So cute!

So, we know we are biased, but this picture of Tabitha is pretty cute. Her bright, big blue eyes show up well. She's just always looking to explore new things with those eyes!

Thanksgiving

Over Thanksgiving we made a trip down to Nebraska to see Tabitha's great-grandma, great aunt and great uncle, and her third cousin. It was a lot of fun and she did a great job traveling and meeting new people. While she wasn't probably as happy as she normally is, she did put on a happy face and enjoyed the new faces. I am sure she won't remember this trip, but for us it memorable. All of the pictures we took with the good camera are still (yes, still...a month later) being edited; however, I captured one on my phone while we were traveling. I'm not sure how her neck doesn't get stiff, but then again she is 4 months, and not almost 32 years old.

For all those wondering, daycare is going well. Tabitha loves being there and loves watching the other kids. Plus, she likes all of the toys, especially the ones that we don't have here at our house. Her new favorite is the jumperoo. She's just big enough to fit into it now, and while her feet don't really touch the ground yet so that she can jump, she can make it move enough to keep her busy.

At home, we don't have as many toys, but her favorite has become a little bunny that I've nicknamed Peter Cottontail. It's probably because it's small enough that she can grasp it. It's quite cute too that if you get her in the right mood, she'll have a little conversation with it.

Sleeping

Tabitha loves to sleep. She definitely takes after her daddy in that respect. She also takes after her daddy in the ways that she can fall or stay asleep. I went in one morning to wake her up and I found her sound asleep like this.

And this morning...much to our delight, yet horror, she had rolled over. However, she had woken herself up in the process because of it.

Sitting

We are gradually getting closer to Tabitha sitting on her own. She would much rather be upright than laying down. Here are some shots of her getting closer to her new "trick".

Miss Tabitha loves to read. We read several books every day. In an effort to keep her occupied while James and I did something last weekend, we proped her up and gave her a book. A few minutes later we saw this.

Instead of us reading to her, she was reading to her bunny.

Fred the cat...in winter

This is Fred...

This is Fred in the winter...

Fred can either be found laying on top of the vent (as seen in the first picture) or in the dryer.

I am up early while the rest of the house sleeps. James and I both have the day off, and while we have a few things planned, I hope that we can make it back for some R & R with the baby. It's been awhile since we haven't had to worry about yardwork or errands, work or other commitments, and just spend time with the three of us (excuse me...I mean four of us with Fred). I am looking forward to today and to a quiet weekend coming up.


In the meantime, here's my new favorite photo of Tabitha.

Some of my favorite pics so far...

See how she grows....

I took this first picture when Tabitha was three days old.

Now, here's Tabitha exactly 11 weeks later in the same outfit.

It's fun to see that she's grown. I do have to admit that this is only a newborn size outfit though. She is a tiny little thing, but full of muscle and spunk. She never stops moving!

A Fred the Cat post

Poor Fred...he keeps asking me when I am going to put a post again about him. He keeps telling me that it's all about Tabitha. Sorry buddy--here's a post for you! Fred is doing good with Tabitha and while he doesn't love her yet, he does put up with her. We do know that it's getting colder out as he has now migrated to our bed at night and has become accustomed to sleeping on my head again, which means that I sleep without a pillow now for the next six months. Oh well! What we don't do for both our human and our furry children!

Trip to Indiana

Two weeks ago we made a trip to Indiana to see James' parents. Tabitha ended up doing a great job traveling the 600 miles to get there. She also did fabulous with meeting her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins from that side of the family. We all had a great time and look forward to our next trip back!

Time flies. It's amazing how quickly nearly 12 weeks have gone. It's back to work on the 27th, and I have a mixture of emotions about it.

I am happy and excited. I love my job, despite some of the challenges that come along with it. My boss and co-workers are fabulous and I am looking forward to the adult interaction again. I love being home with Tabitha, but at the same time, I love my job.

I am nervous. Why? I don't know why to tell you exactly. I have been working in this job for 8 years and yet as I think about going back I am nearly as nervous about it as I was on Day 1. I don't think the nerves have to do with the job, but rather about how life will again be different as I settle back into work again.

