Dedication

Little Girl,

We dedicated you on April 17th, 2011. This was very important to me, because during all those prayers to God asking him to give us a child, I promised I would raise you to His Word. I wanted to raise you in a Christian Home with a Christian upbringing. I promised to read his Word and let Him guide us as parents. So I wanted to have you dedicated so that I could make a promise to Him and also so that you would have an entire church community to help support you and us!

So, your Mimi, Papa, Uncle Matt, Aunt Jami, Cousin Bekkah, and Uncle Andrew all came to church with us!

So did Grandma, Grandpa, Cousin Naomi, Uncle Grant, and Aunt Melisa!

AND, Amy, Dale, Emma and Ellarie!! Devin and Erin came too! You had so many people that love you show up!! After the church service we went back home and had our first bar-b-que at our home!! Your daddy grilled.And everyone had a grand time!!

The day was beyond perfect!! Eliana, I hope your daddy and I can live up to God's expectations for you! I know you have many loved ones in your life that if you ever need anything feel free to rely on them!!

Love you Sweet Pea!!

2 months!

Oh my little girl!! I am 3 days late posting your two month update!! It has just been crazy around here!

We went to the doctor and he said you were 12 pounds 1 ounce, in the 86th percentile; and 23 1/2 inches long, in the 91st percentile!! So you are growing perfectly!!

You were sitting on my lap just staring at me, and as soon as Dr. Nichols rolled over to check you out you started crying!! :) But you did really good at your appointment. We were supposed to get your shots that day but you weren't technically 2 months, and insurance said they wouldn't pay until you were! So we had to go back on your two month birthday for your shots.

You did much better than I was expecting. You cried, but it wasn't even your loudest cry! And there were no real tears. Mommy went ahead and closed her own eyes for you. lol - after your first shot I realized, I wasn't the one getting them I didn't have to close my eyes! But you acted very normal after your shots. You might have been a little sleepier than normal, but it was hard to tell because it was also Easter weekend so there were lots of family around to wear you out!

Here are some other 2 month facts!

-You are "talking" SO much! You coo and goo ALL the time! We love it!

- You are smiling ALL the time too!! It is so beautiful!

- You are "playing" by yourself more. I think this has a lot to do with daycare. But you'll just lay on the couch and talk to the ceiling and kick, or you'll lay on your playmat and kick.

- You are in size 1 diapers!

-You are wearing size 0-3 month clothes.

- You are taking different pacifiers!!

- You sleep on your belly (shhh...don't tell anyone) but this is the only way we can get you to sleep longer than 5 minutes. Don't worry mommy checks on you all the time throughout the night!!

- You enjoy sitting up, you have great head control! You cannot sit on your own, but you like sitting on your daddy and mommy's laps!

- You go to bed about 9:30 and wake up sometime between 12-1 to eat, then again between 3-4, and then again whenever I choose to wake you up to feed you and get you dressed for daycare.

- You do really well at daycare! You sleep almost the whole time you're there and then you are awake for mommy and daddy in the evening.

- You are not pooping. You only poop about every 3 days. So we started putting mineral oil in your bottles at daycare. The first day you pooped FIVE times!! Go Eliana!! But now you're back to your every 3 days....

- You have still only had breastmilk. You do very good going back and forth from the bottle! This makes me very happy!

- When you go down for a nap you like to be COMPLETELY covered, head to toe. If we're holding you we cover your head and you burrow your face into our armpits. lol - it's quite funny. If we lay you down semi-sleepy, we have to cover your face also, but then mommy sneaks back in every five minutes and once you're asleep I pull the blanket away from your face!

- You have taken a few naps in your crib in your room, but when you wake up you scream REALLY loud, I think maybe you get scared when you wake up in there!

- You are still sleeping your nights in our bedroom, but you do a fabulous job sleeping in your bassinet!!

Little girl, you truely are a joy in our lives! We waited and prayed so hard for you and you couldn't be more perfect for us!! We love you very much and can't wait to see what this next month will bring!!

Love you!!

