Merry Christmas from our family to yours!Friday, December 25, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Looking around the house...
We have officially entered parenthood (on top of actually having the baby). Our living room has multiple baby entertainment devices. The kitchen counter displays a wide array of feeding tools drying before their next use. And to top it off, the video camera arrived in the mail yesterday! Yup, get ready because before long there will not only be pictures on this blog, but video as well. As of right now she doesn't do too much, so the videos are probably only exciting to Mom and Dad. But soon enough.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
To Wrap or Not to Wrap- NOT FOR CHILDREN'S EYES
The question came up at a recent girl gathering about Santa Claus and whether he wraps gifts or not when they arrive at the house Christmas morning. There were 10 of us girls there and 8 out of the 10 had wrapped gifts from Santa under the tree that morning. I was one of the 2 that had unwrapped gifts from Santa.
Here is my family background- each Christmas morning (that I remember anyway) we would awake to find Santa's gifts in nice piles for each of us four kids. The piles were all separate under the tree with each child's stocking laid out in front of that kid's respective pile. We did not have anything in our stocking- just the gifts behind them. I always thought it was amazing how Mom got a picture of each child's gifts in the nice pile for the scrapbook. I think one time she told me that Santa helped out and took them for her. How nice is that Santa.
I found it really interesting that this topic came up because Nick and I went back and forth on how we would celebrate Santa and the gifts from him. I believe that Nick had wrapped gifts and got a piece of fruit in his stocking.
Back to my original thought… being the 'organized' (substitute your word of choice for that one) person I am, I wanted all traditions to be set for Eleanor's first Christmas. Yes, my friends did think it was very funny that when they came to meet Ellie for the first time (the week she was born) that there was already a stocking hung for her. Yup, I convinced Nick that we HAD to have stockings, and they all had to match. They also needed to have our full names on them and we needed them this year so the pictures in the scrapbooks would be uniform throughout the years. Our stockings arrived the day before Eleanor was born (and I may have had them up just to see how they looked the night we went to the hospital). It is a good thing the ultrasound tech was correct and Ellie was a girl!
Back to the gifts- Nick and I decided that Santa would wrapped the kid(s) gifts and we would put a little gift in their stockings as well, maybe a piece of fruit once Ellie gets old enough. It is also a good thing that when I was purchasing our wrapping paper for Christmas on December 26th of LAST YEAR that I grabbed a roll of paper that did not match the other ones (just in case Santa arrived this year). So, our tradition will include wrapped gifts, but the gifts will be in a different paper than the other presents and will not arrive until Christmas morning. Each family member will also have a stocking, with a small gift in it. I cannot wait until Christmas morning to see what Santa puts in my stocking!
Here is my family background- each Christmas morning (that I remember anyway) we would awake to find Santa's gifts in nice piles for each of us four kids. The piles were all separate under the tree with each child's stocking laid out in front of that kid's respective pile. We did not have anything in our stocking- just the gifts behind them. I always thought it was amazing how Mom got a picture of each child's gifts in the nice pile for the scrapbook. I think one time she told me that Santa helped out and took them for her. How nice is that Santa.
I found it really interesting that this topic came up because Nick and I went back and forth on how we would celebrate Santa and the gifts from him. I believe that Nick had wrapped gifts and got a piece of fruit in his stocking.
Back to my original thought… being the 'organized' (substitute your word of choice for that one) person I am, I wanted all traditions to be set for Eleanor's first Christmas. Yes, my friends did think it was very funny that when they came to meet Ellie for the first time (the week she was born) that there was already a stocking hung for her. Yup, I convinced Nick that we HAD to have stockings, and they all had to match. They also needed to have our full names on them and we needed them this year so the pictures in the scrapbooks would be uniform throughout the years. Our stockings arrived the day before Eleanor was born (and I may have had them up just to see how they looked the night we went to the hospital). It is a good thing the ultrasound tech was correct and Ellie was a girl!
Back to the gifts- Nick and I decided that Santa would wrapped the kid(s) gifts and we would put a little gift in their stockings as well, maybe a piece of fruit once Ellie gets old enough. It is also a good thing that when I was purchasing our wrapping paper for Christmas on December 26th of LAST YEAR that I grabbed a roll of paper that did not match the other ones (just in case Santa arrived this year). So, our tradition will include wrapped gifts, but the gifts will be in a different paper than the other presents and will not arrive until Christmas morning. Each family member will also have a stocking, with a small gift in it. I cannot wait until Christmas morning to see what Santa puts in my stocking!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Let's the Christmas Celebrations Begin!
Last weekend kicked off the first of our many family Christmas celebrations- and are gearing up for a week of festivities. I do believe that Christmas is my favorite holiday (Nick would probably agree since I get so excited for it and like to start the holiday season early). Once again this year we had all (well, all we could get before Ellie was born) presents purchase before Thanksgiving. With Ellie's impending arrival, the tree was put up ahead of time as well and the presents wrapped and under it.
I did hold off on starting the Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving, thank you very much Lite 104.1 for your non-stop Christmas music! Ellie is a big fan of Christmas music as well. Her favorite songs: Silent Night (in honor/memory of her Great Grandpa Greving), Baby It's Cold Outside, Away in a Manger, the song about a Baby Being Born (I don't know all the names of the songs- just the words), and the Christmas Shoes song. Her non-favorite songs: O Holy Night (she thinks it is over played), Santa Claus is Coming to Town (she must think she was bad this year because almost every time this one comes on she cries), Rudolph (once again, I have no idea but it makes her cry), and any song without words (she likes her Mommy to sing the songs to her). What we are going to do after Christmas and the songs are not allowed (per the radio station and her Daddy), we have no idea! One more week of singing and dancing for Ellie (and Mommy).
