Busy Busy

The past few days we've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Tuesday night we went to see The Blind Side. It was really good. Makes me want to get rich & adopt a kid...jk.

Wednesday morning, Missy took our family pictures. Bless her for putting up with all of us! She had to shoot my sister's family, my brother's family, my family & then all of us together with our parents. Let's just say there was a lot going on. I'm sure they all turned out great. I took this picture of Elliot after we got home. I wish she would have smiled like this earlier.

Today we went & took a tour of the Cowboys stadium. I thought it was a really good tour & our guide was pretty entertaining. Definitely worth the $15 to go. It lasted 1.5 hours so I feel like we got our monies worth. I was amazed at the attention to detail in all the decorating.

Here's my brother Justin with his little guy Easton.

We're standing in front of this glass wall with a play on it. I found out that Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson & Barry Switzer all played on the same Arkansas Razorback team. Behind us there are all these silver helmets hanging from the ceiling. Since the Cotton Bowl is now at the Cowboys Stadium, the helmets of the 2 teams playing will gradually replace the silver ones for the next 20 years.

The Cotton Bowl is on the 2nd, so they had all of their logos everywhere instead of the Cowboys. That was kind of a let down. I wanted to see the big start in the middle of the field.

And of course we had to get a picture in front of Romo & Witten's lockers. We also went into the cheerleader's locker room, but I felt no need to take a picture of the lockers with their life size pictures above them :)

Primping

Today I went with my sister Jami & my sister in law Jaymie to the spa. Jami had a gift card & was nice enough to use it on us! So we all got fancy pedicures. It was so relaxing & fun to have time away from babies. Nothing but good girl talk. Our toes turned out great, but I'm sad that I had to cover them up since the weather is FREEZING! After, we decided to go to a cheap nail place to get manicures. My hands were in desperate need of some tlc. Now I just need somewhere to go!

First Part of Christmas

On our way down to Arlington, we stopped off in Kerens where Lane used to live. This is the house his dad built. It's still in really good condition & so quaint.

Our festivities began on Tuesday. We went with my parents & sister's family to South Lake & ate at Buca, which was sooo good. After we headed out to their town square & took pictures in their little Santa Land.

On Christmas Eve, we went with my parents to El Rancho Grande in Fort Worth. It's been a tradition of ours for the past 5 years. Then we went over to Lane's dad's house to celebrate with his family. Brenda gave everybody these little crowns to wear. It's some kind of English thing.

And wouldn't you know that it snowed! A real white Christmas!

On Christmas morning we went over to my parents' house to eat breakfast & open presents.

Elliot was all smiles. Then on Christmas night, we went over to Lane's mom's house to celebrate with their side of the family. Check out Elliot's cousin Vinny. He was born 2 days after her & weighs 21 pounds! He's such a little teddy bear!

And here is Elliot digging into her present!

4 Months

Our little girl is 4 months today! Her stats are:
Weight 11 lbs 14 oz 15%
Height 24.5 inches 55%
Head 15.25 inches 3%

Lane came with me & witnessed her 2 shots. I thought I was the weak one, but Lane started crying! I'm talking tears running down his face. And then he informed me that he's not coming to any more appointments because they're too sad.

Everything is going well with her. We can start rice cereal & stage 1 baby foods. That seems so soon to me, but I'm excited to see how she reacts to it all. I wish I had a picture to post, but I haven't taken any recently. But don't worry there will be more to come!

Thumb Sucker

Looks like we have a thumb sucker on our hands. She did this for the very first time yesterday.

I know it's a bad habit, but it's really cute!

New Job

As of December 18th, I will be changing careers to become a stay at home mom. I gave my official resignation yesterday. After a brief moment of panic, I am at peace with everything. I had originally planned on this happening at the end of the school year, however our sitter is unable to watch E after December. We thought about getting another person to watch her, but I am very picky, they would have HUGE shoes to fill & everything would need to feel right. And since it didn't we thought this would be the best thing to do. I feel like this happened at the right time because just a week before we found out, I was complaining to Lane about how I hated being away from Elliot & felt so bad about not spending more time with her. Now she's got me 24/7 & I'm sure she'll get sick of me! I'm going to try to come up with some sort of a schedule to keep us occupied. So to all you stay at home moms...call me! Haha!

Christmas Time!

