Bath Time

Elizabeth is starting to enjoy bath time. Here are a few cute pictures.



And Desi of course has to oversee bathtime

Cousin Boston

Friday Elizabeth got to meet her cousin Boston. He is six weeks older than she is ad about 4 1/4 pounds heavier! He is so alert and active - I can't believe he's only six weeks older than Elizabeth! And he was so happy to just be hanging out all night. He was sweet enough to share his Boppy with Elizabeth for a photo. (She had a dress and socks on earlier in the evening, but after a couple of diaper changes we were down to the onsie.)


For some reason my pictures loaded too close together and I can't figure out how to add text between each one. So below are the following pictures:

1. Elizabeth and Boston
2. Elizabeth and her Uncle Todd
3. Elizabeth and her Aunt Jen
4. Elizabeth and Uncle Chris
5. Elizabeth and Aunt Megan
6. Eric and Boston






We can't wait to see Boston again!

Elizabeth's First Christmas

Elizabeth had her first Christmas! We started out Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house but the only picture I got was this one of Eric feeding her. But Grandma made a delicious dinner and Elizabeth got to meet her Aunt Kristy and Uncle David for the first time. It was a great evening and I wish I had taken more pictures!


Then we spent the night at Mimi and Papaw's house where Miss Elizabeth decided to show us her impression of a colicky baby. She cried for about 4 hours straight and nothing we did would make her happy. Finally she fell asleep on my chest and the three of us got a couple of hours of sleep. Since then, she's been back to her happy self, so I hope it was just all the Christmas excitement - I don't know how we would handle multiple nights of that! But the next morning, she was excited to celebrate Christmas! Here she is in front of the tree at Mimi's house. She had a frilly dress, but after the stressful night I decided she should just stay as comfy as possible in her Christmas jammies.

Elizabeth with Mommy and Daddy

Here's Mommy and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth with Uncle Brian and Aunt Mique (and cousins Baby A and Baby B!)

Ready to open presents!

All the excitement wore her out (and Papaw)

Still worn out with Poppa

Still sleeping in the crib at Mimi's house

We had a great Christmas - hope everyone else did too!

Welcome Juliette Daisy!

Congratulations to Jess and Pete on the birth of their precious baby girl Juliette Daisy! We visited sweet Juliette on Sunday - so cute! I didn't get very good pictures of the baby girl, but here's a couple.

Congratulations Jess and Pete! We can't wait for Elizabeth to meet Juliette!

Four Weeks Old!

Elizabeth is now four weeks old! Hard to believe her due date was yesterday - we got a whole bonus month of our baby! She's been very busy. On Friday she attended her first party - a House Warming for Katie and Paul at their new home. Of course I didn't take any pictures - but the house is just great and Elizabeth loved meeting lots of new people.

Also last week Elizabeth and I went out in the world by ourselves for the first time - a trip to Target, Michael's and Babies R Us. She slept the whole time. Then on Friday, Mimi and I took her to the mall. She slept right up until the end when she woke up hungry and screaming. That was stressful, but once we got some food in her she was happy once again.

Yesterday, we went up to my office and met my coworkers. She had been asleep for several hours before while I was at my post-partum doctor visit, so she was awake and loud during our visit at the office. But it was fun to see everyone. Hard to believe my maternity leave is already more than 1/3 over.

Here are some pictures!

Cute baby in her carseat!

Eric says she looks like a real baby now that she sometimes takes a pacifier. So cute!

Thoughful baby pondering life's biggest questions

So cute!

And practicing her mad face

A Busy Week

Visiting at Mamie and Poppa's House

Hanging with PaPaw at the Lake

Visit with Grandpa

What a pretty baby!

