8 Weeks Old!

Ellie is 8 weeks old...and she likes to be awake! Not at night which is wonderful for us but she is loving spending time just checking out the world around her during the day. It is sort of weird after having a baby for almost 2 months that pretty much just eats and sleeps to see her with her eyes wide open taking in the world. She does like to be upside down once in awhile...proving her Grandpa Tom's theory that babies like to be upside down after spending so much time in that position. I only held her there for a couple of seconds though so no word on if she minds the blood rushing to her head!

I'm desperately trying to make her smile, I'm sure it is very humorous to watch. So far she only smiles when she is sleeping or maybe for gas (I guess that is what everyone says...kind of weird I think). She seems to be growing but is still pretty tiny. My guess is she is around 7 1/2 or maybe 8 pounds. She seems to be very long to us and the clothes she has outgrown have only been too small in the length department. Her cheeks are super cute and getting very healthily plump.


Check out her latest video of tummy time...it shows her valiant effort to lift her head despite the fact that she was pretty tired. It also highlights her adorable baby noises.

Mysterio Predicts Ellie Will Be A....

Aunt Carissa sent us a pretty spiffy gift today. A bag that holds the insight into Ellie’s future:


So we excitedly opened it and are happy to report...

Our Visit With Great Grandma and Grandpa Fleming

Great Grandma and Grandpa Fleming went home today...and we're all sad about it! We had a wonderful two week visit with them. Ellie enjoyed not being put down to sleep and Grandpa's perfect touch at getting her to go to sleep. Missy and Milo loved having extra attention. Jason and I loved all the help with everything... Grandma helped me finish so many things that I probably never would have accomplished. We had a really fun time.

Some highlights:
Grandma made Ellie this beautiful quilt. I mentioned it earlier in a post. She used fabric scraps from a quilt I made for Jason for Valentine's Day when we were in high school. It is really neat. I promptly put it down on the floor in Ellie's room and let her check out the very cool black, white, and red. She loves it! It really is sooo special!


Grandma, Grandpa and I made kolaches. They are a pastry made from yeast dough with fruit in the center. Grandma helped me make the dough and then Grandpa and I rolled them out while Grandma held Ellie and she watches us work. They are a treat that I remember from the time I was very tiny. My Great Grandma Halupnik used to make them and gave us each a little dixie cup of cherries!
It was such a fun visit and we can't wait to see them again!

Ellie is 7 Weeks Old!

Ellie is 7 whole weeks old. That is super hard to believe. She is doing great. She continues to look around at everything and now is moving her head to look at things. She loves her bath and she doesn't mind tummy time. So far she hasn't smiled on purpose but we're looking for it! Sleeping is going well. Generally she is eating around 11 sleeping until 4 or 5 and then sleeping until 8 or 9.


We've had a busy couple of weeks. My grandparents have been in town which has been wonderful! We've been busy mending, sewing, working on her bedroom, etc. Last week we went up to Asheville to see Mike, Jesse, and Vera which was great fun. She was a great little traveler for her first trip away from home. Jason stayed home to work so we missed him a lot but we had a wonderful time in Asheville. Vera is getting so big and is adorable! It is so fun to see her and to think about what we'll be faced with in a year!

On the way home we went to Star to see Ellie's Great Grandparents on the Hamilton side and her Great Aunt Sally for the very first time. Itwas nice to see them and we're so glad they got to see Ellie while she is still teeny tiny.

Happy Valentine's Day!

6 Weeks Old

Ellie is 6 weeks old which means that I am halfway done with my maternity leave :( I don't even want to think about that! Ellie is such a baby now. She isn't such a newborn anymore. She is still itsy bitsy in size but her mind is working all the time. She is starting to be more bothered by having her diaper changed if she is hungry and wanting to be held in a specific position, etc. In the past few days she has started lifting up her head and looking around at all the things around her a lot more.

We're thinking that Ellie is going through a little growth spurt right now because she seems to just want to eat, eat, eat and often is pretty fussy when I stop feeding her. I've heard that it can take a few days for the milk production to catch up to the baby's needs so I'm hoping that is the case. She still is really good. When I say fussy it is kind of in the context of her pretty much never crying and now crying a little more than we're used to. Luckily I have some milk stored up so when she really seems extra hungry we give her a little extra in a bottle.

I think Ellie has settled into a little bit of a nighttime routine. The last three or four nights I've fed her around 11 and then she wakes up just once in the night around 4 AM. It is great! She is usually asleep by the time I'm done feeding her and goes right into her crib with no problem. She is still sleeping in our room next to the bed in a portable crib. I think I'll keep her in our room for another month or so. It is so nice to have her right there and know that she is okay.

Here's a goofy little video we took today. Nothing majorly exciting but it does show how she is looking around and holding up her head.

Ellie Update

Things are going well in Ellie's world! Everyday she is a little different and is working hard on holding up her head, looking at things, and moving her arms and legs. So far she doesn't seem to know how her hands work but she sure does wiggle.

It is amazing how impatient a little baby can be when she is hungry. Ellie lets us know when she wants to eat. We got into the habit of changing her right before she eats when she was first born and having trouble staying awake for feeding. That way she was wide awake to eat. Well now she screams with two very strong lungs pretty much anytime we change her before she eats. But the dilemma is that she often is very sleepy after she eats and we can easily put her into her crib and she falls asleep. SO..do I really want to have to change her then? I guess for now we'll put up with the pitiful screaming. It is very dramatic with the lip quiver, eyebrows and all!

Speaking of eyebrows...I think Ellie's eyebrows are the cutest thing in the world. She uses them A LOT. Today I even caught her with one eyebrow up and one down like her Grandpa Tom.

We are super excited to have Great Grandma and Grandpa Fleming here for two weeks. We are keeping busy finishing up sewing projects that I meant to finish but didn't, putting up a new baby gate and enjoying our little girl. Grandma made Ellie a beautiful quilt that is black, white and red. She used the scraps from a quilt that I made Jason for Valentine's Day when we were in high school. She also made us a wall hanging when we got married with the same fabric. It is a really special gift that I know Ellie will cherish forever!

Sleep update: Ellie continues to sleep pretty well. I usually feed her around 11-12 and then she wakes up around 2-3 and then again between 6-8. It really hasn't been bad although I can't stay awake unless I get up out of bed and feed her in a chair and play some mindless game on my phone. She usually is pretty good about going right back to sleep at night after eating which is wonderful. During the day she still sleeps a huge portion of the time. She is starting to be awake more often and loves to eat, look around at things, and practice balancing her head on top of her shoulders (man is it heavy!)

Check out the new pictures in the flickr link to the left. I added a new set with pictures of her from one month on so that there weren't so many to look through.