I’m Alive and Well… September 24, 2011

Well goodness gracious.  I just realized that I haven’t blogged in over a year.  A YEAR.  That, I have decided, is completely unacceptable.  I have all these goals and ideas of how and where I’m going to keep track of our lives as the girls grow and well…this is as good as place as any, right?

I can’t really go back and tell you about our last year, so I’ll just kind of pick up where we are now.  We have a crazy, smart, sassy, funny THREE-YEAR-OLD!  Yes, Elyse is already three.  It seems so unreal to me.  How can this beautiful little girl be growing up so fast right in front our eyes?  People always tell you “it goes too fast, enjoy every minute”…and until I experienced it, I never would have realized just how fast it goes.  Emily will be two in less than two weeks.  That, to me, is even MORE unimagineable.  I mean…wasn’t she just my screaming five-month-old baby who cried non-stop and I was certain we weren’t going to make it to her first birthday?

There is never a dull moment in our house, and on this beautiful fall day I am really enjoying my life.  A day with not much going on…Jim is down in the basement watching his Crimson Tide play football, Emily is taking a late afternoon nap (poor girl is fighting a nasty cold), Elyse is quietly playing with her dolls in the living room and watching Little Bear, and I am enjoying my first bowl of chili of the season and a nice adult beverage.  It is exactly like it is supposed to be.  With as hard as things can be sometimes, at this moment…right now…I feel totally at peace.

It feels really good.

 

 

Emily: Nine Months July 9, 2010

July 6th was Emily’s nine month birthday.  Can I tell you how relieved I am that we’ve made it to this point?

She is doing wonderfully.  She started crawling early last week and that same day started pulling up on furniture…I have a feeling she is going to be the reason we have to baby-proof the house!

In early May she had tubes put in her ears after having seven ear infections in less than five months.  The tubes have made a WORLD of difference, and since then we’ve only made two unnecessary trips to the doctor.  (Old habits die hard.  “Emily’s crying a lot, she must have an ear infection.”  Turns out that sometimes she just likes to cry.)

I took her to the doctor for her 9-month appointment yesterday.  She is currently 19 lbs 2 oz (50th percentile) and 28 inches tall (75th percentile). 

I took her in for some pictures today, and I’m having a horrible time picking my favorite.

How We’re Doing March 23, 2010

So, I started this post on February 9th…and now it’s March 22nd.  Yay me! 

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was going to be to post on this blog more often.  Hmmm…looks like that is going well, hey?  I am hoping that I can start to get back into the routine to post more often. 

The girls are now 19 months and 5 months old.  We had their “well-baby” check-ups in early February and they’re both doing great.  Elyse was 24 lbs 5 oz (60th percentile) and 33” (90th percentile).  Emily was 14 lbs 11.5 oz (75th percentile) and 25.5” (90th percentile).

Life with two kids under two is crazy, to say the least.  To be honest with you, some days things aren’t so great.  Emily has been a bit challenging…she’s had some issues but thankfully we’re figuring her out and she seems a little happier every day.

Being a stay-at-home mom can be isolating and depressing at times, especially in the middle of winter.  I know that I am fortunate to not HAVE to go to work outside the home, but some days I wish I did.  I don’t want to sound ungrateful, because I am not.  I am truly blessed with healthy children, a roof over my head, food on the table, and a husband who is amazingly supportive in every way.  But there are days I dread getting out of bed because I know that the day is going to be (most likely) just like the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. 

But now spring is here!  And I feel more hopeful, and I feel like a weight is lifting off my shoulders.  The sun is out, and we can play in the yard and go for walks…and watching Elyse delight in the outdoors is amazing.  She loves every second that we spend outside.  Every rock, every leaf, every crack on the ground…they all must be inspected.  She screeches with joy when she runs through the grass and loves to kick around the ball.  It is so fun and makes my heart smile.

It is also wonderful to watch the girls together.  Emily is mesmorized by her big sister…she watches her and smiles and sometimes even laughs; Elyse loves to go over to see her sister and give her kisses and hugs.  It makes the last couple months of struggle seem like they were all worth it…

So my “mid-year” (not really mid-year yet, I know, but close enough) resolution is going to be to update here more.  I hope you enjoy!

Happy Halloween! November 9, 2009

Yes, it was over a week ago…but better late than never, right?

 

     

 

Jim took Elyse trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, and since she was still refusing to walk he took her in the wagon!

 

Emily Blythe Adams November 9, 2009

Just a few short weeks ago (ok, maybe 5…I’ve been a little busy), our beautiful daughter Emily Blythe was born!  We ended up having a scheduled c-section due to breech presentation, and she arrived on Tuesday, October 6th at 12:35 PM.  She weighed 8 pounds and was 22 inches long!

Elyse is so excited to be a big sister, as you can tell from our first family picture taken the night Emily was born!

Ready to head home on Friday, October 9th

Off to her first visit to her pediatrician on Monday, October 12th

The first two weeks flew by…here are some pictures from her photo shoot on October 20th (two weeks old)

We’re so excited that she is finally here, and I will hopefully be better about posting more often now that we’re a bit more settled in.

