Eloise at 1 Month

Little Eloise is already 1 month old & is more of a delight every day. What a wonderful first month it has been! We have had all the grandparents here on & off this month which has been fabulous. Eloise has not been shorted on snuggles, rocking, kisses etc. by anyone, especially big sister. She seems so big compared to when we brought her home from the hospital although 8&1/2 pounds is still not very big. I am guessing that is about how much she weighs now following her two week weight of 7lbs 10oz. She is living up to her nickname of "Mellow Elo" as she has proven to be an easy peasy girl so far as long as you keep her tummy full of milk!

After a couple trips to the Lactation Consultant to work through little bit having a high palette, we are successfully & painlessly (most of the time) breastfeeding. She is eating right around every 3 hours during the day, doing a 4.5 stretch then 3.5 & 2 at night. She has had 3-4 bottles so far without any trouble. In fact, she drinks about 3 ounces in 10 minutes! She is a super efficient eater while nursing too. One lovely thing is that she goes to sleep easily. For a couple weeks, we were putting her in her cradle either asleep or drowsy but now most of the time, I am laying her down awake & she will fall asleep on her own with little to no crying. Some of this is due to the fact that I can't immediately respond to every single cry when I am taking care of two kids (and two dogs). I think it is working to the benefit of the family for her to go down so easily!

She has started smiling at us....

So update on the interaction between the Valentine sisters. Good & improving although I think she cringes sometimes when she hears Charlotte screaming "BAY-BE!" It's like Eloise is thinking "Oh no! Where is she, I can hear her but can't move my head fast enough to dodge her non gentle pats!" Big Sis went through a 2 week spell where she was hitting Lil Sis on the head while I was nursing. I would try to catch her hand before it made contact but that little girl was SO fast. Needless to say, I would agree the the tailbone must be connected to the brain because after some non gentle pats on the backside, the hitting has ceased. 99 % of the time she loves her, loves being around her, loves holding her, loves tickling her, loves saying shhh shhh shhh, loves rocking the cradle (like a crazy person) and loves to say "B-Eh-wheese" about 3 million times in a row. Eloise has actually been pretty content being held by Charlotte lately. They are absolutely precious together. At this point, we are thinking that she has no clue what Charlotte looks like since this is usually her view.

She is staying awake for about an hour at a time including her feeding & is content to look around. She is starting to make eye contact when you are talking to her. I usually don't lay her on the counter top to look around, the picture was taken just before bath time : ) Me & the little oneShe is getting better at holding her head up but is still pretty loosey goosey. She is not a big fan of tummy time but we are working at it!

Daddy & Elo hanging out in the office. Snuggles & work go hand in hand when you work from home!

She really enjoys being bathed (when Charlotte is not my assistant). Here are her clean little tootsies.

We are settling into life as a family of four! Here we are on our first trip to the park. I think Elo is smiling a bit...must be thinking about how much fun it will be to run & play with Char when she gets bigger.

Happy one month Eloise Hope! We love you so much already & can't wait to see you keep growing & changing. Just don't do it too fast ; )

Sisters Meet

I love these two girlies of mine! Here they are meeting for the first time on the day Eloise was born.....

Fun in the Tub!

One of Charlotte's favorite people to spend time with is her cousin Karis. One of Charlotte's favorite parts of the day is BATHTIME. With this combo, you are bound for fun & photo opportunities! This was their first bath together & they did great. Us mommies had some good laughs too!






It is crazy to me to look at the picture above and see all those teeth (and all that hair)! As many of you remember, Charlotte was close to bald until 12 months & completely TOOTHLESS until 15 months. So, she finally started sprouting some hair & from 15-22 months, she got 14 teeth. It was painful for all of us at times but we are glad she has some chompers now : ) The hair is also a nice addition providing new looks such as pigtails & bed head. Now will Eloise follow the same timeline? That is the question!

Joining the table

It has been a month full of changes for Charlotte. Big changes like becoming a big sister & small changes like joining us at the table. We thought that it would be the perfect time to trade in the high chair for a booster seat & we were right! She is loving being a big girl at the table & we are loving having her with us. She is learning how to keep her place mat on the table & still likes to feed the dogs the food she would rather not eat but we are making progress. Here are some snapshots of her first snack in her new chair. The first is the regular old smile she gives & the rest are the crazy faces she made when we told her to smile....

