Weeks 9 & 10 >> Two&Half months

So our Ellie Girl is already 2 1/2 months old. She is able to interact so much more with us and takes much more notice of the things around her. I think this has been my favorite change to watch in her the last few weeks. Physically, she is growing and healthy! She can hold her head up fairly steady and likes to move it from side to side to see things.  She has started to be able to hold onto things lately, like my hair, necklace, our fingers and her blankie and her friend Sophie the Giraffe.

The last week for sure has been moere challenging for all of us because her sleep/feeding schedule has been sort of off. She went from waking up about twice a night to around 4-5 times.  Were attemting to reset things for her, but man, I am definately feeling a bit off these days. Most of my days this week have been trying to resett from our nights.

 I have noticed that she has a strong preference for things that she likes.

+She loves to be held outward, bouncing, sucking on your finger, hand, or knuckle. 

+She likes her friend Sophie the Giraffe, specifically her ears and feet because they fit perfectly in her mouth ;).

+She likes her Aden and Adnais Blankets

+She likes playing on her playmatt with her mobile above her 

+She likes the music her mobile plays

+She loves her pacifiers

+She likes to be around people

+She likes holding your hand

+She likes to bounce

+She loves to move her feet and were talking MOVE them.

+She likes watching the Twins game with her Nana and Papa..well its either the twins or the bright, flashy movement

+She likes her daddy throwing her in the air

+She likes looking out the window

+She likes going on walks in her stroller

+She likes to soothe herself by stroking her hair with her Left hand

Here are a few fun things that we have noticed or that have happened over the past two weeks: 

>She will be "playing" under her activity matt and will get this look on her face and then have this 2-4 minutes burst of kicking

 >She likes to play with her mobile toys by swinging her arms back and forth like a gorilla

>She likes to chew on her blankets with her gumms

> when she wakes up in the morning and I start talking to her she just lights up like she hasn't seen me in years. It is so precious

>We will have conversations together.. Sort of. When you say goo goo gah gah type things, she will study you, then smile really big. This is one of my favorite things to do with her lately.

>She knocked Rand's glasses off his face one day

>She attended her first women' luncheon and cried through the beginning of it. I ended up rocking/bouncing her for about an hour. My arms are definately a lot stronger.  Who needs working out? Just have babies!

>She has enjoyed wearing some of her fashionable new 3-6 month outfitts that are SO CUTE! I ended up going shopping for her for the first time and enjoyed picking out a few outfitts. She is so fun to dress, I could buy clothes all day everyday for her. 

>She has upgraded to size two diaper

>A few days ago when I was feeding her a bottel she put her hands up and sort of held it. 

>She got to visit with her Grandma and Grandpa Gutierrez last week.  I'm pretty sure they are in love with her.  She enjoyed being held nearly the entire weekend and Grandma even bought her her first cloth book, the three little pigs. 

>She kind of fits in her bumbo.  Her neck isn't quite strong enough, though, so she sort of slumps to one side or rests her head on he chest. We can't keep her in there too long, but its fun to have her be more a part of making dinner or sitting at the table!

It is kind of astonishing to see how much life has changed these past months and how quickly we have all adapted.  Rand has been offering lately to watch Ellie the past few tuesdays and I have gotten to  enjoy some free time.  On Thursday's Nana and Papa (his parents) spend time with her so Rand and I can spend some time together.  Last week we went to L Bistro for 1/2 off pizza and Jazz music and this week we went to play tennis and got $2 cold drinks from Caribou.  Weve enjoyed some fun garage sales and have found some killer finds, like a red fold up wagon and a road bike for Rand.

 Rand has started biking and working on his website again.  I have been catching up on sleep, gettin my craft on, and reading ragamuffin gospel by brennan manning. We both have been dreaming some more about buying a home, buying land, paying off student loans, and HAVING MORE BABIES! We are excited to continue to grow our family in the years to come and are excited for this adventure called life. 

First Time in her Bumbo!

Loves to Chew her Blankie

Mom's Craft out of diaper boxes

Love her big blue eyes!

She always opens her mouth when she is excited.

Weeks 8 and 9

So our little dear is already 9 weeks. She is starting to fit into our newest nickname LuLu everyday.

Were adapting to a bedtime routine. We will put her in her nightime pjs and choose a book from our growing library of cute childrens books that Rand and I grew up on that and, while I hold her, Rand will read to her. Ellie has actually seemed to enjoy it and will often just stare up and Rand while she reads. 

