Pre-Christmasing Part 1

I LOVE Christmas. I love Christmas decorations, music, treats, festivities...I think I've said all of this on a Christmas post a previous year, but it still holds true. This year Christmas was extra special because, unexpectedly, my whole family got to be together (except for Taylor on his mission in Chile). My mother had a stroke a week and a half after Eleanor was born. She has made tremendous progress since then, and there are so many stories and miracles to share along the way, but because of some of her health conditions following the stroke, my parents came home from their mission at the beginning of December. They may be heading back out to Argentina and they may be staying home, but regardless of what will happen - they got to be home for Christmas! I flew with Elle down to Arizona early so I could see my parents and they could meet Eleanor. I was so excited for them to meet! It was a sweet reunion. Sam finished up finals and later joined us in AZ. We ate lots of good food (always a necessity when we go home) and had a fabulous time with both of our families. Sam pulled a major surprise and bought me a nice Canon camera for Christmas, so I actually started taking pictures again :)

Elle was pulling some great faces when Jen and I were testing out the camera...

My big girl LOVES to stand!

And yes, that would be my mother's gigantic gorgeous Christmas tree Elle is in front of. Each year my mom decorates this tree and it looks fabulous. When I found out that my parents would be home for Christmas, I was determined to get the tree up and decorated even if my mom wouldn't be doing it. Thanks to some of the men in the fam and a nice neighbor, they put the tree up one evening. The next day I decorated it with my helper, Kyle.

 I must say I was proud of the end result and my mom was so happy, so it was definitely worth it!

My parents, who continue to be great examples to me (I decided not to crop out the surprise in the bottom left corner since it gave me a good laugh)

Almost every night we had family members busting out great dance moves thanks to Sammy bringing his xbox and Just Dance game. If only I had pictures from when all the siblings did a dance together, it was a performance to remember!

There was story-reading and some serious Chick-Fil-A eating (enough sauces for 25 people, plus more)...

And one evening we went to see the Mesa Temple lights

I think Elle may have been a little shocked by all the lights...

And that is all just Part 1 :)

Firsts

With a new baby in our family, there have been a lot of "firsts". I wasn't the best at documenting all the events, but thank goodness for iphones and their cameras! Here are some of Eleanor's firsts...

September

Elle's first doctor's appointment at 2 weeks old. She weighed 7lbs 14 ozs and was 21 inches long.

Elle started daily tummy times and had her first attempt at holding her head up by herself.

October
 Elle's first time to church. Her legs look like chicken legs here, now they are so chunky!

Elle's first walk outside. I thoroughly loved having the Provo River Trail right by our house when the weather was warm.

Elle's first plane ride. I flew to Arizona by myself and was so nervous for the airport. She was great through security and getting to the gate and I was able to get her asleep before take-off, then she slept the whole flight! (She has now already had a total of 5 flights and is a pro at the process).

 Elle's first time meeting cousins, and they adored her!

 Elle's first time meeting GG.

 Elle's first time meeting cousin Sawyer (only a few weeks older) and cuddling with Grandpa Nielsen.

 Elle's first smiles! Some of my favorite pictures. It was so fun to see her smile for the first time and have her start interacting a little more.

Elle's first Halloween. She was an owl, or what we liked to call, Owleanor. She also attended her first party, our friends JD and Ashley Mitt and Ann threw a great Halloween bash. Sam and I were in need of last minute costumes, I ended up as Kim Kardashian and Sam decided he was the supporting role of Rob Kardashian (he didn't change his outfit from what he wore to school, but funny thing was, it worked!)

 November
Elle's first trip to Wyoming (mine and Sam's first trip as well!) This is worth documenting because this is where we'll be calling HOME after Sam's graduation.

 Elle's first time celebrating her mama's birthday (and her daddy's a few days before)

Elle's first time in a carrier - she has spent SO much time in this now. It seriously is a life saver.

 Cougar Elle's first time to a BYU football game. It was FREEZING, but I'm glad she made it to one game!

