Elise's Dedication

The happy family

The cake I had made to celebrate.

All dressed up. This is my baptismal gown that my mother and grandma both wore. We added a matching shrug and a pink hair bow and boom! My daughter is a winter wonderland princess.

As cute as she looks, this isn't even her best smile. Just the best one I could capture on camera that morning

All of her goodies laid out

The pearl bracelet that we got her to wear and the baby ring that her grandmother got her.

Elise's 1st Christmas

Our sweet daughter slept through her 1st Christmas. With both families, she fell asleep as soon as the wrapping paper started flying off the boxes. I told Casey we have officially experienced our last calm Christmas with her. She'll be 15 months next year and I'm expecting a lot more sizzle.

Here are some of our favorite pictures taken in December :

The classic Santa photo. Doesn't she look just like a doll?



Mom and Dad had to join the fun because we are just that cool.



We had to document her extreme excitement while opening presents

Hanging out with Pop

A Tilton Family tradition - Happy Birthday Jesus Cake!

I was changing Elise and me and Paige started just playing around. Is she not the cutest elf?

With Nana at her cousin's basketball game

She's going to kill me later in life for taking this picture

Kennedy Kate and Grandmother doting on her

We actually got some decent shots of Elise with her cousins, but this is just too funny NOT to post. Is this not an awkward family photo? Noah is upset because he didn't feel like taking pictures. The baby has toppled over and Emily is cleared ticked that Elise is cramping her style. I can't wait to show them this when they are 15!

3 months of heaven on earth

On Tuesday, Elise turned 3 months old and we can hardly believe it. She has changed so much in such a short period of time! She went from this tiny, sensitive little lump of a human to a babbling little girl full of personality. In three short months she has really grown acclimated to her little world and she appears to be thrilled to be our daughter. Which works out well, because we are stoked to be her parents. She has brought us more joy and fullfillment than we ever imagined. Also more poop than we ever imagined, but I digress...
To catch you up on our lives, here are some big events that have happened to Miss Elise over the last month:

• Mommy started back to work so Elise started day care. She is in Stepping Stone Day care, a "premier private academy" and we have been thrilled to pieces with the school. Not thrilled to see the check clear our account each month, but ......  Her teachers are sweet and the environment is clean and happy. She has impressed her teachers with all her awesome skills and happy demeanor. We are tickled pink to always get such good reports. Although being a working mommy breaks my heart, I can see lots of benefits of having her in day care and I try to stay focused on those on the days I want to cry.
• She had her first Christmas' with both sides of the family. Slept through it all and still ended up with a ton of loot. Guess that is how life is when you are that stinking adorable. Cute chicks have it so easy.
• She convinced her mom and dad that she is the best car rider of all time. Has spent up to 4.5 hours in the car at one time and we didn't even hear a peep out of her. Well, that's not exactly the truth. We did hear a 'peep' but it wasn't her crying, it was her filling her diaper.
• Started cooing and babbling more. Also smiles pretty much non-stop. Such a happy child! I'm pretty sure she gets that from her mom's side of the family.  :)
• Had her first sleep-over away from mommy and daddy. My parent's kept her overnight on New Year's Eve so we could have some adult time. On the way home from our party, we almost stopped at my parents to pick her up because we missed her so much, but refrained.
• Had her first taste of something other than breast milk. Casey's dad gave her some candy cane peppermint during one of our visits to Winnsboro in December. Mamma was not happy. Daddy reminded mommy she needed to lighten up. What can I say? I'm a first time mom- aren't I supposed to be uptight?
• Mastered rolling over! She did it for the first time on Christmas day at my sister's house. I was in the kitchen and all of a sudden I heard my sister say "Kris- I think your kid is about to roll over" Sure enough me and Casey got there just in time to see Elise push herself from her belly to her back. Ever since then, she always try to roll over when we put her down for tummy time.
• Was dedicated to Christ at our church this past Sunday. She wore my baptism dress from when I was a baby and looked like a winter princess. We had the whole family in for the weekend to celebrate the big occasion. Elise got lots of snuggles from both sets of grandparents.
• Really became intrigued with her hands and some of her toys.She mostly stares at them intently and tries to put them in her mouth. My kind of girl.
• Got her first pieces of jewelery. For her dedication we gave her a pearl bracelet and Casey's mom got her an infant ring. We like to bling out early in this family.
• Started sleeping from about 9:30 - 4am in the middle of the night.We are only waking up for one feeding in the middle of the night now. Hallelujah! Mommy is no longer a zombie during the day.

