Easter

Easter was our first major holiday with little Eleanor, and I was so excited to celebrate with her! On Saturday, we spent the day with the Stiles celebrating. We went to church with Rick and Kathy and Ellie did great- up until the sermon. Luckily they had a room for nursing Mom's with tons of rockers to sit in. Ellie and I snuggled for the rest of church, and then we went out to dinner!

Ellie's massive bow headband. Yes, I realize it's ridiculous.

Sitting with Grandma during dinner {this was pre-meltdown}

Opening her Easter basket from Grandma & Grandpa! The basket belonged to Rich when he was little.

On Sunday, we went to church with my family. Again, Ellie did good up until the sermon started! But we made it back for the end of the service. We did our traditional Easter egg hunt with my sisters, which was somewhat hilarious. I thought being married with a baby would disqualify me from having to actually hunt for my eggs, but no! Rich sure does seem to enjoy it though! We had our usual group of family and friends over for Easter dinner. Everyone was very happy to meet Ellie! Overall it was a very busy but wonderful weekend!

Happy girl in her Easter best

Our first Easter as a family of 3!

Aunt Lo & Ellie

Grammie & Papa with Ellie

Aunt Lo, Aunt Ashley & Ellie

Opening her Easter basket

Looking at her Easter basket gifts

2 month photo dump

These posts are out of order, but at least they are here...

Love that little mouth pout when she sleeps

Rocking tummy time- and her crazy hair!

Bath time- still not so sure about it

Almost a real smile

Trying out her headband for Easter

Not loving her photo shoot with Liam

Snuggles with Grandma!

Meeting Auntie Em for the first time. Can't believe we've been friends since we were 5yrs old!

I usually don't see a lot of "me" in Ellie, but this picture looks JUST like one my parents have of me

Her first tutu!

Trying out our Bumbo for the first time. Still need a little more head control!

My favorite part of the day.

Testing out the bunny ears while out shopping

The loves of my life!

Lunch with Musulyn. And Ellie is obviously not lovin it {notice her middle finger. oops}

Ready for bath time!

A day in the life of a 2 month old

Given that Eleanor is changing WAY too quickly, I wanted to document her "schedule" to look back on. I'm sure that by the time I'm finished typing this out, it will change again. But nevertheless, here we go.

3:00am- Ellie wakes up for a quick feeding

6:30am- Our sweet little girl gets a fresh diaper change by Daddy before he leaves for work. He brings her back to me, where I get to enjoy her precious little smiles and noises. After a little play time (and usually some spitting up), Ellie has her first meal of the day.

7:00-10:00am- Ellie and I go downstairs where she enjoys her first nap of the day in her swing. Thank goodness for that swing! While she is sleeping, I make the bed & clean up the kitchen. I usually start a load of laundry- how can such a tiny person create so much laundry?? If I can squeeze in a shower, then that's just a bonus.

10:00am- Ellie wakes up and has her second meal o' the day.

10:30am- After spitting up all over herself- and often all over me too- I change Ellie and get her dressed for the day.

10:30-12:30pm- We either run errands, meet someone for lunch, or have someone over. But sometimes we just spend alone time playing together! I also try to pump at some point to store up for when I go back to work.

1:00pm- Ellie eats again.

1:30-4:00pm- Ellie's second long nap of the day. If we weren't able to run errands that morning, I try to do those. And a trip through the Starbucks drive thru never hurt either.

4:00pm- Ellie eats again. Feeling a bit like a dairy cow these days...Daddy usually gets home around this time!

4:00-7:00pm- Ellie is usually awake between feedings. She spends time playing with Daddy, or "helping" me make dinner. She's often pretty fussy, which makes things difficult, especially for a tired Mama.

7:00pm- Ellie eats again.

7:00-9:00pm- Ellie takes her last nap before bed time, either in her swing or in someone's arms.

9:00pm- Bath time, infant massage time & sleep sack!

10:00pm- I nurse Ellie to sleep. And the day ends!

