Eliza's first Halloween

Eliza was bee-utiful in her bee costume from Aunt Cheryl. We took her around to see the relatives and she hung out with Ava at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house. Now she's exhausted and sleeping in her swing. We're handing out candy and drinking hot cider.









Cousin Ava






More Eliza

Halloween preparations

I love Halloween and fall is by far my favorite time of year. We're going to dress Eliza up in her bee costume and take her around to see the relatives on Friday. But first, critical Halloween preparations are taking place. A few days ago, I attempted to carve an Obama face on a pumpkin. One side collapsed fairly early, so I flipped the pumpkin around and carved the Obama logo on the other side. It started collapsing after ONE day.

While we were at Walmart the other day, pumpkins had been reduced to $2, so I picked up another one. This time I decided to go with our video game theme (last year I did Mario) and carve a Sonic the Hedgehog pumpkin. I think it turned out really well. Carving by Janie (with an awesome pumkin pattern), photo by Brian.

Eliza at two months.

Today Eliza is two months old. In the last month, she's learned to smile on her own and to coo. Lately she's been learning how to babble in a way that makes it seem as though she's learning to speak her own little baby language. We are so very blessed to have this beautiful little girl in our lives. Just look what a big girl she is!

Special Bonus Features: The Outtakes

Eliza will be two months old on Tuesday. As of tonight, our camera is entirely full. I dumped all the pictures off the camera off onto the computer, so I decided to make a special photo post with some of the outtakes from the past two months of Miss Eliza Jane Smith. For the record, we seem to be making some progress with the reflux and Eliza has seemed a bit more happy and comfortable for the past few days. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this continues. Now for some pictures.

Brian being a goofball at Culver's.

Me at our last doctor's appointment before Eliza arrived.

Me in labor.

Brian enjoying labor much more than I was.

Me and Eliza on one of our first nights home.

Eliza kicked back and enjoying the pack n play.

Eliza being adorable and wearing bunny and bear.

Brian and baby being adorable.

Being cute in the Boppy.

Yours truly reading the paper.

Eliza getting burped.

Eliza trying to smile.

Grandmommy and baby.

Eliza sleeping in her chair.

In her Bumbo chair.

Brian consoling himself after yesterday's big loss.

Eliza asleep in Daddy's lap tonight.

Lions and Colic and Bears, Oh My!

We took Eliza for her barium swallow yesterday. She did really well and it turns out she just has plain ol' reflux. Nothing exotic is causing it, so I'm relieved. Sadly, she now seems to cry after every single meal and cry for hours on end at night. Our only real savior is the vibration of her bouncy seat. Luckily, she likes being swaddled and seems to calm right down for bed. Our doctor was out so we took her to see another doctor the other day. She was of little help, so we're sort of at a loss as to how to help her. We're just giving her lots of cuddles and love and feeding her soy formula when she seems hungry. As a first time mother, I'm scared to death there's something wrong with her and we're missing it. Especially since she has this awful umbilical hernia.

In happier news, it's definitely fall. I hope Eliza's colic will allow her to dress up in her Halloween costume (pictures to come) and go visit the Grandparents before trick-or-treat. We're going to stay home this year, but I can't wait to take her around door to door next year. Assuming the baby is calmer this evening, I plan to carve our pumpkin. We downloaded a somewhat complicated pattern and it'll be awesome if I can pull it off. If it turns out, I'll post pictures. If not, I may get a little colicky myself.

Marissa tagged me for a survey. I've done a ton of these in my personal blog over the years, but I thought it would be fun to post one here.

8 Favorite TV shows (I don't really have 8 shows I love right now. I'm going to have to go with all-time.):
1: Heroes
2: Entourage
3: Weeds
4: Roseanne
5: Gilmore Girls
6: The West Wing
7: The Wonder Years
8: (Mock me if you will) Blossom

8 Favorite Restaurants
1: Chipotle
2: Chick-fil-A
3: Baker Peters Jazz Club (Knoxville)
4: Culver's
5: Joe Bolognas
6: Rafferty's
7: Carrabbas
8: Columbia's

8 things that happened yesterday
1: Went to the hosptial for Eliza's test
2: Went to Brian's mom's office to show off Eliza.
3: Drove to Brian's Great Aunt Polly's house and helped her re-dress her very wounded arm.
4: When I was leaving Aunt Polly's, I saw a fire and called Brian.
5: Talked to my Mom on the phone.
6: Talked to Cheryl on the phone
7: Eliza cried a lot and I tried to comfort her.
8: Went to bed early. We were all exhausted.