Now for what you've really been waiting for: Pictures! Here are some of my favorites from recently.
 

Her 3 month picture


 

Mommy you are so funny!

 

This was her two month picture. Look how much she's grown!



Can't get enough of this smiling face



Playing with her monkey in her car seat. She stares at him like he is telling her the secrets of the world




This was her New Year's Eve attire. Black and silver ofcourse with a big bow to boot!



Thank you God for little babies.

Pictures!

Here are some of my favorite pictures that we have taken of Elise lately. Every new face that she makes is so magical to us.

Elise in her Christmas Pajamas. On this particular day, we both stayed in our jammies all day and she helped me decorate the house for Christmas. Man I loved maternity leave!

I was trying to take some cute pictures of Elise under the tree. caught her yawning and think it's the cutest thing ever!

Our little Aggie. This is her asleep in her car seat while we were at a friend's house watching the Aggies BTHO Alabama. She slept through all the cheering

"Mommy, why am I in this box?"

Her 1st Thanksgiving! Just thought her little onesie was too cute

"Mommy you are so silly!"

Our New Life

Note: I know you are excited there is a new blog post, but I want to warn you upfront that there are no cute baby pictures associated with this particular post. Having an annoying time getting the pics loaded to the blog so I have forgone that venture currently. Adorable pictures will be coming soon. Stay tuned! Or just check out my facebook page.

Now on to the post....

Sooooooooo they weren't kidding when they said "your whole life will change after you have a baby". I couldn't fathom what that meant. I knew I would get a little less sleep and I knew we would have a kid, but I didn't really get the part about your "whole life". The Whole Thing?

Really??

Yes. Really.
Every single aspect that you can think of.
You name it, it will change.
Your routine, your sanity level, your level of confidence, your sleep (or lack thereof), your priorities, your emotions, your marriage, your friendships, your respect for the rest of humanity.... should I keep going?

It's almost as if I feel like a completely new person who is evolving every day. The things I concerned myself with before are 100 % different from what I think about now. In the span of 9 short weeks - A TON has changed. I have a whole new set of things to stress about. On any given day, these are the random assortment of things I worry about: (In no particular order) :

Am I the worst mom for going back to work and putting my kid in daycare?
If I eat this <insert food here>  will it upset my babies stomach?
Should I have her on a schedule already? Are we the only family with a newborn living in complete chaos?
Will she remember me tomorrow?
Am I going to accidentally drop her?
Should I be giving her less or more baths?
If I forget to put Desitin on her bottom, will she get a diaper rash?
I wonder what a diaper rash feels like...
How can I get into bed at 7pm tonight so that I can get some SLEEP?
I haven't called any of my friends since Elise has arrived - will they forgive me eventually?
I need to remember to tell my mom "thank you" more often. I get what a hard job she had.
Will Casey and I ever go on a date again?
I should buy stock in diapers...
When the heck am I ever going to find time to workout?
I wonder what she is thinking...
Am I doing the right thing by breastfeeding - wouldn't formula be easier?
How long until I know what color her eyes are going to be?

Yeah, I thought the transition from college to my first real job was huge, but this blows that out of the water. And in a good way. I'm so glad these are the thoughts that consume me. I'm so glad I have this beautiful little creature to focus my attention on. I'm so blessed that I'm not having to worry over any health issues that she could have. I'm so filled with joy when I see that little face. I'm so full of love when I think of my little family of three.
What in the world was I living for before? THIS. THIS. is what life is all about. That precious child has really rocked my world. Every single part of my world. And I'm glad for it. Can't wait to continue to share all of our life-altering moments we have in store for us.


P.S. Heads up for all of you who have not yet had kids : YOUR.WHOLE.LIFE.WILL.CHANGE.
And it will be more amazing than you ever thought possible!!!!

Elise Faith Zimmerman

We are proud to announce the arrival of our daughter: Elise Faith Zimmerman. Elise was born Monday, October 8th at 5:41pm at St. Joseph Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds even and was 19 1/2 inches long. She also came with a full head of hair!

