Goo-be-gone

I continued to be surprised by the simple things that now excited me due to mommy-hood. Case in point, I never thought I would be so excited by the lack of eye goo!

Elsa was born with clogged eye ducts, something that is fairly common for babies. We were told that her eyes would eventually clear themselves but after four months of daily eye gunk, and the goopiness getting worse instead of better (The poor little miss was waking up with her eyes glued shut! And my mom made a joke the other day about buying stock in whatever brand of cotton balls we were purchasing... that's an indicator of how bad it was), the pediatrician's office provided us with a prescription for eye ointment.

While lots of fuss has been made (I can't blame her, I definitely wouldn't want my dad holding my head while my mom came at my eyes with a cotton swab), we are seeing the results. We haven't had to clean Elsa's eyes for two full days and you can now see that she has beautiful, full eyelashes! With only three more ointment applications left, I'm incredibly excited to stop having to mess with Miss Elsa's eyes.

That's One Strong Girl!

Miss Elsa has started discovering the various features of my face... with her tiny (yet strong!) fingers.

The past couple of weeks, she has started to grip onto my nose...my cheek...my lips... and, perhaps worst of all, my throat. While I'm excited that she is learning to use her hands more and her coordination is improving, her fingers of steel hurt!

Oh, and her new obsession with my facial features has motivated to finally take the plunge and clip her nails. I was making Carl do it before but now it needs to be done much more frequently because she's about to draw blood (for whatever reason, she never scratches her own face.. only mine)!

Working Hard

Yesterday was Miss Elsa's four month appointment and I'm blown away by how much she's grown during her short life.

Here are her stats from her appointment:

Weight - 13 lbs, 8.4 oz (35 percentile)
Height - 24.5 inches (50 percentile)
Head - 42 cm (85 percentile)

As I was cuddling on the couch with her yesterday (she was fussy from her shots), I was reflecting on how much she's already grown. It's hard to believe that the little miss has already grown 4.5 inches and 6 pounds. It made me think about how hard her little body is working around the clock to develop into a fully functioning, rambunctious toddler.

This reflection made me realize that babies have a perfectly good excuse to be fussy from time-to-time, and if Miss Elsa wants to work those lungs, then more power to her.

So, in tribute to her hard work, here are some pictures I've caught of the precious babe vocalizing her need for some time off.

Tasty Thursday Recipe Hop

A fellow blogger has started a "Tasty Thursday Recipe Hop" and I've decided to join in on the fun!

Bloggers, if you'd like to get in on the fun, click on the image to the left to get started.

Without further ado, here is my recipe for the week — Tasty Thursday Turkey Chili

Serves 6

Ingredients:
-1 package ground turkey (or other desired groundmeat)
-1/4 red onion, diced
-1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
-3 cans of kidney beans (15.25 oz each)
-cumin, garlic powder, chili powder and cayenne pepper to taste (I typically add approximately 1 tbsp of each and then add additional cayenne pepper until desired heat is achieved)
-5 diced serrano chilies (optional for extra spice)

Optional toppings:
-shredded cheddar
-sour cream or plain yogurt
-uncooked diced onions
-crushed tortilla chips

Instructions:
-Saute diced onion on medium heat
-Add ground meat to pan and brown until cooked through
-In crock pot or stock pot, combine crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, turkey and onion, mix well
-If spicy chili is desired, add serrano chilies
-Add seasonings to taste
-Cover and cook on low heat for a minimum of one hour; the longer it cooks, the more the flavors will combine and the heat will intensify
-Serve in bowls with optional toppings

Dress-up Day!

I've been reorganizing Miss Elsa's clothes and when I realized she's big enough for this poofy, pink skirt, I just had to do a photo shoot!

Enjoy!

 Miss Elsa didn't mind at first. But after way too many pictures (Mommy went a little crazy and took about 100 pics!), she had to tell Mommy that it was time to quit!

Next up on the agenda, nap time with Daddy. Ahh.... this is the life!

I'm a mommy!

Ok, perhaps I have a slow reaction period, but just this week it dawned on me that I'm a mommy.

You'd think I would have realized this after seven hours of labor, or perhaps the countless diapers, or the hours I've logged feeding Miss Elsa Marie, or even celebrating my first Mother's Day. But it wasn't until I stood at the doorway of the nursery yesterday while watching Elsa nap that reality hit me. This precious baby girl was my Daughter and I will forever be her Mommy.

Perhaps I'm a tad bit emotional because this week marked the one year anniversary of the BFP (big fat positive pregnancy test), but that realization made me misty eyed. What an amazing blessing God has bestowed upon me! I'm so honored to be entrusted in the growth and development of this special baby girl.

Mood Swings

Somehow I was under the naive impression that mood swings wouldn't start until the preteen years. I was living in blissful ignorance that I had plenty of time to devise a plan to circumvent those unpleasant outbursts.

I was wrong.

The last several days have felt like one of those Sour Patch Kids commercials. One moment Elsa is crying, screaming and swatting me away. The next, she's calm, smiling and babbling away.

The only consistent calming technique I have found involves me kissing her bare belly repeatedly while she's tugging on my hair. While I love kissing her sweet little belly and she has yet to tug my hair hard enough for it to hurt, I can only do this for so long before I get light headed. And once the kissing stops, she starts crying again until she's exhausted herself.

I'm hoping this 3.5 month temper tantrum frenzy means she's getting her mood swings out of her system now, before she has hurtful words to throw around with her moody outbursts. Probably not, but a mother can hope, right?