Getting Ready for Christmas

 Yes this post was supposed to be published before Christmas.

Our little family will soon be with wonderful family for Christmas. We're so grateful for the life and Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Lisi feels the same way. But, she also loves lights. Here's Lisi right after she saw our Christmas tree for the very first time:

Thanksgiving

My dad came out to see us (Lisi) for Thanksgiving. Despite Lisi's first really bad cold, long nights, and cold weather, we pulled together a pretty nice meal.

 And Grandpa Mike had a special touch with his first granddaughter, even when she was miserable from her cold.

He also had a special talent for eliciting poop explosions, but I didn't ever get a photo of that.

Nerdiness

Maybe it's because Maren's always been a nerd at heart, or maybe I'm just rubbing off on her.

But the other day (as in about a month ago) after Lisi's bath, Maren said, "Dave, look. She looks like the chubby guy from Star Wars with a monster."

That's right, the Rancor keeper from Jabba's palace.

So proud.

Breaking News! Lisi's First Laugh!

Lisi's had a lost of firsts this weekend, and I was blessed to be here when they happened. First notice of her hands. First night with enough arm control to spend it sucking her hand. First really good day of naps.

But this evening takes the cake. As Maren was breaking down some packages from Grammy that had contained Lisi's Christmas presents, Lisi started to giggle. Maren and I both looked at each other in joyous disbelief. Then we enjoyed her second giggle with tear (or two) of happiness. We rushed for a camera to document the third. Sorry you didn't get to be surprised by her first giggle, but here, preserved for all time, is Lisi's third laughing fit.

You're welcome. You'll notice that Lisi doesn't find our laughs funny. Just the destruction of boxes. She's also close to tears by the end. Whatever it takes.

Catching Up and Growing Strong

Lisi is growing up! It's so crazy to remember when our little girl was a sleepy newborn slug:

And now she's a big (ish) baby of almost 3 months! One thing that hasn't changed is her famous little cockatoo hair!

And since we've neglected giving very many updates over the past few weeks, here's a video I took this afternoon to get me through another week away from my girls. Hope it gets you through a few Lisi-less moments of your own.

My little girl is a hard worker!

Lazy Afternoon

I go in the kitchen to get lunch ready after church and this is what I find when I come out. Oh well, more soup for me.

The Little Bookworm

What could Lisi be studying so intently?

Why, the literature shelf, of course

Lisi can lay and gaze for an hour without so much as a peep (although there are some coos and slobbers). My brain tells me she's looking at all the different colors. My heart tells me she's excited by what's inside.

Elisia Mae's Baby Blessing

Dave blessed Elisia two weeks ago. He gave her a beautiful blessing and we were grateful that we had some family there to be a part of Lisi's special day.

 Brad and Jamie were in town doing some house hunting. We were grateful that they were able to come to church with us. We are really excited for them to move to Wisconsin and be so close!

 We appreciated having Dave's mom stay with us for a few weeks.

I love my little Lisi Mae.

Daddy's Little Girl

 Going on her first walk.

 

 Lisi didn't want to let go of her daddy and go to bed. Dave didn't want to let her go either.

Spending some quality tummy time together.

Story Time

Dave is so cute with Lisi. One of the things Dave loves to do is read a book to his little girl before she goes to bed. So usually I'll feed her, change her diaper, and get her into her pajamas and then Dave will take over and read her a story.

 Lisi does pretty well with story time. That is except for when Dave tried to read "The Big Honey Hunt". The first time Dave started to read it he made it a few pages in before Lisi started to cry. We thought "Oh, she must just be tired." The next day she started to cry at the exact same part in the book. The next day she started crying half way through again! It took a few tries, but eventually Dave and Lisi were able to make it through the entire book!

Lisi loves spending time with her daddy!

Best Lisi Pic So Far

Maren sent this to me while I was on the road. Thought I would share.

Sleepy Head

 Isn't she just so cute???

 Lisi always wakes up and starts to squirm when we change her diaper. However, this time she was so tired she just laid there like a limp fish.

Of course Lisi isn't the only sleepy head in our house.

Belly Button

Lisi's stump fell off when she was about 1 1/2 weeks old. I was glad to see it go. For one, I was paranoid that I would accidentally rip it off. And I love her new cute little belly button!

Elisia Mae Fife

Lisi is almost three weeks old now and I finally decided I should upload our pictures and put them on the blog. So I thought I should start from the beginning!

I had a c-section scheduled a week before Lisi's due date because I had a low lying placenta (sorry to anyone who really didn't want to read that). There was the possibility of a c-section since my 20 week ultra sound so I had time to get used to the fact that in order to have our little girl I would have to go under the knife :) My mom came out for Lisi's birth so Dave and I picked her up from the airport Thursday night and we headed to the hospital Friday morning.

 I hadn't really taken too many pregnancy pictures, but here's one right before we left for the hospital.

I felt kind of funny heading to Triage once we were in the hospital. I wasn't sure what exactly I was supposed to tell the Triage desk, "Hello, I'm here for my appointment to have a baby at 10:30"?

But once they took us to a room we played the waiting game for about and hour and a half. They put an IV in, took some blood tests, and made sure they knew every single thing about me.

 Around 10:20 they took all of us to the operating room area. Mom and Dave were told to wait in Recovery while they got me all prepped and then Dave was able to come in and keep me company :) I have to say, having a c-section was one of the weirdest experiences ever! For one thing not being able to feel my legs was a little scary so I just had to not think about it. Then it was so weird because the procedure didn't hurt but I could feel my doctor tugging and pulling at me, but I didn't really know what he was doing.

During the procedure there was a nurse by my head who kept telling me we were close to meeting our little girl. A couple minutes later we heard a little cry (okay it wasn't little, she was screaming) and the doctor held Lisi up so Dave and I could see her. Then she was whisked off for her Apgar scores.

Then Dave brought our precious little girl over so we could spend some time as a new family.

 I feel so blessed to have Lisi and that she is part of our little family. I had no idea that you could instantly love someone so much!

Week 1: Cuteness Compilation

Here are some of my favorite photos from the week.

Ready for November

Now that Lisi is eating better, she's had time to think ahead to November. She understands that not all people will share her political opinions, but she encourages everyone to vote.

Props to Tio for some well-knit caps!

Coming to Troll Town

Monday afternoon, our little family came home. Which meant we had to do a couple things.

• Dress Lisi in real clothes. This was harder than it seemed. We had to take her from this:

to this:

• Since Lisi's newborn clothes fit her like a giant bear robe fits this guy, we unfortunately had to take off her adorable hoodie.

 
Next, we had to get her in her car seat. She fit right in...

 

 Raise your hands if you want to go home!

Then it was off to Troll Town. Mommy, Daddy, and Lisi. Tired and happy to be home.

Family Night

Since Lisi's gags almost disappeared by yesterday afternoon, we had her sleep in the room last night WHILE WE SLEPT TOO!

It was pretty nerve wracking, and I'll admit to a fair amount of parental hovering in the darkness, but in the end we got as much or more sleep as we all did having her in the nursery.

Now we're ready to head home this afternoon.

And Lisi Mae is ready for another nap.

Project Gain Weight

Lisi Mae is a petite little girl. So we've decided she needs to fatten up. While Maren and Lisi negotiate terms to conclude the great Battle of Breastfeeding, we've used finger feeding of formula to keep getting our little girl some food.

 

Also, you just miss one of Lisi's monster burps at the beginning of this one, but getting a glance of sleepy-eyed Lisi is priceless.

 

We switch off finger feeding to make sure she's comfortable with whomever. But when it's Maren's turn to burp, this is the view I get of our little podling.