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!

Our 1st baby

Don has started reading our blog and told me I needed to write a post on our first baby, our dog Minnie...Minnie has been the baby in our lives for almost 4 years now. Don and I had been dating for about a year and half when I brought her home and he quickly got VERY attached to her. He used to walk her for me when I lived in my apartment and when friends would drive by and see him walking her they would always chuckle at such a big guy walking such a tiny dog. It really was a sight, but also kinda cute at the same time. So before Ellie was born, everyone's big question was "oh no, what about Minnie, what is she going to think of a new baby in the house"? We both wondered the same thing, hoping Minnie would be able to handle the transition to having a little sister ok. At Christmas, my parents gave us the book Good Dog, Carl and changed the name Carl to Minnie. It is the story of a dog who is left home alone (what?) with a baby and their adventures while Mommy is away. While the story itself is kind of disturbing, it's kind of sweet in a way too. Minnie's behavior was questionable there for a while, but now that she has had time to adjust she really is doing better than I thought she would. She pretty much ignored Ellie for the first few weeks. Now she is a little braver and tries to sniff and lick (which is NOT allowed, don't worry Mom and Granny!) but still for the most part leaves her alone. I got really nervous and extremely angry when she peed on the rug in Ellie's room and got a hold of one of her baby blankets. Thank goodness that happened before she was born when she was still trying to figure out what was going on. After all, the office was HER room first! She had her own couch and plenty of space to lay around and do as she pleased. The office is now Ellie's room so poor Minnie doesn't have her couch anymore. At least now when Ellie starts to cry or even barely wimper, she will come running over to her to check and make sure she is ok. It is very sweet. I just hope it stays that way! We still love Minnie, but she has indeed taken a back seat. She will always be our first baby, but now we have one that needs us a little more:)

5 Weeks and Cradle Cap

Ellie is 5 weeks old today! I can hardly believe it. She is growing like a weed and changing everyday. Tonight I caught her holding onto her paci and bringing it up to her mouth. She didn't quite make it, but she tried! My baby is SO SMART (humor me, ok?)! We have gotten settled into a pretty good routine and she is sucking down 4 oz. bottles. We may have to start adding more formula to her bottles. It just seems like she can't get enough. Dr. Amy assured me we weren't over feeding her, so I guess we are doing everything right. I am anxious to see how much she weighs now. It will be 3 weeks on Thursday since we were at the doc and she was weighed. I bet she's up to 10 lbs. by now!


On another note, I think our sweet girl may have "cradle cap". We noticed she was losing her hair on the top which I thought was normal, but now she's pretty much bald on top with lots of hair still left on the side and in the back. I googled this "cradle cap" and it seemed like many babies get it. Basically it's dry flaky skin that we can treat by using baby oil then shampooing and rubbing off with a wash cloth. It's no big deal and has nothing to do with hygiene or how often we are bathing her, but I hate that she has lost so much of her hair on top. She kind of looks like a balding old man...but much cuter of course!! You can probably see what I am talking about in her 5 week picture. I know it will grow back with time so unntil then we will do what we can with the baby oil routine!

Ellie's room

The day I found out I was pregnant the first thing I thought of was NURSERY!! I started window shopping online right away and quickly found ideas of what I wanted to do for a boy or a girl. We decided to use the smaller bedroom which was my office for the nursery and leave the guest bedroom as is.

We painted the walls a light green and thebacks of the shelving a bubblegum pink. I ended up finding the website http://www.polkatotdesigns.com/ and that is where I purchased Ellie's crib bedding. I absolutely LOVE it! I love paisley prints and knew I wanted to go with pink and green, so this Hannah bedding was perfect.

Next up was furniture. My sweet grandparents were my personal shoppers and went all over Memphis scouting out baby furniture. We actually ended up getting a great deal at the Memphis Navy Exchange on her crib. I had a hard time deciding on white vs. antique white, but now I am very happy with the antique white. I ordered her dresser/changing table from JC Penney and I think it is perfect for her little room. I wish there had been room for a rocking chair, but it would have just been too cramped. Her rug came from Pottery Barn Kids and the lamp I made myself! I got insipiration from the $100 Pottery Barn Kids lamp and ended up making mine for around $40. I actually think I like my version better! Don's cousin Karen made the vinyl initial letters on the wall, and my grandmother made the curtains. The chandelier was actually in my nursery as a baby and I think it is so sweet in here. We cleaned it up and added new bulbs and I just love it!

This room had built in shelving surrounding the window and it has been great for all of the picture frames and knick nacks we have received. The wicker toy chest came from Don's grandmother. It was originally white so I just spray painted it off white and my grandmother made a cushion to match the curtains. I think it turned out cute. Hanging on the wall is Ellie's christening gown that Don's mom gave her. It is absolutely gorgeous and I cannot wait for her to wear it. We signed up for the first year baby plan with our photographer so she will wear it in her 3 month portraits.

I had so much fun decorating this room. I will be sad when she outgrows her crib but luckily it is convertible and can be turned into a toddler bed, day bed, and eventually a full size big girl bed!

Weekend ramblings

We had a pretty uneventful weekend around here. Don worked on the Lambuth softball fields all weekend so he was gone pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday. Poor thing is feeling pretty yucky with some sort of sinus junk so he has tried to stay far away from Miss Ellie in case it is something contagious. We have had visitors every weekend since Ellie was born. Peeps and De De had to come and get their "Ellie fix" since it had been almost 2 weeks since they had seen her. They swear she has grown at least 3 inches in length and that her head is bigger! I love that she is a growing girl. It is harder for me to tell that she is growing since I am with her all day, but she is starting to fit into 3 month clothes and her newborn sized sleepers are definitely getting too small. I can't believe she is growing out of her clothes already! We have also recently started putting her in size 1 diapers. They are a little big, but the newborns were getting too tight around her chunky little thighs:). Don's grandmother or "Mammie" and his aunt Blythe and her husband Eric and son Parker also came to visit. We dressed Ellie up in a sweet little dress and can you believe...I did not get one single picture! How dare me! I did break out the video camera and get some footage of Ellie on her activity mat. She just cooed and rambled and kicked her little legs like crazy. I love how she is becoming more active and fun. Little Miss will be 5 weeks old tomorrow. This time is just flying by. My maternity leave will be over before I know it:( I am thinking about getting her out next week after she turns 6 weeks old. The NICU told us 8 weeks, but I am ready to break out the new stroller and start walking this baby weight off! Speaking of stroller, I ordered the stroller that matches her carseat and it came in last week. Don got it put together and can we say CUTE!! We also are going to try the transition to her crib at 6 weeks as well. I don't know why I think 6 weeks is the magic number, I guess it just seems like 1 more week will be good before I have to prepare myself for a couple of sleepless nights. I can just see myself staring at the video monitor all night long making sure she is breathing. I know she will be fine but it just scares me a little to move her to her big girl bed! Her room is right next door to our bedroom so it's not like she is far, but I am still apprehensive. Wish us luck! I have been brushing up on Baby Wise so I'll be more prepared for what to do when she starts crying and such. I'll let everyone know how it goes!