A Piece of History

Elaina Elizabeth received a special treat at Gramma and Grampa Rust's when she got to lie in the same crib that once held a number of other Elizabeths when they were babies. The cradle pictured below rocked Elaina's Great-Great-Grandmother Elizabeth Pauline Pfeifer when she was born 121 years ago, it rocked Elaina's Great-Grandmother Mary Elizabeth Lockhart when she was born in 1914, and it even held her Aunt Andrea Elizabeth Rust in 1982. Yes, a generation was skipped in there and Elaina's Gramma Rita Faye is still a little bitter about that. [Elaina's Daddy got to experience the cradle in 1981 even though he has no 'Elizabeth' in his name.]

The Holidays... Whew!

Over the past few days, we have whisked little Elaina all over the place! Last Friday, we made the trip to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore Estate. The house is absolutely beautiful, and we had a great time. Elaina was nice and cozy tucked in the baby carrier on Matt's chest in the 70 degree weather. She slept through the entire visit!

We then continued on to visit family. Our first stop was my sister Krista's house. Krista loved snuggling with her niece, and her girls Sydney and Addison enjoyed meeting their new cousin. We tried to snap a few pictures of the girls together, and Addison decided to put on a show for us instead. She enjoyed rolling around on the floor like a little puppy with a stuffed ornament in her mouth as Krista tried desperately to get her to hold still. It was adorable. (Notice the ornament in her hands below.)We then drove on to stay with Matt's parents Saturday night so we could attend church with them on Sunday morning where Elaina was able to meet everyone in their church family. Mike and Rita have gone on and on about their little grandbaby since she was born, and this made the church family very eager to meet her!

After church, we drove to my grandparents' house for a Christmas celebration with my Dad's side of the family. Elaina received many wonderful gifts, and she was able to meet her great-grandparents, great-aunts and uncles, and cousins. The following image is Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Wade with their three great-grandchildren.

After the Christmas celebration, we headed back to Matt's parents where his sister Andrea and her husband Adam were finally able to spend time with their new niece. Andrea and Adam are expecting their first baby in May, and we just found out that they're having a little boy. Elaina will have her first male cousin. Congrats to Andrea and Adam!

I look forward to sharing more of Elaina's first Christmas over the next few days. We wish you a Merry Christmas, and don't forget to set out milk and cookies for Santa tonight!

Christmas Celebration #1

Matt, Elaina, and I celebrated Christmas as our little family of 3 this past Sunday. We started off the festivities with a ham, mashed potato, and green bean dinner. (Elaina slept through this part of the celebration.) Then, we all put on our Christmas pajamas, and we were going to open gifts. Unfortunately, Elaina had another plan for her Christmas pj's. We should have known better than to put her in her outfit before changing her diaper. The diaper change proved to be disastrous. I'll spare you the details, but the end result was a bath and pajama change for Elaina.

Once Elaina was clean and clothed in her non-Christmas pj's, we opened gifts. Elaina received a photo album and a baby's 1st Christmas ornament from Mommy and Daddy. For our present to each other, Matt and I are going to visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC for a candlelight tour. We ended the evening with a warm cup of eggnog (Elaina had milk).

Let the Christmas festivities begin!

4 weeks!

I absolutely cannot believe that Elaina is already 4 weeks old! She is really starting to "fill out" as her little belly, cheeks, and thighs begin to take on that adorable chubby look. She has a doctor's appointment next week, and I look forward to finding out how much our little gal weighs.

We've continued to try new things with her. She made her first trip to church this past Sunday, and she slept through the entire service. She did stir enough during one of the songs to throw up her "touchdown Jesus" arms. Really!

Today we tried another first: a bottle. So far, Elaina has only been breastfed, and the bottle introduction did not go over well. We'll continue to try to get her to take breastmilk out of a bottle. Hopefully, she'll take to it soon so I can have a little break!

I'm including a picture of the 3 of us taken after returning home from Elaina's first trip to church.