3 Months Old!

Wow...Has it really been 3 months already!?

Today Elise is 3 months old and she is really growing fast! Everyone tells you how fast time flies when they are this young, and it's so true! I have really enjoyed and treasured my time with her at this stage - I love just holding her in my arms, cooing ("talking") back and forth with her, helping her play with her toys and sit her up to see what's going on around her.

She is very alert! She grabs onto everything (in fact she's playing with my camera right now and I can't take a picture of it...maybe I'll grab my phone real quick!), loves to "talk", loves her blanket, enjoys laying down, and also sitting in the bouncer seat.

She started really smiling a lot around 6 weeks old, sleeping 6 hours every night at 4 weeks old, and now sleeps around 10 to 12 hours every night at 3 months old! She woke up this morning for my cousin Michelle at 10:30 am...so wonderful!!

Some of the things I absolutely love about her are: how she tucks her thumbs in her fists, how she tries to "talk" and thinks she is actually saying words, how she SLEEPS in (yes!!!), how she rarely fusses, and how her face lights up and she has a big smile every time she sees me!

She truly is a blessing and gift from God! We are so thankful that He gave her to us! She has brought so much joy to Derek, Logan, and I! We are looking forward to seeing her personality develop and watch her grow into a beautiful young girl...and someday woman.

We pray that she will always put God first in her life! Elise, we love you our special baby girl!

Just born - April 28th

2 days old - heading home!

one month old

6 weeks old

8 weeks old

10 weeks

11 weeks old

3 months old - sitting in her bumbo & already watching tv :-)

Summer Update!

Wow! It's been a VERY busy summer for us! Sorry for the lack of posts, but this is the first weekend since Elise was born that Derek and I don't have any plans...Yay for relaxation! Instead of going back and writing separate blogs for each of the things I missed writing an update about, I am going to write one long blog. Enjoy! (-:

Where to begin...

Well, in June the week after Logan finished his 1st grade school year, we went on vacation with Derek's family to the Outer Banks, NC (OBX)! We had a blast!!! On the drive there, we were able to get together with wonderful old friends - my friend and her family from when I was in junior high, and Derek's friend and his family from college. The house we rented was located in Corolla towards the North end of OBX, which is close to where we had stayed 2 years ago. This year our house was on the Sound front (instead of beach side), and came complete with 5 bedrooms, a swimming pool, hot tub, bikes, air hockey table, and kayaks! SO fun!! Derek and Logan enjoyed many of the amenities, however, Elise was only 6 weeks old at the time and I was still recovering, so the two of us didn't do quite as much. While enjoying the week with our family, we also spent time at the beach, eating fresh seafood, and going back to the Currituck lighthouse where Derek and I were engaged a little less than 2 years ago! Enjoy some of the pictures from our trip!

The week we came back from vacation was then birthday week! We had celebrated all the June and July family birthdays on the Santan side while we were in OBX, but we still wanted to celebrate Derek and Logan on their actual birthdays! Unfortunately, we missed going to Paisleigh's 8th birthday at Zoombezi Bay this year since we were on vacation, but we saw the pictures and heard it was a lot of fun!

For Derek's 37th birthday, Logan helped me make dinner and a birthday cake for daddy while he was at work - we surprised him when he got home! We had pot roast for dinner and a chocolate cake.

Two days later was Logan's 7th birthday! He had spent the day with his mom doing lots of fun stuff, and then after Derek got off work we took him to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner!!! Just what he wanted!

On June 22nd, my maternity leave time came to an end and I started back to work. My cousins Kristen and Michelle wanted to watch Elise during their summer break, so they have been watching her every day while I'm at work. They are doing a great job! Elise will start daycare full time in August.

The next weekend, my friend Rachel came to visit from Tulsa!!! We had a fun time getting together again, and I was so happy to introduce Elise to her! She volunteered to get up with her one morning to feed her so that we could sleep in...much thanks!!! Derek's mom also came that weekend to spend an entire week with us! We had such a fun weekend filled with shopping, the movies, dining out, eating jeni's ice cream, watching Derek play hockey, etc. It was just what I needed...time with the girls (and Derek too)!! :o)

During the week that Nanny (Derek's mom) was here to visit, she watched Logan and Elise every day while we were at work. We really appreciate the time that both of our mothers have helped us out recently with the new baby - my mom in May and Derek's mom in June/July! It was such a blessing! Many memories were made. Nanny and the kids spent the days at the park across the street, taking walks, and trips to the store! During that week, I also had to take Elise to her 2 month Doctor's appointment to get shots on July 1st...yuck! It was horrible to see her screaming when she got poked with a needle 4 times. I wanted to cry! :-(

We finished off our week with Nanny celebrating the 4th - Independence Day! Paisleigh came to spend the night with Logan and Elise, and then we went to the July 4th Dublin parade! Several family members on my side also came to join us for the parade! It lasted about an hour, such a long parade, and all the kids collected tons of candy! Here are some pictures!

Just after the parade was over, Logan and Nanny got on a plane back to Philadelphia. Logan spent the next week by himself at Nanny and Papa's house - and also saw Chris, Wendy, and Avery.

The next weekend on July 12th, we celebrated my Grandma's 79th birthday! I just feel so blessed to have her in our lives right now and to see her make it to this birthday - she was in the hospital for 5 or 6 months a few years ago and we could have lost her. With lots of prayer and wisdom from her doctors, she made it through! I am very happy and honored that Elise was able to meet her Great-Grandma!

During the week of July 13th, Kristen and Michelle babysat both Logan and Elise for us! They are such a great help and they all had lots of fun together! That next weekend we had our friends Fawn and Hillary come visit us from Indianapolis!! We are so blessed to have friends travel to see us and meet the baby! We spent the whole day Saturday with them. We walked to this cute little French bistro a few blocks away for brunch, only to get caught in the rain while we were walking back - sorry for the wet hair guys! It was great times though!

Well, that catches me up for now on my posts! More to come. I know it's a super long blog, but I write all this to say how thankful we are for our family and friends! Without the support of both our family and friends, we wouldn't be where we are today.

We love you guys!!!