Here We Go Again September 9, 2009

Last week I went to see my midwife for my 34-week appointment, and while I was there I got to have an ultrasound to see the baby.  During the ultrasound I got some news I really didn’t want to hear…Peanut #2 is breech.  I was really hoping this wouldn’t happen again because I want to do whatever I can to avoid having to have another c-section.  The good news is that we have a lot more time than we did when I was pregnant with Elyse. 

 

I have met with a chiropractor once and am going again later today.  There is an adjustment they do that some say opens up the pelvis and gives baby more room to move.  I may also try to go to my acupuncturist.  Yesterday I spoke with my midwife and told her that if the baby is still breech next week when I go for my 36-week appointment I want to give the external version another shot.  (We tried it with Elyse, but since I was less than a week from my due date there was pretty much no room for her to move.)

 

Please keep your fingers crossed for us over the next few weeks…I really do not want to undergo another c-section and all the hospital time and recovery that is involved with it.  I can’t imagine staying in the hospital so long while Elyse is at home, and I know I’ll be anxious to bring the new baby home to start our new life together.

 

The good thing that came from the ultrasound was this 3D picture of his/her cute little face…look at those chubby cheeks!

The Par-Tay September 9, 2009

So, it’s been over a month…but better late than never, right? 

 

We had Elyse’s 1st birthday “luau” on Saturday, August 1st here at the house.  It turned out to be a beautiful day and Elyse was surrounded by a lot of people who love her so much.  Such a lucky girl!

 

The cake was delicious, of course

 

And Elyse’s “smash cake”

 

Which, you can tell, she loved

 

Playing with her new water table

 

And the 1st birthday hat that Grandpa said she had to have

 

Elyse with mama & daddy

 

All in all, it was a beautiful, wonderful day!

One Year Old! August 5, 2009

Yesterday was Elyse’s first birthday.  Yup, that’s right.  She’s now a 1-year-old!  Where did the last year go?

We got up early with daddy yesterday so she could open her presents from us before he had to go to work.

 

Checking out her “loot”

 

Later in the day…she’s getting to be such a big girl!

 

Trying to get her to wear the hat that Grandpa Terry got for her

 

Enjoying some watermelon as dessert on her birthday

 

We had her birthday “luau” this past Saturday, and I promise to post pictures soon.  We had a great time and were so happy that so many friends & family could join us to celebrate.

Yes, We Are Alive! July 17, 2009

I totally stink at keeping up with this whole blogging thing lately.  I apologize.

What’s new in our world?  Well, for starters, Elyse decided a little less than three weeks ago that she was FINALLY ready to start crawling.  And we didn’t do the whole army-crawl thing, she just got up one morning and decided to crawl.  Since she was almost 11 months old at the time, I kind of thought that we were going to skip right over crawling and go right to walking.  She is now going, going, going and it is tiring!  I am thanking the Lord more and more every day that she decided to wait until I was past all the morning sickness and exhaustion of this pregnancy to start moving around.  She also started pulling herself up and she can now get into almost anything.  She is getting so big!

The pregnancy is going well.  I hit 27 weeks this past Monday.  Only 13 weeks to go.  WHAT?  I can’t believe how fast it is flying by, and the fact that we’ve basically done nothing to prepare.  I ordered a crib (finally) last week but we still need to clean out the guest room/office so we can move Elyse to her new room.  I am excited to decorate a fun, girly room for her!  The new baby will be in the nursery that Elyse is currently using since it’s already gender-neutral.  We’re hoping to eventually start working on finishing the basement so we can have a guest room and office down there, as well as a living area and a third bathroom.  (Would be nice for guests when they come to visit!)

This past week Elyse & I, along with my sister Alyssa, headed to Minnesota to visit some family.  My cousin Sarah lives with her husband and two sons (Kaisen who is 22 months and Kallen who is 3 months) outside Minneapolis, and we decided it was a good half-way meeting point to see some of our relatives from North Dakota.  It was a fun time and I’m glad we all got to meet up for a few days.

Now, an overload of pictures from the last month and a half:

 

Daddy & Elyse at the Botanical Gardens on Father’s Day

 

Crawling down the hall…and Maggie making a run for it!

 

Waiting for the fireworks to start on the 4th of July

 

Checking out her new pool with daddy

 

This is what I found in her crib one day when she was supposed to be napping

 

She loves Poncho!  (And Poncho is actually pretty tolerant of her.)

 

Standing up in her crib (and showing us that we needed to move the mattress down further!)

 

Playing with her cousin, Kaisen, in the pool

 

My cousin Rachel’s son Brody (2 months) & my cousin Sarah’s son Kallen (3 months)

 

Checking out her baby cousin

Sleeping Beauty May 30, 2009

Yesterday I peeked in on Elyse napping and it made me so sad to see how fast she is growing up.  It seems like just yesterday she was being swaddled up and sleeping in one spot all night…now she’s all over the crib and looks like such a big girl in her crib.

A progression of the sleep…

Here she is on August 9th, only 5 days old

 

In October, a little over two months old

 

In mid-February, just after we stopped swaddling her…she moved on to her Grobag, and thankfully she transitioned easily out of the swaddle

 

And Friday – almost 10 months old