Chubby Baby

In case you don't have enough chub in your day, Elise has plenty to spare.

If you look carefully, you might be able to see the elbow crease Elise is pointing to. Yes. A crease on the outside of her elbow. Is extreme pudge a sport?

Four Months

Elise is four months old now, so I thought I'd post some new pictures of her. Enjoy!

This one cracks me up.

Life is hard when you're tired and chubby.

Time Flies!

I can't believe Elise is four months old today! She's getting so big! And so chubby, which we love.

Elise stayed with a babysitter for the first time ever today while Matt and I went to the temple. She was awesome! She ate well from the bottle and played well, and when we came home she was asleep. What a champ! Estee and Tanner Shaw from the ward watched her for us; they're pretty awesome too. Matt and I were able to enjoy a nice time at the temple for the first time since Elise was born, and we were so grateful.

Elise is getting to be so much fun. She's doing new things all the time. Now she can even flip a light switch. Matt taught her to do this because turning off the lights is part of her routine for going down for a nap. It cracks me up every time.

We love our sweet little girl!

Christmas and More

We had a great Christmas! Elise got so many new toys. She's having a blast figuring them out. We have really been enjoying our Christmas break together, just the three of us.

Matt is going to school next semester, of course, but I'll be taking a class too, so we're getting ready for that. I'm excited, but I'm also a little nervous. I hope Elise does okay. My class is just two days a week, so hopefully it will all work out. We haven't tried giving her a bottle for a while, so maybe it's time to try again.

Ever since Christmas, Elise hasn't been sleeping as well as normal. Hopefully it's just a phase she'll grow out of soon. On Christmas Eve, the reindeer on the roof woke her up at 2:30am, and she just hasn't gotten back into her normal rhythm since. That has been what we've been working on lately.

Also, Elise is getting a little better at sitting up with help. Sometimes she does better than other times. Here are some pictures from today:

She's doing pretty well in the third one! (I think she was focusing on the toy more than on sitting up.) I can't believe she's 16 weeks old already! She'll be four months in a week and a half!

We've also started Elise on solid foods. She loves steak!

(Just kidding! She won't even get rice cereal until she's six months old.)

Changing Hands

Notice that all the toys in this picture are on Elise's right side. I handed each of them to her in her left hand. That's right, folks, Elise can now pass things from one hand to the other. She's doing so great!

Streeeeeeetching

I have been trying to stretch out the time between Elise's feedings and naps lately, and that has been going fairly well today. I want to get to the point where she eats every three or four hours, like a normal three-month-old (not every two or two and a half hours like she was doing before, which is completely exhausting). The fact that she has had an ear infection has actually been helping with this because she hasn't wanted to eat so often, so it has been a blessing in disguise. I also want to consolidate her naps into a few longer ones instead of so many short ones. I think these things will be better for us both in the long run.

A random tidbit: Elise's urine smells toxic right now. I'm pretty sure it's just from the Amoxicillin she is taking for her ear infection, but it's pretty bad. I'm glad it doesn't normally smell so bad.

Speaking of her ear infection, I think she's feeling better today. She was really good at church; she slept through most of sacrament meeting and all of Sunday school, and then she ate in the nursing room during Relief Society. I'm so glad. The last two Sundays were pretty horrible, especially last week when she refused to eat or sleep at all during church. Then we found out the next day that she had an ear infection. Go figure. Anyway, today was a great day. She's getting to be her normal self again. Oh, how I missed my happy little girl. Please, Elise, stay well for a while. And don't start teething or anything for a few months.

Note: This didn't work. At all.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Elise rolled for the first time yesterday! She rolls from her stomach to her back now. She has to have someone set her up by putting her arms underneath her (which she can do on her own but doesn't because she doesn't like it), but then she can totally roll! I'm so proud.

We got some pictures taken this morning. Elise did a lot better this time than last time. Here's a link: http://www.myonlineportraits.com/ViewSharedAlbum.aspx?ShareID=2e3acb34-6299-4ca5-80d3-419b9dde0b88