Elise- 3 Months

Dear Elise,

Today you are three months old. It seems like just yesterday you were a newborn... sleeping and eating tons. Everyone would comment on how tiny you were. It seems that overnight you have gone from being a newborn to being a baby!!! I know that probably sounds silly, but it's the best way I can explain this transformation. You are awake for most of the day, except for your morning and afternoon nap. When you are awake, you are full of smiles!!! You are laughing more and more and I think it is the best sound in the world! You love to babble and you babble even more when I make the same silly sounds back at you. One of your favorite things to do is "stand," with Daddy or I supporting you of course. You get this great determined look on your face. Your strength surprises us and you're becoming stronger and stronger every day. You still love tummy time. Just this week you have started to "scoot" around and you'll even scoot off your play-mat.

Baths are still a favorite- you kick and splash. You get a bath every other night. You also love it when Daddy puts you in the shower. You don't mind water on your face at all! You still love your bouncer and your swing. You are such an alert baby. You are always so good when I take you places; you just stare and check out everything. You still love long walks with Jaws. Sometimes you sleep. sometimes you look around.

I took you to get weighed today and you sure are healthy!!! You weigh 13 lb. 11 oz and are 23 1/2 inches long!!! You've gained almost 2 pounds this month! You go to sleep so easily every night. You are asleep every evening by 7:00. You usually wake just two times in the middle of the night. You sleep until 7:30 in the morning which is fine with me! During the day you and I hang out. We usually run a few errands just to get out of the house. On the days that I work, Daddy watches you. You're usually pretty good to him, though sometimes you remind him that your lungs are very powerful!!!!

Month 3 was wonderful. We loved watching you "transform" and we can't wait to see what the next month will bring!

You love naked time!!!

Your buddy Jaws is never far away.

Evil 3 month growth spurt!!!

I guess this is what I get for "bragging" about my good sleeper!! For the past 5-6 weeks, Elise has been in a great sleeping routine... waking only twice in the middle of the night to eat. I had no complaints. Well, that is a thing of the past. Starting Saturday night, she has been waking every 1-2 hours to eat. And she's hungry!!! Not nursing for comfort... she wants to eat! *sigh* We're going on night #5... let's hope Elise lets Mommy get some sleep tonight. 

And for your viewing pleasure... pics of Elise sleeping :)

Elise- 12 weeks!

It is just crazy how much she's growing and changing, right before our eyes. We're having such a good time with her!!! It is safe to say that we finally have a routine down! (And I'm sure as soon as I publish this blog entry, it will change!) Elise goes to sleep very easily every evening between 7 and 7:30. She wakes twice throughout the night, usually around 1:30 am and again at 4:30 am to nurse. However, she barely wakes up and honestly, I don't even think her eyes open. She's only nursing for about 10 minutes before she falls back asleep. I truly think if she ate more, she might be able to drop one of the feedings. Any suggestions on how to make that happen?? She then wakes for the day between 7 and 7:30 am. So she is basically getting 12 hours of sleep each night- yea! She still nurses every three hours during the day and takes a good morning and afternoon nap.
Elise has a wonderful personality. She will honestly go days without crying for more than 5 minutes total. She is so alert and is happiest just sitting on our laps looking around. She loves to be outside and with our awesome weather, we're outside a lot. However, she does like to be held and entertained. She's good on her own in the morning and for part of the afternoon, but as it gets later in the day, she want attention! I think most babies are like that. One of our favorite things to do is "talk." She makes the cutest little sounds and I'll mimic her... she loves it and smiles a ton! I'll try and post a video soon.

Here's Elise with her friend Ben. Ben is 8 days old in this picture. He makes Elise look like a toddler!!!!

We still love tummy time!

Elise with GiGi and Tompa.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Elise with her buddy Beckham.

Our friends Shae & Tomas came into town and stayed with us this past weekend. They brought their son Beckham along. He is only 3 weeks older than Elise, yet he seems so much bigger! The kids had a great time together. The chilled at Big'z over burgers & fries. They played together on the floor and they also hung out on the couch catching up on old times.

Conversations with Elise

I took these videos when Elise was about 8 weeks old. Please excuse the silly sounds I am making :) It's how we communicate!!! Elise loves to babble and talk!!! I wonder where she gets that from???? 

Here is another video of her "talking" with her daddy. She was much more interested in telling him about her day than drinking her bottle!!!!!

Congratulations Lindsey & Nate!

Baby Bennett made his arrival Friday, February 6th. He is darling!! I can't wait for Ben and Elise to be able to play together!!!

Christine's holding Ben. On the other side of me is Shae with her son, Beckham. They are all going to have so much fun together!

High Roller in the House!

This is just a week of firsts for Elise! This evening I laid Elise on her tummy for some tummy time. She promptly rolled onto her back! I think it freaked her out a little bit because she started crying. I tried to get her to reenact her big roll but it didn't happen. We'll try again tomorrow.

First Giggle!

Elise had her first giggle yesterday! It was so precious! She and I were outside in the backyard playing fetch with Jaws. All of a sudden, Jaws got the zoomies and was doing crazy figure eights all over the yard. Elise was watching him with a big grin on her face. Jaws would disappear around the side of the house and come charging out, straight at us. Elise let out a little giggle as he flew past us. I thought it was a fluke; a precious fluke, but a fluke nonetheless.  Then Jaws did it again and Elise giggled again. It was SO cute! I cannot wait for her to laugh more often!

Good-bye 20s and hello 30s!!!

Wow. I can't believe I am no longer in my 20s. I thought I would have a really hard time with this. But I'm actually okay with it. I'm exactly where I want to be in life and I have no regrets. My 20s were wonderful, amazing, and honestly, a lot of fun!! I accomplished several things on my life's "To-Do List." 

• Run a marathon- check! (Austin Motorola, 2003)
• Visit Australia- check! (June 2001)
• Bungee jump- check! (New Zealand 2001)
• Sky Dive- check! (Australia, 2001)

I still have a few things I want to do. One is swim with Great White Sharks off the coast of Africa. I thought this would be a cool thing to do on my 30th birthday. Obviously it didn't happen. Maybe on my 40th! Finally, I always wanted to fill up my passport. Sadly, that didn't happen and for the first time, I am without a valid passport. Mine expired earlier this month. I was just 3 pages short of having it filled... *sigh* I doubt I'll even be that close again. I will, however, be renewing it asap; one never knows when they'll need their passport!!

I'm sure my "To-Do" list will grow and I look forward to discovering new goals in life. But I have to admit, my life is pretty wonderful right now and my 20s were very good to me. I graduated college, met and married Matt. He is amazing in every way and I feel so blessed that he chose ME to be his wife! I gave birth to our daughter in my 20s. Of course, she's is beautiful & totally perfect. I was able to do a lot of traveling in my 20s and saw a lot of this world. And of course, I would never forget about our awesome dog, Jaws! Two years ago yesterday I waited in line at the Parker County Animal Shelter for 2 hours in freezing rain to adopt Jaws. He was the best 28th birthday present I could have asked for!

I am so fortunate in so many ways. Moving back to San Antonio has turned out to be such a great decision. I love working for my parents at Acme and I learn so much every day on the job. I am constantly amazed that my entire family can work in the same building, yet we still enjoy spending time with one another on the weekends!! I truly don't think it would be that way for most families. I only hope that I can make my parents proud at Acme. Time will certainly tell. Speaking of Mom & Dad, I cannot thank them enough for everything they have done. I wouldn't be the person I am today without them. You are the most amazing parents and if Matt and I can be half as wonderful as y'all, then Elise will be one lucky girl!

So, I say good-bye to my 20s and I welcome my 30s!! I'm excited to see what they'll bring!

Elise's 2 month appointment.

Elise had her 2 month appointment on Thursday. She now weighs a hefty 11 pounds and 15 ounces. She is 23 3/4 inches long and in the 75th percentile for both weight and height. For all you non-moms out there, that means she is heavier and longer than 75% of other babies her same age. Like I've said before, this girl doesn't miss any meals!!! I was totally dreading this appointment because there are 4 vaccines and we all know how I hate needles! Elise did wonderfully! Of course she cried (as did I) but she calmed down very quickly. A lot of babies get fussy after their shots... not Elise! She was back to her normal and smily self. The only effect we noticed is that she slept 8 hours straight that night and has every night since!!! She still goes to bed at 8:30 and has dropped her 1:30 feeding. She now wakes at 4:30am.... I'm hoping it's the beginning of her sleeping through the night!!!