4 Months

Finally a 4 month post!!

Here's the official 4 month picture, although it's not my favorite. I had a lot of help on this picture! The kids have caught on to the fact that I do this, and everyone had a hand. Can you tell that Grace made the card!


Here's a look back

1 month


2 months


3 months


Here's a couple of my favorite pictures taken a couple days after Elizabeth turned 4 months old.



Elizabeth, Lizzy, Lizza, Lizza-bug, Lizzy Pooh, Dizza, Baby E - these are just a few on Elizabeth's nicknames. It's quite possible that no baby on Earth has ever been more loved.

Elizabeth, you are growing so fast. You are so smart and beautiful. So active, alert, and interactive with us. You like to try to imitate our silly faces. I even think you try to imitate our sounds sometimes. You get tickled and do a full body shimmy every time we smile at you.

You are still wearing 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers. At your 4 month appointment, you weighed 12 lbs even and were 25 inches long. I believe that you lost a little bit of weight while you were sick, but you seem to be on the rebound now.

You are still exclusively nursing about every 2-4 hours. It varies. You are becoming very, very interested in the things you see us put in our mouths. I'm thinking that we will be starting you on solids a little earlier than we'd planned/hoped. The big kids can't wait for this since they are looking forward to helping feed you. I only the other hand don't want to rush it!

You were sleeping through the night so good, and then you got RSV!!! Not good!! It was actually a pretty scary time. You had to sleep upright, so we put you in a bouncy seat at night to sleep for about 2 1/2 weeks. Since then, your nights and your naps are not on a real schedule, and well they are just off. We are working on that! Here's a picture of you sleeping in your bouncy during that time. No matter where or how you sleep, you like to stretch out!


Here's another precious sleepy picture!


For a few days you found your fingers and began to suck them. The same fingers that Grace sucked. We laughed and said that you looked like Mary Ruth sucking Grace's fingers. Hahaha!! Surprisingly, after a couple days you stopped trying and rekindled your love affair with your pacifier and your fist/hand. You aren't still trying to suck your fingers, but keep your fingers, hands, and fist in your mouth constantly.


You've got pretty good head control now, and you are so strong that we can even carry you around on our hip.

You roll both ways. When you were 2 1/2 months old, we counted 11/30/10 as your first roll from your belly to your back. Just a couple days before turning 4 months on 01/12/11, you rolled from your back to your belly for the first time. Even though you can roll both ways, you don't often do it. Maybe it's because you are not laid down much! :) Someone always wants to hold you. You LOVE being held so it's a win, win except for when everyone's busy and you scream your head off demanding to be held!

You giggle out loud all the time now. Your brother and sisters love to act silly and make you laugh!! It's music to my ears!!

Grace has gotten really good about being able to get you to sleep if it's time of a nap or if you are fussy. Grace is such a little Mommy. She treats you like you are her on. She has little need for a baby doll anymore. She's got the real thing!



One of your favorite times of the day is at night when you get your bath. We usually do this right after we get your brother and sisters to bed at night. You seem to know it's your time. You love your baths, and you LOVE to "talk" to us after bath time when we are getting you dressed. This is typically Daddy's job, unless he's working late. You must prefer Daddy to give your bath, because you always "talk" so much more with him. I said it was one of your favorite times, but it's one of our favorite times too!

I'm sure I'm forgetting things. I'm trying hard to etch these days into my memory forever. They go by so fast. Just so that I can remember, here are a few of my favorite things about you and our time together. I love the little bitty bald spot on the back of your head where you've rubbed your hair off. It's the only spot that you've lost any of your newborn hair. That little spot on the back of your head feels so smooth and sweet. I love the way you hold on to my shirt like a little monkey. I love to hold you sleeping in my arms. I love to snuggle with you in bed or on the couch. We don't get to do that very often, but I love it when we do. I love the way you light up when I look at you. I love the way your head feels in my hand. Growing so fast, but still so little. My hand completely covers the back of your head. I love how you love me and Daddy, Luke, Grace, Mary Ruth, and Bella Peace.

Here's a few other pictures to mark your journey from 3 to 4 months.

