Smiles!

If I had to grade myself this week on picture taking, I would give myself an F!! We did lots of fun things, but this mommy forgot to take pictures. When I looked through my camera, I found four, yes four pictures for the entire week.

After our week long vacation, it took us a couple days to get everything unpacked and back to normal. While I put Elle's clothes and things away I put her in her crib for the first time. She looks so little in there. I am sooo not ready for her sleep in there yet, she will be in her bassinet until she exceeds the weight limit!

Good thing I saw Heather and Finley twice this week....out of my four pictures, two are with them!

Gramma was in town this week to get her hair cut on Wednesday. Before we went to the salon, we met Heather and Finley at our favorite lunch place...Panera!

Thursday afternoon, Elle and I headed out to Heather's for a walk. They live in such a wonderful neighborhood, with little traffic which makes it easy to push two strollers side by side. We were trying to get a picture of Finley and Elle, but as you can see we got Elle. Finley was (in his mother's eyes) showing off for us! He was too cute, I think I got about 10 hugs during our visit.

Friday night, we went out to dinner with our neighbors Heather, Jeremy and their two kids Olivia, 2 and Avery is 6 weeks older than Elle. Heather is a kindergarten teacher too, so we have lots to talk about!! Elle and Avery were mesmerized by the lights and fans...see both of them looking at the ceiling.

Elle had her one month check up on Tuesday and we have a healthy little girl! She now weighs 9lb. 4 oz. and is 21.5 inches long! She is in the 50 percentile for height and weight and between 25-50 for her head circumference.

David and I had a few questions to ask the pediatrician :

-- Elle has a red mark on her left eye lid, it is called and angel's kiss and will likely disappear by age one. This is very common in newborns.

--Her belly button is an outie (spelling???) and I wanted to make sure it was healing right. Well actually it isn't an outie, it is herniated. This too is common in newborns, their stomach muscles aren't developed well enough. Again, this usually disappears before age one if it doesn't by age 4 or 5, we will talk about fixing it.

It is so amazing how much Elle has changed in five weeks, she looks older and older each day. She now loves sitting up to look around, she sits in her swing, in her boppy or just propped up on the couch. Elle loves her bath and will kick and splash until the water is cold. She has started to coo and make noises when you talk to her (I love our conversations!) Elle has also started tracking toys that are in front of her, she is able to focus on objects now! As I have been working on the blog today, Elle has been full of smiles. I tried to catch one, sorry for the bad angles...her cheeks look HUGE.


Last but not least, we are so excited to be sharing some BIG news. My brother and sister-in-law are expecting...TWINS!!!! Adam and Amy had an doctor appointment this past Monday to hear the heart beat, well they heard TWO heart beats! We are so happy for them and welcome them to parenthood, the best job in the world. Twins is a new experience for our side of the family (multiples run in Amy's side), so we are excited to have two little bundles of joy! This auntie can't wait to dress them alike and Elle is so excited to get two cousins for the price of one! Check out Baby Wamboldt's blog!

Congrats again Adam and Amy, we are so happy for both of you!

One Month & Our 1st Family Vacation!

Before we get to our vacation, here is a look at our busy week before we left...not too many pictures.

When David gets home from work, it is mommy's time to shower and have a few minutes to myself. I asked David to change her....here is what she came out in -- a purple onsie with orange, yellow & blue socks. I am sure all of you can see how they go so well together?!?!?!

Elle attended her first play date on Thursday (before vacation). We went to Rachel's house, she has two boys Carter (2) and Owen (5 months). Rachel is a 4th grade teacher at Sherman. Heather and Finley were there and Sara and her two girls as well.

After the play date, Elle and I went for pedicures. Okay, so I got a pedicure and Elle snuggled with Mommy!

Before we headed to Door County we took a little side trip to Waukesha, WI. If any of you know where that is, it wasn't a SIDE trip...we took a tour of WI. Waukesha is right outside of Milwaukee, just what you want to do with a one month old. Elle did really well on the ride, it took us just over three hours and she slept until we were about 15 miles away. Why did we go to Waukesha? One of the "baseball guys" got married. Michelle and Biever (Justin) had a beautiful day and it was so great to see all of the "guys" and their wives again.

Gramma came down to watch Elle while we were at the wedding. Elle made an appearance, then went back for snuggles and Gramma time.

Here are the "baseball guys" doing their traditional serenade to the Bride -- You've Lost that Love and Feeling! Every baseball wife has gotten this wonderful serenade....they sing sooo well after 15 beers!?!?!

