One Month

Weight: I think about 9.5 pounds...she was just under nine pounds at her appointment a week ago.

Height: Last week they measured her at 20.5 inches still, but I think she may be a little longer than that.  Her pediatrician seems to think they were extra generous at birth....we think they were stingy at her appointment :)

Nicknames: Ella, Ellie, pumpkin, sister, baby

Eating: Big eater just like her sister! She latched on just minutes after she was born and would be permanently connected if I let her.  I have not really been keeping track of her feedings (#secondkid), but I would say she eats usually every 2-3 hours...sometimes less and sometimes more.  She usually eats twice during the night.

supervising her sister playing in the backyard

Sleeping: Oh another great sleeper! We aren't falling for it this time! She has been sleeping anywhere from 3-6 hours at night.  She usually has one long stretch at the beginning of the night, usually from about 9pm until about 1-3am.  Then she is up again around 4-6am.  She sleeps so great swaddled....if you can get her to stay swaddled.  She tries to bust out of it so hard, but daddy's got her number :)  She doesn't like to miss anything during the day and usually naps best if she is being held or in her carseat (on a walk or during errands).  

Diapers: She is now in size 1 since we ran out of newborns.  We have used pampers and huggies.  She has Joye legs, so the size 1 diapers were a little big at first, but are working fine now.  Still in newborn clothing, although she has been put in a few 0-3 month outfits *ahem daddy*

her great-grandfather and name twin!

Social: Ellasyn has been able to meet so many people in her first month of life. She has met all three sets of grandparents, two sets of great grandparents, uncles, aunts, family friends and baby friends :)

Likes: She loves breastfeeding. She also likes her car seat and swing. She loves to sleep while being held. She also likes to pull mommy's hair and put her hands wherever they aren't supposed to go.  She likes to be outside and she loves the bath!

Dislikes: She seems to really dislike waiting for food.  She is also not a fan of getting poked by her sister...And sadly enough she doesn't really seem to be a fan of her pacifier. In fact, she often gags when we try and give it to her #dramaqueen

Mommy: Well if you read Ellasyn's birth story, then you know I had a rough few weeks after she was born.  C-sections are no joke and I was pretty miserable.  The baby blues also hit me really hard this time.  After about the first two weeks, things started to get a little better every day.  

Ella's first Mother's Day

Daddy: Well we had daddy home for almost 19 straight days! Between spring break and the time he took off, it was so weird to have him go back to work.  This is one of his busiest times of the year with his annual golf tournament and end of the year events.  Plus, he started back to school last month and wakes up extra early every morning to do schoolwork.  He is a rockstar, but we miss him! 

daddy's girl

Furbabies: Poor second child, I am fairly certain that they don't even realize Ellasyn has joined our family. Although they were very excited when the baby gear returned.  Dunphy takes some epic naps in the bouncer!

What we're looking forward to: Summer time!!! We can't wait to do some fun things, go on a family vacation and have lots of time with daddy!

teacher's child

second time to the beach!

she makes some epic faces

hanging with her sis

month one in the books!

visiting with gramps

a slight incident with the diaper cream....

love her snuggles

chillaxin with dad

she's so gangster

Welcome to the World Ellasyn Grace

family of four

Ellasyn Grace was born Sunday April 12th, 2015 at 11:48am.  She weighed in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20.5 in long.

Early on in my pregnancy, I remember counting the weeks and studying the calendar.  I realized I would be considered full term (about 38 weeks) during the hubby's spring break.  The chance of bonus family time (read:extra help) swirled around in my head throughout my pregnancy, especially when the reality of a c-section set in.

When spring break arrived, Operation: Get the Baby Out commenced.  We walked every day, I ate P.F. Changs (my last meal before Sadie) and we crossed our fingers she would be cooperative.  The days came and went....no baby.  The last weekend of spring break, my parents were traveling four hours away for my little brother's mountain bike race and we planned to go to the Angel game on Sunday afternoon (do you see where this is going???).  I refused to get up from the couch most of the day on Saturday because my spring break baby hopes were gone and I just wanted her to stay put until my family was home!

Sunday morning I woke up about 6am to go to the restroom.  Towards the end of *ahem* doing my business, I felt a familiar sensation.  Not quite as dramatic as it was with Sadie, but definitely noticeable.  I tried to wait it out for a few minutes while the hubby slept, but within a short time it was clear what was happening.  I knew I needed to call my parents right away since they were currently sleeping four hours away...my mom picked up right away and promised to be on the road soon.  Then I called Labor and Delivery, they told me to come in right away.  Sadie woke up during the excitement, so we grabbed her some snacks, threw her in the car and headed to the hospital.  Luckily, the in-laws were about an hour away so they could take over Sadie duty.

