First Night(s) Away!

This week marks the first two nights spent out of town and away from Elaine.  I was dreading this on the list of "firsts", but I managed to get through it.  Luckily I arranged to have a fridge in my hotel room so I could store all my milk and bring it home, so I felt really great about that.  I also got pictures texted to me from Eric each night when he picked Elaine up from daycare, and each morning I called around Elaine's wakeup time and got to be part of the morning routine on speakerphone.  I did miss her first snow, but when Eric pulled the blinds to show her, I was on the phone.  I think she'll forgive me someday.  :)

Another first this week was our first paid babysitter on Saturday night!  We had a wedding for our friends Amber and Kyle here in town, and we had a blast!  We had Mikayla, a high-school senior that helps out in the nursery at daycare in Elaine's room.  And, yes, mom, per your instruction, I did tell her "no boys".  The night went off without a hitch!  Eric and I enjoyed every minute of our night away, and only texted her to check in once.  Here are some photos of our big night out!

This is our group of girlfriends with the bride!

Here is a fun picture of the "baby boom" being experienced with our friends.  Here they are in order of due date.  All four of these girls sat at my table at dinner, so since we're all taking in more food (since I'm still breastfeeding), we all had an extra cupcake!  :)

Here are the other girls in our group who are now moms.  We had a cheers to being out with babysitters at home!

And of course, here is Eric dancing with the bride!  We had a great time and Elaine was fast asleep when we got home.  Yes, we both peeked in and gave her soft kisses goodnight before hitting the hay!

Visit from Gma and Gpa Morse!

This weekend we had grandma Julie and grandpa Mike Morse visiting and they got to see Elaine's latest tricks, like her cooing and her drooling!  Not to mention her greatest trick of all - SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!  That's right, it started Thursday night - she slept 11 hours straight.  Eric and I realized it around 5:00am, and while we should have had a quick hurray and back to sleep, we were so excited we chatted until 6:00.  Oh well, it was a huge milestone!  She did the same Friday and Saturday too!  We are loving it!!!  It was wonderful to have them over and everyone enjoyed the extra cuddles!
Here is a funny picture of Eric reading to Elaine from Saturday.  Her faces always have us asking - what is she thinking??

Here is Julie greeting Elaine with some smiles and love after a nice afternoon nap.

Even changing diapers is an event the whole family piles in her bedroom for.  I guess since the changing table is her favorite spot of all, and we get the best smiles out of her there, it makes sense!

Grandma, Grandpa, and Elaine pose for the picture.  This is Elaine's "serious face".

And here they are doing final hugs and kisses for the weekend.  Thanks for a great time, guys!

Trick or Treat!

Well, Elaine bravely wore her bumble bee costume here on the eve of Halloween!   Here in Des Moines the trick-or-treaters come out tonight so Eric and I have our bowl of candy ready to go and I'm ready to pass out candy in my "costume".  No telling if Elaine will be awake long enough tonight to see any of it, but we managed to have our mini photo shoot while she was happy and awake!

BZZZ!

Alivia Grefe's 1st birthday party!

Miss Alivia Grefe turned 1 this weekend and Elaine attended her first birthday party!  Leslie and Brian hosted a pumpkin themed gathering on Saturday, and we all wore orange!

Here is Elaine before we left the house wearing pumpkin head to toe - literally!

Here is Elaine with the guest of honor dressed as a pumpkin princess!  I'll give you one guess who made the dress - DANA!

Here is Alivia having her first bite of cake!  It was DELICIOUS - petit fours from the Bake Shoppe.

Here are Eric and Jay with their girls on the back deck!  Quinn's outfit was to die for!

Here are proud mama Leslie and proud Poppa Brian with their little pumpkin!

And here is a photo of us dressed in our orange at the party!

This is my favorite photo of the night - Grandma Dana with both Alivia and Elaine.  She has that magic touch!  What a great party!!

Sitting in the Bumbo!

Elaine has started sitting in the Bumbo chair!  It is amazing how fast she's growing.  We have been getting out new toys and devices like crazy and you just never know what is going to get a good happy squeal out of her!  Today we saw lots of drool, lots of putting her hands into her mouth, and she could actually grasp some of the toys we gave her!  Her happy personality is really coming to life and we laugh at the funny things she does every day!  The toy of the day is the Whoozit!  Enjoy!

Saturday Morning Smiles

As wonderful as it's been to travel and see family, we have been long overdue for a relaxing morning at home with our precious Elaine.  You become so grateful for every smile, every coo, every laugh when your time during the week is limited to the one hour she's happy when she gets home before she totally conks out for the night.  Anyways, here is a taste of our pj time in the morning. 

First Visit to Peoria

Well, despite a cold plaguing both mommy and Elaine, we visited Peoria for the first time for some very important introductions!  First Elaine met my grandma and grandpa Frost!  My grandma just happened to be wearing the exact same color outfit as Elaine, which I thought was great.  My grandpa wasn't able to hold her but I think he enjoyed our visit just the same.

This smile on her great grandma's face says it all.

Then we went to Andrew and Missy's for a birthday party/chili cook-off.  Missy arranged for her sister Courtney, who does photography, to take pictures of all the cousins and my sister Julie picked out the girls' matching outfits.  Here is pose 1, just a candid from my camera - Courtney's will be way better!

Here is my favorite fall pose - here we have Connor, Lauren, Elaine, Adam, and Caleb!  Melt my heart!  You should have seen all the parents jumping around squealing and clapping  to get the kids attention.  It was hilarious.  I think I have a video of it somewhere.

And of course here is Elaine meeting her Uncle Andrew for the first time.  It's funny to watch your self-proclaimed redneck hard-nosed brother melt like a popsicle on the 4th of July over your itty-bitty baby girl.  Needless to say, I could have cried watching how gentle he was with her and the little sounds he made.

And here is Aunt Missy with Elaine!  She's always had that special touch with babies so no surprise Elaine loved her!  Only person I forgot to take a picture of Elaine meeting was my cousin Shannon, but luckily Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we'll see them all again!