much for mantras. I will have to experiment with new ways of picking up and playing with EG. The good news is that it's my right hand and I'm a lefty. And, nothing out of place. And, no cast.

And, I have a wonderful partner who wanted to know more of me. And, EG giggled today.

New Skill

2008-08-22T15:16:00.002-05:00

Philosophies

2008-08-19T10:29:00.005-05:00

When EG was first born, I had no idea what to do with her. I didn't do nearly enough reading on how manage a day with a newborn. At her two week appointment we asked the doctor, "Should we be doing anything with her?" Our fabulous doctor said, "Just talk to her. Talk to her all the time. She needs language." Now, that didn't help with how to manage her day, but it did give us some direction.

We had two baby books that we relied on when we started: The Baby Book by Dr. Sears and What to expect the 1st year. We also googled everything. Now, around 6 weeks I decided I needed to know more and I went to the bookstore almost everyday to buy another book to read. Here is what I learned:

There are two ends of a very wide spectrum on how to manage newborns/babies:

1. Dr. Sears: Attachment Parenting: feed on demand, co-sleep, wear the baby in a sling, breastfeed, no set schedule or routine, and let the baby show you the way.

2. BabyWise: Ezzo's bestseller that puts a baby on a schedule from day one. The baby eats, has play time, and sleeps in that order every 3 hours no matter what. Very, very structured including "adult time, play pen time, and car seat sitting time."

I want to add that for a long time we had no idea what the hell we were doing. EG is not an angel baby. She is very, very active and has been since she was born. I also struggled with postpartum issues. However, we have come to a great place where she is just wonderful and we found our way by reading, researching, watching EG like a hawk, calling M's sister daily for advice (she has three great kids and mothers with great ease -- she's our idol) and trying new things that were developmentally appropriate.

The book we liked the best was The Baby Whisperer. It gave us very practical ideas and strategies to use. The main thing we use is a running log of her days. This helped us see her natural nap pattern and build her day to encourage her natural rhythm. The author is also very in tune with the huge differences between a newborn and a 3 month old. We also use a few Attachment Parenting practices. We did co-sleep for the first month, we breastfed for awhile, I "wear" EG in a sling at least once a day, M takes her for daily walks in the Bjorn, and we let her guide us through what she needs.

I have huge issues with Babywise. I know many awesome parents who swear by the book, but I read it (it was a gift - I refused to buy it) and it made me crazy. One part says something like: "do you ever wonder why you don't have that happy perfect little child you see out in the stores..." OHMYGOD. EG is ALWAYS perfect in stores. She is captivated by the lights, smells, and sights, but that doesn't mean she is perfect or that some other child isn't because they are hungry or tired and upset to be in the store. The other reason I have issues with BabyWise is because I saw a young mother swear by it and almost starve her child. The baby was screaming with hunger and the mother just said, "No you have to wait. It isn't time." Now I encourage EG to wait until feeding time by distracting her, but as soon as she fusses (not crying) I will feed her and each time she is hungry.

In summary -- I have learned that every kid is different. Every parent is different. No one guru has all the answers -- or there would be just one book. (I stole that last line from some random blog, but it is so true.)

E-

We made it

2008-08-14T07:02:00.008-05:00

We made it through our trip. We actually had a nice time seeing my entire family and watching everyone ooh and ahh over EG. She did great during the trip. She had a few meltdowns after she had been passed around too much (my grandmother calls this "being fingered to death"). Each night we were there she started waking up more and more. By the last night she had gotten up 3 times and eaten each time. This is 6 week old behavior -- not 3 month old. I told EG that numerous times. It was just hard for her to be away from home. Thankfully, she slept in her Ninna's room and we didn't have to get up with her.

We took 4 planes to get there since you can't fly anywhere out of our airport directly -- you ALWAYS have to change planes -- makes me nuts. Our child is also the only child that doesn't like to sleep in cars or airplanes. She was awake for most of each flight. We entertained the hell out of her, but the last flight was hell. She cried and cried and cried. It was horrible. Thankfully, it was a short flight, but in the moment of her screaming was horrible. I totally understand why she was upset -- it is hard to be on the move that much. I wanted to cry too. I just wanted to get home.

When we did get home and I laid her in her crib and she just smiled and smiled. I truly believe she was relieved to be home. She slept the entire next day. Seriously, her naps usually total about 3-4 hours. Her nap total for our first day back was almost 7 hours. Poor thing was exhausted and probably going through her 3-month growth spurt all at once.

She has been waking up in the night again. The trip + growth spurt has had her waking up 2-4 times per night. Last night it was only twice. We hope she is adjusting back to sleeping through the night. We'll see.

Funny moment from the trip: It is 6 a.m. in the morning. I wander upstairs to check on EG who sleeps in my mother's room. I walk into my mother's room and all I see is her back facing me as she sits on the bed. She turns her head to see me and looks back at EG who must have been laying on the bed in front of her, but I couldn't see EG because my mother's body was blocking her and my mother says, "Oh no, we have been caught. Oh no, mamma caught us." In the five steps it takes me to see around my mother my mind was racing. I had no idea what my mother had done to our girl...given her solid food???....let her play with a unsafe toy??.....put make-up on the girl? When I finally saw EG I saw this........

