not a morning person...

sweet ellie, giving me the evil-eye

this look pretty much sums up how i have felt both this morning and yesterday upon waking: disheveled, cranky, and overall upset to leave my sweet girl and return to work.

thats right. after a glorious past 12 weeks, most of it spent in a slightly euphoric new-mommy haze, i returned to full-time work yesterday.

ugh. slightly less euphoric, indeed.
so. hard.

but i am proud of myself too. i've made it through 2 days now, sans meltdown of any kind. and i'm becoming a regular pro at the whole "hands-free-double-electric-pumping-in-a-freezing-storage-closet"-- the convenient home of a very large AC unit.

good times indeed.

happy weekend!
can't wait to see my little Ellie Belly!

a sweet surprise...

i entered some pictures of ellie's nursery in a contest...
and i won.

click to see: ellie's room

:o)

our little fish...

in a swim diaper that reaches just about to her armpits! apparently, they don't make these suckers for 7 week olds... i think she's in a 6 month diaper. :o)

she's a pisces gal-- and knowing that she'll grow up swimming and fishing in the creeks and backrivers of the ocean, i figure i can't start the 'lessons' too early.

swim, ellie, swim!


(hmm.. can't seem to get the width right on this embed... tech savvy i am not!)

she's a quick one!

"look, ma!"

happy friday.

all this movin' and shakin'...

means that new shoes are in order! aren't they lovely?!

i don't know about you, but buying new running shoes is one of my absolute favorite things to do. with all the movin', shakin', bouncin', dancin', rockin', and laps around the house holding my new 10lb weight (aka Ellie), my lower back decided it was time for a new pair of comfy, cushiony and supportive shoes.

So that's what i got. the kicker? found them in the sale section-- they're the exact make of asics i wear, for only 40 bucks. oh, hell yeah! it was meant to be.

AND, they have PINK on them, which i've grown quite fond of these days. more than i ever thought imaginable....

pairing these new beauties with a few good sessions on the ol' yoga mat, and i'm feeling good as new!

thank goodness for the 'happy song'!

Say Hey (I Love You)

Michael Franti & Spearhead | MySpace Music Videos
ellie loves this song.

no matter how fussy she may be, i put it on, crank the volume a bit, start bouncin' and dancin' and VOILA! she becomes a happy baby-- and oftentimes, jiggles to sleep in my arms. its magic, truly.

thankfully, i enjoy this song and never seem to tire of it. kevin has even taken to singing along with it, as opposed to getting annoyed by it, which i was worried he might. i guess he recognizes its value!

what can i say? our little monkey's got riddim. :o)

we didn't set any records...

but Race for the Cure was a special day for me and Ellie!

on April 17th, just shy of eleanor jo's 1 month birthday, we got up bright and early and reunited with a few of the original members of Team Fancypants for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k in downtown Savannah.

it was a beautiful sunshiney morning, we had a fabulous group, and sharing it with ellie (named after her late Great Grandma Jo Dunn who battled breast cancer during her lifetime) was pretty darn poignant. only a few happy, wistful tears were shed at the very start-- i know Grandma Jo was watching and loved every minute of Ellie Jo participating for the cause!


(post-race, none too happy-- we'll say she was a bit worn out. but check out that outfit. she was decked out and ready to go, matching sweatband and all!)

just hangin' out...

with the little one, my new favorite thing to do.
(in the picture above, you can see our very first garden, which is doing well. kevin is proving to have quite the green thumb. we ate our very first squash and zuchinnis in a tasty stir fry the other nite-- exciting!)

i love the sleepy wrap and ellie is pretty fond of it as well, when she's in the right kind of cuddly mood. it's so nice to keep her close and cozy next to me, hands free(!), while i putter around the house doing this and that: laundry, bedmaking, tidying up, etc.

to celebrate her one-month birthday (and just to prove to myself i could do it) i took ellie, in the wrap, AND the dogs for a walk. at the same time. woah. i was pretty darn proud of myself-- no small feat with our hellion canines! but ellie was very content and dozed the entire time. it felt really good and helped alleviate some of my "dog guilt". i should have attempted a picture to capture the moment, but that probably would have been pushing my multi-tasking luck...! :o)

cheers to a bit of liberation!
(once again, its the small stuff these days... )

the simple stuff

just watching her sleep is enough for me.

things have been pretty crazy these last 5 weeks, adjusting to all this change-- but i'm planning to post more frequently again...

this mom stuff is all-consuming. :o)
but so amazing.
i'm just filled with so much love for this tiny gal!

2 weeks with Ellie...

and life is good.


(photos taken at one week old)

for those of you who celebrate, happy easter!