When I tuck her in a night sometimes I will back up so she can't see me anymore and just stare at her. Sometimes she will just start screaming (if she's not tired enough) but sometimes she will just contently stare at her crib, the wall,  and get into her new classic pose; one hand on her face, while the other kind of caresses her hair. To say its beyond cute is an understatement ahh! 

In the morning when she is awake and I am attempting to eat breakfast I will set her on her matt beneath her mobile. When the music starts and the mobile starts to spin she will get this huge smile on her face and start rapidly kicking her feet.   

She likes to make bubbles with her spit and play with them.

She seriously loves to kick her feet. She'll go at it for like 15 minute blocks. Serious workout.

Her pattern is waking up twice in the night to eat. Not too bad!

She probably has about 8 pacifiers. The other day we were wondering were they all were, I felt likei had looked everywhere. I was in our room when I spotted something under the floor and I squatted down to take a peak. What I found was her little paci stash, ha. She had thrown a few out if her crib and unto the floor. You sneaky girl!

She has a notable Preference for me holding her over anyone else. While this ultimately melts my heart and makes me feel special, it has its challenges. 

The past two weekends we have enjoyed weekend trips to the townsquare for Artfest and the farmers market. Weve found some killer deals and frivilous finds at local garage sales. 

For Father's Day we celebrated with Ellie making muffins and breakfast in bed for dad.  She also got him this gadget for his camera that will allow him to snap photos while he is in them. then we enjoyed a fun afternoon BBQ at his parents that Bryn and I had schemed and put on. We enjoyed brats, burgers, hot dogs, watermelon, corn, and some yummy iced tea (my new favorite summer drink!). 

We're looking forward to Rands upcoming review at work and enjoying playing with our new iPad minis. We both have one. Rands is black with a black cover and mine is white with a strips gold and white chevron print. YES I am writing this blog on it! 

As both a mom and a "recovering legalist" my heart has faced a few challenges  But it is holding fast to Gods promise that "there is no condemnation" from Him. Oh, how sweet grace has tasted!Despite our apartment not having been cleaned in...well, a while and not having progressed any further in my Grad school homework, He is still drawing my heart to Him and into His beauty. 

As I offer myself to him, ALL of myself, even the One who doubts, the one who says, Lord show me that your promises are true because my only my head believes them right now, he shows up! 

He says, Jessica, my precious daughter, you don't have to prove that as a stay at home mom your time produces something. You can enjoy your sweet daughter and freely go on walks down the greenway or sit and cuddle with Ellie in the rocking chair. You can skip your homework or do it if you please.  You don't have to do the dishes if you don't want to! And you can go to Starbucks twice in one day! You can just be and you are MINE.   that stuff you feel like you need to fix, do, or control,  I want it too because I love you and want all of you! 

 I'm finding that I get to enjoy my daughter differently,smell the fresh scent of lilacs, stare out at the leaves as they sparkle and dance in the wind and light (they really do) and DREAM. Thank you Jesus.

Uncle Bryn Time

Mimicking Daddy

Hair Time

Mommy's Glasses

Photo-shoot

My college friend Hailey came up a few weeks ago and did a photoshoot with our family.  What a special treat! Her and her boyfriend John both love photography and are quite talented! Here are a few of the photos that I loved.

Weeks 6 & 7

Much of my day is spent studying Ellie.  I realized today that I will likely get to be apart of most of her firsts. That excites me so much. While I can't tell you if she looks more like Rand or myself, I can tell you her Three favorite things; looking out the window, bouncing, and chewing on my hand, fingers, or shirt. Her personality seems to be gravitating towards some of the tendencies that I have, as she seems certain of the things she does like and seems to delight in, well 'movin and shakin'. Here are a few fun memories over the last few weeks

