September

Where has the time gone? We have already been in B'ham for 3 months and our baby is already 5 months old!!! Lots has been going on around here. Mom and Bubba are going to be back in less than a month and I am so excited. It's actually kind of late but I just wanted to post a few pics and say a few quick things....Ellie is still waking up once or twice at night to eat. I am still nursing and pumping. I have been making baby food like crazy and it is so easy, nutritious, and CHEAP! Ellie's favorite foods are avocado's and green beans :-) That's my healthy girl...I've been looking into Mothers Day Out programs for Ellie. Looks like I will be sending her one day a week starting NEXT September; unless a spot comes open before then. It's just one day, four hours. It would be nice to actually be able to get some things done around the house without having to stop every few seconds but who knows, maybe by next year she will be taking long naps by herself and I won't need to take her anywhere. On that note, she still only naps good if I nap with her. So, she either doesn't get good naps and I get things done or we both get a good nap or two and don't get much of anything done. She has discovered her feet and loves to put them in her mouth. It is so cute to watch her try to get her feet in her mouth. It takes her a little while at first but once she gets the hang of it she is on it! What else....I am about to fall asleep so let me post a couple pics and I promise I will write more soon. Good night

"Solids"

August 15 - Beautiful girl

There have been quite a few "firsts" here in the Fike household. Yesterday, Ellie laughed for the first time. An actual, real laugh. We were swinging on the porch swing and I was being silly with her and she laughed, twice. It was so cute! I can't believe my baby girl is laughing. She has been squealing with delight for a couple of months now but never actually laughed.

Last Monday we started her on solids. The first thing she had was rice cereal. She was not really a fan and kept making a face but I gave it to her once a day for 4 days anyways. After that we moved on to Avocado. She LOVED the avocado. No yuck faces at all. The last thing we have tried is Bananas. Again with the "yuck" face. This morning I mixed it with some rice cereal and she seemed to like it a little better. I think the Avocado is still her favorite though. She actually opens her mouth wide for the Avocado where as the others I kind of have to coax her into eating it. I also have been giving her a couple of sips of water after her solids. She is still confused by this and makes a face whenever she drinks it. I think it is funny because water doesn't have a taste :-)

First bite of food- look at what she is doing to her toes :-)
"hmmm, what is this?"

"o.k, I get it mommy..."

At her last doctor's appointment ( on August 14th) she was 24" long and 12.5 pounds. 50th percentile in height and 25th percentile in weight and head circumference. She's a little girl-just how I like it.

My sweet baby girl still is not sleeping through the night and mommy is tired. She normally wakes up twice to eat and goes right back to sleep. I am thankful that she goes back to sleep and I don't have to stay up for more than 15 minutes most of the time but it sure would be nice to sleep an entire 8 or 9 hours without waking up :-) I guess the time will come; until then I am actually embracing the middle of the night feedings and enjoying the extra time I get to spend with her. I told mom Ellie was mad at me and that's why she wakes me up but mom said, "no, she is mad ABOUT you". LOL, I guess that is true :-) My sweet baby girl.

Taking a Nap on the sofa

Ellie and I went to Haven's 8th birthday party a couple of weekends ago. I cannot believe that my little nephew is already 8 years old. It seems like just yesterday that I was giving him a bottle and tickling him "good morning". He is such a sweet boy.

Right now my little baby is sleeping peacefully in her crib. I just wanted to do a quick update and now I am off to catch some zzzz's before she wakes up again.

I've changed my mind

At Brennan's party with Daddy

Happy baby after Church

Good news, I am still nursing and pumping. Since I last posted everything has gone much smoother. Not one to give up, I just kept pumping and finally, NO MORE ENGORGEMENT!!! YAY!!! Ellie has been successfully nursing a lot more than before and I am not pumping as much.

