Blooming

Spring is here and I love it! This is our first spring in our new house, so I was thrilled to see the tree outside our door in full bloom! I am fascinated with how each tree slowly blooms into a rainbow of buds and blossoms. Even the bushes behind our house are showing off their vibrant yellow flowers!

Elliot is also blooming as she starts here second month! I took her to her one month well baby visit on Friday. She's doing great! She weighs 7 lbs 14 oz and is 21.25 in long. It is crazy to think that she's a month old, but still the size of a newborn. She is our adorable little peanut :) Elliot is hitting all her milestones for this month and is very strong! Twice during tummy-time she has rolled over (which I think was an accident) and she holds her head up very well. Unlike her mother, she is not concerned about sleeping and likes to be entertained or observe her surroundings. However, Elliot is FINALLY starting to sleep in 3 hour stretches at night! She defiantly recognizes my voice, and is starting to respond more to Tim's voice. And her smiles now are connected to happiness, not gas. Everyday I am amazed and humbled that God has blessed us with this little girl to raise.

This week Mary, Tim's mom, and Alexis, one of my BFFs, are coming up to visit. So I will have a lot to post next week...along with hopefully some pictures of the cherry blossoms!

PS- We totally had snow this morning! Crazy huh?! It has now all melted away and warming up. Unfortunately, none of the pictures of Elliot turning out well. So just imagine a cute baby girl in a white fleece outfit sitting in 1/2 in of snow :)

Happy 1 Month Birthday

Elliot is one month old today! I can't believe a month has already flown by, but at the same time it feels like she's been a part of our lives forever! How cute is she is the first picture?! Everyday I swear she gets cuter and cuter. In the second picture I was trying to capture her smile, but I was half a second too slow. Tomorrow we go to her one month well baby appointment. So I'll have more to update tomorrow :)

Our Little Lucky Charm

Happy late St. Patrick's Day! This energetic holiday fell on Elliot's 3 week birthday. I can't believe next week she'll be 1 month old!

So we're all starting to get used to each other and on a somewhat normal schedule. Her week of eating almost every hour has stopped, and now she's eating every 2 to 3 hours. I am SO happy she's made this transition! Now I get about 4 hours of sleep at night, which is wonderful. Last night though she had an upset stomach, so we both slept while I rocked her in our new glider. Here are some of my favorite pictures of her sleeping with Mommy and Daddy :)
This week, I got to catch up with my good friend Brittany. She is a mother of two adorable boys, and pregnant with her third. She had a lot of good/practical advice to pass along. Brittany also put my mind at ease about taking her on errands, using a pacifier, and calming gassy bellies. I wish she lived closer!

Over the weekend, we also got to catch up with our good friends Rachel and Michael and their sweet toddler Wilson. They brought over 2 ready to heat casseroles and some other goodies! Rachel has also been a good person to turn to for advice, especially since she lives about 40 minutes away. Jessica and her mom also came over this week! Jess came back to VA to pack up her stuff and officially move back to FL. I am going to miss her a lot, but at least I got to spend 3 days with her! I am loving all our visitors! So if you're thinking about visiting, please don't hesitate and come right over... of course call first :)

Below is my new favorite picture of Elliot. The flash was a little too close to her face but she looks so precious. It was taken right after she woke up from a long nap. Today, Tim watched her for an hour while I ran errands. When I got home teared up a little bit, because I missed her. I don't know if missing her after an hour is good or bad, but all I know is that she is VERY loved!

Weeks 1 & 2

While in the hospital, Tim and I realized that we were missing certain key items for taking care of Elliot (thermometer, monitor, etc). Thankfully our wonderful friends John and Jessee and my cousin Sam and his girlfriend Jenny, were up to the task of running to Babies R Us. It was so nice to have them over for a visit, along with my Aunt Nancy! Tim's old coworker also brought us a big yummy dinner! Everyone agreed that she was the cutest newborn :)
On Monday, Elliot had her first dr appointment. Tim and I loaded up the car and diaper bag and drove very slowly to their office. The dr said that Elliot was doing great! She said that I had "Super Milk" because she had only lost 2 oz from her birth weight. Our dr was so nice answering all our newbie questions and taking time to make us feel comfortable. Elliot looked a little Jondus, but her numbers came back good.My mom was able to stay with us for the first week! She was a HUGE help! My mom took over Brinkley duties, cleaning dishes, de-cluttering Elliot's room, and a couple night shifts. She was wonderful in that I didn't really have to ask her to do anything, she just knew how to help and went right to it. My mom also watched the baby one afternoon while Tim and I went out to lunch and made yet another trip to Babies R Us ( I think we've been 4 times in 2 weeks).

