Isaac's words and one of our current parenting challenges

You may have noticed that we haven't updated Isaac's lexicon in a while. This is 1) because we had a new baby in September and blogging time has been at a premium since then, and 2) he seems to add several words to his vocabulary every day, so it would be very hard to remember everything he says now!

I wanted to record a few of his words and phrases here so that we'd remember them and especially how he pronounces them! Here they are:

Open, please (opee peas)
Cheerios (jewaas)
Where the football go? (wheh da boo-ball doe?)
Elise poop! (E-dise poop!)
Daddy's piano (Daddy's dadoo)
Let's go (Es doe OR uh doe)
No, no, no
Isaac no, no (Idy no, no)
Daddy's work (Daddy oos)
Praise Jesus (pays dee-us)
Up there (up uh OR up ah)
White Car (white dah)
Gramps' book (Ba book)
Uh oh! (he says this whenever he remembers that something fell over or that he tore something up)
Row, row, row boat
Down please (down peas)
Thank you Mommy (ta too Mommy)
Ask Daddy
Daddy iPod
Hallelujah on! (this is how he asks us to turn the CD player on; sometimes he adds a fake whine)
Tee on (this is how he asks us to turn on the TV; sometimes he adds a fake whine to this as well)

(Please comment if you can think of others that I haven't listed!)

On another note, this is what we're working on right now:





He won't actually attempt to jump out yet, but we know that's coming, so we're working on resolutions at this point... Keep us in your prayers for wisdom from God on what is best for our little man!

Elise's one month doctor visit

This past week, I took Elise in for her one month doctor visit. She was 5 weeks old, to be exact, on the day of the appointment. I was hoping that her weight had gotten up to at least 8 pounds by then so that we'd be assured that she was growing well. When we put her on the scale, I was thrilled to see that she was 8 pounds, 14 ounces! Wow - almost nine pounds! This was great news! That put her at the 50th percentile for weight and showed the doctor (and me!) that she is growing very well as a nursing baby. Her height was 21.5 inches, which means she's grown a whole inch since her birth! That put her at the 75th percentile for height.

The concerns I took to the doctor were related mainly to the congestion sound that I hear occasionally when she breathes and also her frequent gassiness which causes her to be in pain. The doc said that her lungs and heart sounded perfect and that her congestion is normal for babies of this age. Also, she said that gassiness is normal and due to the fact that babies are born with, in her words, a "sterile gut" and that the stomach and intestines are in the process of colonizing with good bacteria. This process often causes gassiness, but she said that breastmilk is the best and fastest way to colonize the intestines. I am hoping that process will be completed soon and she'll stop having so much gas! The doctor advised me to not worry about my diet at this point (except for naturally gassy foods, like broccoli, etc.) and see if it decreases over time.

Elise is doing very well overall and in the doctor's words, we're "doing great." It always feels wonderful to hear these words! Even though we're not new parents, this is a new baby and many things have been different than they were with Isaac.

She is a great nurser, and I am nursing her on demand, which has ensured that my milk supply is much more abundant than with Isaac. (No weight issues this time around! YAY!) She also still sleeps most of the time, but her longest awake times seem to be in the late afternoon and evening. When she's awake, she has started really focusing more on things around her. She also rolled from her tummy to her back yesterday! It'll probably be a while before she rolls the other way, but we are certainly proud of this first of many baby milestones!

She is making more and more little coos and baby sounds. They're so sweet! She is such an adorable little girl, and we are so in love with her. She rarely cries and is easily soothed by being held, rocked, or given her beloved pacifier.

Bless you our darling Elise! You are a treasure to our family!

Elise is one month old!

It's been a month since Elise was born!

In this past month, she's spent most of her time sleeping, eating (and eating and eating!!!), fussing a little, and taking in all the wonderfulness of her new world!

She also started taking a pacifier last week, and that has worked wonders because she seems to need to suck all the time. She'll nurse for quite a while and then when she's really full, she likes to take the paci. Isaac never took one, so we weren't sure if we'd need to use them for Elise. At this point in time, she seems to like them and they've been lifesavers for Steven and me!

We've taken Elise out a few times this past week - to lunch with Steven and his work pals at Firehouse Subs, to lunch with Gramps and Granni at PF Changs, and to the mall with Aunt Kati and Uncle Ray. Those outings have been lots of fun and we hope to have many more opportunities like that in the coming days and months!

She looks a lot like Isaac did at this point but with her own unique features, of course. I just looked back on his one month blog post, and I can definitely remember those days as a first-time parent! This time around things have actually been much easier since we learned so much from our experience with Isaac! We have been less worried about schedules or "breaking her" and more focused on enjoying the moment and making sure we all get rest and more importantly, quality time with the Lord to replenish our spirits. I do still agree with my sentiments from Isaac's first month: (check out the actual post here)

"Whew! What a whirlwind it has been, but looking back over this month, I see the hand of God ever present in our lives even when we didn't seek Him. I see His faithfulness to strengthen his children in the midst of our fears, pain, exhaustion, and cluelessness. He is the Ultimate Parent and we are realizing every day that raising Isaac will require a relationship with God so close that we hear His voice directing us and feel His hand leading us every step of the way on this incredible journey."

Thank you Father for how you beautifully parent your children with love and discipline and give us the strength and wisdom each day to give that same love to ours. Thank you for this baby girl who has blessed our lives more than we could imagine. You are so GOOD!

Here are some pictures from her one month photo shoot:

Two in diapers...

Isaac - 23 months
Elise - 4 weeks

Yes, we love having "two in diapers!" Pure preciousness!

Elise's first bath!

We gave Elise her first official bath this week. Of course, we've been giving her sponge baths since she was born, but we decided it was time for her to try out the baby tub that we once used for Isaac.

Getting her soaped up:


She liked it!



Drying her off:


My sweeties:


All clean!