My sweet chub-a-lub

Breakfast Shot - Happy Baby

For the girl who was down to 3% weight for her age group, she's sure made up time & eating!  This is one of those photos that definitely captures her when she pulled her head back, offering the perfect view of a double chin, but I had to share...however unflattering it might be on us as we get older. :)

Walking, Talking & Teeth!!!

I've been getting really bad about updating recently.  Partly because we're almost ready to launch Dave's photo blog, Facebook page and a host of other things keeping us swamped...which is really exciting! 

We also were blessed with an insurgency of Slaugenhoups! From all points, Alaska, Maryland, and Clarion County. Very fun.

And...the purpose of this blog...to track our sweet baby girl's first year...has lots of updating to do!  We are finally walking (Well, Ellie took her first steps at Erin Vanderbeck's parents' house on September 25th.  She took a few steps toward Erin's cracker).  Shocking, right?

At breakfast last week, Ellie was eyeing up Killian (the dog) in the dining room while she sat perched in her high chair.  She blurted out as clearly as an adult would say it, "Doggie". Dave and I looked at each other and tried to replicate it, but she was entirely consumed by her breakfast at that point. The "Hi" and "Hey"s are back regularly too.

Finally!!!!!!! a tooth! After a very restless night in the pack 'n' play in Aunt Molly and Uncle Michael's house, I felt a pointy part on her lower left gum.  After months of applying the 'she must be teething' label to a bad night's sleep, we finally made it!  We can stop saving for dentures. Dave can stop losing bets to me about when a tooth will pop. And yes, she walked before she had teeth.

Clearly, I owe better posts on all of these things, since they're all such a big deal in kid terms, but I need to grab some photos too.

Hope everyone's doing well and enjoying fall! 

Sleep Regressions and Transgressions

I was talking to a friend of mine who's 10th child is 14-months-old now.  She described herself as a perpetual optimist with her example being, "What, teething keeps them up at night? I don't remember." She's so lovely that we laughed it up.  I declared my sister, Annie, to be in the same memory loss camp. 

About 2-3 weeks ago, Elizabeth had roseola.  I didn't know it at the time.  I excused the initial high fever as teething.  Finally Heather diagnosed her and we confirmed it with the pediatrician later that day.  Incredibly high fever (average of 104.9 degrees); fever breaks and a rash appears to spread all over her tiny body.  My niece had the same thing, around 8 months, and Annie said, "Oh yea, I should've realized that it was roseola." Humph.

With the high fever, I was terrified that I was going to not watch her carefully enough, so I rationalized pulling her into bed with us.  Bad move in hindsight.  I should have just stayed in her bedroom and slept on the floor.  But when they're sick, you put everything on hold and it doesn't matter. You do whatever you need to do to survive.   Well, she got better health-wise, but lost her better sleep habits winding up with me doing whatever we all could to get some sleep and respite. 

You have to undo what you do to get through it all.  And so there were some tough nights there - we called in back up, Nana Slaugenhoup, to the rescue.  And she gave me some much needed rest.  She was wonderful - nearly throwing me out of the house.  I got a haircut and joined a gym.  I felt bright eyed once she was ready to leave.  Sad to see her go, and Ellie misses her for sure! 

Boppy's main resident these days...

The Best of Friends (and Cousins)

Playdate pals - Pippa and Connor

Pippa, Connor & Elizabeth

Mouthful of 4th of July Sand

Comments Please

It's come to my attention that many more people read this here blog than I imagined.

I found this out when I was reprimanded for slacking off on new posts.

Here's the request, please leave a comment, it'll be part of her baby book one day, and it's also a great boost to keep me working at it.

Thanks!!

First Day Spent Outside!

A Taste of Spring

Wow - I had no idea how much the weather can affect our moods.  We've been inside all winter - both with baby and the historic snowstorms - you almost forget what a sunny day feels like. :)

After we cancelled our mommy-date since everyone was snowed in - literally, Heather was joking that she'll have to plan her 2nd baby to be a summer delivery.  Being stuck inside with a newborn, bundling up, and dealing with cabin fever isn't a new mom's best option.  With the break in temperature, we're outside as much as we can be, walking everywhere, planting the garden, working outside.

Ellie spent her first day outside with me in the bouncy chair, while I turned the soil and threw in an early crop of kale, collard greens, mesclun, beets, radishes and some chinese cabbage (whatever that is).  She just hung out the entire time!  Perfect little angel.  The neighbor came over and asked to borrow a shovel.  She laughed and smiled at him for almost 20 minutes.  He brought her back some crocus(es) for 'her garden'. 

How can you avoid being in a good mood?!

The Poop Decoder

A diaper always goes on clean - but you never know what you're gonna get in the morning. :) This was her Happy St. Patrick's Day onesie...maybe too much Guinness.  Diaper Decoder

Shore Trip

I headed to the shore for the first time with baby. Dave and his buddies were meeting up in Harrisburg for a guy's weekend, so off we went with Annie, Dan and Mary Helena to Sea Isle City, NJ.  The weather was unbeatable!!! Just fantastic. 

Watching the little girls interact was so new.  Mary squeals when she sees Ellie.  She's been doing that for a while.  This time around, Ellie seemed like she was able to comprehend the buddy-system she will have with her cousin.  She just stared at Mary and smiled, watching her like a hawk!  We threw a blanket onto the floor and made it sort of home base for the girls' toys.  Mary was crawling everywhere, but didn't go far when Ellie was down there too.

Can't wait to see them by the end of the summer!

Cozy Tots Sale

So there's this consignment sale around here started by moms of twins and triplets that takes up the all-purpose room and gym at an elementary school.  It's a madhouse and I heard that almost 200 people were lined up outside before it started at 5pm.  There was a woman who filled a u-haul with larger baby items by 6pm. Heather and I got there around 5:45 or so; no big purchases except this exersaucer that we picked up for $15, a boppy for $4, and a stack of 11 white terry cloth bibs for $1.   Ellie's too small for the thing, or so I thought. 

Caption: I couldn't resist tossing her in for a few quick minutes.

1st Flight

We were invited to visit Grandmom & Grandpa Longon in Florida.  Have to admit we (read: I) were a bit nervous about a first flight.  She was 2 months 3 weeks when we flew.  We'd heard that we should feed her on the way up & the way down.  She was a joy - we did just that.  She slept the rest of the way on both Mom & Dad.

What an easy experience!

Arriving Home

We were waiting all morning to be discharged.  We couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. I forget why we were so eager since we had people taking care of us there.  But we got all packed up and waited for proper orders.  David carried the baby, who was too tiny to fit into the infant coat-onesie thing (still working on the baby-jargon) and so her legs and arms snuggled into the torso part of it - making it pretty difficult to 'strap her in' - but we strapped empty coat limbs in anyway...clueless.

Our slow walk to the car put me in the backseat (as I was afraid she might be in danger in the backseat by herself) with David chauffeuring us up I-95.  About midway up the highway, we called Grandmom & Grandpa.  And somehow after that conversation, we wound up agreeing to spend our first night at home...not 'at home'.  In hindsight, it was probably out of that 'what do we do now' look on both of our faces. Ha!  It was a great way to ease back into real life with our new bambina.  Grandmom was all too happy to help and feed.

Thanks Mom & Dad!

Mondays

So everyone loves the weekends, I get it. But how do we combat those Monday morning blues? Are there ways to override that Monday morning trek to work or start of the week? I hope so...all answers & suggestions are welcome. :)

Starting Out

Our growing new family is such a source of pride for me. I feel full, proud and happy.