After my mom left, I started to get the Baby Blues. I did not see it coming and it only happened in the evenings. I felt myself getting weepy about the littlest things like singing "You are my sunshine" or watching a cute commercial. But I also would start crying when I thought about how much I missed Tim. In the first week, we really didn't have time for us and find our "normal" again. I really missed our evenings when we would eat dinner, talk, and watch TV. I didn't ever resent Elliot, I just really missed our old life that felt so far away. Thankfully, the Baby Blues are now gone!! As suddenly as it arrived, it left.

So week two met us with more challenges while Tim went back to work and I attempted life alone with the baby. We had another dr appointment which was basically a weight check. At that point she had only gained 1 oz, which surprised all of us. The dr advised us to feed her whenever she's hungry not worry about a schedule. Elliot heard this and decided to start eating every hour! This means little sleep during the day AND night. However the lack of sleep has paid off, because at the next dr appointment she gained 6 oz in 3 days! So now she weighs 7 lbs 4 oz, which still makes her a peanut :)
As we approach week 3, here are some things we're getting to know about our little girl...

• She likes to be sung to. Anything with a tune will do, including Tim's silly made-up songs.
• She loves to eat and has only spit up once.
• She tries to mimic us when we open our mouths or stick out our tongue. Right before she does, I swear she smiles!
• She loves to sit up with assistance and observe you and the surroundings.
• Most of the time, she does not like to be swaddled.
  
• She lets out some farts that are as loud as her dad!
• She hates getting a bath, or being naked.
  
• She doesn't mind Brinkley, although he's very jealous and ready for her to leave.

Elliot Elizabeth Reynolds

As many of you know, via my wonderful excited husband's posts, our sweet baby girl was born Thursday February 24th. Her name is Elliot Elizabeth. The Elliot is from a name I came across, and Tim loves the nickname Ellie. The Elizabeth is my mom and grandmother's middle names (having at least one family name is really big in my family). She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and 20 in long and arrived at exactly 7:00 pm. Here is a run down of her birthday...

• At 4:00 am, I woke up with some contractions. They weren't very strong, but I had a feeling it was the real thing. So I called the midwife, and she agreed that I shouldn't go into work just in case (thank goodness!).
• The contractions were regularly 10 minutes apart when I woke Tim up at 6:00 am with "Tim we're going to have a baby today!" He had a bunch of meetings scheduled and debated whether or not to go in. We both agreed he should at least go to the first one.
• Tim's boss told him not to worry about the meetings. Then the contractions increased to six to five minutes apart lasting for almost a minute. There was more back pain then I expected to have. However, it was better than all belly pain because Tim could massage it through.
• We called the midwife and she said to take a long walk and call again when they were 3 minutes apart. So we took Brinkley for a nice walk around the neighborhood giving me lots of breaks to breath through the contractions.
• Not too long after we returned home, my water broke! We were both very excited to finally go to the hospital! Thankfully we only live 10 min away from the hospital. We arrived at 12:00 pm.
• When I was admitted, I was 4 cm dilated and 100% effaced!
• At 5 cm dilated I really wanted an epidural, but felt like a wimp since I was only half way there. But I'm SO SO SO glad I did get it! Apparently they were completely booked and the Dr was running from room to room all day. If I had waited any longer, it would have been at least another HOUR before I could get the epidural. ( Brittany you were right- it was the worst time of my life waiting for the epidural after I decided I wanted it).
• Once I got the glorious epidural through an IV in my back, the world looked a little brighter :) I tried to rest and Tim set up a work station in the room where he checked emails and updated facebook.
• At 5pm, I was 10 cm and ready to go...except she wasn't low enough. So I had to "labor down" for an hour. That was awful! Even though I had the epidural, I could still move my legs, feel touch, and LOTS of pressure. The whole day seemed to fly by, except for that hour!
• At 6 pm, I started to practice push. Then real pushing. Then holy crap this really hurts pushing. And at 7 pm, Elliot was born! Tim got an unwilling front row seat to the show because they had him hold one of my legs. He said it was like he got drafted! This is why you are supposed to be married when you have babies, because only your spouse will stick around after seeing all that!
• Tim was immediately beaming when she arrived and I was still in shock that my baby girl was actually here!
• 

We spent Friday and Saturday morning at the hospital. The nursing staff was wonderful and helped to answer all my first time mom questions. All the rooms were private, but ours had an extra bed, so Tim could stay the night with us!
My mom arrived Friday afternoon with balloons and flowers in hand! She was so excited to see her grandbaby! My mom is staying with us for a week to help out around the house and provide an extra person for night shifts.
We arrived home around 9 am to an eager grandma and Brinkley. Brinkley is doing pretty well with her! He recognizes that he's been demoted, and while he's not happy about it he's adjusting.
So I obviously have more to post about life with our sweet baby. I am hoping to still keep you all updated with pictures once a week :) Stay tuned!