We Are the Champions!

February 6th, 2010: got up before 7am and took a pregnancy test, thus beginning my long odyssey to parenthood. We hosted a Superbowl party the next day and it was all I could not to shout "I'M INCUBATING A HUMAN BABY!"

February 6th, 2011: got up before 7am to feed the baby some delicious breakfasts. Spent the whole day tense about the game. Finished the evening by shouting "my team's the Superbowl Champion!" and having cake and champagne with some of our favorite friends. There was pizza, there were chips and oh my goodness, we had some of the best dips ever. I officially outweigh Shamu now. I'm glad I took the long way home during my walk today.

It's official though: the Packers win EVERY game when Ellie is wearing green and gold. And thanks to her Uncle John, she's got green and gold to grow.

Here she is, posing with the delicious cake. Erlynne picked it up from Costco for us, because whether we won or lost, the Bears still sucked.

Here she is with her dorky parents, who are wearing matching shirts. Our say "water covers 70% of the earth. Charles Woodson covers the rest."

Greatest Sound in the Whole World.

A Lovely Day.

Yesterday Elizabeth and I had a fantastic, busy afternoon. We went to mommy class and then out to lunch with the girls (and the baby boys, of course. They are allowed to attend.) It's so fun now that the babies are getting bigger - they're very aware of one another and will smile and reach for one another. We got three of them to do tummy time facing one another, and all three cried much less than normal.

Then we swung by daddy's office to say hello. It was so cute to see her face light up when she recognized Tim. A quick stop by Grams and Gramps' house (complete with lots of tired crying) and then she took a good nap and went to bed like a champ.

This morning after she ate, we took her on a nice long walk. There's a trail near our house that Keri introduced me to, and this morning I convinced Tim to come with. We stopped and got coffee and a donut on our way and then had a great walk! It's very nicely paved and away from busy roads, and we got to see tons of cute dogs out for cute walks. Came home and while I showered, Ellie got a nice bath. And now, we are just hanging out and mentally preparing ourselves for the Superbowl tomorrow, EEK!

Here's some photos of recent fun action:
While mom was babysitting, she discovered that Ellie likes the Moby wrap. She likes when Tim wears her as well. Mostly, she likes mirror baby.

This is how she looks at the end of our walks. She takes some of her best naps while we're walking. I wrap her up in the blanket that mom made her, using granny squares that Grandma Pat made before she died. It is one of her very most special blankets.

Who says cats don't like water? Here's one little kitten who loves her bath.

Oh hello, Smiley doo!

Cutie Cute.

Not the most flattering picture of her, because she's getting tired and ready for bed, but how cute is her little face? I love when she clutches her wee hands together.

Growing Before My Eyes.

Oh my bean sprout. She is growing so fast. After yesterday's debacle of the onesie that looked like capris and then a naked nap due to screaming when the idea of delaying eating for getting dressed was presented, I finally got her ready to try on her first six month outfit. I thought it would be enormous on her. It fits. There's still room to grow, but it's obviously the size she should be wearing.

So I went through her closet and pulled out all of the six month outfits and did all of her laundry. Then most of the 3 month outfits got folded and put away. There were definitely a few sweet moments as I held up the tiny newborn clothes and said "remember when she was this small?" We both got a little misty, even though truthfully, she only fit in newborn stuff for about a week and a half.

There are other signs that she's getting bigger by the day. I realized that I need to loosen the straps of her carseat because I may be cutting off blood to her internal organs. I mean, she's definitely secure in there, but possibly a little too secure. And while it used to be that when we were driving, I couldn't reach back and touch her when she was crying, now she's tall enough that my hand easily reaches the top of her little head. Not that it stops her from crying.

Honestly, I love seeing her getting bigger, and am not terribly nostalgic for my wobbly, screaming, tough to feed newly borned. I think I am more of a baby person.

She's just so fun. All of the gummy smiles and the chit chatting we do. When she's getting changed, I hand her her stuffed giraffe and she smiles at me and then jams his fuzzy feet into her mouth. She's really starting to reach for things, and is usually much entertained by her little seedling doll when out in public. Tim usually gets her up in the morning and changes her while I get ready to provide the most important meal of the day and even though she's usually wailing when he brings her out into the living room, she'll see me and give me one huge smile before starting to scream again. I love walking with her in the morning and talking to her about various trees and plants until she falls asleep. I like sitting her in my lap to read books, even if it's the same ones every day. And of course, I really love that she goes down at 10pm and sleeps until 7am! I feel so lucky to be at home with her. Even on the hard days, she's such a blessing, and turning out to be such a fun little person.

High Quality Mothering.

Today I had lunch with the mommy girls. I got Ellie fed before we left, loaded her up and got on the road. Of course, right as I pulled onto the freeway she began pooping it up. Excellent. But no big deal, we got to BJs and I brought her into the restroom to change her.

Of course, she had turded through her clothes. She hates having her clothing changed, so she screamed bloody murder in the stall. Her screams echoed loudly while I changed her giant diaper and tugged off her outfit, all while assuring her that it was okay and almost over. Thankfully, the other women in the restroom with us were nice, grandmotherly types who did not give me the stink eye (though seriously, why do people give the stink eye to mothers of young babies? You think I LIKE hearing her freak out?)

I had to put her in her emergency outfit, which I carry in my diaper bag for just such an occasion. It's a 3 month old long sleeved, long pantsed outfit. Except, now she is too big for it, so it was more of a long sleeved outfit with capri pants. Thank goodness it wasn't a feetie outfit, because that never would have worked.

Sat down at the table, and she continued to absolutely lose her bananas. I tried to nurse her and she looked up at me from under the nursing cover and just SCREAMED. It took me a good ten minutes to get her going and down to business. Oh, Ellie Belle. She made me feel like a total idiot, but thankfully, when she started hollering again, one of the other mommies assured me "she's not actually as loud as you think she is."

When we got home this afternoon (after a trip to knitting as well!) I changed her diaper and took off her too-small outfit. I pulled out one of her previously unworn six month outfits but did not put it on her. She was screaming so furiously that I just slapped a diaper on her, wrapped her up and nursed her to sleep. She is now in her swing, nude except for the blankets, with her clean outfit on the floor next to her, awaiting her wake up. Excellent job Meg, excellent job.

Another important lesson.

Teaching her how to pucker up.

We had a really nice day yesterday with Grandma Rosie. She let me take her out for lunch, an Ellie was content to sit in her carseat and gum her dolly while we ate. Then we went to check out the quilt store in Lake Forest. Elizabeth actually seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, and I worked on teaching her about colors, via standing her in front of various racks of fabric and pointing things out to her. I probably looked like a nutball "what color is this? Right, it's BLUE!"

We came home and while Ellie took a nice nap, Grandma Rosie recorded two Hallmark recordable storybooks for her - Twas the Night Before Christmas and Bright and Beautiful, a Child's Blessing. Grandma did a wonderful job, and I know the books will be treasured for years to come. Us girls picked Sara up at work together and shared some little scones from Starbucks, and then I dropped everyone off at the epicenter of bubonic plague (aka Mom and Dad's house) and came home to hang out with Ellie's daddy-o. She was so happy to see him and did some good playmat time. And she and I read about forty five books before bed.

I'm so glad that Grandma Rosie and Elizabeth Rosemarie are getting so much time together. They are truly two of my very favorite people in the entire world, and they both look so happy together. I know Grandma is a little stressed about getting stranded by the weather, but we're definitely glad to spend a little more time with her.