Happy Days!

giggles!

Remember that smile I said we couldn't catch on camera. I finally got it! This face makes my heart smile. I love her so much! :)

Last night was the first time she slept really well at night. We had to wake her up to eat, but she fell right back to sleep every time. This has never happened before, but I hope the trend continues. I am thinking that caffeine may have been a factor in her nighttime fussiness, before yesterday I was drinking about a cup to a cup and a half of coffee a day, and she always got fussy at night. Yesterday I had no coffee and she slept like an angel. I'm going to try experimenting and not have caffeine for a few days and see if that really is what was causing it. No fun for me because I could definitely use caffeine right now... but if it's making her fussy then it's not worth it.

*Note: I am aware that I am allowed to have a small amount of caffeine every day, this was okay'd by our doctor, the nurses, and our lactation consultant. However, I did not have any caffeine throughout the entire pregnancy and I think that introducing it to her through the breast milk may be a bit much on her little system.

My goal for this week is to get our Christmas cards done. I am finding it hard to believe that it's already Thanksgiving week! I tried to convince Brent that we needed to go ahead and decorate and put the tree up, but Scrooge said we couldn't until Thanksgiving was over. Lame. :P

I think we are planning on braving the grocery store today and hoping it won't be too busy or too cold outside.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Delicious.

These cookies were definitely a success. They were chewy, moist, and had the perfect pumpkin taste! I got the recipe from Julie, and after seeing it I knew immediately that I wanted to try them. SO glad I did.... and I'm pretty sure Brent is too. :)

Recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 c. packed brown sugar
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 c. canned pumpkin
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 c. old fashioned oats
• 1 c. all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 2/3 c. slivered almonds (walnuts or pecans would also be delicious)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mix sugars, egg, water, pumpkin, butter and vanilla
• Combine oats, flour, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice and slowly mix into the sugar mixture until evenly combined
• Bake for 13 – 15 minutes
• Enjoy!

I highly recommend making these! They are very easy and extremely delicious.

Milestones

Elly is hitting quite a few milestones and I feel like I am not doing a great job of recording them.

First, she lost her umbilical cord on Tuesday November 16. Lucky for us we unzipped her onesie at the doctor so she could get weighed and it was just gone. It left the belly button bleeding, scabbed over, and nasty looking. I probably would have freaked out had there not been a nurse standing there telling me that this was completely normal looking.

She also has excellent neck control. She is capable of turning her head from side to side to look around. We have also noticed that when she is laying on our chest or we have her on her tummy she can briefly lift up her head, hold it for a couple of seconds, and let it back down. She can do it all without her head flopping around like a bobble head, so we are really proud of her for that. She must get her strength and muscles from mommy. :)

We are also noticing a LOT of smiling and other cute facial expressions!



She has so much personality! We have yet to capture a good smile on camera, but trust me when we do it will be posted. :)

Her eating habits are also spectacular. She is still on her 2-hour feeding schedule and she is eating like a champ! She nurses really well, and seems to love mommy's milk. I am still pumping, but now we are giving her the supplement in a bottle rather than through syringe. She will take the bottle sometimes, but other times she just pushes it out of the way and will go back to getting it straight from the source. ;) She knows where her noms come from... she is already one smart cookie!

Unfortunately, with the strict feeding schedule it has been hard to try and establish a sleep schedule for her. She sleeps really well during the day, but becomes almost wide awake at night between the hours of 11pm and 5am. She will doze off, but will immediately wake up if we try to put her in the bassinet. That means that either Brent or myself is always on night duty. We are hoping that once she can just feed when she's hungry it will be easier to get a better pattern going and try to work on fixing her backward schedule.

She is still in preemie clothes and diapers. They are still big on her. Unfortunately, she seems to be growing longer a lot faster than she is putting on some fat. The onesies are starting to get a little tight when she stretches out her legs, but the pants do not fit her in the waist. Poor girl is having clothing issues already. :(

The cats are warming up to her. Kenji especially is very protective and it is SO cute! Tonight I was pumping and we had Elly sleeping in the pack and play. Kenji walked into the living room, went to the pack and play and "stood up" on his hind legs and just stared in on her for a good two or three minutes. He had no intention of jumping in, it was like he was just checking to make sure she was okay. After he was satisfied, he backed away and went back to napping. It was adorable.

Guess Who's Back?!

Betty Crocker is in THE HOUSE!

During my pregnancy I found I had a passion for cooking and baking. I had always liked to cook and bake, but had never really experimented with recipes or tried new things. Also, most of my baked goods came from a box. I was a little worried that my new found love for making homemade goodies was only a symptom of nesting and that I would lose interest once Elly was here.

I was wrong.

I cannot say that I have really branched out much since Elly was born. In fact, up until a few days ago I have not even had an appetite. I know that I should be eating (especially since I am exclusively breast feeding) but I have not really felt hungry. I think it is mostly because I feel like I have a ton of other things that I need to be doing. Well, that is starting to change because I am noticing that I am becoming almost ravenous and I'm eating what I want, when I want. Luckily, it has been mostly healthy. :)

Today I made pigs in a blanket for lunch. I had it with some left over chili (that I made a few days ago). No part of this was healthy, but it tasted so good! I also made chocolate chip cookies on Wednesday... the whole batch (2 dozen) has already been devoured. I am making barbeque chicken and baked potatoes for dinner with cupcakes for dessert. I am cheating and making funfetti cupcakes, but that's only because I still have a mix in the pantry and I'm trying to clean things out a bit. However, I am also going to experiment with a new recipe for oatmeal pumpkin spice cookies. I will post a review (and recipe) if they turn out delicious!