My mother was playing dress up with EG. The bonnet was mine when I was a little girl. Now, the funny thing is it is the only hat that EG will wear willing. We have other hats for our little white girl, but she hates them. So, we have been using the bonnet from the 1970's. It works GREAT! It keeps the sun out of her eyes and she chews on the ribbon. She wore it yesterday on her walk and fell asleep for the first time on a walk. The magic bonnet. I asked M to make some more for EG. I know it isn't very modern, but it works!

E-

I have to change it

2008-08-06T06:24:00.003-05:00

I had to post something so I wouldn't have to see that horrible title on our page anymore. The entire bunny slaughter has been horrible. The poor dog is heartbroken that she can't play in her yard unsupervised. However, she will recover because she is going to her favorite place soon....the kennel. Yup, we are taking our first real trip with EG. We will be attempting to fly with a 3 month old.

My mother and sisters are hosting a great party to celebrate the arrival EG and have her dedication. Neither of my sisters have even met EG yet. We are very excited about seeing everyone, but nervous about getting there. We have thought it through about 100 times. We are taking our sling and baby bjorn to use in the airport and on the plane. My mother has a car seat so we don't have to take that which rocks.

So, we will see how it goes...send positive vibes that we remembered everything and that EG (and us) have a good time!

E-

Tales from the Bunny Morgue

2008-08-04T10:34:00.005-05:00

Disclaimer: This is not a bedtime story for children. It may not even be suitable for some adults.

E and I live in a fairly new neighborhood. Since I grew up mostly in the country, I had concerns that this new city community would not have much wildlife. I just wanted some birds...maybe a squirrel or rabbit now and then. Watch what you wish for...

We came home from a walk a couple nights ago and I saw a tiny baby bunny by our fence. We oohed and ahhed. Fast forward to later in the night when our dog (Golden Retriever) went outside for her usual nightly duty. We had already let her out a couple times since the bunny sighting. I was upstairs feeding EG when E burst in saying that the dog had found the baby rabbits out in the yard. (Before you call PETA on me, please know that I didn't know there was more than one, nor did I know the nest was in our yard.) E described it as the dog tossing the bunnies like bean bags. If you have dog, you know this is fairly normal play. Our dog is not a killer.

I went outside to find one bunny hurt, one dead inside our fence and one dead outside our fence. No momma bunny has ever been seen. I picked up the dead ones and got rid of them, but I was in a quandry about the hurt bunny. Horrible thoughts of hit him with a shovel went through my head, but I couldn't do it. I walked around the yard in a crying frenzy. Finally, I set the bunny upright and tapped him in the butt to get him to move and he hopped. So, I put him under a bush and hoped beyond hope that his momma would come and he would be okay.

Yesterday morning he was under the bush dead. I did find three live bunnies. The dog doesn't understand why she's not allowed in the yard. E and I had conversations about how we hate when the rabbits eat our garden. I told her the dog can chase them away when they're grown.

E sprayed some bug killer in the garage yesterday that smelled, so we left the garage open for a while. This morning when I went out to walk the dog, there was a baby bunny in our garage outside our back door dead. I cannot find any of the other bunnies in our yard and I took the dog out for a supervised visit hoping she'd help me find them. No luck.

So, I am in bunny hell. I must have been Elmer Fudd ("kill the wabbit") in a former life and this is karma. Circle of life...whatever. It's worse now that I'm a mom. Poor things.

m

Our top 10 baby stuff list...and shedding

2008-07-31T20:28:00.008-05:00

Evaluation of the "baby stuff" so far....

1. The rocking chair we bought for the nursery is quite funny. If you are a loyal blog reader you remember seeing a picture of the lay-z-boy chair with bright spots all over it -- well.... sitting in a chair that has spots with a newborn is like giving the newborn crack. EG stares and stares at the spots and she has since she was able to focus. To go to sleep she buries her head in our arms so she can't see anything. It is a great chair and we used it all day long.

2. We couldn't live without our maya wrap/sling thingy. EG gets slung up at least once a day if not more and she loves it. It is a very calming place for her and very comfortable for us.

3. We also love the sleep sacks. Halo is a good brand, but Carters makes a nice one too. She sleeps in one every night. They keep her very warm and safe.

4. Always choose Carters clothes. They are super soft, cute, and well made and affordable. They do shrink after the first wash, but do well in subsequent washes. She really doesn't wear anything but Carters.

6. We loved our Arms Reach co-sleeper. We debated/fought over whether we needed it or not. It was GREAT. EG outgrew it quickly because she sleeps with her arms straight out and she kept hitting the sides. We sold the co-sleeper on Ebay and got most of our money back as well.

7. The pack and play. We have a two story house so having a changing station downstairs and a place to lay her down on the first floor is great. We will be sad when she outgrows the changing table portion of the pack and play.

8. Playtex drop-in bottle system. No worries about chemicals because they are never reused and never heated. We serve room temperature bottle at our house. Again, there are lots of expensive, fancy bottle systems out there, but these work great for us.

9. Graco Travel System. Lots of people we know have very fancy strollers, but our little Graco does great. She is big enough to actually ride in the seat section now too. We used it everyday when the weather was cooler. We hope to use it even more when the weather breaks again.

10. Bouncy Seat. I think it is made by Fisher-Price. She sits in it and kicks the toys and it plays music. She loves it. She can only handle it for about 5-10 minutes, but she has a blast playing with it and she is so funny to watch when she kicks. At first she wanted nothing to do with it, but now she loves it.

