I realize that it’s almost August and I’m way late on this one, but the other day I was thinking that Katie didn’t get a proper Mother’s Day celebration.

Sure, she got Eisley, but those first few days were such a whirlwind that in the end I got her a handful of pathetic flowers and I’m sure I uttered some mother-y sentiment.

Honestly, every day should be Mother’s Day.

I am in awe of Katie; her love, her compassion, her strength. She just wants what’s best for that little Bean.

I appreciate all that Katie does. Most days go by without me saying that, and they shouldn’t. I can be gone for hours or even days at a time, but Katie literally cannot be separated from Eisley. The few free hours she can steal away during the day between feeding and naptime, she wants to clean the house, fold laundry, or cook dinner. I insist she doesn’t need to, but she wants to. Talk about a Proverbs 31 kind of woman.

So Kathryn, Happy Mother’s Day. You were perfectly and specifically created for Eisley, and she couldn’t be more blessed to have you as her mom. I love you both more than my own life.

Well, Christopher is off in Cleveland for the next two days, so we wanted to make sure he is well informed of the goings-on of Mama and Miss Eisley.  Usually, I don’t let Eisley play on the computer until her chores are all done, but I’ll make an exception this one time. Take it away, Lady E! (I spell-checked after she was done, and I’m embarrassed to say that there were QUITE A FEW errors!)

Hi Papa. I was a little sad this morning when Mama reminded me you were away in Cleveland.

But after my breakfast (which I got all over my face), I started to feel better.

See?

After I kicked on my change table…

…and played with my animals…

…Mama and I went on a walk! It was a lovely morning in Ames! Jerriann told us it was only 71 degrees! You may notice I have on a different top. I was really throw-uppy this morning.

Mama has a problem, so we had to stop at Cafe Diem. I don’t mind. I’m a really good girl.  AND they have big ceiling fans for me to look at there. Ahhh…heaven!

After coffee, mama and I drove to Granny’s where we’ll be staying while you’re gone. I know Mama could take care of me by herself in Ames, but it’s just nice to have a couple extra set of hands while you’re gone. Plus, rumor has it that cousins are coming over for dinner tonight! Here I am laying on mama’s bed. My little bed will be right next to hers! There’s a ceiling fan in this room!!

Here I am being a big lady, practicing holding my neck up! I’m getting really good at it! (I’m shirtless because I got tinkle on my paisley top. I’m on shirt #3 now and it’s only 2:45. I guess I take after Mama)

Here I am in shirt #3, looking at, (perhaps reaching for?) a toy from Granny. I stayed with Gran while Mama went to the doctor and took care of this:

I’m not quite sure WHAT happened, but Mama mentioned something about getting a mole removed. I don’t have any of those. And probably never will. I have creamy coffee-with-milk colored skin.

I had a REALLY good nap and when I woke up, it was time for Aunt Emmy and Crazy Cousins to come over! Here I am with Aunt Emmy: 

After they left, it was time to get my jambos on. Grandpa is hanging out with me while Mama changes my diap.

Hoo boy! I’m gettin tired!

Good night, my Daddy! I love you so much and I’m so excited to see you tomorrow! OH! I forgot to tell you that I was daydreaming of you today!

This past weekend, the Saldanhas headed south to Kansas City! Several months ago, Chris’ best bud, Aaron Nordyke, informed him that his beloved Manchester United was going to be playing an exhibition game in Kansas City! We decided right then and there we would go see them play, even though we would have a newborn babe. I came up with the idea of having my mom and sissy come with – kind of a girls weekend meets Katie-needs-help-with-her-new-daughter kind of weekend. They were game, and wouldn’tcha know it, so were Benny, Josh, Gavie, Liam, and Taters! Let’s just make it a BIG family affair!

