The Wednesday Weekly - Week 5

Honestly, I had to check myself to make sure that she is really FIVE weeks old. Man where does the time go?? The days are long but the weeks short ;)

Week 5

Sleeps: Finnley sure is becoming more aware of her surroundings and has days where she doesn't want to sleep because she is too busy taking everything in. But then she has days that make up for it where she basically sleeps the whole day!  We are still trying to figure out what works for her...sometimes a swaddle does the trick but then other times she likes her arms above her head. 

Eats: obvi with her only being 5 weeks we are still using a bottle and she gets formula. So far we are still fans of the Dr. Browns bottles and have been going back and forth with Similac and Enfamil (thanks to all the free samples we keep getting!) 

Goes: we went to the market again this weekend and it was a much more pleasurable experience.  It was raining just a bit so it wasn't as crowded - and if you know my I really don't like crowds.  We had to take Ellie to the doctor to get her staple out of her head and we had our first lunch date (the three girls) at Panera and everyone did great!! We also did the usual trips to swimming and gymnastics for Ellie as well as going to work at the church.  Girlfriend is pretty good in the car and just goes with the flow!

Loves: like I mentioned above our bottles are pretty fantastic as well as the car seat cover and sling carrier I got last week.  We also really love her activity playmat and the Boppy for feeding, lounging and sleeping (supervised of course)

Does: holds her head up like a champ, still gets hiccups on the daily. Doesn't spit up quite as much. She likes to lay on her playmat and kick around. 

Of Note:  she wears size 1 diapers and is pretty much grown out of nb clothes so we are squeezing her into them until I go up in the attic to pull down the 0-3 and 3-6 months clothes bins.  We do have some 0-3 and that is fitting much better - her feet are so big that we might have to size her up to 6 months for footed pj's!!!

Mama:  I definitely like the days where she sleeps more!  But seriously though she isn't a fussy baby and I just love her.  I love her little noises and how chill she is.  I also love that I have two girls and get to see Finnley in Ellie's old clothes.  Plus just watching my two girls is what makes my heart so happy!!

Sister: Ellie is seriously still just infatuated with Finnley and it is just so sweet.  She will just randomly tell me that "I love Finnley so much" and give her all the kisses and hugs she also says "Oh Finnley it's gonna be ok!" when Finnley is crying/fussing.  Ellie still loves to hold her and knows how sit to hold her.  Every day is my favorite with these two!

what happens when Dada is in charge...

I mean these two!!

♥ Ashley

previous weeks:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Ellie at 5 weeks 

Fri-YAY: the one with lunch dates, a monthday and a trip to the ER

Oh hey there Friday! I am so glad you're here.

First things first, it's my sweet Finnley girls 1 monthday today...how has she already been a part of our family for a whole month?? I'm figuring out her monthly photo and I'm thinking I need to ride on Karra's coattails and use some flowers, because if you know me then you know I am all about the florals.

Let's get on to this Friday Five thang.

ONE

I feel like I've got this mama of two thing down, and we went out for our very first lunch date solo yesterday!  We went to Panera and let me tell you...we had a great time.  I wore Finnley in my new sling wrap and it worked great (heaven knows that infant car seats are the bane of my existence) and Ellie was a rock star.  Also she was basically diaper free the whole day - with no accidents!

TWO

You gotta love that farm life.  One of our favorite things to do around the farm is to drive the truck in the pasture...Ellie likes to help steer (she is terrible at it) but also enjoys being in the front seat (we only go 2 mph)  We drove the hay out the Ragtime and Ellie loved sticking her head out the window telling Rags to eat her food!

THREE

I mentioned earlier this week that we had to make a trip to the ER.  Little Miss Ellie tried to climb the gate into Ragtime's Paddock and she got bopped on the head by the horses mouth...she got two little wounds that needed some medical care (glue and a staple).  She did a fantastic job and was so interested in everything that the doctors and nurses were doing.  I cannot even tell you how proud I am of her, she was so calm, brave, and polite.  She kept saying thank you to the staff and was just overall a great girl.

