2 Month Stats

Ellie is napping so I thought I would go ahead and post her stats from our doctors visit. First of all, we BOTH did great! I didn't cry, and Ellie did for just a sec. Dr. Amy said Tylenol should help if her legs are sore, so I went ahead and gave her some right before she ate. She is practically snoring (uh oh!) in her crib now, so hopefully she will stay down for a while. This is us waiting on Dr. Amy. Those lights were bright!Dr. Amy said she was perfect and pretty! I of course already knew that but it's always nice to hear it from somebody else:) She even said "I bet she has a smocked Easter dress"! Why of course she does!!!! She also gave us some tips on getting rid of the little rash she's got going on under her chin. Whe she spits up, it runs down her mouth and lands in all of her little creases and that moisture caused some irritation. We had been doing diaper rash cream and baby powder but Dr. Amy said to try Gold Bond and hydrocortisone cream. We were almost doing the same thing so that made me feel better.

Now on to the stats. I was shocked! I knew she had grown, but I really am surprised. She weighs 12 lbs 8 oz (90%), 23 1/4 in. (75%) and her head measured right at 40 1/2 cm (90%)! She really is a growing girl! I felt a little guilty as I snapped these pictures, but I am trying to capture every moment!

9 Weeks and Dr. Amy

Today Ellie is 9 weeks old! She was officially 2 months old on Friday. Where does the time go? In one way I feel like she has been here forever, but when I think about her being 2 months old, it just doesn't seem possible. Since she is officially 2 months old, it's time to head back to the Children's Clinic. We haven't been since 2 weeks, so I am anxious to see how much she has grown. Along with the 2 month check up comes the first round of immunizations. I will admit the controversy with vaccines has crossed my mind, but on the other hand the risk of her getting and giving any of those nasty things is much greater than autism or anything else. She received the Hepatitis B vaccine before she was discharged from the NICU, so we have already gotten a head start. I am a little worried about watching her receive the shots, but I still don't think anything could be worse than seeing her with IV's in her head and little hands or watching them draw blood from her tiny feet. That was NO FUN!

Tonight we have plans to eat at Chili's with all of the coach's wives. Two of them are getting ready to move so now I am pretty much the only one left and that makes me very sad. I am really enjoying getting to know the newe ones as well but it's just strange to think that now we are the ones that have been around the longest!

Her appointment is at 1:30 so please think of BOTH of us! I hope she does ok and gets a good report, and I hope I don't totally lose it when they give the shots! I will give an update later this week on all of her stats.

I Love Etsy

So I have a new addiction, and it's Etsy! I never really visited the site until I found out I was pregnant...and now I am obsessed. You can get quality, handmade items at reasonable prices! I realize if I could just sew and embroider myself it would save a ton of money...but until I invest in a sewing/monogramming machine...Etsy it is! I have had people ask me which Etsy stores I order from, and the only one I can remember is ThreeSweets. She does great work and is even coming up with a little something for me for football season! This little pillowcase dress came in the mail today. I can't wait for Ellie to wear it at the beach this summer!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Whew! We have been busy the past few days. This past Friday, we were invited to attend Play Group! Even though Ellie can't really "play" yet, it was good to get out and meet other Mom's and kids. I definitely got a taste of what we are in for in a couple of years...there was always one kid crying or screaming, or falling off the slide! We are going to be busy! They had a little Easter party for the kids, so Ellie of course had to dress the part! I love her little bunny shirt!

After playgroup, we met Aunt Jenny for lunch at McAlisters and ran a bunch of errands to get ready for Cathy's shower on Saturday night. We took Ellie to the mall for the first time, and Jenny made me take a picture. It was definitely fitting that Ellie had her first mall trip with Jenny!

Saturday morning we packed up and headed to Memphis. Don started spring football this weekend so he was busy with practice. My mom decided to host her own "Sip and See" so all of her Memphis friends could see baby Ellie. She went all out and had some great snacks and even had cookies made with her initials on them. Everything was so nice and lots of people came!