The last one might be one of my favorite faces she makes. She looks like a pirate with one eye shut & one eye open. Charlotte is definitely the family clown at this point & I cannot wait for Eloise to be big enough to giggle at her when she is silly. For now, I will do the giggling : )

Father's Day

Father's Day was special this year with the second addition being so brand new. Thankfully my mom was still in town so she could help me with the few ideas I had. Charlotte has been really into coloring lately & LOVES to have her hands & feet traced around so we decided to make Robby his first Father's Day sign. Charlotte enjoyed helping me & then insisted on tracing Eloise's feet as well. That didn't go over so well as you can see in her expression. Bennett was out of sight & Bella was sitting close by praying that we weren't going to let Charlotte attempt to trace her paws too. Eight paws would have been alot for a beginning artist!

We started our morning by fixing coffee & a Quiche Lorraine while Robby caught an extra 15 minutes of sleep. You know EVERY minute makes a difference with a newborn babe as your roommate! We hung up his poster & had his gift set out for him. Charlotte ended up pulling out all the tissue paper and stuffing it back in as she carried the gift to him. It was pretty funny. He told us we couldn't spend any money on him so we only spent a little to get him some Starbucks French Roast Coffee Beans & a new tumbler with pictures of the girls inside. I actually made 3 inserts so he could change them as desired but after nearly screaming while trying to jam the chosen collage into the ridiculously narrow space, I have decided it is worth my sanity to just buy two more tumblers. He is quite the coffee drinker so the gift was much appreciated. We got the girls ready so we could snap some pictures before Eloise went back to sleep.

We have been truly blessed with this man filling the role of husband & father in our home. He loves Jesus, he loves me & he loves our sweet girls. He joyfully & sacrificially serves us everyday & we are so thankful for him. It makes me smile to think back to when we were dating & engaged, dreaming about what our life would be like someday, whether we would have daughters or sons, what kind of parents we desired to be.... God has been gracious in giving us what He has, when He has. I look forward to Charlotte & Eloise realizing how great of a father they have as we celebrate him year after year.

Charlotte thinks he is so much cooler than mommy for some of the reasons listed below:

• he flies around the house like he is an airplane



• he makes the best animal noises



• he tickles her silly



• he tosses her onto the couch



• he lets her help water the flowers everyday



• he takes her to Babucks aka Starbucks & lets her get a lick of his coffee



• he gives her more cookies & chips than I ever would



• he reads her a million books



• he sneaks in her room while she is supposed to be playing by herself



• he lets her bust into his office, climb into his lap & spin round & round in his chair



• he lets her play his guitar, drum & didgeridoo anytime she wants



• he just loves her to pieces (I do too but there is something special about Daddy's love!)

Happy Father's Day Rob! We love you. Thank you for being the incredible father you are to our sweet little girls.

We call her Mellow Elo.....

Well, we have made it through nearly 2 weeks at home after the arrival of little Miss Eloise! It seems fitting to be doing my first post on Eloise on my official due date. So far it has been a smoother transition than expected mainly because Elo is in fact quite mellow : ) It has also been incredible to have the help of gracious people. My parents were here together for the first week before my dad left & we now have my mom with us until the 21st. Jenny got us jump started on a super clean house while we were in the hospital & we have enjoyed some delicious meals delivered by some families at CCC.

Back to the new addition....

She is absolutely precious, just as we imagined she would be. She is relaxed spending much of her time snoozing on one of us or snuggled in her cradle. She loves being swaddled until she wakes up & then you can hear her grunting as she fights her way out. Luckily with my 6 years of work experience as a Labor & Delivery Nurse, I am a master swaddler & she has been unable to escape so far : ) She has more hair than Charlotte did & it is just as dark as her Daddy's hair which I love! She makes the absolute sweetest noises whether awake or asleep. She has earned herself the nickname "Wheezy" with her wheezy sounds that come out every now & then. She is a fabulous & super fast eater weighing in at 7lb 7oz. She is pretty consistent with eating going around 2.5-3 hours during the day, cluster feeding for a couple hours in the evening followed by a 4 hour stretch then a 3 hour stretch at night. In fact, the last three days have been almost identical as far as time of feeding goes. She looks similar to her sister sometimes but she looks like Eloise!

