HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween Ross House! Have fun trick or treating w/ Ellie! Please take lotsa pics and post them on Ellie's shutterfly please!!! I cannot wait to see her cute little get-up! (And don't forget I sent you some stuff she can change into later too!)

Love you all, have fun tonight, and be safe!

Halloween Tomorrow

Halloween is tomorrow!

We are going to be giving away candy for the first time, since no one ever came to our apartment both years...

Ellie will be dressing up as a puppy. We found a cute little puppy costume at Target.

I think Curtis and Sarah are coming over to watch some horror movies while we are giving candy.

Compliment!

Ellie, you received another compliment this morning. Everyone thinks you are just the most adorable little thing! Have mommy and daddy picked out your halloween costume yet?

2 Month Birthday!

Ellie, you're 2 months old today! Happy 2 month Birthday! :)

My Co-worker, Emily had her baby last week, and I got to see and hold him yesterday. Hi name is Eli and he is TINY. He weighs only 6 pounds 9 ounces, as he lost weight his first week of life. And how different he was from you. He just sleeps, and apparantly only cries a little, when wet, or hungry. He didn't cry during our visit, and was just tiny! I was afraid I'd hurt him he was soo little! It made me really miss that I have not held you at this point in time... and I am sorry little neice! I do love you very much, and hope to see you soon... your uncle Derek and I are just trying to figure out some grown up stuff like money.

I showed my friend Karly some of your pictures, and she thinks you look like your daddy. I see a little of your mommy and your daddy in you. I have your hospital picture up at my desk in an 8x10 frame.... and you are loved.

2 Months old TOMORROW!

Wow... Ellie is almost 2 months old! Exciting stuff!

I bet it is nice to have all the room in the house for all of her gifts, and things! Derek and I were trying to figure out if you wanted us to mail your Xmas gift directly to your house.. if if you were doing Xmas at Mom and Dads - if it would be more fun to do it there? (No Derek and I will not be able to afford to fly home for Xmas.) I am a little worried that it won't be much of a surprise if it is mailed to your home... but I understand you'll probably have enough to transport!

I know you are probably like.. it is still October! But due to some budget issues, we are having to purchase the gifts a little more spread out this year - you know how that goes!

Rakes and shovels and MORE!

That is exciting... so now more dual residency!

How is Ellie taking to day care? and how is it for Sarah to be back into the daily grind?

Derek is dealing w/ being sore from his weekend of fun w/ the boys... he doesn't know if it was from his soccer game (he hasn't played in MONTHS) or from walking a couple miles in flip flops! but his legs are like way sore!

Moved Out

Yay, we are officially moved out of our apartment as of Saturday! we spent all day cleaning and moving out the last of our stuff. Although sadly I accidentally left 1 thing... my beer. We turned our keys in already and now we are waiting to find out if we get our deposit back.

Now we get to focus on our house. We spent some time unpacking more boxes over the weekend. The library is starting to take shape.

We also went shopping for a bit. We stopped by Weekends only to check out couches and a new bedroom suite (just looking we didn't buy anything). We also stopped by Linens'n'things since they are going out of business and we bought new pillows and some bamboo sheets.

Saturday night, Curtis and Sarah came over to watch a movie and eat some salad and pizza. And he helped me move my heavy TVs upstairs.

One thing I really need to do soon is purchase a rake. We have a lot of leaves in our yard, and I don't want to be THAT neighbor.

WORK???

Wow... not even waiting until monday?

Oh well... I guess just one day in is a good way to get started.

ILOVE YOU BOTH!

Happy Birthday sis

Happy Birthday sis! Sorry I didn't call, I had to work all night due to some work emergency.
In fact, I've barely been home all week which is driving Sarah crazy. We have so much to do at home and it seems like we've barely done any of it.

Ellie starts day care tomorrow which means Sarah goes back to work. Hopefully that works out well for both of them.

SUCK MY EYEBALL!

My eye hurts. The car door closed itself on my neck this morning. Now I have a tension headache... and it hurts to focus on anything. I have a neck-cussion.

Derek's bro is in town visiting. He just got in last night. I am not sure what he has planned- but I am sure he'll have a gr8 time. Me, I'm flying to Houston this weekend to celebrate my bday w/ Karly.... our bdays. Super fun times! I cannot believe her son is 3! Well that is it for me.. how are things with you two?