While we were waiting for them to arrive, I had the hubby take Sadie outside to distract her (she was getting upset seeing mommy in the hospital bed).  It was really tough having to be alone, but the labor and delivery staff are always great.  After we had been there for about an hour, the in-laws arrived and my partner in crime was able to join me!  The doctors told me I could hold out until my mom arrived (about 11am) as long as my contractions didn't become more intense.

My mom arrived at 11am exactly and they started to prepare me for surgery.  Again I had to say goodbye to my hubster (I mean these c-section things are no joke!!!).  I had my spinal administered and boy is that just the weirdest thing, so different then my epidural experience! Soon after, they let the hubby in to the operating room, he put on some tunes for me (to help me calm down) and it was baby time! My three most favorite moments (not that there were that many to choose from while I was being sliced open....) Number one, panicking when we realized she was almost out and we were listening to Sun Daze (we don't want any teenager foreshadowing!). Number two, getting to see our sweet girl for the first time!! We snapped a quick picture and looked at it over and over while they were cleaning her up.  We couldn't believe how huge she looked! So number three....we decided to guess her weight and the hubster said eight pounds, so I went under and he asked if I meant like 7 lbs. 14 oz. which is exactly what she was! Mommy's intuition I guess :)

she's here!

After that, it was off to the recovery room.  By the time I arrived, the hubby and nurses had taken a million pictures and had decided she was ready to eat! I was able to feed her almost instantly and it was awesome! The recovery room was such a nice experience.  It was just the three of us and two nurses checking on us.  We didn't get any bonding time like that with Sadie, and boy we really didn't know what we were missing.

recovery room bonding

After about an hour, we were wheeled to our actual room and things started to go downhill.  We were able to visit with our family and introduce Sadie (which was the best thing ever!).  It was so great to see her after a few hours apart and she had THE biggest grin on her face.  She was thrilled to finally meet "the baby".  She opened her "big sister" present and gave her lots of kisses. But then I got really nauseous and threw up.  The pain started to set in and I knew Sadie wold have to leave soon.  The rest of the hospital experience was pretty bad.  I did everything in my power to get us out of there as soon as possible.  Thank God Ellasyn was thriving.  She was eating great, no signs of jaundice and pooping/peeing like a champ.  I started to walk as soon as they would let me and my incision was looking good.  They removed the catheter and I showered.  I pretty much did everything I could to get released on Tuesday.  I hated that hospital room and I couldn't wait to just be home! Of course when we got home Justin was sick and so Sadie ended up having a week long sleepover at grandma's.

going home!

The first two weeks after Ellasyn was born were some of the hardest in my life.  The pain was awful and my anxiety was at an all-time high.  I really struggled with the baby blues and I hated not feeling like myself.  I couldn't really eat or sleep, which was not helping.  Thank God, at two weeks things started to slowly get better.  My appetite returned and I slept in my own bed! I was allowed to drive again and getting out of the house felt amazing.  This recovery has been so much harder than I anticipated, but we couldn't love our new addition more.  Welcome to our family Ellasyn Grace!

our big girl!

we got to hold her right away!

swoon

Ronald Ellison holding Ellasyn Grace

the proudest big sister there ever was

late night cuddles

the sweetest part of the hospital

home!!!!

love my girls

sister kisses

the honeymoon phase

one week old

hospital pictures 

The Farewell Tour

Birthday brunch!

I just celebrated the big 2-9 which means, according to the hubster, that I am on my Farewell Tour of my 20s.  That also means that I have just one year left to finish my 30 before 30 list, yikes! I decided to check on my progress....

30 Before 30 List

1.   Go on an airplane- Check! We flew to Seattle over the summer and have plans to fly there again for our friend's wedding!

2.   Read all books on our 30 before 30 list- I am a little less than halfway there (ten and 1/2, the 1/2 being 51% of The Bible), time to get reading...super easy with two children under the age of two.

3.   Run a 5k- I will have to sign up for one, once I get cleared at my postpartum checkup.

4.   Take a cooking class- Maybe a date night this summer....

5.   Learn a new hobby- How to survive two children under two?? Just kidding, I will think of something.

6.   Eat something from our garden- Well I planted a new garden! And then it died...this one will be tough.

7.   Pay off student loan debt- Check-ish! We just paid off our last loan, but we still have an interest free one that we pay $100 each month on.  Since it is interest free, we are in no hurry to pay it off.

