Things that Make Us Laugh: Novocaine

Grace and Jeff's Wedding

This past weekend, we were so privileged to attend and be a part of Jeff and Grace's wedding!  We traveled down to ATL on Friday and just got back today.  Sorry to those of you who already read Erica's post about this :) 

Highlights were getting to see our good friend Jeff get married to Grace - an amazing, godly girl who got us a babysitter, a car, and a place to stay (!) - and getting to hang out with other old friends - the "tall" Smiths and their sweet daughter Saylor, the amazingly mustached Knoop, and Colleen!  We love these friends and it was so refreshing to be with them. 

We were also encouraged toward Christ by their wedding ceremony, by their rehearsal dinner, and by the community around them, including the people we stayed with and their families.

Ellie did pretty well on the plane too, and although there were some stressful moments throughout the weekend with Ellie, it was so fun to show her off too :)

We love and miss the other Smiths.

Here's Saylor checking out Ellie :)  

Not sure what that second pic is about, but Saylor's face is just awesome.

Nice face, Knoop!

In the Line of Fire

Warning: this post may contain content that some might call objectionable or just plain gross. 

But we think its funny :)

Q: What do the following things have in common?

My leather purse

Our bedspread

The changing table

The rug

Ellie's sock

The diaper bag

My hand

A pillowcase

A: Absolutely nothing, right?  Wrong.

All of these seemingly unrelated items do have this one thing in common: they were all in the line of fire yesterday when I experienced my first real projectile poop moment with Ellie (mom, this was even more amazing than the one we experienced together).  

Yes, aaaall of them.  

And there was some definite force behind it too, because it went at least 4 feet...and I'm not even exaggerating!  It also went in two different directions.  Again, I am not exaggerating (although I have no idea how it's even physically possible).  I didn't even realize that it had gone in two directions until about an hour later when I was standing by the bed and saw that our bedspread had been hit... er, more like splattered.       

Aaaah, life.  Just thought I'd share.

Things That Make Us Laugh: Kristen Wigg (Again)

Victory

6 Weeks Today

Ellie is 6 weeks today!  Supposedly they get a little easier after 6 weeks?  Hmmm... We've discovered a few things about Ellie so far:

#1 She likes to be with people, and she wants to be held... all the time.  She doesn't really have an "other place" where she will chill without big-time crying for longer than 7-8 minutes (we've timed it).  The swing?  Nope.  The vibrating chair?  Nope.  The car seat?  Only if we are driving or on a walk (maybe).  Maybe this is normal, but supposedly Nick was just like this! 

#2  She also doesn't like to sleep.  Again, there is no fail proof place that we can put her so that she'll fall asleep.  Even if we rock her to sleep, she has this "I'm not in your arms anymore" radar that makes her wake up as soon as we put her down.  This is probably caused by the aforementioned social nature of the girl.  Now, we're trying some other tactics and we shall see if they work.

Here's Ellie in her crib with a rare calm moment.  She's calm probably because she's totally exhausted, but she's fighting hard not to go to sleep.

#3  When it comes to eating, she is either totally tired or completely demanding and ready to go.  And she'll tell ya all about how ready she is, if you know what I mean.  There is no middle ground with Ellie.

In other really random news, she's liking her bath more (see pics below)!  We thought she was sleeping through the night, but we thought wrong.  It really only lasted 4 days or something.  Sad day. 

Today, I worked out hard for the first time in 6 weeks (as Ellie fought not to go to sleep in her crib) and Jillian Michaels kicked my butt.  Yes!  Nick has started physical therapy the other day, and he is - as we speak - doing the water jogger over at the gym.  I'll go back to work on May 3, and Nick will take over as Mr. Mom for a month until we move in June (most likely back to Texas!).      

Flossy, Flossy

Before you read, know that this blog post is completely meaningless and may just be a waste of your time.  :)

Urban Dictionary defines "flossy, flossy" as "Glamorous, Strut'n one's money, Clean-Cut."  But before you start singing Fergie...

Ok you can sing just a little bit with me...

We flying first class, up in the sky
Poppin' champagne, Livin' the life
In the fast lane, And I wont change
For the glamorous, oh the flossy flossy

Whew!

But here's the real reason behind the title of this post...

I have so many cavities!  I need 9 fillings!  Oh nooooo!  I really don't remember ever having more than 1 or 2 at a time, so I'm amazed at the grossness of my mouth.  The dentist said that most are between my teeth, and it's because I don't "flossy flossy".  Ok, he didn't actually say "flossy, flossy," but it would have been funny if he had! 

