Dear E,

You are one month old today! I can't believe you have been here that long, and yet it seems like you have always been here. We are so blessed to be your parents, and we cant wait to watch you grow and see who you become. You have turned our world completely upside down.

Our days aren't very scheduled. I try to put you on a schedule and you seem to change it whenever you feel like it. Kind of like when you were born. We had planned to induce on the 28th but my water broke on the 26th. You've been showing me you have your own set of plans from the beginning sweet girl. I'm hoping this next month we can hopefully get you on somewhat of a schedule. You usually eat every 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours during the day and then go 3 1/2 to 4 hours at night. Although sometimes, you are hungry an hour after you eat so it's just hit or miss.

You have been suffering from acid reflux. I thought you had it several weeks ago, but the nurses and pediatrician kept telling me that spit up was normal. Then last week, it got extremely worse. You cried when feeding, you cried in your sleep if I laid you on your back, you got the hiccups constantly, you spit up after EVERY meal and I swear it was your entire meal, and you even had some projectile spit up. It broke my heart to see you hurting and finally the doctor said it was acid reflux. We started you on OTC Prevacid yesterday, and I'm hoping that in the next couple of days we can see an improvement. I hate acid reflux just as much as you do, sweet pea.

Even with the acid reflux, you are growing well. You only feed for about 10 minutes on one side. No matter how much I try you won't feed anymore. You close your lips really tight and turn away from me.  (I see a little stubborn streak in you =) ) We've made great gains in the breastfeeding department though because those first two weeks were hard on both of us. You seem content between your feedings so I try not to worry that you only eat that much.
Wake time for you is between 45 minutes to an hour and 30 minutes including feed time and then you will go down for a nap. We do tummy time at 5-10 minute increments and you enjoy it for the most part. It's hard to get it done though because I have to keep you upright for 30 minutes after you eat and even then you still spit up quite frequently.

You've had many visitors this month. Besides your Nana And Papa (Jason side), Uncle Jordan, Uncle Jared, and Nana (my mom), you had my good friend Jessica visit you in the hospital. Your BFF, Taryn, and her mom, Crystal, came by to visit and so did our friends Ryan and Amy. Your Nana (my mom) stayed with us the first week and then your Papa (my dad) stayed with us the second week to help and you enjoyed having them here. Uncle John, Aunt Meagan, Blake and Kaydence all came in one weekend to meet you. Kaydence was so excited to hold you and I think that she will definitely be your older "sister" as you get older.











You've had many firsts too: your first bath, your first walk in your stroller, first doctor appointment. You take them all in stride with only a little bit of a fuss =) As of Monday, you weigh 10 pounds even and are 21 inches long! You can still wear newborn clothes but are filling them out quickly. I have started putting you in some 0-3 month clothes but they are still a little big on you especially the pants/shorts. You wear newborn to size 1 diapers but we have started putting you in cloth diapers at home several times a day and will probably make the full transition to cloth diapers in the next month.



You love tummy time and being held. I think you would be content being held all the time if I could do that. You are just the most precious little girl and I love spending my days with you. Your dad and I have enjoyed every minute of this month and we can't wait to see what happens this next month.

With all our love,

Mommy & Daddy

Saw this on a friend's blog and thought it would be fun to join in!

I believe in Jesus Christ.

I believe in the gospel.

I believe in the power of prayer

I believe that animals especially dogs can teach us a lot about unconditional love



I believe that chivalry is not dead

I believe in pumpkin spice lattes.

I believe in reading a good book in one day


I believe in never letting the sun go down on your anger. You never know if you have tomorrow.

I believe in always looking good when you go out in public. You might run into an old friend or an old enemy.

I believe in cheesecake, gelato ice cream, and warm homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I believe in singing whenever the opportunity presents itself.
I believe that Friends episodes can be quoted for daily situations.


I believe in baby snuggles and smiles.

I believe in CHRISTMAS!!

I believe in running.

I believe that love is not a feeling but a choice and you must choose it daily.



I believe in forever friends.






I believe that you can never have enough purple, ruffles, and sparkle in your wardrobe.
I believe in traveling because the world is a beautiful place.

What do you believe in?

Week 1


Likes:
Sleeping
Being swaddled
Being held

Dislikes:
Being cold

Sweet Elyanah has changed our lives. She is having some issues with latching for breastfeeding but we are pushing through it. We met with a lactation consultant at the hospital who has been very helpful. She sleeps a lot and we just love holding her. We are so thankful for this precious gift.

Week 2:


Likes:
Swaddled but with her arms out - girl likes her arms spread wide out when she sleeps
Being held
Eating

Dislikes:
Being wet or dirty
Not being fed in a timely manner (five seconds after she decides that she is hungry)

Elyanah is doing well. Still sleeping a lot during the day and thinking that night time is for play =). Breastfeeding is still a work in progress but we had yet another lactation appointment and I think after this one that we are starting to get a rhythm.

Week 3:
Likes:
Eating
Lying on her tummy on our chests
Tummy time for about 3-4 minutes


Dislikes:
Being wet or dirty
Shirts going over her head - she freaks out if I don't get it off her head quickly


Elyanah is having more wake time during the day sometimes for 30-40 minutes after a feeding but still likes to sleep for most of the afternoon. Breastfeeding is getting better and she is gaining weight well. She went to the doctor on Friday and weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces! She is sleeping better at night and only a couple of times has stayed awake for more than an hour after a feeding but I think that was because her tummy was hurting her. I think I may have to watch what I'm eating - mainly dairy- and see if that changes anything.  She met her BFF, Taryn, this week. I see them playing often in the years to come. She is just so precious, and we can't get enough of her. I can't believe she will almost be a month old in a week!

