Saturday Update: 5 hour stretch and more

Since I didn't get around to a 5 on Friday post, here is a Saturday Update:

Genevieve decided that she would go 5+ hours between feedings last night, from 10PM to 3:20AM. I went to bed shortly after she was done feeding at 10PM, so I was able to enjoy almost all of the long stretch. Of course when she got up at 3:20AM she was up for two hours straight (I am usually back in bed in 40-60 minutes). Between eating, dirty diapers and being fussy there was no break. 5 minutes after I got back to bed, Ellie woke up crying (which is not normal for her). Since I wasn't fully asleep yet, I went into take care of her. 30 minutes after that I got to enjoy my warm bed again. I think in total I actually LOST sleep on the whole deal with Genevieve since she woke up again at 7:20AM (excluding the time spent getting up with Ellie). Not sure which I prefer, the consecutive sleep or the longer amount... a combo of both would be perfect. Thanks to Nick who let me go back to sleep after Neve's 7:20AM feeding. He tended to Ellie and her early 6:30AM wake-up (she has been getting up between 7:15-7:30AM lately). She only came in to see me 5 or so times... at least I felt loved.

Ellie is really into helping with Neve. She really enjoys helping change the diapers. She brings her step stool and puts it right in the middle of Neve's changing table so she can get in on the action. While I love that Ellie wants to help, it is a little difficult trying to change a dirty diaper with a 2 year old in the way. I guess I will learn to change a diaper in a different fashion so Ellie can be in on the action.

Ellie started visiting the next room up at day-care. She officially starts in the new room on Monday. We are excited that she is moving up to the next level, but we will really miss her teachers in the current room. At night one of us lay in bed with her and sing songs. Last week she wanted to sing a song that neither of us knew... she told us to "Ask Alyssa tomorrow." Alyssa is one of her teachers and I guess Ellie thought Alyssa should teach us the song. Alyssa thought that was pretty funny. When Alyssa goes home early (before Ellie) Ellie says, "Alyssa go home. I sad." It is cute. The teachers have done a wonderful job teaching Ellie her numbers, colors and shapes. It is amazing how much she knows!

Nick goes back to work full time on Monday. He used the time off to get things done around the house (and bike) so that he was able to help out the entire night once Ellie was home. It will be different without that extra time, but we will get used to it. Genevieve and I are going to start his first day back on a positive note and visit him at work. We will also stop and see my department while we are in the building.

We had a great Easter at my Aunt Janet and Uncle Steve's! Genevieve ate every hour, but we still had a great time and people got to see the newest addition to the family.

Valentine's Day

I am a little behind on updating the blog with pictures. I finally transferred the memory card to the computer on Saturday morning- we went into the hospital Saturday evening (must have been my nesting that made me delete 301 pictures to make room for new ones of Genevieve).

These are from Valentine's Day: Ellie and I used Play-Doh for her day-care friend Valentines. We also made cookies for Daddy (and Mommy). Since Ellie was sick on Valentine's Day, Nick and I opted for take-out sushi (veggie and fruit sushi for me). Nick picked up some sparkling grape juice to substitute for wine. No worries, once I get through the old pictures there will be plenty of new ones with Ellie and Neve!

Day-Care Holiday Program

As I mentioned a month or so ago, Ellie's day-care put on a Holiday Program for all of the parents of the kids. Here is a picture of the event. Ellie is the one in pink.

How the teachers got all the kids (5 groups of 12+ kids each starting at age 18 months up to age 5) to be so structured and well behaved, I have no idea. The kids did great with the songs and were all really cute.

15 months- a few days late

I cannot believe the Eleanor is already 15 months old! She continues to amaze us each day. I think I am still waiting for the 'shoe to drop' and for us to hit a hard patch with her. But honestly, she is the easiest baby! (We think this and have been told this.)

She sleeps from 7PM to 7AM and takes one afternoon nap for anywhere from 1 hour to 3+ hours. Did I mention that she goes to bed in her crib like a champ? Very little crying, if any at all. She usually just lays there and talks to herself before falling asleep (which I love listening to). She now sleeps with a little taggie blanket my mom made her and a taggie book Grandma and Grandpa Thorson gave her. She usually throws them out before falling asleep, so I put it back in her bed for her to play with when she wakes up. No blanket, just those two items, her PJ's and SleepSack.

She still loves to eat, although she can be picky at time which has caused some iron deficiency issues that we are working on. For the most part we cannot complain, and her nurse said her phases of only liking certain types of food are completely normal and she will grow out of them. The girl loves her dairy, fruits and grains! She went to 100% whole milk this past week, until 13 1/2 months she was 100% breastmilk and then we started mixing the two. She has yet to try juice, and we are in no hurry to do that. I figure she gets enough fruits in her regular diet that she doesn't need the extra sugar. Instead she gets water. It doesn't seem to bother her, and she doesn't try to take her day-care classmates juice sippy cup during snack time.

She is still in a rear facing car-seat in the middle of the backseat. I am hoping to keep her rear facing as long as possible, although her Dr. has already said she probably won't make it to 2 years because she is tall for her age. Maybe 18 months? The extra safety a rear facing seat provides gives me peace of mind--- especially during the bad winter weather. She does well with car rides, although she is not thrilled about having to stop some days. Who can blame her.

She is doing pretty good with her sign language. She knows what 'more' means and uses it in conjunction with wanting food, a toy, music, or her Mommy & Daddy. She loves to play with her Duplos, play food, cell phone, and just recently her dolls. She LOVES to read, both by herself and having someone read to her.

She is both a Mommy's and a Daddy's girl. I think you can tell we have equal parenting by her ability to go between the two of us without too many issues. That isn't to say she has her days when she only wants Mommy, or Daddy. She is starting to get a little shy, but still pretty open to strangers and when she wants to she will say 'bye' to the cashier at the store.

She is starting to want to do more on her own and be more of a 'grown-up.' Making her Valentine's was a perfect example of that. She has a lot of her Mommy in her when it comes to her independence.

She loves day-care and does not cry a single tear when we drop her of in the morning. She joins right in with the playing and doesn't look back. Although, if we go to visit in the afternoon she gets a little upset that she doesn't get to leave with us. We have found that if we wait until snack time to leave she could care less. Snacks trump Mommy & Daddy.

She is turning into a little ham. OK, she has always been a little ham- but it is coming out a little more. If you laugh at something she does she will instantly do it again, and again, and again. This is both good and bad.

We have loved watching her grow over the past 15 months. I cannot believe how much she has changed, or how much she will change in the next 15 months. It all goes by so quickly! If the next 15 months are anything like the last 15 months it will be AMAZING.

We have her 15 month well baby check-up next week, more shots and some stats. More on that later.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last year Ellie was too little to help making her Valentine's. This year she was quite the helper!

First we cut out the tags with the CriCut machine. Ellie was the supervisor/button pusher. She would squeal when the machine would start.

She wanted to write her own name on each of the tags. I let her do it, although I didn't tell her the cap was on the sharpie (or that the sharpie was upside down).

She also thought she should taste test the granola bars we were putting in the bags.

She quickly decided being a taste tester was top priority and left Mommy to finish up the bags.

Here is a picture of the end result.


Happy Valentine's Day!

Teacher Gifts

What do you do for your day-care provider during the holidays?

Our day-care does an Elf Box that families can donate to, then the Parent Advisor Council (yes, we have one of these at day-care!) goes and buys the teachers/aides /floats gift certificates so that not only the main teachers get recognized. I loved this idea and it made it so much easier than trying to figure out what to get each teacher.