Sunday night, the boys headed to the game, and the rest of us laid low in the hotel. And by laid low, I mean it. Hulling boys were asleep by 7 p.m! Crappa was asleep by 8! The soccer fans returned a little bedraggled (ManU lost to the KC Wizards…that wasn’t supposed to happen), but mom offered to stay with the sleeping grands while the mommies and daddies headed out for a night on the town with the Aaron/Erinns.  Josh, Emmy, Chris, Aaron, Erinn, and I headed out to Buca de Beppos for a quick bite. A quick HUGE bite. Everything there is monstrous. *See cake photo below

Monday was an early morning for the Saldzies…Miss Lady likes to have 1st Breakfast at 7 a.m. The Hulling brothers were STILL sleeping, but by 10:00 a.m., we were all heading out the door for brunch. We shopped around the plaza, made a stop in my all-time favorite store, Anthropologie, swam at the pool at the hotel, and relaxed.

It was a quick getaway, but so fun to be with everyone! Miss Lady did so well…she was a champ sleeper and even today is proving to be not-that-thrown-off. She’s sleeping great and her wake time is filled with crazy smiles, mad kicks, and lots and lots of squeaks!

May I just take this time to address quickly how much I love my family? My dad is the sweetest, kindest man. My mom is silly and crazy and one of my best friends. My brother Joshie (I have never referred to him as an “in-law”) is so great…I have known him since I was oh, BORN. He is a big brother to me, no in law about it. He is a wonderful dad and an awesome guy. My sweet sweet sissy is absolutely lovely. I have loved her so much since I was oh, BORN. She is THE MOST patient, wonderful mommy and is another one of my best friends. My Gavin is the definition of a gentleman. He has always had a special place in my heart…I was the first one to hold him after he was born besides his parents. He is so sweet and silly and such a delight. My crazy Liam is nutty and sweet and hilarious and a goofball. Those eyebrows! And my big boy Tater Bug is growing and climbing and LOUD and won’t stop moving and he makes my heart so happy. My sweetie sweetie Eisley is my scrumptious love and I can’t stand it because I love her so much and I just want to smell her and kiss her all the time. And finally, my love, my BEST friend, my perfect companion, my most favorite of all time. My Christopher Shane. Oh my, he was created for me.

Thanks for the fun fun weekend Hullings/Carlstons/Chris & Eisley! I love you guys!!

Gavie loved the huge beds!

Gavie and Granny! Despite being a LEEETLE wound up, silly, and making goofy faces, the boys were being really good gentlemen at the restaurant.

Muscle Tees and cool “smiles”… Yup.

Best slash Worst cousin shot. hahahaha! Lookin’ good guys!

Jammie Time with Grammie Time!

Me & Emmy with our GIANT $12 cake. That tasted like it had just been defrosted a few minutes before. Not. Worth. It.  It looked way huger in person. In fact, we both screamed when he placed it on the table. A la Ralphie’s mom at the end of A Christmas Story when the waiter places the goose on the table.

We DID have three separate rooms, but we all ended up in the same room often. Here are 5 of the 10 of us in the Saldanha’s room. I guess 6. I was in there too, taking the picture.

Big Boy Brothers shopping at Urban Outfitters

Little Boy Brothers in front of the cool fountain

Littlest Boy Brother was all tuckered out.

So Eisley’s foray into swimming didn’t go over so well. Maybe the water was too chilly, but Sweets wasn’t a huge fan of “swimming” with daddy. Oh well.

Look closely at Liam. And how he’s holding the hose.

Vacations, especially ones that involve “swimming” are exhausting!

Good night, everyone!

Editor’s Note: I’m not sure why the pictures are all crazily placed and the captions are all wonky. The man who usually fixes my blogs before I publish them is sound asleep.

This weekend, the Saldanhas headed west to Laurens, Iowa, home of Roewe Farms. Chris’ mom grew up there and his uncle Dale still farms the land. All of Grandma Janet’s siblings, their kids, and THEIR kids were there! What a fun, crazy weekend!

This was Eisley’s longest car trip yet. She was a trooper! This is basically what we saw in the rearview mirror the whole ride there.

