Weekend Fun!

Hi there,

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Greg, Elise, Chloe and I spent the day at my in-law's house enjoying the company and of course, the yummy food! It was really fun to celebrate the holiday with our new baby. Of course Elise was the main attraction...followed closely by the turkey and fixings! :) It's been so nice having Greg home for the long holiday weekend. We actually ventured out to a few stores yesterday for Black Friday and Elise was a complete angel. She's going to follow in her mommy's footsteps and be a great shopper...I can tell already! We've also started getting in the holiday cheer by decorating the house with Christmas decorations, putting our tree up and listening to Christmas music! Here's a picture of our sweet angel relaxing while we were hard at work today. She must've really enjoyed the Christmas music!!



I absolutely love Christmas and this year is going to be extra special since it will be Elise's very first one! I'm so excited to have a baby to shop for even though I know she can't open presents yet and has no idea what Christmas is!

Something else we are excited about is Greg's Birthday. Tomorrow he will be 28! Happy Birthday Greg!! You are an amazing husband and now daddy! Elise, Chloe and I are such lucky girls!! :) We love you!






That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Love,
Kim

A Few New Pictures!

Hi everyone,

It's been a busy couple of days here. Greg got home on Friday from being out of town all week and it was so nice to have him back! Friday night was a rough one; for some reason Elise was extremely fussy and did NOT want to sleep. Thankfully Greg took the morning duty so I was able to sleep for a few hours since I was up all throughout the night. We managed to run a few errands yesterday...it's amazing how much longer it takes to get ready and leave the house when you have a baby in tow. ;) Greg made a great dinner for my mom and I last night and we all just relaxed and hung out. Thankfully Elise had a much better night last night. She still woke up every 3 hours to eat but that is to be expected from a 2.5 week old! Greg was on daddy-duty again today for a few hours so my mom and I could leave the house and do a little shopping. I was in need of some new non-maternity clothes and surprisingly I hit the jackpot (normally when you're looking for clothes you can never find them)!!!!

Tonight we gave Elise a bath...it was only her second one since her belly button fell off and she seemed to handle it better this time. She actually relaxed a little and enjoyed it. Here are a few pictures: (I'm sure Elise will love that I'm sharing these with you!)





Elise drying off and staying warm:




Here she is enjoying her swing:




That's all that's new with us. My mom is leaving this Wednesday so I'm a little anxious about being alone with Elise. It's been so great having her here...she has been such a great help!!
Love,
Kim

Update!

Hi everyone,

Elise had her second week pediatrician appointment and everything went really well. She is back to her birth weight...and then some, weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces! She's now 21.5 inches long, so she's either growing a ton or is able to stretch out her little body more now that she's out of my tummy! ;) It's such a relief to know that our little pumpkin is doing well and thriving. It makes me feel like I'm doing things right because as a first-time mom, you just never know!

Greg is coming back into town tomorrow after being out of town for a week for work and I know he will practically recognize Elise since she has grown so much! Here's a recent picture of her sleeping in her bassinet. I love how she has her arms above her head!


We hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Kim

Two Weeks Old!

Hi everyone,

Today is officially Elise's 2 week birthday! I can't believe two weeks ago today she entered the world! While it seems like it just happened yesterday, it also feels like these past couple of weeks have been like 2 months. ;) Elise seems to be eating better and getting on somewhat of a routine, waking up every three hours to nurse. Her next pediatrician appointment is on Wednesday so I'm curious to see how much weight she has gained. Hopefully she will be back at her birth weight...keep your fingers crossed!

In other news, my sister came into town today from Atlanta. She's a proud new aunty and Elise loves her so much already! Here are a few pictures:






I had a postpartum appointment today and got a good report. My blood pressure is still on the low side but I feel good and seem to be gaining my energy back...the doctor is hopefully that in a couple more weeks I will be back to my old self! I have already lost 30 pounds...I know...how is that possible in two weeks?! Trust me, I gained a lot of water weight near the end of my pregnancy. I still have a few pounds to go to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight but at this point, I feel pretty good!

We hope everyone has a good week. Keep checking in for updates and more pictures.
Love,
Kim

1st Doctor Appointment!

Hi everyone,

Elise had her very first appointment with the pediatrician this past Monday. I was a little nervous since it was only the 2nd time we've taken her out in public, but she did great! She slept in the car on the way to and from the appointment and was very cooperative with the nurse and doctor while they were poking and prodding her. She has apparently already grown 3/4 of an inch so she is in the 70th percentile. She also lost 2 ounces, which puts her in the 24th percentile for weight, so our mission is to beef her up before her next appointment which is next week. That means more frequent feedings and for longer amounts of time. I swear, breastfeeding could be a full-time job!

Here's a picture of Elise ready for her first doctor appointment:

Here are a few pictures of Elise with her eyes actually OPEN!




That's all for now. We hope you are all doing well.
Love,
Kim

Update on our Angel!

Hi everyone,

It's been a few days so I thought I'd share an update with everyone. Parenthood has been terrific so far. Sleep is no longer a word in our vocabulary but I don't mind really. It's probably all of the endorphins that I still have from giving birth to such an angel. Speaking of angels, Elise is doing so great...she definitely likes to eat, which is keeping me busy. ;) We think she is just beautiful...I can't stop taking pictures of her! We have our first pediatrician appointment tomorrow morning so I hope it goes well.

Here are a few pictures of Elise. She's growing and changing everyday so I promise to continue to share more pictues with you soon!







Love,
Kim

Introducing...

Hi everyone,

Greg and I are home with our beautiful baby girl, ELISE DIOR PATTEE! She graced us with her presence on November 3rd, at 12:20PM and weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and was 20 inches long. Labor and delivery went really well, I was already 4cm dilated before they started the Pitocin so I was only on it for an hour and a half. The Pitocin strengthened my contractions obviously so I had an epidural soon after. I did experience several contractions so I could really appreciate the pain relief that came with the epidural. :) Here's a picture of me, right after getting the epidural. Notice the smile...




Soon after the epidural, I made a lot of good progress quickly and I only had to push on-and-off for about 30 minutes. After the last push I heard the sweetest cry from our baby girl. Here's our first family portrait, please pardon the puffiness in my face.



Unfortunately that's pretty much where our luck ended. I had a significant "repair" done after the birth, which was fine at the time since I still felt the relief from the epidural, but is now extremely painful. Also, after I was in our post-partum room the nurses could tell that my uterus was not contracting. Because of this I had a very significant blood loss and almost had to get a blood transfusion. I will spare you the details but it was the scariest and most painful 24 hours of my life. All I wanted to do was to hold and enjoy our new little bundle which made things even worse because I obviously wasn't able to.

We are home now with Elise and she is doing really well. We can't get enough of her and love her SO much. I am on several pain medications along with a large does of iron due to the extreme blood loss and thankfully I am feeling better. My mom and dad were here for the birth which made the after-birth situation a little easier to handle. Unfortunately my dad is back in Atlanta but my mom will be here until a few days before Thanksgiving, which will be a great help, and my sister will be here in a couple of weeks!

Enough about me, here are a few pictures of our sweet little angel, Elise.






Elise has been doing really well. I know that we are partial, but she really is a great baby. :) We've both gotten the hang of nursing and I think we are all in the clear now and things will only continue to get better and better. I love being a mommy and Greg loves being a daddy. We are so blessed to have such a healthy, beautiful baby!

Thank you all for sharing my pregnancy with me, Greg and Elise. We promise to continue to keep the blog updated with pictures, etc. so please check back often.

Love,
The Pattees!