Month 9

It's been almost 3 weeks since Ellie's ninth month birthday, but I have to at least post a picture because I took some purposefully for the blog.

I can't wait for the day she will smile at the camera.

She was in the 95th percentile for height and 80th for weight. Some significant developments during the 9th month were standing without support and even taking a couple of steps! She's developing just great and a very smart little girl. We're so happy to have her!

"What's in Your Mouth?"

That's what I call this stage in baby Ellie's life. Sure she's been putting things in her mouth for a while, but it seems like ever since she has gotten the pincer grasp down I've asked her "What's in your mouth?" several times through out the day.

But her favorite thing to put in her mouth, the thing she will drop everything else for, are her snacks:

Friday Night Entertainment

This week Ellie has learned how to make a cheesy smile. Tonight she was being exceptionally funny. She makes me laugh :)

 

Month 5-7

I haven't updated about Ellie in a while because we've been busy due to the holidays and moving! So here is her brief update!

Over Thanksgiving break Ellie turned 5 months old! Between months 5 and 6 she:
-started splashing in the tub! I had been teaching her this for a while, but then regretted it the first time she did it because I was soaking by the end.
-she finally rolled from her back to her tummy! So now she rolls in complete circles.
-she started to clap! It's the cutest thing to see her clapping :)
-she started moving from a sitting position to her hands and knees. She's gotten much better at this in this past month.

I love this picture! Makes me smile.

On Christmas day Ellie was 6 months old! I cannot believe 6 months has already flown by since our precious little girl entered this world. She makes us so happy. And makes me laugh almost every day! This Wednesday (Jan. 25th) she'll be 7 months old. Between 6 and 7 months she:
-started teething! She has her two bottom teeth. I'm thinking she might be working on a third now too.
-she is very good at moving from a sitting position to hands and knees and back to a sitting position. I love it because if she falls over she can get to the position she wants to be in on her own now!
-she loves standing! She likes us helping her to a standing position and she tries so hard to stand on her own. She doesn't quite crawl, but can get all over the room on her own. She will go to hands and knees, then kind of rock, then fall to her belly and reach for something, then move back to a sitting position and surprisingly have moved quite a distance. I originally wrote this last night, Sunday. As of this morning, Monday, she crawls! It's so funny how it just happens all of the sudden! I love it! It is a joy to watch her be mobile!

Christmas Day - 6 months old

This past Wednesday we had her 6 month appointment. Her stats are: Weight = 17lbs 11oz (75th percentile) and Length = 28.25 inches (above 95th percentile!). She suddenly grew a ton as far as height! She got shots too and cried the loudest I've ever heard her cry, but she did SO well after once she had a bottle. I was very proud of her. We love our little Ellie so much! She has such a fun personality!

Just about 7 months

All I Want For Christmas...

Is a NAP!

Every year my family and Matt's family rotate names for gifts. This year I'm planning on asking for 4 hours of babysitting from whoever (whomever?) gets my name! All they have to do is take the baby outside of the house so I can't hear her peep. Ahh, I can't wait! :)

*NOTE: Ellie isn't that bad at night. She just wakes to feed one or two times before 6 in the morning. And I'm not very good if I don't get a 7-8 hour block of sleep. Those 15-30 minute interruptions are no good.*

Month Three

Another month has come and gone. Time is going too fast for me. I was watching a video of miss Ellie doing tummy time at just 2 weeks old and it makes me sad seeing how quickly she's grown in just a couple of months. But I love her more and more each day and she is as cute as can be!

She's as curious as ever with all that is going on around her. She's learning to roll, and can make it from her belly to her back probably 50% of the time. Other than that not much has changed since month two update.

I'm a Survivor

Last week someone told me they felt like the first two months of having their first newborn was all about surviving. I realized how right she was! The first two months have flown by, and I wish I could slow down just so I can enjoy my little girl some more before she gets any bigger!

The first month was particularly developing and trying for me: I hear EVERY sound (or so it seems!). Any peep the baby makes, I'm pretty sure I hear it. And then during the middle of the night, the noises I particularly dislike are when the cars are racing on the highway or revving their engines as they climb up the hill.