• She has been smiling SO much more. Rand and I melt nearly every time. She reacts to my expressions and loves it when I coo back at her. She seems to try and find my face when she hears my voice and it really makes me feel special to know that she, well, likes me. 
• Routine is kind of changing. We are starting a sleep, feed, awake time schedule.  I read part of my first parenting book and well, it sort of freaked me out.  With Rand's encouragement and guidance, we are both starting to figure out what bits and pieces we would like to take from the loads of literature and advice we are getting to determine what is best for our sweet girl.  Day 2 of it and she already seems to be catching on fast.  Right now we are waking up about twice a night to feed her, but hopefully we will all be sleeping through the night in now time. 
• She is a drooling machine and I have noticed she likes to play with the bubbles she makes in her mouth.
• Right before Rand cut his hair, it seemed that she really just wanted to eat up his hair.  She would always open her mouth up to try and taste it. 
• This past week her grip has really been growing.  She likes holding onto my hand and has started to grip other objects too. When we put her under her mobile she will sometimes swat at the objects. 
• She took her first trip away from Grand Forks to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Cottage Grove.  She enjoyed the endless amounts of attention and spending her mornings with them while Mom and Dad tried to sleep a bit.  Pretty sure she just about melted their heart.  She was also able to meet her great-aunts and uncle and her Great Grandpa.

First Dress

Sports

Auntie Angie

Grandpa

Dress From Grandma

My favorite story comes from our first trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house last weekend.  We were on our way down and stopped at our midway point Holiday gas station in Alexandria to fill up. While Rand was filling up gas I jumped in the back to greet Ellie who looked up at me with a delighted look, like she hadn't seen me in days.  Yes, it melted my heart. Mood changes tend to happen fairly quickly, though, and a few seconds later it was clear that she was hungry. Neither Rand or I had really thought up a game plan for what nursing her would look like. I had quite literally thought, oh yeah, well just nurse on the road while were driving. Eh-- not so great of a plan. We devised a quick plan, ending up behind the gas station, with our stress levels definitely more escalated as Ellie screams became louder.  I hopped in the back and attempted to take screaming and thrashing Ellie out of her car seat, never a fun time. With not much room in the back and Ellie stretched across my chest I became pretty cranky. Nursing covers basically suck and space wise crunched in the backseat of a ford focus is not very spacious. I felt sort of like what I feel the pegs in the cars of the game of life feel like. And no for whatever reason I did not feel like the front seat was an option. Needless to say, we managed to get through the feeding. I put Ellie upright to burp her and bluppp, pretty sure her whole meal landed all over me, the car seat and her. I looked up at Rand kind of dumbfounded and just said, umm, I don't even know what to do. We couldn't find her burp cloth right away so Rand pulled out a small, 2X2 size cloth and handed it to me.  I started cracking up at our situation almost immediately because the cloth was just not going to cut it.  Lets just say we had determined more of a plan for on the way back!

Rand and I have been enjoying her more and more it seems. Were looking forward to a work review that will be coming up for Rand and have been exploring the idea of homeownership, which is fairly exciting for us.  It has been fun to dream! 

Apartment Garden

Neighbor dog Cuba. One day... 

5 Weeks

Ellie is co-writing this one with me.  Her and I are sprawled out on our bed together.  I can't help staring at her, holding her, and telling her I love her.  Terms of endearment seem to naturally flow out when I talk to her.  So here are a few of this week's excitement:

She is growing! She is officially in size 1 diapers, which is the next size up from newborns. She is rapidly growing out of her newborn attire.  When we put her leggings on over her onsies her little belly will hang over. It's hard to think she is getting bigger! I was telling Rand this week that I can't vividly recall what she looked like as a newborn.  AH!

This week we transitioned her from the bassinet to the pack n play in our room. That was a hard moment for me too.

I cannot handle her cuteness when she makes her baby noises, giggles, and smiles.  She has started to react to my expressions or interactions with her and I am so excited for this to continue.

She is getting strong! LOVES to kick her feet.  It seems that whenever she is awake they are moving. And she can support her neck more and more each day. 

I started reading a few books to her... I like to think she enjoys it.

On mothers day she made me this cute card ;) Rand slaved in the kitchen making a turkey feast which we enjoyed with his parents and a good friend.

We did our first bath just mom and Ellie. She didn't drown, as I feared, so it was a success!

Almost 4 Weeks

I Love spending time with my daughter.  I feel like I can just stare at her all day. Its hard to put her down, especially at night time when she is so cute and cuddly.  Don't get me wrong, sometimes it feels like I'm going crazy, especially if she has been more "expressive of her needs" that day, but its this weird thing; I'll call it love, yup, I really love her.

One thing that I have realized and had to confess is this desire to be the only one that can soothe her, comfort her, or that she needs.  This can play out when we're with family and friends and I don't like that its there.  I would love to find freedom here.   So I've been sharing that messiness with Jesus because I know that I can't fix the brokeness of my heart there. And he tells me to trust that even in my mess there I am okay, I AM enough, and I am loved by him there. Praise Jesus for that freedom!


