2 months old!

Wow 2 posts to do at the same time.
A 2 month post and a 2 year post.
The past 2 months have flown right on by.
It doesn't seem like it's been that long since E's arrival.
Maybe bc the days seem to drag on and on when I'm so exhausted so it really seems like 1 day never ends sometimes.
Really hate to report that things are still very rough around here.
Which is really starting to bother me because I go back to work in just 21/2 weeks and I can't even imagine going to work a 12 hour shift at the hospital on the sleep that I am getting (or in my case not getting)!
But not going to go on and on about how bad it is because we have a beautiful baby girl that we adore and that's what we need to focus on right now!

We are also having a name change-up!
We don't call C anything short, her name is Caraline (however, I like to call her my carebear)!
so we decided initially that Elleanor was going to be just Elleanor.
We had many people asking us if she would be called Elle, Ella, Ellie, etc.
Tim and I said no, it will just be Elleanor.
Well, we have recently changed our minds!
We feel that with her cute little stubborn no sleep self that she is going to be called "Ellie"!
Plus little missy Caraline can already say Ellie!! (Think Elleanor would take her a while)
But most of the time C just calls her Bay-bay.lol!!!

Took "Ellie"! to her 2 month check-up on Wednesday.
Here are the stats:
weight: 11lb 15oz 75%
height:  23 3/4in 87%
head  15 1/2in 50%
all in all great measurements for the girlie!
Talked with the doc about all of our concerns.
He looked at her rash, which is getting better.
and listened to everything that I had to say.
He does not feel at all that we are dealing with a food allergy and encouraged me to continue breastfeeding if that's what I wanted to do.
I still plan to avoid the big dairy things just bc when I have too much of it, I feel that it does bother her little tummy, which I can remember doing the same with C for a while.
Her reflux is still bad and has gotten worse.
We talked about some things to do here and decided that we were going to try a different medication on top of the one we were already giving.
He didn't want to stop the old just in case the new didn't help at all.
We are only on day 2 of the med so really don't know yet???
I officially HATE HATE HATE reflux.
It just really sucks.
Poor thing is just so uncomfortable.
Praying that she is one that it gets better at the 6 month mark rather than closer to the 12!! (most say it usually subsides between those months).
So for now we do what we can and wait to see if her meds will help.

When she is in her happy awake time she is such a delight.
Huge smiles and coos all around for this girl.
She loves to be talked to and wants you to talk to her constantly!
She tolerates her bouncy seat and will play underneath her little floor gym for about 20-30 minutes then she starts to get tired.
But getting her to give in and go down takes some work.
Right now we are struggling to get her to lay down for more than 30 minutes.
There is something about that 30 minute mark, never fails, she is totally out and right at 30 minutes, wide awake, ugh! (really could use an hour here soon please)!
(However as I type this she has been down 40 minutes, I did hear here stirring but hopefully.....nope, she's up:)
I had thrown putting her on a feeding time schedule out of the window but with her meds it is easier to have her on one so we are working on it.
but it is a 2 1/2 hour schedule, turns out the more frequent, smaller feeds are better on her, can't wait for this to stretch out to at least 3 hours, I know its just 30 minutes but I think it will make a world of difference.
We start our morning with our first feed at 630ish depending on how the night went, and end our day with usually an 830 feeding and have her in her bed at 9pm.
I get her and C down for a nap at the same time everyday!!! but one usually wakes up so no napping for me which is a total bummer! (C's 2 year molars have broke through so she is sometimes waking during her naps)
That's pretty much it for now.
Just continuing to pray for relief for Ellie and more sleep for the whole family!

Here are some of this pretty girls 2 month photos! We had a little session on her changing pad yesterday!

such a cutie pie!

And we have a 2 year old!!!

I cannot even begin to wrap my head around our first baby girl already being 2!
It does not seem like it could already have been 2 years ago that we were welcoming Caraline into the world.