There is no way to type this without sounding cliche but parenthood is amazing! The amount of love that is pouring out of our hearts towards this little girl is indescribable. I said this when I was pregnant, but it resounds truer now: Our faith in God is strengthened by going through this life event. The bible tells us that the amount of love that we have for Elise as parents is so tiny compared to what God feels for us. (too lazy to get up and look for verse I'm thinking of) And by knowing how over the moon in love we are for her, it is astonishing to realize just how much God loves us. Like you "know" how much He loves you, but then when your own capacity for love gets doubled in such a way as this, it's just mind-blowing. If I feel this way towards her, and I know that God feels like that towards me.... the whole concept just brings a huge smile to your heart. Ok, I'm not going to keep dwelling on this point as I'm not doing it justice. Bottom line: Our capacity for love just increased exponentially in ways we could not even have imagined. Our love for her  equals less than God's love for us... thus God's love is seeming even more real and huge now.

I look forward to sharing our birth story soon, but as for now I will just provide some of our favorite pictures thus far.

Once we get caught up on sleep, I'll be back ! :)

Mommy's first time to meet her. Such an unforgettable moment

Her first few minutes in the world

Proud papa looking on as the hospital staff weighed her and cleaned her in the nursery

Such a calm natured baby - she barely even cried during all of her initial exams

1st family picture!

Life just got more complete

She definitely loves to sleep with her hands by her face - just like her daddy

Getting ready to leave the hospital. Little Bright Eyes is what we call her when she's so alert like this

We love all of her elusive grins. More pictures like this to come. She blesses us with little smiles like this all the time!

So peaceful

Our Angel

Final Pregnancy Reflections

Ok, we go in tomorrow for the induction. It appears that our daughter likes change as much as her daddy does (none) so she's not coming out without some "encouragement". As we sit here and watch the Aggie football game and attempt to act normal, I thought I would do one final blog on the ending statistics of this pregnancy. Now that tomorrow is D-day, I can confidently say, that it went by pretty fast. I'm mostly just writing that to encourage my future-self as I'm sure I'll be pregnant again down the road and be in misery wondering how I did this the first time  :)

How far along? 39 Weeks and 6 days 

Total weight gain: 39 lbs. It was close, but I made it to the end and didn't pass the 40 mark. I know they will weigh me one more time when we go to the hospital tomorrow but I refuse to accept any weight other than what my doctor told me on Thursday. Let's be clear: I don't care if this makes me a baby, a cheater, or a crazy pregnant lady in denial. "I gained less than 40 lbs" will be the story that I will tell. The ONLY story.

Maternity clothes? I think we are past maternity clothes... just huge t-shirts and basketball shorts have been the attire for the weekend.

Stretch marks?  As of this afternoon, I have 4 short stretch marks on each side of my hips. Poop

Sleep Been sleeping surprisingly great lately. Didn't ever get the insomnia that most pregnant women get at the end. I count this as an early Christmas present from the Lord because He KNOWS how much I treasure sleep

Best moment this week: Everytime I had Braxton Hicks contractions. It was so exciting thinking that the process was starting.

Miss Anything? Being able to watch TV without being distracted the entire time with what is going on in my head. It's like I'm trying to relax but my brain won't turn off long enough for me to enjoy a 30 minute show. I'll be honest with you: sometimes I just laugh when Casey laughs b/c I haven't been paying attention to the sitcom.

Heartburn: only when I make really stupid decisions like eating wings right before I go to bed. I mean, at some point I just have to take some personal responsibility, you know?

Food cravings: This is crazy to even write, but I haven't had one piece of watermelon in the last month. The craving just stopped. I will never forget all the good times we had together, but watermelon has just not been apart of my life during these final few weeks of pregnancy. I've just been eating rich foods (lots of sweets due the amazing girls I work with and their participation in my cravings)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nada   

Anything make you scared: That I've made a horrible decision in going forward with an induction and my labor will go on for four days and I'll regret it forever.

Belly Button in or out? still 1/2 in, 1/2 out. Never had it pop out!

Wedding rings on or off? Off and have been for a while.On a happy note, they are sparkling clean and ready to get back on my hands once the swelling goes down. Took them to the jeweler this week to have the professionals do a good cleaning job.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Both? I can't say moody b/c that implies I'm being a butt or unreasonable...but Happy doesn't quite tell the honest truth. I'm anxious, scared, restless AND Happy

Looking forward to: Feeling my daughter on my chest.