Three Months

Oh, this baby. This baby is just the sweetest little thing; I can't get enough of her. She hasn't made much of an appearance on the blog yet since I've only blogged a few times since she was born. Between adjusting to having two kids, coming back down to earth after the hormonal hellstorm that is pregnancy and childbirth, and then recently going back to work I just haven't had the time or desire to do much in terms of blogging.

But I'm slowly but surely getting my groove back and I've got a long list of projects I'd like to make. Plus I'm just feeling better overall, and along with that comes the motivation to make time for hobbies again.

Through all of this though, the one constant has been this baby's sweetness. From the moment she arrived (not counting the first 60 minutes of life, when she screamed her head off and was completely displeased with everything) she has been so laid back and an easy baby. She's a good sleeper and eater and she rarely fusses. She isn't bothered by chaos or loud noises and seems to nap best in a loud restaurant. She has the biggest, cutest smile that is often on display. She wakes up happy and giggles easily. She loves her sister, watching ceiling fans, and when Chad and I make ridiculous noises in her face. She's been sleeping through the night for awhile now--something I'm especially grateful for since Charlotte was a champion sleeper and I was warned by many that having one good sleeper meant the second baby would be a nightmare sleeper.

She could use some work in the daytime napping department and prefers shorter power naps several times a day to a longer nap (or two), but it's easy enough to deal with since she's almost always in a good mood when she's awake. She has a cold right now and every time she sneezes she grins because sneezes are funny.

It doesn't matter what kind of day I've had or what else is on my mind--if I hold her it's like being plugged into a charger and having my battery filled back up. She's a snuggler and prefers being held to not. Since I know that she is my last baby, I'm happy to oblige and hold her as much as possible. All too soon she'll be running around and not needing this holding business any longer.

She has completed our family in the most perfect of ways. Of course I can remember life before she was here but I can't imagine life without her. She's already racked up about a million nicknames, the most common one courtesy of Charlotte: "Lisey." We also affectionately call her "The Little Bald Lady", though many times "bald" ends up pronounced "balbed" since that's how Charlotte says it and it's too cute to correct her.

Her list of things that tick her off at this point is pretty short. She doesn't love her car seat but does okay on car rides provided the car is moving. If it's stopped, she's usually irritated. She also does NOT like to be kept waiting for milk once she's determined that she's hungry. When it's eating time, you've got about 3.67 seconds to work it out before she's angry.

She's doing a few things quite a bit earlier than Charlotte did, which makes me wonder if she'll be an early walker. She started rolling over from her tummy at five weeks, and just yesterday she rolled from back to front. She holds herself up really well and will plant her little legs firmly upright when you hold her that way. Charlotte couldn't care less about that until a few months later, but Elise sees Charlotte playing and probably wants in on the action. I won't be upset, however, if she ends up being a late walker like her sister :)

She's completely delicious and I'm so thankful she's here. She's our best.

~Stacy

One Month

Well hello. Somehow the past three weeks since my last post have flown by. Somehow ;)

It could be because of this:

She's had her big blue eyes open a lot more lately--sometimes at appropriate times, like when the sun is out, and sometimes not, like at 3AM. Thankfully she's pretty easy to please, so long as she's being held when she's awake. Thanks to the magic of the Baby Bjorn, this is doable.

She turned a month old last Monday. One month! She's definitely growing; she's exactly nine whole pounds now and she grew 1.25" since birth. Her little thighs and cheeks are filling out and she's all sorts of delicious.

I love this baby. She started smiling over the weekend (real smiles, not just accidental ones) and I forgot how incredibly cute it is when a tiny baby smiles at you. I could have a terrible day and one little smile and coo from that baby is like magic medicine. She is spectacular :)

~Stacy

Official Photos

Last week and the week before Elise had her first "real" photo shoot, taken by my very talented friend Rachael of Blue Teapot Photography. All photos are by her--check out her website at www.blueteapotphotography.com. If you need photos done and you live in the area, this is the person to choose. She has the patience of a saint and her photos are all beautiful and as simple and natural as possible.

I'm in love with all of these photos! They turned out perfectly--and Elise is sleeping in 99% of them. If they'd been taken this week she'd be sleeping in maybe 10% of them ;)

I can't choose a favorite...I love them all. But if I had to pick, I'd pick the one of her sleeping in a basket in the woods. And the one of Charlotte giving her a kiss. But let's be honest, the real showstopper here is the very last photo in the bunch. An instant classic if I ever saw one, and the result of what a real photo shoot looks like with two kids at the end of a long session after one has recently tripped and skinned both knees and hands and the other has decided she needs to drink a bottle RIGHT NOW OR SHE WILL DIE.

And now for the best...