As soon as the last guest left the sip and see, I had to get ready for another party! My college friend Cathy is getting married on May 1st and I helped host a wedding shower for her Saturday night. Jenny was in charge of decor and did a great job! Kandice and everyone else that helped with food went all out...we had TONS of food and it was all delicious. My picture is a little blurry, but you get the idea of the table. It was kind of a wine theme. We also had cute little favors for everyone. It was great to see some old friends and catch up, but I couldn't wait to get home to my sweet girl!Sunday morning, Ellie and I played hookie from church and hung out in our pj's until it was time for me to get ready for my last party of the weekend...a Baby Shower for Brooke and baby Ali! I am so mad because we didn't take a picture, but here is one of us at my baby shower back in November. Brooke got tons of cute stuff for Ali, they should be set! Baby Ali will be here before we know it!

We got back to Jackson around 6:30 last night and have taken it pretty easy today. We did get out for a second to run by Sonic Happy Hour and surprise Daddy with a drink! Now it's time to get ready for the Easter Bunny!
Poor baby...she's really going to hate me one day!

8 Weeks...a day late!

Here is Ellie's 8 week picture. We finally broke out a little Spring dress for her to wear today since it is so pretty outside. I am a day late since I was gone all day yesterday and the grandparents and great grandparents didn't know what to do when they didn't receive their weekly email picture! We have a cookout with the coaching staff tonight so Ellie and I are getting ready to head to Target and Kroger. I was asked to bring guacamole, but I think I might just buy it instead of make it.

YAY for sunny Spring days!!!

I survived...

Monday started out with us meeting Leigh for lunch. After lunch, I had some errands to run, but it was spitting rain and a little chilly so Leigh helped me out BIG time by following me to the dry cleaners and post office and sitting in the car with Ellie while I ran in and got some things taken care of! I guess I took for granted how easy it used to be to just run in somewhere before Ellie arrived. Now her huge heavy car seat and the weird weather just don't make it very easy anymore. So thank you Leigh for your help! I promise to return the favor when baby Will arrives:)

Monday night was the day I had been dreading. I had to leave my sweet girl for the first time:( I am not officially back to work until April 6th and my first appointment isn't until the 12th, but we had a training in Nashville yesterday that I really needed to attend. So Monday night we met my parents for dinner in Brownsville and I handed her over! I boo hood the whole way home that night, but I did fine yesterday! She wasn't even away from me for 24 hours, but it just felt so weird when we got home and she wasn't there. I told Don I would either sleep great, or I wouldn't sleep at all. Well...I maybe got 2 hours! That is ok though. My meeting went by fast and it was good to see all of my co-workers. A little adult conversation was nice, and I couldn't wait to pick her up yesterday afternoon! All in all, I survived and I got that dreaded day over with. I just wish I didn't have to work at all...HA!!!

Sip and See!

This weekend in Greenfield our friends threw us a "Sip and See" for baby Ellie. It was so much fun! Don's best friend Rusty held it at his house, and his sweet girlfriend Alyse hosted. We had lots of yummy brunch food and tons of people came to by to "sip" on punch and "see" Ellie! Ellie did great! Lots of people got to hold her, and we put her in her moses basket so she could rest and stretch. I have a few pics on my camera I will try to put up soon.

After the sip and see we we to the Greenfield Miss Princess pageant to watch cousin Matti compete. We were so proud of her because she won queen! She looked beautiful as always, and Ellie LOVED going to her first pageant. Way to go Matti!

Finally!

Don's cousin John and his wife Tori are in Russia to pick up their little boy, Knox! This trip has been a long time coming and we are SO happy for them! It is around 6:30 am Russia time, and they will soon be heading to the baby home to see him for the first time since November. I cannot imagine how elated they must be to finally get to see him again, and soon take him home! You can read their whole story at www.lifeandtimesoftheliggetts.blogspot.com. Ellie cannot wait to meet her new little cousin Knox!