A picture of you from your first Christmas at about 3 1/2 months


I just realized that almost all these sweet pictures were taken while you were in the bouncy seat. You really don't spend that much time in the bouncy seat. I guess that's just when I remember to grab the camera! Or maybe that's just when I am free to grab the camera!! :)



In this last picture, you are just starting to hold, grip, and play with toys like this precious lamb rattle. You look so much like Mary Ruth in this picture!


We Love You, Lizzy!!

2 Months, 3 Months, and Pictures

I've had absolutely no time to post lately!! Life is awesome, wonderful, and amazing, and at the same time, crazy, hectic, chaotic. I've seen a button on other blogs that says, "It may be a crazy life, but it's our life." That's so true.

While I would love to do a great big post that sums up the past 2 months, I absolutely can't do that right now. No time. However because (big gasp here) I'm not keeping a real baby book for sweet Baby E, I have to document her 2 month (never got around to that last month) and 3 month milestones. Now before you are tempted to think, how could she not keep a baby book let me remind you that Baby Elizabeth is my 5 child here on Earth. I LOVE each of them so, so, so, so much. But, I've let myself of the hook when it comes to the baby book. I have had a hard to impossible time keeping up with the last few and making the decision not to keep one this time has been incredibly freeing. There's no guilt this way which is the way it should be. Also I recall, the Bible gives a look of instruction and wisdom in regards to raising children, and no where in there does it say to keep a baby book. So there you have it. No baby book. I'm confident that Elizabeth will look back and know that she was loved even without the baby book. And maybe, just maybe, God will graciously bless her with at least 5 children of her own and then she will fully understand. That said, let me move on.

Here's the 1, 2, 3...

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

In the picture above it looks to me like she is saying, "Ta Da, here I am, look at me!!"

She looks different all the time. In the picture above, Elizabeth looks like a clone of Mary Ruth. But in another picture we took today, she looked just like Grace. Of course, we think she looks like a sweetie all the time!

So here's the 2 month report:

Elizabeth,

At your 2 month well baby check, you weighed 11 lbs and 5 ozs and you were 24 inches long. Your sleeping and eating habits were pretty close to what they had been in previous posts except you were sleeping longer and longer stretches throughout the night. The major milestone for you between 1 and 2 months was definitely the fact that you began sleeping all through the night. Also just days before you turned 2 months old, you found your tongue. It entertained you for a couple of days. You would stick it out, and then in again. Out and in. And you would suck on it and make popping, clicking noises. You've actually got your tongue out in one of the 2 month pictures above. You were and still are such a sweet and happy baby. You wore a size 1 diaper and only 0-3 month clothes. You've also decided to poo poo only once a week. You seem OK and not bothered by it, but when you go there's no diaper that can contain your messes. I sometimes pray that it won't occur when we are away from the house, because it can be quite a mess and often requires a change of clothing as well.

And the 3 month report:

At 3 months your personality is really shining through. Again you are a happy baby, but you are becoming a wee bit more demanding. You definitely prefer Mommy over everyone else, but if you can't have Mommy then Daddy or Gracie will do. You prefer for someone to be standing when they hold you. You also prefer to be held facing out so that you can see everything. I recently took you to the mall to do some Christmas shopping, and I wore you facing out in the Moby. I could hardly get any shopping done, because you were laughing and smiling so big that you were getting a lot of attention. BTW you LOVE the Moby, and so does Mommy!! Typically you fall asleep as soon as I put you in the Moby, and you will sleep and sleep in it (with the exception of our recent mall trip).

Other things you love include your big brother and 3 big sisters. You are crazy about them all, and they love you too!!! You love baths. You love looking at yourself in the mirror. You love attention. Love being talked to. You love music, singing, and the sound of Mommy and Daddy's voice. We recently added a mobile over your crib that you enjoy looking at and listening to. You love your pacifier, but you also love sucking on your hands, fists, blankets, clothing, or anything else you can get your mouth on. You love to grab on to or hold on to something like our shirts or a blanket when you get fussy. We've got you a cuddly for Christmas that I can't wait to give to you. You love to be held tight and snuggled up. You love to end up in Mommy and Daddy's bed early, early in the morning. I love this too!

