3 Months Old!

My sweet baby is ALREADY 3 months old. Where has this time gone? Michael looked at her the other day and said, "She got big! When did that happen? She used to seem so tiny in that swing!" I miss our little baby that we brought home, but 3-month-old-Eliza is a lot of fun!

She can pick things up now! I think it is by accident because she seemed as I surprised as me!

After bath time

Reaching toward the toys

Silly face :)

Love this little girl!

More pictures...

More pictures with the camera! 

Learning curve

Brian has a really good camera that he is letting us borrow so that I can take Eliza's 3 month pictures later this week. I am not very good at taking pictures yet, but I will get there. The more I play with it, the more I am understanding the settings and can't wait to take more pictures of our smiling baby :) Here are a few I've taken so far...

She loves her spit bubbles right now!

Angel dog

Coral bear

Happy Housewarming!

Our good friend, Brian, moved into a new apartment recently, so we had to throw a party! Kimmie, his girlfriend, is an amazing cook and had a FULL spread of goodies: Lemon and orange bars, almond hummus, strawberry and regular guacamole, cheesecake filled strawberries, little smokies, chocolate covered pretzels rolled in toffee, and kabobs! Needless to say, no one went home hungry! Eliza was a great trooper all day! So that Eliza would have fun, Kimmie bought her a very cute bouncer to stay over at Brian's since we are there pretty often. Super sweet!

Beautiful Summer Day

Michael had the day off yesterday, so we all got to eat breakfast together and start the day off with sweet Eliza smiles. In the afternoon, I had a chiropractor appointment, so I left my two favorite people at home. As you can see, they each were busy doing their favorite activities when I returned: Michael playing video games and Eliza snoozing! Love them!

Later, we went to Jazz in June and our friend Brian caught Eliza rocking out to the Jazz music.
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With all this activity, she was a sleepy baby, so we went home and got ready for bed. This is what Eliza had to say about her day.

As you can see, the day and her last meal wore her out!

So we swaddled her and put her to bed to have sweet baby dreams <3

Happy Father's Day!

It is hard to believe that this time last year, we did not know how much our lives were about the change. I can still remember the excitement when I told Michael we were expecting our little Blueberry. I could tell then that he was going to be the best dad I had ever met!

 Although we were exhausted by the time she got here, he was amazing for both of us. From the moment she was born, he has been by her side and I don't see that changing!

We are both lucky to have him. I am proud to call him Husband and I know Eliza will always be glad to call him Daddy!

First Father's Day

Daddy's Sweetie

Eliza met more family

It is hard living far from family, especially now that we have little 'Liza. I was close to my grandmother and so it bothers me sometimes when I think about how far family is. This week was special for Eliza, though. She got to meet her grandma and Aunt Katie. Now she has met both of her aunts, both of her grandmothers and one of her grandfathers. We need to meet many more people, but she is getting there!

At first, Katie was a bit scared she would hurt Eliza when she was holding her, but as you can see, but the end of their trip, they are great pals! Katie was wonderful with Eliza and spent most of the time making goofy faces and dancing to get Eliza to smile :)

Laura had a great time with her, too. They spent most of the trip sticking tongues out at each other, a skill Eliza has picked up and loves to mimic! We'll get to see these gals again soon when we travel to Texas for Nicole's wedding :)

Eliza is Loved

We have some more friends to thank for gifts! Mrs. Lowe sent this lovely blanket up with Laura and Katie. Mrs. Lowe is Eliza's grandparents neighbor who can't wait to meet the baby.

Blanket sent by Mrs. Lowe

Pam Wakeman, a wonderful woman at our church, made this blanket for her before she was born, but we just managed to cross paths. Eliza's nickname and color of her room inspired the color of the blanket. Both blankets are really warm and comfy, so it may compete with another blanket for the title "Coma blanket".

Blanket made by Pam Wakeman

Finally, the Pastoral Care Associates at our church brought a gift bag to Eliza. They gave her some Unitarian books, a small blanket crocheted by Jackie Egan and this beautiful quilt done by the very talented Phyllis Higley. Jan Buffum was nice enough to bring the gifts out and cuddle with the baby for a few minutes :)

Given by the Pastoral Care Associates

Miss Eliza, you are loved!

She's growing

We don't know if she is sleeping so much because she is growing, or if it is a side effect of her tummy medicine, but this is her passed out after her last meal of the night. Arms out, eyes shut, smile on the face! 

"Oh, my!"

