Christmas

Holidays...oh how I love you, but I'm also so happy to see you go. Anyone else understand what I'm saying? This holiday season was SO much fun (who would have thought it would be so amazing to see your child get gifts), but also SO exhausting. Call me Scrooge, but I'm kind of ready to get back to "normal" life. It definitely doesn't help because while Kev gets a week and a half off from work, I have to work extra because everyone wants to get their surgeries in by the end of the year. Silliness.

Wow, I sound so negative, but we really did have an awesome time with both families. On Wednesday, we hung out with Kev's family and then Thursday after work, we made the trip to Texas. It was all a whirlwind, but also a lot of fun. I haven't gotten a chance to download the pics from Kev's family, but here are a few highlights from the visit with mine.

The girls

Hanging with Aunt Lacey. Talk about some serious bed head!

Anja and I chilling with the dogs (minus Truman...he was there but just not in the picture).

LOVE this expression on her face!

Styling in my new boots from Mimi. Speaking of boots, she now has 4 pairs. Jackpot.

Christmas Eve. Love our tradition...we have all kinds of hor d'oeuvres-like foods (which I love) and a little bit of wine. It is so much fun!

Elliott "opening" her presents. She had so much fun...at least I think she did. :) She actually took a nap mid gift opening at my parent's house so I don't think she was too excited.

I meant to say this on my last post but I forgot. Isn't that what always happens? As soon as you hit publish, you think of at least 2 other things you were going to mention. Anyway, I was just going to say that Miss Elliott is indeed a big girl, but she really had no choice. I was looking back at my baby book to see how big I was at 4 months...I was 17 pounds and over an inch shorter than her. So I was even a bigger baby because I weighed more and was shorter. Poor girl never had a chance to be petite. :)

A weekend of firsts...

It was a weekend of firsts for Miss Elliott. She went to her very first wedding, and she behaved like an angel. She sat through the whole wedding quietly and was fascinated by all the decorations and the church. After the wedding, she was due for a nap so Kev took her home and I went to the reception solo. Can I just say, I LOVE wedding receptions! I love the decorations, the food, the dancing, the fellowship...pretty much everything about them. At this reception, they had cupcakes instead of a cake and they were uh-mazing!

The other first for Elliott was she wore tights. She looked so cute in her little dress with her little black tights. I was actually thinking about the fact that Miss E has never worn shoes...ever...in her entire life. Is that weird? At first, I blamed it on the fact that her feet were too narrow and none of the shoes we got fit her. Now I'm afraid it might just be laziness on my part. I would like to find her some little boots, but I never see any. Any advice on where to get baby boots that aren't like crazy expensive?

She also got to meet our sweet friends Andrew and Andrea for the first time. They recently moved to Houston (sadness), but they were in town for the wedding and stayed at our house all weekend (we felt so blessed to have them)! She was a big fan of them (as was Truman), and she kept giving Andrew little smiles. Maybe her first crush? :)

So thankful for you friend!

Hmmm...don't really like my outfit post baby. Things don't quite fit like they used to. :)

Blog Envy

There are times that I seriously have blog envy. Does anybody else understand what I'm saying? I look at some people's blogs and they are super creative or they look beautiful, and it makes my blog look so boring. Or they take great pictures and it makes my pictures look like the snapshots of an amateur. Or they write deep and profound posts, while I'm talking about my baby pooping on me. I'm really a boring person that likes to be in bed by 10:30, that eats oats and walnuts every morning for breakfast (I do branch out occasionally), that finds excitement in a good conversation over a cup of coffee. I don't go to cool concerts or events, but I love to hang out with my sweet husband in the evenings. One of my favorite parts of the day is putting on my sweat pants at night.

Boring and all, this is me. And have I mentioned I LOVE my life and wouldn't want it any other way. I'm so thankful for my sweet husband and little girl, for the amazing friends I'm surrounded by, for loving families on both sides, for having money to pay the rent and put food on the table. God has blessed us so abundantly, as undeserving as we are. So I guess I'll take boring. But I would really like to learn how to take good pictures. :)

Does anybody else ever feel like this or am I the only one out there?

4 Month Update

How is it even possible that our baby is 4 months old?! I know I say this every month, but it is so amazing how quickly time goes by. Here is our overdue 4 month post.