Mommy

First Cold

Well, you first full week of daycare is completed and so is my first full week of work. I wouldn't say we LOVE it, but we're doing it. We only have 7 more weeks before summer! I almost need to stop telling myself that because I keep forgetting that come August we have to go back... :( I did the math and you are at Miss Jodi's 8.5 hours and I get you for about 4 waking hours a day. :( that doesn't count the middle of the night "waking hours" - which I have grown to love since it gives me a little more time with you! It is so hard when we have visitors or we go see people on a work night. Because I want to hog you all to myself since you were at daycare all day!! You caught your first cold from daycare. You poor thing came home so congested. You were spitting up snot. You even sneezed some actual snot out (which I didn't think was possible so young) :) You had an adorable little cough. It really was quite cute, even though you were sick. Luckily you really weren't that fussy. Just wanted to snuggle a little more than usual, but you didn't cry that much. And you take after you momma, because on Friday (day 2 of the cold) you slept ALL day at Jodi's, you were seriously awake for a total of 30-45 minutes at daycare that day - and that was just to eat. So, just like your momma, when you're sick you sleep for a full day and then you're better. You sounded SO much better when I picked you up on Friday! Thank goodness!! Other than that your first full week at daycare was pretty uneventful! You're a great baby and your daddy and I are very blessed to have you! We love you very much!! Love, Mommy

Back to Work

Well, the dreaded day came that you and I had to be seperated! I seriously had not been away from you since you were born, and then March 31 came! That is the day I went back to work. Here is our day: Lucky for me you started your own schedule! I wanted to start you on a schedule - and the Sunday before we had to actually start our schedule you started waking up at 5 a.m. to eat! It's like clock-work - almost every day at 5 you wake up! It's perfect and I love it. Your daddy puts you down for bed around 9 or 9:30, then you usually wake up at about midnight to eat, then sometime between 2 and 3, and then at 5! It is really working out for us all! :) So, your first day you woke up at 5, and you typically go back to sleep at 5:30, but this particular day you did not. So, at 6:15 when I went downstairs to get ready, you sat in your bouncy seat and just watched me like a good little girl! :) So, we made the drive to Garnett. I tried really hard not to cry on the drive, I only did a little bit! :) I dropped you off at 7:30 and talked with Jodi a little bit about your routine, and your likes and dislikes. She had a little attachable rail on the side of her couch that she had made into your area; that way the other kiddos know when you're in there they have to leave you alone! So, I placed your carseat in "your area" and all the kids came running up to see you. You had been asleep but at this point you opened your eyes a little and then REALLY BIG because there were like 6 kids all staring into your carseat!! :) It was then time for me to leave you. I left and then I cried! I got to GEC and I just sat in my car in the parking lot and cried and cried. I haven't been further than a room away from you since you were born, so I couldn't help but feel that they were taking you away from me! My co-worker, Miss N, came over to give me a hug and help me pull myself together and then I started my first day back! Once I got into school and the kids got into the classroom I was distracted enough that the day ended up being fine, but I thought of you often!!! 3:45 couldn't come fast enough! I left as soon as I could and jetted across town to get you! I walked in and Jodi was rocking you in a dark room by herself. I said uh-oh! Because I thought that meant you weren't cooperating! But she said you did REALLY good! And you did!! I was so proud of you for having a good first day at daycare! :) You actually slept for Miss Jodi from 11:15 to 3:00!! How great!! :) So, that evening we played and read books and hung out as our family. It became clear to me that I will cherish those few hours in the evening, our middle of the night feedings, and our weekends so much now! Because our evening went by way too fast! At 9:00 I told your daddy, woops - I didn't grade anything! :) Your second day was very good as well! Though you did have chicken-milk, so you were a little fussy! We have decided chicken really doesn't work for you! So mommy will not eat chicken so that you don't get sick! Also, I didn't cry at all when I dropped you off on day 2! It still hurt a little, but I just kept telling myself how great you did on your first day! :)

I didn't take any photos on your first day of daycare so I added two others.

Here is a picture of your very first bottle! We had to make sure you took bottles for daycare! So this is your daddy giving you your first bottle! You did great, no hesitation, and your daddy loved feeding you!!

And this picture just makes me laugh - you passed out on your daddy! You have so many silly sleeping positions! :)