I've always HAD to get my 8-9 hours of sleep a night. Most nights now it's 5.5-6, but that's interrupted sleep; it has taken some getting used to. I can't wait to sleep through the night again!

Feeding took some getting used to. I wanted to give up several times and just formula feed, especially after I got a little bit of mastitis. I was so glad to finally get the hang of it!

Taking naps when baby naps. I have a hard time doing this because I feel like I need to use that time to actually get things done. But after family was in town I was extra tired and so I've given in to napping with her! I actually found she takes a longer nap if I lay down beside her for a little while. Because she has gotten to a point where she will maybe take a 30-45 minute nap, but when Matt or I nap with her she'll be out for 2 hours!

Mommy-Daughter nap time.

This second month poor Ellie had heat rash (who would've thought Seattle was hot enough) on her face that just seemed to get worse and worse - mostly because we tried to find a remedy ourselves. I think we learned that with a newborn it's probably just better to ask the doctor. I'm not sure if her little face hurt from our different attempts to treat her, but she was always so patient and still her pleasant self. Her face is finally almost completely better, and hopefully from here on out we can have a little bit of normalcy! But, we are still loving life and our beautiful little girl! :)

Still smiling at us despite her little swollen face!

FINALLY! Almost completely better :)

Month One

Today my baby has been in this world for one month. And I still feel I know very little about being a mother and about my sweet daughter. Just when I feel I've figured out a schedule, it changes. As my mom reminded me today, life will never be the same. But I continue to love her more and more each day! It's sad to know she's not my small newborn anymore, but I'm excited for the months to come and see her develop even more.

Happy Birth Day

I can't believe one week has two weeks have (I've been busy/lazy) already flown by since I went to the hospital and we welcomed our newest addition to our family. As I'm sure is the case with all parents and a new child, we think she is perfect! Ok we know she's not perfect because she doesn't sleep through the night just yet, but she is a great baby! She is very calm and hardly ever cries. We love her peaceful nature and hope it doesn't change!

Elizabeth LuAnn Walser was born June 25 at 8:42 am. She was 6lbs 14oz and 19.5 inches long. We will be calling her Ellie for now!

Birth Story

My mom came into town June 18 and was going to be with us for 10 days, so every day for the week before Ellie came my mom and I walked between 5 and 10 miles a day. Even in the rain.Wednesday, June 22nd (day 2 of being overdue) my sister told me about some restaurant that had a huge rate of pregnant ladies eat their Eggplant Parmigiana and within 48 hours go into labor, so that night we decided to give it a try. We went to Olive Garden and ordered. A little while later the waiter comes back saying they're out of eggplant! So we headed over to Cheesecake Factory. They didn't have the exact same thing, but I got an eggplant pasta dish. 

Nothing happened; and the next day at my doctor appointment the doctor said I was one loose finger dilated...so a 1 I guess. I had him set an appointment for me to be induced because I wanted the baby to come before my mom left. So he set it up for Monday (June 27th) morning - which would give my mom one day before she left.

I think knowing for sure when the baby was going to come started to make me even more nervous than not knowing! Friday morning I woke up and said to Matt, this baby is coming tonight! I was determined for her to come naturally without being induced. My mom and I went for our two morning walks. Around 2 I had some Braxton Hicks contractions start, but nothing different than what I'd had before, so I kind of thought they would just stop at some point. I told Matt and he used that as an excuse to leave work early. :) He got home and my mom and I went on our afternoon walk. We came home and started to get dinner ready. As we were eating dinner the contractions got a little stronger so we decided to write them down. At 7 we decided to go to the mall and get Blizzards and one last walk in! At 8 when we got the Blizzards the contractions were much stronger and 7-9 minutes apart. (I did finish off my Blizzard, which was probably a bad idea!) 

We got home and I walked around the apartment while Matt made sure all our stuff was ready. After timing the contractions from 9-10, and them being 4-5 minutes apart, we called the hospital. At first the lady said I could keep walking around or come in. Then she asked when my last appointment was and how dilated the doctor had said I was. And then she says, ok well start a warm bath and sit in there for an hour. I was pretty disappointed when I hung up with her. Matt started to get the bath ready, but then I had 2 stronger contractions and only 3 minutes apart so I said no way, we’re going now! 