I am also excited that I can drink coffee and eat cookie dough again. The simply joys in life... :)

And because no post is complete without a baby picture, here is my current favorite!

Elly and Leela sharing a moment.
Elly's face is priceless.

Two Weeks

Yesterday (Wednesday) was my official due date. Instead we celebrated Elly turning two weeks! We even made cookies and had a special pre-Thanksgiving with Aunt Kristin and Uncle Brad.

I cannot say it enough, but time is seriously flying. I still cannot believe that she is already two weeks old. I still cannot believe that she is our baby and that she is here with us, very happy and healthy. She is absolutely perfect and we love her so much!

We are still new to the whole parenting thing and we learn new and exciting things everyday. Like the fact that boys are not the only ones who shoot pee at you when you change their diapers, little girls are perfectly capable of that as well. Or that they can (and will) poop twice during their bath. Also that they are very confused when it comes to night and day. Let's not forget the mass number of people who will stop you, no matter where you are or what you are doing, to dote on and stare at our little girl.

Brent and I are still very sleep deprived, but she is worth every minute of it and every sleepless night. We catch naps when we can, but since she is on a strict 2-hour feeding schedule it is difficult for me to really catch up on sleep. However, today we met with our lactation consultant and she said that since Elly is doing such a great job with the breast feeding and since she is now two weeks we can introduce a bottle (filled with my pumped milk). This means that for one feeding a day Brent can just use the bottle and I can hopefully get a little extra sleep.

I had my two week check up today with Dr. Elliot. Everything is looking great and he said my incision is healing ahead of schedule, so that is good news. He also said that he got the placenta report back and Elly was not suffering from IUGR as it was previously thought, she was just a small baby. This explains why she was still so healthy and had very little complications despite being two weeks early and having such a low birth weight. More good news! I was also complimented for how quickly I am losing my pregnancy weight and that I am keeping my blood pressure low! Overall, I would say we are all doing a fantastic job.

We would also like to thank everyone again for all of the love and support that you have given us. We really appreciate it! :)

Updates!

I have decided to totally revamp the blog and do things a little bit differently.

This blog was originally started as a way to document my pregnancy, but now that Elly is here with us I wanted to change things up a bit to reflect my journey as a new mom... including everything from my adventures with breast feeding, diaper changes, sharing (way too many) cute photos, family stories, and my cooking ventures and recipes. In order to do that I wanted to get a "fresh start" with a new background and layout, something a little more simple and easy to read. I have also imported everything from my food blog to this one so I only have one blog to worry about, this means that everything will be all together in one place! Makes life simple for everyone :)

Now, on to the important things!

Elly went in for her second check up with her pediatrician this morning and everything is looking great! Her weight is up to 4 lbs. 4.6 oz., so she still isn't back up to her birth weight BUT she is still gaining and she is doing excellent on her diet of strictly breast milk so we don't even have to worry about starting a formula supplement. YAY! She has also grown about an inch since her last appointment (last Tuesday)... I think she is growing longer instead of wider. I hope this changes soon because she cannot fit into any of the cute clothes that we have for her... even the preemie clothes are too big on her right now.

After being home for a week and a half now, I think we are finally getting the hang of things. We are those parents who are worrying about everything and have made several phone calls to the doctor, but that's okay. We have a schedule down for us alternating naps between Elly's feeding schedule and (thanks to my mom) the house still looks nice! :) Oh, and the cats have almost completely forgot about the fact that there is a new tiny human in the house... except they don't have 24 hour access to the rocking chair anymore.

I am doing fabulous! I am up and moving, probably better than I was two weeks ago. The end of pregnancy definitely took a huge toll on my body and I am happy to report that I am in a better mood, can sleep better (the little amount that I do get) and I can move around better now! I sometimes have pain and cramping in my incision area if I overdo it, but that doesn't happen too often. My two week check up is tomorrow afternoon so I will have a better idea of how well everything is progressing. The only downfall is that I still have not regained my appetite. I don't know if it is because I feel like I have a hundred other things to do besides eat or if I just have not gotten over my aversions/lack of appetite or a combination of both but I cannot wait to enjoy LOTS of food again. However, a combination of the low appetite, giving birth, and breast feeding I have already lost 20 pounds (I gained a total of 44 pounds during pregnancy), so I am halfway back to my pre-pregnancy weight!

Brent is also doing great! He is so wonderful with Elly and making sure she is always happy and taken care of. She definitely has won his heart over and it is absolutely adorable to watch them together. He was lucky enough to get a week and a half off after she was born to spend at home with us, but as of this week he is back to work.

I cannot believe that tomorrow Elly will already be TWO weeks old! Time is seriously flying. We are loving every minute of this exciting new journey. We are definitely very lucky to have such a wonderful little girl who is healthy and happy.


Love her. :)

Daddy's Little Girl

This makes me tear up every time.
I love how great Brent is with Elly. It makes my heart smile.
My little family is perfect. :)