St. Patty's Visitors!

Today was another fun filled day! Brooke and Jessica came to visit us and we had a great time! Ellie dressed up for St. Patrick's Day in her shamrock onesie that I ordered off of Etsy. After a few photos and a bottle for Ellie, we went out to lunch! Thanks Jo and Brooke for driving from Memphis to see us! We can't wait until baby Ali arrives:)

7 Weeks and A Special Visitor

Today Ellie is 7 weeks old. The time is just flying by! I guess 7 is our new magic number because she slept 7 STRAIGHT HOURS last night! I put her down at 9:30 and she slept until 4:45 am. She ate, got a clean diaper, and slept again until around 7:30. We did the same thing once more and she napped again until 10:30 this morning! I love my little sleeper! I guess the big smile in her picture is because she was so well rested. I just love this smile!

My lifelong friend Emily Hefner came to visit yesterday. We went and ate sushi for lunch and drove around town because Emily is moving to Jackson! She is a speech pathologist and has taken a position at a nursing home in Humblodt. The position is a 3 month temporary job, so we drove around looking at apartments and such. Last night we ate Enchilada casserole and watched a little TV and caught up a little. Em got lots of time in with Ellie and was able to feed and snuggle with her. It was a short visit, but she will soon get to hang out whenever she wants!

Thanks for visiting Em!!! We love you:)

It's not all about me anymore

I have quickly come to realize how much time I had on my hands before baby Ellie came along. I could pick up and go as I pleased, sleep in on the weekends, and so on. Now every move I make has to be well planned and thought out before we can ever get out the door! My first true test of balancing baby and life came Saturday. We dropped Minnie off at the groomer around noon and they told us she would not be ready until 5 that night. Don decided he wanted to go watch his cousin's first boxing match, so he left to go around 4:30. So 5 o'clock rolled around I get Ellie in the carseat, fastened and secure in the car, and my phone rings. It's PetSmart saying Minnie wouldn't be ready until 6! Now normally this would not be a big deal. I would just stay in the car and maybe run to the grocery store or something. But keep in mind I have a 6 1/2 week old, it's getting dark and spitting rain, and I am alone!! So, after a little huffing and puffing I get Ellie back out of the car and we go back inside to wait another hour. Luckily Minnie was ready at 6, but the next true test was getting my crazy dog and my baby and her heavy carseat from the store, through the parking lot, and into the car! Oh what a sight I was. I wish I had thought to snap a picture, but I was too stressed to think about anything but getting all 3 of us in the car safely. I ended up grabbing a shopping cart and sitting Ellie in her carseat on top. I threw Minnie in the cart as well and wheeled us all to the car. All in all, it worked out better than I imagined, and I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as we were all back in the car. Nothing is easy anymore, but it's definitely all worth it. My life was so boring!!!! These are a few things I have come to realize in Ellie's short 7 weeks of life:

• It doesn't matter if I haven't eaten lunch. Ellie and her bottle come first! My meal can wait. (and that helps with these last 9 pounds of baby weight!)


• I may not have showered today, but you better believe my baby will NOT be sitting in a dirty diaper or go 2 days without a bath!!


• I may have piles a mile high of my laundry, but her clothes will be washed daily. Set-in formula stains just will not do!


• I may need a new Easter dress, but that money now goes to formula, diapers, and a pretty cute Easter basket filled with goodies for Ellie.

It's not all about me anymore, and I am A-OK with that!