8.   Buy a car- Considering we just ended up leasing two new cars, this one is definitely not going to happen.  I can transfer it to my 40 before 40 list. 

9.   Plant a tree- Hopefully I have better luck with this than my garden...

10.                Donate blood- I think I have to wait until I finish breastfeeding, so this one could be cutting it close.

11.                Host Thanksgiving- Better start preparing for this now!

12.                Go to a concert- If I can get Ellasyn to take a bottle, then this could happen!

13.                Complete a 30-day challenge- We were soooo close to finishing an ab challenge when I found out I was pregnant...now we have to start all over!

14.                Order a produce box- I keep procrastinating on this!

15.                Go on a roadtrip- Middle of July we are driving up the coast of California for a wedding...twenty hours in the car with a toddler and infant, should be memorable!

16.                Go to Washington D.C.- I think this will have to be a transfer to 40 before 40...

17.                Have breakfast on the beach- Maybe on our road trip??

18.                 Plan a 30^th birthday bash- I think I have some time on this one...

19.                Go camping- Hmmmm not sure about this one with an infant!

20.                Go to Disneyland- Planning to for Sadie's second birthday!

21.                Visit an out of town stadium- We went to a Diamondback game last summer and this summer we are going to try and go to a Giants game when we are in San Fran.

22.                Carry out 30 random acts of kindness- I better start this now!

23.                Play a round of golf together- I put it on the list for this summer!

24.                Write a children’s book- Oh boy, I was really not planning on having another kiddo when I wrote this list....

25.                Go to the Grand Canyon- Another transfer I think...

26.                Go out on a boat- Well this will be fun! I wonder what kind of boat I should choose

27.                Go to a drive-in movie theater- Put it on the summer list!

28.                Join or start a book club- Working on this for the fall

29.                Watch a classic movie that we haven’t seen before- Summer list!

30.                Make a list of 40 things to do before 40- I will probably do this after I turn 30 and figure out what is left on this list!

18 Months

Weight: According to the doctor's she is 20lbs! I am not sure on the ounces because they measured her in kilograms and just said 20 when we asked about the conversion.

Height: She is about 31 inches! And yes she still screams the entire time at the doctors...fun times.

Nicknames: Mostly pumpkin, puppet, stink butt, baby girl...

Eating: This girl would always be eating if you would let her.  Her absolute favorite things are carbs and fruit.  She lives for her morning toast and her afternoon snack of some kind of fruit.  She also will not leave grandma's without a Lara Bar "treat" or leave her highchair at dinnertime without frozen blueberries for dessert.  She has gotten a little more picky over the last few months, but overall she will eat pretty much anything.  She eats breakfast, two mini lunches (before and after nap), an afternoon snack and then dinner.  Unless she is at grandma's and then she eats all of the time....

Sleeping: Oh sleep...this child seriously punked us when she was such a great sleeper when she was a baby.  Every since we took away the swaddle/rock n' play (ummm a year ago?!!), it has been one thing after another.  She is either teething, sick etc.... We did let her cry a few times, but she still always ended up in our bed.  At this point, we just put her down in our bed and she sleeps with us all night.  Despite some kicks, and an occasional rough night, I think we all are getting the most sleep this way #pushovers.  She goes down every night between 8:30-9:00pm.  She wakes up every morning between 7-9am (I'm serious....).  Depends on the plans we have for the day (she loves to mess with those), but she usually averages waking up about 8am.  We transitioned officially to one nap about a month or so ago....she goes down between noon-1pm.  She sleeps anywhere from one-three hours.  Usually it's just under two hours depending on the day.

Diapers/Clothes: Size 3 diapers and shoes.  Clothing is 9 and 12 month.  I have noticed the 9 month is getting really small though, but a lot of the 12 month is too big.  It is a good thing she has a HUGE selection of clothes! 

Social: Sadie is pretty outgoing and chatty, but she can also be really shy.  I would love to sign her up for some classes, but with the baby coming, I'm going to wait and see how it goes.  The pressure though, I swear kids her age are in all sorts of activities! 