In keeping true to suggested clothing sizes, you've just moved in to 3-6 month clothing. Mostly you needed the length of this size. You've also moved into a size 2 diaper. Again this is more about length. You are a great sleeper and eater, something I prayed specifically for. You sleep from around 9 PM until around 5 or 6 in the morning. Then you nurse and cat nap until around 7 or 8 AM. After that, you enjoy a couple good hours of awake/play time before tuckering out for another long 2-4 hour nap. After your long nap, you eat, play, nurse every 2-3 hours, then cat nap in that routine the rest of the day long. You sleep in your crib until you wake up for the early morning feeding. After that feeding, you usually end up staying in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Because you share a room with siblings, you take your naps where ever available at the time. But, you are fairly flexible about it.

The milestones that occurred between 2 and 3 months is that you began to laugh, and you gave Daddy your first out loud laugh. And you rolled over for the first "official" time. You may or may not have rolled over once before. I think that a big brother or big sister may have helped you roll over that time, so I didn't count it. So far you've only done it once (11/30), but that's probably because you don't get much time to roll around on the floor. There's just not a lot of time that you are down on the floor, because of space or the fact that everyone wants to hold you all the time. When you are on the floor or on lying on your belly, you are very strong. You are pushing up on your arms and lifting your head way up. You get tired pretty quickly, though. Your neck is strong and you are well on your way to being able to support your head. Grace can't wait for that, because she wants to carry you on her hip. But I can wait. I can wait and wish I could slow down the time machine that's called life. It's passing oh so fast. You are growing up so fast. Right before our very eyes.

Elizabeth, you've stolen all of our hearts. We all love you so much. We are smitten.

So, there you have it. I blinked and she's not a newborn anymore. I've blinked a few other times too, because Luke is about to be 8 years old. Grace is big enough to be a good, good help with Baby E. Mary Ruth is getting ready to start losing teeth according to her dentist. And depending on the day, Bella Peace likes to tell me that she's either a teenager or a grown up. How can my little Jingle Bella be telling me anything???? Maybe I should tape my eyelids open to stop all this blinking from occurring! Do you think it would work?

Before I go, I have to leave you with a few other other reasons to smile. A few others that I'm smitten over. A bit of evidence of the blinking. So here you have it:

Have I ever mentioned the fact that Mary Ruth is a bit eccentric?


Or the fact that Bella Peace is both a tomboy and a girly girl? Notice the boots with her Christmas dress. Her choice. She actually wore this to church one Wednesday night.


What about the fact that Wesley and I are crazy about all these children!




One thing I'm sure I've mentioned is the fact that this is one happy baby. See.


And here's my John Deere boy! He's wearing camo war paint. It's his way of compensating for the fact the girls play dress up and put on play make-up all the time. It isn't easy for him to be the only boy. I can't believe he's going to be 8 years old soon!! Unbelieveable!!


Finally, here's my Gracie girl. She is such a little mommy and such a big helper. As I looked through recent pictures, almost every picture I have of Grace includes Elizabeth. She wants to hold her all the time, and she seems to never tire of it. Also notice E's hair. It's hard to see it in some of the pictures, but at 3 months old it still stands up all the time. Elizabeth's hair is one of the things that stands out or should I say stands up (ha,ha) about her!



Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto Him be glory... Ephephians 3:20-21

Lord, thank you for giving me exceeding abundantly more than I could have ever imagined!

And to precious friends who might read this who are waiting for a baby, a husband, a heart to be made whole again, a baby to be well and healthy, a job, (you each know who you are), for those who are waiting for your exceeding abundantly more, I'm praying.

Baby Dedication

We dedicated Baby Elizabeth to the Lord in a special dedication service at our church last Sunday. I feel so incredibly blessed to be a Mommy. To be her Mommy. To be a Mommy to 5 on Earth + 3 who are with Jesus.

Dear Baby Elizabeth,

It's our desire to raise you in the nurture and admonition of the Lord according to scripture.

We Love You So Very Much!!! BUT, the Lord loves you more. So much more. He gave His Son for you.


We pray that you will Love God and Love Others!!

November 21, 2010

We pray that you will accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior at the earliest age possible, and that you will never have a spirit of rebellion or unbelief. We pray that you will serve Him and glorify Him all the days of your life.

Elizabeth, you are a gift from God.

Did I mention that I'm blessed to be your Mommy?

BTW, Elizabeth is wearing a beautiful white smocked gown and an even more beautiful hand knit sweater and bonnet. Thank you, Grandma!! We will cherish it forever!!