We had a little modeling session - here's some naked baby pics

Looking at the lake

Snuggling with Daddy

Walk at the lakehouse

Elizabeth has had quite a week! She went to her first restaurant (Cafe Express for lunch), had her first and second dinner out, went to the lake for her first weekend, visited Mamie and Poppa's house for the first time, had her first real bath, and had more visitors! At her last pediatrician's appointment she had gained good weight, so we are happy with that. We go back on Wednesday, but assuming everything looks good, we don't go back again until her 2 month check up! (Which is exciting given that in her first 3 weeks of life she has visited her pediatrician 5 times.) Eric went back to work last week and Elizabeth and I are figuring out our days together. We haven't ventured out on our own yet, but we plan to do that this week. It turns out now that Elizabeth is not a sleepy baby she has a fussy spell every evening - about the time Eric gets home. As long as we are holding her she's ok - usually this is Eric's job since he's missed her all day.

What we've learned about Elizabeth in the last week:
1. She prefers her wipes warmed - initially we weren't using the wipe warmer, but it turns out we're all much happier during diaper changes if the wipes are warmed!
2. Baths make her poop. Yep - she's had 4 "real" baths since the umbilical cord stump fell off and she's pooped during 2 of them. That's 50% of the time.
3. She likes her swing, but not if it's on. It's nice and cuddly and she's happy to nap in it with the music and mobile on, but would prefer it not actually swing.
4. She will spit up if not properly burped and burped often. (This may be true for most babies, but we only have experience with the one.)
5. Her hair may be red. It definitely has redder tones than either mine or Eric's - especially in the sunlight. Since both Eric and I have red heads in our family tree, this isn't very far fetched.

What We Have Here is a Sleepy Baby

Well it turns out Miss Elizabeth is not quite the good eater I was bragging about earlier in the week. At our follow up visit with the pediatrician on Tuesday, she was concerned that Elizabeth has not gained as much weight as she should - she was born weighing 7 lb, 15 oz and left the hospital at 7 lb 8 oz. At our first visit with the pediatrician a week ago she was down to 7 lb, 4 oz. That's when we started supplementing her feedings with formula. Yesterday, she had only gained 1 oz, so the pediatrician suggested we alternate nursing and strictly bottle feeding. She's concerned she's working too hard and burning too many calories nursing without getting as much as she needs. So that's what we've been doing. Our doctor explained that what we have is a sleepy baby - when she wants to eat, she eats, but only enough to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep. She said she's seen lots of these babies and the goal is to get them to eat more so they learn to feel full and then they'll be more alert and more willing to eat. Today we went back and she'd gained another ounce over night, which is good but not great. So we are continuing to alternate nursing and formula and basically force her to eat at least every three hours (she'd wait more like 4 or so on her own, and that might have been our initial problem.0

But the good news is she is eating really well now - over 2 ounces at each feeding, plus nursing every other time. And today she really "woke up." After the last 2 feedings she was awake for over 45 minutes each time - this is new and very good. The other good news is our pediatrician rocks. She has called us every day to ask how Elizabeth is doing and since she is out of town this weekend, she gave us her cell phone number and asked that we give her a call sometime this weekend just to update her on how Elizabeth is doing. While being so very available to us, she is also assuring us that there is nothing wrong with Elizabeth except she's a "sleepy baby" who we have to encourage to eat. (I say she gets this from Eric - no one in my family needs encouragement to eat!). So it looks like things are going well. I'm a little sad that we are having to supplement the nursing with bottle feeding and formula, but we have to do what's best for Elizabeth and right now this mean supplementing.

And since you read all of that, I will now reward you with some pictures of our sweet sleepy baby:

Sleepy Baby

Mama and Elizabeth

Real clothes for the first time! (Although it's a lot of trouble - especially since we have to strip her down to her diaper to feed her every three hours so she stays awake!)



She looks asleep here, but she was really engaged in her play mat!


Awake baby! Here she is tonight - I think we're on the right track!

More Pictures

We're all doing great! Here's just a couple of pictures from the last couple of days:


Sweet baby!

Elizabeth practicing tummy time - not quite getting it:


Jack practicing tummy time


Desi practicing tummy time

Elizabeth's First Week

Wow - Elizabeth is a week old today! And what a week it has been! Here are some pictures from her first week. We didn't do a very good job of taking pictures of all of Elizabeth's visitors to the hospital, so I apologize for the lack of pictures from those visits. But thank you so much to everyone who came or sent good wishes. Elizabeth is so lucky to have so many people who care about her!

Look at all that hair!

Parents-to-be Jess and Pete (Thanks for the milkshake guys!)


Paul and Brian brought her this giant scary balloon! (It's taller than a person)

Elizabeth and Daddy

On her way to the pediatrician - she's been on several 30-45 min car trips (pediatrician, Mimi and PaPaw's house, cardiologist) and sleeps the whole way.

Fuzzy picture of Laura, Cody and Haley (Check out Cody's predictions for Elizabeth's future.

Elizabeth and Mimi


Fuzzy picture of Elizabeth and PaPaw


Elizabeth and Mamie



Sunning by the window to help with her jaundice


Super cute baby toes!

Sleeping in her pack n' play (She always rolls from her back to her side - the pediatrician said it was ok for her to sleep on her side, as long as she's not on her tummy)

After this first week, here are some of the things we now know about Elizabeth:

First, although she didn't let on right away, she is a very good eater! She likes to eat a lot and often - I think she takes after her momma in this way. We were initially concerned because she wasn't nursing well and is jaundiced and lost 11 oz from Monday to Friday. But now she's eating like crazy, has gained 3 oz back and her jaundice is starting to fade. So no more concerns about poor eating!

Second, she likes to sleep in her mommy or daddy's arms - or anyone else's - but not anywhere else. Actually right now she is a sleep in her pack n' play, so maybe we're working through this, but up until now the only time she really gets fussy is if we put her in her crib, pack n' play, swing or anywhere else that isn't someone's arms. But as Eric pointed out last night, for a one-week only baby, being held is a pretty reasonable request. And she's so sweet and cuddly, we really don't want to put her down (except when we start falling asleep sitting up - I worry that could end poorly). So we'll work to get her comfortable in other places, but for now we're really ok holding her most of the time.

Third, she doesn't like the pacifier. She prefers her own fingers (she's so smart and can already find her hand to put to her mouth) or her mamma's finger. (When I first read in one of the many baby books that some babies like to suck on their parents' fingers, I thought this was kinda gross - even if you wash your hands, do we really want to be sticking our hands in our newborns' mouths? But today at the doctor, she was so unhappy and crying until I let her suck on my finger. Than she was good to go for 20 minutes. So I expect we will be using this in the future.)

Fourth, she has a small ventricular septal defect (VSD). This is not something to worry about. But when we went to the pediatrician on Friday, our doctor heard a murmur in her heart and sent us to the pediatric cardiologist today. We were a little freaked out, but the pediatrician assured us that there are lots of reasons for murmurs and she just wanted to know why Elizabeth had one. As it turns out she has a small hole between the left and right ventricle of her heart. This happens in about 1 in 150 births. It means that when her blood leaves her heart on its way to the rest of her body, a small amount leaks back into one of the other chambers. Sometimes a large VSD needs surgery to repair, but a small one like Elizabeth's does not. Our wonderful cardiologist explained that there is about an 80% chance the VSD will close on its own before she's 2 and about a 20% chance that it won't close, but that it won't have any effect on her life - in fact the cardiologist said she can even be an olympic athlete! She obvioulsy has not seen Elizabeth's momma's athletic talent. There's only a fraction of a chance that she will need surgery later to fix it. We'll go back at 6 months to see if it has closed, but the cardiologist assured us that this is not something to worry about at all. And Miss Elizabeth was so good at the doctor's office. She had an echocardiogram which was basically just a 20 minute sonogram of her heart. She didn't care for the goop used on her chest to get good pictures, but was a trooper. She also had an EKG and continued to be such a good baby.

Fifth, she likes her kitties. Well, we're not really sure about that, but she doesn't seem to mind them. They have become more interested in her as she's been home - jumping up in my lap while I'm nursing her or getting on the floor when we're down there. So far she just goes on about her business. I look forward to when she can actually interact with them. Desi can't wait to have someone else who can pay attention to her!

Sixth, we're so lucky to have her!