Six Sweet Weeks with Ellie

We can't believe our girl is already 6 weeks old! She's growing each day, and we are loving watching her learn new things. Parenting is harder than we thought, but it is worth it when Ellie gives us one of her beautiful smiles. Her smiles start with her eyes, as they turn into half-moons, and her tiny mouth follows as it forms into the same shape. She gives us big toothless grins regularly now, and coos at us too. What a sweet girl! I don't want her to grow up, and I never realized how hard it would be as she reaches these milestones. It is exciting, and I catch myself saying, "I can't wait until she's old enough to...", but then I quickly retract my statement because this means she'll be growing up! I know I can't stop it, but I wish I could sometimes!

6 Weeks Old! 

Weight: 9 lbs. 8 oz.

Length: 23 inches

1. Eating? Ellie is nursing now about every 3-4 hours, and sometimes a bit longer at night! YAY! And I have saved more bags of milk, which I would have never imagined how proud I would be of them. Haha!

2. Sleeping? She is still sleeping in our room in a bassinet mostly, but I am hoping to make the full transition to her own crib in the next week or so. I love have her nearby though, and if I move her, it really means she's growing up! She consistently sleeps 3-4 hours at a time now, and I am thankful for that. She even slept 6 hours two nights in a row this week! YAY!

3. Milestones? These past two weeks we've had many firsts and new memories as our new little family of three. We had our first family dinner out together, just us, at Pei Wei. She also slept in her crib at night for the first time. To celebrate Ashley graduating from OU, we went out to eat and had to leave her for the first time too! But we were okay and so was she, since Uncle Darin came and watched her! A few other firsts this week were: a trip to Penn Square Mall, cupcakes from Cuppies & Joe, and hung outside in the garden while mom did some yardwork! Now she is wearing 0-3 month sized clothes, which makes me sad! And she smiles a lot more at us, and has even "talked" to us a few times! But our poor girl has also had a rough week or so with her baby acne, heat rash on her neck, and first diaper rash. She is hot natured like us so we are trying to keep her cool better.

4. Activities and adventures? We had two main events these past two weeks, and they were both last weekend. Auntie Ashley graduated from OU with her Bachelor's degree, so we went and watched her get her diploma! Hooray! We are so proud of her! We celebrated at Melting Pot, which is when Ellie stayed with Darin, and had a serious blowout all on his lap. Silly girl! It was my very first Mother's Day, and our moms allowed us to spend the day together doing what whatever we wanted! We had breakfast, hung out together, visited our Mimi and Lola anyway, and then had a picnic on OU's campus  under our favorite tree. It was a wonderful day that even ended with shakes from Sonic and snuggles on the couch! She also had her first trip to Guthrie to see one of Chris's cousins graduate high school. She did great there, and was so glad to meet everyone!

5. Favorite baby item this week? Hmmm... Probably her Swaddle Me sleep sacks! She's gotten to the place where she kicks so much at night that her blanket comes off or gets wrapped around her, so we tried this out this week. I think it has been part of the magic combo of getting her to sleep 6 hours in a row too, though it hasn't happened every night. 

6. Favorite moment these past two weeks? My first Mother's Day...The whole day was fun because I got to spend it with my two favorite people! 

7. Looking forward to these next two weeks? I'm looking forward to summertime and school being out, though I haven't worked since Spring Break. But it will be fun to be able to see many of my friends, since they'll out of school too. YAY! 

8. Visitors?: No new visitors this week, but got to see several people we love! We also made our first trips to Mimi's and Lola's houses on Mother's Day! And when we went to Guthrie for Stasjha's graduation, she finally got to meet cousins Stasjha, Jalen, Julius, and Rene, as well as Uncle Jose. They loved her!

9. One thing I've learned: That motherhood is hard, for reasons I never realized. But I'm doing it and will keep on keeping on!

10. My message to Ellie:
Wow sweet girl! Can't believe it's been 6 weeks! You are so beautiful and so sweet to us! We've gotten a bit more used to being parents, and now we know better how good of a baby you are. You are a good eater, a good sleeper, and you give us many sweet smiles when you're awake! I love watching you grow and learn, but I want you to stay my tiny baby forever. Everyone who meets you thinks you're so cute too, and they say that you look a lot like me. Your hair is starting to curl at the ends, especially after your baths. I love you so very much! 

A couple more favorites from these past two weeks: