6 months = sad mommy

Elaina is 6 months old! :( Where did my little baby go?!

At her checkup she was 19lbs 12oz and 27" long...90%tile for both. Her head is in the 105%tile...the dr told her she has lots of brains. haha. He told us we have a happy, healthy and beautiful baby girl.

There was one concern he had though, that lead to me crying most of the day Tuesday. Elaina has a flat spot on the back of her head. Most babies develop one. However, Elaina's has not rounded out and her pediatrician is afraid that if we don't address it now, we may not be able to correct it. He assured us that it's 0% health related and 100% cosmetic. I know that should make me feel better, but it doesn't.

Anywho, we go Feb 7th to see a specialist who will decide if Elaina needs to be fitted for a corrective helmet. :( I know lots of babies have to wear them, but I just feel so guilty. I feel like I've done something wrong...that I've failed as a mommy. I told my friend Tiffany that I'm afraid one day Elaina will see a picture of herself in the helmet and question me on what I did wrong. Ugh. I know. I'm WAY over-thinking this...but that's what I do. So...please say a prayer that the dr will think Elaina's case is minor and will correct itself. However, I believe God knows whats best for us and if Elaina has to wear the helmet, so be it. God has blessed us with a healthy baby and I am so beyond grateful for that. (And if we can choose a color, Elaina's helmet WILL be pink. duh ;))

So...I leave you with some pictures of our beautiful, happy, healthy, 6 month old princess.

let's play picture catch up

because i'm a slacker...

elaina & daddy waiting to see Santa at the mall

now Mommy & her girl :) ((she did much better than we expected with Santa. we actually got a picture of her and him before she realized who was holding and burst into tears.))

enjoying her Christmas gift from Mommy & Daddy...a pretty pink bounce-a-bout!

Christmas day at Nana and Grandpa's (my parents)

eek. i loooved this outfit. :)

playing with one of her new toys at Mamaw & Papaw G's (Kevin's parents)

i didn't get the chance to take 5 month pics on the 23rd, but these were all taken on the 23rd, 24th or 25th...{happy 5 months elaina rose}

A Bittersweet Goodbye

2010...by far, hands down, no questions asked - the best year of my life...all thanks to one moment, on one day involving myself, my husband and this precious little wrinkled bundle of joy. welcoming elaina into the world can't be topped. no way. no how. (though i'm certain it will be tied in about 4 or 5 years when we welcome baby G #2) so...yeah, i'm kinda sad to see 2010 end. however, i'm pretty stoked about 2011. elaina turning 1. new babies (NOT mine! haha.). weddings. hopefully a few getaways as a family of 3. loads to look forward to!

now for my list. if you know me very much, you know i LOVE lists. i've been a 'list maker' for as long as i can remember. okay. instead of calling this list '2011 New Years Resolutions' i'm calling it my '2011 to-do list'...nice, right?

1. Eat in a way that sets a good example: before she was even born, kevin and i had a discussion about how we'd raise Elaina as far as eating goes. we both decided on things like we will not offer her soda, sweets will be occasional treats, etc. i know some people think that's stupid (and i could care less) but we want to give her every possible chance at a healthy life that we can. SO, seeing as how i enjoy the occasional diet coke and looove me some junk food, i've realized i'm being a big fat hypocrite. bleh. thus, my 'to do' for 2011 is to eat in a way that elaina can look at one day and not have to say "well mommy, why can you eat cake and drink soda but i can't?" now, i'd like to think this will also lead to some lb. loss. that would be nice. :)

2. Organize my enemy: aka 'the garage'...yes, we have a TWO car garage. ask me how many cars are parked in it...ZERO. why? because i'm married to a packrat. :) i love him, i really do. however, i do NOT love his habit of hanging onto everything. i'm not exaggerating. i opened up a box out there one day and found receipts from random gas station snack runs...FROM 1999!!! see. told ya. i hate clutter. hate hate hate hate HATE it. seeing clutter is like having a buzzing mosquito in my ear. can. not. take. it. my husband, however, seems to enjoy it. not everything in the garage is his, so i guess i should cut him some slack...i'm gonna say about 50% is his, 30% is ours, and 20% is mine. if i have it my way, this 'to do' will be tackled ASAP. it will probably lead to a few arguments between us...but we'll make up quickly...or i'll throw ALL his stuff away while he's at work. muhahaha. (evil laugh) **there WILL be a whole post dedicated to this. i promise**

3. budget. budget. budget.: i envy people who set a budget and live by it. i wanna be 'that girl'...the one who allows $X for eating out, $X for clothing, etc. the main reason i want to be her is so that we can a) put more into savings and b) put more into elaina's college fund (b/c it's gonna be like $100k a semester by the time she's 18) we spend WAY too much money eating out. we really do need to get a hold on that number. hello excel.

4. stop procrastinating.: fold the laundry when it's done drying. wash the dishes after dinner. put away elaina's toys when she's finished with them. just little stuff that will make maintaining the house easier.

there's more on the list, but i won't bore you too much. these are my "biggies"...so, what are YOUR 'to do's'?

Santa saw me do WHAT?!?

BIG NEWS!

Elaina is napping in her crib (such a big girl!) so I thought I'd write a quick update.

Okay...we received big news yesterday...HUGE news...

My best friend from college is pregnant...and having TWINS!! I swear, I'm so excited you'd think I was the one having them! haha. I don't know about her, but I'm STILL in shock! ha. I'm so excited for her and her husband. She's posted pics on her blog of the two beautiful bebe's! I can't wait to find out if it's boys or girls! Regardless, Elaina and I are already sooo in love with them! :)

Congrats Tiffy! :)

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! :)