New house... 1 week

You've been week long homeowners. Hopefully you two are settling down quite nicely.

I am sure you both have been busy, as there is always a lot to do. My birthday was nice, Derek and I just pigged out on cake and icecream.

Moved in

We are starting to get situated in our new place, which is nice. Davey still seems pretty confused by the new place which is kinda funny. I think the move has really stressed out Ellie, she still sleeps through the night (thank goodness), but she has been extremely fussy during the day.

We are almost finished moving stuff out of our old apartment, we still have 2 heavy TVs that we'll need help getting to a car. After that, we'll be cleaning as much as possible till the end of the month in order to get our security deposit back.

Big thanks to:
Friday: Jason, Mark, Nicci, Dad
Friday Night: Curtis (for helping me get my mattress inside).
Saturday: Ryan, Jeanne, Gary, Mom, Dad
Saturday Lunch: Tristin and Derek for the awesome chick fillet lunch platter!

Things we still need to set up:
Trash and Internet

Hopefully Lowes calls me back soon with my fence estimate so we can get that installed soon!

Move in....

I hope that you are all having fun moving in to your new house! Sorry D and I aren't there to help. Hope you enjoy the tastey treat Mom and Dad picked up for us... love you both! T&D

Yolanda and Bentley's Halloween costumes!!!

pics of house

We are home Owners!

So, we closed on our house today! We can't wait to move in on Saturday!

Closing Day!!!

Yay! Today is the big day! Derek and I are both so excited for you three! I am not quite sure what goes into today's process? Just getting the keys? (Shows what I know!) Anywho, best wishes are in order. Talk to you both soon!

3's Company in a HOUSE!

You move into your new house tomorrow!!! Yay!

Sorry Derek and I are out in Arizona... if we were closer I'd let you borrow Derek's muscles for the heavy lifting!

Anywho, have fun packing this week and getting to sleep in your new house this weekend!

Exciting stuff! Derek and I both are so happy for you three!

GRILLED CHEESE!

Sourdough bread!

Motzarella Cheese!

Thickly sliced tomato!

Baby Spinach!

Butter yo' bread!

and make a grilled cheese sandwich! YUMMY!!!

House!

That IS EXCITING! When do you have to be moved out of the apartment? End of October? That would give you plenty of time to get all of your things out, and clean what's left. I am soo excited for you! I am sure Sarah is excited about having some company during the day too!

How many more weeks of maternity leave does Sarah have?

1 week

Only one week left till we close on our house!!! I'm taking all of next week off to finish packing up all of our stuff. Hopefully I get it all done.

Happy Tuesday!

Yay! Our early voter stuff showed up today! I don't have to face the polls!!! You should do that too! Only, I think Missouri doesnt do Early voting... but they do absentee... I dont know if being a new parent qualifies! :)

Contributions

Glad to see you helped too! I know how excited you both are to watch the little bit! It is super cool that she had a little sleepover too! I was not aware of that until Saturday sometime... when talking to mom! That is pretty cool.

Heard she slept alright too... which is nice. How did Guiness like her over? Was he a little confused?

The bouncy thing sounds awesome! I am glad you found something that she likes... cannot wait until she is smiling. I loved the photos of her, and D & I both cannot wait to see more. She just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Looks more like her mom every day... with her dad's hair line! :)

And I helped!

Hey! Grandpa helped babysit 2 !!

5 weeks old

Ellie turned 5 weeks old on Friday, which means she could start smiling a lot more soon!

Friday night mom watched Ellie all night for us. We really appreciated it! We went to dinner at Millers Crossing, which is a nice restaurant in hogs hollow (chesterfield). Afterwords we went to Best Buy and I bought myself a new camera. It is a 12 mega pixel kodak with a touchscreen on the back. I got an amazing deal on it because it was a clearance item, and the last one in the store (open item).

We relaxed on Saturday and Sunday, mostly running some errands, I got a new haircut, a little packing, and we bought an amazing item for soothing Ellie... A baby bouncer, she absolutely loves it!

New Pictures!

Check out the Ellie Pictures link to the right for some new pictures of Ellie! We hope you enjoy them.

How was Friday Night Date Night???

Derek and I went out w/ Casey and had dinner at Applebee's on Friday.

