Jayne turns 2!

Two years! Really!? How did that happen? This sweet girl has changed our lives for the better and every day with her is so much fun. I love listening to her little voice and hearing her feet pitter patter around the house. She makes every day the best!

We started off celebrating her special day with opening some presents when she woke up. She was excited and opened her presents very carefully.

I have to explain the glasses. We are not just hipsters over here :) Jayne loves glasses. Always has. She wore her sunglasses as a baby without a fuss from the first time I put them on her. So earlier in the month we were at the optometrist getting new glasses for me and she was in heaven trying on every single sample pair she could. She loved it! So we thought a perfect gift would be glasses (from the dollar store) and we were right! She loved them!  

She still wanted to watch her morning "show" ("min-mins" aka Despicable Me of course!) but couldn't let go of her precious present. Too cute! 

Jayne asked for a "piiint chocwate cake" so that's what she got!

 She was excited when it was time to light the candles. And of course, we lit them and sang and blew out the candles a few times because that's what the birthday girl requested. :)

Happy birthday sweet Jayne. We love you sooooooo much!! 

August 2015

August was a fun month where we weren't (as) sleep deprived with our newborn and I was recovered enough post-c section that we weren't (as) home-bound. Here's just a few snippets of our August fun!

Cheesers!!

 Whenever I get out the camera to take photos of Elle, Jayne asks, "Take-a pitchhhher mom!"

And I happily oblige because I can never have too many cute photos of this girl! 

Elle's first bath - she loved it just like Jayne did 

Twinners! 

Um...Elle's cheeks here!? Seriously!!! 

While we didn't "do" a ton in August, we definitely were working hard in our own home, learning how to be a family of four. Life is so fun with these two hooligans around!

Elle - 2 months

2 months are in the books for this little girl of ours. We're enjoying our baby Elle being awake more often. She's a joy to have around! 

Elle's 2 month stats:

• Weighs 11lbs 7oz and is 23 inches long - becoming chunky...mmmm! :)
• Makes a few little sounds here and there. Jayne loves it when she hears her make noises
• We're figuring her out - how to read her sleepy cues vs hunger cues
• Usually wakes up just once in the night and then around 7...right now I just put her back to bed and she'll sleep until about 9-10am. It helps me get things going with Jayne in the morning
• No longer a "carseat fusser" and will go to sleep quickly in the car or if rocked in it
• Loves her swing. She sleeps really well in it and is content to just hang out there

Sometimes Phil and I just look at each other and say, "We have two kids! We're a family." Sometimes it is crazy, sometimes we're tired but we wouldn't trade it for anything. We love little Elle! Happy two months!

Elle's Baby Blessing

Elle was given a beautiful blessing by her Dad on August 16th, 2015. We blessed her in my parents' ward because she was lucky enough to share her day with my brother Justin, who had also had his mission homecoming that day. It was so special to celebrate little Elle and to see our family and friends.

  

Elle was a little bit fussy in her dress (I mean, the frills! Come on mom!) so we just snapped a quick picture... it's not the best but I wanted it for our records.

Our little Bennallack family!

 Mommy and Daddy love you sweet Elle. Welcome to our family!

Elle - 1 month

I cannot believe how fast time has gone! The days blur into the nights these days as we're learning how to have two kiddos in the house, plus recover from a c-section, plus figuring out a whole new baby. Its fun, special and exhausting all at the same time. She is so sweet and we're blessed to have her. We are loving every minute of having a newborn in the home.

Elle's 1 month stats

• Loves sleeping on mom and dad's chest
• Spends time in the swing and will often drift off to sleep there
• Sleeps in the front room area, she was too loud for mom and dad! We'd think she was fussy/waking up so we'd check on her and she'd be dead asleep, grunting, making dolphin sounds etc. Mom and Dad need all the help sleeping they can get, so she got "kicked out" :)
• Soothed by baths
• She's feisty and strong! When we try to get her in her car seat she pulls her arms right into her chest which makes it hard to buckle her in
• Not much of a schedule yet but she's a great eater - she's gaining weight like a champ!
• Pretty spitty and we think she may have a bit of reflux as she gets squirmy/tense sometimes before and during spitting
• Slept right through her first fireworks experience (4th of July)
• Doesn't love the soothie binky so far- we're going to have to try some different brands for her

We had a photo shoot when Elle was 8 days old. I love how they turned out-such a precious time to capture of our sweet little one's life 

Those tiny newborn rolls!

I love little baby feet

We love you little Elle - happy one month!

Fourth of July - 2015

Having left the hospital after lunch on the 3rd, July 4th is kind of a blur. We had our first night home with Elle the night before-no nursery to send her to for some sleep, and no electric bed to help me sit up (4 days after a c-section...woof!). We were tired and looking back, we were crazy, but we got up at 6am and took Jayne to see the hot air balloons because we knew she'd love it!  They inflate/take off right next to the hospital so being there, I kind of felt like we never left...maybe we shouldn't have because we would've had parking  right close by and a nursery to watch Elle... :)

We didn't feel the need to get super close as you can see the balloons from far away so we found a nice little spot of grass and shade and enjoyed ourselves.

We thought Jayne would love it, and she did! She was so excited to see the "BIIIIIG bwooons!"

Unfortunately after all our work of trekking over there, it was too windy for them to take off. I guess we were lucky that they chose to even inflate them just for the crowd/kids.

The crowd started to thin out once people realized they weren't going to take off so we wandered over for a closer look. Jayne LOVED it! 

When we told her it was time to go home she held out her hand for us to hold and asked for more. Once I held her hand, she turned me around and walked me back toward the balloons. We loved seeing her excitement and that made it all worth it! 

Later that night we had my family over for fireworks. We snapped a family photo too. (I definitely didn't think we'd have a baby for the 4th of July, unless by some "small" -in my mind- chance I delivered that day...still so crazy to me!)

Jayne had fun seeing her first fireworks, that she remembers that is. She helped dad and grandpa light a few.

And then she just kicked it with the fam

Braden brought his friend, Matt, along and Jayne really liked playing with him!

Jayne even held her own sparkler (with help from daddy) and asked for more when we were all finished. 

 After the balloons, a new baby at home and fireworks at night, we were exhausted. But it was the 4th! So we had to celebrate-and we had a great time!

Happy 4th of July!