Miss E (in her new toile dress!) and Papa hanging out. We walked around for a little bit and I KNOW that if I had been 8 or so and had visited a farm, I would have been in HEAVEN! Think about all the clues for a mystery would have been lying around a farm! E & K Detective Agency would have had so many cases!

I need to get better about doing arms-length self portraits of the three of us. I dominated when it came to just Chris and I, but now we have to make sure someone ELSE’S face gets in there!

Dang it. Sorry Eisley! And sorry Chris! What the heck is my problem!?

Yes! After some adjustments, we got it! Although Miss Lady wasn’t looking at the camera. Oh well. LOOK AT HER PROFILE! GAAH! Perfection!

Sugar Pie wasn’t too keen on getting her photo taken in front of REAL LIVE FARM EQUIPMENT! Maybe she’s just a city girl at heart…

Snugglin with Daddy (someone was really sleepy during our time in Laurens – it’s tiring being a teeny Cowgirl!)

After a long day at the farm, we checked into our hotel so Lil Miss could eat some dinner and change into her jammies. And so that she could be like, “ugh mom and dad…you’re so WEIRD!”

Happy Girl on the way back home!

Going through all the pics, I’m disappointed I didn’t get more shots of the farm. But what a fun weekend we had! Eisley got to meet a lot of 2nd cousins and lots of great-aunts and great-uncles! She was even given a couple presents! What’s not to love about that? A visit to the farm is definitely in order for sometime soon! Maybe when there are baby pigs to hold?! That’s more for mama’s sake.

In other news, Sunday evening, Christopher came down with the flu. He is sequestered upstairs in hopes of not getting Eisie Bean and mama sick. Here’s hoping it’s just a 24 hour bug.

Aaand…a couple shots from a few days ago. I like to imagine that she’s dreaming about flying through the air.

I love these two so much

I stumbled upon a super cute website that has tons of crafty ideas for babies and kids. Click on THIS for pure sweetness. ONE of those crafty ideas was pillowcase dresses! Take an old pillowcase, make a few stictches and voila! An adorable summery dress for a sweet girl. Granted, it’s not as easy as they made it seem. That’s why my mom had to come to my rescue.

Today, we knocked out one and a half dresses for Miss E!

Here’s Dress #1:

Toile! How insanely adorable! I think it will be perfect for our family reunion this weekend at the farm! Nothing says summer days on a farm like precious toile, don’t you think?

And here’s Dress #2

Still a work in progress. We are going to use satin ribbons for the straps on this one. This wasn’t a pillowcase, actually, but part of an old dust ruffle. I actually made E’s nursery curtains from the same dust ruffle. I think Eisley and Scarlett O’ Hara may be the only ladies with dresses made from curtains!

Pics of Lil Miss in her pillowcase/dust ruffle dresses to come!

Oh, and here’s a sweet shot of Baby Girl and her Papa on the playmat!

Thanks for your help today, Mama! Love you!

Friday night, Christopher and I were given the privilege of going out. Of the house. Just the two of us. For an extended period of time.

My sweet parents came up with the idea of “making us” go on a date night. C & I are husband and wife first & foremost, parents second, so these romantic date nights (albeit brief) are very much needed on a regular basis. Happy couple = happy home = happy baby.

So up they drove to Ames on Friday and stayed with Sugar while C & I headed out to the Cafe.

Doesn’t look like they minded too much:

Family photo before we left. Yeesh! You’d think we were leaving the country or something!

Ahh! Just the two of us!

And a shot from The Cafe (the best restaurant in Ames. In Iowa. In the midwest) It took us a couple of tries before we got one where we both didn’t look completely exhausted.

After a delicious (and dairy-free!) meal, we headed over to Stomping Grounds, had a (soy) latte for me and an Americano for Bubbs and listened to some live music on the patio. It was an absolutely lovely night. We were back home by 8:00 just in time for Lil’ Miss’ 2nd dinner.

I must say, we did a pretty good job of not talking about Miss Eisley the whole time. But it’s hard not to! She’s a morning/afternoon/evening delight!
(“Skyrockets in flight…all day long delight”)

See what I mean??