*This is really for me and one day for Elyanah to read so just a warning that it will be pretty detailed and LONG! I won't be offended if you don't want to read it. *

I will start at my last doctor appointment on Thursday, August 23rd. We had an ultrasound that appointment to make sure that Elyanah had turned head down and thankfully she had!! So my doctor decided to move my induction to Tuesday instead of Monday with the plan to come in on Monday night to start medication since my cervix was still very high and completely closed (TMI I know). Jason and I left that appointment excited for the following week and talking about how the next time we saw our baby girl's face would be when she was here. We could hardly wait!

Fast forward to Sunday, August 26:
Jason and I went to church that Sunday morning knowing that it would probably be one of the last times we would go for awhile. We headed home to have lunch and then decided to watch Footloose that we had rented from Red Box the day before. We were about 30 minutes in to the movie( I think when they were racing the school buses if you have seen the new one) when I had a pretty big contraction. Contractions are nothing new to me so I just let it ride its way out but then right afterwards I started "leaking". I thought surely I didn't just go to the bathroom because I had just gone to the bathroom 20 minutes before. I went to the restroom and continued to "leak" what I thought at the time was urine. I went back out into the living room and said to Jason either my water just broke or I just peed my pants. He got this huge grin on his face and said call the doctor. I called my doctor even though at this point I was still in complete denial and kept saying that I had just wet my pants. Mind you, I was continuing to slowly "wet my pants" as we awaited a phone call back from the doctor.

My doctor called me back and told me to head up to the hospital. We put our bags in the car and headed that direction. When we were about 5 minutes from the hospital, the trickle of fluid became a huge gush (you know the kind that they show in the movies) and it went all over me and Jason's passenger seat. At this point, I am laughing so hard because no matter how hard I try I can't hold it in and then kept I apologizing that I had just wet myself all over Jason's front seat. I'm glad that I can at least laugh at the situation.

We got up to the labor and delivery floor where they put us in a room and I changed into the lovely hospital clothes. Then for the next 2 and half hours I had the nurse from Hades. I had had her before when I had gone to L&D for pre-term contractions and didn't like her then. She was just very brass and unsympathetic and would talk over me when she would ask me questions. Oh my goodness those hours couldn't go by fast enough. (Don't worry we requested her to not be my nurse the next day at the day shift because there was no way I was going to labor with her - the one time I decided to let my opinion and voice be heard). Once we had the shift change, my nurses were much better.

Here I am texting people to let them know it's go time. The contractions weren't really bad at this point. They had to start me on pitocin to speed up labor since I wasn't dilated very far and my water had broke. That stuff is no joke.

By one o'clock, I had had enough and was begging for the epidural. I was only dilated to a two and thought I need sleep and I can't sleep with contractions every 4 minutes. Once I got the epidural, I felt great and was able to get a few winks of sleep. Although the beeping of the machines, the stupid blood pressure cuff going off every 10 minutes, and the nurse coming to check on me kept me from getting too much =).

Monday morning came another shift change with the most amazing labor and delivery nurse a girl could ask for! I am so thankful that God is even in the little details and gave me such a great nurse! If it wasn't for her I probably would have ended up having a c-section. She was so encouraging and we got along so well. She also had struggled with infertility and used the same fertility specialist as we did so we bonded over our "fun" stories.

When my doctor came to check on me in the morning I was only dilated to a 4 (bummer). She told me that if I wasn't dilated to a 6 in two hours when she came to check on me again that we would have to have a c-section. My nurse made it her mission for that not to happen and put me in all sorts of positions. Even on hands and knees - which when you don't have the use of your legs can be very comical and difficult position to maneuver. All those positions did the trick and I was dilated to a 6 two hours later! My labor progressed from there and by 3:00 that afternoon I was ready to push. I pushed for an almost an hour and half and then the most beautiful and precious little girl arrived and changed our lives forever!!!





Once everyone left, my mom went and got me a strawberry milkshake from Chick-Fil-A. I hadn't eaten anything solid in over 24 hours, and I had talked about having a milkshake after I was done. I downed that thing in five minutes! I joked that it was my push present - ha!

*I do need to mention that Jason was beyond the most helpful, encouraging, and ever present partner through this whole thing. I could not have asked for anything better. I have the most amazing husband ever and now I get to watch him be the most amazing dad to our daughter*

Weekly updates coming soon!

Jason and I celebrated our fifth anniversary on August 18. I can't believe five years have gone by. I feel like it was yesterday that I was walking down the aisle to the love of my life. And now here we are five years later with our lives changing in a completely different way.

That Saturday we just spent the day together. We didn't have any extra money lying around since I had just quit my job, but it didn't matter. My only request was to hang out and enjoy each other's company.

We started the day having breakfast at one of my favorite breakfast places, Le Peep. So so yum!



Later that afternoon, we went and saw The Bourne Legacy. I thought it was pretty good movie - very action packed and suspenseful. After the movie, we walked across the street and ate at Cheesecake Factory. Probably one of my favorite restaurants. I was so excited to get my usual blackened chicken sandwich and had been craving it all day, BUT Cheesecake Factory decided to change up their menu and remove some menu items and guess what menu item they removed?!?! Yep, my sandwich! Bad move Cheesecake Factory, bad move. I was so so sad. Oh well, I got some yummy red velvet cheesecake to take home to make up for it. Now if they ever got rid of that cheesecake my love relationship might be forever severed =).