thanksgiving - check. christmas - w.i.p

I can NOT believe Thanksgiving has already came and gone! Sheesh. This year has flown by.

Our first Thanksgiving with Elaina was great! As always, we ended up going to my parents for lunch and Kevin's parents for leftovers/dinner. I know it's hard to sympathize with us because we have to eat twice (okay, so maybe we don't have to!) but it's seriously so hard! Every year I promise myself I'm only going to eat a small plate at my parents so I'll have room for a small plate at Kevin's parents....it never works.
Elaina and I headed to VA on Wednesday and spent the day helping Mom bake and just hanging out at their house. Kevin's best friend, Adam, was flying in from Phoenix so Kevin went to pick him up after work. It was Elaina's first time meeting her uncle Adam and Kevin and I were both super excited to see him since he hadn't been in since our wedding! We stayed up past midnight catching up with him, which was nice.

Thursday was nice, yummy, and Elaina did great. Mom gave Elaina a taste of sweet potato, to which she made a hilarious face! She's still not a huge fan of her cereal, which is okay with me. Since the doctor told us the cereal is optional, I'm not super concerned with her not loving it. If she does learn to like it, great...if not, I'm sure she'll fall in love with real food when we start it.

We ended up staying in VA Thursday night too and headed home Friday. I didn't dare go out to any stores, but I did get some deals online!

Did I mention Elaina is now FOUR months old?? =( Having this week off from work to stay home with her has made me realize a few things a) i'd LOVE to be a SAHM :( b) she's grown up SO much. not just in size but just every little thing she does. she's so amazing.

I'll go ahead and do her 4 month update too. At her doctor appointment Tuesday, she weighed 17lbs 6oz (90th percentile) and is 26" (also 90th percentile). She had to have 3 shots but other than the dramatic fit she had when they gave her the actual shots and drowsiness, she didn't seem bothered by them at all. She's holding her head up like a champ, sitting up by HERSELF for about 30 seconds at a time, rolling over like a crazy woman, and staring at her toes and ALL other toes around her non-stop!! She's changed SO much in the past month. Mommy's baby is growing up way too fast.

Okay, is Christmas SERIOUSLY less than a month away?!?! I want to decorate for Christmas, BUT I've been too busy playing with Elaina all day, annndddd our tree is under a bunch of crap in the garage. Darn my husband for being a flippin' packrat. :P

Now for your viewing pleasure............

silly girl playing in her seat...notice the crazy hair :)

at Nana's getting ready to try some cereal.

we survived...TWICE!

What did we survive??



Our first TWO nights without Elaina!


As you may or may not know, Kevin is a DIE-HARD New Orleans Saints fan. By no means is he a "fair weather fan" who just jumped on the bandwagon when they won the superbowl. Nope, he's been a fan since he was in middle school! Anywho, I'd bought him tickets for his birthday to see them play the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. So, to make a long story short, Elaina spent the night with Kevin's mom and dad...and needless to say, she did MUCH better than Kevin and I! We called probably 15 times in the 36ish hours we were gone. However, it was nice for Kevin and I to get away, just the two of us, for the first time in 16 weeks.

Then, we let her spend last night with MY parents because we both had to work today. She did great with them too! They had such a good time with her and were sad to see her go.

She's such a good baby and adapts to various environments so easily. She's so lucky to have two sets of amazing grandparents who are bananas about her.

Now don't think for one second that we're going to be "those parents" who ditch their kids every possible chance they get. Heck no. Not even close. Actually the night before we left for Charlotte I begged Kevin to just sell my ticket to someone else and let me stay home with her. He assured me she'd be fine and that it would be good for me to get away...and though I won't tell him, he was right! hehe.

We have family pictures/Elaina's 4 month pictures this coming Thursday with the WONDERFUL Kalyn! She's the same photographer who did Elaina's newborn pictures. We fell in LOVE with the results of our first shoot and thought it would be crazy to NOT have her do another...and another...and another...until she gets sick of us. haha. I can't wait to post the prints. Until then, you can see some of her other fantabulous works on her website.

OH, and HOW COULD I FORGET?? Two of my very very very best friends are going to be mommies!!!!! My dear BFF Tiffany is due in July and my long time friend/poshum pal Amanda is due in June! I'm so so so so soooo excited for them! They're both going to be AMAZING mothers and Elaina is going to have two more Mommy-approved friends to have playdates with! :)

happy halloween!

2 months till Christmas

Holy. Cow. TWO months!

Every single year on December 26th, I say "next year, i'm going to christmas shop through out the year so i'm not freaking at the last minute finding gifts" and every single year i'm still searching high and low the last week before Christmas for at least a few gifts.

However, I've bought TWO gifts so far this year...both for Elaina. Of course. Sadly, she's the only person I'm excited about shopping for.

