baby ZZZs

So you know how sometimes as a mom you feel pressured to be "perfect?" or at least for everyone to think it? Ok, so maybe it's just me feeling like I will mess Eliza up if I don't get her schedule "just right". Lately I have been struggling with her daytime napping. She is fighting it like crazy, but I know she is tired because she is cranky. When she sleeps well she is happy and playful and I can do whatever while she sits and plays. Tyler can get her to sleep no problem, but everytime I try to rock her, she wants to eat. Help! I was reading Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and she says that if you catch the timing right then your baby won't cry and will go right to sleep. I have yet to catch that timing. Also, she says babies shouldn't be awake for more than two hours at a time. I have really watched Eliza and noticed that she does start getting tired about 1 1/2hrs after being awake, but everytime I try to help her fall asleep she cries and puts up a fit. I know every baby isn't by the book, but I am feeling so helpless, like we are stuck in this back and forth. Once I finally get her down to nap she only stays alseep for like 30-40 minutes. What are some tricks to getting Eliza down without such a fight?

Surprises

Generic diapers work great! I bought some as a test from Walmart--you know
Parents Choice brand and I was VERRrY skeptical at first. She hasn't had one blow out despite their apparent thinness and low quality. Yay for $0.11 diapers that work:)

3 Months

I had the hardest time getting a shot where her fists weren't in her mouth. At about 9 1/2lbs my baby is still a wee little thing. But she's growing and developing like a normal 3 month old! We are working on getting our daytime nap routine down and I am reading up on how to help her be the healthiest sleeper. She has the cutest giggle and loves when I blow on her tummy.

She is super strong

Here she is standing with daddy in her cute little santa outift. We love Christmas in the Rasmussen house and have been counting down since summer! My aunt gave Eliza this cute little outift and she looks like a little elf

She still loves her bath and will blow bubbles

and sit and stare at her feet or hands for the whole time.

Even though she's not a fan of tummy time, she can hold her head up a lot more and I'm so proud of her. I hate doing tummy time because she gets all mad after like 30 seconds, so we really don't do it very often.  I wish I had a good picture, but this is usually what she looks like

can you tell she's mad?

She loves riding in her carseat thank goodness, except when she's hungry, but even then if I sing really loudly she will quiet down and sometimes go back to sleep

I love her big blue eyes--my little angel!

Well that's enough baby talk for now I guess. Love my life as a mommy.

Oh ya, and Tyler finishes his masters in a few short months so we are on the house hunt now! Any recommendations?

December is right around the corner

and Christmas is by far my favorite time of year! I love getting all of my Christmas shopping done early so that I can enjoy the festivities that only happen once a year; i.e. The Nutcracker, Lights at Temple Square, Ornament Exchanges, etc.
This year, I used the awesome website Shutterfly to help make my shopping even easier and more effective than ever! I made the cutest photo book of pictures featuring Eliza and am sending it to my mom...shhh don't tell! Also, since it was my first purchase, I got 50 free 4x6 prints! I used this credit to print a bunch of prints for little Eliza's baby book. They are such a great quality and you definitely can't pass up free:)

I think their holiday collection is SOOO cute and I can't wait to send out a Christmas card. Using their website is very easy and I love that you so much of the design comes from you. All they do is lay the groundwork and you go from there.
Look at how cute these cards are:

 I think this one is my absolute favorite!

perfect way to feature our little baby!

We also sent a cute little magnet of Eliza and I was so impressed with how good it turned out. Shutterfly has so many fun personalized gifts that grandparents are sure to love. I mean, what better than to drink out of a mug with their favorite little baby on it.





If we were going to host a party this year we would use :

Well I am definitely sending out a photo card this year-- Leave your address in the comments if you want one! Also, go check out Shutterfly's website for easy Christmas gifts and cards!

Black Friday

To shop or not to shop...that is the question.

Actually it's really not. The answer is always yes to shopping.
Of course since Tyler is technically unemployed and the whole living with the parents thing is going on right now, the whole shopping thing is scaled down.

