Thanksgiving

Well, our little Elizabeth has made it through her first real holiday.  Of course she got sick from being around so many people and probably being held by way too many people.  I am still struggling with people touching her... just random people... now that she has been sick twice, I might just spend the Christmas season locked in our house!  In all seriousness, we had a great Thanksgiving and it really makes you step back and think about what you have.  I know I am the worst when it comes time to think about what I don't have and what I wish I had... Lord knows I would love to lose about 50 pounds!... but then I look at the miracle of life that God has given us and the many blessings along the way.  So, yes, we are paying two mortgages, but that just means we are blessed with jobs, I wish I could be naturally skinny but at least I have my health... the list can go on and on but the bottom line is, we just need to be thankful. 

On a lighter note, Greg has had a shift change!  Yeah!  It is only temporary but now I have a little help in the evenings.  It will be hard for me and him when he has to go back to the old schedule in a few short weeks but we will live with the here and now and be thankful.  Elizabeth is growing and changing so much over the past couple of weeks that it is hard to remember everything she does.  I love that she is so lovable and laughable in the mornings and I hate the crying and grouchiness in the evenings.  She is getting her own personality and it will be fun to watch it grow over her lifetime.  Everyone is saying that she looks like Greg but we are still mixed on it.  I think she looks like a mixture of both of us.  We shall see!   

Our first cold

Well, we have had our first sickness for little Elizabeth.  Greg had been sick over the weekend with just a cold.  I was worried that he might get her sick but he is such a great help that it is hard to not be around her.  Well, my fears were realized.  I first started noticing Monday night when she cried it just sounded different.  On Wednesday, Greg suggested I take her in just to be sure.  The doctor confirmed the cold and told me that there was nothing that we could give her to make her better and we would just have to wait it out.  He did suggest putting a humidifier in her room and rubbing some vicks on her chest.  This has turned into a long week because of it.  She is more fussy and I can tell she doesn't feel good. She just wants to sleep a lot (except at night).  So, I we make it through our first sickness we also had some good news... Greg is getting a shift change.

Of course the shift change is only temporary but it is better than nothing.  It has been so hard to be with her all day and then have to deal with her fussiness all night.  We had about three good nights in a row where she slept until about 3 or 3:30, woke up, ate, and went back to sleep but then she got sick and that threw us off the good course.  I keep praying that she will get a routine and and start sleeping better but it will be nice to have Greg here during the evening to help out.  This is really true with the fact that I only have one more week at home... how sad!

Elizabeth is really starting to grow and learn.  She is now starting to reach for her play bar on her bouncy and the toy that I have hanging on her carrier.  We also have a little finger sucker on our hands... it is cute how she now knows that her fingers soothe her and she will put them in her mouth.  Now I am going to be worried with people touching her hands and then she puts them in her mouth... man parenting is fun! :)  We also started this week putting her in her big bed.  She does really good sleeping in the baby bed at my mom's house so it is time she sleeps in her room.  Of course it lasted one night and she got sick but we are putting her in there now.  We just need to find a home for our cat and then I can move back to my bedroom.  I am so worried about the cat at night when she is sleeping so he sleeps in our bedroom.  It will all come in time.

I will share a couple of pictures that I find really cute...

This was after her morning bottle... I put her back down with Greg so I could get some chores done!

This is at my mom's house... she was out like a light bulb in her crib... she also hates to be covered...

Showing us she doesn't need her paci, she has her fingers!

Baptism

We had Elizabeth baptized on Sunday, November 13th.  She looked so cute in her big dress and the day was full of family and friends welcoming her into the church.  We had already been going to church every Sunday so Elizabeth and I were used to going to church but she did great as usual.  I think she really loves the music that St. Philip's has (I think she likes music in general!).  Here are a few pics from the weekend...

Her Godparents, Chris and Brandie Matthews

One month

Our little Elizabeth turned one month on 11/5/11.  Since this fell on a Saturday, we had our one month check up on the following Monday.  Everything checked out great with her and she had already gained two pounds... she was 8lbs 5oz and was 21.5 inches long.  It amazes me how fast she grows.  We even had to put away all her newborn clothes.  At one month she is definitely a totally different baby.  Besides her sleep patterns still out of wack, she is awake and more alert.  She started following voices and she is really practicing holding that head up.  She definitely knows her mommy and is calmed when I pick her up.  Sometimes Greg gets mad that he can't do that but I have to explain I am with her all day, everyday.  She is definitely a blessing in our lives and even through the rough nights we wouldn't have it any other way. 

Night vs. Day

I can't believe it has been a month already since she has been here!  Week 3 and 4 were definitely a challenge for Mommy as Daddy went back to work nights.  Sometimes I feel like I don't have a minute to spare but this week things have really started to get into a routine.  My little angel definitely has her nights and days mixed up, but we are working on that.  It has been a lot harder than I thought when Greg went back to work nights.  Before he went back to work, Greg and I would take baby shifts and sleep in between.  We had gotten into a routine with that but then it all got tossed in the air when he went back to work.  Now I am home with Elizabeth all night and all day, I don't really have that relief.  So, to help a little, I have been staying in El Campo a few times and every weekend.  It is so nice to have my mom's help with her and she will let me go to sleep until around 11 or midnight. As much as I love the help, you do begin to miss the comfort of your own home.  Every time I think I have it down and I can handle it all by myself, I then think it would be so nice to just have someone to talk to in the evening to break up my day and I head to El Campo! I keep praying that maybe Greg's schedule will be changed for a while, but that is also up in the air.

These are pictures of her at three weeks... she is getting so big, so fast.

Greg and his friends cooked in the Nada cookoff the weekend before Halloween.  That was Elizabeth's first meeting with lots of family and friends.  It was nice to get out of the house and see people... we even made our first trip to church.  Now that she is a month old, we felt more comfortable taking her out in public.  She slept most of the day while we were out in Nada.  We were even very proud of Daddy and his team for winning second in sausage and second in chili.  I have to admit that the sausage that Greg and his friends made this year was really good but I think we were all so surprised that they won in sausage.  The chili was a new recipe that Greg used at a cookoff at work that he won so it was exciting for him to win again with that recipe.  We ended up staying in El Campo that night and woke up on Halloween so I could make it to a doctor's appointment.  She got to wear her cutie Halloween outfit all day and show it off!  At my doctor's appointment, he said my c-section is healing great and most days I forget that I even had a c-section.  From there we went to my work so I could show her off! After a long morning of running around (and a long weekend for that matter), I think we were both glad to be home.   I went ahead and decided to get some pictures of her in her outfit and good thing I did because Elizabeth gave us her first big blow out of her diaper... it was so good that it required a good bath!  Here are the pics I got!

I will post more later as my baby girl just woke up!  Happy Tuesday everyone!