FOUR

One of my most favorite things in our yard are our Snowball Viburnum bushes that the previous owners planted.  I can't get over how big they have gotten and they bloomed so early this year.  I had to make sure to snap a picture before they were done blooming and they were so full this year too!!

FIVE

Finally I have totally gotten into the who Snapchat thing (@Alifeonthefarm) and my favorite thing are all the filters.  I seriously go on it everyday to just play with the filters and here is my favorite one...the beauty filter - why can't this just be my real life??? 

HAPPY FRIDAY Y'ALL!!!

♥ Ashley

{Travel Diaries} Disneyland February 2016 - Day 2

Ok!! I am back with some more fun of our latest trip to Disneyland back in February!! (See Day 1 here)

We started off our morning the best way we know how, with coffee at Starbucks in DCA.  Thanks to the fabulous Courtney, I learned about Coffee with Character so we were Snow White and Prince Charming - gotta be the heros!!  Unfortunately we had a guy that wrote our names and he is in some major need of learning Disney Calligraphy...regardless it was fun!

We sported our Diamond Anniversary shirts that we got the last time we were in DL (read about it here!) and went straight to Cars Land to ride on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree!

We met up with Thomas' parents so we could get in line for Radiator Springs Racers.  We like to go in the Single Rider line because the line is about an hour shorter...its crazy how busy this ride is.  Nanny and Papa watched Ellie for us while we took our ride.  The only thing about going in the single rider line is that we don't get to be in the same car together but I would rather that then to spend 90+ minutes waiting in line...#priorities

When we got off the ride we got the text that Thomas' older brother and family had arrived at the park (they live near us but were vacationing in San Diego and decided to make a day trip to the park so we could all hang out!!) so we headed over to Disneyland to meet up with them.  Ellie was 100% thrilled that her cousins were at Disneyland and had the best time showing them the ropes ;)

I knew the girls would love the Princess meet and greet at the Fantasy Faire Royal Hall, and if we learned anything is that this should be the first stop to avoid an insanely long line.  We were the 3rd group in line and got in right away.  The girls were thrilled to meet some of their favorite princesses and I'm so glad they got to share this experience together.  They all met the princesses together and then split up for pictures.

Snow White!

Waiting in line for her favorite...she was so patient!

Miss Belle!!!

I mean look at how cute!! 

And then it was time for Cinderella, for some reason Ellie is always unsure of her...it's weird.

On our way out the girls wanted to check out Snow White's well and who should be there but the Best Ariel I have ever encountered!!!  She just held Ellie like this as she was listening to the cousins go on and on about something.  I mean how precious!  

Aurora was also there...she was just going back to her Castle to see Prince Philip for a dance ;) and we were able to snag a picture with both of the princesses before she left.

Then it was time for some rides.  We took the girls on the Carousel for their first ride to get them used to the idea and then we went on Dumbo.  When we got off Dumbo we saw both Hook and Peter Pan so we jumped in line to get some photos!!

We took a spin on the Tea Cups and the line for Alice in Wonderland wasn't horrific so we jumped in.  I really cannot tell you how much fun Ellie had doing Disneyland with her cousins!! It was so much fun!

Once we were done with the rides in Fantasyland we let Nanny and Papa have some time with the girls while we took a ride on Space Mountain Hyperspace Mountain ... it has a Star Wars theme!! The funny part is we didn't even know we were going to pose like this ... I love that the kids behind us had the same pose!

By this time it was getting close to nap time and I had an excruciating migraine so I took Ellie back to the room so we could take care of that.  But first a picture with Goofy.

We weren't in the room long before this happened...Disney sure does give this girl some good naps!

During our nap, my migraine finally subsided and I deteremined that I need to get my rx meds for them again...the rest of the fam took over Disneyland and my younger niece turned into a rollercoaster fanatic! She wanted to do all the rollercoaster and even held her hands up!! (not too bad for a 4 year old)  I am so bummed that we missed out on some of these memories.  When Ellie finally woke up from her Epic nap (3 1/2 hours!!!) we met up with the fam for Dinner at Naples in Downtown Disney for some super yummy pizza!!