Nevertheless, this was an AWESOME shopping day. I'm the kind of person who already has their Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving...(yes I am completely done...wrapping them all up this week so they can sit under the tree all gorgeous all of december!)...so Black Friday for me isn't about scoring deals for stocking stuffers or whatnot. This year I only had one thing on my list: a wireless router and of course various things for my mom (like $6 sandwich makers! handy little suckers that are only sold around Christmas time)  haha funny enough that was the one thing Tyler suggested we get since we will need one when we get out on our own. Not to mention that normal price is well over $50 normally. So the score at $29 was worth getting up at 7am. Yes, 7am. That is VERRRY early for me, Eliza and I like to snooze until 10 or 10:30:)

Speaking of which, my baby is 3 months on Tuesday! that's in 2 short days and you can bet I'll have some pics to put up. I don't think she has changed that much and I think she is slowing down a little in her weight gain. Probably because she's sleeping through the night...Wait, in case you missed that


She's Sleeping Through the Night! 

from 10:30-6:30 and then I feed her and put her back by 6:45 and she sleeps until 10:15 usually. Wow, what a difference our life has been! I thought for sure since she was so little it would take longer, but at about 2 1/2 months her 6 hour stints turned into 7 or 8 and it was more consistent. I love it!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Colorado and had a blast. It was one of our best visits yet! Turkey day was great all grateful and stuff and we ate all those traditional dishes (something when I host thanksgiving I won't do btw) We took the traditional family photo, went to go see a movie (sold out though:() watched football and played games. We enjoyed the pleasantly surprising warm weather, relatively, and were quite sad to leave. Eliza did great on her first little airplane ride. I am so grateful she is such a great baby.

The week before we thought we were going to have to buy a new laptop for Tyler because it unexpectedly stopped working, something we really didn't want to have to cough up funds for right now, but what-do-ya-know, my resourceful hubby looked up possible solutions and bought a new part for only $12. Turns out all the screen needed was a new inverter. Awesome. Now our dinosaur will last another couple months, at least until we start getting an income again.

Ok, well that's another little snapshot of what life in the Rasmussen household has been like. Pics to come later this week of our little buttons!

can't believe it

My baby is growing!! She has transitioned into size 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers!! anyone else feel like these are the hardest times for mom because it is reality staring in your face--she won't stay little forever. We had an FHE a couple weeks ago and Aunt Jamie and Uncle Ralph's and Eliza met little Celia Rasmussen for the first time:

Don't they look similar? Eliza is a little more aware than her 10 day old cousin...

Last weekend my bffff and old roommate Grace came and visited Eliza for the first time also. We did lots of fun things, but somehow these are the only pictures I snapped. Probably because we were too busy making hair clips, eating yummy food and chatting.

I should have sucked my stomach in more! UGH. I can't wait until that little pooch is gone, which for you non-believers out there, it WILL BE. That is a work in progress and although it is a major concern, I know it won't happen overnight.

We've had a slew of visitors lately, maybe that's why I'm soo exhausted, or it's because I worked like crazy to get all my Christmas shopping done (DONE YESTERDAY BTW), or because Eliza started sleeping through the night (HALLELUIA!!!!!) and my body is in recovery mode from the last 2 1/2 months of deprivation. Anyway, my famous MoM with her first and only gbaby

(Wearing the Happy GrandMother's Day shirt I made her)

I couldn't resist snapping some pics of me too and boy do I look haggard. It could have been that that morning was the 5K for the Teemants and I had had a pretty busy week to say the least. Good news is that we raised over $15G's. yahoo.

Tyler trying to take Eliza to school...I just had to put this one in here!!!

maternity pics

When I was 36 or 37 weeks pregnant, my friend Patrea shot these photos of me up in Lehi. I thought they turned out great! It's hard to believe I was so pregnant not that long ago...time sure does go so fast and little Eliza has stolen our hearts!