For a while I was mainly pumping because Ellie would fall asleep every time she started nursing but she is much more alert now and has no problem eating a full meal before nodding off :-) She is playing with toys now and looking at books. I can't believe how much she is changing. The red that was once in her hair is now gone and has been replaced with a light brown color. I guess she won't be a red head after all. She weighs about 12 pounds and is just so beautiful.

My mom and I have finally figured out how to use the web cam so Ellie has been able to see her Grandmomma and Grandaddy :-) I'm trying to make sure she doesn't forget their faces since they are gone for such a long period at a time. Also, I bought Ellie a "look book" so that she can see her family all the time. It is just a baby photo album that holds about 8 pictures. She likes to look at it and chew on it.

Other than that, Stephen and I have been getting things done around the house. We had two ceiling fans put in last week, stained the front porch and side deck, and are having two new doors installed in about a week! Very exciting stuff around here. I laid some little tiles in my bathroom and the next project is hanging our window treatments in the bedroom and in the other living room. We are going to get that done before Saturday night hopefully. As soon as I get off this computer and get showered Ellie and I are going shopping for hardware so we can hang the curtains :-) Oh, and, Ellie has become much more mellow while in the car. Now she plays with her toys instead of screaming bloody murder (most of the time). Good times, Good times.

Leaving Brennan's birthday party

She has figured it out

Ellie has completely figured out the toy that I lay her under. We finally put batteries in it so now I think she has some incentive to hit the hanging toys. She hits them with a vengeance too buddy, she is not playing around :-) She also kicks them with her feet a lot. It is so cute to watch. She just smiles away and squeals as she is playing.

She slept through the night last Wednesday; 9pm-5am!!! Wooohooo!! Since then she has only woken up once and then last night she slept 7 straight hours but it was 3:30am when she woke up to eat so I guess that doesn't technically count as sleeping through the night.

On another note, I am pretty much at my wits end with nursing and pumping. I am getting engorged EVERY SINGLE DAY and I just can't take it anymore. I really wanted to make it through six months but it looks like I am only going to make it to four months. The pain is just unbearable, not to mention when I am engorged I don't get much milk out, which means it's a waste. I am disappointed and actually feel guilty but what is a mom to do?

Well, I will keep everyone updated. As soon as I figure out what is wrong with my camera I will post some new pictures.

Family Photos

We went to have our first family pictures made this past SAturday. They turned out cute and I am quite pleased. Click on my "photos" link to see them.

Pictures

I took Ellie to have her pictures taken a few weeks ago. Click on my photo link to see them all :-)

My baby girl is three months old

3 month birthday

Look at those pretty blue eyes

This is an old picture but here is the toy I was referring to

How time is flying. Ellie turned three months old yesterday. She is getting so big and she is so alert. She has started somewhat playing with her toys. She has this thing that she lays under and it has a sun, moon, and star hanging from it. She has started to hit them with her hands and it is the funniest thing because she makes this face like "what in the world was that?". Other than that she pretty much just hangs out with me (and when I say with me I mean me carrying her around). She is babbling up a storm. I think she is going to talk early because she gives it her all as it is. She just squeals and opens her mouth really wide like she is trying to talk. She also likes to smile a lot and has even made the laughing face without actually laughing. If that makes any sense. Ellie and I have been enjoying each other at home every day while Stephen is at work. We sure do wish he was home more but someone has to make some money :-) Everything is good here. We took Ellie to the beach for the fourth of July and she did not like it. I think it was too hot and too bright out there for her. I guess we will try again some time next year; definitely not the fourth though, it was very crowded.

Let's see, other than that; Stephen has been working during the week and hanging out with us on the weekends. I really like that he has a normal schedule now. He does like his job, which will surprise a lot of people. I've been trying to be a good stay at home mom/wife and have been making him a good dinner every night for the past couple of weeks. I plan to keep this up because I love to cook and it is usually the only decent meal I get all day. Ellie does not seem to like it when I try to eat :-)

Well, speaking of dinner, it is time for me to get dinner ready. I'll try to blog again soon.