I am also sad. I have spent the past 12 weeks bonding with Tabitha. She knows me and I know her. I can walk into a room or just talk to her and she knows me and gives me the biggest smile. She's hit several developmental milestones. I will miss all of this bonding time.

So, with all of this spinning around in my head, it's no wonder that I don't sleep much at night (Miss Tabitha sleeps fine though). I know it will all work out and going back to work is going to be the best for both of us!

Photos by daddy

Milestones

It's hard to believe that Miss Tabitha is 11 weeks old already. Where does the time go? She is learning so many new things all of the time, that if you don't see her for a week, I am sure that it seems like she has changed so much.



This past week we hit a new milestone. Tabitha's head control has been getting better by the day. So, during daily "tummy time" we tried to have her use her arms to lift her head and chest off the floor. In the past we have failed miserably as she opted to move her arms out to her side and go for the beached whale look. However, on Monday, she decided that she was ready to use her arms. It was so fun to see her do this new "trick". The only downside is that she was trying to use her legs as well, which can only mean one thing...crawling. Once that happens, life will no longer be quite as simple--at least it is probably a little ways off before that starts (or so mommy is hoping!).

A bit blurry, but she's working hard with her arms (and of course her tongue).

The Tongue

We have decided that one trait that Tabitha takes after her mommy with is her tongue. Mommy has a long skinny tongue that can touch her nose (yes, such talent), and Tabitha's tongue is currently on the same course to be just as long and skinny. She's good at sticking it out for now too. Here is a cute one we captured recently!

War wounds

I think every parent dreads the two month doctor's visit. Tabitha's was two weeks ago. James and I were nervous about everything...is she growing enough, is she healthy, how will she do with her shots. We manage to come out a little less stressed knowing that our baby is doing just fine.


Tabitha is average for length (this definitely comes from daddy's side of the family and NOT from mommy); and she weighs in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce. No wonder we are only growing out of newborn clothes and diapers now and not several weeks ago. I won't complain though. She's healthy, happy, and the doctor thinks she is doing great!



The dreaded shots also happened that day. We are definitely advocates for getting her vaccinations. There are too many weird things out there for her to get. Tabitha got three shots in her legs. She did cry (we would have been more worried if she hadn't cried), but quickly calmed down after eating. In fact...she gave the receptionist a big smile on her way out.

Right after we got home. The shots didn't seem to bother her.

Later on in the day. I don't think she was unhappy about her shots, but rather the diaper change.

Pretty, Pretty Princess

Tabitha is daddy's princess. He loves going around and calling her "Pretty, Pretty Princess". It's cute, and even cuter when she dresses in her pretty, pretty princess nightgown. My mom and I found this and had to get a couple them for Miss Tabitha. As we have learned, unless you are a master at putting clothes on a baby, it can be torturous to get them on, but once on they are cute!

Class

In August, Tabitha and I began a 6-week "New Mama's" class. Myself and seven other wonderful ladies participated. We learned about sleeping, going back to work, and many other pertinent subjects. It gave us time to get out of the house, get to know other new moms and learn about what our baby is doing. As I told the instructor at on the last day of class, it was the best money I've ever spent. All of us plan on keeping in touch and getting together periodically. It's going to be a great support group!

Here's a picture of the babies from the last day of class.

Tabitha's in the middle with the stripped dress on.

State Park #3

On Saturday, despite being a bit cool, we took a trip to Tabitha's 3rd state park...William T. O'Brien state park. She loved being put in the Baby Bjorn (well, not at first, but eventually she came to like it), and we hiked several miles. The leaves were changing colors and it made for a great morning.

Photography by Daddy! He's getting really good at pictures!

Flailing

Tabitha has a thing with flailing (although I know that it's true in all babies). It's rather amusing and most of the time she scares herself with it. When she was just a little tyke, when you would slowly put her down in her crib she would wave her arms outright like she was falling. It was her natural instinct kicking in that we were going to drop her (no...we didn't either).

Now, as she gotten older her flailing has become more under control, but now she once in awhile flails when she has scared herself.

