11 weeks

Happy 11 weeks sweet girl! We love you so! What a big week this has been for you! We begin our last week together on maternity leave and it is bittersweet .... we love watching you grow, but at the same time it's too fast!! Your 11th week was a big week:

July 31, 2011 - 11 weeks

• you had your 2 month check-up - you have great stats: 11.2 lbs, 22 1/2 inches! You've gained almost 4 lbs since birth and grown over 2 inches!
  
• you had your first round of immunizations - not fun! But they did make you really sleepy the next day. You were pretty fussy that night, but after a few hours calmed down and slept well.
• you've quit sleeping as well as you were at night - BOO! You started out the week sleeping your normal 7-10 hours between feedings, but the past 3 days you've been up after as little as 5-6 hours. We're hoping it's just temporary!
• this has been a tough week for you - the colic has been bad and the days have been long. We're hoping as you are nearing 3 months that you're almost finished with colic!
• the swaddle makes you mad now, it's not calming for the first few minutes - not sure what we're going to do as you still don't have control over those sweet arms and can't sleep unswaddled. Any one have any tips?
• you can almost scoot yourself around full circle on your play mat and hit a lot of your toys while playing
• napping is still not great -some days you won't sleep more than 20-30 minutes during the day - and some days you'll take at least one 2 hour nap.
• you're smiling a lot more in response to our smiles!
• your Aunt Wren came to visit you and your big sister this weekend - had so much fun!
• you've had a busy week with play dates, birthday lunches, and company - you have rolled well with the punches!

Sucking on your hand and a half grin all at the same time!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

It's Daddy's birthday today!!! We have been so excited for a week at our house talking about Daddy's birthday! Catherine Ellis skipped school yesterday and baked red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing just for her Daddy - YUMMY! If you know Catherine Ellis and her kitchen, you know cupcakes (and tea) are her specialty!

Happy Happy Birthday Daddy we sure love you - you're the BEST. DADDY. EVER!

Love,
Catherine Ellis and Caroline

Icing the cupcakes yesterday ....

Some of it did make it on the cupcakes :)

Singing Happy Birthday to Daddy this morning
(Caroline was still asleep!)

Assisting in blowing out the birthday candle
(it takes two for everything around here!)

When sweet Caroline woke up this morning she picked out her outfit all by herself in honor of her Daddy on his birthday - it says I Love Daddy:

Happy Birthday Daddy!
Thanks for changing all my diapers and loving me :)

"For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."

Genesis 18:19

Sunday Delight

Catherine Ellis loves to read, it's one of her favorite activities and this thrills her Mommy! I'm a big reader - would much rather read a book, newspaper, magazine, etc. than I would watch a television show. Catherine Ellis has really grown into reading and now reads many of her books by memory or in her own language - it's quite a production and a LOUD one at that (wonder where she gets that?).

Sunday afternoon as I was finishing up feeding Caroline in the nursery I could hear Catherine Ellis running all over the house, reading (yelling) her book. It was Beauty and the Beast and I wasn't sure what she was saying, but it was with a vengeance. She has taken up reading to Caroline when she is a bit fussy and Caroline seems to be amused with it most times - that is until Catherine Ellis starts screaming her story.

Here are some pictures from our Sunday Story Time:

The beginning of story time ...

Caroline is very interested ....

Oh hey Mom - should I be paying attention to my sister?

This is a great story ....

Ha, I just think this one is funny - Caroline is sticking out her tongue and big sister is a bit exasperated

Tiny little topple ....

Oh wow, after coming eye to eye with the book, I now find it interesting

Thank you for reading to me Catherine Ellis - you're the best big sister EVER!

10 weeks

Caroline is 10 weeks today! She's growing so fast we can hardly keep up! She has her 2 month check up tomorrow and we're super excited to see how much she's grown weight wise, etc. It is also the beginning of her vaccinations, so say a little prayer for our sweet, sensitive girl. I'm not so sure she will handle them well - but she has been known to prove me wrong - so let's hope that's the case this time!

July 24, 2011

Here are some wonderful things that happened in her 10th week:

• Sleeping like a champ, STILL! We are elated - really it's the best gift ever. We are on week 3 of 7-10 hours of sleep between feedings. We're not ready to announce those magical words - but you are doing super duper!
• Eating well still - our nickname for you is piggy - you are so funny when it's time eat! You start breathing really fast and kicking those legs and swinging those arms and sometimes snorting ... hahaha. You are a member of the right family, sweet child!
• This has been the 2nd best week of your life - the colic seems to have lessened to only 2-3 days/nights instead of every single day. We'll take it.
• Last week you found your tongue - this week you realized you have a hand - your right one specifically and you are trying to figure out what to do with it and your tongue. You suck on it really loud, but haven't found a finger or thumb yet.
• When playing on the exercise mat you can now change positions; you can use your legs to scoot yourself up the mat and sideways. Your big sister thinks this is really funny.
• You can smile, you just like to keep it in and only show it to Mommy when you know she's alone and there are no cameras around. You make me work for it - but it's the sweetest thing I've ever seen!
• You are wearing 3 month clothes pretty easily now - your newborn clothes are getting snug.
• You are alert a lot of the day now and haven't napped great this week - we'll work on it and try to get better at napping next week.
• You really only like for Mommy to put you to bed or soothe you - Daddy loves trying, but you sure give him a run for his money!

Look what I found ...

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Mark 10:14

Capturing our sweet newborn ....

