Elise's First Halloween!!!

Watch out for the little pink butterfly!

Elise celebrated her first Halloween! With Halloween being mommy's favorite holiday, I had already sought out and bought her costumes a month in advance (yes, I said costumes - plural). Mommy couldn’t decide what costume she liked best, so I got her both! She was a pink butterfly and a little black cat (complete with a black and green tutu). We got some great photos of her in each costume. Daddy even got her to stand, practically unassisted, for some of the photos.

Believe it or not, we did take our little four month old gal out for her first evening of trick-or-treating. We dressed her up, in her pink butterfly costume, and took her door-to-door. She did great for most of the evening, and got plenty of attention. Everyone loved her costume and we were stopped many times, so she could be ogled and adored. It was fun, more so for mom and dad, as we got to show her off!

I should also point out that Elise is now extremely coordinated. She grabs at everything with pinpoint precision! We are starting to wonder when we need to baby proof the house. She is still not crawling, but we see it on the horizon. Fortunately, we remodeled and organized the house before she arrived. Aside from our home office, every other room is clutter free. Clint has all our electronics and gadgets hidden away in the hall closet, so there is really very little she can actually get into. Im sure she will still manage to find something to get into, but here's hoping that baby proofing won’t be so bad after all.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Sweet sixteen weeks - seeing the world from Elise's perspective

Elise's first pumpkin!

Elise is shaping up to be quite the weekend traveler! She no longer gets fussy during car rides, and instead falls asleep. This is great news for mom and dad! We tote her around with us almost every weekend, and she thoroughly enjoys being out and about. When we take her into stores, she loves to stare at all the lights and intently listen to the sounds around her.

This past weekend, we took her to the pumpkin patch. We posed her on a pumpkin about three times her size. The photo turned out absolutely adorable. She loved being outdoors and feeling the wind on her face. She stuck out her tongue and tried to taste it! It is so fun, watching her experience the world. Everything is new and exciting. More often than not, it’s the simplest things that captivate her. We enjoy being able to see things from her perspective now. She makes everyday routines exciting, because her reactions supply that much desired unexpected variable. Life with a baby is like living with a constant element of surprise. Good or bad, it always keeps you on your toes!

Some other exciting news to report, is that Elise has tranformed mommy into a morning person! I never thought this could possibly happen, but I am so thankful it has. I now look forward to every early morning with her. When she wakes up, she has the cutest little sleepy face, and every time I pick her up she closes her eyes, yawns and extends out her arms to the ceiling in her little morning stretch. I absolutely love it. I then feed her, and most mornings go straight to work with Elise by my side. However, every so often when I have a lighter work day, I take the opportunity to let Elise sleep on my chest during her morning nap. We both fall asleep together, just me cuddling my baby girl. When I wake up, with her in my arms, I feel so rewarded that I have the chance to do this every now and again. She is growing so fast, and I enjoy being able to take advantage of fleeting moments like these. One day, she will be too big to sleep on my chest, but she will never be too big to hold in my arms.

Favorite new mom moments

Making her smile, touching her soft velvety skin, carrying on babbling and cooing conversations, helping her stand up and use her little legs, hearing her laughter, dressing her up, giving her a bath and watching her content in the water, hearing daddy tell her how much he loves her, taking countless photos of her cute expressions, spanking the baby powder on her little bum, sleeping with her on my chest, looking into her beautiful innocent eyes and seeing a bit of myself looking back, singing to her and watching her stare up at me in awe, kissing her forehead and chubby cheeks, listening to her explore her vocal chords and make all kinds of adorable sounds, seeing how much her little mad face looks just like me as a baby, running my finger across the little dimples on her hands, the challenge of changing her diaper while she squirms all over (she thinks it’s a game), offering her my finger to grasp and hold, watching her cute little personality emerging, holding her up and dancing with her, watching her and daddy sleep, patting her back to calm her down, wiping away her tiny new tears when she cries, loving every moment with her; knowing she is the best part of Clint and I.

Current verdict on Elise's features: Daddy vs. Mommy

Does Elise look more like Daddy...

Daddy at 4 months old

Elise at 4 months old

...or mommy? You decide!

 

Mommy at 4 months

 

Elise again at 4 months

So far, almost all our friends and family think Elise looks like her daddy. I can definitely see the resemblance especially when I compare their baby photos. However, I did recently discover something funny; Elise looks just like mommy when she cries. I compared a photo of Elise and I as babies, both crying, and we look exactly the same. It's practically uncanny. I’m sure as she gets older, I will see more of me in her. But as of now I will have to settle for her looking like me when she cries haha.

Elise Crying

Baby photo of mommy crying

Honestly though, I really think she is the perfect combination of the two of us. She is growing to be such an adorable little girl. She has daddy’s hair, eyes, eyebrows, ears and head shape and mommy’s nose, lips/mouth and a bit of her chubby cheeks (though mine were twice as chubby as hers). She is still very petite, which she must get from Clint as mommy was a very chubby baby! Her hair keeps getting lighter and lighter. The roots are a light blonde and the ends are darker. I can tell that eventually it will turn all blonde. Her eyes are a dark blue color. Everyone always comments on how pretty and blue her eyes are. I think it is hard to say if they will stay blue, but they are definitely much lighter than when she was born so you never know.

Daddy with baby girl

Mommy with baby girl

Celebrating mommy's birthday & looking back on the past year

The three of us in San Francisco

This week was mommy’s birthday. To celebrate, we took Elise on her first road trip to San Francisco! We brought both grandparents to spend the day with us. It was so much fun and little Elise enjoyed being surrounded by her family. She did very well on the trip. She was content for the majority of the day, and happy to experience all the new sights and sounds of the city.

The day after mom’s birthday trip, Elise got to celebrate even more as her mom and dad's favorite red-haired auntie and Starbucks lovin’ uncle (aka. Robin & Greg) came up, from Carlsbad, to visit her. It was a busy and fun filled weekend; complete with great friends and family visitors.


This week also marks a full year since I first found out I was pregnant! This time last year, October 14th to be exact, Clint and I were celebrating the exciting news. We had just got back from my birthday trip, to New York City, when we found out. The photo below, is of the two of us, in October of last year, at the top of the Rockefeller Center Building in NYC. Unbeknownst at the time, I was just a couple weeks pregnant with little Elise! So technically her very first trip was to New York City (haha).

My birthday last year in NYC - 2 wks pregnant!

It is amazing to think of all the changes we have gone through over the past year. I experienced all the highs, and occasional lows of pregnancy, we welcomed our baby daughter into the world, and have since been occupied caring for her and watching her grow. So much has happened; in many respects time has flown by, yet there have also been points where it simply stood still. I can’t even begin to count the number of days I felt as if I would be pregnant forever! Yet, now that Elise is here and developing so quickly I feel like her first nine months will breeze by in relation to those of my pregnancy. Of course the anticipation and uncertainty is what draws out pregnancy.

Ever since Elise’s birthday, I feel like I can’t keep up with everything Elise related in my life. I have tons of photos and videos to organize and upload, and I am doing my best to keep up with her baby book and journal. I feel swamped under this entirely new expanse of my to-do list. All I can say is thank goodness for the video camera. I have been saving time by doing short video updates on all new Elise related developments. She is keeping mom super busy, but of course I enjoy every moment of it.

The best birthday gift;

sharing the day with my two loves