No News is Good News

Lack of motivation on Sunday makes this post a day late. The title of this blog is the perfect description for the week. We spent lots of time just hanging out at home. It was a week of quiet family time, which was nice for a change.

Last Sunday we ventured to the Eau Claire Apple Orchards with our neighbors Heather, Jeremy, Olivia and Avery. It was a gorgeous afternoon to be outside. You have to look really close to see David IN the tree picking apples.


You could say it was "slim pickings"...we recruited Olivia to be the official apple picker, since ALL of the good apples were too high for us to reach!


David and I like to make sure we stuff out bag full of apples, well this year the bag was so full they were falling out...so no carrying the bag by the handle.


Elle loves to stand (when you are holding her) and look around. She doesn't like to be cradle, unless she is really tired. Daddy thought it would be fun to watch her stand on the couch....she is a strong little girlie!
...And then we crash


Elle continues to LOVE her swing, she also LOVES her Lion. Look how she is cuddling him while she naps...adorable!


Look how long our baby is, she is getting so big!


We did meet up with friends Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but I again get an F for picture taking. No pictures of Wednesday and only one from Thursday and Friday (and Heather took it!) Wednesday we met Melissa, Claire and the two "busy" children she watches at Owen Park to play. It was a chilly morning, but nice to get out of the house.

Thursday was the day of RAIN. (I was so thankful that I wasn't teaching...indoor recess ALL day!! YUCK) Heather, Finley, Elle and I joined the seniors in the community at the mall for a walk! Okay, there were other mom's there too, but I think we were out numbered by popcorn heads! :) After a number of laps around the mall, we stopped at the toys so Finley could play.


He is getting to be such a big boy and will go down the slide all by himself.


Friday morning, 5 moms and kids met at the Sports center. Everyone else uses the sports center to burn off some energy before nap time...well for this mom (who carries her child in the bjorn) it is a social time. Again it gets us out of the house and a little adult conversation for me!


We had our third wedding since Elle was born on Saturday. Another baseball guy got married right here in E.C. Grandma Maureen came to watch Elle and Brad stopped by to see how big Elle has gotten. Look at that crazy hair...

It's that time of year again, David and I don't really talk on Sundays. But we have decided that we will not be making that decision for Elle, so she has apparel for both teams. I found a Viking outfit this week, and when I bought it I felt it was necessary to explain why I was buying "purple". Like the checkout lady really cared!?!?!


A few things about our 2 1/2 month old:

• She is officially in 0-3 month clothing
• She is now is size 2 diapers
• She LOVES to talk to you, especially first thing in the morning.
• She smiles ALL the time
• She loves to sit up and look around (She sat in her bumbo for 15 minutes the other day)
• She is only getting up twice a night 3am and 6am and sleeps for about a 5 hour stretch
  

I have really been enjoying my time at home and keep reminding David...to bad we haven't won the lottery yet!

Tour of WI

Elle and I are taking full advantage of my maternity leave. This week, we took a trip to Racine and Kenosha. My gramma, aunts, uncles and cousins all live down there and we don't get down there often. My parents were in E.C. for Marie's wedding, so my mom and I headed to Racine and my dad took Paisley with him to Oconto Falls. Poor David was left home alone until Thursday!

Our first stop (and hotel accomodations) was at my gramma's. The picture below is of four generations, gramma just absolutely LOVED having Elle at her house. Elle and great gramma had some great conversations and lots of cuddles during our visit.

Mariana (my cousin's daughter) is turning ONE!!! We couldn't make the party, so we gave her, her present early. I apparently am a bad photographer because I never got a picture of the actual present. It was a radio flier wagon, stroller and ride on toy - a 3 in 1 deal.

On Monday, my Aunt Amy dyed gramma's hair and my hair. Elle sure likes going to the salon! Thanks Aunt Amy, I love my hair!

Elle setting her hair color...J/K! But is made fore a cute picture. Sooner or later I am going to have to allow someone to trim her hair, as I was asked again today if she had wig on....seriously!?!?

Monday afternoon, we got in the car (again) and headed to visit my dad's side of the family. Our first stop was at Uncle Mike and Aunt Pam's house. Pam was babysitting their grandson Riley. Riley will be 2 very soon and is a busy little guy (who didn't have a nap that day). It was so great to see you guys, thanks for the visit!

After Mike and Pam's, we were off to my cousin's house. Jeff and Janel offered to have the family over for dinner. Their two girls were sooo excited to see "the baby". Taylor is now a first grader and Brooke is three, niether could get enough of Baby Elle. Brooke even offered Elle her blanket, that's huge for a three year old!

Uncle Bill took his turn too, I think he managed to hold Elle for about 5-10 seconds.....

Elle was once again spoiled rotten! She got lots of clothes and a few new toys. Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts, you all were too kind!

Chloe (a kindergartener) took her turn will Elle. As you can see from the picture, Elle had enough of being "passed around" she was ready for some snuggling.

One of the reasons for the trip besides just visiting was to get the family baptismal gown. The gown was made from my dad's grandmother's veil. Once we had the gown and held it up to Elle, we have come to the conclusion that she will be too big...bummer. But my gramma made a gown that a few of my cousins wore, and so Elle will wear that one. At least we came home with a gown that will fit her! :)

Our tour of Wisconsin ended when I brought gramma home to Oconto Falls. It was a great trip and so nice to see everyone! I loved the fact that we didn't have to rush home on Sunday to go to work on Monday! I could really get used to this being home thing....

Elle took a bath at gramma and grandpa's and look what she decided to do...while I was washing her back she straightened her legs and stood right up! Look at that baby butt!!

Thursday morning Elle and I got in the car for the last leg of our tour...back to Eau Claire. Once we were home and unpacked, I needed to stretch my legs and Paisley was spoiled by my dad (he walked her twice a day) we decided to take a nice LONG walk.

With the three of us back together again, we ended the weekend by celebrating our neice's second birthday. Aftin loves Minnie Mouse, so it was a Minnie themed party. She is too cute and getting so big, so fast! Happy 2nd Birthday Aftin!

Two Months Old!

We continued to work on Elle's room this week and now all we have to do is add Elle's newborn pictures (once we get them)! We left the room the color we had originally painted it when it was an office and had always said we would just add a stripe to make if more masculine or feminine. So, we added a pink and brown stripe around the room.

David told me after we painted every room in the house (a different color) that he was not painting again for 10 years! Well, he now says that he will NEVER paint lines again! It turned out so great, and really makes the room look girlie...but not too girlie! :)

We also added some shelves to display special gifts, David's teddy bear as a child and my Peter Rabbit tea set. The room feels so cozy, I love it!

Elle has really great head control and always wants to sit up to see what is going on, so I decided we would try the Bumbo. Just like tummy time, she can do it for a short amount of time and then gets tired.

Paisley and Elle were having a staring contest! I think Paisley won....

Is that a wig? Yes I was asked that question again this week! Seriously who would put a wig on a two month old?!?!?

I do have to say we have lots of fun with her hair after bath time! Look at that Afro! Amazingly, the girl never has a bad hair day, you would think she would wake up with major bed head....Nope. Lucky girl!

Elle had her two month check up Friday. She is weighing in at 10lb. 15oz and 21 3/4 inches long. She finally weighs more than David at birth! I think she carries about 1/2 the weight in her cheeks!!

She continues to be average -- 50percentile for height and weight and between 25-50 percentile for head circumference. Looking good baby girl!

The two month check up means, 3 shots...urgh! David was giving her a pep talk before the shots....how adorable.

Poor Elle, SCREAMED when she got her shots! She was screaming so hard that no sound was coming out, then a huge gasp for air and an enormous wail!!! I think it hurt David and I just as much, I had tears in my eyes and David decided he will never go to a doctor appointment again when she needs shots.

Look at those poor little legs with band aids...she was a very sleepy girl on Saturday!

I am going for the "Mother of the Year" award....Elle made her first stop at Mogies for "Staff Development" (drinks after school hours). Grandma Jean (my teaching partner) was helping show how wonderful of a mother I am! :)

Elle attended her second wedding on Saturday, our wonderful hair stylist Marie married her best friend Catlin!

Elle danced her first dance with mommy and daddy.


Elle got lots of snuggles in with Auntie Julie!


Happy two month birthday Elle Maire! We are so lucky to have such a beautiful daughter!! Love you baby girl!

Anniversary, Back to School, Maternity Leave!

David and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary on Monday August 23rd, we headed to the cities for a nice dinner. That meant that Elle got to snuggle ALL evening with Grandma Maureen!

Our first dinner just the two of us since Elle was born. We even stopped at Target to get a few things.

I am enjoying my first glass of wine since before I was pregnant. I got half way through and told Dave I don't think I can finish it...but I did and it tasted really good! We went to a wonderful restaurant in Roseville Chianti Grill, we both ate WAY to much!

Elle found her hands this week, she loves to suck on them and boy does it make quite the sloppy sound. ;)

Daddy and his girls...Paisley continues to be very good around Elle. She is curious, but keeps an appropriate distance.

Elle, Paisley and I headed to Oconto Falls for the weekend. This was Elle's first trip to Gramma and Grandpas house, so of course they would do as any grandparent would and "showed off" their grand daughter. The neighbors and family friends came over for a grill out. It was so nice to see everyone!

Elle was chilling on the table outside while everyone was starring at her. She was the guest of honor!

Gramma and I have been talking about black and white books and how they are developmentally appropriate for her age right now. Leave it to my mom to find some on Amazon, she also found this really cool bumper with black and white pictures of one side and color for when Elle is a little older. Elle LOVES it and stares at the pictures! Grandpa was making sure she could see herself (there is a mirror too).

Saturday night, I picked up Megan, Shelly, Matt and Brent and headed to our 1o year class reunion. I cannot believe it has been 1o years! I am so lucky to have such a great group of friends, it is like we haven't missed a minute when we get together. From left to right: Megan, Beth, Shelly, Me, Lori (in the back), Chloe and Liza! It was interesting to see who showed up and what they are doing now.

Gramma and Grandpa let me take a nap after the late night, this is what they did while I was sleeping. I told my dad that if he ever wants to see his grand daughter again, he might want to pick different reading material. I do have to admit, the girl looks good in green! :) Oh, how the fun has just begun.

Sunday after the reunion, the girls and kids got together at Chloe's house. It is so funny how our lives have changed in just 10 short years! It was a busy house with kids ranging from 6 weeks to 2 years old.

Here they are: Elle, Jace, Cami, Lilly and Anna. Missing from the picture are Tess and Gwen, they were with their dad.

We have been working on tummy time more and more. Elle is getting so strong, look how she is looking at her black and white bumper! She doesn't like to be on her tummy for too long, but can go between 5-10 minutes.

It has been a busy two weeks, the school year has started which means countless hours of work in the classroom. Even though I am on maternity leave the first 12 weeks, I know how much work there is to get the room ready and I have to come back to the room so I couldn't give up all control. :) I did meet my students Wednesday Sept. 1st, I feel it very important to the parents that they meet me. Kindergarten is a big deal and for some it is their first ALL day school experience. Elle and I took a traditional first day of school picture.

More tummy time, this time on her activity mat! I promise she wasn't choking, even though it may look like it.

The week and a half of working at school wore this mommy out! Elle and I spent my first day of maternity leave on the couch cuddling! I am so lucky to have so much time off, I don't know how moms go back after a short 6 weeks...I never could!

I stopped over at our neighbors house (Heather and Jeremy) Wednesday afternoon and they both looked so tired. Heather is a kindergarten teacher in the district as well and Jeremy works in Menomonie. Knowing how tired I was after working all day, we offered to make dinner for them Thursday night. That meant a picture opp. for the two newbies, Avery is now 3 months old and Elle is 7 weeks. One of these days, we will get Olivia (2) in a picture! I can't wait until Heather starts her maternity leave in October, we will have lots of play dates!

Our Thursdays and Fridays while I am on leave are reserved for Heather and Finley time. ;) On Friday, we met the two of them at the mall for a walk and some play time on the toys for Finley. We decided to walk in the mall considering the temperature outside was about 50 degrees! I am hoping we will be able to get a few more walks outside before the snow starts to fly!

I was way over due for a hair cut...Friday afternoon we visited our favorite stylist Marie. She is so excited to cut Elle's hair, which may happen sooner that I was hoping.

Little Red Riding Hood ventured out to the farmers market with us, again temperatures were in the 50's and very windy! I was ready to get out the bundle me to put over her car seat...brrrr.

It wouldn't be a visit for my dad, if we didn't have him do some type of project?!?! We are just starting to add girlie details to Elle's room, here is a start; Simply Adorable is centered above her crib.

Elle takes a really long morning nap and since I know the transition to her crib will come before we know it, we have started putting her in there for naps.

Sunday we headed to the cities to look at bedroom furniture for David and I. Our dressers are falling apart, so we headed out to start looking . Elle always makes sure she is dressed to impress...is she not the CUTEST thing on this planet!

We stopped at Grandpa Bill's house for a visit after shopping, then back to Grandma Maureen and Papa Coach's for dinner with Jeff, Sue and the kids. Brock is getting to be such a big boy, and he took his role of holding Elle very seriously....look how proud he looks in this picture!

I am looking forward to my first full week of maternity leave, Dave is off and I am hoping to get some things done around the house.