At 18 months Sadie....
-had her first "broken" bone/first cast thanks to a crazy boy at Sea World
-HATES the doctors, getting x-rays or being touched by anyone who is employed by Kaiser (I don't really blame her though!)
-is a parrot! She loves to repeat what you say and do, although most of the time you can't make out what she is saying...
-can say with basic human understanding "please" (pppp-wahhh, the wahhh is more pronounced depending on how bad she wants something), "hi", "bye"(with a southern twist!), "mama", "baby", "ball", "blueberries", (all of the last three sound pretty much the same), "grandma", "sit" (to the dog), "go, go, go", "yes", "done", "plubby", "potty", "trash" and more!
-dances ALL the time and expects other people to dance too
-loves Frozen, her play kitchen songs, her play lamp songs, and a whole lot of country!
-is able to entertain herself for a somewhat extended amount of time depending on her mood...
-loves pushing her baby stroller, she puts all sorts of weird things in there! 
-gets super excited when you ask her if she wants to do something and she says "ooooh"
-loves to tell people (including herself) "mo, mo, mo" (no) and shake her finger
-says lots of animal noises like "meow", "moo", "grrr", "quack", "caw".  She also does "vroom" noises for cars, motorcycles and planes.
-loves to "reorganize" the house constantly, especially the dishwasher....
-enjoys helping with anything! Loves to unload the silverware from the dishwasher, put clothes in the dryer, or get things that you ask for.
-still loves being read to.  She will pick up as many books as she can carry and bring them to you to read.
-loves to be chased by daddy!
-is very stubborn...not really interested in learning shapes or things of that nature...she prefers trying to shove the square in the circle hole :)
-likes loud noises IF you count to three with her (she only can do the "one" at this point)
-gets really frustrated when things don't behave the way she wants (wonder where she gets that from??)
-loves to pull up my shirt and kiss the baby
-makes the "shhh" sound when someone is sleeping or any time she sees a baby
-plays peekaboo with the drapes and blankets over and over and over again
-still gives lots of kisses, blows lots of kisses and gives THE best hugs!
-knows hot and cold
-enjoys being outside and going for walks
-likes to go get the mail with daddy and bring in the trash cans
-has 11 teeth!
-claps whenever anyone else claps
-loves to carry things around with her like a purse...so girly this one!
-has full on conversations with the cell phone to her ear...or something posing as a phone.  She laughs and talks total gibberish!
-can point to her nose, eyes, mouth, toes, hair, head, tummy, hands and feet.  Still working on ears!
-is seriously always smiling!!

33-36 WEEKS

*** I wanted to do a post for 33 weeks, although it made me a tad nervous.  That clearly didn't happen anyways, but I did take a picture at 34 weeks, and now here I am at 36 weeks with no picture but an update! #secondkid

Best Moment: We had what I *think* will be our last ultrasound.  It was definitely our last time with our high risk doctor, she is signing off and going out of town until your due date.  It is always nice to check on you, but to be honest I couldn't really make out much in the ultrasound, you are so big now!!

Baby News: You are weighing in at just about 6 lbs.(!!) which still puts you right about the 64th percentile.  

Symptoms: Look up pregnancy symptoms and just figure I have that.  This is my first time being nine months pregnant and I can't say I am a huge fan.

Weight: I almost deleted this question (thank you hormones).  I won't delete it, but I am not answering this!

Movement: Yep! It is super uncomfortable since she is still breech.  I get a lot of painful kicks down low and a lot of head in my ribs.  Super fun.

Sleep: Sleeping is still average.  I have had a few pretty good nights since I brought back the body pillow.  I didn't think it would help/work with a toddler lying next to me, but I love it! Last night was awful though with pregnancy insomnia, let's not do that again! 

Cravings/aversions/eating: Another category I would prefer to delete....  Obviously I am still craving my ice water, but now that I am getting to the end, my cravings are getting tough.  I would literally kill for some fro-yo, pancakes and pretty much anything else that I am not allowed to have.  Sad face :(((((

Workouts: Pretty much everything feels like a workout at this point.  By the time I clean up the house and maybe take a walk, I can barely make it until evening when I am relieved of my duties by the hubster.

Clothes: Still a mixture of regular and maternity.  My pants (of course that is a loose term) are regular, unless I am wearing jeans and then it is maternity all the way.  Shirts are mainly maternity.  I am really running out of options, but considering I have only 3 weeks left I am trying to make due.

Other News: The big news this week is I will be having a scheduled c-section as long as baby cooperates.  She is still breech and they are pretty positive she is staying put.  I am so anxious about a c-section.  Really labor is just making me anxious in general.  When your water breaks seven weeks early, you kind of don't get to experience this whole waiting/anticipation thing.  I can't say I am a fan.  It is crazy to think that I am 3 weeks past when Sadie arrived and in 3 weeks (or less) Sadie will be a big sister!