Unplanned Hiatus

Merry Christmas!

Sorry for the unplanned hiatus! Our laptop was in the shop for a while and then we got busy with holiday stuff and then we got a new camera... so now I am finally back to get some pictures uploaded!

So much has happened since we last wrote! Elle has one tooth in (her bottom left front) and the other bottom tooth is making it's appearance now so we are up to two teeth! Elle started crawling late in her seventh month so now has about a month of crawling under her belt and she is pretty good at it (although not too fast which is good for those chasing her)!

She is still nursing four times a day but she also eats 2-3 meals of almost people food too. She likes pretty much everything we give her and it has been fun to introduce new foods to see how she reacts!

Elle is saying moma, dada and byebye but we are not too sure that she knows what she is saying! She is so funny - when you wave and say byebye she will wave and say it back!

I am in love with my new camera that Andy got me for Christmas so I will have even more material for the blog!

Merry Christmas to all! We are so blessed!

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord." -Luke 2:10-11

Santa and Gram!

Last weekend Elle met Santa for the first time! She was in awe and just wanted to stare at his face instead of smiling for the camera. Here is one of the pictures from that fun day!

Gram came down to Atlanta with Uncle Jim and Aunt Judi for Thanksgiving! We are so excited to have them here! Elle met her Great Grandmother (and namesake!), Gram for the first time yesterday! They sure did love each other! More pictures to come after Thanksgiving but we wanted to get one up now...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We love the fall!

Fall in Atlanta is amazing! The weather is perfect and there are a lot of fun activities for everyone! Elle went to her first football game - Uncle Joe's high school team played on Halloween so she dressed up. Elle loves playing in the leaves so we got some pictures of her in the middle of a huge leaf pile! Elle is now 7 months old so we got a few pics on that day too!

Our Little Monkey

Today we went to a neighborhood Birthday party where all the kids were invited to wear their costumes! It was such a fun party and Elle loved her monkey outfit! She had fun playing with the other lamb, lion, lady bug, panda bear and other cute characters! Elle was so cute in her costume we had to get these pictures up right away! :)

Melissa & Drew's Wedding!

We had a fabulous weekend in St. Simons Island for Andy's sister, Melissa and Drew's wedding! It was a wonderful time with beautiful weather and great company - everyone had a blast! Melissa was a gorgeous bride! What a memorable weekend!

Auburn Game!

Last weekend was Elle's first trip to Auburn for a game! We have a college girl friend reunion every year... plus all the kiddos! Most of us did not go into the game because of the kids but the football season is a great reason to get together! It was fun to hang out in Auburn with all of our friends! Here are pictures from the awesome weekend! A big shout out to Kimen, Josh & HA for coming the furthest for the weekend... they drove from St. Louis!!!

6 Months Old

It is crazy that Elle is six months old tomorrow! She is getting so big!
She is now eating twice a day in addition to nursing and loves everything she has tried (rice and oatmeal cereal, avocado, sweet potato, pears and carrots) except bananas! She spit those out and gagged a lot! We will try those again later! We are trying something new each week. This week is carrots. She is also sitting up on her own and she seems close to crawling but she gets around very well by rolling around the room! We had a great weekend celebrating our three year wedding anniversary! We have so much to be thankful for!

Last week was Cara's first week working part-time for Make-A-Wish! Elle is in daycare three mornings a week and Cara works in the office those mornings. The first week went well! But Cara missed Elle A LOT!! As the daycare director said when Cara dropped off Elle the first day, "It is always harder on the mommy than the baby!"

Have a great week!

Christine visits from Chicago!

Christine! We are so excited to have you here this weekend! What a fun weekend! It was great for Elle to finally meet her aunt Christine! The pictures from the weekend are here...

We are back... again!

So we just spent a wonderful week in Colorado again for Meredith and Robert's wedding! WOW! What a wonderful week! The wedding was amazing - so beautiful, meaningful and full of love. Beautiful music by Ross and Clay (Meredith's brothers) and a very personal service! It was a great week of spending time with the family. Another highlight was spending two days at Crags Lodge in the Estes Park mountains. It was a good week!

Elle is growing like a weed! She is 5 months now and she is rolling all over the place, sitting up almost all by herself, and eating rice cereal (although sometimes she acts as though she does not like it very much!). She is also very animated! She loves the airport and the plane because she talks and stares at everyone she meets! She did great on the airplane again today and that is such a blessing for a three hour flight!

