Christmas cutie

I made this little dress for Elle for our family photos. And since we focused on family photos I wanted to get a few of just her in her festive get up. Things started off rocky and the song I'm gettin' nothin' for Christmas was playing in my mind throughout all the tears. But after a quick milk break Elle soon got into the holiday spirit. 

And I just love these last ones of Elle and Ben. Gosh her brothers seriously love her so much. This kid can cause me a lot of grief but he is always the sweetest big brother to this girl and she is so lucky to have him. I can't wait to see how their relationship grows.

Elle's blessing

We blessed Elle in our church on November 9th. It was a very special day. Since we don't have church these days till one we hosted a little brunch at the house for family beforehand. All of James' siblings from out of state were there, including uncle Jayson and auntie Kaitlin who were meeting Elle for the first time. The weekend was made extra special as Elle's great grandmother, Sylvia, was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints the day before. She was also meeting Elle for the very first time as she lives in Florida. 

This is the most hilarious picture of Ben above. He and I were cracking up for days. He dubbed it his angry cowboy pose. 

James have a very sweet blessing and for the first time one of our babes fussed a bit during it. She wasn't exactly screaming her head off or anything just an uncomfortable cry throughout most of it. She wasn't liking how all those men were holding her because once she was back in her daddy's arms she stopped crying. Elle has already blessed our lives so much and we are all completely smitten with her. She was a beauty in her special dress, shoes, and headband. Mommy's little angel for sure. 

Three months

I just keep getting later and later with these updates. Oh what can I say about this sweet amazing girl of mine. I'm just so head over heels for her and she is developing her little personality and just becoming so fun. She now babbles all day long and laughs for us almost everyday. She laughs especially hard for her oldest brother. His spit noises just crack her up. Elle also loves to make her own spit noises and her lips are constantly covered in bubbles. The smiles she gives me could melt me into a puddle. It is very easy to get this girl to crack a smile. She's a happy one like brother Jackson, who always had a smile on his face. We haven't had an official weigh in for a few weeks but according to my own scale Elle has packed on a couple more pounds over the last couple weeks, putting her right around twelve pounds. Some rolls are definitely starting to form and she's looking like the most beautiful cherub to me. Doc was concerned for a while about her liver but after several blood tests (no fun) everything is perfect and I hope that weight concerns are also going to be a thing of the past at her next checkup in January. I'm still nursing but my supply isn't quite cutting it, so we've finally settled on soy formula and I think it's the best for her spit up issues. Although she still has her very bad and wet days (but that only means multiple outfit changes!) We are at the beginnings of getting on a sleep schedule. She's still my very sleepy girl and falls asleep in the car a lot so it's not exact. Wake up is currently around 6:45 then it's back to bed by around 9:30/10 for a couple hours. Then another hour or so nap around 4. Bedtime is promptly at 7; otherwise it's grumpy town. This girl still loves her brothers and is rarely bothered by their craziness.  They enjoy trying to get her to play with toys and watching their shows with her. Ben, the iPad and Elle is how I manage to make dinner some nights (when I actually cook- not my strong suit). Elle has mostly given up the paci but will still take it to settle down to sleep. She has replaced the paci with her hands as you can tell from some of the below photos. She tries to stick both in her mouth at the same time and is always loudly sucking on them. Rolling is in the very near future as she's gotten very close. Elle's a strong little thing and handles tummy time like a champ, sits straight up on my lap, and loves to sit in her bumbo. As with my boys, I'm so excited to get to know this girl more and discover her personality and watch her grow. But at the same time it's going too dang fast. Slow down sister girl. Love you so much babe. 

This is Halloween.

Ever since Ben's third halloween I have always made/bought him a couple of costumes. There are always so many parties and activities and I don't want him wearing out his real costume before the big day. We kept things pretty low key this year and our only other activity was a little downtown trick or treating. I put together a very simple Frankenstein and mad scientist costume for the boys with some stuff we already had. I also glued some fake florals to a little beanie and cut out some felt leaves and had a beautiful little flower just like that. It was so fun to watch Jackson this year loving trick or treating. We also spent our October watching a halloween movie together on Friday nights and may have scared him a little bit with the movie Coraline. It was even scary to me. Now whenever I ask him if he wants to watch a movie he says, "no, it's scary."  Poor kid. We've moved on to Christmas movies so hopefully he will get over it soon. 

I decided on the theme the nutcracker for our family costumes. I did manage to pull off a ballerina look for the ward Halloween party but James was a Scrooge this year and didn't participate due to the World Series. I loved how the kids costumes turned out. I'm becoming a much more confident seamstress and sewed Ben's entire costume from scratch. With no pattern. I thought it turned out great. For Jackson, the Rat King, I made a simple king's cape, and for Elle I sewed her leotard, and embellished a headband and her tights. They wore these costumes at the party and then the boys wore them for trick or treating in Utah. It was a bit different this year, having spent the last four halloween's in Los Gatos. But we found a beautiful neighborhood in Orem, UT where they were giving out tons of full size candy bars. Score. Another great Halloween. Now bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Both are going to be so fun this year.