Our Weekend

We have had a good weekend. Nothing too exciting to report, just the norm. Lots of dishes, LOTS of laundry! I noticed on our utility bill that our water bill has TRIPLED since we brought Ellie home. Don and I were both the types to do laundry only when we had NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING left to wear, so we probably did laundry maybe once a month. Now I do atleast 1 load a day of Ellie's clothes and run the dishwasher faithfully every day. I know I keep saying this, but my how times have changed! On Saturday we ran a few errands and did a little shopping. Don has been needing a new suit for some time now, so we finally broke down and bought him one. I must say, it is very nice! I think I am just as excited about him having a new suit as he is. While we were out, I ran in to pick up a little outfit I had monogrammed for Ellie. Since I was in the store, I of course had to look around. They were having an Easter sale where you picked an egg and got anywhere from 15-50% off! I ended up finding a sweet little smocked dress, and picked an egg for 15% off! Gotta love a sale! The bubble suit looks orange in this picture, but it is really hot pink.

On another note, I have a new favorite baby item...Gripe Water! Have any of you heard of it?

I had not until a few people mentioned it to me. This is the best stuff ever! Ellie gets the hiccups almost daily and it takes them away instantly every time. It also calms the tummy for colic. I don't think she has had colic, maybe a little bit, but I will now swear by this stuff and throw it in with any baby gift I give from now on!

I am now getting ready for more visitors this week. Auntie Em is coming to see us tomorrow and Brooke and Jessica may come Thursday! I have tons of clothes to put away and need to clean, clean, clean! I better do it now while Lil Bit is asleep!

Newborn Pictures

We have the proofs back from Ellie's newborn photoshoot! There are about 5 that I just LOVE! Here is a sneak peek. If you want to see all of them, go to http://www.kristinaonly.com/, click on contact, children, Ellie, and the password is Pitt. I have already ordered some prints and now I am working on her birth announcement. I just love pictures! I guess I should order my wedding pictures, huh?!?!?!?!

Confession

Ok so I think I have had my first "I feel like I have failed" moment. Remember when I said I pump Ellie's breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between? Well I confess, I am a slacker. I did so good for about a month, but I just gradually quit my every 3 hour routine. It was hard while I was in the hospital waking up in the middle of the night to pump when I was so exhausted and my milk still had not come in. My supply was never enough for me to get far enough ahead to be able to freeze so I was pumping before every feeding just so I could mix in a couple of ounces with her formula. I feel like a bad parent. I am so disappointed in myself! I'm not making excuses, but I really do think that if circumstances had been different and if I had been able to begin nursing her right away, I would have stuck to it. We tried nursing in the NICU a few times and Ellie screamed until she was red in the face and absolutely hated it. I hated it too because I didn't want her to be hungry or uncomfortable so I just settled for the easy way out which was bottle feeding. I guess as long as she is getting fed and is satisfied, that's all that matters. And I am glad she got my milk for the first month or so of her life.

Well, that's my confession. I am getting over it, and I feel better now that I have gotten it off my chest! On a lighter note, here is Ellie's 6 week picture and a couple other cute ones from today!

These are a few of my favorite things

I have read lots of different blogs listing favorite baby items and it really helped me decide on what to register for with Ellie. Six weeks into Mommyhood I have definitely come up with a few must haves that I would recommend to any new Mommy to be! We still have lots of things we haven't tried so the jury is still out on those items. I will be sure to update this when the time comes for us to use them.

First up is something we use every day...Our Fisher Price My Little Lamb infant seat. Not only are the little lamb ears super cute, but Ellie spent quite a few nights sleeping here when she wanted NOTHING to do with her cradle. The vibrations and music put our little girl right to sleep as you can see!

We also have the matching My Little Lamb Cradle-n-Swing, but we haven't used it that much yet. We are just waiting on her neck to get a little bit stronger so it doesn't flop over when she sits in it.

Diapers--We've tried them all. Luvs, Huggies, Pampers. I hands down recommend Pampers Swaddlers over all of them!

Next is our video monitor. It is sitting right next to me as I type. The is the best thing ever! I would totally recommend any video monitor. Ours is made by Summer.
We get lots of use out of our bottle warmer and wipe warmer. I wasn't sure if I would want or need these things, but now I am glad I have them. You can sanitize pacifiers in the bottle warmer, and the wipe warmer seems to feel pretty good to Ellie. We also have a bottle drying rack and dishwasher basket that get used daily.