We are back!

We spent an amazing 20 days in Estes Park and Boulder, CO. It was a great trip that went by way too fast! It did not feel like we were there for three weeks! It was a wonderful trip filled with stories and games with the cousins, hikes with the family, wedding preparation and showers for Meredith, and beautiful quiet time in the mountains! Here are some great pictures from the trip!

Elle had her 4 month appointment on August 20th, Andy's Birthday! She weighs 2 ounces away from 14 pounds! She is in the 25-50% for height, weight and head circumference - so she is growing steadily! She has changed so much in the last three weeks! Her development is amazing - rolling side to side on her back and flipping from front to back (she hates tummy time so she likes to roll to her front when we put her on her stomach), laughing and "talking" A LOT (she is VERY vocal), grabbing and lifting everything she gets her hands on, and holding onto and engaging with everyone who holds her. She is a lot of fun!

We will be starting some rice cereal soon so shortly we will get up pictures of her first attempts at eating solid food!

God is good! We are so blessed by Elle and the more she interacts with us the more our lives are enriched!

Colorado Hiatus

Hi all! Our family has been in Colorado for the past two weeks and Elle and Cara have one more week here (what a great long vacation!)! Just wanted to update the blog so folks know that I will be posting again once we get home. I will have tons of great pictures from our Colorado trip! It has been wonderful visiting with all the family! Last week was our annual family reunion in Estes Park! It was a blast to be in the mountains with the entire family - all four generations! I will be back to post at the end of August! Love you!

Kate & Elle

It has been a great week! Elle is going to be 16 weeks this weekend and we cannot believe it! Here are a couple pictures from this week. Barry, Kate and Lori came over today and it was fun to have another play date with Elle and Kate together again! They are so funny together! We had another fun baby photoshoot! Here are some fun pics from the visit!

GMom Visits!

GMom was here for five days! It was such an awesome week!
Elle was not feeling great all week with stomach issues and sleeping issues so it was amazing to have Mom here for support and help! When Elle was feeling good she loved playing and reading with GMom! And when she was not feeling well she loved when GMom held her when she cried! :) Gmom - we miss you! :)

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th! We had an exciting 4th of July! All three of us went to the cemetery near our neighborhood that has an amazing view of the city. We could see four different fireworks shows from our beach chairs that we set down on a high hill in the middle of the cemetery. It was a little spooky but really fun! Elle loved the hike to our spot and she was very animated throughout the show!

Elle is talking (well, really babbling or cooing) a lot now - she is very vocal! I called our parents during an especially bubbly monologue so she could wish my parents a Happy Anniversary herself!!

We took some more black and white pictures and here are several good pictures we got this weekend! Elle will be three months old tomorrow! It is amazing how much better things get with age - she is much better with sleeping, eating and entertaining herself! She is growing so fast!

Tummy Time

Elle is getting good at spending more time on her belly and enjoying it! She has rolled over a few times which was so exciting to see!!

Bethany, Chris and Mallorie came to visit yesterday and we had a great time catching up! Here are some shots of our visit! It was so wonderful to have them here!!

10 Days and 10 Weeks

Elle and Barry's baby, Kate, who is 10 days old played together yesterday! It was so cute to see them together and crazy to see the difference that 10 little weeks made! Here are pictures of the two of them together!

YaYa bought Elle a precious set of rocking chairs, one with "Elizabeth" on it and one with "Baby" on it for her little dolls when she gets older. But now, Elle fits into the tiny baby doll chair! The picture of her in this miniature chair is so funny!!

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads and GrandDads!

We celebrated Andy's first Fathers Day with a fun breakfast at Flying Biscuit and a mousepad of Elle's face that he can bring to work!

Elle is now 10 weeks old! She is doing very well; she is eating better these days and she is really settling into her napping routine. She can get cranky in the evening after her 7 pm feeding so we are working on keeping her happy at that time of the day. She is sleeping most of the night these days! She goes to bed after her 10 pm feeding and she usually sleeps until 4 am to 6 am! Amazing! She is still waking up around 4 am or 5 am because she gets out of her swaddle but once I fix that she goes back to sleep until 6 am or so. So with mom and dad getting more sleep, we can't complain!

Love you all!

2 Months Old

Wow - Elle is 2 months old! She had her 2 month Ped visit and she is 10 lbs, 11 oz. and 22 inches long. She is growing fast! Today was a special day because it was Elle's first day at church! It was fun for her parents to finally get to go too! We have missed our church! Elle really liked church because she stayed awake the entire service instead of napping! Here are pictures for her 2 month Birthday in her dress that Amanda made!