The girls got some balloon animals...

patiently waiting...

She got a Mickey Mouse!!

For some reason I didn't get a photo of the pizza but we ordered the 1/2 Metre pizza and it was gigantic...probably could feed a dozen people...it was practically the size of our table!!

When we got done with dinner we headed back into the park and it started pouring...so we got some ponchos.  A lot of the rides were closing due to the rain and as usual Fantasyland was closing early for the Fireworks show...that didn't end up happening because of the rain... 

So we had to wander around the park trying to find an open ride.  Pirates of the Caribbean was open so we all got on that and then it was getting pretty late so the cousins left to make their drive back to San Diego...they barely got out of the parking lot and both girls passed out!

Winnie the Pooh was open so we took a ride on that and then into the Haunted Mansion because it is an inside ride and I don't really do rain (funny for a Seattleite I know!!)

We got ourselves a Mickey Pretzel and then called it a night.  I was wearing my Toms (the only shoes I brought) and they were soaked through!!  My feet hurt so bad!! Never again!!!!

And that concluded our Day 2 at the park!  

♥ Ashley

Previous Disneyland visits:

February 2016 Day 1

September 2015 Day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4

February 2015 Day 1/2 , day 3, day 4

The Wednesday Weekly - Week 4

Seriously these weeks are just flying by!!! I can't believe that on this Friday our sweet little Finnley will be one month already!!  She is just the sweetest and for the most part is a calm and relaxed babe...just what we prayed for.

Week 4

This week has been quite the week with celebrating Mother's Day and a trip to the ER for big sis...don't worry I will have a post about it coming soon, but she is doing just great!!

Eats: Finnley continues to be a great eater and even Ellie is getting in on the feeding!! Many hands make light work.  We are making 4 ounce bottles and she eats a majority of it at each feeding.  We are using Similac Sensitive and she seems to be doing just fine on it.  Somehow this time around we have been blessed with many samples in the mail and just received some Enfamil, so we will use that when we need to open a new can.

Sleeps:  we hit a bit of a rough patch the other day where this girl just wanted to eat and be awake all day...it was rough!!! But now we seem to be back to our normal schedule - Praise the Lord!!  She is still having her longer sleep stretches at night (close to 6 hours) and there are NO COMPLAINTS here about that!! Such a difference from Ellie...also another prayer answered. God is good.  We did start swaddling her at night and I think that is helping.

Goes: as I mentioned in my last post, we made a road trip across the state for some Adoption stuff, then we went to the market, the zoo and the ER for big sis.  Talk about a whirlwind of a week for this little girl!

Loves:  the hospital that Finnley was born in gave us some coupons for some free items (I mean the hookup this time is for real!!) and we got this super cute carseat cover  and sling carrier!  We are still fans of the Boppy and her activity mat. Baths are also a huge hit, we have even had a sister bath!!

Does: Finnley is super good at tummy time and seems to really like it. She holds her head up like a champ.  I haven't had any luck with her rolling again, so maybe it was just a fluke day?  She also gets the hiccups every day and has the sweetest sigh I have ever heard.

Of Note: nothing that I can think of at this time.

Mama:  like I mentioned we had a super rough day the other day but things are all back to normal.  I am just loving these two girls and being a Mama of TWO!! such a dream. So far this has been a pretty good transition and hasn't been too difficult...I am sure my time is coming but I would say this is almost easier than with just one! Yep I just said it!

Sister: Ellie is still all over Finnley and loves to be involved in everything.  I love how she says Finnley's name, since Ellie can't make the F sound she calls her Pinnley and its just the cutest!! I really couldn't have imagined a better transition.

I mean these two!!! my heart is so full.

♥ Ashley

previous weeks:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Ellie at 4 weeks