Happy Veteran's Day

This happy girl went with her family to a Veteran's Day parade. It was her first Veteran's Day Parade. It was her first any kind of parade. And it was the perfect day for a parade!!

(I LOVE this picture! I LOVE the girl behind the big smile in this picture!!)

She's learning to wave her flag. Don't you think she's doing great?!


I think maybe she wants to march in the parade one day. She seems to be trying hard in the pictures below.




All that marching tired her out!


Truth be told, she slept in my arms the entire time. :)

I forgot my camera and don't have any pictures from the parade. BUT, Nana had her camera so I will get copies of her pictures later. I'll add pics of the other kiddos very soon!! The parade was great fun, but most importantly we were honored to show our support to our country's veterans and current soldiers. To those who serve, have served, or who sacrifice while their loved one serves...Thank You!!!

So...

So big. So sweet. So much fun. So loved.

8 weeks

Growing up, so fast.

I'll put up a real post sometime soon. You know, when I catch my breath. :)

Smiles

love

her

smile

this is the only sleeper that all 5 of our babies have worn

think i'll keep it forever

and the kiddos that wore it, too!

~ 1 Month ~

*** I've been working on this post for over a week! Finally, composed over the course of several days, here it is!!! ***

Today Elizabeth is 1 month old! It has been a very eventful month!! This past week was no diffrent. It held many fun times and a few firsts. Here are the highlights!!

October 6 - Elizabeth's first smile!! She flashed her first real, wide awake, conscious smile at Rachael! The next day she gave her Daddy another beautiful smile. Since then, she's been smiling more and more every day!! I haven't captured the smile on camera yet. Maybe soon I can get her to smile for the camera!

October 7 - Mommy and Elizabeth got out for Girl's Night! We've been out a few other times, but not just for a fun outing. Elizabeth was a very good girl and slept peacefully in the Moby the whole time. I LOVE the Moby!! We limit a lot of contact for first 6 weeks or so to try to reduce the exposure to germs and such. The Moby is a great way to do this!!

Here's a picture of us as we were leaving for our outing. I'm wearing the Moby so that I won't have to try to figure it out once I got to where I was going. Poor baby's headband is almost in her eyes.


October 8 - Very, very busy day!! Yearbook pictures, field trips, errands, and so much more!! Elizabeth lost her umbilical cord! Look at this beautiful little belly button! Kind of bittersweet!


I think I've mentioned before, she loves to look in the mirror!!


October 9 - Mary Ruth's 5th Birthday!!! I'll have to do a separate post all about this big day (hopefully)!




One of Mary Ruth's birthday requests was for us to visit some of the grandparents. We went to my Mom's (aka Grandmother). My Mom was here the day Elizabeth was born, but we haven't got to see her since. My Dad, Cindy, and Savannah, my Brother and Priscilla, and several of "the Aunts" met Elizabeth for the first time.

Daddy and Cindy with Baby E


Wendell and Priscilla with Baby E



I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Mom and Elizabeth. Shame on me! Guess us she and I were too busy keeping up with everyone and everything.

October 10 - Now that the umbilical cord is gone, Elizabeth was able to have her first bath in a real tub. She's a girl, so of course she enjoyed it!!

October 12 - Elizabeth turned 4 weeks!! Mary Ruth and Elizabeth had well checks. Mary Ruth did well with her 5 year check except for her eye screening. Looks like we will be have a full exam with an eye doctor in the near future. The other big news for Mary Ruth is she is very close to meeting the recommendations for a booster car seat. She can't wait!!

Elizabeth also checked out well. She's up to 8 lbs 9 ozs and is 23 inches long. This has her in about the 25 percentile for weight and about the 90-95 percentile for length (at least I think that's right, can't find my paper with that info). This is pretty standard for our kiddos.

There's plenty more to catch up on but I'm all out of time! Until next time, here's a few other pictures.

BTW, I've SO loved this sweet pink and brown outfit, but it no longer fits. It was a newborn in size. Elizabeth is pretty much only wearing size 0-3 month clothes now. She's in a size 1 diaper. Her sleeping and eating are pretty much the same.








I LOVE this picture!!! Grace never, never, no not ever tires of Baby E!!




LOVE all these sleeping baby pictures!! LOVE my family to pieces!!! Praise the Lord, Great Things HE has done!!!