Fall Festivities

Fall is definitely my favorite season. I love the weather, the colors (both in nature and in fashion), the food (soups and slow cooker anything), and the holidays (Halloween, hubby's birthday, and thanksgiving). Here's what we've been up to so far.

We hit up a couple pumpkin patches. 

Celebrated James' big 30th birthday with a Pinterest fail Oreo eyeball cake, pumpkin carving, and a Giants World Series victory! 

And I had fun playing dress up with my little pumpkin.

Our indian summer

I'm not always thrilled to live in California. I don't like the cost of living at all. I like nice weather, sure who doesn't. But I also really love true seasons. I've been craving fall like crazy and until just recently it's been a heat wave. So if it must be nearly ninety degrees in October the least we can do is get out and take advantage. Seriously we have had warmer beach days in October than we had all summer. 

Two Months

What Elle loves:

• her momma
• being looked at and spoken too
• laying on my chest
• sitting up on my lap and looking around 
• her crazy brothers giving her attention
• baths.  she's ultra content in the bath even with crazy Jackson surrounding her in her bath chair with toys.   
• her nursing pillow.  if she can't be held, she's happiest laying on my bed or the couch on her pillow. 

What Elle doesn't love:

• diaper changes 
• sitting at stop signs or lights in the car.  just like her brother she cries and cries until we get moving again.
• being ignored.  she will start to fuss even if she's laying on my lap if I'm not looking at her or speaking to her.

Eats: momma's milk plus a few ounces a day of formula.  my supply is not quite meeting her demand.  

Sleeps: on and off all day.  six hour stretch at night then back to bed for another three hours.  

New tricks: Elle coos a lot now and its the sweetest little sound.  smiles are no longer attributed to gas.  she smiles all day for her momma especially. 

Stats: 9 lbs. and 22.5 inches.  weight gain is still a concern but spitting up has improved and the plan is to add a few more ounces a day to her diet through supplementation.  I'm starting to see a hint of rolls and her cheeks are plumping up and oh so kissable.   

One month

Elle's first month of life was hectic for me in general.  Adjusting from two to three kids.  Ben starting kindergarten just two weeks after her birth.  A difficult recovery for me.  But for her specifically, things went rather smoothly.  She takes after her brother, Jackson in the sleeping department.  From about day four, she was sleeping at least a five hour stretch at night, usually waking up just once a night depending on bed time.  Nursing has gone well pretty much from day one, I'm using the shield again, so I'm trying to keep up with pumping so I can last longer than I have in the past.  Her little arms move like crazy and she clutches them towards her chin, so I have to pry them away to get her to latch on.  But other than that, it's been easy breezy.  The difficult part has been keeping the milk in her little tummy.  Because of this she is also struggling to pack on the pounds, but all my babies have been beans so I'm not too concerned at this point.  

Ellie girl has been surprisingly strong.  After just a few days she would life her neck up and stare me right in the eyes when laying on my chest.  Which is her absolute favorite place to be and favorite position to be held in.  Laying up on my chest, with her little face peaking over my left shoulder.  Oh and I have to pat her back or she will remind me with a sweet cry.  I'm afraid that I am spoiling her a little bit in the holding department, but she is just the sweetest little button that I can't help myself.  Besides she is a great sleeper, nighttime and naps, so she gives me enough hands free hours when she's doing that.  

She enjoys her paci very much as you can see and sucks the heck out of it.  It is so funny to hear how hard she goes at the thing.  Elle also has taken to bottles beautifully.  Probably because I use a shield when nursing, but even if I didn't I wouldn't stop until she figured it out.  I have to have my kids be able to take a bottle.  I seriously don't know how some mom's exclusively breastfed.  I'm not saying that I supplement with formula (although I'm by no means against that if necessary), I just in addition to nursing, like to pump and bottle feed my babes.  I like this for several reasons.  I like to be able to measure how much she's getting.  I like to give daddy and her brother the opportunity to bond with her through feeding.  And I like to be able to grab a bottle for times when I know it will be just easier to feed her that way instead of having to nurse her (brother Ben has fed her many times in the car while we are on the go).  

Oh Elle you are so loved already.  You have three boys who dote on you and a mommy who can't get over her excitement of having a girl at long last.  Your nicknames include Ellie, Momma Girl, Sister Girl, Baby Sister Girl (what Jackson calls you), and Little Girl (what Ben calls you).  You are just the sweetest addition to our little family.