 
After getting 5 of the 9 filled yesterday, I am now sort of committed to flossing.  I'm turning over a new leaf (at least this week)!  I don't like the sound of my teeth being grinded away.  Nope.  Don't like it.  Hate it.  Want to never experience it again (although I have to in a couple of weeks to get the other 4 done). 

Hmmm... maybe I would floss more if this kind  floss really did exist?  OH MY GOSH IT DOES!?!

So, do you flossy, flossy?  :)

A Visit from Aunt Haley

My sis Haley arrived on Wednesday night to help with Ellie and just left today.  It was so fun to have her here and she was so helpful! Did you know that you can use a hair dryer to get a baby to sleep?  Me neither.  Did you know that it is possible to give a bath in less than 3 minutes?  Me neither!  Did you know that you can hold a baby and do laundry or make coffee at the same time?  Whaaat?!    

Haley also informed me that babies are calmed by pirates!  [Aargh!] 

No, not really... she poked a hole in her cornea with a makeup brush a couple of days before she came and was still in recovery/blind with a super-dilated eye and, therefore, had a sweet eye patch. :)

Haley loved on Ellie a lot, and she really encouraged me as I adapt to this new role.

One of my favorite moments was yesterday when we went on a hike at Ravenswood Park, which is just a few miles from where we live.  Did I mention how awesome it is where we live?

We played a little Wii last night.  Here is Haley playing with her sunglasses because of her still super-dilated eye.  This is right before I whooped up on her in tennis, bowling, and golf.

We will miss you, Aunt Haley!

Things That Make Us Laugh: Ellen

I don't get to watch Ellen much, but when I do I'm always cracking up.  Maybe I like her awkwardness because I can relate?  Thanks to my friend Flare who introduced this lil' clip to me... classic.

ok, she's not that skinny :)

correction:  little smith is not quite as little as i made her out to be...

she's actually 8 lb and 15 oz (not 8 lb 9 oz - oops).

but again, you are probably only interested in this detail if your name is Joe, Debbie, Bill or Nancy :)

1 Month!

Ellie was 1 month on April 6th and had her 1 month appointment yesterday!  Just in case you're interested (and you are probably only interested if your names are Debbie, Nancy, Bill, or Joe), here are her stats from her appointment:

Length: 22 inches (b/w 50 and 75 percentile)

Weight: 8 lb, 9 oz (b/w 10 and 25 percentile)

Head: 14 1/2 inches (25 percentile)

So, we're long and lean - just like Nick :)

One thing I love about New England is that people here really appreciate good weather, especially those first months of warm weather right after winter.  These last few days, we had some awesome weather and we celebrated by going to the beach...

... with a bunch of other babies!

 ...and their moms!

Happy Easter!

We had a really fun day today celebrating Easter!  We went to church this morning and then grilled out with a few of our friends.  

After church...

Ellie's little Easter dress (thanks for the hand-me-down, cousin Keely!)...

The girls at the cook out (sans Lindsey)...

The boys...

A couple fun ones of the cute Arnoult kiddos!

Sunday is here!

My brother-in-law Rob's company, Igniter Media, created this video a few years ago.     



So thankful for Sunday.

Highs and Lows

The past few weeks have been a mixture of highs and lows, ups and downs. 

One high point would definitely be taking a family walk on Singing Beach in Manchester by the Sea.  It wasn't exactly "beach weather" and the beach was actually a little flooded, but it was so wonderful.  On our walk, we ran into an older couple with a daughter who was probably in her late 20's.  We were sitting next to them on two benches overlooking the ocean, and they had asked about Ellie and how old she was.  Then, they pointed across the beach at their daughter, who was walking barefoot in the sand about a hundred yards away, and said "There's our baby right there."  Wow. 

And then there are the low points.  Like the 2 1/2 hour crying marathon in the middle of the night (which happened night before last) or the crying episodes during the day, when we feel completely helpless.  Dealing with a desire to breastfeed, but feeling defeated because it's just not working and we're mostly giving her breast milk from a bottle.  I am learning a lot about the way I make control and routine little gods in my life and feel out of sync without them (wait, I thought Nick was the Type A one?!).  Again and again, realizing that my time is no longer really mine and laying that down. 

Before we got married, someone told me that with marriage the joys and highs increase all the more, but so can the lows and the pain.  They are intermingled and you almost can't have one without the other.  This is true with Ellie as well, and taken to a deeper level as Nick and I become a family of three.  We adore our daughter and we are so over-and-over grateful...I hope you don't hear otherwise!  But it is not always easy and I am both overwhelmed and overjoyed at the same time. I didn't want to fool anyone by posting cute pictures all the time. :)  But maybe you weren't fooled anyway?