But I wanted to still do a little something for Ellie's main teachers, nothing big- just a thank you for their extra hard work. I checked with the teacher gift expert, my sister Megan, and she gave me a super cute idea that I used. Here it is:

The gifts were based off of this quote-

Thanks for your commit-"mint"

Thanks for your encourage-"mint"

Thanks for your involve-"mint"

Thanks for your invest-"mint"

Thanks for making each day an enjoy-"mint"

Thanks for creating a nice environ-"mint"

Then I put together a variety of mints, package them up with the quote and I was good to go. How easy is that! I included Andes mints, peppermint patties, regular hard mints and those Christmas tree mints that are only out around the holidays.

For Ellie's 0-9 month teachers (she is no longer in the room with them, but they took care of her for the majority of the year) I put the mints in little boxes that I punched out using a die cut at our local scrapbooking store, http://www.heirloomsbydesign.com/. I love Heirlooms By Design and as long as you buy the paper there you can use the die cuts for free! I printed off the saying and matted it to the leftover paper.

For Ellie's current teachers I picked up some tins at Jo-Ann Fabrics for 70% off (it paid to be a little behind in finding something to put the mints in). Then I made cards and matted the saying to cardstock that matched the cards. The design for the cards came from a class I took at the scrapbook store above.

I think they turned out pretty cute. The teachers liked them a lot (one even said she would keep it forever!), so I will call it a success.

Only problem, what do I do next year???

Happy Halloween! Love Eleanor the Giraffe

Day-care's Parade through the building. Ellie was unimpressed.
Walking in the outfit at home was much more fun!
Alex "Toad from Mario Cart", Ellie "The Giraffe" and Natalie "The Duck"
Eleanor "The Giraffe" and Baxter "The Reindeer" waiting for the kids to arrive
for Trick or Treating!

Breastfeeding

My ultimate breastfeeding goal was to make it a year...

We were just under a month short when my body decided it was done. I know, there are things I could have done to up the supply, but it wasn't worth it to me for less than a month. And we have a ton of milk stored up that needs to be used. The deep freeze was entirely full of breastmilk, as well as some being stored in my parent's freezer! We have made a dent, but still have plenty left. Which means Ellie will still be on breastmilk through a year. So in a way, I still meet my goal.

We estimated that she would drink through approximately $114 in milk a month. Times 12 months: we saved $1,368 by breastfeeding for the first year! And it is healthier for her.

On the topic of Ellie and her drinking... she is now starting to take breastmilk in a sippy cup at day-care! She is not as willing at home, but is getting better. Which means the bottle should be gone at a year without too many issues.

Buggy Rides

One of the advantages of having Eleanor at day-care in the same place that Nick and I work: she goes on Buggy Rides throughout the building! Nick works on the first floor, so he gets to see her a lot. I, on the other hand, work on the second floor as far away from the day-care as you can get- so I do not get to see her. Except on this very special day. AND I just so happened to have my camera with me (seriously, it was purely coincidental). The teachers were nice and let me snap a few of her for her scrapbook (and here!).

Eleanor LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Buggy Rides and has since she was old enough to go on them. She gets to smile and high-five Daddy, impressing his co-workers in the process. She also just loves to get out and look around at new things and new people (just like how she does so well at the mall with me!).

Special Person's Day

Almost a month ago Eleanor had “Special Person’s Day” at day-care. Since my mom had Friday’s off it worked out perfect for her to come and be Ellie’s Special Guest! They played with toys and even did an art & crafts project so Eleanor got to show Grandma her amazing coloring skills! Ellie got to show Grandma how she can climb on things, such at the snack table, and how she makes noises when she plays with automobiles (something I was not aware of until my mom mentioned it to me).

Here are a couple of pictures from the day:
This is the table that Ellie thought she needed to climb on after snack time was over (the day-care puts the table away when it is not in use- but Ellie got on it before they could move it).
Notice that Grandma was in her ISU gear and Ellie was in her Iowa cheerleading uniform? It was the weekend of the big game and they had to cancel each other out.

Thanks Mom, for being Ellie's special person!