We walked in to the birthing center and they took me to triage to see how far dilated I was. Unfortunately we got the same lady I had just talked to on the phone. She seemed to take FOREVER long with the whole process. We got in there at 10:30 and didn’t finally get admitted and to our room till 11:30 or 12. I don’t usually get mad, but I did get pretty upset with this lady. I feel a little bad now, but I still think she didn’t believe me when I said I was in pain all because I had barely been dilated the day before. She finally checked me and I was at a 4. She had my IV set up and gave me some pain relief medication. It made me light headed and feeling like I would pass out. I asked if it was ok if I passed out and she said yes! I was pretty surprised it was alright for a pregnant lady to pass out while having contractions… She left to go get or do something and I told Matt I was going to throw up. He tried to find something for me to vomit in, but there wasn’t anything and it came quickly. I threw up all over myself and got some on Matt too. 

FINALLY a nurse came to take me to my room. The anesthesiologist came not long after and got my epidural started. He had to do it twice because the first one didn’t numb the left side. It was WONDERFUL once I got the epidural. (I’m not sure how women like my mom do it without pain medication.) At a quarter to 3 the doctor came and broke my water. He said I was about 5-6 cm dilated and 100% effaced. They told me I’d probably deliver at 8 or 9 in the morning and told me to try to sleep and get some rest. I would sleep for 5 or 10 minutes then wake up. This went on the whole time till just before 6 in the morning. At that time I woke Matt up and asked when he thought they would come check how far dilated I was, because they hadn’t checked me since the doctor broke my water. Well I decided to call the nurse to find out. She said probably not for another hour – hour and a half or so because they didn’t want to check too much and risk getting bacteria to the baby since my water had been broken. She said unless I felt more pressure down low then they wouldn’t come right away; but I couldn’t really tell if there was new or more pressure! Well, at 6 the doctor came to check me anyway. I was at 10! I was kind of upset because who knows how long I’d been at a 10, plus they would’ve left me there for another hour or so. They were a little slow getting in there and set up; finally by 6:40 I started to push.

Two hours later our beautiful little girl entered our lives! It was one of the best moments in our lives. We are so blessed to have this sweet child as a part of our family. I've been thinking about it lately and I would gladly go through the pain again for her and my future children. It's not that I've already forgotten how painful it was (because I remember that feeling of my insides feeling like they wanted to explode every time there was a contraction or the pain each time I sit down after her birth), it's just a miracle to have something so precious come into this world, and we're so fortunate and blessed to have her with us. 

And one last thing about this whole experience, Matt has been wonderful. I'm blessed to have him. It's been so great to see his reaction when Ellie was born and how in love with her he is. He's a great husband and father already.

A very proud and happy father!

First bath

Ready to go home in the outfit daddy picked out for her :)

What's Cooking?

I wish I could say I haven't posted anything new in a while because we've been SO busy with fun and exciting things... But then I'd be lying. So, this is pretty much just a little update on what we've been doing... or haven't been doing.

Well, this week I'm 30 weeks along! I am glad it's down to, hopefully, the last 7-10 weeks.

Me at 30 weeks (my face looks weird :S)

We went shopping last month for some of our first baby purchases. And I refuse to go again till the end of this month. For those of you who don't know I studied accounting, and both my parents have finance or accounting backgrounds. What's this mean? It means I'm cheap and try hard to save money and search for the best deals. Even if that means procrastinating what has to be done. So, all we have bought so far are 2 boxes of diapers and crib bedding. I left the store and wanted to return it all (happens quite frequently when I shop). I figured we could put the baby in a box with a blanket, or my sister suggested a laundry basket. She really won't know the difference as long as she's comfortable, right? (I really had these thoughts; maybe that makes me a bad parent already?)

Anyway, now I'm trying to see if I can make any of the bedding for cheaper. The only problem with this idea is that I am GREAT at starting projects or having a wonderful idea, I'm just really bad at finishing or following through. So, hopefully I can get at least an easy thing, like a dust ruffle for the crib, made before the baby comes.

