Thursday, September 23, 2010

Elle @ 2 Months







On one hand it's hard to believe that Elle is a two month old already, but on the other hand she seems so much older than that. I'm not sure if that's because she's big for her age or because our whole Wisconsin trip seems so long ago. She's doing AWESOME in the growth department: 12lbs14.5oz (90th percentile), 22 3/4 inches (55th percentile) and her head is in the 82nd percentile. I just cannot get over how big she is - I've had so many problems breastfeeding my babies in the past. It's just amazing that it's working out just the way it's supposed to right now. I'm taking it one month at a time. My next goal is to exclusively breastfeed until four months, which would be a record for me (I hit 3.5 months with Colin). I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself, but it would be so wonderful to get to skip formula altogether with Elle. I purchased a book called Eating Well, Losing Weight While Breastfeeding (or something like that) so that gives me hope that I can peel off some extra poundage without a negative impact on nursing. She's changed so much in the last month. She's very interactive now and loves to smile, coo, and "sing" with you. She has very little schedule when it comes to napping, but a bit of one overnight finally. She goes down for the night between 9:30 and 11:00, gets up between 2:30 and 4 for a feed and diaper change (the girl is a champion pooper), then sleeps til 6 or 7. It's doable. I look forward to gettign to sleep through the night sometime in the future, but I know that is actually not a good thing for breastfeeding, so the night-waking is worth it if it keeps nursing going well.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A Little Late


This is a bit tardy, but a HUGE congratulations to my oldest little brother. He proposed to his girlfriend, Becky, this summer and the wedding date is set for April 2nd, 2011. Apparently love is in the air this season LOL. We're so excited to be going back to Wisconsin in a few short months!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Photo Op
















It took about a month longer than it should have to do our family "birth shirt" photo, but better late than never. Luckily we were limited in how much time we had to do it because Elle's New Little Sister shirt was a size 0-3 months and she was going to outgrow it pretty quickly. We intended on doing it in the common area of our subdivision, which was nice and green, but the ground was too wet, so after some lovely family discussion and debate, we moved it back to our backyard. Unfortunately the backyard is looking rather neglected this season, but we'll just say it gives the pictures character LOL. I have to admit, I'm kind of glad that I won't have any more of these shirts to make in the near future. I've worn out the only crafty bone (pinky-size, mind you) in my body.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Little Ol' Me :-)


I won something! How cool is that?! It's not a huge something, just a $25 gift card to Target, but still. I knew that my Babycenter addiction would pay off eventually (haha). We were asked to submit our best Road Trip survival stories and luckily ours was still very fresh in my mind: car troubles, bad weather, lack of hotel rooms, squabbling, and, of course, a new baby. They gave away one grand prize and three first prizes (which is what I won). I usually skip the essay contest giveaways, maybe I shouldn't anymore... I need to find a contest where the grand prize is a million dollars. Or a tropical vacation. That sounds just about right right now LOL. And of course, no blog post of mine would be complete without a picture, so here's one, that, in honor of the post title, actually includes a picture of me (with Elle).

Monday, September 13, 2010

Bad Me


I'm addicted to Iced Chai Tea Lattes. I. can't. get. enough. My habit has gotten so bad that I have to buy the concentrate and make them at home because I can't afford them from Starbucks or Moxie Java. Yum. I'm sure someone can tell me how bad they are for me. But they are so good, so I'm not gonna listen. :-) That's all.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

The First Day of School

Colin's 1st day of preschool


Allegra, Hero, and Ian's 1st day of elementary school


I'm actually a bit behind because Hero, Allegra, and Ian have been in school for three weeks already, but Colin didn't start until last Wednesday. Hero is in her last year at Maple Grove before starting junior high next year (I personally think of 6th grade as junior high, but the Boise School District splits schools differently than what I'm used to). Allegra is in third grade and Ian started first grade. I'm enjoying all three of them being in full-day school (as opposed to having one in kindergarten which is always a bit tough due to the half-day schedule) but unfortunately Ian isn't steady enough on his bike yet for us to trust him riding to school so we're still having to drive him to school and pick him up. Colin is in his first year at Shepherd of the Valley preschool and he seems to love it - on orientation day he got upset because he wanted us to leave so definitely no clinginess to worry about from him. I do worry about the potty-training thing though, as he's still prone to accidents. I hate hate HATE potty-training, and I won't miss that stage once we get all the kids through it.

Friday, September 3, 2010

The Fair
























Going to a fair is an annual Fife family tradition that signals the end of summer. This year it was especially close to the start of school because the start date of classes was moved up to August 25th due to budget cuts. We enjoyed the usual food stuff: Pronto Pups, corn, milkshakes, and an ice cream potato. The kids had wristbands and got to do lots of rides and we also spent some time looking at the animals. It was our first opportunity to road-test our new double stroller. It's really sharp-looking and it handled well too, so I'm pleased. The only down side is that it's SO big, but it's kind of a necessary evil. The hospital has a little area set up for baby changing and breastfeeding with rockers and air-conditioning, so it was an easy day despite having a teeny baby.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Elle @ 1 Month




This blog is getting a bit schizophrenic with the constant jumping back and forth in time, but I haven't downloaded the wedding pictures yet (and there are a TON to go through) and if I don't get Elinor's one month pics on soon, she'll already be two months old, so forgive me. I have no idea what Elle weighs but we think she's doing well as she's really filled out and has outgrown her newborn stuff and her three month clothes is getting snug. She eats like a maniac and doesn't sleep all that much. No schedule as of yet, but hopefully that's coming. Her eyes are still a very bright blue and I can't get enough of them after three brown-eyed kids. She had her first smile on Tuesday, August 31st, which is always such a huge, happy milestone. Hopefully soon they'll be frequent enough that I can get a picture of her smiling.