6 weeks!

  

6 weeks old!

The first of many matching outfits??

Ellie turned 6 weeks old on August 6th.  And she continues to be a pretty easy baby.  I refer to it as hitting the baby jackpot!

Routine - Her little daily "schedule" is not too much changed from the 3 week report I gave.  Some mornings she is up at 7:30 or 8.  Other mornings she sleeps in until 9 or 9:30.  She is awake for longer and longer periods, up to an hour or two now.  She naps off and on in the morning.  Some afternoons we can get her to settle in for a multiple hour nap, especially if we put her in the swing.  Other days she just can't seem to settle in and cat naps.  These seem to be the days that she is more fussy.

She will eat on average every 3 hours during the day, but it can vary from 2 to 4.5 hours.  She eats a little more often in the evenings to tank up for overnight.  She is usually out for the night between 9:30 and 10.  Then she will sleep until sometime between 3:30 and 5:30.  She eats for 15 minutes or so and is back out for 3-4 hours until she is up for the day.  Mommy has no complaints about this schedule!  (Well, except that she worries about her milk supply staying up without the overnight demand).

Developments - Ellie seems to be right on track with her early milestones.  We have cooing and smiles!  Unfortunately, we also have baby acne.  Some pretty serious acne popped up right at 6 weeks.  Poor thing!

Overall, we are so happy to have our little Ellie girl here and so thankful to be able experience one of those "easy babies" we had heard speak of.  :)

Ellie's first trip to the botanic garden

Well, Ellie made it a whole month before we dragged her to the botanic garden on August 29th.  She did pretty well through our wanderings in the garden and lunch afterward.  And Claire finally got to play in the flower fountain! 

Posing in front of the butterfly sculpture

Walking with daddy

Waving to a butterfly on the lantana plant

Ellie enjoys the view of the Earth Goddess

Daddy and Claire in the ogre

Mommy gets in on the photo action

The fountains!

Reading the frog's book

Claire starts school - 2013

Claire continues on at the preschool at our church.  This year she in the older two's class.  She just made the cut off between the older and younger class by a few days.  So she is the youngest in her class.  She did fine last year being the next to youngest so hopefully that holds true this year.  Maybe she'll get some potty training motivation once her friends start going!

Here she is on her first day!

First day - 2013

Last year and this year.

2012 - 18 months

2013 - 2.5

The school has a meet and greet each year before school starts so the kids can meet their new teacher and a few classmates.  Many of the kids were in Claire's class last year so that's nice for her and for me!  Here are a few pictures from her meet and greet this year.

On her first day, she was excited to go to school.  I walked her in to her room where some kids were playing with cars on the rug.  I encouraged her to go play while I put all her supplies in her cubby.  By the time I headed back out, she was engrossed in play and oblivious to me.  The assistant teacher had to prompt her to say goodbye! 

After the first day, she gets dropped off and picked up in the carpool line.  So no tears to deal with this year.  :)

One month old!

Ellie turned one month old on August 26th.  Here are some 1 month photos.

1 month already?

I'm not happy about it!

Here are some more pictures from weeks 4-6.

Squeezed into this outfit once before she outgrew it!

Chilling in my car seat

4 weeks old, hooray!

Sisterly love

Deep asleep....

...just kidding!  I'm awake!

Sweet sleeping baby (love those sleep smiles!)

Creepy sleeping baby!