Monday, January 28, 2013

4 Months and Counting

Good news, bad news blogosphere.  Good news - you get to see some great pictures of Elizabeth.  Bad news - you have to suffer through Daddy writing the blog this month as I've volunteered to give Becky a break.


So, here we go.  First things first - Elizabeth is very healthy.  Last Friday, Becky took her to the doctor and she got some more immunizations - rabies, kennel cough, etc.  She weighed in at 11 pounds, 15 ounces and was right at 2 feet tall.  That put her in the 50th percentile for height and head size and the 10th-20th percentile for weight.  When you're looking at pictures and not sure if she's Becky's baby, be comforted that nothing about me says 50th percentile for height and 10th percentile for weight.  She definitely takes after mama with her build.

Recently, she's started reaching for things.  She reaches for our mouths, Becky's hair, her toys, and the puppies.  She folllows the puppies with her eyes and follows us when we're moving.  She's a lot of fun to listen to as she just coos and makes noises.  Becky calls this talking, but until she says Da Da, it's just noises. 


My favorite part of the day is waking her up in the morning.  She sleeps through the night most of the time now, requiring a feeding every so often in the middle of the night.  Waking her up involves turning on the lights and turning off the various apparati that Becky uses to help her fall asleep.  Once she stirs a little, I unswaddle her and remove the restraints that Becky uses to keep her arms and hands from waking her up in the middle of the night.  A few yawns, some eye rubbing, a couple poots, and a stretch later, she opens her eyes to see me.  Most would be scared, but not my brave Elizabeth.  She gives me the biggest grin of the day, and then gives me another when I pick her up to carry her to the changing table.


Daycare is still going very well.  She's the first one to school every morning when I drop her off.  Becky picks her up every day on her way home and we normally get good reports on her demeanor.  I'm just waiting on the day when Becky picks her up and they tell us she bit 3 children, pulled another's hair, and drop kicked a teacher.

This month, Elizabeth has had some pretty exciting trips.  First, she went to Augusta and Atlanta for Christmas.  While in Atlanta, she met Hollis and Trey Thompson and Jack Ward. She was a real trooper on our tour of Georgia.  Although there were a bunch of crazy strangers holding her and passing her all over the place, she was calm and collected, and that was before she even left Augusta.


Once back in Charlotte, she got to help Rebecca work.  She was thoroughly confused by mama's name change, but she just did what she does - smiled like an angel and crapped everywhere for someone else to clean up.  She's already shaping up to be management material.


Before New Year's, she got to meet Justin Crick and Marc Shoemaker.  Marc was practicing for his own child, due in May.  Crick was just there being Crick.  Elizabeth accompanied us on her first brewery tour at Triple C Brewing Co. in Charlotte.  Marc and twin brother Mike Shoemaker came back a week later to do research for our brewery.  While Elizabeth loves looking at herself in the mirror (takes after daddy), I'm pretty sure the twin thing was pretty amazing to her.  They look the same, they sound the same, they're just dressed a little differently.  Well, they dressed differently other than wearing the same Braves hat around all weekend with the same amount of twin-fade from navy to gray.


Finally, what blog would be complete without awkward naked baby photos.  I leave you with this picture not because it's my angel in the bath or because I'm trying to maintain a record to embarass her with later, but because I want you to look at this face and those hands.  She's watching you.  She's an evil genius with the ruthlessness of a mafia boss. 


I'm just kidding...she's my angel.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

3 Months Old!

This is now my 3rd week back at work.  We have found our routine and are adjusting well to the new schedule.  Elizabeth seems to love daycare.  The teachers love her too.  Especially since she is the smallest and youngest baby there.  She is taking her bottles really well and getting in good naps during the day.  I love the smiles she gives me when I pick her up at the end of the day.  It's like she can't smile big enough.  Here are a few pictures of her at "school".



She is beginning to sleep really well at night in her crib.  She goes down after a 9:00 feeding and will usually stay asleep until around 4:30 or 5.  I'll feed her then and she'll go back to sleep for an hour or so while I get ready for work.

Elizabeth is such a happy baby.  She's talking like crazy and loves to try and tell us about her day.  She really enjoys her playmat and this will usually keep her entertained for awhile.  She's not a huge fan of the bouncy seat at home, but loves it at daycare.  But, her favorite activity is having Mommy and Daddy talk to her and make faces at her.




