One week old!

Elise has has a busy week! She spend lots of time snuggling with Mommy...

Meeting her buddy Oliver...

Snuggling with Auntie Lauren in the quilt she made just for Elise!

Getting lots of love from Daddy...

Meeting lots of grandparents (and great-grandparents!)

Hanging out with Grandma...

All of which makes her completely exhausted!

The Cutest

Day Five

Today we had our first doctor appointment - Elise weighs in at a hefty 5 lbs, 5 oz. I still can't believe how little she is! Doctor said everything looks great though - all babies lose a little weight at first so we just have to get her back up to her birth weight by her two week appointment.

We also went out to the lake for dinner and to meet Auntie Lauren! We are SO happy she's here and she's cuddling little Elise on the couch right now.

Thanks to our cousins Elle & Lola for letting us borrow this cute cute outfit! We have just a few outfits that fit our tiny girl - all of the "newborn" sleepers are way to big!

She does open her eyes! We had the whole crew watching a diaper change - it's one of the few times of day she completely wakes up. Oh and she really likes to be wide awake at 4am too.

Day Three

Yesterday Elise met her great grandparents! Grandma kept saying she's "just a bag of sugar!"

We might have a thumb sucker...

All nice and warm...

We're Home

We're home! Elise was doing so great she got to spend last night in our floor. No more NICU for us! Our little peanut right before we left:

Sweet girl:

She's Here!

Elise Lynn Goote
Born July 22, 2010
5 lbs 11 oz
18 1/2" long
Perfect.

Elise decided she wanted to meet us a little early! My water broke at 2am, so we headed to the hospital and she was born at 10! We are all doing very well. Elise had to spend a day in the NICU to make sure she was maintaining her temp and glucose levels. She's breathing great and eating like a champ and has been upgraded to our room already!

The BIG question: Does she have red hair? We're not sure. It's kind of reddish, kind of blondish, and kind of brownish. So, we have no idea. And she's kind of sporting a baby mullet. We'll find out as this cutie gets bigger!

35/35

Last weekend our sweet friends threw us a little baby shower. The girls and I headed down to Saugatuck and had dinner at the Butler, on the deck, with an oldies band. It was amazing. The only thing that might have made it a tiny bit better was a giant beer with an orange in it. After that we headed back to Josh & Krissy's where the guys were playing poker for some more food, fun, and presents! THANK YOU to you guys! We are so lucky to have such a great group of friends. This is Krissy, Me, Kari, and Anna. Thanks for dinner girls!

We stopped at the SantaFe Trading Co. to relive part of my childhood. We used to go down to Saugatuck quite a bit and my mom even got crafty and sold a few things in the store way back when. It still smells the same. They used to have a big dog that would just hang out there, but now there's just a picture of the dog and this cat -- which did not move the entire time we were in there. Auntie Winnie are you out there??? :-)

Krissy got crafty and made us this giant diaper cake. SO cute!

And here's a little belly update: 35 weeks pregnant. 35 days to go! Oh my gosh. Starting with my next doctor's appointment next week, I believe I go in every week after that to make sure Elise isn't trying to make an exit and catch us unaware (but really, I think I'd know). Up until week 33 I had escaped pretty much every pregnancy horror, but I don't think I'm going to make it out unscathed...here's looking at you, stretchmarks. Eh, I figure I can just add them to the collection I started in back in eighth grade.

Observations from Birthing Class

Nick and I just completed our two-day birthing class. We saw a LOT of pictures like this one (which is what Elise looks like now at 35 weeks). A few other tidbits:

• Nick actually watched a birthing video and did not pass out. I'm feeling optimistic about him remaining conscious during labor and delivery.
  
• Apparently overalls used to be very common and completely unflattering maternity wear.
  
• The couple in the video wanted to "examine the placenta" after delivery. This is absolutely not happening in our situation. EW.
  
• I'm pretty sure our kid will be way less weird than the couple with the "Ride or Die" tattoos that sat across from us.
  
• "Ride or Die" couple laid down and spooned during a couple short videos.
  
• "Ride or Die" husband/boyfriend (not sure) asked if he could use vegetable oil to massage the perineum. ***
• There were a lot of acronyms used. One was T.A.C.O. We stopped at Taco Bell on our way home. I of course can't eat much past 9pm or I will have to sleep sitting up - but I did have some bites of Nicks and that crap is SO GOOD.
  
• When asked the first thing we thought of when we thought of labor, I said "epidural". The guy next to me said "miracle". Word association FAIL.

HILARIOUS UPDATE:
I completely forgot one of the funniest things "Ride or Die" said:

Instructor: Remember that labor pain is the only kind of purposeful pain.
Ride or Die: But what if you're into freaky stuff like candle wax?
Instuctor: Uh....
Ride or Die: Yeah, that could serve a purpose if you're into that stuff.

*** If you do not know what this is - Google it. I'm not putting that business up on here. Gross. Although I'm warning you it could be graphic.

Nesting

As of right now - every single cabinet in my kitchen as been thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. I dare you to try and find an expired canned good or tupperware without a lid. I dare you to to find two half used boxes of baking soda (I condensed). There will definitely not be a can of black beans that expired in 2007, or three canisters of instant oatmeal, two of which were opened and half used (I blame that one entirely on my husband).

Really Mom, I dare you. ***

I think the nesting instinct has kicked in. Last week I went through our linen closet upstairs and threw away every single stupid Bath & Body Works lotion I've had since high school. A few contained glitter. I think those used to be a lot cooler - I had about twelve. It's surprising how much space you actually have if you just throw away your crap and organize the stuff you actually use. Trust me, most of it is probably expired anyways.

***Let's clarify this. This very tempting dare is limited to only my kitchen and my upstairs linen closet. For now.

Lake Night

Tonight we went out to the lake to have dinner with my Auntie Gracie and Uncle John who are in town for the weekend. It was gorgeous and we had such a fun time. I'm learning bladder control is not what it used to be...I laughed way to hard with these people tonight. We had an amazing dinner, boat rides, and the aunties even went tubing! I also shot a BB gun for the first time. As I'm sure most of you can tell from the picture I was a complete natural and hit every target. Also, I'm as big as house. Side profiles are not the most flattering at this point (nothing is really) - but it was funny so I'm sucking it up.

Here's a quick video: We figured this would only happen once in a lifetime - so it of course had to be documented. This is my mom's first tube ride at the lake. Notice they are all fully clothed and mom has a beer. My dad was not allowed to let them outside the wake (which would be way to scary and traumatizing). I was very jealous I had to just watch this happening from the boat...


One more picture: According to my little ticker in the corner, Elise is as big as Pacey -- 5 pounds! Still pretty little! Only six more weeks (or less)!!

Big News...

We've got a name...

Elise Lynn Goote

We love it! We're glad to finally call her something other than "baby girl". I've also been working on another Etsy copycat project for her room...

Her closet is stuffed with cute stuff thanks mostly to my wonderful cousins, along with some precious little outfits from our parents and friends. We're getting ready!

Here we are at 33 weeks. We're so close! On a side note -- I gained 5 pounds overnight. O.VER.NIGHT. I think my scale is broken. Can it blame it on the fact it's 90 and humid? I am dreading my doctor appointment tomorrow.

There were some very patriotic boaters out on the lake this weekend too...Happy 4th of July!