10+1. Jujube diaper bag. This was our gift to ourselves. It was expensive, but it is worth every penny. It is Teflon coated so everything wipes off, and it looks very classy. That was important to us since we'll be carrying it for a few years. I have checked out all of our friends' diaper bags at play dates and many of them are falling apart. We literally throw ours in the car, stroller etc. and it still looks like new.

Things that we didn't find useful at all....I am sure some people love this stuff, but we didn't.

1. The damn Graco Swing. EG can't stand it. We try about 3 times a week to put her in it and she wants nothing to do with it. It only makes her cry.

2. While it is tempting to buy baby clothes for friends and family, I will probably try to avoid it. EG was given many beautiful clothes, but except for a few special occasions we put her in onesies. They are so easy and if she spits up or it gets dirty, we don't care. I am glad we have so many friends having babies because some clothes she has worn little and some not at all, so we will pass these along to others.

*****************

Shedding

As a pregnant woman you are blessed with the best hair of your life. None of your hair falls out. It becomes thick, shiny, and full of volume. It is great hair especially for woman like myself who have thinner hair. However, this hair is not yours to keep. You must give it back to the universe to pass on to the next pregnant lady. It is one of the final parts of giving up being pregnant. My pregnant hair is falling out. I will never in my life have that great thick hair again. I will miss it, but not enough to be pregnant again...ha!

Smiles

2008-07-29T12:25:00.000-05:00

Words, words, words

2008-07-28T18:55:00.004-05:00

I got this idea from 2 moms.

I love words. The number of times a word is used determines its size. I love seeing which words we use most to describe our life. Just enter your web address or add words of your own here.
m

Wow.

2008-07-27T08:27:00.002-05:00

It happened. It finally happened. It might never happen again, but for one moment in time it happened.

EG slept through the night.

She went to bed a little late at 8:00 p.m. and didn't wake up until 6:10 a.m. It was crazy. M and I both got up all night to check on her, but she was fine. She was sleeping peacefully. We are very proud of her. She did a great job. We obviously hope this continues, but we also know that it could have been a fluke. We will keep you updated.

E-

Our Cute Girl

2008-07-24T15:31:00.004-05:00

She is cooing. She is smiling all the time. She is learning some cause and effect. She loves to bury her face in our arms when she is tired. She slept from 7:30 p.m. last night until 5:45 a.m. this morning with only one waking around midnight to eat.

We are working on a routine for EG. We don't believe in schedules for babies, but we do believe that a routine is best for everyone in the family. We have been tracking our movements for about a week now and this is our "routine"....which means that everyday is different, but it goes something like this...

Wake up between 6-7 a.m., eat, play, eat a little more, and then back to sleep for 45 minutes. This pattern of eat, play, eat a little more, then sleep plays out through the day. Her sleep times vary from 15 mintues to 2 hours. At 6:45 p.m. we give her a bath, dress her for bed, read a few books, eat a little more, rock and then off to bed for the night.

Here is a new pic.

E-

A Normal Life?

2008-07-19T13:21:00.003-05:00

In the beginning of raising your first child all of your normal days are gone. There is no time for TV, reading, talking, or cooking. We ate Culver's cheeseburgers and milkshakes more than a few dinners in the beginning. We didn't read anything except babybooks for weeks. We have TIVO and it just filled up. The conversations revolved around forumla versus breastmilk for weeks.

Then slowly, very slowly, things start to return to us. The baby goes to sleep in her own room and you can read before you go to bed. You actually begin to count on reading before you fall asleep again. You find that during nap time you actually talk to your spouse and do fun things. Yesterday during a long 2 hour nap, M and I made curtains (okay -- she made them, but I ironed everything). We giggled and laughed and talked the entire time. It was us. It was who we were before EG, and it is nice to know that it is still there. We are also getting much better at eating real food as opposed to Culver's all week long.

The TV watching is humorous. I like to watch more TV than M does. EG and I start every morning with a bottle and two episodes of Sex and the City (Tivo-ed) and then an hour of the Today Show. After that we turn off the TV. We might watch a cooking show or something like that during lunch. At night we always watch the national news and then reruns as we put EG to bed.

Once EG is in bed we indulge. When EG was born we realized that we would be at home a ton and needed something to do while waiting. Waiting is what you do with a newborn. You wait for them to wake up. You wait for them to finish eating. You wait for them to fall alseep. You wait and watch TV. So, we rented DVDs of TV series that we have never seen. Each night after EG drifts to sleep we watch an episode or two. Over the last 8 weeks, we have seen the entire series of "Big Love" and "Weeds." We were addicted to each. I think it was an hour of normalcy in our crazy unplanned and unstructured days. We are going to start "John Adams" next.

I love that "our" life is finding its way back into our "family's life." I love that EG has provided us with oceans of love and oceans of challenges. I can't wait to see what the next 8 weeks brings...

E-

Pics of our girl

2008-07-16T15:35:00.003-05:00

An Infant

2008-07-15T16:36:00.004-05:00

The term newborn is applied to babies until they are two months old. EllaGrace is two months old. She is now considered an infant, not a newborn. She is growing up. Here are some of her latest highlights...

