Elsa Marie, Blessed Child of God

On April 8, Carl and I packed up the Jeep, snapped Elsa into her car seat and took off for Oregon to have Elsa baptized.

It's Reerslev tradition to be baptized in Faith Lutheran Church in Junction City. And every baby who has been baptized has worn the family christening gown, sewn by my great grandmother. On April 9, Elsa Marie joined the family in the tradition, becoming the fourth generation to wear the gown.

It was wonderful to share the experience with my family and a fun opportunity for everyone to meet the Little Miss. And, of course, a great photo opp!

Alphabet Soup of Motherhood

When I first found out I was pregnant, I ventured online to get as much information as possible on pregnancy. I wanted to be informed and do everything I could to help the baby thrive. While combing through sites, I ran across TheBump.com. Full of quick articles, fun tools and baby names, it quickly became my go-to resource.

TheBump also has a forum section where other ladies - from trying to conceive to seasoned moms - can ask each other questions and give tips (and talk about totally non-related items, like celebrity gossip and vacation spots). I found the January 2011 Mom board and started participating. In doing so, I found that online moms have a language of their own - LO, DD, DS, DH, BFP, POAS... etc. (For those of you who are curious, those are: little one (baby), darling daughter, darling son, darling husband, big fat positive (positive pregnancy test), and pee on a stick (take a pregnancy test)). There were so many confusing accronyms that TheBump has an entire page dedicated to them - I dare you to check it out.

These (and many more) acronyms are second nature to me now but as Elsa quickly grows I'm finding there are even more for me to learn and rejoice over! In fact, the whole reason why I decided to write about this "alphabet soup" is because we have recently come across a new one in our house - STTN - the best possible acronym for a new mom and dad.

So what does this one mean?

Sleep. Through. The. Night.

And now for a moment of silence where moms across America can sigh with relief..... Ahhhhhh!

Yes, Miss Elsa's appetite is now reliable enough for us to let her (and me!!) sleep for a solid chunk of time at night. Both of us were more than ready for it!

Wiggle Worm

Now that Miss Elsa is becoming more aware of her body, she is turning into a regular wiggle worm, moving about trying to explore her world.

While I'm thrilled to see her develop, her increased movement is making it harder and harder to feed her. Her head is constantly turning from side to side as she tries to see everything going on. Her back arches and her legs push against our arm or leg as she tries to scoot away. And she's learning to use her hand to hit our hands and arms out of her way. She's a girl on a mission and is worried she is going to miss out if she takes a break to eat.

I have a feeling she is going to keep me on my toes as she continues to grow and gain mobility!

Designing Woman

This week Elsa has taken a great interest in ceiling fans and light fixtures. No matter the color or size, she zeroes in on the fixture and stares.

At first we thought it was because of the contrast between the dark fan blades and light ceiling, or the brightness of the light when it is on. But then I noticed that she stared at fan blades when they are the same color as the ceiling and the light when it is off.

So, I've decided this must be a sign that Elsa is destined to become an interior designer. It looks like she'll have a "bright" future!

Other items that Elsa is starting to notice:

• Her hands, as demonstrated by her licking her fingers and cramming them in her mouth
• Her feet, she sits there and stares at them for minutes on end
• Her furry sister, Bear. This is my favorite! We came home from a weekend away from the dog and they sat there staring at each other for a very long time. I can't wait until Elsa is older and can run and play with her big sister.

These may seem like very minor developments but they're exciting for me!

This Little Piggy...

Little Miss Elsa has been suffering from what I'm assuming are allergies. Her tiny nostrils are stuffed most of the time and it has resulted in her sounding like a little piglet! She's definitely the cutest piglet I've ever seen, just check out these pictures taken this past month:

Unfortunately, our little piglet isn't eating like one. As mentioned in the previous post, Elsa was born tongue-tied. The hope was that after her tongue was clipped, she would become a pro at eating. We're finding that she is still trying to figure out what to do with her tongue.

We have her on a two-hour feeding schedule, which means that she eats every two hours (counted from start of one feeding to the start of another feeding). This leaves me with about an hour of "free" time between each feeding. It has become physically and emotionally exhausting! But in the end, it's worth it. We're making sure that she is gaining weight while getting the health benefits of breast milk.

Current stats for our "Miss Piggy" from her 2 month appointment:

Weight: 9 lbs 10 oz (12th percentile)
Length: 22.5 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 39 centimeters (just above 50th percentile)

Tongue-tied... My daughter?? No way!!!

Carl and I discovered last week that Miss Elsa was born with a condition known as "tongue-tied". Anyone who knows me may chuckle at this notion as I can be quite the chatterbox given the occasion.

Unfortunately those who are "tongue-tied" not only can develop speech difficulties but it can also cause dental problems and, as what was currently plaguing Elsa, troubles nursing.

If it weren't for a wonderful lactation-consultant-in-training that has been coming to our house on a regular basis, we wouldn't have caught the condition until it had created a much worse problem. The LC has been weighing Elsa at each visit and last week we found that she had only gained 2 ounces over 2 weeks. Babies at this age should be gaining at least 0.5 ounces per day! As you can imagine, Carl and I were instantly concerned. And I, being my typical self, automatically when into worst-case-scenario mode, concocting the worse possible causes for the sudden lack in weight gain.

Thankfully, the LC was able to schedule an appointment with one of her fellow co-workers for the next day. Her co-worker has been working as an LC for quite sometime and automatically was able to diagnose Elsa as being tongue-tied. We scheduled a doctors appointment for the very next day and now Elsa's tongue is free to move about as she pleases.

I'm sure that once Elsa reaches the teenage years, Carl and I will be looking for some reverse-procedure to help control that tongue! But for now, we're happy that our baby is healthy and happy and is starting to gain that baby fat that everyone keeps talking about.

Mama's Got a New Pair of Pants

I recently got the opportunity to try out a new style of jeans from Old Navy (thanks to my account with Crowdtap.com - I recommend you take a second to check them out!). Carl and I have been trying to clamp down on our expenses but I'm not quite at my pre-pregnancy size, so I've been left with very little to wear on the bottom. So, this opportunity was welcomed with open arms.

The pants are part of the new ankle jeans collection. I was a little scared of them at first - they all look like skinny jeans on the Web site and skinny pants should not be seen anywhere within 10 feet of my legs - but I found a style that I really like. Now I have cute pants to wear while I work on losing the baby weight!