~Stacy

Side by Side

When Elise was first born I didn't think she looked too much like Charlotte as a newborn, but I quickly changed my mind. After a few days it became pretty obvious that the two of them are sisters. Just for fun, I went through some of Charlotte's newborn pictures from her first week of life to compare and I was pretty surprised just how much they look alike (in each of these, Charlotte is on the left and Elise on the right):

I think the one that strikes me most is the one with my Grandma holding them (and that was a total accident that I ended up taking pretty much the same photo four years apart). In that photo I think they look identical. Also my grandma doesn't age, ever.

And from today, another adorable side by side:

:) They're my best.

~Stacy

Introducing...

This little beauty came into the world earlier this week and we could not be more in love! I ended up getting induced early Monday morning and, overall, had a very smooth and quick delivery (let's not discuss the seven failed attempts at finding a vein to start the process, which thankfully proved to be the worst part of the entire birthing experience).

I'd like to give a special shout out to my epidural and the anesthesiologist who administered it. That thing was the medication of dreams and there should be a song written about it. Seriously.

Sweet baby Elise came into the world guns blazing, majorly ticked off that she was rudely taken from her dark, warm home and thrust into a cold, bright room. She remained ticked off for about an hour, but honestly, that's the most we've heard in cry so far. This baby is so laid back and content--a good eater (eventually, that took a few days) and a great sleeper. I'm crossing everything I can in hopes that these traits last :)

I am totally and completely in love with her. I'm obsessed (and so is her Daddy and big sister). Charlotte is head over heels but unfortunately she also brought a cold home with her from the hospital (not to be left out...) so she hasn't been allowed to hold the baby for a couple days. It's killing her; she is so sweet and gentle with her baby sister and loves to sing her songs, read her books, and bring her toys to "play" with. It hasn't all been roses--there's definitely been a great deal of adjusting going on, and has been for over a month now. It's taken a lot of patience, and many times of lost patience, but I know we will all get there eventually...

We came home on Wednesday and had a couple days of just the four of us until we had any visitors over, so today was the first day that anyone has come to the house. It was nice having that break, especially since a lot of the aches and pains that come with having a baby can hit like a ton of bricks a few days after, once the major high of everything starts to come down. I'm over the hump now, and feeling good.

I remember wondering at various points of the "should we have another child?" discussions whether I could ever love another one the way I love Charlotte. I don't really have anything wise to say about this, other than once Elise was here I just did. There was no question, no comparing, no "I grew another heart" business; I just loved her as intensely as I love Charlotte without any effort. So now I get what people meant when they answered that question with "I don't know, I can't explain it, you just do."

My pregnancy with Elise oftentimes felt much longer than mine with Charlotte. Looking back, I feel like it went by very quickly, but then again everything feels like it went by quickly when you reflect. I heard a lot of people remark that they were so much more laid back about their second pregnancies because they'd been through the drill before so they didn't worry as much about everything. For me this was oftentimes the opposite.

When I was pregnant with Charlotte I had my fair share of worries--but I also had the benefit of ignorance. Ignorance over the whole thing; aches, pains, what was normal and what wasn't. But mostly, I had the ignorance of not knowing the stakes--of knowing that the baby that comes at the end of that pregnancy would become the most special thing in this world to me. This time around, I knew the stakes. And also, this time felt too good to be true because it was so easy. I tend to associate the whole process of having a baby with difficulty since having Charlotte was difficult. It was two years of trying, and failing, and not knowing why. After she was here, it took me a long time to even think about possibly going through that again to have a second child. A huge part of us wondered if the right decision was to just be thankful and leave well enough alone--and for a long time that was how we left it. I didn't want to think about trying again because I didn't think I had it in me to walk down the same road as I did with Charlotte to try for another. Once we finally decided that we did want to have one more, I took a deep breath and said that I'd e-mail my doctor that Monday to see if any testing could be done to rule out roadblocks sooner rather than later. I found out I was pregnant the day before I sent that e-mail; I still can't really explain that one.

In an instant, I became the person I couldn't stand when I was trying to have Charlotte. The one who blinked and ended up pregnant. It was all too easy and for the first trimester I kept expecting the rug to be pulled out from under me--I know that sounds morbid, but that's what constant sickness and crazy hormones will do to a person. Even once I was feeling good and it was clear that the baby was healthy, I worried more about things like how much the baby was kicking, moving, etc. than I did the first time. I would get nervous before ultrasounds, which I didn't with Charlotte, always leaving them so relieved that everything was okay. I definitely cared less about cute baby clothes and room decor this time around and lived by the "as long as the baby is healthy" mantra.

And she is. She's healthy, she's beautiful, and she's here. And we couldn't be happier.

~Stacy