I'm so excited for Christmas this year! Yesterday it snowed, which is crazy for Houston. Unfortunately none of it stuck where we live. But this entire last week we've had some serious winter weather. I have to say I haven't minded it as much as I usually do. A few days ago, we got our tree. I swear our trees keep getting smaller each year. This is our first Christmas in this apartment & space it tight. We were debating on even getting a tree this year since there is really no good place to put it. We had 3 options: 1) Disassemble our kitchen table & put the tree there. But then we'd have to eat on the couch for 2 weeks. 2) Stick it in the baby's room, right between her crib & changing table. Yes, it would be out of the way, but I wanted it to be seen more. 3) Put it in front of the doors that go out to the patio. This is the one we went with. But now we have to climb over the couch to get to the computer...a small sacrifice for a great tradition. Nothing beats the smell of a pine tree & the feeling you get when you turn off all the lights & are left with the soft glow of the Christmas tree. Love it!

I've also been listening to my favorite Christmas cd-Kathy Matea "Good News". It's pretty old. My parents used to annoy us by playing it on a repeating loop at Christmas time growing up. My mom even made me sing one of the songs at our church's Christmas party (thanks for that). But somehow it grew on me & is now one thing that I look forward to hearing this time of year. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a good one.

Here is our family photo we're putting in our Christmas cards.When Lane told me about this huge tree with oversized presents, he had me sold...until he told me it was in a hospital. But I think they turned out great (Thanks Lauren)!

And of course I had to throw in a picture of miss Elliot. This is by far my favorite one yet!

TV

I had Elliot on her activity mat while I was unloading the dishwasher. When I checked on her, I didn't see her playing with the hanging animals. Instead, I saw that she had her head cocked back so she could see the tv! I've noticed that she really likes it. When she's in her bouncer, she'll turn her head so she can see what's going on. It's so funny.

Thanksgiving

We didn't think we'd be able to go to Arlington because of Lane's schedule, but he got an extra day off last minute. So we packed up the car & headed that way. We wanted to surprise my family since they weren't expecting us. I decided to call my mom & chit chat on the way. Now there are 2 things I love about Thanksgiving food: fried turkey & pumpkin chocolate cheesecake. I was asking my mom what she was cooking for dinner & I noticed she didn't mention either of these. So I asked about them & she said that since I wasn't going to be there, she had decided not to make them. At this point I was torn. Do I keep the surprise & risk not getting my favorites? Or do I spill the beans & ensure myself a full meal? Well I decide to keep my secret & got off the phone. 2 minutes later, I decide that it would still be a surprise if I went ahead & told her, so I call her back. Needless to say she was more than happy to add a few items to the menu!

I'm thankful for...

My little squirmy worm.

My husband.

And so much more!

Sitting Up

I read the other day that at 3 months your baby should be able to sit up supported. I really wasn't sure if Elliot could do this yet, so I got out the Bobby & put her in it. She actually did really great.

Lately she likes to look at herself in the mirror. Of course she doesn't realize it's her that cracks her up.

She's also been grabbing a little better. I got out this stuffed animal & put it in her arms to see how she would like it. I think she's ok with it.

Scrubs is Back!

I was so excited to hear that Scrubs is coming back December 11th for another season. That show is seriously funny & stupid all at the same time & we love it! We were really sad to see it go since that's where we got the idea for Elliot's name. I don't want to say we named our child after a sitcom character, but pretty much, ya. So needless to say we were pleasantly surprised to hear that they're back on ABC. If you haven't watched it before, give it a try. I can't promise it will be as good as the old ones, but they can't be too far off.

3 Months

Nutcracker Market

Last night Lane & I went to the Nutcracker Market. It's basically a huge warehouse filled with different booths. They were selling Christmas decorations, clothes, food, etc. We bought some honey butter from these 2 cowboys. I sampled it first & even if it wasn't any good I probably still would have gotten it just because these 2 old guys were so cute. Their booth was no frills, just the jars & some biscuits lying there. True cowboys. I should've taken a picture. I could have bought a ton of stuff at this place, but I showed self control.

We zipped through everything pretty quick (1.5 hrs), but it was too much for Elliot. She took a little catnap in between. If you look closely you can see a mark on her forehead from where the strap hit her, so we unbuckled it.

The Difference Between Moms & Dads

Last night Lane put Elliot down to sleep. As I lay in my bed, I turned the monitor on to watch. What I heard cracked me up & I then realized how different men & women are as parents. Normally when I put her in her bed & she's having a hard time falling asleep, I may sing a lullaby-one that my parents used to sing to me, or a simple nursery rhyme...something with a melody. But apparently Lane has come up with his own lullaby & it goes a little something like this...go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep (repeated over & over in a monotone voice as he rubbed her head). I couldn't help but laugh.

27

Yesterday was my 27th birthday. I realize as I get older, my birthday gets a little less important to me. It's not as big of a deal as it used to be. I did have a semi-relaxing day. Both Lane & I were able to get off work & spend the day shopping! It's been so long since I've been able to just shop. And since it's my first time post baby I feel like I need a completely new wardrobe. So that was my mission. I made a list of stores so I would stay focused. And wouldn't you know that in the end I failed miserably. I only ended up with 2 light sweaters & 2 pairs of shoes. Where were all the clothes hiding? I have no idea. I even went to stores that were not on my list in hope of a great find. Isn't that how it always is...you can never find anything when you actually have the money. Well lucky for me, my friend is addicted to online shopping. So when I told her about my bad luck, she sent over several links for me to look at & I'm pretty sure I'll be making some purchases! So I guess it wasn't completely a lost cause. Later that night, we went to Buca to eat. It was so delicious!

Happy Halloween!

It's alright, you can say it...I have the most adorable kid ever! Is Elliot not the cutest Minnie Mouse you've ever seen? I think so! Her Halloween outfit turned out so great, thanks to my friend Crystal. In deciding what to dress her as, I wanted something that she could wear again & this fit the bill. We went to our church's trunk or treat & she did great. As soon as we got there, Lane took off with her in his arms to show her off to everyone. He's such a proud papa.

Our Little Pumpkin

We tried to do this festive photo op & failed miserably. The very second Lane put her into the pumpkin, she freaked! In fact I've never heard her that upset. Needless to say, we only placed her in the pumpkin 2 times & each time immediately picked her back up. That is why these pictures are horrible. Maybe I'll try it again tomorrow to see if I get some better ones.

Spit Happens

Lately Elliot has been one heck of a spitter. The first month of her life, she NEVER spit up. But now it's constant. I find myself needing to buy more burp rags. Anyway, I knew this day would come, but I thought it would happen to me first. Fortunately Lane was the lucky one. Right as he lifted her up, out came the spit. If you look closely, you can see it on his shirt. She seems to be enjoying herself despite the drool hanging off her lip.

Tummy Time

Elliot is a pro at tummy time. But it's kind of hit & miss if she likes it or not.

Today she liked it.

Sometimes she'll tumble over like this. She's just practicing for when it's time to start rolling over ;)

Change of Plans

We had plans to go to the Houston Balloonar Festival tonight. However, we were running late & traffic was a mess. By the time we got up to the point where you turn into the place & pay, there was the LONGEST line! Lane & I both looked at each other and decided it wasn't worth the amount of time we'd actually stay. Sure it would have been cool to see all the balloons lit up at night, but we didn't miss out too badly.

Instead we decided to head to Mamacita's & eat our weight in cheese! I'm sure Elliot will be mad at me later.

What?

Have yall noticed the little links at the top of our blogs that say "share", etc? I just noticed it & one link says "report abuse". Are you serious? I guess I better watch what I post...haha.

2 Month Checkup

Elliot had her 2 month check up today. She did surprisingly well. Of course she cried when they gave her 3 shots, but she had stopped by the time I put her pants back on. I was really worried that she would be grumpy because they were running behind & it was time to feed her. But, she was good as gold. Her doctor was really impressed by how well she lifted her head up & held it up when she was on her tummy. That's my girl! Here are her stats...
-Weight 9lbs 11oz (20%)
-Height 23 inches (75%)
-Head 14.5 inches (3%)

Daddy's little girl

Battle Wounds

Deer in the Headlights

Weekend Wrap Up

What a nice weekend we had. The weather was cool & it really felt like fall. So we had Brian, Christina & Dominic over to make caramel apples. We rolled them in heath bar pieces! They were delicious! So good in fact, that Lane & I made them again tonight & I'm eating one as I type this. Anyway, back to Friday night...we also watched 'The Proposal'. I really like that movie. It's very predictable, but cute.

Saturday night, we tried out a new place, Canyon Cafe. The food was good, a little different, but tasty. I had the Black & Bleu quesadillas. You can't go wrong with bleu cheese. The only downside to this restaurant, was the service. They were HORRIBLE. When we saw our server, he was very nice, but we never really saw him. Oh well.

Today Elliot is 2 months! She has her check up on Wednesday, so I'll post her stats then. For now, here are a few pictures I took of her today.

All smiles

Waving hi

I love her expression in this picture.

Cutie

Sweet Blessings

Today was so special. We blessed Elliot in church. All morning I was so excited as I was getting her ready to go. She looked so cute! All of our family drove down for the occasion. Lane gave the blessing & did a great job. Afterwards everyone headed to our place for refreshments. I wasn't sure if it was possible, but we managed to cram 24 people into our 800 square foot apartment. Good times were had by all. I'm so thankful for my little family & couldn't be happier.

Brenda made this precious bracelet for her

Our family