Trimmed and Complete!

"The" Tree!

Yesterday I woke up with the excitement of a child on Christmas Day...excited to get our tree! I decided we would go to the place we always get our tree (the local volunteer fire company) and literally say "I want your biggest tree!" Alas, they had one 10' tree with my name on it! Yes, 10'! It is so big! When we saw it at the fire department, it really did not seem that enormous, but it felt huge when we got it indoors! We had so much fun decorating it, which involved many moments of standing on tip toes at the top of the ladder.
I have some finishing touches, but that will come in the next few days!

Pearly Holiday Prep!

Every year I seem to get more obsessed the the 'perfect' holiday card. This year was interesting because I had to capture both of them in the same style, but in two different photos. Charlotte is interested in Eloise, but not enough to sit down quietly. To say the least, it was VERY entertaining capturing the look I wanted and in the end, I got one hilarious shot of each of them. Here are two that were also adorable!

American Lung Association

One of the very best things in my life is my husband, Benjamin. He makes me proud every day, is a truly amazing father and is a doting husband. Those are the reasons I love him everyday. A few times a year he challenges himself in physical challenges in order to benefit a charity or organization and that just makes me adore him more. This year he ran up thirty four flights of stairs at Trump Parc in downtown Stamford in full gear. It was a sight to see, as there were many top athletes and firemen taking on this challenge. Ben completed the challenge in 7 minutes, 50 seconds. Much faster than I would ever do it!

Words cannot really express how I feel when I see him complete one of these events. I am so proud of his physical ability as well as his compassion and drive to raise money for such important causes.
I love you darling!

New Wheels!

I apologize for my major lack of blogging! Life with Eloise proves to be much more busy! Charlotte and I took advantage of this amazing warm Fall day to play outside on her new tricycle! I bought this while I was pregnant with her (aka: impulse shopping at LL Bean) and I am so happy she is ready to use it! While she does not quite understand the pedals, she knows its a pretty pink toy to sit on and she loves it!

In Eloise news, she is days away from being three months old and is a puny ten pounds! The doctor said she is healthy and beautiful, just very petite.

She has amazingly small feet, so last night I got curious and pulled out Charlotte's hospital footprint. At three months, Eloise's foot has just caught up to Charlotte's one day old footprint! These girls are my joy every day and we are just so lucky to have them. Now that we have settled into life with two under two, I really cannot express how happy we are and how much fun these little girls are! Makes me still want one more!

Happy Two Months!

It is hard to believe two months have passed! In the grand scheme of things, two months is not a long time, but it is an amazing developmental time for a newborn. She has since started to "coo", self soothe herself to sleep, hold her head up and, my favorite, smile! Every time I pick her up or go near her, she is all smiles.
It is so wonderful to watch the daily developments. Charlotte is starting to take a liking to her, but still does not have great interest. She likes to peek into her bassinet and gaze at her. I really look forward to see how Charlotte's sisterly instincts develop.
We still are not sleeping through the night, as expected at eight weeks. She is very slowly settling into a pattern and sleeps just a little better each night.
We are so lucky to have such beautiful girls and I am so thankful for every day!

Smile Time!

As the doctor suggested, babies start to have real smiles around the six week mark. Right on time, Eloise has started smiling back at us! It is such a wonderful feeling when babies start to interact with you beyond just eating and sleeping. Eloise has been a beautiful little gift to us from day one, but there is something even more special about her now that she is slowly coming out of the sleepy newborn phase.
She is much more alert, has more awake time and I have even heard a few little coos.
I managed to capture one smile for the camera, her very first one!

One Month Eloise!

I apologize for my lack of blogging. Lack of sleep and a regular schedule has certainly taken its toll on all of us. The first four weeks have been, yet again, a very educational experience. One would think, seeing as we have done this before, that it all comes in stride. Little did we know, there is still a big learning curve with a new little one!
Bringing home Eloise has been such a huge blessing for us. She is a gentle reminder of how special life is and the care and love that must go into raising a family. Some moments are glorious and some are grueling, but at the end of the day, the love that comes out of our family is immeasurable.
As creatures of desire and want, we should all take a step back and really look at the valuable things in life and how precious they are...I thank my little family every day for helping me see all of the wonders in life.

Fun in the Sun!

Time is limited to blog these days but here are some fun photos from yesterday! Charlotte was enjoying the sunshine on the deck!

One Week Eloise!

Being housebound is proving to be a little dull! I am healing nicely and in mild pain at this point, but I am mentally so ready to go back to the gym and get back into the full swing of life! I want to take the girls on adventures, play like I used to and not be inactive! Granted, I am one week and two days into my post surgery healing, so I cannot push it. But I want to! Until I am back to the grind, there will probably be MANY photoshoots with Eloise.
I will be very excited when Charlotte is ready to "pose" with Eloise, but for now, she is content touching her hands and looking at her a lot!

Peaceful Eloise

Eloise has been with us for one full week and we are in love all over again. She is so tiny and a very calm, quiet baby. She makes little mouse noises when she is hungry and then either quietly observes the world around her or goes back to sleep. We know, in due time, her squeaks will develop into real cries, but until then we continue to marvel a newborns ways to let the world know they need attention.
Charlotte is very curious about her and does not quite grasp that this little person is part of her life and family now. She is very gentle with her and has helped out little by little.
There is something very surreal about bringing a second baby home to me. With Charlotte we were so consumed with learning how to care for a newborn that the time seems to just fly by. With Eloise, we are much calmer and know how to handle the day to day necessities. However, the element of teaching a toddler who is not yet two years old is a whole new world. We include her in everything we do and make sure she feels like she is getting all the same love she got before.
And as always, I am having a lot of fun photographing our little sleepy wonder!

Welcome Eloise Camelia!

There are few words to describe how much joy we feel welcoming little Eloise into the world. She was born at 8:03am on July 26th at 6lbs and 15.6oz. I am recovering from the c-section and it is rather exhausting, but the whole process was certainly easier on us than Charlotte's birth.
Many more posts will come soon when I am feeling better!