We shouldn't laugh, but it is rather amusing to watch.

Not a picture of the flail, but too cute to resist!

A productive day

Before Tabitha I used to define a productive day as one that included laundry, dishes, cleaning the house, pulling weeds, baking, cooking, cleaning the garage, etc, etc, etc. I was a little naive in thinking that once she came that I could keep up that level of productivity. Haha! I figured that she would sleep a lot (in her crib nonetheless) and that I would be able to get so much done.


The past 7.5 weeks I have learned a lot about raising a baby--and the biggest lesson--I will not be as productive as I once was. Perhaps this is because when there comes the opportunity to hold your baby--you do, and there comes the opportunity to go on a walk with your baby--you do, and when your baby needs something--you take care of it. A productive day for me now includes making sure Tabitha gets fed when she needs it, holding her, taking her on a 4 mile walk, going to our new mammas class, hanging out with grandma, and reading lots of books. I do manage to get some of my old stuff done...however, not as much as I once did. Oh well....it's about spending time with her and if the house doesn't get vacuumed this second or those weeds don't get pulled for a few weeks then so be. It's much better to spend the time with Tabitha as much as possible!

Spending time on a walk with Tabitha. Both mommy and daddy were able to go that day (daddy's taking the pic).

Learning

It's amazing how much babies learn. I would have to think that they probably learn more in the first year of their life than at any other time. From large motor skills to fine motor skills to talking, smiling, and just being cute! It's been fun to watch Tabitha starting to learn the skills that she will be using the rest of her life. She's got smiling down, and now she's working on focusing on things going on around her.

The other day I layed her in her crib while I folded her laundry and turned on the mobile. Immediately she looked up and began looking at it. Additionally, it also calmed her down. Just that little thing of looking up at the mobile showed me that she is learning and picking things up quickly!

Baptism

This past Sunday, Tabitha was baptized at church. She wore her mommy's dress from her baptism, and looked very beautiful. She only cried once, and not when the cold water hit her head. It was a fabulous day and now she is a part of God's kingdom.

I think that they are starting to bond...slowly but surely!

Wee Creatures

Tabitha isn't the only wee creature that was born this summer. As I was outside cleaning the cars one day, I heard the chirps of small birds coming from somewhere in our yard. I investigated the nearest tree, and much to Tabitha and my's delight, we saw a nest with a few young birds in it. Being the first weekend in September, it seems a little late for new birds, but what do I know about nature. Using the zoom lens on our camera, I was able to capture the little face of one our newest babies on Vincent Avenue.

Tabitha's First Vacation

Several weeks ago, when Tabitha was just 2.5 weeks old we decided to go up north for a mini (like one day) vacation. While we only wanted to drive about four hours to Two Harbors, being that it was still summer and a last minute vacation we ended up having to drive five hours to our favorite place to stay when we go skiing. Our goal for the weekend was to get out of the house and to explore the great outdoors. We want Tabitha to love being outside and to enjoy the wonders of nature. Our goal is to make Tabitha a world traveler, but for now we are settling on getting her to all of the state parks in Minnesota and to as many national parks throughout the US. So far, in six weeks of life, we have gotten her to two of Minnesota's great state parks: Cascade River state park and Gooseberry Falls state park.

Elise and Tabitha at Gooseberry Falls State Park

There's something about a smile....

The other day our normal walking spot was overtaken by a bunch of people running/walking a 5K. So, because of this, we went back home, but in the meantime decided that we should walk down to the farmer's market. This occurs each Saturday from June to October. We had a great time and even found a few things to take home with us.

As you can see, Tabitha is very excited about our Farmer's Market purchases of sweet corn, raspberries and jam.

Bathtime!

Tabitha got her first about about 2 weeks ago. We haven't done a lot of baths with her yet, only because both of us are a little nervous about giving her a bath by ourself if only one of us is around. However, we have managed about 4 baths total with mixed results so far. It seems that we get it right about every other time. Those are the good days where she doesn't scream and seems to enjoy the water. Hopefully, we can get her to start liking it every time!

A little blury...she is such a wiggle worm!