Daddy's Girl

7 Months (yes, I'm 2 days early)

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012 everyone!

This time last year I was posting my first pregnant picture for the relatives in Louisiana. This year, we got to share the baby girl with them! Very fun. I got my fix of Louisiana yummies and Cafe' du Monte coffee and beignets. Mmm, mmm, good. We had some great games of Banana grams, Wii archery and bowling, and yummy food. Did I mention the good food? (pictures to come)

Downtown New Orleans

Jackson Square

Mississippi River

Congratulations to my friends Sara Scotty, Ashley, and Dustin for their engagements! Very exciting and we are so happy for y'all.

Elsa weighed in at...oh wait, I will weigh her in 2 days (I would tonight, but she's in bed). Hopefully she's gained. I'm sure she has the way this girl eats.

She's tried carrots, mandarin oranges, pears, bananas, rice cereal, ham, and turkey. She liked carrots, bananas, and ham. We'll try the others again in a couple weeks. No pressure Elsa, but good eaters run in the family.

We were able to go to Charlotte the weekend before Christmas and spend time with the whole Kirkpatrick/Harrington clan. We had to some girl time on Saturday at the mall while the guys went golfing. It was a great weekend. We exchanged secret santa gifts, slept in, played games, and ate Grannie's great home cookin'(like we always do).

Elsa is crawling and pulling up like a champ. G and L got her a little assistant walker baby stroller thing (not sure what to call it), and Elsa crawls to it and pulls up so fast that she falls when it starts rolling before I can get to her. Say bye-bye to getting anything done during wake time from here on out Mommy. She's crawling under the coffee table, pulling up on the dishwasher and pulling forks out of the basket, etc. Dangerous stuff. We lowered her crib last week, which was a little sad for me. Wow, big month.

When we got back from Louisiana, my whole family was in town. I have been going over there every day this week while Shane has been at work. Elsa has had some good quality time with her cousins. Grayson tells her multiple times a day how cute she is, Will is teaching her how to count and say her ABC's, and Kate is...in her own world. She's patient with Elsa. Elsa pulls on Kate's long beautiful locks. The only reason Kate puts up with it is because she knows it's all out of jealousy. I look forward to my family coming in town more than anything every year, so it was a fun week catching up with all of the out of town siblings.

M, K, G and Dad went to a Hurricane's game one night...obviously cheering for the opposing team.

Mom, Matt, and Sarah took Kate and Will to the pool

saying bye to the Matt Puffer clan

Wow...long post. Big families make for lots of pictures. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

6 Months, Thanksgiving, and lots of FIRSTS!

Ok, so let's go ahead and pretend it is December 1st...

Happy 6 months to Elsa!

I am flattered that some people have asked me to update the blog this past month. So, thank you for reading, and thank you for motivating me to continue to document all of these exciting times for my family.

November was a big month for us. Elsa weighed in at 15 lb 3 oz and 27 in long. She is in the 58th % in height, 30th % in weight, and 12th % in head circumference. She found her ears in the beginning of November and was touching them all the time. Thankfully it was not due to an ear infection, just an infatuation. We also watched Uncle David run in the City of Oaks marathon with Grandma and Aunt Sarah (pictures to come). He did great! It was really fun to be out there. We saw him probably 8-10 times throughout the race. For him, it probably didn't feel like much, but we felt pretty good about how we did. He was more excited to see Elsa at the end of the race than the rest of us...we didn't mind. He motivated Sarah, my dad, and myself to run in one in March. Sarah and Dad are already signed up...we'll see if I commit...

She started getting into the crawling postition and swaying back and forth. Very cute. She also started sitting up on her own.

Cousin Will turned the big T-W-O! Aunt Meghan, Grannie, and Aunt B also had birthdays!

We made a trip to Asheboro to give Grannie and Papa an Elsa fix. She started saying her "B's" that morning and decided to show off at dinner. Very sweet.

Elsa started reaching for mommy and daddy and then a week later started reaching for other special people.

We spent Thanksgiving in Charlotte with Grannie and Papa, and were thankful for Uncle Michael to finally meet Elsa on our way out of town (and play with baby M again). Elsa actually caught her first fever the day before Thanksgiving, but it only stuck around for 24 hours. When we got back in town, we were able to spend some special time with Matt, Becca, Will, and Kate before they went back home.

And at 6 months...we finally let Elsa try something besides breast milk. She had some sweet potatoes on November 30th!

I love being a mommy, and am thankful that Shane loves being a daddy almost more than I love being a mommy (ok, we are probably equal). Like everyone warned us...she is growing up so fast!!!

5 Months!

Happy 5 months to Elsa!

(once again, a few days late)

14 lbs 4 oz.

26 1/2 inches long

This month:

She met Scott, Jill and Matthew. Her first play date went well. Matthew shared his book and they chewed it together while Jill tried to read.

She started raising her arms up in the air. One day I was dancing around her while she was in her exersaucer and she joined me and put her hands in the air and smiled really big. So sweet.

She also started saying her "m's." Maybe a Mama is in the works?

This month was a HUGE month for us. Shane has been to at least one interview a week in the past 6 weeks. He was offered 3 jobs last week. They all had positive aspects and negative aspects, but we felt the most peace towards one. I am so proud of Shane for his patience, trust in God, and perseverance. I know it has been a discouraging process, but we knew this trial would one day end, and the lessons learned in the process were worth it. We grew together through it all.

I love being home with Elsa! Her personality is developing more and more every day! She is so sweet and happy! We have a lot of fun together. I have my bored and lonely days considering the amount of time she sleeps, but I'm learning how to make the most out of nap times. I've been running 5-6 times a week for the past 4 months, but this week I started P90X during Elsa's mid morning nap. We'll see how long this lasts. :)

I have never been good with change in the past, but marriage and parenthood has been WONDERFUL! Shane and Elsa are huge blessings and I could not be more thankful!