So, really there isn't much else going on. With gas prices ridiculously high, a baby coming, and housing prices still pretty high here in the Seattle area, we find ourselves at home a lot trying to save money.

However, there is one other thing that is always on my mind: DINNER. I really despise coming up with dinner ideas for the week. I don't know why it's so hard for me, but it is. I like to come up with a week full of dinners, then I can make one shopping trip and hopefully save me time and money! But I also get paranoid about repeating meals. I could care less about eating the same thing over and over, or eating mac and cheese or ramen noodle. But there is someone else to feed in this home besides me. Not that he's picky, I just like to have variety for him.

And, I should mention, I don't really like to cook. My interest has grown some since I've been married. But I'm really really slow (Seriously, ask my husband. I look at a recipe and the estimated time and double it to know how long it'll really take me.) when it comes to cooking, or doing anything. (I can't help it!) So, the easier the recipe, the better. And the fewer the ingredients, the better for my wallet! It seems I'm asking for a lot, but I've been doing better at getting a list of meals each week. I'm keeping track of all the ones we like in hopes to collect around 90 recipes that we like. Then I can just choose from there, or create a 3 month schedule and rotate it, and this way no meal is eaten more than about 4 times a year! You all probably think I'm crazy, but I'm loving my plan. :) Life will be so much easier.

That was lots of writing! Sorry! Unfortunately not many pictures from the past month and a half. But we're hoping to take a small weekend trip in the next week or two, so maybe then I'll have something interesting to post about :)

100 Days!

Woohoo! Hit the 100 day mark till baby arrives. Hopefully it goes by fast because just this week I've started to notice some things (like running, bending down and up repeatedly, etc) are getting just a bit more difficult.

It's A...

Yesterday was the big day to find out what if our little baby is a girl or a boy. We both were pretty certain it was a boy. We had convinced ourselves of that. Well, we were wrong.

It's a GIRL!

We definitely got surprised since we had thought otherwise, but we couldn't be happier! Matt was maybe slightly disappointed, but he says that's only because he's already wrapped around one girl's finger, he doesn't know if he can handle being wrapped around two. :) (I think he says these sweet things just so I can brag about him to everyone ;))

I'm hesitant to put this up, but here is my pregnancy progression as of last week (20 weeks):

Yesterday was also my 25th (yes, I'm getting old!) birthday! My sweet husband took me shopping. I then made a cake with the help of one of my good friends. The inside was colored pink, but I couldn't get a very good picture of that. (For my first time decorating a cake, it was alright. I definitely need some more practice!) Our friends also gave us our first baby items! I must say, it was a little weird realizing these clothes were for us...to keep...and use. :)

I'm not sure why blogger is rotating this picture.

We're excited for the next 4.5 months to hurry on by. Last night the hubby said, "is it bad that I just want this to be all over with?" He's even started suggesting names. I knew he was more excited than he let on. ;)

The Poll is Open

Well, I was going to wait to post this on Monday, but I don't have anything to do right now, and watching Matt play xbox just doesn't sound very fun. :)

I don't feel like putting lots of baby updates because nothing really changes from one week to the next. But, one week from Monday (Feb. 7th) we have our ultrasound to find out what the baby is! And I figure halfway through pregnancy is a good point to put an update.

This Monday I'll be 20 weeks. Everything is still really good! So I'm happy about that. The biggest change, besides gaining some weight, is I've been feeling the baby move for the past two weeks. This week Matt even got to feel the baby. I read online that it usually doesn't happen that the spouse can feel the baby till 22 or 23 weeks, but I know he felt it! So we're thinking we've got a strong baby on the way. Maybe a future swimmer like his/her dad. :)

I was actually really happy Matt could feel the movement; it makes it more real for the both of us. And we both talked about how weird it is to think of something growing inside of my body. Anyway, that's about it!

Sorry for the lack of pictures with this post! Mostly this post is for my sister so she can put her vote in, BUT if anyone else would like to vote, feel free to have at it! I think 4 of my family members have voted boy so far. I'll be sure to post the result on either Monday, February 7th or Tuesday the 8th!