8 Weeks Old

Elle went to her first Birthday Party last night - Happy Birthday to Lindsey!

Elle is doing well! Eating is going well although it depends on the day. Some days she is really uncomfortable and cries during feedings. Other days (like today) she does great each time! She is also getting better about naps; she is crying less (or not at all) before each nap. We are very excited about her progress! It is so fun to play with her because she now smiles and laughs! Here is one of her 8 weeks pictures with a big smile! She is a very sweet baby!

Memorial Day Weekend at St. Simons

Hi all! We spent a really nice weekend at the beach with YaYa at her house in St. Simons Island. It was a lot of fun to relax with the family! Elle loved her first visit to the beach! It was a beautiful weekend and we took a lot of pictures! It is really wonderful to think that this is a start to many wonderful memories for Elle with her grandmother at St. Simons! Elle was 7 weeks old on Sunday and we took lots of pictures with the hair bows that her YaYa bought her! Check out all the pictures!

6 Weeks Old

Elle is doing much better with eating now that we got her on a different medicine. The first medicine the Ped gave her for reflux worked for a couple of days but then it stopped working and she was miserable (and so was mom!) during every feeding. She has been on a new medicine for four days and she is doing great. Now we are working on the crying before naps. She is so active and alert and does not give into sleep very easily during the day! Andy and I are excited about a date night tonight! YaYa is coming over to hang out with Elle and I pumped this week so I am going to be gone more than two hours tonight for the first time! Elle will get her second bottle ever tonight from YaYa! Have a good weekend! Love you all!

Happy Mothers Day!

Elle is one month old! We celebrated her one month with lots of pictures and ink hand prints and footprints to frame. At her one month Ped visit we found out she is right in the middle for her age for average height, weight and head circumference. She now weighs 9 pounds 4 ounces so she is gaining weight really well! We had some special visitors this week - check out the pics! HAPPY GRANDMOTHERS DAY to YaYa and GMom. Love you all!

4 Weeks Old

Wow - this week sure did fly by. Elle is doing great! Sleep is our big issue - she has been waking up at different times at night anytime between 2 am and 5 am so we are trying to figure that out!

We took a lot of black and white pictures today to celebrate 4 weeks of life! We are going to enlarge and frame a few. Here are few examples as well as other pictures from this week.

3 Weeks Old

Elle was 3 weeks old yesterday! Time is moving very fast! I cannot believe it has already been 21 days! Elle is doing great! She is sleeping a little more at night (usually from about 11 pm to 4 am) and so she is up a little more during the day. She is a sweetheart and she loves to be held by everyone!

Yesterday she met Uncle Jim, Aunt Judi and Cousin Molly, who are visiting Monica from NY and CO. It was so fun to spend time together! Elle was on her best behavior and did not cry once! :)

2 Weeks Old!

Elle is 2 weeks old tomorrow! It is amazing to think that it has just been 2 weeks! She is doing great! She sleeps a lot and loves to eat! She is a handful but such a sweetheart.

Papa Swan and Gmom are leaving tomorrow to go back to Colorado and we are very sad to see them go! Tomorrow will be a sad day because they have been so helpful, loving and supportive! We can't wait for them to come back already!

10 Days Old

Elle slept last night from 2 am to 6 am which gave mom some much needed rest! Yah Elle!

Elle met Aunt Monica yesterday, which was so much fun for everyone! She loves her aunt so much!

Andy and I (and Papa Swan & Gmom) are learning the ropes and everyday seems a little easier and our hearts grow more full. I really cannot believe this sweet baby is ours! Except when she cries (very loudly)... then it is obvious she is very talkative and loud like her parents.

Thank you God for this wonderful blessing!!!

1 Week Old

Elle was 1 week old yesterday! It is crazy to think that it has only been a week since her birth! It feels a lot longer! I am sure that is because of the stress of figuring out her feeding, sleeping and crying! But she is a really good baby! I am getting more sleep since my parents are here so that is helping a lot!

Today was Elle's first Ped visit! She was "perfect" as the Ped said! She has gained a half pound since birth which is great since babies lose weight after they are born. The Ped also said I could start letting her sleep through the night if she would and I almost kissed the Ped! I really hope Elle feels like sleeping at least 5 hours during the night! Andy and I would be so happy!