If you cannot already tell from the multiple blog posts- we are very excited and super blessed to have Ellie be a part of our lives for this Christmas Season. It makes the season even more fun and we cannot wait until next year when the tree excites her a little more.
I did hold off on starting the Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving, thank you very much Lite 104.1 for your non-stop Christmas music! Ellie is a big fan of Christmas music as well. Her favorite songs: Silent Night (in honor/memory of her Great Grandpa Greving), Baby It's Cold Outside, Away in a Manger, the song about a Baby Being Born (I don't know all the names of the songs- just the words), and the Christmas Shoes song. Her non-favorite songs: O Holy Night (she thinks it is over played), Santa Claus is Coming to Town (she must think she was bad this year because almost every time this one comes on she cries), Rudolph (once again, I have no idea but it makes her cry), and any song without words (she likes her Mommy to sing the songs to her). What we are going to do after Christmas and the songs are not allowed (per the radio station and her Daddy), we have no idea! One more week of singing and dancing for Ellie (and Mommy).
If you cannot already tell from the multiple blog posts- we are very excited and super blessed to have Ellie be a part of our lives for this Christmas Season. It makes the season even more fun and we cannot wait until next year when the tree excites her a little more.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Daddy photo shoot and more...
Daddy got a new flash for the camera (well, we got one but Daddy is the expert photographer). He needed a subject so Ellie volunteered. Here are a few of the pictures, as well as some other ones that have been taken this month.
Monday, December 14, 2009
One Month Old!
Ellie turned one month old yesterday. It is crazy how fast the month went by, yet it seems like she has changed so much during that time.
Here is where Ellie stands today. She can:
- down 7 ounces of milk and then proceed to go 6 hours before her next feeding (this happened last night for the first time)
- lift her head up at least 45 degrees, going on 90 degrees
- wake up and lay in her crib looking around after her morning nap with no crying
- lay awake in her crib for alone time (or on the floor in the living room) for at least 10 minutes at a time
- sleep in her crib the entire time at night, with minimal awake time other than eating and changing the diaper
- 'become the talk of the church' just by being cute and well-behaved during mass
- almost get her Daddy wrapped around her finger- and get whatever she wants (I think this will be 100% the minute she smiles and laughs at him). Her Mommy thinks she has probably achieved this with other people such as her aunt Megan, Grandma(s), Grandpa(s), and Mommy
- make her Mommy sing and dance with to Christmas songs with a slight whimper
- help get Noah his daily walk by making Mommy and Daddy walk the hall during fussy time at night (Noah walks behind them, just to make sure they keep it up and make her happy)
- fit into some of her 3-6 month clothes (mainly bodysuits) without any problem
- continue to make her Mom and Dad the happiest people on earth by having her in their lives
Here is where Ellie stands today. She can:
- down 7 ounces of milk and then proceed to go 6 hours before her next feeding (this happened last night for the first time)
- lift her head up at least 45 degrees, going on 90 degrees
- wake up and lay in her crib looking around after her morning nap with no crying
- lay awake in her crib for alone time (or on the floor in the living room) for at least 10 minutes at a time
- sleep in her crib the entire time at night, with minimal awake time other than eating and changing the diaper
- 'become the talk of the church' just by being cute and well-behaved during mass
- almost get her Daddy wrapped around her finger- and get whatever she wants (I think this will be 100% the minute she smiles and laughs at him). Her Mommy thinks she has probably achieved this with other people such as her aunt Megan, Grandma(s), Grandpa(s), and Mommy
- make her Mommy sing and dance with to Christmas songs with a slight whimper
- help get Noah his daily walk by making Mommy and Daddy walk the hall during fussy time at night (Noah walks behind them, just to make sure they keep it up and make her happy)
- fit into some of her 3-6 month clothes (mainly bodysuits) without any problem
- continue to make her Mom and Dad the happiest people on earth by having her in their lives
Monday, December 7, 2009
2 Week Dr. Visit
We had Ellie's two week Dr. visit last Monday, and she is growing like a weed! If her percentile stats are any reflection of her future grades in school we are set!
Weight: 9 pounds 2.5 ounces (95 percentile)
Height: 20 1/2 inches (85 percentile)
Head circumfrance: 14 1/2 inches (89 percentile)
Her breast-milk induced jaundice has gone down considerably (which we could already tell as the yellow/orange color has all but gone away) and she is doing great on her feedings! She is still a decent night sleeper, lasting 3.5-5.5 hours between feedings and going back to sleep immediately after she is done eating. That makes for one happy Momma!
This week she has started holding her head up more and more. She is also a new fan of just laying in bed and looking around! A couple times today I head her making noises and went in to check what was going on, only to find her looking around completely content.
We are still waiting for the shoe to drop, as things have been going very well thus far. We have had a few fussy days last week, but other than that it has been pretty easy (knock on wood).
We hope to have some more pictures up in the near future.
Weight: 9 pounds 2.5 ounces (95 percentile)
Height: 20 1/2 inches (85 percentile)
Head circumfrance: 14 1/2 inches (89 percentile)
Her breast-milk induced jaundice has gone down considerably (which we could already tell as the yellow/orange color has all but gone away) and she is doing great on her feedings! She is still a decent night sleeper, lasting 3.5-5.5 hours between feedings and going back to sleep immediately after she is done eating. That makes for one happy Momma!
This week she has started holding her head up more and more. She is also a new fan of just laying in bed and looking around! A couple times today I head her making noises and went in to check what was going on, only to find her looking around completely content.
We are still waiting for the shoe to drop, as things have been going very well thus far. We have had a few fussy days last week, but other than that it has been pretty easy (knock on wood).
We hope to have some more pictures up in the near future.
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