3 Months Old

Here's our beautiful Elise at 3 months old!!  I stayed up at my parents house for a few days to recover from the horrible abscess and my sister Nicole decided to do another photo shoot with Elise.  She was much more cooperative this time around!  I think she did an amazing job and got some great shots of our little girl!  I've added a few more below as well!  Here are some things about Elise at 3 months:

-LOVES to eat her hands

-Is 'talking' a lot more

-Still isn't rolling over quite yet

-We predict she is going to be a thumb sucker, we've caught that in her mouth several times

-Smiles back at people

-She has become quite the drooler

-Is in-between sizes.  Too big for her 0-3 months but WAY to small for her 3 month clothes.  It makes dressing her a big difficult!

The Story of an Abscess

This whole ordeal started about a month ago.  I noticed that I had a lump in my breast.  I called and talk to my sisters about it and they told me I most likely had a plugged duct and to put warm compresses on it and to try to massage it out if possible.  They also said to nurse Elise on that side first and always try to make sure that she emptied me out.  I tried to follow their instructions but had no luck.  The plugged duct turned into mastitis :(  Another fun factor in this game is that currently I have no insurance.  My brother in law is a doctor so he came to the rescue and prescribed and anti biotic for me.  I started taking it and felt much much better.  My energy level was back and I felt functional.  The lump was still there.  Everyone I talked to said to make sure to keep taking the anti-biotics until they were gone and the lump should go away.  Well, it didn't.  I kept hoping and hoping that it would work itself out, but of course it didn't.  The pain and pressure and the sunburn it was giving me from the inside out eventually became too much to take so even with no insurance, I called the doctor and made an appointment.  The night before the appointment it hurt so bad I hardly got any sleep at all.  My appointment was with an NP.  She took one look at it and went to get the doctor- it was THAT bad.  I could even hear all of the nurses talking outside my door saying things like, "Did you see it?"  "Oh that poor girl, its terrible" so on and so forth.  I was the 'show' for the day.  The NP even came in and asked if some of the workers that were nursing students could come in and see it- so I said sure, why not!  The doctor thinks that it might even be MRSA but we won't know until Monday when my culture sample comes back.  The doctor referred me to a general surgeon and I was to go to him in just 1 hour to have him drain the abscess.  Here comes the gross part!  I got to the surgeons office and got all checked in.  He gave me some shots in my breast so it wouldn't hurt as bad, and made his incision.  Yes, I could feel all sorts of puss or whatever it was run down and when he pulled out the abscess he showed it to me.  It was about the size of a nickel, and round.  He said that is pretty large as far as abscesses go I guess.  It did feel nice to have all that pressure gone.  The terrible part is that I didn't get instantly stitched up.  Even as I type this I have an open wound filled with gauze.  Zack and I have nick-named it my "gun shot wound" because that is what it looks like!  I have an appointment on Monday to have the nurse look at it, and on Thursday the surgeon will stitch me up and hopefully then I will be on the road to a full recovery.

If you made it this far, congratulations!!  It was long and gross but I want to remember this so that one day if Elise is a difficult teenager (lets hope not!) that I can hold this over her head ;)   Another scar all in the sake of motherhood, right?!

Tummy Time

Here is a little video of how Elise feels about tummy time.  Needless to say, we don't do it too often.  We are currently working on trying to get her to roll over.  We'll see how training goes :)  It's fun to hear her cute little voice in this video though!

Date Night!

Zack, Elise and me with my spoils from the date!

This past Saturday my siblings and I had a fun date night!  I found the idea on my cousins blog and adapted it to fit us better.  Basically we sent the guys out on a scavenger hunt, complete with clues, and they went around town to buy us presents :)  Who wouldn't like that?!  At first the guys weren't all that thrilled to be sent out on a "man date", but I think in the end they ended up having a great time too.  The clues sent the boys to the following places:

-The kitchen table to make us a card
-Macey's grocery store for some candy
-Sees Chocolate
-Claire's for some jewelry
-Bath and Body Works
-Deseret Book
-Back home again for the present reveal and some delicious banana splits!

The participants!  Please excuse our matching outfits- we had taken family pictures earlier that day!  I bet the boys loved going to mall together in matching clothes :)

The girls all stayed home and watched the kiddos while the boys went out.  It was fun to see what all the girls thought the boys would get us, and what they ended up buying.  We were all very pleased with the results even if the boys did break a few of the rules. Thanks for playing along with us boys!!  We love you and appreciate all you do!

Two Months Old

I realize I'm biased but is this not the cutest little girl?!

I can't believe that it has already been 2 months since this cute girl came into our lives!  She is so much fun and it is so amazing to get to see her everyday and see her change and grow so much.  

Here are some things about Elise at 2 months:

Hated her binky until about 3 days ago

Loves to eat her hands

Arches her back 

Loves to be swaddled

Her favorite place in our house is the changing table

Loves to take baths

Occasionally looks at her parents with a "what are you doing?!" expression

Is excellent at holding her head up

Loves mornings

Typically a good sleeper- usually only wakes up once

Is discovering her voice

 We love you so much darling daughter!

Brunch with Friends

Emily and Elise, Shauna and Corbyn, Rachel and Jillian

It's crazy to think that a year ago this time that none of these cute little babies even existed!  Well, Shauna's did but he was still in her belly :)  Our good friend Rachel was in town this weekend and she stopped by for a visit and so we could all meet each others kids! It was fun to visit together and hear about how all our lives have changed so much!  The good/bad thing about a student ward is that you meet such great people and we have so much in common with them but soon everyone moves away! Thank goodness for the internet and blogs so we can all stay in touch! 

Grandma's Quilts

If any of you know my mother, you know she is a QUILTER.  She started about 15 years ago, and has been going strong ever since!  She is one of the most talented women I know, and I look up to her so much!  One thing my mom likes to do is to make each married couple a quilt, as well as a quilt for each grandchild.  Today's post is to show those off!

I picked out the quilt I wanted my mom to make for Zack and I the summer before we were married.  I saw it in a magazine and fell in love with it!  The pattern was so neat- I love how it plays with your eyes.  It looks like a kaleidoscope right?  I asked my mom if that was an "ok" quilt for her to make and she gave it the go ahead!  That being said, this was the hardest quilt my mom has ever made!  It took many many hours of intricate cutting and piecing!  She also had to add even more quilt blocks because the pattern for for a queen and we have a king size bed(I'll ask her how many blocks she had to make!). She finished it last November and just finished putting the binding on it.  I love it- it couldn't be more perfect!  It might be a little late but certainly worth the wait!

This is the quilt my mom made for Elise.   I love the simplicity of this row quilt and especially the fabrics!  My favorite thing on it are the appliqued' birds and the yo yo's she has sewn on.  It was machine quilted and makes cute little flowers and vines across the quilt.  It won't show in the picture- but it is great.

I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful and talented mother!  Mom, these are certainly heirloom quilts that we will keep and cherish forever and will be passed down with love!  Thanks again!