I love the stage she is in right now because everything captivates her attention. If it moves or makes sound, she LOVES to look at it. This little orange monkey sings a few songs and his nose lights up. She stays interested in it for quite some time. The other thing she really likes right now is the mirror in the corner. Who wouldn't want to look at that baby for a long time ;)

Thankfully, she has been in a pretty good mood while Katie and Laura have been here. Her Aunt Katie has been playing with her and getting many smiles :)

Today, to get out of the house, we made a trip to the International Quilt Museum here in Lincoln. Eliza slept through the whole visit... think she was sleepy or unintersted?

1st out-of-town trip

On Saturday, Eliza made her first out-of-town trip and was so good! Now, it was only an hour drive down to Nebraska City, but it was a good test for our trip to Texas that we'll be taking in early August. I was somewhat worried about the drive because when we are driving around town, she can be pretty fussy. Everything worked out perfectly though. Our friend Brian drove down with us, so I sat in the back seat with Eliza. She smiled at me most of the time and we had good chats while the guys talked up front. I think the reason she fusses in the car is because she can't see us. Needless to say, I think one of us will be in the back with her most of the trip to Texas :) She finally fell asleep as we were pulling into Lincoln and gave us cute little baby stretches :)

  

Since she was awake quite a bit Saturday, she was a sleepy baby on Sunday. Now, on Monday, she is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed ready to play :) It is an exciting day because she get to meet her other grandmother and Aunt Katie!!

Camera shy

As hard as I try, I am rarely able to get the  cute stuff that Eliza does with my camera. As soon as I put my phone or the camera in front of her, she gets very interested in looking at it and stops doing whatever she was doing. Yesterday, I was able to get her to look past the camera for a few seconds to give me a smile, but it required me making a goofy sound :-) Also, notice that as soon as I stop making the sound, her expression changes to "thinking".

My Daughter's Sad Story

This morning, Eliza was stirring around, so I turned on the light and this is what I saw. She starts out politely saying she's awake and then starts to tell me that she's mistreated. She started looking sad, so we got up and ate breakfast. Now she's a much happier baby :)

Date with Dad

Today, Eliza was very proud of herself... She made a product that Wipees cower at, which she was thought was funny. When I laid her on her changing table, she started smiling, so I immediately knew I was in for a surprise.

  

After I opened up her present, I did as much as I could with Wipees, but there are just some things that are beyond wet wipes. I must admit... the thoughy of hosing her down went through my mind. Deciding to be civilized, I setter for an afternoon bath. 

It's a good thing that we took an early bath, because when dad got home, we all went out on a date to Jazz in June. It was nice to lay a blanket down, listen to some good music and oogle over Baby Eliza. 

  

Watching beauty grow

I am so lucky I get to stay at home with Eliza because I get to see her growing and learning. She has recently started learning that she can grip our fingers and can pull out her pacifier. The neat trick will be when she learns to put it back it :) She is smiling a lot more and I think is getting very close to giggling! She has already gained 3 lbs and 2 inches. She is getting to be a big girl :) This morning I dressed her in tights, but despite her growing, they still are big on her. ..

Another thing growing around our house are our roses. I am obsessed with them! Our neighbors probably think I am a crazy lady because I am always outside checking on them and taking pictures of them :) I can't wait for them all to open up. Walking up to our door smells delicious. 

What a savings!

For fun, Michael and I sat down and researched how much money we are saving my using cloth diapers and exclusively breastfeeding. Here's what we found out.

Eliza's thinking face <3

On the conservative side, let's say we are buying the cheapest diapers we could find - which is about $0.14 a piece. She would go through at least 10 a day. So let's say each week, we would spend about $9.80. I bought nice cloth diapers for about $17 each, so we pay for a cloth diaper every 2 weeks. We have purchased 16 of them, so in 32 weeks, we will break even. Babies on average, wear diapers for 2 years. 

Dispoable (at current rate) = $9.80 X 104 weeks = $1019.20

Cloth (not including detergent and water) = $17 X 16 purchased = $272

Detergent is about $15 per container, which lasts about 2.5 months, so in the long run, cloth diapers will cost us $272 + (24 months/2.5 months * 15) = $416. This saves us approximately $603 over a 2 year period!

Since Eliza is MSPI (Milk Soy Protein Intolerant), the formula we would have to buy is called Alimentum and the cheapest I could find it was $28.16 per can. Each can would last about 4.5 days at her current rate of eating. So, each week we would be spending about $45. I plan on breast feeding for her first year, so we will save $45 x 52 = $2340 in cost of formula. To be fair, I need to subtract the cost of the breast pump and milk storage bags. The breast pump was about $220 and the storage bags were about $20. So, we will save $2100 by breastfeeding her first year!

In summary, this allows me to buy tons of other things and not feel guilty! Let's be real, that money will go toward her anyway :)