My Little Valentines

On Friday (the day before Valentine's day) I took the girls out in the backyard to take a few pictures. Maisie hasn't been loving getting pictures taken lately, most likely because she gets stuck holding a baby a lot. Don't get me wrong Maisie adores Ellie and loves to hold her, but her little arms can only take so much (about 3 minutes) until she's ready for a break. I don't blame the girl... Ellie gets heavy in my arms too, so I can relate entirely. Ellie is still trying to decipher if she likes the camera or not, so its hard to get her to smile unless Maisie is on "jump-up-and-down-to-get-Ellie-to-smile-duty." This particular day Maisie was too preoccupied by the swing set and trying to crack her skull open "swing." So it was just me and Ellie left to get some pictures. Ellie was more interested in finding sticks and leaves perfect for choking on and with Maisie moo nearly killing herself on the swing set, lets see here... 3 times, I called the backyard outing/photoshoot off. Luckily I didn't come away empty handed.

Cousins

Over Christmas the cousins were able to play to their hearts content. It was equally fun for the adults too because at least Maisie and Emerson kept each other busy while we talked/watched movies/ played games. Ellie and Jane were still to little to "play" per se, but they were darn cute together- so much chunky thigh goodness. Maisie misses Emerson so much, but hopefully we will be able to get back over soon enough.

p.s thanks Camille for taking so many cute pictures!

1st Ear Infection

So it's happened. We stepped onto new ground as parents. We have now endured the dreaded ear infection. Maisie has been really sick a handful of times, but other than an occasional cold she has an iron immune system. She has never had antibiotics or any medication really. So it all came as a shock when Ellie, our barely 6 month old already needed antibiotics. 

It all started when Ellie (and me) got a pretty bad cold at the end of January. She was incredibly stuffy and nursing and sleeping was hard on her. A few days into the cold Austin and I both noticed Ellie felt warm. She progressively became warmer and warmer until she was burning up. Even with a dose of tylenol it wouldn't come down. That night was rough. The nights before were difficult too, but man, this was crazy. It got to the point that Austin and I had to take two hour shifts- one of us in the bedroom with her and the other on the couch. It was almost impossible to get her to sleep. She would dose off, but quickly erupt in painful cries. And that's saying a lot too because Ellie rarely ever cries. At every one of my "shifts" I would take her temperature and we both became alarmed when it climbed over 103-the poor girl was beyond uncomfortable. I called the doctor first thing in the morning and Austin called out of work because of how exhausted we were and he wanted to help with Ellie throughout the day. The pediatrician squeezed us in and gave her an exam. One inflamed ear and the other infected and to top it off an inflamed throat. He prescribed amoxicillin which we were SO thrilled about - (did you pick up on the sarcasm? Ellie hates medicine. She refuses her vitamin D drops, if I do manage to get her to swallow them she will spit them up. Even Tylenol she will just let it pour out of her mouth). So Austin and I were dreading the twice a day dose for over a week. It was hard, but it paid off. Within a couple days she was back to smiling and laughing. We sure missed that happy little girl. We are so thankful that everything is back as it should, but lets all just cross our fingers that our little Ellie didn't inherit Austin's ear troubles!

This is what a sleep deprived and miserable little baby looks like while waiting for her prescription to be filled.

What is it about having a sick baby/child that makes you feel like real parents? Is it the way your child needs you differently? Is it because you realize that over all else having a healthy child is the most important? Does anyone else feel this way?

Sledding @ The Dunes

Last month when we were still buried in snow and daily high temperatures rarely went above 32 degrees, we went to the sand dunes to sled with our friends. Sarah and I stayed in the car with the two babies while our husbands took the crazy kids up (and down) the hills. I managed to sneak out for a few minutes to snap some pictures, but it wasn't until after the sledding was done, that I realized that the setting I had my camera on wasn't suited to the speed of the sleds and the brightness of the snow (notice the top two pictures) but I'm glad I at least got a few right?

With the weather we've been having lately (55 degrees!) who knows if we will get enough snow again to go sledding so at least we went once this year... thats more than we did last year haha. Also, to be honest I wouldn't mind if spring started and the snow stayed away. This last week as been so nice and getting outside without bundling up has been amazing. This may be wishful thinking, but the forecast so far is looking good!

Ellie @ 5 months old + 4 month appointment

Seriously Ellie? Could you be any sweeter?

I'm a little late on posting Ellie's 4 (and a half) month appointment, but all went well. Little girl is indeed little, but still healthy and happy. This round of shots hit her harder than last time. Sore legs, fever, mostly sleepy, but she handled it like a champ- lots of snuggles and lavender baths helped.

.:stats:.

birth:

 7 lbs 8 oz & 19 (?) inches

5 days:
7 lbs 9 oz & 19.5 inches

2 weeks:
7 lbs 14 oz & 20.5 inches

7 weeks:
10 lbs 8oz & 21.7 inches

9 weeks/ 2 months:
11 lbs 6oz & 22.3 inches

4.5 months:

14 lbs & 24.3 inches

33% in weight & 22% in height

happs:

Ellie around 4.5 months started being able to wiggle her arm out after she rolled over onto her stomach. She didn't put too much effort into trying to roll back over.

January 4th Ellie skipped just rolling back onto her back and instead started continuously rolling... ie "log rolling" and it's been nonstop from there.

wearing size 3 diapers - mostly because we bought a big pack of diapers from costco and we were afraid that she would out grow the pack of 2s before running out of diapers. she could definitely still fit in 2s.

likes:

fake sneezing noises- almost always cracks her up, but never fails to make her smile.

roaring (man, can this girl roar), blowing spit bubbles, chewing on every thing

diaper changes

talking- favorite/current sounds: mama (yay!), baba,boba, gaaaaa. raaaa

watching people eat... every bite she watches from plate to mouth.

Pokey the hedgehog that Maisie got her for christmas.

the bouncer at grandma and grandpa's- she was always so happy to have a spot of her own where she could watch all the action and jump at her leisure.

christmas lights

sucking on her fingers

white noise

obsessed with her Nuby teether

still LOVEs being swaddled, but we are going to have to start doing something else now that she's "mobile".

dislikes:

coughing not necessarily when she coughs, but when others do. It scares and/or wakes her up every time!

the trumpet- scared to death of it

her crib- one bad experience rolling into the bar and hitting her head and she wants nothing to do with it. I think she also feels exposed- any tips on how to transition her from her rocker/bassinet to the crib? Little Hazelnut loves being cozy.

applesauce- I gave her the smallest bite of some today and she HATED it. Other than that she hasn't had any "real" food yet. Thinking about trying some oatmeal and acorn squash this weekend though.

Goodbye 2014

I think 2014 has been one of the best years so far. Difficult at times? Yes, but I feel like we have done some serious growing. Not only growing together, but spiritually and yes, physically (hello family of 4!).

One of my favorite things about keeping a blog (albeit I could post more- new years resulotion maybe? :) is looking at all the posts of that year. I know that in no way this blog shows every facet of our lives, but I see happy memories when I glance back at what we did. 

So with that said, here are some of my favorite memories of 2014:

Maisie's first day of preschool

Announcing my pregnancy

Fears & Affirmations

Newfound Mama's girl

It's a girl!

The name game

Mental snapshots of my 3 year old

Carnival party!

Maisie the weasel: part 1 & part 2

Family pictures in Oregon

Pregnancy talk

She's here!

The eventful birth of Elizabeth Hazel

All about Ellie

Yellowstone

Family (photos) of 4

Halloween shenanigans

1st laugh

Christmas 2014

2014 was great, but now let's see what 2015 has in store for the Lee family.