Elise is two months old!

Elise is two months old today! She is such a sweet little girl, and we are so very thankful for her life.

She is growing well and still eating every 2-3 hours round the clock. Within the past month, she has had one night of sleeping a 5 hour stretch, and for that we are very grateful! However, she hasn't kept it up, and her schedule seems to be going as follows:

Wake around 7ish, eat and play
Morning nap around 8:30ish
Eat around 10:30ish
Another nap
Eat around 1ish
A little bit longer nap
Eat around 4ish
Play for a while
Eat around 6ish, and then cluster feed for the next few hours (eating around 7:30, 8:30, 10ish)
Go to bed 10:30ish
Wake up Mommy at 1 AM; sometimes eat, sometimes just takes a passy and goes back to sleep
Wake at 3 AM, eat and stay awake for a while (usually back to sleep around 4:30)
Wake around 5 AM, eat... and then up again for the next day at 7ish

Elise is smiling lots and lots, too, these days! She is definitely a charmer. She loves to coo and make smiley faces at Steven and me. (And we love it, too!!) Here is a video of some of her sweet sounds:



She loves to swing in her big aquarium swing in our kitchen and watch the fish mobile above her. She also enjoys time on her playmats, looking at the hanging toys and batting at them.

She's still taking a passy, and she very much likes it! We'll see if it's a keeper or if she disowns it early on like Isaac did...

Elise is a well-traveled girl at such a young age. We've taken her to several restaurants, Target, Walmart, the movies, and the mountains! Everywhere we've gone, she's been such a gem. She really seems to have a laid back personality and goes well with the flow of our lives.

Here are some pictures from our monthly photo shoot:


Our monthly comparison shot:


At one month to compare:


Sweet little face:





Thank you, Father, for our precious baby girl!

Thanksgiving Weekend for the Mauneys

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

It started out on Wednesday night when Isaac went to his Nana and Gramps' house to spend the night. Elise, Steven and I went to see the movie "Blindside" in the theatre. We loved the movie and highly recommend it!

On Thanksgiving Day, we picked Isaac up from Nana and Gramps', and then we got ready for lunch at my grandparents' house. Granny and Pawpaw were perfect hosts, and we had a great time visiting with our family and eating lots of yummy food. I made a Dirt Pie, which was Steven's favorite dessert growing up. (I also made an extra one for our family to enjoy over the long weekend! Which we have...) After lunch, the ladies chatted and the guys went outside to play football. It was a glorious day. Here is a little clip that I took during our lunch with a new little video camera from my Dad! Thanks Daddy! (the lady beside Isaac is my uncle Mike's mother-in-law, Mary)



Here are some photos from the day:

Isaac playing with his football:


Elise and me:


The guys playing football:


Steven, in the air, catching the ball:


Elise napping in Gramps' arms:


Isaac watching cousin Katelyn play her harp:



On Friday, our little family took a drive to the Blowing Rock/Boone area in hopes of seeing the snow that had been forcasted. We didn't see any snow (except on the very tops of the highest mountains), but we still had a great time! Isaac turned out to be getting sick, so he actually enjoyed riding in the car so much since he wasn't feeling too well. We had a delicious lunch at the Chetola Manor House restaurant (which also proved to be a wonderful place to nurse Elise...on a super-comfy couch in a semi-private area.) After lunch, we drove around the mountains and ultimately to Valle Crucis and the Mast General store. After another nursing break and a little bit of exercise time for Steven and Isaac, we headed home. We got home mid-afternoon and had time that evening to put up our Christmas trees. Our bigger one is upstairs in our bonus room, and we have a little one (thanks Momma and Daddy!) in our downstairs den. Isaac sat in Steven's lap while I decorated. He wasn't feeling well at all, but I think seeing all the lights and listening to Steven and me sing helped him feel better.

Here is our little table-top Christmas tree downstairs:



Thank you Lord for all of your incredible blessings! We are thankful for our relationship with you through Jesus...we are thankful for our family and friends...we are thankful for how You so beautifully protect and provide for us and for all the good and perfect gifts that come down from You alone. We love you!

Isaac's 2nd Birthday Adventures!

Isaac's Birthday weekend has been a blast! It started off Friday night with a family party, where we had wonderful homemade chocolate pound cake (made by Granni!) and ice cream. Of course, we also had a little cake with candles and also a little doggy cake (supplied by my Pawpaw). Isaac loved licking the icing off the doggy cake and got quite a good dose of sugar. After the cake and ice cream, Isaac opened his gifts! He received a toddler drum from Kati and Ray, a My Pal Scout bear from his Grammi and Granddaddy (Steven's parents), a go-fishing puzzle game from Granni, a big-boy tool chest and tools from Gramps, a personalized book made by Gramps, and also a gift of money from Pawpaw and my Granny, who is known as Gi-gi to Isaac. He loved all his presents and has already enjoyed playing with each of them (well, except for the money. We put that up for later!)

Here he is, getting ready to blow out his candles:

Mommy and Daddy with the Birthday Boy:

After eating his cake:


Opening presents! YAY!