For over a week now she goes to sleep every night at 7:40 p.m. on the dot. We give her a bottle, rock her, put her in her sleep sack, check her diaper, then rock a little more and when she is drowsy, but not asleep, we place her in her crib. She looks around and she might kick and coo for a few minutes, but shortly she will demand her nuk and put herself to sleep. It is awesome and amazing.

She can't do the same task at naptime quite yet. She still likes to be held for naps. Her grandmother who goes by the name "Ninna" came this past weekend and held her for 2 days straight. I don't think this helped the nap issue, but they both totally loved being together all weekend. We actually missed her due to the kidnapping.

EG also loves to play now. M and EG play all the time. They are very cute together. They place the face game -- which is just where they make faces at each other. They play peek-a-boo and raspberries. I love to kiss on her and make her smile. I also love her morning smiles that I get as I feed and change her each morning. She is still in love with her mobiles as well. She still hates her swing. What a waste.

Tomorrow are her 2 months shots .. yuck. We are hoping she handles them well.

We also had our first babysitter last week. Our excellent co-worker S came and babysat while we went for a bike ride and lunch. EG slept almost the entire time. She also was babysat by her Ninna Friday and Saturday night. We got massages and saw a movie Friday night and Saturday night we attended an excellent wedding reception. It wasn't easy to leave her, but we know it is good for us to do things without her. We are working on it.

I will post pictures soon....

E-

7.5 weeks old

2008-07-06T09:23:00.005-05:00

EG is starting to make a lot of progress in the sleeping area. She is now sleeping in her crib every night and for some naps. Yesterday, for the first time, she was able to be put in her crib still awake and fall asleep on her own. She did it once at naptime and then she did it at bedtime as well. It was amazing. We really hope this is a skill she is learning and that it wasn't a fluke. She also slept for three hours and forty minutes last night until waking to be fed.

M and I are still splitting the "shifts" at night. M takes anything before 3am and I take everything after 3am. It works out well because I can't stay up at night and M has a hard time getting started in the morning. However, if EG is good during M's shift, she is up with us in the morning - which rocks.

EG is also much more interactive these days. She smiles, coos, and loves to play face games with her moms. M does a great job of teaching her new things like playing the "stick out your tongue game." Which EG plays all the time -- even by herself.

E-

Advice

2008-06-23T19:12:00.004-05:00

Okay Blogreaders...it is time to give solicited advice.

EG has to be rocked to sleep. Sometimes it is sweet and loving and amazing and other times it is like she is trying to kill you with her discomfort. Once she is asleep she can't be laid down unless it is night-time and she is in her co-sleeper. She will stay in the co-sleeper up to 3 hours at night and only wake up to eat, get rocked, and placed back in the co-sleeper.

Is it time to move EG to her crib? What will that look like? How should we do that? Should we stop rocking her to sleep? Should we just lay her down when she falls asleep and deal with the consequences of that choice (her waking up and having a meltdown)?

Thoughts? Advice? Theories? Remember she is only 6 weeks old....she is still brand new.

Baby Bliss

2008-06-21T06:56:00.002-05:00

Life with a new baby certainly can be trying (why does she fight going to sleep so much???), but it is also incredibly sweet. Right now I am sitting by the open front window. It is early morning. The birds are singing and the breeze is blowing in. EG is napping in her carseat next to me after our walk with the dog. E is upstairs sleeping. (She had the first feeding shift, so she gets to sleep in.) The house is absolutely silent except for EG's stirrings.

For the most part we find a ton of sweetness in her snuggles, sleeping on us, and her first attempts at smiles. She loves to take a bath and it calms her after a meltdown. We are still figuring out how to get her to fall asleep without those meltdowns. It seems as though she has a very small window of opportunity for going to sleep before she becomes overtired and inconsolable. It is obvious to us that she is maturing as well as growing. Three nights this week she fell asleep(which means tons of rocking and cajoling from us) by 7 p.m. Every night this week, she slept for 12 hours only waking to eat. That is some awesome progress. We are now working on taking naps. She is much happier when she takes a nap, but that means falling asleep.

E is very good at calming EG down when she gets wound up. EG knows her momma. As soon as E takes her, she settles a bit and her body relaxes. It doesn't always last, but it is a welcome break for all three of us. E is also very understanding when I feel like I have run out of options for dealing with EG. She is very good at taking turns.

Now that EG seems to be settling into a bit of a predictable routine, E and I are finding ways to spend time alone doing what we enjoy. Today was the first day since last August that we got on our bikes. We took turns each taking a half hour ride around our neighborhood while EG was napping. While we both realized how incredibly out of shape we are, it also gave us a chance to feel energized and free and a chance to care for EG independently. We are planning more small outings.

We are having a great time exploring life as a family.

Random Thoughts of a New Mom

2008-06-16T07:22:00.004-05:00

EG is sleeping in her car seat after a morning walk with the dog, so I thought I would take advantage of the moments of peace to documents some random thoughts over the past month.

* A great hospital memory: When we were still in the hospital M would climb into my luxury hospital bed and we would take EG out of her bassinet, and we would all three sleep together in that little bed. Snuggled up. We were all blissfully happy. It was also the beginning of our "co-sleeping" which we had no intention of doing, but it happens.

* EG is transitioning to her actual bassinet. She is good in it for a couple of hours, but then she demands to get in the "big bed" with her mommas. We have worked out a much better night routine for her where we both take turns feeding her, and we do it in the nursery as opposed to our room. This allows a more peaceful place for EG and allows the other Mom to sleep peacefully.