• Still wearing 3-6 month clothes but sometimes her pants are a little tight on her belly.
• Wearing size 2 diapers but I think we're transitioning to size 3s...still having lots of blowout diapers so I think it's time.
• She is eating 5-6 ounces from a diaper when I work. This girl loves to eat!
• Eating every 3.5-4 hours during the day. We have recently decreased her feedings to 5 a day, and she is doing really well with this.
• Her last feeding is now between 8:30 and 9 and she sleeps until 6:30 or 7. We are still swaddling her at night, and we usually find her in a totally different place in the morning. We love to get her in the morning...she gives us big smiles and talks to us. So cute!
• She usually takes great naps, especially in the morning.

• Still loving her pacifier! It's hard to believe I ever wondered whether or not I should give it to her. :)
• She is staying up about 1 hour and 20 or 30 minutes between her naps. So fun!
• She is still loving her activity gym. She is now reaching for her toys and looking at them intently. She also has started trying to bring things to her mouth.
• She also loves to read books...she really looks at the pictures now!
• She has rolled over 3 times and just seems totally content to lay on her belly and look at/suck on her hands. She's a pretty chill baby so who knows when she'll really start rolling over intentionally.
• She is still really ticklish. The new spots I have discovered are her feet and the back of her neck.
• She still gives us lots of smiles, but is pretty serious in groups. She is definitely still a thinker and just takes everything in.
• She LOVES to sit up. In fact when we have her propped up on something (boppy or pillow), she strains to sit up.

Our 4 month doctor visit:

Weight: 16 pounds 8 ounces (94%)

Length: 26 1/2 inches (98%)

Head circumference (93%)

We are so in love with our precious girl and we love to see her grow! Kev did a "photo shoot" with Elliott and the pictures turned out so good!!

So much can happen...

One year ago, I found out I was pregnant. Definitely one of the top 5 best days of my life!! I still remember it like yesterday...waking up early to take the test, watching in disbelief as the little positive sign appeared, joyously telling Kev. It makes me smile just thinking about it. I remember feeling completely ecstatic and yet filled with a paralyzing fear that something might happen to our sweet baby, wanting to rejoice and tell everyone we knew and yet also feeling like we should proceed cautiously since we already had one miscarriage. Such an emotional day!

It's hard to believe that 8 months from that day, we would have this precious girl.

"I think I might wake up but everything is so bright!"

"Hello world!"

And now she's getting so big! It's hard to believe she is already 4 months old! We're so thankful God has blessed us with this sweet baby girl and so thankful for that day one year ago!

Book recommendation

So I have been in a book club for about one year. Call me a nerd but I love it. We have read a lot of really interesting book, all different types, but we recently finished a book that I felt I must share with you guys.

It was called The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and it was INCREDIBLE! You will not be disappointed (or hopefully you won't). It is very intriguing, but in warning, it is a little slow at the beginning. Persevere, it is definitely worth it.

Update

Wow! I have definitely been a crazy non-blogger lately. I think I'm still trying to figure out my schedule with working. On the days I work, I try to spend as much time possible with Miss E, snuggling and kissing her sweet face, when I get home. On the days I don't work, I'm still feeling a bit like a fish out of water. Before I started back working, we had a great little schedule going for us. Now when I'm home, I can't decide if I feel like getting out to run errands, just staying at home resting, or what so I end up wandering around getting nothing accomplished. I've got to figure out some kind of balance! Also, work has been really busy lately...everyone trying to get their surgery in before the end of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love to be busy at work, but I definitely come home one exhausted girl.

Miss Elliott is FINALLY almost completely over her cold. It's about time! She is back sleeping in her crib, and we are having to remind her that she can sleep through the night (she seemed to forget this since she wasn't sleeping well when she had her cold). Funny how quickly she forgets! I'm definitely enjoying sleeping more at night, but there is something so sweet about snuggling a sick baby at night!

Here's a few other things we've been doing lately.

Put up the Christmas tree. Yay! I should put a picture of the finished product.

This guy turned three! Hard to believe he is already 3 years old (and still acts like such a puppy). I'm not sure Truman will ever act his age.

We've been loving baths lately! I still don't love our bath seat, but I'm not sure what's better. Any thoughts on how to bath a baby (you would think I had this figured out by now)?

And some tummy time. She's rolled over 3 times, but I think it might have been an accident. Usually she's just content to suck on her hands while she's laying on her tummy.