 Elle's first time baking with mama. She loves being in the carrier while I bake, except now she always has to be facing out so she can see everything.

Elle's first Thanksgiving. We spent the day up in Bountiful at Sam's Aunt Kathy's. It was so nice to be with family and enjoy a delicious meal together. Our family has so much to be thankful for.

Elle's first time looking cute. JK. Are you actually still reading these lines? Elle just looks so cute in this photo I had to post. Everywhere we go (not exaggerating - every place we go to) strangers comment on how cute and adorable she is.

 Elle's first time in tights. I love a little baby's legs in tights. So darling.

And that's a quick review of big firsts through November :)

Adjusting

Adjusting to life at home with a newborn can pretty much be summarized by saying that it was adjusting to life without much sleep and with lots of amazement. The first night home was rough. I remember at some odd hour in the night, Eleanor had been crying and I tried feeding her, rocking her, swinging her...I couldn't get her to calm down at all. Then Sam asked if I had checked her diaper and I started bawling. I had forgotten about the diaper (which Sam changed and she calmed right down). I was so out of it which consequently also made me very emotional. Luckily, I can look back now and say A LOT has improved since then.

When we weren't trying to catch up on sleep, Sam and I would just stare in amazement at our little wonder. What a miraculous thing it is to have your own child and welcome her into this world! Sam and I still feel so blessed that we have Eleanor in our lives. In her first week, all we could talk about was her little nose, big eyes, tiny fingers and toes, hairy ears, dark hair... If Elle was taking a nap, I would often find Sam leaning over her, just staring. One of the best things of having our baby was seeing Sam in a "father" role. He is obsessed with our little girl! It literally warms my heart to see the two of them together. Aren't they just perfect?

 These jammies were so baggy on her at first and now she doesn't even fit them anymore!

 I also began taking a million pics on my phone every day, because everything Elle did was picture worthy, even just looking up at me from the portable crib:

I think I mentioned in a post below that the week Elle was born was career fair week for Sam. Poor guy had to dress to impress and be his best at school while meeting with recruiters after minimal sleep (this ended up paying off big time because someone has a JOB...more on that later). He would come home and crash, but not without his favorite little lady by his side...

 Elle was a little jaundice at first so we had to take her to a lab to be tested again when she was just a few days old. That headband is barely staying on her tiny head, her outfit drowned her and she looks like a miniature doll to me in the carset.

 We were spoiled by lots of visitors in Elle's first few days at home. So many sweet ward members, friends, neighbors and family came to meet Eleanor and also often brought us meals or treats. My Uncle Brent, Aunt Teri and cousin Kevin were in town and were some of Eleanor's first visitors...

My Uncle Brad, Aunt Nanette, and cousins Ava, Reese and Raegan also came to meet our angel...

One of my favorite things to watch since Elle was born is the stretches she does after each nap. I just love them. I caught this "superman" stretch. We later sent the photo to our nephew, Oliver, who is OBSESSED with all Avengers. Sam told his mom to ask Oliver which Avenger Eleanor was, his response, "Superman, but he is a super hero not an Avenger." Duh!

Besides a few little adventures in her first day at home, Elle and I pretty much stayed in my bedroom all day and changed from one pair of pajamas to the next. I was still really sore so we didn't even make it far from the bed. As I mentioned before, my sister, Jen, came to help shortly thereafter and it was such a blessing to have her! I think I'll owe her for a looong time. Elle loved having her with us too...

And the support didn't end there! In the following weeks we had more visitors and help while our little girl continued to amaze us. Sam's mom, Sallee, came out right after Jen left. She was another blessing that brought love, support, help and motherly knowledge. I am so grateful that I have such wonderful in-laws who I am close to. With both Sallee and G around, I don't think five seconds went by without Elle being in some loving arms. We were able to snap a four generation shot one evening...

As you can see, our little girl was spoiled in her first week, as were we! There are still adjustments being made in our home, but we are definitely getting more used to and loving our family of three!