* We have had horrible flooding just north of us and we had to go to a wedding in a town that was almost an island due to the flooding. We drove north to go back south into order to "cross the river" at a bridge that wasn't flooded out. We were late to the wedding. Our first big family affair and we were going to be late with little EG. We get to the church 10 minutes late, dress EG in the car, M changes pants in the car, I am putting on my shirt and buttoning it as we rush through the church's courtyard and we finally get into the church. They hadn't started because lots of people were late, but we still had to be seated in front of everyone. EG was perfect during the service, but M did have to take her out to burp her. While they were gone I looked down and realized I forgot to put on my heels. I was sitting in a beautiful church in long black pants with a nice white top and my cheap black Target flip-flops. In all the rush I forget to change my shoes. Baby has the brain.

* Tim Russert died. I just can't believe it. He taught me so much about politics. I Tivo and watch Meet the Press every Sunday. I don't believe any other commentator except Tim. It is also hard because my father taught me to watch political shows and listen to both sides. In some ways, it is a connection to my father who died this month three years ago. Ironic that Tim also died in June.

* Baby Blues. They still come and go, but for the most part they are much better. I still have moments of panic and fear, but they pass quickly. EG is so much better and we are so much smarter now.

* M. She is still my rock. It is a challenge to raise a baby, but M has risen to the challenge and has done a great job. She takes excellent care of EG and me. We love her.

So there -- my random thoughts for the day...

E-

26 days old

2008-06-09T10:26:00.003-05:00

Here is a brief recap of the last few weeks.

Week 1: Excitement. Joy. Severe case of the babyblues. Hormonal crash. Three days of my crying and feeling overwhelmed. M was the rock star with holding everything together. Seriously, I cried non stop.

Week 2: Breastfeeding. Lactation consultant. Constant feeding. Trapped in the house with no shirt on for days.

Week 3: Discovered that I wasn't making hindmilk, which is why EG was feeding all the time and not getting satisfied. Started using formula. EG became a whole new baby. She ate better, slept better, and is sooo much happier -- and moms are, too. She still nurses a little each day and gets a morning dose of pumped breastmilk.

Week 4: We are just starting week 4. Overall EG is perfect. She fusses for a while each evening when the sun starts to set, but apparently that is normal. It isn't colic because she can be comforted -- she is just fussy. Any ideas?

At this moment, M is holding EG and rubbing EG's back as EG drifts off to sleep. It is my favorite picture in the entire world. My girls.

E-

Random thoughts

2008-06-07T08:25:00.002-05:00

- E was a rock star in giving birth to EG. She did everything the doctors told her and moved through the pain admirably.

- EG is so darn cute...and growing like a weed. She seems long to us...maybe she'll be tall.

- We sleep in three hour bursts at night, but EG is a great sleeper during that time.

- Breastfeeding is not for everyone.

- Going on at least one errand per day is essential to keeping one's sanity.

- If you have any spare cash, invest in Pampers.

- Baths with a baby are sweet and fun.

- We are taking pictures and videotaping a lot...she changes so fast.

- Post partum blues are real and common.

It is amazing to have a family. E and I spend hours sitting and staring at EG. We learn more about her every day. What her various cries mean. When she wants a nap. When she just wants to be left alone. She spends more time awake and she can see much more. She loves looking at the light and will sometimes turn in our direction if she hears our voices. She smiles and makes noises, but they are totally random. We wake up every day waiting to examine her and she how she has changed.

m

More Pics

2008-06-04T18:06:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pics of sweet EG. We have TONS to write about and will find time soon. We are totally in love with her....

EG's Birth Story

2008-05-25T10:49:00.007-05:00

Disclaimer
1. As a former history teacher I believe in writing things down. This post is long and winding, but it is written for our memories and for EG.

EG's Birth Story
I love my doctor. Have I mentioned that before? When we were approaching our due date of May 12th, we asked about induction. Doctor says, "We know when this baby was conceived, and I don't believe in overcooking babies -- nothing good comes of it. The placenta starts to give out and things go bad quickly. Any date after May 12th is fine with me." We chose May 13th....impatient aren't we....or was it maternal instinct?

We were scheduled for a 11:30 a.m. appointment to start the induction on Tuesday, May 13th. We got up that morning, took the puppy to the kennel, ate a nice breakfast, finished packing, cleaned up the house, and then took the slowest drive to the hospital ever...because we were early.

At the hospital we checked in to labor and delivery and were shown our room. It was a large birthing suite with couch, bed, chairs, tv, etc. I was told to strip and get into the hospital gown with robe...very fancy. We then met the first of our three nurses. Katie was young, happy, and very kind. The first thing she did was the normal health check, vitals, etc. Then we waited on the resident to come and check me out hoping that my cervix had moved up and all they would need to do was break my water.

When Parker the resident arrived, he was a little clumsy to say the least. He fumbled around, checked me out and said he thought we should start Pitocin now. I knew that was not what my doctor had in mind. He, of course, had to call her and ask permission which she denied. heheheh She instead ordered misoprostol to move my cervix. It would take four hours for it to work. tick..tick..tick..tick..