I can't believe she is already 3 months old.  We're almost ready to move her into her size 3-6 months clothes.  I feel like she's bigger every time I see her.  I hate that she has so many newborn clothes that she hasn't even worn yet!

So many of you have asked me how I'm doing.  Thank you for your care and concern.  I'm 100% healed and feel great now!

We're looking forward to a busy Christmas weekend in Georgia.  Merry Christmas to you all!

 Here are a few more pictures from the last few weeks:








Monday, November 26, 2012

Last Week of Maternity Leave = Bittersweet

Elizabeth is 10 weeks old today.  This is my last week off before returning to work on December 3rd.  I have very mixed feelings.  I'm looking forward to getting back to work (being a stay at home mom is hard!) but I know I will miss her so much.  I hate thinking about handing her off to people she doesn't know on Monday morning :(  She'll be going to a daycare right down the road that a lot of our friends have used. 

A lot has happened the past couple of weeks:

She had her 2 month birthday!  Her check up at the doctor was great.  She weighed 10lbs 4oz and is a very healthy, growing baby girl.  She is a skinny little thing in the 18 percentile for weight (50 for head and length) but she is following her growth curves perfectly.

 

She has become a very big helper around the house. Like helping with laundry and entertaining herself while I get some things done:




She also had her first roadtrip down to Augusta for Thanksgiving.  She finally got to meet a lot of her family that loves her so much including Big Papa.  She was great in the car and a trooper in the different environment.


She also had her first visit to Santa.  She was NOT happy about her Christmas dress:




Here's a few more pics from the last couple of weeks:








Thursday, November 8, 2012

All Smiles!

Time is going by so fast!  Elizabeth will be 8 weeks on Monday.  We are seeing more and more smiles from her each day and she is even starting to laugh a little.  It is the sweetest thing ever.  Sleep is still hit or miss.  She loves her naps and slept from 11-7 last night!  But we still have nights where I'm up with her 2-3 times.

Here is a progression of some of the smiles we have gotten the past couple of weeks:



A lot of you have asked about the dogs.  They aren't getting as much attention as they used to, but at least they have each other.  I can't wait for Elizabeth to notice and play with them (and feed them and walk them :))



Elizabeth continues to be the Good Luck Charm for the Falcons:

Halloween was pretty uneventful as Elizabeth slept through the trick or treaters coming to the door.  I'm sure it will be a different story next year!


On a not so fun note, I had to go in for emergency surgery this week.  My c-section incision was getting infected.  We thought that we took care of it a few weeks ago with antibiotics, but the infection came back and got a lot worse over the weekend.  They had to cut me back open Tuesday night and I had to stay in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon.  I missed Elizabeth so much while I was there, but I had to do this to get better.  Hopefully the surgery has solved the problem and I will continue to heal from here on out.  I have a nurse coming to the house daily to take care of my wound and my mom is here thank goodness.  I just keep telling myself that it could be a lot worse!  But, this ordeal might make Elizabeth an only child haha!

Friday, October 19, 2012

One Month Old!

It's so hard to believe that Elizabeth is 1 month old already.  I'll be honest, time was going so slowly in the beginning, but now it is flying by.  She is such a good baby and gets it gets easier every day.


We had her 1 month check up this week and she is now 8 lbs 11 oz and 22 inches long!  The doctor says she is such a healthy baby.  We are so blessed.  She has pretty much outgrown newborn diapers and is almost too long for her newborn clothes.  Girl loves to eat!

She is sleeping in 3 hour chunks so she's only waking me up once a night which is nice. She also is taking a morning and afternoon nap.  I usually join her for her afternoon nap.  At night, she sleeps swaddled in her swing which has been a big help with getting her to sleep.  I highly recommend the swing for any moms of newborns.



We usually try to go on one outing each day.  For example, we've been to the grocery store and to meet Wes for lunch.





Here are some more pictures from the past two weeks:

Still loving tummy time:

Getting to know cousin Vance:

 First real bath!  She loves it!:



Georgia Tech has lost every game since she was born, but Falcons have won every game:

She loves her "puppies" already:

Meeting Sheri!: