7 Weeks Old

She is smiling and cooing now! It's so funny how you feel like you have single-handedly created world peace when you get her to smile. And when she talks! Forget about it....

She hasn't liked sleeping in her crib, so I took a picture of her first nap in it. It lasted 5 minutes.

Oh, and....

Yeah she does!

Busy Parents

For three years now this pair of House Finches have nested in my candle-chandelier-ball thing that hangs right outside our kitchen window on our back porch. If you look closely you can see four babies begging daddy for food.

But, for the first time, this year those babies grew out of the nest and the mom immediately laid three more eggs. It really was a matter of days.

Not quite Octo-mom, but close!

Bunnies and Cousins

Elise wanted to share her bunny impression. Pretty dead-on, if you ask me.

Elise and Great Grandma at our house for Easter breakfast. Don't think I'm Awesome Mom that hosted breakfast for 6 people with a 3 week old. My mom made everything, brought it over and cleaned everything up before leaving. If you haven't had her Egg Casserole you haven't lived!

I remember when Samantha was born. I carried her around pretending she was mine and certainly didn't correct the woman in the restaurant that asked me how old my baby was - "Oh, she's 3 months," I said with a smile :)

Now, here she is with her "real" mommy helping her to hold my "real" daughter seven years later. Thank you to Sam, Lilly and Brooke for letting me practice on them. I've never had more fun learning to do anything!

In the Beginning....

Elise Irene Curtis was born on April 3, 2009 at 4:56pm. She was 8lbs 1oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She is four weeks old as of Friday! She is Jody's parent's first grandchild and my parent's fourth granddaughter!
We had a very large room at the hospital which allowed almost all of our visitors in the room at one time. Hanging out with all of my family waiting for my labor to progress was awesome. My mom got to be in the room during the birth and the three of us watched The Bonnie Hunt Show in between contractions.
The postpartum room was just as nice and it was fun showing her off to everyone. It was also the site of Jody's first diaper change! We did have to stay a day longer than we thought because she was a little jaundice. However, we were thankful for one more night with the help of the nursery.
I don't have a means of comparison, but I think she's a pretty good baby. We can usually get her to calm down and sometimes she would sleep for more than four hours if we didn't wake her for a feeding. This picture was a day or two after bringing her home and I think she has changed already (yes, the eyes are even bigger now,) so I will post more, soon!

The Birth of a Daughter and a Blog

Okay, so this is the beginning of an attempt to manage a blog. I have no idea if this is something I will be able to keep up or if it will just fall off my radar like dusting my house. Should I be "blogging" if my house needs to be dusted? There is also a basket of laundry in my bedroom that needs to be folded, cat hair on the pergo that needs to be swept and paperwork strewn about that house that needs to be gone thru/filed. But, we all know that's just the beginning. I will also confess that since I have been on maternity leave, if I'm not doing something for Elise, I have been mostly watching TV and waiting for someone to drop by to break up the monotony. Maybe I will get things done once Jody goes back to work....

Speaking of work - Jody goes back to work (American Express Business Travel) on Monday. He was off for four weeks. I go back (Bailey Banks & Biddle) on June 2. I am off a total of nine weeks. However, when I go back I will be part-time (yay!) and only work until the store closes (boo.) We are not sure when it will close - maybe a month or two after I get back. So, get your jewelry together and bring it in to me in June for a last chance professional cleaning or to buy some new jewelry - there are some unbelievable deals that have started already. Don't worry, I don't have a quota or anything.

But, work is just the beginning of how much things have changed. As a result of our biggest change, I do have a word of caution for anyone wanting to start a family. Just know that when the little one is born you will realize that you have just created something you now cannot fathom living without.

But, back to the blog - future posts will not be this "wordy," I promise. Although, I do warn that they will mostly contain pictures of the most beautiful addition to the world - Elise Irene Curtis - our little monkey pie.