From Wauskesha we were off to Door County, another 3.5 hour drive! Again, Elle did great until Sturgeon Bay (20 miles to the camp ground).

Our trip to Door County is one that we take every year, we stay at the same camp ground - Peninsula State Park. My family has been camping at Peninsula for 30 years! It is the one thing in the summer that we ALWAYS look forward to. This year was even more exciting, to be bringing Elle. Next year will be BUSY...Elle will be crawling/running around!

Here is a view of the car, packed to the roof. If you look closely poor Elle is in her carseat, bottom right of the picture.

And a view from the back of the car, we don't have a picture of the golf clubs strapped to the top and the bikes on the back of the car. Next year we are going to need a U-Haul!

We made it safely to Door County, Elle was ready for the beach...Look at those sun glasses!

Elle even has visitors when she is not at home! Great Gramma Zielke (my mom's mom), Aunt Missy and Aunt Amy (no pictures of the Aunts, sorry) came to meet Elle. They too love Door County, thank you so much for making the trip to see us, it was so great to see the three of you! We will be down to visit soon.Even though you are camping, you still need to be clean. Elle got a sponge bath on the picnic table. She loved her bath camping even if she had an audience (Gramma, Grandpa, Uncle Adam and Auntie Amy).

As you all know, it was sooo H.O.T. this last week! Elle is a hot body like her daddy, so she took a few naked naps!

Every night we have a bonfire at one of the campsites. We camp each year with family friends, the Wendt's. This year with our growing family we were split between two sites David, Elle and I stayed with my mom and dad; Adam and Amy had their own site, so when Amy's mom, niece and cousin came to visit they could share their site. We had 3 different sites to visit for campfires, here are Elle and Daddy by the fire at Wendt's.

On Tuesday, we had more visitors. My best friend from my childhood, Chloe and her two kiddos came to visit. Cami is 3 weeks older than Elle...she is such a doll! Look at the difference in size - Cami was 9lbs when she was born!

I am only eight days older than Chloe, so it is so exciting that our baby girls are so close in age too. Now if we only lived closer, Jason, Chloe, Jace and Cami live in DePere.

Jace, Cami's big brother had to check Elle out too! Jace is now 2 and is such a big boy! He was in the water, laying in the sand, going down the slide...he was a busy boy! It was so nice to see you guys, thanks for making the trip to D.C. Looking forward to next year, when we can chase the girls around!

Lake Michigan is usually very, very cold it wasn't too bad this year with all of the heat! And of course Elle need to go in the Door County "healing" waters (according to my dad)! She wasn't sure at first, but the second or third dip she was thinking it was pretty good. I am sure it felt great, it was soo hot.


Elle spent most of the days snoozing on the beach, do you blame her?

Another tradition is to stop at Wilson's, an ice cream shop. Wilson's celebrated 100 years last year, it is such a popular place that you have to take a number to get served! Grandpa wants this to be an annual picture to watch Elle's growth over the years. Check out the size of the ice cream cone, it is bigger than Elle's head!

Next year Elle will be able to have ice cream with mommy and daddy!

For the past few years, the boys have gone golfing at the parks golf course. When the boys are done, the ladies meet them for breakfast at the club house. It was a rainy morning, but luckily they got their 9 holes in before it started. Elle was dressed for the day, her shirt said - Daddy's Caddy!


Heather let me borrow her Bjorn and it was wonderful! It was so nice to walk around the camp ground and Elle LoVeD it! Thanks Heather!!!

Wednesday Elle was one month old! Where did the last 30 days go? How absolutely adorable is this picture...sitting in the lawn chair like a big girl, eyes wide open! Seriously, we have the cutest little girl ever! But, I guess we are a little biased...

Grandpa always brings this wagon to lug chairs and the cooler to the beach, well Elle got to use the wagon. What a lucky girl, no one has ever been allowed in the wagon. No she didn't go for a ride...maybe next year!

Just another day at the beach! Gramma got me these glasses, hopefully next year they will fit!

Here is a look down the beach, it was PACKED everyday. With the temps close to 90, everyone was looking for relief! We had great weather all week with only one rainy day for shopping!

This picture makes me want to cry...sorry dad. Dave and my dad have a standing bet every football season and who ever loses has to wear the opposing teams shirt camping. We ALL know how the Packers did against the Vikings last year...in the seven years Dave has been coming to Door County with my family, this is the first that he didn't have to wear Packer clothing.

David needed a picture of his daughter with Grandpa in "the purple shirt"!

We had such a great time in Door County and look forward to the years to come watching Elle grow and love D.C. as much as we do.

Elle has her one month check up Tuesday, can't wait to see how much she has grown!