On that note, Here are some of the latest things I love and have noticed about Eloise:

1. When she is really hungry her eyes get really big and she does this panicky shaking back and forth of her mouth, I have a hard time not laughing at her. 
2. Pacifiers.  She loves them.  I'm glad we have another way to soothe her.  I recently bought some more "stylish" ones for when we "go out"ha. We have one set out at almost every spot in the house, along with a burp blanket.  Those are two things I do not like to be without otherwise it can get CRA-CY up in here. 
3. We had our first birthday party celebration.  Her and daddy got me a target gift card and subscription to the Grand Forks Herald so I can reengage in what is happening in the big world. 
4. Walks.  We have been getting mobile. I may have mentioned this before, but I love pushing the stroller. It elevates my mom status.  We have taken to the greenway and Ellie seems to love them.   She pretty much sleeps the whole time despite the bumps and weather. 
5. We had our first trip to Target. Intimidating at first because who actually knows how to fit a car seat into those carts? With the help of Rand we figured this out. Many more of those trips to come. 
6. She really loves to stare at this spot on the wall when we are sitting in the glider.  Rand and I are confused and just laugh because there is literally nothing on the spot she stares at.  It is just white!
7. She is making more noises.  Grunts, sighs, and noises that could possibly maybe be giggles!
8. After a not so fun first bath experience, Rand and I figured out how to double team getting her clean.  She did manage to poop in the tub, though. Eh-- no solution for this yet. 
9. She met Uncle Bryn for the first time on Wednesday and he was bearing gifts.  He had bought her a few very cute and fashionable outfits.

Going on 3 weeks

Little Ellie is already growing! She has had a few appointments and has grown an inch and a half and gained a little more then a pound.  Her precious little newborn outfitts are getting a little bit snug.  Over the past few weeks she has enjoyed visits from our bible study group, trips to grandma and grandpa Seay's house, and a weekend visit from my parents and her Aunt Angie.  It has been a fun few weeks and despite the feeling of never being fully rested, when we look into her big blue eyes we just sort of melt.

A few memories from the past few weeks:

She enjoys sucking on her two middle fingers, when she can find them.  Whenever she does this, it is typically accompanied by an adorable sucking nose.

She loves to move and stretch out.  I call it the Ellie sprawl out. She seems to be a mover and shaker like her mom.  She likes to look around and when she fusses, typically the combo of bouncing with her and patting her back with put her to ease.

She appears fascinated by Rand. I like to think its because he is so "ridiculously good looking", but I think she just loves her daddy, not to mention his glasses and curls.  I love watching the two of them bond.

When we are nursing or I am holding her she really likes her arms to be loose.  Often this looks like her outside arm wrapping around my side/back and her inside arm stretched across my chest.  I like to pretend she's hugging me.  I'll take whatever affection I can get.

Initially her eyes would cross over when she tried to focus on things. She is able to focus on things now  and sometimes it seems that she will react to Rand and I.  We each have caught a few smiles from her when she isn't sleeping!

We have given her two baths so far.  First one, ehh not so bad.  Second one, lets just say she was cleaned, but at the expense of her first tears being shed and mom's heart nearly breaking.  We have a few pointers we are going to use for her next Saturday both.



Both Rand and I have racked up a few not so fun diaper changing experiences.  While we are glad to now that everything is working, she has some mean burps and toots, there have been multiple occasions where we have just changed her diaper and she has proceeded to poop, poop again, and pee.  I think her record is going through 4 diapers in one changed and managing to get her shirt, pants, blanket, and Rand's shirt a bit soiled. Gold star.

Overall, we just love our precious little nugget.  My heart feels quite full and I can never seem to get enough of our little daughter.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend my 23rd birthday then hanging out with our little girl. Eating sushi, taking a bath, hitting up the freebies, eating angel food cake and enjoying the best shopping trip with my AWESOME sister Angie are also a few highlights.

Alone time with just Rand and I seem more few then before, but it has been really neat to feel a new depth take over.  Moments we do have together seem far more rich and sacred.  What a good man he really is.  We are both continueing to dream about purchasing our first home and have taken a serious interest in the show Prison Break on Netflix. Ellie and I like to cheer him on when he plays MLB on Xbox.  He hit a few homeruns this week in the game and we were pretty pround ;)

I can't wait to continue to see how she grows up! We love you Ellie!

Pictures to come :)