Saturday Derek and I started off by running 4.06 miles... showering. Then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and looked at stuff.... followed by a visit to sports authority and checking out running clothes that I liked. We had lunch at Jason's Deli (a bit pricey - but way DELICIOUS!) then we came home, D did some homework, I watched some of boat trip- then we went to Dave and Busters- I played some trivia games- won over 2,000 tickets and we made 2 babies in the Gene Machine (UGLY LITTLE MONSTERS TOO!), we got 2 pint glasses, a shot glass and a bunch of Jelly Beans with our tickets. After that, we went to Oregano's Pizzaria to pick up our carryout order of Veggies Pizza (not as good as usual, probably should have eaten it there for the full effect!) we came home and watched Super High Me and The Pirate Movie. It was a pretty AWESOME WEEKEND... and our date night rocked!

What did you and Sarah do?

Sleepy time!

I am soo happy to hear that you had a couple nights of solid sleep! I hope you both have a really nice time tonight on your date! I know mom and dad really likes spending the time with their grandbaby! I am really excited about your house closing too! Your first home! That is soo wonderful. It is a beautiful house and I cannot wait to see it in person - after you have settled down a bit!

Let me know if you guys need anything. I am really sad that I am not closer - I feel so out of touch. I just love that you keep your blog updated, it makes me feel apart of something really special, even though I am so far away in distance! I love you all!

Yay Sleep

Ellie has slept really well the past 2 nights!

she slept about 6.5 hours wednesday night and almost 8 hours last night! she may not like to sleep during the day but hopefully this is at least starting a trend of her sleeping for long periods at night!

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT!

I got ellie's announcement - it is AWESOME! I love it. I have framed the picture and I am taking it to my office! It is sooo exciting!

Hush little baby....

http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/807042/when_the_baby_wont_stop_crying/index.html

This article was interesting about colic... though it basically said the crying won't stop for 3 weeks. It did offer a toll free number to get tips on what to do though...

***Parents can call the Fussy Baby Warmline, (888) 431-BABY, and infant specialists will listen and help devise strategies for coping with an inconsolable baby. They are based out of Chicago... so they cannot make a house call... but they may be able to give you some tips!

http://blogs.parentcenter.babycenter.com/momformation/2008/06/20/my-baby-wont-stop-crying/

here are a bunch of mommies that are going through what you are going through... it shows that other people are also at wits end... maybe some of their tips will help?

http://www.infant-reflux-products.com/2007/04/colic-cure-mystery-of-fourth-trimester.html This is a little more practical...

The 5 S's:There are 5 components to this method which, when used together, work amazingly well to calm your crying baby and in many cases help your baby go to sleep with no fuss. Using cross-cultural techniques combined with his own research, Dr. Karp has developed the "five S's system". Some babies will need all five, others just a few to help induce what he calls the "calming reflex."

Swaddling - Tight swaddling provides the continuous touching and support the fetus experienced while still in Mom's womb.

Side/stomach position - You place your baby, while holding her, either on her left side to assist in digestion, or on her stomach to provide reassuring support. Once your baby is happily asleep, you can safely put her in her crib, on her back.

Shushing Sounds - These sounds imitate the continual whooshing sound made by the blood flowing through arteries near the womb. This white noise can be in the form of a vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer, a fan and so on. The good news is that you can easily save the motors on your household appliances and get a white noise CD which can be played over and over again with no worries.

Swinging - Newborns are used to the swinging motions that were present when they were still in Mom's womb. Every step mom took, every movement caused a swinging motion for your baby. After your baby is born, this calming motion, which was so comforting and familiar, is abruptly taken away. Your baby misses the motion and has a difficult time getting used to it not being there. "It's disorienting and unnatural," says Karp. Rocking, car rides, and other swinging movements all can help.

Sucking - "Sucking has its effects deep within the nervous system," notes Karp, "and triggers the calming reflex and releases natural chemicals within the brain." This "S" can be accomplished with breast, bottle, pacifier or even a finger. These steps sound pretty easy, but seeing them done properly, in conjunction with each other, is the key to relieving your baby's colic symptoms and making Mom, Dad, and baby less stressed and much happier!

I am sure you've heard this- and maybe tried them all... I hope it gets better. Sorry Sarah...

:(

9lbs!

I was 9 lbs 11 oz when I was born.... So Ellie is gonna be a tiny little girl... just like her mommy! :)

Speaking of which... how are you feeling Sarah?