We had a family photo shoot at home the last week in May to capture sweet Caroline in all her glory at 2 weeks - she did super duper - slept the entire time - which is perfect for a newborn shoot. Catherine Ellis was wild and crazy - but very cooperative for a 2 year old that had been at school all day, not eaten dinner and didn't get to join the photo shoot until 30 minutes before her bedtime - yeah, she did awesome! It was hard work and we'd all worked up a sweat by the time the shoot was over, but Jessica captured a precious time in our lives that we can look back on for years to come - priceless.

We're so pleased - I'm not sharing them all because a few of the shots we are using for Caroline's birth announcements - so you'll have to wait until they arrive snail mail, but until then here is a sneak peak - enjoy:

Patiently reading and playing in her room waiting for us to get started

Oh sweetness ....

Precious face ...

Tiny feet ...

Perfection

Hello there baby sister ...

Practicing how she will hold baby Caroline ....

First attempt .. she's patting the baby ...

Catherine Ellis is 'shhhhing' and Caroline is telling her she's not gonna have it

We sure adore this sweet child ...

And just in case you were amazed at how together everyone looks, I assure you we were far from 'having it together'. A toddler and a 2 week old are tons of fun ..... here is glimpse of what we really looked like behind the scenes or what I like to call 'real life':

Jumping on the bed, while we try to corral her and keep Caroline from crying .. think David's face says it all :)

Two Year Portraits

Catherine Ellis had her two year portraits taken at the end of April and in the whirl wind of life it's taken me this long to get them downloaded and posted. We tried the first photo shoot in Alexander City the weekend of Easter - Catherine Ellis had been sick and needless to say it didn't go well - we got about 10-12 pictures from that shoot. Sweet Jessica, our wedding photographer extraordinaire, met us again in Birmingham a week later at the Botanical Gardens and things went much better. We were able to get lots of great shots of Catherine Ellis in all her glory and some of us as a family of 3 before sweet Caroline joined us!

So fair warning there are lots of pictures here - the first 5 are from Mistletoe Bough in Alex City - it's the birth home of our dear Claddie and where I had my bridal portraits taken. It holds a special place in our hearts, so we were excited to have a few shots there! As you can tell Catherine Ellis wanted to play not pose for pictures and she just HAD to have her Easter bunnies in the pictures:

Meme and The Cains

She really almost fell in the pool of water behind here - she's turned around because we are saying "Catherine Ellis be careful, don't get too close to the water" over and over and over

Pretty well sums up her mood that afternoon, but she has her Easter bunny

Running from Daddy on the wrap around porch

Post melt-down - but isn't that a sweet face?

The very next week Jessica met us at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens - Catherine Ellis was well and in her usual good mood - we had a blast and Jessica worked her tail off (along with Daddy!). Catherine Ellis has more energy than a herd of wild horses, but Jessica and David kept up and we are SO happy with the result - lots of pictures - enjoy:

A natural Vanna White in the making - her great Paw Paw would be thrilled!

Stopping mid-chase with Daddy for a quick pic (really a deep breath so she could continue the chase)

Trying to escape ...

Silly girl ....

Playing in the roses ...

Throw me up there Daddy - she loves this game

And that's how we got this picture - David tossed, we caught and Jessica is that good :)

Sweetness, giving Baby Caroline a kiss ....

Oh love of my life .... Mama and her sweet girl

She loves shoes - especially Mommy's

One of the few family shots - but a good one!

She was ready to eat pizza ....

But of course, when it was time to go, she wasn't ready

Expressive child of ours .... we've got our hands full :)

One last parting shot - thank you Jessica - we LOVE YOU!

9 weeks

Caroline turned 2 months old on Friday and is 9 weeks today! The time keeps getting faster and faster and the days fly by! Happy 9 weeks sweet, sweet girl - we love you SO much!

July 17, 2011

Here are some memories from week nine:

• You have had the best week of your life this past week, hands down! Every day was a good day! You ate well, you slept well and you screamed much, much less. We are THRILLED! You have always been a joy, but this past week has been super duper joyous with a newborn that doesn't scream several hours a day. We are praying we're over the hump. Colic, Colic go away.....
  
• You've learned to cope better with your tummy issues - we're still taking Zantac once a day and probiotics every day.
  
• You and Mommy started jogging this week - yay!! We hope to keep it up! And our friends Amanda and sweet Mr. Archer (3 weeks old) have started joining us on walks!
• you're now nursing up to 15 minutes on each side - sometimes more, sometimes less, but for several weeks it was just a struggle to get you to 8-10 minutes
• Since you're eating better, you're still sleeping like a ROCK STAR! You've slept over 8 hours and up to 10 hours every night this past week .... you go girl:)
• you like to play on your play mat and kick at some of the hanging toys
  
• your cooing and talking has increased
  
• on our two ventures out this week you were alert and awake for most of one without crying and slept through the other one - seems like you've learned we are constantly on the go and you're dealing with it!
• you've been to the splash pad and pool twice now and have slept through each visit while your big sister squealed and played with delight
• you've discovered you have a tongue
• we took the pink ribbon down today - bittersweet!

A little sister love ...

Catherine Ellis -27 months, Caroline - 9 weeks

Mama, Caroline and the infamous pink bow :)

More sisterly love after a photo shoot - Caroline needed some comforting and CE is always there to lend a hand - sweet sisters!

May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.
~ Numbers 6:24-26