Playing with the rolled up wrapping paper: (so much fun!)


Learning to play his drum:


Playing with his new tool chest:

Wearing his new tool belt:

After a great night of celebrating and staying up way past bedtime, our entire family slept in on Saturday morning, which was wonderful for us all! Later in the morning, we had a visit from our friend Erin and her little ones, Nathan and Anneliese. Nathan is a bit older than Isaac, and Anneliese is a couple weeks younger than Elise. Remember our zoo trip with Erin, her husband Mark, and Nathan? Erin and the kids were in town, so we got to have some face-to-face time, which was very nice since most of our communication is online. Nathan and Isaac played around the house with Steven, and Erin and I visited while cuddling our little girls. After that, we all went out for a birthday lunch at the Sports Page. Isaac and Nathan did great, the girls slept, and Steven, Erin, and I were able to have some uplifting conversation. It was a fantastic time.

Isaac at his birthday lunch:

Erin and Nathan at lunch:


Steven and me with the Birthday Boy:


Anneliese and Elise (born just two weeks apart), sleeping soundly during lunch:


Nathan, Isaac and Steven sitting on the bench outside Sports Page:


Later in the evening on Saturday, Steven and I gave Isaac our gift to him - his first pair of in-line skates! Of course, they are made for two-year-olds and up, so they're very toddler-friendly. They have two wheels at the heel for stability and they also have three settings that "grow with your child." Isaac loved trying them out, and he did very well! He can successfully move about in our kitchen with the skates on his feet! Hopefully he'll be confident with them by the spring so that we can venture out onto the driveway. We also got him a Thomas the Train helmet and knee pads.

Steven and Isaac just after opening his skates:


Trying the skates on (Isaac was a little nervous to put them on at first. We then told him that they were just like boots, he got excited and wanted to try them out!)


First steps with the skates on:


After a few minutes of walking in the skates, we showed Isaac how to move his legs in a skating motion. He picked this up quickly and was skating across the kitchen floor in no time! Of course, he likes to hold our hand or skate a short distance between us.


With all his gear:


Doesn't he look like he had a blast on his birthay?!



Happy Birthday Isaac! We've loved every moment of the past two years with you, and we look forward to even more adventures this coming year! You are an awesome blessing in our lives, and we are so very thankful for YOU!

Happy 2nd Birthday Isaac!

We love you so much, little man, and we're having a blast celebrating your 2nd birthday today!

Trip to the playground!

Earlier this week, my dad took Isaac to the playground in our neighborhood (which Isaac calls "rides"). They had a blast together, and my dad got these pictures during their time there:

Isaac is watching the lawn guys quite intently. He could stand there all day; he loves lawn movers!


On the "rides":



So much fun!!!

On the way back from lunch...

On Saturday, our family took a trip to Don Pedro's Mexican Restaurant for lunch. This is a place that we used to go at least twice a month during our weekday lunches. However, since it's near Steven's office and he also ended up going a lot with his co-workers, he got kind of burnt out this past year. So when I was pregnant with Elise and craving ole' Don Pedro's, Steven turned his nose up to my request more than once. That brings us to this past Saturday - Steven knew I had been wanting to go there for the past six months but since he hadn't been able to stomach it earlier, he surprised me by taking our family there. :) YAY! It was so delicious and helped to satisfy that craving even though I'm not pregnant any more. On the way home, Steven sat in the back seat with Isaac to keep him from falling asleep (which would have meant no nap that afternoon!) Here are some pictures we got while they were having a blast riding together:

My sweet boys:


Nothing like holding Daddy's hand!



Isaac reaches in for a kiss:


Smackeroo: (yeah, this was worth all those sleepless nights!)

Elise is 7 weeks old!

Our sweet little Elise is 7 weeks old!

She is growing so well! We had her weighed last week, and she was 9 pounds, 6 ounces! That's a little more than two pounds more than her birth weight! She is also developing so much each day. This past week she has started swatting at the toys hanging above her play mat. She's also started smiling at us, that sweet, toothless grin. So far, Steven, my dad, and I have been fortunate enough to see this sweet smile.

Elise is still eating very well, about every 2-3 hours round the clock. She sometimes cluster feeds at night (meaning she'll eat roughly every hour for a few hours). As far as sleeping, she's started taking 2-3 naps each day and then goes to bed for the evening around 10-11. She's been waking regularly around 1 and 4, and then for the day around 7ish.

When she's not eating and sleeping, Elise likes to sit in her swing or infant seat and watch the rest of her family as we go about our day. She also loves to hang out with me in her sling. She falls right asleep when she's in there!

Overall, Elise is a very content and super-sweet baby! We love having her in our family! We have thoroughly enjoyed these first weeks of her life and can't believe how quickly they've passed!

Thank you, Father, for this precious blessing!

Family Photos 2009

Thanks to our friend, Lori, and her amazing photography skills, we had a family photo session this past Saturday. We wanted to get some family shots as well as Elise's newborn ones and Isaac's two year shots.

Here they are:









Thank you, Lord, for the beauty and blessing that is family.