Here is the sweet one I speak of....

She has received more kisses from her big sister than all of us combined. On the other hand she has had multiple near misses of being sat upon, having her eyes poked out & her arms pulled out of socket while being forced to do the hand motions to Twinkle Twinkle. We have also rescued her from a cheerio that was placed lovingly on her lips by sweet Charlotte. Big Sis likes to be up close & personal ALL the time. It really is precious to see how much interest she has in her. She likes to hold her & asks to nearly every time she sees her. She also screams "Bay-be" with a little Texas twang as she runs into our bedroom every morning. When you ask her what her sister's name is, she responds with "Bay-be," We say "baby who?" & she says "bay Eh-wheese." We can't hear her say it enough so we ask her about a million times per day. She doesn't seem to mind. The other thing that Charlotte is doing that gets constant laughs from us is copying every noise that Eloise makes, sweet sighs or little growls, they are all hilarious.
Eloise got only 2 mini baths before her umbilical cord fell off. This may cause you to think it fell of rather quickly. In reality, the small amount of baths she got was because I am a bit busier now with two, even with my mom helping. Her cord just fell off on Thursday & she got her first real bath in the whale tub. Here are some pictures from her first mini bath.

The big helper loved dipping her washcloth in the bowl & pouring water all over the counter, chair & floor with a little on baby Eloise. I love her willingness to care for her sister : )

Here she is happy as can be after getting snuggled in her towel while we played beauty shop. She loves having the top of her head under the running water to rinse out the shampoo.

We ventured out alot the first week with either Char or Elo but our first trip with all four of us in the truck was on Sunday when we went to church. It was SO fun to get them buckled into their seats & drive to church with two little girls. I know it may sound a bit silly but having two kids in my backseat is something I have looked forward to. They did great, no screaming from either mouth.
It was wonderful to have my Dad in town with us. Charlotte really enjoys spending time with him & he seems to not be able to get enough of her. My parents took Charlotte all over the place during that first week at home. Usually one outing a day including the Splash Pad, Animal Kingdom Lodge & Cocoa Beach. This was really helpful for me & Rob to sneak in a nap or some time for the two of us to snuggle Eloise. Charlotte enjoyed getting out & spending time with her grandparents. She calls my mom "Gaga" & randomly started attempting to say "Pawpaw" but it usually came out as "bop bop." So, Lady Gaga & Bop Bop stayed quite busy between entertaining Charlotte & catching some time with Eloise during their week stay together.

I have the best mom & I hope that many others feel this way about their own mother. She has served us with the most joyful heart since the second she got to our home. She has spent countless hours in the kitchen, playing with Charlotte, helping Eloise fall asleep, making sure my water cup stays full & that I am resting. She keeps telling me that we would have been fine without her but I would say that it could have been a rough entry into life with two! My favorite part of having her here is seeing how she loves my girls. I have said it before but it is a glimpse into how she loved me & my brothers when we were young & it is beyond sweet. Her encouragement means so much to me. She is constantly telling me that I am doing a great job & that I will continue to do so after she goes home. She is also honest as she has mentioned more than a couple times that she suspects I will be very tired for awhile : )

Here is the beautiful Grandmother with her newest Granddaughter.

Robby is LOVING having a new baby around....especially another girl. He loves to steal her away & snuggle her real good as we say. He smiles so big when he walks in to seeing her awake & looking around when I am holding her. He runs a close second to Charlotte in the amount of kisses he gives to Eloise. He tells her how beautiful she is & how much he loves her. I am more than excited to have him leading us in parenting two girls.

Daddy & Elo

What delights a mommy & daddy the most in those early weeks of little sleep? Sweet smiles from a precious little one. We love you Mellow Elo!

Welcoming Eloise

Eloise Hope Valentine

We are excited to announce the new arrival......

ELOISE HOPE VALENTINE

May 30, 2011 at 1:57am

7 pounds 4 ounces

20 1/2 inches

Thankful & filled with joy,

The Valentines