10 and 11 weeks old!

The summer has really flown by for the Ellis Family! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing Claire home from the hospital. Now its time for Laura to head back to work and for Jeff to take over watching Claire during the day. We are so thankful and excited that Claire will be able to stay at home with her Daddy! We're sure you'll hear about all of their adventures together!

Jeff's brother, David, "Uncle D", has been visiting from San Diego, where he is stationed as a Marine. He has been with us for the past 10 days and Claire has really enjoyed having him around! The last time he was here for a visit, Claire was born! David could hardly believe how much she has changed since he last saw her at only 1 week old! Jeff and David have had fun golfing, bowling, and working on some projects around the house. David will be completing his time with the Marine Corp in late December when he will drive cross-country with Jeff, back to Virginia. We can't wait for him to be home for good!


Grandma Patsy and Grandpa Mike (Claire will decide what she'll call all of her grandparents but we'll refer to them this way on here!) came all the way from Maryland to visit 2 weekends in a row-what a treat!! Aunt Kim came to visit the first weekend as well (see below). Boy did we have a house full-both of family and puppies-5 dogs and 7 Ellis'! We had a great lunch at Firebirds, homemade breakfasts and lasagna dinner, trips to the bowling alley and Target, a rained out trip to the Busch race, and lots and lots of laughs! Claire loves to hear them sing to her!

We will never forget Labor Day Weekend because it was when Claire started sleeping through the night and sleeping in her own room! She usually heads to bed around 8/9 pm and sleeps until 3:30 am! Jeff and Laura feel like new people with all that uninterrupted sleep :) She wakes up for a feeding and then heads back to sleep for another several hours, usually waking up around 8:30 am. This will work out perfectly when Laura goes back to work because Jeff will get to start the day at the gym while Laura gets ready for work and Claire snoozes away!

Over the past 2 weeks, Claire has also started going longer inbetween her feedings...anywhere from 3-4 hours during the day...and is on much more of a predictable schedule. She has officially grown out of her newborn clothes (sniff sniff!) and is filling out her 3 month outfits so nicely! At her 2 month check-up she was 10lbs 6oz and 22 inches long. We won't go back to the pediatrician until she is 4 months old, however we predict that she is just under 12lbs at this 3 month mark!

This past weekend while Grandpa Mike and Grandma Patsy were visiting, Grandma Becca and Great Grandma Ash came to visit too! Ash brought Claire a beautiful pink blanket that she had handmade herself. Claire loves to be cozy and warm when she's napping so this blanket will be perfect for her. Claire gave both of them lots of smiles inbetween her naps!

Claire just loves playing on her Rainforest Activity Mat! She really likes watching the overhead lights blinking and coos at the monkey and butterflies hanging down above her. She smiles a lot these days and is especially happy both first thing in the morning and after her middle of the night feeding! Her legs are constantly moving! She is becoming quite the photogenic little girl, as Laura is always snapping away with her camera. We are working on increasing her tummy time, not her favorite pasttime. She holds her head up very well when someone holds her but she doesn't quite lift up her head when she's on her tummy yet. She moves it from side to to side but we are still trying to convince her how great it will be when she lifts her head up in front of her! We're sure she'll do it when she's good and ready :)

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the past 2 weeks!