2 month check up!

We had Ellie's 2 month appointment today. I am so thankful for our pediatrician, Dr. Tjaden. He is so friendly and encouraging! It makes going to the doctor much more pleasant. And Daddy was able to make it to the appointment too, which was awesome!

Ellie did great at her appointment. She was very smiley with the doctor, and didn't cry at all during her exam. Unfortunately, she didn't know what was coming: one oral vaccine and three injections!  They did one shot first and then the last two together. Poor little Ellie screamed like a maniac and I swear she didn't take a breath for the longest time. But I had pumped and had a bottle waiting for her right away, and she calmed down pretty quickly. I also had some Tylenol with and gave that to her right away too.

Ellie fell asleep as soon as we got in the car and slept pretty much all evening. Her appointment was at 4pm, and I woke her up at 7 & 10 to feed her. She didn't eat much at either feeding, and was just so sleepy. The only reason we scheduled her appointment later in the day was so that Rich could be there, but I think that's the best way to do it.. She didn't sleep all day which meant she was able to go to bed and sleep normally at night.

Ellie had the most pathetic little whine, so we kept up with the Tylenol and LOTS of snuggles from Mommy. I also put her in a little sleeper so that there wasn't anything pressing on her thighs. Overall, I think we did pretty well for our first big appointment!

Her current stats are:

Weight: 9lbs 8 oz (12th percentile)

Length: 22 1/4in (45th percentile)

Head circumference: 37 1/2cm (30th percentile)

Sweet little band-aids on each thigh

She was SO sleepy and snuggly all night

Poor little injection site on her left thigh

To Eleanor: Month Two

Dear Eleanor,

If it's possible, I think your second month of life has gone even faster than the first one did! Time is going too fast, and soon I'll have to go back to work. But I've tried my hardest not to dwell on that, and instead soak up all the time I have left with you at home.

We've gotten much more acquainted with each other this month. I was so thankful to have Daddy stay at home with us during your first week, and then Grammie during your second week. But now we are solidly on our own, and I think we're doing pretty darn well! We have a pretty good little routine down and I am loving it! I try to have at least one thing planned for each day- even if it's just a trip to Target or a friend stopping by. You are my little shopping buddy! It's so easy to just stick your car seat in the shopping cart and walk around the store. I get out of the house & get a tiny bit of exercise, and you usually sleep. Perfect!

We survived your first round of shots at your 2 month doctors appointment. I was prepared, and I think I handled everything really well- no tears from me, just you! You're still pretty tiny, but you're 9lbs 8oz this month! That's almost 3lbs gained since you were born- way to go baby girl!

You have started crying real tears this month. It's so sad to see your little pouty face and huge tears run down your face! Thankfully, that only happens when you're REALLY mad, which isn't too often.

You hit another big milestone- you are now out of your newborn clothes! I'll be honest, it was a little sad to pack up all your sweet little pants and onesies. But who would have thought you would be 2 months old and just now outgrowing your newborn wear?

I am just loving being your Mama, little girl! You are, by far, the greatest accomplishment of our lives!

{Our 2 month picture together never happened. We had a hard enough time just getting this picture!}

Love,
Mommy

Snow day!

Rich has been wanting a snow day SO badly, but his school rarely ever closes. Stinkin' farm kids!!! But my sweet hubby got lucky today and got the call at 5am that school was cancelled!

He has also been able to get good use out of his snow blower this season. My parents gave it to him last Spring after finding a great deal at a hardware store that was closing. It's definitely a lot easier to clear the snow with the snow blower rather than shovel- especially since we live on a corner lot!

So other than snow blowing, the three of us hung out and watched movies/The Food Network and took naps! It was a wonderful day together, and I am definitely looking forward to Rich's spring break already!

Here are a few cute sleepy pictures of my loves:

9 months of baby bump!

I wanted to have all of my "bump" pictures in one post so that I can see the progression. Here we go...watch me grow!