8 things to look forward to
1: Our first Halloween with our sweet baby
2: Thanksgiving in Louisville
3: Christmas
4: Our first anniversary
5: All of Eliza's firsts (turning over, first words, first steps)
6: Decorating our first Christmas tree in our new house
7: THE END OF COLIC
8: Enjoying each day with my little family

8 things I love about fall
1: Leaves everywhere
2: How pretty our street looks with a blanket of fall all over the place
3: Cool weather
4: New TV season
5: Halloween
6: Carving a pumpkin
7: Anticipating Christmas
8: That "fall smell"

8 things on my wish list:
1: Urban living
2: iphone
3: Lots of educational/fun toys for Eliza
4: Cute clothes that fit
5: A job I won't dread and pays well enough
6: Health and happiness for my family
7: Daily success for Brian
8: A more peaceful 2009

Keeping mommy up all night

Last night Eliza began to cry. And cry. And cry. All of her basic needs were taken care of, but she still cried just about as hard as I've ever seen a little one cry. My poor sweet baby wasn't feeling well. Nobody warned me before I became a parent exactly how much my health and happiness would depend on hers. That little, helpless cry was like a kick in the gut.

On advice of the on call doctor, we took her for a drive and gave her a bath. The bath just made her more upset and the drive worked until we brought her in the house and I took her hat off. She had no interest in her bottle or her pacifier. We were on the verge of taking her to the emergency room when we decided to try Tylenol and Mylicon. After a small dose of each, we wrapped her in her swaddling blanket and I placed her over my shoulder. Soon she had drifted off to sleep. After we each held her for about an hour, we put her down in her bassinet and she slept until 6 this morning. I, on the other hand, stayed up all night watching her sleep.

For the most part, she seems like her normal self this morning. She took her bottle and fussed minimally. She still doesn't seem to want her pacifier, so I'm wondering if her stomach is upset. Right now she's sleeping upright in her booster chair. I plan to call her regular doctor this morning and talk with her about this incident. It scared the life out of me.

Big Girl!

Eliza has turned into such a big girl! Lately she smiles all the time and has taken some serious attempts at laughing. She's gained some pretty great control of her neck so we tried her out in her Bumbo chair yesterday. She seemed to really like it! This chair will be great for containing a mess when she first handles food on her own.





Her development is so fun to watch. These days she's making noises aside from cries. We can also tell the difference between her cries. We've been keeping the house a bit cool since heating costs are going to be so high this winter. She was chilly this morning decided to communicate her unhappiness by crying a very distinct and unusual cry. I put her in her booster chair, covered her in a blanket, and put a hat on her. She calmed down, but she wanted to make sure I was aware that she was unhappy with me.



I expect to get this face a lot on Wednesday when we go for Eliza's barium swallow. Brian's Mom has volunteered to go with me, thank goodness. She's not going to like that bottle full of barium and if she cries too hard, it'll totally break my heart. Hopefully we'll find out more about her reflux issues and get that under control soon.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday Brian had to cover a pumpkin patch for the paper, so we tagged along. Eliza was a big hit with the good people of Calvary United Methodist Chuch. She seemed to enjoy the pumpkins, too.

Baby in (re)flux.

Eliza saw a new pediatrician this morning. I really liked her. Her examination was very thorough and she actually examined the extent of Eliza's umbilical hernia. She decided her abdominal defect is significant enough to warrant a trip to a surgeon for a consultation. This doesn't mean surgery. Most of these things clear up on their own. It does mean we'll get to know the surgeon in case surgery is warranted down the road.

The baby also suffers from some pretty significant acid reflux. She hiccups like the drunk stork in those old Disney cartoons after every single meal. She'll be taking a small dose of prevacid once a day and she'll also have a swallowing study to further evaluate things. Poor little thing. Brand new and already a ward of the drug companies.

The good news is, she loves to smile and she's even beginning to make noises that aren't obvious cries. She downright giggled the other day. I'm hopeful that the medicine will help her feel better.

In other doctor news, Eliza is up to 11 lbs. 4 oz. and is 21.25 inches tall. She's about 25th percentile for all categories, so she's small for her age. Not in a worrysome way, though. She's just short and proportioned well.

Now for a couple more pictures of me with the baby. You can see where she spit up on my arm in these. Also, ignore the Gilda Radner hair. I did get it cut and colored over the weekend so I look much more human. It's amazing how little you care about your looks during the first six weeks of motherhood.

Monday, Monday...

Another weekend down, another workweek to go.

Eliza's doing much better with sleeping. She's waking up at most once during the night to eat, which is a welcome change from getting up every two hours.

I stayed up all night Friday night working on the new computer I got as an early Christmas present (thanks, Mom!) so Janie slept while I was on baby patrol. The good news is, pending a RAM upgrade this week, we should have a lot more YouTube videos of Eliza shortly. It's nice when you can upload and edit video without having to worry about the computer crashing.

Lee's home for a few days, so we saw "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" yesterday afternoon. My rating: ehh. Not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination (I'm looking at you, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua") but not as good as most of Michael Cera's resume. Certainly not as good as "Juno."

Janie has a seatbelt in her back seat now, which means she and Eliza are mobile. They're supposed to be out adventuring right now. Janie's also on the employment hunt, so I think she's trying to have as much fun as possible with Eliza before she has a job. (Janie, not Eliza. We're not putting the baby to work... yet.)

