Beautiful Day!

Thought I would post this before we forget how nice it was Saturday. I think it was around 72F on Sat afternoon, so Elle got her first real experience outside besides being transported to and from the car.   I think she liked the sun.  We sat outside with family at my brother's house while they were in town for Cooper's birthday.  Now we have to get ready for the the ice and snow today and tomorrow.  Crazy weather in a 4 day span.

Sun!?!

Aunt G

Battle of the mat.  Poor Derby thinks Elle's owl play mat is his new lounging mat in the living room.  He always tries to fluff it up and then lay on it.  It is so soft I guess I can't blame him.

Stretch!

Bouncy Party!

My nephew Cooper had his 3rd Birthday Party this weekend.  He wanted to have it at the Boingo Bounce.  It is a huge place filled with bouncy houses and slides.  He also wanted a superhero themed party.  It was so funny to see all the kids in their different outfits.  My Mom got to come stay with us and see Elle.  My Dad also came for the big weekend.  Corey's sister Kara and our other nephew Eston also drove over from Mtn. Home  to come over and join the fun.  Here are some of the pics.

Elle with Gigi before the party.

Here is the birthday boy in one of his many costumes, Super Why.

Here are some more superheros

Group photo...well sorta

Here is Eston

Wardrobe change, Transformers

Elle snoozed most of the time as Papa Curt and Lena babysat.

Cake time!

Spiderman cake

Another wardrobe change, Wolverine.

All Smiles

We have finally gotten into a schedule here at the Balentine house.  Elle has been sleeping at night for 7-8 hours for the past few nights and we're all much happier.  She usually goes to sleep around 9 or 10 p.m. and wakes up around 5 a.m.  She then eats and then goes back to sleep for a few more hours. The rest of the day usually goes as followed:

Play time and tummy time on her play mat.  She loves it!

Cat nap in her swaddle blanket

Play with Derby

Snuggle with Mommy

and SMILE a lot.  She has started REALLY smiling at us this week!  It is the sweetest thing ever.  It just melts our hearts! I have to say she has the Riggs grin!

We also had another surprise this week, Mimi came to see us!  She spoiled Elle by rocking her and holding her so much!  She also spoiled mommy by taking care of Elle and letting mommy have some time to do some things around the house. Thanks for everything Mimi!

1 Month Old

I can't believe Elle is already a month old.  Well technically 5 1/2 weeks old.  Here are some of Elle's pics so far.

One min old

One hour old

One day old

One month old!

Elle hanging out with Daddy watching football. 

She is strong enough to push her arms against you and raise up.

Daddy's Home

Corey had his first out of town business trip this past week since Elle has been born.  He had to go to Seattle to work with Costco at their headquarters.  He also had to meet up with 2 of his French colleages while he was there.  I know he was sad to leave Elle and me, and I was sad he had to leave too.  While he was gone Derby decided he wanted to eat pacifiers.  He has eaten some from both of our nephews' in the past but had not gotten a hold of any of Elle's paci's yet.  Well, Derby ate 3 of them in 3 days.  He later threw them up in the middle of the next two nights.  The first time he did it was just after Elle had spit up everywhere. I cleaned her up and a little bit later Derby threw up on our bedspread and all over himself.  So at 4 o'clock in the morning, I had to take him to the utility sink in the garage and give him a bath.  Oh, and it snowed about 5 inches while Corey was gone as well.  Needless to say, we made it through the week.  I did get a lot of company.  Thanks to everybody who came by while Corey was gone.  Here are some pics:



Innocent looking Huh?

Holly with Elle

Bethany

Jill

Jenessa

Bret, Angie, and Cooper

Daddy's home!

Here is a photo Corey took at the Space Needle

Here is Corey with Theirry and Jean-Marc

Newborn Pics

On Thursday, we took Elle to get her newborn pics at the photographer.  It was a little later than we hoped but with the holidays it was the soonest they could get us scheduled.  Elle did pretty good and only had one "accident" toward the end.  Hopefully they will turn out okay.  Here are a few preview pics that the photographer has posted so far.  I can't wait to see the rest.

First Bottle!

Elle also had her first bottle this week.  She is still only drinking breast milk but now daddy is able to feed her once a day if needed.  She liked the bottle very much and sucked it down quickly.  She is definitely a good eater! We can tell she is gaining weight!  I am interested to see how much she weighs at her next doctor's appointment!

Here are few other current pictures of baby girl:

She likes to be in the Baby Katan!  Thanks for letting us borrow it aunt Kara!

Elle in her jump suit!

Corey and I tried to take some photos of Elle today with our camera.  Right after taking this picture she decided to go potty!  O well, it was worth it!

Just Snoozing

Probably my favorite shirt she has right now!  I found this at a store here in Rogers.  I think it's sweet!

Thanks for checking in with us!