Chris and I will be taking Miss E’s photo every month for the first year of her life. It will be amazing to see how she changes from month to month. Although she’s still kind of slouchy and it’s kind of hard to see how much taller she’s gotten, you can definitely see her chubbin out a bit!
We’re going to set her love Waldorf* next to her each time, just for comparison. I’m excited for NEXT May when we have 12 pictures in row. It will probably make me cry.

Good job growing, Baby Girl!

*Waldorf is the doll my mom made for her before she was born. She technically is a Waldorf-style doll, but I thought it was a cute name, so Waldorf Saldanha it is.

They say (I don’t know who “they” are, but they do say) that the road to eight weeks can be a rough one, but once you arrive you’ve turned a corner toward happy toddlery. So here we are, two days into Phase 3 of Eisley Christine The Tiniest Bean’s (or, ECTTB) life.

Phase 1 was great, but tiring. Four weeks of learning who this little person was, what they need, when they need it, how they tell us they need it, how they tell us we’re not giving them what they need . . . it’s exhausting. Both physically and emotionally. For those first few weeks I think we were clocking about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Although I loved how little and cuddly ECTTB was, I’m glad those days are behind us.

Phase 2 proved to be challenging, but a lot of fun. ECTTB was smiling a lot, starting to interact a tiny bit, ooo’s and aaaah’s, recognizing Kate and I as we entered the room. By week eight, we could tell she knew who we were and was happy to see us.

Phase 3 will bring a lot of change. (Hopefully) Sleeping through the night, less feeding, longer napping, chatting, rolling, and being all around lovely. I don’t now if it’s psychological or for real, but I can’t help but feel I’ve noticed a difference in ECTTB already. Could be the fact that she’s a big kid, maybe it’s the dairy-free diet (which has proved to be more challenging than we thought) taking effect, either way we love where we are.

I am also amazed at how much I’ve learned in 8 weeks. Like, my mind has been completely blown. Here are a few highlights:

1. God Is Amazing
The moment ECTTB showed up, I knew abundantly more about the love that God has for us. He created us, and we created this little girl. There is no comparison to that love. Yeah, I LOVE Kate more than anything in this world, but I didn’t create her. In a lot of ways my love for her can be fickle because, although she’s spiritually a part of me, she’s not physically of me. Eisley has part of me inside her, and there is this intrinsic love that floods my heart. It’s fantastic, but dangerous (more on that later).

Also, we have to trust God for evertything. Duh, right? As a Christian that’s rule numero uno. But when you have a kid it becomes way more real. I forget to trust God because I am a rational (most of the time), logical (I think), self-sufficient (not really, but we think so) human being that can act on my feelings, thoughts, stimuli. ECTTB can’t do much on her own. She can’t feed herself. She can’t roll over if she’s face down. She can’t tell us exactly what she needs when she needs it. Those first few nights home we didn’t sleep for fear that ECTTB would need us to save her live. We have slowly been able to trust God that He’s got it under control. Yeah, crappy stuff can happen, but He knows what He’s doing. Trust me . . . trust Him.

2. The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Kids
The best thing you can do for your kids is to love your spouse more than them. Whoa, what? Yup. I said it. Our family isn’t about ECTTB (is that joke old yet?), but she is a part of it. If things aren’t right between Kate and I, things won’t be right between us and our kids. If there’s marriage problems things become petty, and it’s easy to make idols out of our kids. We’re human, we love to hurt people who hurt us. It’s certainly been hard to invest in my marriage as much as I’d like, and I know it needs more attention than I’m giving it, but I think we’re in a good place. We know that if Eisley knows her mom and dad love each other she’ll feel secure.