In other other news, it's three weeks to Election Day. Excitement abounds.

Eliza's spring wardrobe, for the fall...

First of all, for everyone who has asked why we never post pictures of the baby with me, there's a picture for you.





So, Eliza has lots of clothes that fit but are going to be totally out of season while she's this size. I'm glad the weather is staying relatively warm. I'm trying to run through some of these outfits before it's way too late. Eliza's wearing white very unfasionably after labor day today. I feel bad that she'll never be able to wear half the clothes she has. People have been nice and given us hand me downs, but if their kids were born at different times of year, it just isn't working out. I'm beginning to get a bit concerned that she doesn't have enough long sleeves to wear this winter. We'll have to put her long sleeved onesie under everything and she'll look like she's trying to bring back the Seattle grunge look.

We also weeded out clothes I either don't like or know she'll never wear. We should have a good batch to donate to charity.

Due to issues related to insurance, Eliza has to switch doctors just in time for her two month check-up. Keep your fingers crossed that we like her (the doctor, not Eliza). I had mixed feelings about our original doctor, so maybe this one will be exactly what we're looking for. More importantly, keep your fingers crossed that I don't freak out when she gets her first shots. When she had jaundice and had to suffer a couple of heel pricks, I wanted to slug the lady who did it.

Tonight Eliza is going for her first solo grandmother visit. Brian's Mom is going to watch her while we go out to dinner. I'm not sure she knows what she's in for, but I hope they have a good time.

I'm hoping to take Eliza to a pumpkin patch this weekend. Too bad she's too little for hot cider. I love fall.

Product Plug

Eliza has always HATED to be swaddled. She'd kick off her blanket within minutes of being put down to sleep. We had a swaddling blanket that didn't work very well. It was flimsy nylon and a little too big for her. That didn't work at all. We'd all but given up on the concept.....UNTIL!

Aunt Cheryl bought Eliza something that has revolutionized sleep at our house.

Kiddopotamus Swaddle Me.

Since this product came into our lives, Eliza has (pretty much) slept through the night two nights in a row. Night before last she slept from 10:30 to 4:00 and then went back to sleep after feeding and changing until the alarm went off at 6:50AM. This morning she slept until 5AM, we stayed up for about 45 minutes and then went back to sleep until 8AM! I actually had to wake her up to eat. She hasn't been swaddled since 8AM and she's still drowsy.

This is the kid who wouldn't sleep for more than a 2 hour stretch and sometimes wouldn't go to sleep at all until 2AM.

It might not last, but bless the inventer of the Swaddle Me. At least I've had two fairly solid nights of sleep in a row.

Daddy's Photography

Brian took this picture tonight and I LOVE it.

Lexington or Bust!

We took the baby back to the motherland this weekend. Cheryl and Aunt Margie were thrilled to be the first to get to keep the baby while Brian and myself went to the opening of The Dame.

Brian enjoying the show


How was The new Dame? Same As It Ever Was


We had a great time and I managed to only call about Eliza three times while we were out.

Saturday we went to Lawrenceburg to visit with Brian's former co-workers Mary and Laura and Laura's son Lance. I forgot to get a picture of Lance, but he has the coolest big blue eyes in the universe. We also saw Mary's amazing and newly renovated pad (you can click the Bud and Mary link on the side of the blog to see it yourself). After that, we went back to Margie's to take a nap and my brother Jimmy showed up unexpectedly. He invited us out to watch some football. We decided to hang at Spuds and watch UK fall just short in their bid to knock out the #2 team in the nation.

Brothers Greg and Jimmy watch the game




Sunday we went to have lunch with my Mom, Lee, Tracy and her family and Susan and Debbie. We had some chili and then headed home.

Susan and Eliza


Eliza with her cousin Scott


Eliza and Grammy


Susan and Brooke


Eliza being a ham (notice Lee's Ninja Turtle shirt)



Now we're home and it's nice to be home, but I'm always homesick when we get back. I'm glad Eliza got to meet the rest of her family and Brian got to see his favorite live band. I'm glad I got to visit home for the weekend. I really needed the escape.

Road trip!

That's right, after five weeks of staying close to home, we're ready to take the Eliza Jane Smith Show out on the road for a limited engagement in Lexington and Louisville.

Tomorrow afternoon, we're leaving for Lexington, where Eliza will get some quality time with Aunt Cheryl on Friday night while Janie and I get to act like adults for a night and visit The Dame to see Same As It Ever Was.

Saturday, we're taking her to Lawrenceburg to meet Mary and Laura and Lance, then it's back to Lexington to see Heather and Sally. We'll probably try to let Savannah, Bransen and Greg meet her too, if they want.

Sunday, we're making the trip to Louisville so Eliza can see Betty, Tracy, David and their kids and Lee before we come home.

This ought to be an interesting weekend.