During the afternoon of waiting M and I talked, gazed at each other, laughed, met our new nurse named Renee, and actually read magazines. I was hooked up to a monitor and we could see that I was having tiny contractions that I could barely feel. My mother arrived around 4ish and my best friend L arrived about the same time. My sister also sent tons of gifts and flowers to fill the room with pink..pink..pink. We all visited for awhile and then it was time to see if the drug had worked.

The drug did a good job of moving my cervix, but Parker the resident wanted to start Pitocin and my doctor then agreed. So about 6 p.m. there was a whole lot of hustle and bustle as they hooked me up to an IV, pushed fluids, moved monitors, and checked everything twice. M and I walked and walked around the ward and tried to help things along. The drug caused minor cramping that I thought was pretty easy to handle...until....

8 p.m. the real contractions begin. Ohmygod. I knew they were the real deal when I had to lean on my IV pump and have M push against my back for counter-pressure. Ohmygod. When I was in the middle of a good contraction, I couldn't think all I could do was try and breathe and focus on M's hands on my lower back. Somewhere around this time my doctor arrived and checked me out. She decided to break my water. I asked for the epidural. I was at 4cm. It was time for the drugs. We also had a new resident, Michelle, who was very kind and much smarter than the first one.

I was asked to get on the bed, and after that point I never got out again until it was all over. My doctor broke my water and it felt like warm bath water pouring out of me. However, my doctor's voice was a little distressed when she said, "Meconium, thick and dark." What this means is the baby had been in distress. It could have happened during labor or sometime before -- either way it was time for her to get out. One of the concerns when there is meconium present in the amniotic fluid is that the baby will aspirate the meconium during the labor or birth, so they decided to monitor everything. They attached a heart monitor to EG's head, a contraction thingy to my uterus to measure the contractions, and a blood pressure cup that automatically took my BP and pulse every 15 mintues.

Now at this point I was nervous. I was concerned about the meconium and the moment my doctor broke my water my contractions got even more intense and I started shaking all over. Between contractions I would almost come out of a fog and see what was going on around me, but when they hit again I would just grip the side of the bed and shake my way through it. M was right there applying counter-pressure with every painful contraction.

FINALLY, the epidural was ready. The guy was a real jerk, but I didn't care. He hooked me up and all of a sudden I felt nothing and it felt great. However, I then went numb everywhere....wild experience, but I went hoarse, couldn't swallow, and my hands were numb. They guy didn't believe me. He thought I was nuts. I thought he would take away my drugs, but I had to tell someone that something wasn't right. He turned it off and said he would be back. I had enough in me to keep the pain at bay.

He later returned and cranked the machine up again. I asked about three questions and he said, "You like to be in control, don't you?" If I could have moved my legs, I would have kicked him. Either way, the drugs worked much better the second time and I was sent off to lala land to wait for my cervix to dilate to 10 cm.

So....our final nurse appeared around 11 p.m. Her name was Olga and she was tough, smart, and very good. She had a thick Hispanic accent which took a little getting used to, but she rocked. She watched my contractions and realized that EG was turned in the wrong direction. She put me on oxygen and had me turn on my left side. Sure enough babygirl flipped into the right position. Again, M helped all night. She helped flip me when I had to be flipped like a pancake and asked all the questions I couldn't ask.

Around 1 a.m. Olga told us that it could be about 5 hours until I was fully dilated and I may have to push for about 2 hours due to EG's position. She told us both to sleep as much as possible. I took the advice and tried to sleep. M did not.

The hours between 9:30ish until time to push are fuzzy. I have one solid memory of that time. I remember my M. I remember her sitting there all night in a dark room staring at the monitors like they were the best show on TV. She studied my vitals and EllaGrace's all night for hours and hours. It was the sweetest and most comforting thing she could have done. I was able to relax and know that she was watching out for me and our daughter.

My mother was also there all night. She was very supportive and totally respected our privacy and our experience. She was kind and followed my "rules"...hehehe...and did a great job of keeping my sisters informed. I am so glad she was able to be there from the moment EG breathed her first breath.

About 2 a.m. Olga came in and I told her that I felt pressure and so she checked me. I had dilated to 10 in about an hour. She was surprised. I was shocked. I wasn't quite ready to push this child out yet. Olga agreed that EG should move further down or else we'd be pushing forever. So, we again waited.

Finally, the pain began blasting through the epidural. M went and told the nurse who said..."Okay, then it is time to push." Holy crap. She had me do a "test push" and she realized that I was going to be able to push this child out in no time. She rushed and called my doctor who was sleeping down the hall and the NICU. The NICU was called due to the meconium. They would need to suction her out as soon as possible.

When it was time to push, the entire room changed. The bed popped apart, these huge leg stirrups came out of nowhere, the doctors appeared, more nurses appeared, and it was very busy. I was just focusing on M and preparing myself for the pushing. My goal was to do everything the doctor said. Which I did. They said push -- I pushed. They said stop and blow, I did. I followed directions. I pushed babygirl out in three sets of pushes. Three contractions and it was done. It took less than 10 minutes and she was here.

She was here and they shuttled her off into the anteroom where they suctioned her. I saw her move across the room and my thought was, "I gave birth to the old man from the Monopoly game." I don't know why I thought that -- I just did. We could hear her crying and I was glad my mother was there to go with her and keep an eye on her. My mother announced she was 7lbs, 5 ozs which is what M had dreamed it would be about a week earlier. I remember M looking so excited and thrilled. I still had a little work to do.

Yes, there is more work after delivery. They pushed everything out of me and banged on my stomach for quite awhile. The beds in those places go through a lot and thank goodness for tons of waterproof pads. I wasn't damaged too much. At some point, they finally brought the baby to us and she was perfect.

They had me try and feed her which went fine. M had some skin on skin time with her. It was all very overwhelming. It was all surreal. It was excellent to be surrounded by lots of love and it was the beginning of the next phase of this journey.

E

She's perfect...we're still learning

2008-05-19T09:47:00.003-05:00

We are home and have been for a few days. Labor went great and will post about that later. Just know that it really does hurt and drugs are a great thing.

EllaGrace has a great disposition. She is totally at peace all day long. Until.....we breastfeed. So far, breastfeeding has been very hard and we are on the cusp of going to formula. But, we haven't decided and are trying to make it work.

She is super sweet and cute....see for yourself...

She's here!

2008-05-14T15:50:00.002-05:00

EllaGrace arrived at 3:05 a.m. on May 14th. She is 19.5 inches long and weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. She is perfect in every way. E was a rock star! Strong and wonderful. We will write more when we're settled.

m

nothing yet

2008-05-12T18:27:00.002-05:00

We're still here. Hanging out. Watching E's belly. Waiting for our stubborn little girl. Virtually all of E's pregnant coworkers went early. E said months ago she would probably go full term. She's right. Everyday we go to work to hear choruses of "You're still here!"

The house is clean. The bags are packed. We went out to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants. The dog is blissfully unaware of how dramatically her world is going to change. However, we are ready and waiting.

m

Still here...still pregnant

2008-05-10T07:52:00.002-05:00

Our official due date is Monday, May 12th. However, I think today would be a great day for a birthday. I am ready to enter the next phase of this pregnancy -- labor and delivery.

I have been a very gracious hostess for over 9 months. I have not eaten cookie dough, drank too much caffeine, or drank any alcohol. I have slept according to her wishes -- mainly on my right side --- she still doesn't like me sleeping on my left side. I have endured the bladder kicks, the partying at all hours in my belly, and the sweet feeling of her rubbing my belly from the inside out. Additionally, M has done a ton of extra work to accommodate for my condition.

So, here it is. I am over it. It is time for babygirl to make her appearance in a safe and healthy way. I had cramping for about two hours this morning, but then it went away. Doctor told us yesterday that I am still 1.5 dilated, almost fully effaced, and the baby is so low she is about to come out......seriously she is at 1.5 + station. The doctor laughed about how low she is.....

We will continue to wait.....it is the two week wait all over again......

E-

Day 259

2008-05-05T19:05:00.002-05:00

E has played hospitable host to BabyGirl for 259 days. She has taken excellent care of herself, put up with the inner gymnastics and read voraciously about how to be an even better mom. We are both more than ready for BabyGirl to make her appearance, but we also both believe that she is stubborn and will not come out until we send her an engraved invitation.

Spring has sprung and time is going slowly since we can't take long walks or bike rides as we usually would. E passes her free time watching her belly and resting. I cannot sit still and cleaned the basement this weekend for a lack of anything better to do.

People at work keep asking why we don't take the last week off. What would we do? Stare at E's belly? We are committed to staying at work until the last day. We both have all of our work done and spend most of the day answering questions about why we're still at work.

The blog comments have been fun to read, and we are surprised at how many of you are keeping track of us here at the end. People at work are still giving us cute little outfits and gift certificates. We had no idea how many people in real life and blogland would be excited for us. We are very thankful.

So, we will keep you updated and hope there aren't too many more updates...

m

39 weeks

2008-05-03T08:46:00.002-05:00

Yup - 39 weeks. I am huge. I am hungry. I am somewhat irritating. I am moody. I am hormonal. I am tired. I am driving my sweet M crazy. I am hungry - did I mention that already?

I am also still thrilled to have this little girl inside of me. She doesn't have a lot of room to move around so she just squirms and it kinda tickles. I still love knowing she is safe inside of me and I am as close as I will ever be to her. I am also ready to meet her face to face. I wonder what she will feel like? look like? smell like? The wonder of the unknown....

My last day of real work will by Friday - I am thrilled.

We went to the doctors this week and I am 1.5 cm dialated, 85% effaced, and babygirl is +.5 station -- the girl is LOW....

Any bets of when babygirl will arrive???????????????

38 weeks

2008-04-27T15:13:00.003-05:00

I have almost avoided posting because I didn't want M's poem to go down on the page, but I thought it was time. I am currently sitting on the back deck watching M build a raised bed for our vegetable garden this summer. She has half of her tools out here and is using all of them -- it is very cute. We hope to grow tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and maybe cucumbers this summer.

As I said, I am sitting on the deck with the laptop. M has called me pathetic all day. I am tired. I don't have a lot of energy at all. I wish I could convince her to lay in bed all day and read and nap, but we have gardens to build.

We went to the doctors on Friday and I am about the same, but Babygirl has dropped even lower into 0 station, which means her head is fully engaged in the pelvis. Doc says it could be anytime now or it could be 3 weeks. However, she doesn't believe in over cooking babies. We will have to be induced by May 18th at the latest. She would induce us on May 13th, one day past our due date. So, our major topic of discussion this weekend is when to be induced, if needed. We kinda like the 13th.

Being 38 weeks pregnant is quite tiring. My energy is low and I am still hungry all the time. I have a hard time sleeping at night for a variety of reasons. I am also somewhat emotional. M is trying very hard to humor me and trying not to anger the pregnant lady. I love her for that.

'Twas the night...

2008-04-21T19:18:00.003-05:00

We have both been working very hard to get ready for BabyGirl to arrive, and now that we are this close we feel like every day is Christmas Eve and we are 10 years old. Every preparation has been made. I spent yesterday in the yard fertilizing the lawn, putting down mulch, and washing windows. I don't know how to explain it. I am so excited that time just does not want to go by. Work is just a little boring because I have all my planning and projects done, so I work with my kids but mostly I just wait for E to call me telling me it's time to go. In my head I know it could be weeks before that happens, but now that we have everything done I have nothing else to think about. So, with apologies to Clement Moore, here's life in our house.

'Twas three weeks before childbirth, when all through the house
All the creatures were stirring, even the mice;

The onesies were hung in the nursery with care,
In hopes that BabyGirl soon would be there.

The mommies were excited and done with their chores,
They washed the windows and even the floors.

The baby keeps growing safe in E's belly,
And they got the dog groomed so she wouldn't be smelly.

So, here we sit watching BabyGirl grow,
Wishing the time didn't pass so slow.

37 Weeks

2008-04-20T18:47:00.002-05:00

Yup. I am 37 weeks pregnant. I am full-term. If labor starts now, no one is going to try and stop it. This is a good thing. Also a little freaky -- I am not ready to let babygirl go yet.

Being 37 weeks pregnant is just funny at times. Each day it gets harder for me to move around. I grunt every time I need to make a large movement, like getting off the couch - out of bed - out of the car - etc... I have to pee every hour, if not every half hour. I am STARVING all the time. I could just sit around and eat all day, but I fight the urge. I eat plenty, trust me. The swelling varies from day to day based mainly on my salt intake. I have a general overall swelling that is constant, but if I eat too much salt I lose my wrists and ankles.

My friend L, with whom I work everyday, is committed to keeping me moving. She makes me walk the halls many times a day to keep my blood flowing and keep me active--even when I really don't want to walk...she makes me. She is tough and I like it. She has been an excellent friend through this entire experience. She also randomly shows up with pink dresses for babygirl -- she can't resist a sale or anything pink.

Babygirl appears to be quite happy in my belly. She has very strong movements now. She will have periods of awake time where she kicks, pushes her butt out, punches, and wiggles. M can sit and watch my belly just rock and roll. It is so fun to see her move around in there. The best is when all of a sudden she sticks her butt up and my belly grows vertically about 2 inches. We have great time watching and laughing. Then, she falls asleep and is quiet and still for hours.

The doctor told me on Friday that I can only work 8 hours a day from now on and I think that is awesome. I usually don't work more than 9 hours a day, but about a couple of times a month I pull a 13 hour day. Monday was going to be a good 13 hour day, but not anymore. I am freed from the pressure of having to wear myself out. I finally have permission to say no. It feels good.

M has been so awesome lately. I think she is totally in love with me being pregnant. She is very protective and doesn't like to be far away from me, which is good because I feel the same way. She smiles at me all the time, cooks, cleans, fixes stuff, and is very aware of my comfort. She has been the perfect spouse during this entire affair. I have chosen an excellent partner, lover, friend, and co-parent. She still pushes me to do all I can do, but she realizes that it gets harder each day -- sometimes each hour.

Being pregnant isn't a bad gig. It takes energy and I have forgotten what it is like to have my body all to myself, but I will have it back soon enough. I am dreaming of sleeping on my back and on my stomach. I am dreaming of an ice-cold beer on a hot day. I am dreaming of a happy and healthy babygirl.

E-

More Random Thoughts

2008-04-18T19:23:00.004-05:00

* We went to the doctor today and found out that E is 70% effaced and dilated about 1 centimeter. The baby is in stage -1. What all that means is that BabyGirl is low and not ready to come out yet. However, we are making progress. The doctor also believes that E will have no problem getting the baby through her pelvis.

* E's aunt sent us a Pack and Play this week, so now we truly cannot think of anything else we need to be ready.

* We have both been working hard at school getting ready to leave before everyone else. As a matter of fact, we have both worked so hard that we are caught up and a little bored. There may be quite a bit of clock watching over the next few weeks.

* I have had the thought several times that this whole process is amazing before we even get to meet BabyGirl. I cannot speak for all lesbians, but I think the whole process of getting pregnant, sharing that with everyone, having baby showers, etc. has given me a view into the straight world. E and I have always had a support network, but this journey makes me feel that there are a whole lot of opportunities for a wide network that happens automatically for the straights. I don't mean it in a "poor lesbian" sort of way. I mean it in more of a "I feel so blessed to be a part of it" sort of way. I had no idea such an outpouring of support existed. People I have worked with for only a couple years have gone way out of their way to support us and give us wonderful gifts. Other friends and family have done more than ever imagined. Everyone has asked a million questions and offered to help however possible. It is an instant connection with people I have no other connection with. Now, we are part of another group...parents. It makes me feel even more confident that everything will be okay once BabyGirl gets here.

* We are so excited. E is doing great. She looks great. BabyGirl is having party after party in there. I can't wait to meet her.

m