Date night, birthday dinner and family update!

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted!! We've been so busy watching our beautiful little girl grow and boy is she growing!!! It's kind of sad to see her grow out of some of her newborn clothes but also exciting to watch her get so big and change so much.  Plus, it gives me an excuse to buy her more clothes!!  Yesterday I went a little overboard because at Babies R Us they had SO many cute outfits and clothes with owls!! How can I resist that??!!  She is just so beautiful and we catch ourselves just staring at her all the time. She is opening her eyes SO big and loves to focus on your face and watch your facial expressions. She LOVES laying on her activity mat and staring up at the dangling toys and grabbing at them. She is getting better at grasping things and loves to swat at and kick the toys hanging down. Some of her new "friends" are Lucy the ladybug, Lewis the ladybug, Betty the butterfly and Bob the bee. We also just bought her a new mirror that props up so he can see herself and of course it is an owl mirror. :) she discovered herself in the mirror just this morning and it was so fun to watch. She is making all kinds of sounds along with her usual grunts and groans and she loves having "conversations" with us. We love reading to her and talking to her even though we know she can't understand us yet.  She is focusing SO well and LOVES to stare into your eyes which of course we don't mind because we love to stare right back!  She's also recently discovered her hands and loves to stick not just one or two fingers but her entire fist in her mouth which is especially funny to watch when she has hiccups (which happens frequently).  She is also just beginning to smile.  Not too often but when she does it melts my heart.  I haven't seen a full-fledged beaming smile yet and can't wait for that day to come.  She is doing very well on her routine and pretty much eats every 3 hours during the day and sleeps long stretches at night which is great!  She usually only wakes once at around 2-3 am then sleeps till 6 or 7 am when we both get up.  on a few occasions she has slept 7-7.5 hours which was great but it hasn't been consistent yet.  I'm looking forward to the day when that happens so I can start getting a little more sleep.  I am glad that I can hear her when I sleep but also wish I slept a little more soundly because it seems like I wake up every hour sometimes from all the grunts and other sounds our little sweetheart makes when she sleeps, especially when we are in Tahoe for some reason.  I am also not the best napper in the world and have never been able to take good naps so it's hard for me to catch up on good sleep.  But you know what?  It's all totally worth it!  

Ellie looking up at her toys on the activity mat

We just love our bright eyed beauty

Ellie playing on her activity mat with her "friends"

Just barely caught the tail end of a smile...she's just too darn cute!

Ellie having tummy time on the boppy and looking at herself in the mirror

Russell reading his fantasy football magazine to Ellie

Last friday night we had the chance to go on a "date night" while my parents watched Ellie.  They loved bonding with her and we enjoyed getting out of the house together to have dinner with some of my coworkers.  Even though we were only gone for 2 hours it felt great to have some adult time and enjoy eating dinner and talking with friends without worrying about Ellie (not that she's that much trouble).  We are so grateful to have our parents nearby and that they love spending so much time with Ellie.   

Ellie with NaMa and NamPa

Me and Russell about to leave for our date night

Last night we took Ellie with us to BJ's Brewhouse for me and my dad's birthday dinner along with Russell, my mom and my uncle Pres.  We celebrate together every year since our birthdays are only a few days apart and we love this tradition.  I admit I was a little worried to bring Ellie because the evening is the only time of day when she gets a little fussy and doesn't like to sleep but she surprised me and did SO well!  She ate right before we left, fell asleep in the car on the way, and slept almost the entire time so we could all eat together.  She woke up right as we were finishing our piezookies (which were AMAZING by the way) and thanks to a private corner and my newly purchased "boob tube" nursing cover, I had my first successful public breastfeeding.  I'm grateful and glad that was the first time I had to do it in the almost 8 weeks that Ellie has been here.  Pretty soon it won't even be a big deal but last night it was and it made me feel really confident.  We had a WONDERFUL experience at BJ's thanks to the amazing service and delicious food and we hope to do it again soon!!  My dad and I had a great time together as usual and can't wait to do it again next year!

3 generations of Henderson noses :)

Birthday buds!!

Family picture at BJ's

Ellie's one month birthday and first bottle

On Wednesday August 8th, 2012 it was Ellie's one month birthday and we decided to celebrate by giving her her first bottle.  I was selfishly putting it off because I love nursing her and was a little worried that she would like the bottle too much and would have difficulty nursing afterwards.  But lucky for us Ellie continues to show us she is an AMAZING baby and not only did she take the bottle but she seemed to LOVE it and hasn't had any problems breastfeeding since then.  I had heard that mommies usually have to wait in another room or outside the house when first giving babies a bottle because they can smell the breast milk and won't want to take the bottle but Ellie didn't seem to care and I was glad because I could stick around to watch.  It was so special for Russell to be able to feed her and have that bonding opportunity and I loved being able to share the experience and watch them.  We aren't giving her a bottle every day but it's nice to know we can if we want to go on a date or if I want to have some "me" time and leave Ellie with Daddy.  ;) 

Trekking to new heights

Last weekend we took our first weekend trip with Ellie to Lake Tahoe!!  Our good friends Brandon and Evie invited our life group to stay at their family cabin in West Shore Tahoe in Tahoma for the weekend.  I have to admit, I was a little (okay, a LOT) apprehensive of taking  Ellie on a trip so soon, mostly because it would be a new environment, we would be staying in someone else's place, and it would be our first time away from home and our normal routine.  (And me being a control freak didn't help this worry)  But after careful consideration and lots of indecisive moments we made our packing list and decided to go for it.  And boy are we glad we did!!  We had such a wonderful time with our friends the Pierces and the Purintons and they were the perfect friends to spend our first weekend away with because they are so supportive and also have little ones of their own.  Baloo and Koby were going to spend the weekend with NaMa and NamPa so we didn't have to worry about them.  I don't know who was more excited about that, the dogs or my parents.  :)

We all drove up to the cabin on Friday afternoon.  We left after Ellie ate so she would sleep the whole way there and she did great!  Not even a peep from her the entire time.  I wish I could say the drive there went as smoothly for us.  About 15 minutes into our drive, right after I was finally feeling at ease about going on this adventure, we all of a sudden wondered if Ellie would be okay in the higher altitude.  We honestly hadn't even thought of it being an issue until that moment and I admit I was pretty worried and freaked out (after all, that's what I do best!).  We stopped off on the side of the road for about half and hour while we called the advice nurse from the doctor's office who told us that Ellie should be totally fine with the altitude and not to worry.  She told us about signs of altitude sickness that we should look out for just in case and reassured us that she should be just fine.  I tried to make sure she kept her pacifier in as we were climbing up the pass to help her ears adjust but she just kept spitting it out.  :)

Ellie is ready to go!!!

We all made it up safe and sound without much traffic and by the time we were all unpacked (we all brought pretty much everything from our houses LoL) we were pretty hungry so we took a walk to a nearby pizza place.  We stopped off at a neighborhood park while we were waiting for the pizza to be ready and had fun watching the kids play on the playground.  Russell and Ashleigh were stationed to help the kids make it up to the slide while Brandon and Clete caught them as they came out of the slide and Evie took pictures.  (I was resting on a bench with Ellie enjoying watching everyone.)  

Aubrey and Zach held hands the entire walk!  :) So cute!

Playing in a nearby park while waiting for the pizza to be ready

When we finally got the pizza we walked down to the water and had a makeshift picnic.  After we ate the guys couldn't wait to jump in the water and we had a great time watching them jump in off the dock.  

Russell, Brandon and Clete couldn't wait to jump in the cold water

The guys teaching Aubrey and Zach to skip stones

Zach and Aubrey bonding in the double stroller

Saturday morning we all woke up and had a nice hot breakfast.  Russell did an amazing job whipping up scrambled eggs and bacon while I made pancakes.  We were all impressed by Russell's mad cooking skills!!  Brandon took Russell, Clete, and Ashleigh out on the quads while Evie and I stayed at the cabin with the kids and enjoyed a nice, relaxing day.  Well, mostly relaxing.  Ellie randomly threw up big time which really worried me.  I know, I know...newborns throw up all the time right?  Well, Ellie usually doesn't so knowing that vomiting was a sign of altitude sickness I did get worried that something was wrong with her.  BUT....I was really proud of myself because I didn't freak out like I expected.  I stayed calm, cleaned her up and called our doctors office who reassured me again that she was fine and just to keep an eye on her if anything changed or worsened.  

Later that evening after Russell and Ashleigh were back (Brandon and Clete were out on the quads) we went for a nice walk around the neighborhood.  It felt great to get outside and there was a really nice breeze out because a big storm was coming through that night.  come to find out later it was a huge thunder and lightening storm that decided to hit right when we were going to bed and kept us up for about 20 minutes.  I don't think I've ever heard thunder that loud but the lightening was really cool to see.  

Aubrey being adorable, as usual :)

Going for a walk around the neighborhood

Ellie in the Baby Bjorn with daddy

On Sunday morning we woke up and had a yummy breakfast prepared by Evie and we got our things ready to hit the road.  We all couldn't believe that Ellie was already 4 weeks old and that we had survived our first family vacation!! 

Family picture...Ellie was 4 weeks old this day!

We remembered and managed to take a group picture together.  It is so wonderful that we all have kids now and that we can go on vacations together and it is so fun to think about all of the adventures that are ahead of us!  We are so grateful to Brandon and Evie for having us at their cabin and hope to plan another trip soon!  

Russell, Ellie, Me, Evie, Aubrey, Brandon, Ashleigh, Clete and Zach

Goodbye Lake Tahoe!!

On the car ride back home