Here are some pics from the past few days...

At Home

Thank you all so much for your wonderful well wishes, calls, texts, emails and visits! It has been a crazy couple of days - trying to figure out how to be new parents - but it has been so wonderful!

Elle is doing great! She is so loving and cuddly and has loved all the visitors holding her! She does have some powerful lungs and we are also figuring out what each cry means! I have added some pictures of the past two days including some of her "first" experiences and the visitors that she loved to hold her!

Andy and I realized we did not email out the origin of Elle's name! She is named after Cara's grandmother Elizabeth "Betz" (and Cara has a cool aunt Beth!) and both Andy and Cara's moms have the same middle name, Ann. When she arrived we had three different girl names picked out and this one seemed to fit her best!

We will be catching up on returning calls and emails... but we want to thank you all so much for thinking of us! I really cannot express how blessed we feel - all of you are tremendously thoughtful family and friends.

A new child is certainly such a beautiful blessing from God!

She's here!

Hi all!
We are so excited! IT'S A GIRL!
We are so excited to see Elizabeth Ann Barfield!
She arrived at 10:25 AM on Sunday, April 6, 2008.
She weighed in at 7.1 lbs and is 20 3/4 inches long.
She has a full head of black hair! She is a cutie pie!
Check out the pictures!

1 Week and 1 Day Overdue

Good morning!

Here is my 41 weeks picture! This is amazing that the baby is still just hanging out! At the Doctor on Thursday the baby had a stress test (Doctors orders because it is a week past the due date) and all was well. The Doctor said the baby was very healthy and very active! But I still had not done much in the way of dilation!

We have had a good week! I got to work one more week and Andy and I have spent a lot of time eating, walking and sleeping! :)

I am having contractions this morning but the jury is still out if this is the real deal or not! Andy and I are about to head out to our favorite breakfast place!

Maybe we will meet the baby this weekend!

Overdue!

The due date was yesterday and the baby is not here yet!
Mers and Robert are visiting from Colorado and it is sad that they did not get to meet the new addition! Here is a picture from last night!

I am feeling great but I am starting to get swollen! My feet, ankles, and legs are looking pretty big! This morning Mers, Robert, Andy and I walked the 3.2 mile loop at the park! It felt good to go so far! But I have my feet up this afternoon!

So no news yet...

39 Weeks!

Happy Easter Sunday to you!

This gorgeous sunny afternoon in Atlanta highlights the beauty of this day of celebration for our Lord, Jesus resurrection! We are so blessed on this Easter Sunday!

Things are still going great here! I have not yet dilated so five more days until 40 weeks seems very possible! I am excited that that it looks like I have one more week at work before the baby comes! We will keep you updated with any changes!

Thank you, Jesus, for this new baby, these blessings and for the life you gave me by laying down your own. I love you.

38 Weeks!

Just 14 days left - but who is counting?!

We had a Doctors appointment today and got good news! I am not dilated yet so this baby has a good chance of going full term and staying where he/she is for 2 more weeks! I am very happy about that! And I am not too uncomfortable yet, although the uncomfortable things are starting to happen. My legs and ankles are swollen and the extra 45 pounds are making exercising like walking and riding the bike harder! :) Today the Doctor said, "Everything looks good... your blood pressure, your measurements... but the scale is not your friend!" She is so right! I gained 4 more pounds this week! She was pressing my swollen legs and saying that a lot of it was water weight in my legs. Just gorgeous! My belly measurement was the same as last week so that is an indication that the baby has dropped a little. I could tell by all the extra bathroom breaks I am taking lately!

So things are great! Here is a picture of my belly this week!

37 Weeks

This is going by so fast! We just cannot believe it is week 37 already!
We went to the Doctor this morning and everything looks great - I am measuring on target - my belly measures 37 inches from top to bottom and it is supposed to measure at the week that you are pregnant. So we are good to go! The Doctor also thinks the head is down so that is great as well.

I am feeling great so I look forward to three more weeks of good health! Andy already has our bags packed, the car seat in and pretty much everything else he can do is done (and has been for weeks!). We are very excited but enjoying these last few weeks of just the two of us!

Why a blog?

Hello!

After my Mom and Dad said that they wanted to get a webcam to be able to see the new baby, Andy and I realized we needed to bridge the gap between our new family and all of our friends and family that live so far away!

We will be updating this blog with pictures and stories!

We are excited to be able to share this with all of you!

Do we still need to get a webcam? :)