As far as bottles go, I'll be honest I am not in love with any we have tried. We have tried the Playtex Ventaire Advanced, Avent, and even tried the cheapo Evenflo Comfi. I guess if I had to pick I would say the Playtex Ventaire would be my favorite. I am starting to realize that expensive doesn't always mean better!

We have the Graco SnugRide 32 Rittenhouse carseat and stroller. I love love love the pattern and so far have been very pleased with both. The carseat is pretty pricey compared to most Graco's and it doesn't come as a travel system, but I think it's because it will hold a child up to 32 pounds which means we will get more use out of it!

Lastly, I would totally recommend a Swaddle Me blanket. We wrap Ellie up tight in this every night and she really seems to like it. She is growing so much that I am afraid we may not get to use it too much longer, but it's great! The velcro makes it so easy.

Well, I think that's it for now. As soon as we get to break out the Bumbo, high chair, exersaucer and other toys, I'll let you know what we think! I have spent way too much time on this post as it is!

Lots of Firsts

Wow! I don't even know where to start. We have had a great few days. The weather has been beautiful so we have gotten out and about and it has been so much fun! On Saturday, we took our first family outing. We went to lunch at Chili's and took an afternoon drive out towards the Medina/Humboldt area to look at a few houses. We aren't seriously looking (yet!) but I really hope we can move forward with the house hunting in the near future. We have outgrown our little house! Here is our sweet thing all strapped in and ready to go!

After our Saturday drive, we ran into Bed Bath and Beyond and Spoil Me Rotten to do a little more shopping. It was soon feeding time so we went home to feed little bit and get some rest. Saturday night, we rented a movie and decided to just try and see if Ellie would sleep in her crib. After I fed her at 9:30, I swaddled her up tight, turned on her sound machine, and she was OUT! She did great. We were amazed. We love our video monitor and just laid in bed and stared at the screen. We probably watched her on the monitor more than we watched the movie! On Sunday, Don's grandmother came to visit so we went to lunch with her then came home to relax. Sunday night, Leigh and Cole had us over for a cookout and Ellie did pretty good! She started to fuss a little bit so we went home soon after dinner and put her to bed. Wow how times have changed! She had a big weekend and was pretty worn out and slept great in her crib again last night. Today my mom and Granny came to visit. We went to lunch at Dumplins and ran in Hobby Lobby to buy ribbon to make her some hair bows. They had a great time feeding, rocking, changing and loving on her. It was a great girls day!

Daddy is off ALL week for Spring Break so he played golf today. When he got home, we decided to take advantage of the pretty weather and break out the stroller for a family walk...Minnie included! We chatted with a few of our neighbors and saw lots of young families out walking their babies. What a great night to take a stroll! I definitely see lots of these walks in our future! So all in all, Ellie has had lots of firsts. She's been out to eat, gone to a cookout, gone on a walk, and done a little shopping! We are still going to be cautious about getting her out too much, but with this beautiful weather, who wants to sit inside???

Fun Friday

Today I took Ellie out for the first time! We had lunch with Jenny at Flat Iron Grille (yum!) ran in Coffman's furniture to check out her new living room furniture, and stopped in at Spoil Me Rotten...a super cute kid's store that I absolutely love. It was a beautiful day so I finally decided it would be ok to get her out for a bit and we had a great time! Ellie did great and slept the entire time.

After lunch and a little shopping, we came home to some visitors! Kim and Wes Murphy brought their new baby Elam over to meet Ellie for the first time. Elam is 2 weeks old today so they are about 4 weeks apart. It was so much fun getting them together. We just laughed and gushed over these 2 sweet babies. I am so glad we have friends that are having babies at the same time. It makes it so much more fun! Ellie looks HUGE next to Elam. She probably has at least 3 pounds on him but I bet it won't take him long to catch up!


Me with Elam


Kim with Ellie
Jenny with Elam
Isn't this sweet!