ellery's fourth week

this week was all about mama & ellery time! this was the first full week that the two of us were home alone together, and we had a blast :) we played, we danced, we dressed in cute outfits (with accessories to match of course!), i gave ellery a bath by myself, and we even survived kyle being gone all day & night for his first on-call shift since ellery was born. and of course, every day we couldn't wait for kyle/daddy to get home!

enjoy some pictures (and videos if you can handle my baby talk!) from our girly adventures during ellery's fourth week :)

morning playtime

almost every morning ellery & i would start off our day with a little playtime in her nursery. now i know why i worked at gymboree for a year and a half in chicago, singing silly songs & dancing around with a clown. i can sing all those silly songs & do all the activities with ellery! that really comes in handy during our morning play sessions :) this week, we worked on tracking (following an object with her eyes), grasping (holding onto an object), rolling over from her tummy to her side, back, and eventually back to her tummy (we're not that far yet), and holding her head up & moving it during tummy time. whew, that sounds like a lot of work for our little sweet girl, and it is! but she is such a trooper and did such a great job.

tracking:

grasping:

"hello, this is me"

tummy time:

my favorite - doing tummy time using a mirror! i put a floor-length mirror on the floor & rolled up a blanket to use as a bolster to support e's neck. i put her on her tummy so she could look in the mirror & do tummy time at the same time. she was fascinated! and those little chubby cheeks - i can't handle the cuteness!!

baby connection class

last week we started going to a baby connection class offered at the hospital where we delivered. basically, it's a group of moms that get together to chat, ask advice, and have an excuse to get out of the house! it's led by the sweet lactation consultant that we met when ellery was born. it's been good to go to so i can meet other moms. this past week, we had a holiday party - we brought in treats & dressed up the babes in their cutest outfits. i had bought this little dress awhile ago for ellery (from baby gap of course!) and was so excited to have a reason for her to wear it. i think she looked pretty stinkin' cute if i do say so myself :)

grocery shopping

to get ready for kyle's family to come for christmas, ellery & i took a trip to the grocery store. i'm still trying to figure out the best way to shop as baby girl comes along... i put her seat in the cart, but you can tell, that doesn't leave a lot of room for the groceries! and putting the car seat in the actual seat of the cart scares me a little. i think next trip i'm going to try carrying e in our ergo baby carrier - that way i have a whole cart to fill, my hands are free, and ellery gets to cuddle up on my chest & take a nap! but she was an excellent helper this shopping trip, making sure i didn't forget anything! we also stopped to chat with a sweet woman who worked there, and we got to tell her the story of how i started the whole labor process right there in that grocery store!

girl time

ellery and i got to catch up with several girlfriends this week too. first, we had breakfast at city market (yum!) with erin & katrina. katrina was in young life last year but graduated - it was so so great to see her & chat! katrina was very excited about baby ellery while i was pregnant, so it was fun for her to finally meet the baby she had been talking to while in my belly :) - though ellery was asleep the entire time we were there! and erin, who is so incredibly sweet, got our whole family christmas gifts - matching smartwool socks!! we love em' and still need to take a pic in our family socks :)

leah stopped over as well to drop off a little present... matching hats for ellery and i that she made!! so so sweet :) and what's even more amazing & cute... the hats match our purple socks that erin gave us. we are going to be decked out in our hats & socks, i love it. thank you leah!!!

dad's home!!

each day, ellery & i couldn't wait for kyle to get home! some days i could just tell e wanted her daddy - she would be a bit fussy, and as soon as kyle got home & cuddled her in his arms, she calmed right down. she's a daddy's girl :) and even though kyle worked all week, we still snuck in plenty of family time!

i printed off some black & white flashcards for ellery & she loves them! kyle loves to show them to her - she gets so focused, especially on the striped ones, and makes the funniest faces!

most nights since ellery was born, we got in the habit of eating dinner on the couch. so we decided to have a little romantic dinner at the table - and a certain little snuggle bug just had to join us :)

each year before christmas, kyle and i decorate a gingerbread house. i have no idea how we started doing it, but it's a fun little tradition we love doing. we were excited for ellery to join in on the fun, though the first night we tried to make it, she wasn't so into it. we got the house at least put together, and threw in the towel. the next morning, we all woke up ready to go! we turned on the christmas music, grabbed the icing bags & candy, and went to town on that house! the last picture cracks us up - i'm sure ellery will grow to love decorating gingerbread houses as much as we do, even if it wasn't her favorite this year :)