This is her Bounce-A-Bout. I'm so excited to see her in it! Heck, I may give in and give it to her before Christmas. Not like she's going to know the difference. haha. Her party pooper daddy probably won't let me though...we'll just have to do it while he's at work! :) I think she's going to LOVE this. She's already putting weight on her legs and 'standing up' in our lap, so I think by Christmas she'll be jumping and bouncing like crazy.

Other than babies, people are SO hard to buy for! I never know what to get people and when you ask them you get "Oh, nothing." as a reply. I'll admit I'm guilty of saying that...so I can't complain too much. But I'm not buying for myself...though that would be easier. :D

Hrm...off to Amazon I go to get ideas.

3 months tomorrow...wait, WHAT!?

How can this be? My baby is 1/4 of a year old!
NOOOOOO! :(
Time needs to sloooow down.

Well, since that's not going to happen I guess I'll just have to suck it up and accept the fact that my little girl won't stay that 7lb 9oz baby I feel in love with at first sight. Instead, she's now a head holding, fist sucking, toe watching, cooing and drooling machine. She's changed so much over the past month!

Now, for some Elaina updates:
*Her bedtime is usually between 7 and 8 and she sleeps through the night till anywhere between 6 and 8. Uh, THANK GOD. This is seriously an answered prayer. She's such a good sleeper and Mommy really appreciates that now that I'm back at work.

*She eats probably around 30 - 34 ozs each day. She's had some tummy/gas issues, but her pediatrician suggested giving her Mylanta and it really seems to be helping...and she loves the taste. ew.

*0-3 months clothes are beginning to fit a little snug (depends on the size), but 3-6 months are still a tad long. Oh well. Oh, and most shoes she has are STILL too big. Is it that her foot is super skinny or do they make baby shoes extra wide??

*All that hair she lost around 5wks old is growing back QUICKLY. It seems to be a little lighter than before, and much thicker, but it's so soft and just kinda fuzzs out everywhere. So cute.

Here are some pictures from the past month. 3 month "sticker onesie" shoot to follow ASAP!

ABC's of yours truly :)

A is for AGE - 25
B is for BED SIZE - queen
C is for CHORE YOU HATE - putting laundry away
D is for DOG'S NAME - he's my parents dog, but his name is Benji.
E is for ESSENTIAL "START YOUR DAY" ITEM - a nice hot shower
F is for FAVORITE COLOR(S) - pink or turquoise
G is for GOLD OR SILVER - Silver...or white gold
H is for HEIGHT - 5'7"ish
I is for INSTRUMENTS YOU PLAY - i played trumpet in HS
J is for JOB TITLE - operations manager
K is for KIDS - Elaina Rose :)
L is for LIVING ARRANGEMENTS - with the hubs and baby girl...bought our house in Oct '09
M is for MOTHER'S NAME - Sharon
N is for NICKNAMES - Poops, Granny (both from the lovely DH!), E,
O is for OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAYS OTHER THAN BIRTH - just our 1 night stay after having Elaina
P is for PET PEEVES - oh lord, the list is LONG.
Q is for QUOTE FROM A MOVIE - Go ahead! I ain't scared of no po po! call the po po, ho! call THE PO PO HO!!! ((loooove Madea!)
R is for RIGHT HANDED OR LEFT HANDED - Right
S is for SECRET CRUSH - Chris Daughtry...it's not a secret though!
T is for TIME YOU WAKE UP - around 6:30 usually.
U is for UNDERWEAR - not sure of the brand...whatever JCPenney has
V is for VEGETABLES YOU DISLIKE - onions, celery, peppers
W is for WORKOUT STYLE - um, not at all! that explains the extra 30lbs I'd LOVE to shed.
X is for X-RAYS YOU'VE HAD - stomach, knee, teeth
Y is for YESTERDAY'S BEST MOMENT - all the smiles from Elaina
Z is for ZOO FAVORITE - penguins

2 months.

Two months ago today we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world. :) I can't believe it's been that long. Being the total sap that I am, I started crying last night looking at her and realizing how much she's grown. I'm so proud of her...so in love with her...so happy to have her to call me 'Mommy'.

Elaina had her 2 month check-up this morning which included shots. Um, by the way...this mommy does NOT like seeing her baby girl get shots. :( It was horrible. I'll admit I cried. Anywho, she weighs 12lbs 12oz and is 23 1/2" long. 95th percentile for both. We asked the doctor about her little gagging episodes she has occasionally and he said it sounds like she has reflux. He suggested we set her in her carseat for 30-45 mins after feeding her to see if it helps. He also said that if she starts to cry everytime it happens that they'll start her on Zantac. Hopefully it doesn't get that bad. Other than that, he said she looks great!! :) Just what we wanted to hear.

By the way...she pooped on the doctor. hahahahaha! He was so nice about it though. Like he said "Any pediatrician who can't stand the smell or sight of poop should consider a new profession"

I'll post her 2 month pics ASAP. She's so tired from her shots that I'm not even going to attempt to torture her with a photoshoot. I even let her go without a hairbow today...I told her I was only making an exception b/c she was getting shots. :P

Here are a few pics taken of her since last update.