Aunt Erin comes to visit for week 3! What will we do when she's gone?!

 Ellie was VERY excited to receive her very own Berry from Grandma Heidi and Grandpa Guy.

 Aunt Erin is here! Aunt Erin is here!

 Ellie goes for the inaugural ride in her Chariot dressed for success.

 Mommy and her snoozing little Ellie.

 Sisters hiking at Kinkaid.

 Tummy time!  Ellie did a great job working on her push-ups.

 Ellie in her bear hat... happy as can be.

 Hike to Byron glacier.

This avalanche debris has shrunk over the summer with each visit... however this ~50 ft tunnel still remains.

 Ellie's most favorite thing to do is bounce on the yoga ball.  When she is fussy, which is often these days, the yoga ball calms her right down.

We introduced a pacifier today!  It did the trick... for 30 minutes.  We'll see how it goes from here.

Almost 3 weeks old!

Our little Ellie today.

Moving on to week 3!

Ellie is now two weeks old and believe it or not Annie and I have already noticed she has grown and have reminisced on the "days when she was SO TINY!"  Now she has crested 7lbs 5 oz.

Annie making fun of Ellie's "fencing reflex".  All babies, when turning their head to one direction will instinctively extend that arm and curl the opposite arm up...weird instinct but Ellie does it all the time!

Annie and I swore that Ellie was looking across the room at Annie cooking right after we took this photo.  She is definitely looking at stuff now!

Week 2!

Moving into week two, all is well!  Ellie is bringing some new challenges. The primary one being gassyness.   While awake or asleep, Ellie will periodically groan for 15 min or so, until she starts crying and we console her. Then suddenly, without warning, she will fart loudly and poop powerfully, spontaneously bringing a smile to her face for the next 1.5 hours.  This has event has occurred sans diaper and also while taking a bath with me today...  How Ellie manages to do this, while still convincing me that she is the greatest living thing on this earth baffles me.  With these minor troubles (which we are dealing with), we are still having a ton of fun with little Ellie, now often called "squirmy b."

Note her awesome vest, a hand-me-down from friends Pat/Caroline.  Captain of the Universe-Space Dept.

Ann Wahr made us the amazing quilt which has taken up residence either on the couch or floor.  Ellie seems to be able to see and appreciate the patterns, which was very exciting.

This was Annie's first day in "normal clothes."  And if you ask me, lookin' pretty darn good for 1 week post-delivery!

The fam!

Annie doing her best Ellie impression.

Days 6 and 7! Our little girl is 1 week old!!!!

Look at that smile!  Evan and I spend as much time as we can every day just sitting with our little girl, watching her make faces, and finding ourselves overcome with smiles ourselves when she makes a face like this!

 Like her dad, Ellie loves to be in a bed of fleece!

After Evan took this photo he said, "I just took a true family portrait, " i.e. this is what parenting looks like: mom laying on the floor with a very sore back, dad all smiles as his little angel looks up at him.

 ... though I'd say I look like this more of the day... all smiles with my little Ellie.

 One of our favorite Ellie activities with Ellie is dancing with her as she gazes up at the lights.

We had our first 'road trip!'  We drove to Gridwood, walked around a bit, then attempted a short walk out to Bird Point. Ellie is the one inside the down jacket.

 We have had BEAUTIFUL weather in Anchorage the last few days... most of which we have only been able to enjoy through our windows.  But, the last two days, we have bundled Ellie up and laid on the grass in our front yard to enjoy the fall weather.

Look at those tiny hands.

 .... kissy faces.

... and more kissy faces.

Evan and Ellie

One week of knowing my sweet sweet Ellie and one week of knowing my dearest husband as a dad.  Both have already enriched my life and given me more joy than I ever could have imagined!