I Scream, You Scream... But seriously, I REALLY scream for Ice Cream!

I have always thought of myself as a "Foodie". I spend quite a bit of my day thinking about or eating food and it's become unhealthy.

So, last week, after downing way too much ice cream and feeling sick for an entire day, I decided to put myself on a sugar fast. No sweets (dessert, candy, cookies, soda, diet soda, even sweetened yogurt) for 60 days.

My goal is to be less emotionally connected to food. And with sweets being my biggest weakness, I'm hoping this will help. My secondary goal, of course, is to start loosing more of the "baby fat". I'm not going on a "diet" and won't be counting calories but by cutting out the sweets, I've found that I've already started eating more fruits and veggies and making smarter choices during the day.

The first week was pretty easy. I had already emptied the house of my sweets (Carl still has his cupboard with candy and cookies) so there are pretty few temptations here during the day. I even ate my pancakes plain on Saturday morning.Yesterday, however, I was presented with the opportunity to chow down on some of my favorites. We spent Easter with Carl's family and there were pies, cupcakes, candies, punch and soda readily available to me. I fought the temptation and stayed on course but last night my dreams were full of delicious, creamy ice cream.

I know that the temporary absence of sweets will be well worth the sacrifice. Ever since sweet little Elsa has arrived, I have found that I can and will do anything to ensure that she grows up in a healthy environment. But... oh, lovely, tasty ice cream, how I miss you!

Pen pal!

Elsa Marie has been matched with her first pen pal!

I'm a member of a January 2011 Mom group online, and we thought it would be fun for our babies to have pen pals that they can write to as they grow up.

With the prevalence of e-mail, social media and text messaging, letter writing is becoming a dead art form. I loved writing and receiving  letters as a little girl and I'm excited for my daughter to have the same experience.

Elsa's pen pal is a baby boy from Connecticut. I'm so excited for her to have a friend to write to as she grows up! We're planning out our first letter and can't wait to hear back from him (Ok, in all fairness, I'm planning the letter and can't wait to hear back from his mommy...).

I'd love to hear some ideas on what to include in her first letter. Any ideas???

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)