We will start with the party!
This year was a little smaller than last (the big ONE)!
Just family and a couple of friends.
No big jupiter jump this time.
But still lots of fun!
We had the party on Sat. Aug. 20th, the weekend before C's birthday!
The theme was CUPCAKES!
Caraline's memaw made her the cutest little party dress!
And her Nana and Papa took care of the Cupcakes and Cupcake Cake!
There was pizza and drinks.
Then presents.
Followed by cake/ice cream and cupcake decorating for the kiddos!
And lastly cupcake pinata fun.

Tuesday the 23rd, Caraline's actual BIRTHDAY!!!
We really just celebrated at home.
Elleanor kept us up all night on Monday night so we were all exhausted on Tuesday.
C got her favorite for breakfast: pancakes!
And her favorite for dinner: pizza!
She also got a couple of surprises that we had saved for her to open on her actual birthday.
A book, she loves to read!
And a new outfit, including shoes!  This girl LOVES clothes, especially new shoes!
She had to put on her new stuff right away after opening it so her daddy took her with him to pick up food and run to target so she could show them off a bit!

Our little gal is transitioning very well to having a little sister.
She loves loves loves to kiss Elleanor on her head and sits in front of her and shows her toys!
C has also gone back to being a wonderful sleeper!
She even stays in bed in the morning until we come in to get her, so happy this has come back!
We finally figured out that she did not want her door shut at night when she was going to sleep, so we leave it open just a tad and she goes right to sleep, no more screaming fits at the door or daddy having to sit by her bed until she is asleep!
She has also been a pretty quiet gal.
Don't get me wrong, she can get pretty loud with her little 2 year old fits we are experiencing.
But for the most part she hasn't been very vocal (may have something to do with that thumb still being in her mouth).
However, just in the last couple of weeks she has starting talking up a storm!
Saying new words everyday and throwing in 3 word phrases all the time!
I love it!
I think it will make a world of difference right now in this transitioning time for our family for her to be able to better communicate her needs!
I still of course think she is just the cutest little thing on the planet!!
Her little blond ringlets just get longer and longer!
And those big blue eyes, gorgeous!
She loves to dance.
Loves to sing.
Loves playing with her cousins Mel and Zac on Sunday, think this is her favorite day of the week!
Still loves to read her books.
Favorite show is still Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, wish that we could get into the disney movies but for now Mickey is it.
She is so active and hyper, don't know how this tiny little gal has so much energy, guess that's one reason she's so itty bitty.
This summer while I have been taking care of Elleanor she has become quite attached to her Daddy, and him to her (don't think he realizes just yet how much he's going to miss her when he starts back to school)!
We are currently on the waiting list to get her into a 2 year old preschool, don't think I am ready for this but I think she would love it!

She has her 2 year checkup next week, will  post after that on her stats, which I'm scared to even think about where her skinny little self falls on the weight category.lol!

Oh and I would have loved to have had her 2 year old pics for this post but those are having to wait until next week too.  This past Sunday we think our little gal got beat up at church. Tim went to pick her up from her classroom and noticed when they got outside that she had scratch marks down her face on each side of her cheeks and even blood drawn on one side and her face was a little puffy! Tim went back in to talk to the teachers, 3 of them to be exact and no one knew anything about it, they did say that the had been on the playground but this didn't look like a fall, it was straight scratch marks! Really wishing she could communicate better so that she could tell us what happened but guess we are just left wondering, which stinks!


Caraline, you are such an amazing, bright and sweet little girl!  Daddy and Mommy couldn't imagine our lives without you and are so blessed to be your parents!  Love you sweetie!

Family of 4 trip to the Zoo!

We had a chance this week to load up and go see the animals at the zoo!
Tim and Caraline have been a couple of times but this time mommy and Elleanor went too!
Here are some of the pics from our fun morning (it was great for all to get out of the house a while)!



huge help!!! (and week 6 definitely not our week to turn things around)....

this past Thursday we had a wonderful helper come to stay with us for a few hours.
it was cousin Mel!!
it was great to have her here with me and the girls while Tim was working.
she kept Caraline company and played and played and played with her.
I was able to get some cleaning and laundry done which hasn't happened in a while!
and C loved having cousin Mel here for her to play with.
can't wait to have her back!
here are a few pics of all those cutie pies!

now onto our week 6.
I had heard from a lot that week 6 was the turning point.
the magical time when things just got better.
not so much at our house.
we had one good week.
oh week 4 how I miss you.
this week the naps were great and the nighttime sleep was getting better.
then came week 5 and 6.
no other word for these weeks but miserable.
we love love love our new little bundle of joy to death and I am sure one day we will look at our 2 girls and think back to this time and say that we wouldn't have done it any other way.
but for now it is so hard to see past the sleepless nights and no napping days and the crying that I hear constantly even when there is none (yes, I wake up after dozing off thinking I am hearing the crying of one of the girls and nope the sound is just embedded in my head).

had my 6 week checkup with my ob this past Wednesday.

didn't go very well.

doc came in asked me how I was and the tears came.

oh and before this the nurse had informed me that my blood pressure was 136/91! what? it is usually in the 1-teens/70.

definitely stress and lack of sleep getting the better of this momma's mind and body.

also the hubs and I are at each other most days, we say things we don't mean and put blame where it doesn't belong.

we do always apologize to each other each night after the kiddos are both in bed and we are preparing for our maybe 2 hours of sleep before Elleanor wakes, knowing it is of course the lack of sleep getting to us.

after my doc's appt. I knew that something had to change.
and it was ME.
I had been so intent on working on sleep training, letting Elleanor 'cry it out' for sleep, really wanted it to work, especially with having a toddler, I needed my baby to be easy to put down.
well with a baby with reflux and colic (horrible gas) this just doesn't work but makes it worse so that's just not happening right now, maybe we can go back to it soon.
and I was so so wanting to get on a tight feeding schedule, thinking that this would make things with the 2 so much easier, in another life maybe, but not in this life right now.
I would get so stressed if Elleanor wasn't awake long enough, awake too long, if she didn't nap through to her next feeding, and I could tell that I had gotten this rigid plan into Tim's head and it was stressing him out too.
we did a schedule with Caraline but not this early and not as rigid as I have been trying to be with Elleanor.
I really wanted success with these things but for us at this time, it was just not working.
for the past 3 days I have let go of my time frame, let go of watching the clock and wanting things to happen in a specific time slot.
I have to say that my stress level has dropped TREMENDOUSLY!!!
no tears since Friday, which is a big big deal!
no the sleeping, gas, and fussiness have not been cured or even helped by this, but my state of mind and my health totally have!
I truly plan on going back to the sleep training, when the reflux/colic allows.
and yes there will be a schedule.
will it be my dream schedule?, probably not, but I think Elleanor and I can try to compromise.lol!
in reality a specific schedule for the Maxeiner's has to almost be flexible on a daily basis.
my work schedule changes from week to week, Tim's schedule is craziness between 2 jobs and being a basketball coach (games and practices different nights each week, and the girls will go between 3 different places during the week (home, Nana's and aunt Mary's).
I think it's just going to be crazytown at the Maxeiner's house for a while and hopefully as one of my friends told me I can just embrace the craziness and begin to laugh with it instead of cry!
so for now I am just settling with being one of those "go with the flow" people, at least until we are getting a little better around here. (really hoping it's in just a couple of weeks or so!)
and I have to say that it has put me in a much better place at this time!
(but we will indeed go back to the sleep training and working on a schedule when we are all fixed up!)

lastly, I have high hopes for week 7!
praying good things happen at the Maxeiner house this week!

(this little gal is chunky enough to wear all of those cute clothes miss tiny Caraline didn't ever grown into, which makes Tim happy so he doesn't feel like we wasted our $!)