3 months!

Time Flies...

... when you're exhausted 24/7. I can't believe it's been just over 3 months since Ellie officially entered the world. It's so hard to remember what our lives were like before we had her. Adam and I were talking the other day about what we did with our days off before her birth, and we really couldn't remember. We concluded that we wasted a lot of our baby-free time. Oh if we only knew then what we know now.... Isn't that always the case?

 

This past month has been hectic. We had a two week visit from Ellie's Ontario grandparents. We attempted several outings with Ellie but she just wasn't having it. She also had a few super fussy nights with lots of crying, which lead to a very exhausted mommy! On top of that, she had her first shots which resulted in a full day of crying in her sleep (yup, she slept ALL day after her shots!). We've also had visits from my mom and stepdad, my dad and stepmom, and a whole bunch of our friends (Danica, Shawna, Sven & Kayden). I also started working part time (but that's an entire other post worth in itself!). We even ventured out to Diana & Richard's house for a delicious dinner (and survived with only a short bout of crying!).

Ellie has also reached a lot of milestones over the past month. She had already started rolling from her tummy to her back, but also now rolls from her back onto her side (mostly in pursuit of fingers to suck on). She has also rolled back to tummy a couple times, but I think they were mostly accidental. She also figured out how to bat at her toys and a couple days of doing that resulted in her being able to reach for and grab her toys! Now she's just starting to put her two hands together. It's pretty fun to watch her concentration as she stares in amazement at her hands clasped in front of her! She is holding her head up really well these days, and likes putting weight on her legs when we hold her up. We also just got her a bumbo, which she really seems to enjoy so far!

Well, our life is pretty much all about Ellie! So that about sums up the last month or so. I don't even remember what 'busy' felt like before having a baby!

A Few Clips

Just a few long overdue video clips of Ellie for those of you not on Facebook...

A Few Favourites

These are just a few of my favourite moments from these past 2 months or so. Even though it's been a huge life-altering change, having Ellie is such a blessing!

The beginning of her thumb sucking attempts. I believe this one was an accidental success!

Ellie with her cousin Austin :)

Breastfeeding has gotten so much easier!

Self-explanatory? We couldn't pass up the opportunity to document this special moment!

Some after-bath time cuddles!

  

August Goals

One of my favourite blogs and bloggers does a monthly reflection and sets out her goals for the next month. I really enjoy those posts and have been wanting to do something similar because I think it will help me commit to my goals and hopefully follow through on them. So, as a trial run, here are my goals for August:

• Shower while home alone with Ellie (I usually either sneak in a shower before Adam goes to work, or when he comes home on his break, but getting up at 6am to shower or waiting until noon aren't very convenient options).
• Take Ellie somewhere in the car without Adam. I haven't attempted this yet because she often gets fussy in the car and I like to be the one sitting beside her and soothing her. But I have a friend I haven't seen since before Ellie was born, so I might just use that as an excuse to get over this hurdle! Then we can look at going to mommy-and-me type groups together in the fall!
• Go back to work part time. Luckily, we live at work, so this can be done fairly easily without me having to pump (hopefully). I'm just not sure how I'll handle longer periods of time away from Ellie (my shifts would be 4.5 hours).
• Take an overnight family trip. We will probably either go to visit my parents (depending on their schedules - they have a busy month!) or go somewhere else on the island just the 3 of us.
• Make time for regular exercise at least 2-3 times per week. We have a fitness room on the property, so all I have to do is get dressed and go over there when I get free time. I'd like to lose 5-7 pounds this month. I think this is doable.
• Eat more salads and/or green smoothies. There is a group retreat here at the moment in which the participants subside on nothing but green smoothies for a week. I'm hoping to be in the right place at the right time and score some free smoothies!
• Do more tummy time, diaper-free time and outside in the shade time with Ellie. Tummy time is great for strengthening her arm, neck and chest muscles and it's also the first step to crawling someday. Diaper-free time is good for airing out and keeping diaper rash away. On that note, diaper-free time can be kinda messy, so outside in the shade might be a nice place to do that!
• Open an RESP for Ellie. We actually had intended to do this in July (the appointment was made and everything), but had unexpected guests, so we cancelled it to spend time with them. It should be fairly simple to re-book once we know our work schedules.

I keep wanting to add more goals, but at the risk of overextending myself and feeling stressed out all month (or disappointed next month when I look back on these goals), I'm going to leave it there.

What do you think? Does this list seem realistic? Or is it too much too soon? Do you have any big (or small) goals for this month?