A Thousand Reasons to Smile.: August 2013

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Another month bites the dust.

Oh Ellie. You joyful little bundle of wonderfulness. You're smiles are infectious. You are so happy.

Ellie continues to be the easiest baby. Rarely cries. Smiles all the time.

I heard a scripture recently that reminds me of her. "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 In my darkest days when I couldn't imagine moving forward, Ellie was my light at the end of the tunnel. Her name itself means "God's Promise."

Here's what Ellie's been up to this month:

She weighs 14 lbs 5 oz and is 25 inches tall. She's above average in height and weight but is perfectly proportional and perfectly perfect.
She still wears size 1 diapers although as soon as we run out, we'll switch to size 2.
She is wearing size 0-3 or 3-6 month shirts/onesies, 3-6 month dresses (for height purposes), and 0-3 month pants/shorts (although she can still fit into some newborn - tiny hips and waist just like daddy and sister!)
She's fully able to roll from tummy to back but doesn't do it so much these days because she's gripping the floor so tightly that she stays put.
She trying to roll from back to tummy but gets stuck on her side.
She's pretty close to sitting. I know that sounds crazy but she's super strong.
She's starting to scooch around on the floor. We put her down on her tummy in one spot and before we know it she's sideways or even turned all the way around.
She had her first little cold this month :(
She started school this month! It was decided that it would be easier to just keep her there with me everyday. I'm determined to nurse her as long as I can so this is in our best interests.
I wake her at about 6 am to feed her, then I pump right before leaving the house. I pump once at work (in the restroom in the nurse's office, not very glamorous). At lunch I head over to the daycare to feed her. Depending on how recently she's eaten after school, I'll feed her before we leave as well. At school she drinks anywhere from 10-15 oz. Then at night we're back to cluster feeding, although it's becoming more of one good feed at around 5 then one last time before she goes to bed at about 7:45. We no longer feed her at night unless she's really crying.
She's a very good sleeper. Her naps haven't completely regulated themselves just yet since we're adjusting to the new schedule. But she sleeps about 11 hours straight at night with at least 3 hour-long (ish) naps during the day.
She's still sleeping in our room. She's ready to go into her own room, but we're not. We're just not ready for this stage to be over. She's our BABY and we'll never do this again so we're clinging to her with all that we have. Plus (and maybe this is just a justification for us) she does sort of wake up from time to time at night and we give her back her binky. Her room is all the way on the other side of the house which is pretty inconvenient.
She's totally popular at school! JK But seriously, all the real students try to stop by the daycare to see her! And the ones that are in there are student aides all gush over her. They only want to care for her and not the other babies :) I get reports all through the day about what she's doing and the one thing that EVERYONE says about her "She smiles so much!!" Don't I know it :)

Here she is at four months old!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Being a teacher in Hatch, combined with a maternity leave that started a month before school ended, my summer started April 16th and ended August 6th. It was an interesting summer to say the least. Let's state the obvious first. I now have two children.

Last summer, I was able to do a TON of stuff with and for Soph. From Cooking and Baking to loads of sensory play days to focusing on different topics each week for her learning. I was determined (watch out world when I become determined to do something!) to not let little Ellie's entrance into our lives change this any more than it had to. I was nervous for months about what it would be like to venture out into the world with both girls in tow. And so I decided to grab the bull by the horns, or in this case, the carseat by the handle, diaper bag by the strap, and Soph by the hand and get out with the two of them as soon as I was feeling well enough to do so.

As it happened, I had just seen a playdate at Dion's group invite thing come across my Facebook newsfeed a week or so before Ellie was born. Perfect. Interesting for Soph, casual environment, surrounded by Mommies and Kiddos so no one would judge if things got out of control. I grabbed the bjorn (thankfully Ellie is a little chunky monkey so she was perfect to walk around with - - Soph was too tiny to use that sucker until she was like 3 months!). Anticipating it would take much longer to get to girls out of the house, I set my alarm that morning with almost 2 hours to get us all ready. Indeed, that's pretty much how long it took. Once we were at Dion's, I got Ellie into her pouch and we went inside. They had little activity packets set out for each kid with a coloring book, crayons, etc. Once everyone was there, the Dion's guy came out to take the kids though the back of the house for a tour. They got to see all stations, play with pizza dough, then help make a giant pepperoni pizza for everyone to share. After that they had pizza and juice for all the kids that participated. Soph totally loved it. She wanted to make more and more pizzas. Ellie, on the other hand, thought it was boring. She just slept and slept. :) So, I did it. I broke the ice and successfully got out of the house with both girls.

After our Dion's date, we wanted to do more fun things. We went to the public library where they have toddler story time every Tuesday and Wednesday. We went to the Las Cruces Museum of Natural History. We went on many lunch dates. We did a lot of shopping.

We also had a lot of fun at the house. The highlight of our at-home days was the weekly installment of Movie Mondays. We started this pretty much right away. I made Soph some popcorn and let her pick out the movie. The first week she chose Wreck-it Ralph. The second week she chose Wreck-it Ralph. The third week she chose Wreck-it Ralph. The fourth, fifth, sixth...oh you get the point. She ONLY ever wanted to watch Wreck-it Ralph. Good thing I love that movie too. If she would have chosen Cinderella I might have but the kibosh on Movie Mondays.

We also created our new favorite breakfast. Peanut Butter Tortillas. Tortilla with peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon sugar rolled up and cut in half. Delish. We love them.

We baked cookies. We painted. We made bracelets with beads. We did some math and spelling. We watched the series North America (which we call the Animal Show) and Naked and Afraid (which we call the Scary Animal Show). We made presents for Daddy for father's day. We played with Juju. We exercised...well, I exercised and she jumped around like a crazy fool next to me. She's nuts.

For the Fourth of July we went back to the park we typically go to. This year we invited the Howells to come with us. Sophia was as excited as ever to see Drue and Ellie let out some of her biggest giggles yet with Reece.

Later in the summer we went to ABQ and took Soph to a real natural history museum. She's bonkers about dinosaurs that's for sure.

It's always a little sad to go back to work after the summer but this time was different. I sooooo badly wish I could just stay home with them. I do believe that if I have to work, teaching is the best job I can have. But...I just don't want to leave them! I want to be with my babies!

Here are some of the highlights of our time off together.

Dion's Playdate