A Blessing in a Bottle

Greetings! Just wanted to say a quick hello and let you know what we've been up to over the past week. On Sunday, we experienced a major accomplishment. Miss Elaina finally decided that a bottle isn't so bad. Matt was able to feed her for the first time, and she cooperated without any resistance. We were thrilled since I will be going back to work in a few weeks, and we weren't sure how Elaina was going to eat while I was away. It's a huge blessing that we don't have to worry about this anymore.

Sunday afternoon, Matt installed our new ceiling fan light that we received as a Christmas present from his parents. When we built our house in 2006, we left the light recptacle in the living room empty with a "temporary" cover. After living for two years with hardly any light in the room we spend the most time in, we decided it was time for a change. As far as we know, Matt did a great job installing it (no sparks or blown fuses). :)


On Monday, I took Elaina to her 8 week doctor's appointment. She is 22 inches long and weighs 11 pounds. The poor thing had to get three shots. She gave the nurse a friendly smile just as the first needle went into her thigh. That smile quickly disappeared and turned into a healthy scream. Yesterday, I took her with me to my doctor's appointment, and she immediately started crying when the nurse bent over to talk to her. It seems that she quickly learned her lesson about being friendly with nurses in any doctor's office.

Before I go, I wanted to share a video of Elaina that Matt took last night. If you listen carefully, you can hear her "talk" to you.

Learning to Read

Elaina was 8 weeks old on Monday, and we celebrated by reading her a story. She didn't express much interest in the book, but we will keep trying! (Notice the lack of hair on the top of her head in the photo. We adore her "male pattern baldness", but rest assured, it is already growing back in!)

Christmas Wrap-Up (ha ha)

Well, we are back in North Carolina after a two week trip to Indiana. It was so good to see everyone, but we were definitely glad to sleep in our own bed once arriving home. I wanted to wrap up the remainder of our trip and Christmas festivities. I have included additional pictures in the "Photo Galleries" section of the website.

We spent Christmas Eve and Day with Matt's family. After church service on Christmas Eve, we headed back to his parents' house for yummy snacks, a game, and a movie. Elaina went to bed after church, and unfortunately, she missed out on all of the fun.

On Christmas morning, Elaina was being extra cute by cooing and smiling at us when we got her out of bed. I even captured a picture of her smile. We had a lot of fun opening presents with her. She received many wonderful gifts!

On the 27th, we headed to my parents' home to celebrate Christmas with them. I really enjoyed watching my nieces open their gifts. Elaina (again) received many wonderful presents. We had a great (non-traditional) meal of white chili.

On the 28th, we celebrated Christmas with my mom's parents. My grandma cooked a delicious meal, and Elaina was able to meet her great-grandparents, great-aunt and uncle, and cousin. My grandma made a cute little purse for Elaina out of scraps of fabric. I absolutely love handmade gifts, and I know Elaina will cherish them when she is older. The following image is Elaina with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Kemp.

After celebrating New Year's Eve and Jordan's birthday, we headed to Indianapolis with my family. We all took Elaina and her cousins to the Children's Museum. I look forward to returning when Elaina is big enough to enjoy the exhibits. Sydney and Addison had a great time.

We said good-bye to my family on the 2nd, and met up with friends from college. We typically only get to see them once a year when we're in town for the holidays, and we enjoyed introducing them to Elaina this year. Unfortunately, we were absolutely exhausted, and I never thought to take pictures!

On the 3rd, we began the drive back to North Carolina. We met up with Matt's parents for lunch and one last kiss and hug for Elaina. We stopped to spend the night half way through the trip, and we arrived at our home late Sunday afternoon. Matt returned to work on Monday, and I spent most of the day napping with Elaina.

We had a great holiday season, and we feel very blessed to have such great family and friends! Now, I just have to get motivated enough to take down the Christmas decorations. :)

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.