This time next year

On October 31, 2008 we thought "This time next year we'll have a 3 month old baby (God willing)." What a difference a year makes!

One year ago, I never changed a diaper. I maybe held 2 newborns for a combined time of 5 minutes. I had no idea babies need to sleep on their backs. Drool seriously grossed me out. I HATED pictures of babies with food on their face. I wondered if my baby would be scared that I don't know how to take care of him/her? What on earth do they even wear? The first trimester felt like a test I had to pass, then came the thrill of finding out the gender and then countdown to labor.

Now this is our lives! Drool is my new moisturizer and diapers are "no problem, mon." She's developing more every day. In a few months we'll see if i think pictures of Ellie with food on her face are cute. Then we'll KNOW I've completely changed.

3 months

Ellie turned 3 months old this week! She is getting to be such a big girl. She's traded in her love for the ceiling fan with her love of peek-a-boo. She smiles and laughs out loud when we make funny faces and sounds at her. Sadly, I haven't been taking too many pictures because 1. I'm too busy 2. Now she stops whatever cute she's doing to scowl at the camera. My 2nd week (but first FULL week) back to work was ok, but I'm soooo exhausted! The highlight was seeing JASON CASTRO perform in our cafe at work. Last night was my first night alone with Ellie. Scott had a sleep study at the hospital so I was on all night baby duty and she made me work for my pay. I was up with her until 1 AM and she only slept until 5 am. Tonight I'm also home alone as there was a boys poker night on the calender. I think I'm getting sick too. Booo. I am quite the disgruntled saint!

Goodbye good life

12 weeks ago, I thought my maternity leave would last forever. I clearly remember driving home on that last day of work ecstatic to meet my first born and excited for the time off. I mean, it was a whole quarter of a year! I would for sure have time to sort through drawers, organize closets, lose 40 lbs, and finally sort through those pictures from the last 10 years. Instead, I thought staring in awe at this was more worth my time!

Ellie now reaches out and looks at her own hand in awe. She's starting to put things in her mouth and interact more day by day. Sadly, she got her first cold 2 days into daycare and also stopped sleeping through the night just in time for me to really need her to sleep through the night. I am busier than ever trying to manage everything while being out of the house 50 hours per week. I have a whole new respect and heartache for working mothers! In the words of my compassionate husband "You're not the first woman to ever have to go back to work."
Peace out!

Free bad dog to good or average home

Loves diapers in the nurseryAnd bringing them out to the living room too!!!

If you're looking for a new addition to the family, search no further than Mr. Odie. He does worthless tricks including rolling over and "bang bang you're dead." He's been attempting to master worthwhile obedience for the last 3 years with minimal progress. Got bras and underwear you love? He will love them too and put them in his mouth, chewing holes with tender love and care. He enjoys hot showers, thunder storms, whining uncontrollably at other dogs, play biting people, walks, and jumping on victims no matter how old or frail. You want more? He will embarrass your pants off at the dog park as he violates any willing canine. What else could you ask for? Interested parties message me!

Welcome to Autumn in Michigan

High winds caused warnings along the lake shore in addition to these gorgeous 18 ft waves. Apparently we weren't the only people to have the idea to head to the beach. It took almost an hour to get through the line for Holland State Park, but it was worth it. Cold, dark, eerie, awesome.

ArtPrize

Sunday was a fabulous day for ArtPrize, the largest art competion in the world, held in our very back yard. The weather was perfect - mid 70s and partly sunny. I've never seen such a large crowd gathered in Grand Rapids making stroller manuvering quite the challenge. Hopefully Ellie will thank us some day for exposing her to such rich culture!

2 Month Report

Ellie had her two month checkup on Wednesday. She's now 12.5 lbs and 23.5" (both 80% percentile) but her head circumference fell to 46%. The doctor answered my slew of questions (I've been making a list all month) without making me feel like an extreme worrier. She also received another set of shots. She didn't care for that and screamed quite a bit in the office and was fussy for a few days. Now she's back to her smiling self. Over the last week and a half, she's been talking and cooing quite a bit. It is so fun to have little googly conversations with her. She's still sleeping through the night and enjoys watching Top Model, holding our fingers, eating her hand, watching the Tigers potentially screw up the division, and looking at the ceiling fan. She laughs out loud at the ceiling fan, but not at my jokes (yet). She LOVES being sung to and has inspired me to write and perform the "Ellie-O" song on a daily basis. In preparation of me going back to work way too soon, we tried to give her some formula. She gagged and made all of these horrifying faces. Actually pretty cute. Last night she went to grandma's for the evening while Scott and I went to my cousin's wedding and took a soak at Oasis. It was a gorgeous night and the cool rain mixed with the warm hot tub was the perfect ending to the week!