3. It’s Not About You
This is a lesson for both the Christian and Non-Christian. Let’s face it, we’re all selfish. We humans tend to think of ourselves as the central figure in a movie about ourselves. Everyone else around us are the supporting cast, and our resolution is to find pleasure for ourselves. Having a kid forces you to take a hard look at where you spend your time, money and energy. All of a sudden, you’re sacrificing sleep and a social life to keep this kid alive. Not only that, but it’s a joy to give up those things to spend time with this amazing little bundle. I would trade a beer with the fellas for an hour with Eisley any day. Now, if we can just have that same attitude for God, we’d be in good shape.

4. It’s True
Eisley is the cutest kid on Earth. I know everyone says that about their kids, but c’mon. Seriously.

1. Nights like last night!! Miss Lady was a happy happy girl all evening, smiling, cooing. She ate like a ravenous wolf at 11:00, laid right down in her “bed” and slept until 4:45. She woke up not crying really, just kind of ‘eh eh-ing’. I re-covered her with her blanket and she fell right back to sleep and slept again until 6:30! She had First Breakfast, then fell asleep until I woke her at 8:30!!!!!
WAA to the HOOO!!!!

2. The fact that she is in the 1st percentile for head circumference. Hahahhaha! Little Miss Tiny Head!

3. Chris. Just…him…in general. So handsome, so tan, so selfless, so funny, so wonderful to his girls.

4. Neutrogena Triple Moisture shampoo/conditioners. My hair has felt so smooth and healthy…dare I say even thicker than when I was pregnant? Probably not, but it feels that way.

5. Grilled tilapia, grilled veggies, and rice. Our new favorite go-to dinner. We’ve been trying to eat healthier, and with meals like this, I honestly don’t want Tasty Tacos ever again.*

6. *That is a lie. I love Tasty Tacos and I will always want them.

7. Vanilla Almond Milk! Woo! Delish!

8. Cover Girl Snow Plum blush. Ladies – use this as a highlighter…for a glow. I use a single swipe over my cheeks and down the bridge of my nose for glow…love it. And it’s so cheap.

9. When Eisley coughs. Now hold on, hear me out. It’s absolutely the cutest thing in the world when she is drinking like a champ and all of a sudden, she pulls off (eyes still closed, mind you), and gives a little milky cough. Ahh…she’s in no danger so I just pat her back and quietly laugh at how utterly adorable she is.

10. The Feed-Wake-Nap Time routine. We’ve gotten some flack about this “she’s too young to be on a schedule”…”just feed her whenever she cries”…etc etc.
However, giving Miss E structure in her, yes, very young, life, has proved to be AMAZING. She is eating like a champ every time and not just “snacking” because she is genuinely hungry when we feed. She is happy happy after she eats (because her belly is full), so she is active active, which in turn makes her sleepy sleepy for naptime! Recipe for success! She is allowing us to put her in her crib, pat her chest and stroke her cheeks, turn on her mobile and walk away. She is (for the most part) able to just drift off to sleep.
Now we have had days where this isn’t so easy and Little Miss can be a crabby pants. But the more committed Chris and I are to this routine, even when it’s not easy, the happier we ALL are. I’m starting to see the fruit of this!

11. So You Think You Can Dance. Okay. I love this show. Every Wednesday night, I sit back and am constantly amazed by these dancers. I think that Alex may be my favorite. This kid (I think he’s only 18 or 19) dances professionally with I think the Miami Ballet company. So he’s an amazing ballerin…o? Anyway, for his live performance last night, he was given the task of learning a hip-hop routine. He is a BALLET DANCER. Watch this. Ahh! I love it! (oh, he’s the Asian guy…the other guy is a professional hip-hop dancer)

isn’t that amazing? Wow! I find I do kicks and walk on my toes and do arm moves hours after the show is over. So I Wish I Could Dance.

12. The fact that Gavin is going to be going to kindergarten in the fall! Oh be still my heart. My boy is growing up! What does a boy who is getting ready to go to kindergarten need from his aunt!?!??! I’ll have to be thinking.

Happy 4th Of July everyone! Watch some fireworks for the Saldanhas! We’ve got someone who has very sensitive ear drums, so we’ll be passing on that spectacular this year!

Here’s our little Firecracker: