I babysit Ellen on Tuesday ...

I'm fairly confident that this is what I'll be teaching her in between naps!

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Ellen also has some baby friends that might like to join in on the fun. Who else is interested in lessons?

More pics to share

Since January 1st, when Jill & I started our photo-a-day blog, The View Across Town ...
I feel like I can't post on this one without a great picture to match! I take pictures every day, and I feel that I've really made progress on my photography skills (which was my New Year's Resolution and the reason for the other blog). There are a lot of photos that I want to share, but not very many of them get seen by you all.

Here are a few of my second favorites from the last few weeks:










Enjoy!

Small babies, Medium babies and Large babies

Yesterday was a day of babies for me. I was lucky enough to go visit Becca & her 1 1/2 week old, Charlotte. Both Mom & baby were doing great and I had forgotten just how small new babies were. She was precious and slept the entire 1.5 hours I was there.
CONGRATS to Becca & Mark!

Small babies: Charlotte Spears
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After I left Bec & Charlotte, I headed over to Molly & Erik's to spend the afternoon with the girls. I walked upstairs to wake up Ellen and I was SHOCKED at how big she seemed compared to Charlotte. Those babies grow so fast, you hardly realize it!
Ellen looked very cute in her new "Kiss Me" shirt for St. Patrick's Day and I decided to put a bow in her hair. It was SUPER cute! We were off to go take lunch to Marie & Preston for a little play date.

Medium babies: Ellen Lund
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I'm not by any means saying that Preston is a LARGE child, but of the three babies I saw on Tuesday, he was definitely the biggest! I've been reading the blog all about Preston, so I feel like I am updated on him, but I haven't seen him in person since he was a newborn last summer!
Preston is so big & happy and he is very close to walking all on his own. He's a mover and he definitely keeps Marie & Clint active! It was fun to be around both babies yesterday and I hope we get to have more playdates this summer!

Large babies: Preston Hooker
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Five Aunties

Today was our girls' baby shower for Becca! It is so rare when the 6 of us can get together, so today was a real treat. Our moms were all there to help Becca celebrate ... and give lost of motherly advice.


Becca got some goodies for the baby, most importantly, some of her super cute crib bedding! Since Becca is the first of us to take on the role of Mom, we all get to sit back and learn from her. That also means that she gets to take advantage of the five Aunties that are anxiously awaiting the arrival of little _________. (Kreme, Grabe, Maebe, Bar, Beak, Reba, Mecca??? The list goes on and on!)

There were other great pics, but I'm too tired to post any more tonight. Thanks for a wonderful day, girlies ... safe travels to those of you that are heading back to your homes tomorrow!

Note to self :

After a crummy day at work, this is all you need to see to make it all better!

Ellen says, "Thanks Aunt Betsy for my new footy pj's! I love them, even though I'm still too small for the newborn size. My feet will probably end up curled up by my belly by the end of the night!"

We match the blog!

Went right after school to the hospital to check on everyone and see how they were doing. Molly looked great and said she was feeling well. Erik was off to meet his Dad at their house to set up the pack-and-play and Ann was there holding little Ellen. The report was that she had a much better day and was eating well and sleeping well. Molly said she was a bit cranky for the first time, but quickly fell asleep and was fine.

I knew that I could stay for a bit and then had to go let Minnie out before I was off to help get things ready for the "homecoming" tomorrow. The nursery still needs bedding & tools cleaned up and removed. [Hammers and nails are dangerous for a baby, right?] So, I had to make the most of my time with my little Ellen!

Here she is bundled up in my arms. I could watch the faces she makes all day and night! She likes to squint her eyes when you whisper to her. She scrunches her eyebrows when you move her position or unwrap her swaddling blankets. She makes all sorts of pouty lip movements, too. Hilarious!

Here she is wrapping her little hand around my pinky finger! This is really the first time I've seen her hands since all the shirts are too big and her hands have been hiding in the sleeves!

Then, Mom came to join us on her way home from work. Mom hadn't seen Ellen with her eyes open yet and when she finally opened them, she was facing the opposite way from Mom! All that hair is going to need a bow in no time at all!

This is the little Hugs security tag that Ellen will wear on her ankle while she's in the hospital. The day she was born, Erik was carting her to the new room and we quickly stepped out of the waiting room to see Ellen! The nurse that was with Erik said he had to keep moving away and get away from the elevators. If he stood there too long, and alarm would go off, because that would mean someone had a newborn and was waiting for the elevators. It's a good thing they've got a security bracelet on her, because she is precious cargo, and we don't want her going anywhere without her Mommy & Daddy!
Here's a tiny video of the first time I saw or heard Ellen fussing. Molly was changing her diaper (to wake her up a bit) and she was NOT happy. If you listen, you can hear Molly giving Mom a lesson on her diapers. Apparently, Mom has never seen a diaper! ;) I played this video at home and you should have seen the way that Minnie was staring at my camera. She couldn't figure out what was going on. I can't wait to see how she reacts to Miss Ellen in person! I'm sure she will be very gentle.


Tomorrow is the day she comes home, so the morning will be very busy with both Grandmas and myself running around to finish getting things ready. Can't wait for everyone to get settled in!

Etsy Deals of the Week - For a Baby Girl!

Since little Ellen is already here, I decided to speed up my Etsy Deals of the Week for new baby girl items! I've already done quite a bit of shopping on Etsy for the baby, but here are a few more things I found that I love!

I've had a great couple of weeks with sales on Etsy, so I like to be able to help fellow sellers any way that I can!

How great is this soft play block in fun fabrics?!? I am, of course, drawn the lime green and pink, but the sellers have many other great options. They make onesies, I Spy bags (you have to go check them out to see how great they are), burp cloths and more!

For those that wish they were crafty or great with scrapbooking! Knit1Scrap2 has made this pre-framed baby girl frame. All you have to do is open up the frame and put your own picture inside. Okay, not YOUR picture, but one of the baby! ;) There is also some room surrounding the picture spot where you could write in your own caption or the baby's info like birthday, weight, length, time of birth, etc. If your baby will be wearing blue ... there's a frame for him, too!

In the past, I have given Molly & Erik Christmas ornaments to represent things that happened over the past year. This year, Molly decided to forgo the big tree that normally goes up to save space and time! This new baby pea-in-the-pod ornament would make a very nice Christmas OR new baby present for a holiday baby! The artist will add lots of personalized information to the ornament at your request.


This Paris/Poodle Boutique burp cloth set is already hiding in Ellen's dresser drawers. I was searching for Paris-themed gifts on Etsy ... and there were a lot, but this one really caught my eye! The cute Poodle fabric actually has cursive names on it and guess what it included? Minnie AND Lulu! What a coincidence. They are very soft & well made. The other items made for sale have just as cute fabrics on them!

I thought this reversible baby sling looked really well made and had a cool, non-babyish fabric! The seller has MANY other great items, and when it comes to the slings, there are directions for measuring yourself to make sure you get the perfect sized sling!

When it comes to Christmas shopping this year, I try to go to Etsy first because you can find ANYTHING you want and buying it would mean supporting a crafty/local artist and you might be able to find it for less than you would buy in a major store!

I normally include something of my own in my Etsy Deals post, but I don't have much that is baby-related. :) Maybe my magnets to show baby pictures or kids' artwork.

As always ... feel free to let me know if you see something of mine that you would like in a different size or color. AND ... go browse around on Etsy! It's always nice to help local artisans out!

Surprise! I'm here early!

What a crazy/exciting/emotional/hectic/wonderful/amazing/unforgettable day!

It started out with me taking pictures of my classroom to show my new winter decorations (because I didn't think I had anything else to write about) ... and ... now it's ending with me having beautiful pictures to share of the new addition to the family!

Before the pictures come, here's a bit of how the day went.

Just a day or two ago, I gave Molly & Erik my work number. I thought they should have it just in case the baby came early and that way they could call school & have them transfer the call to my classroom. I knew it wouldn't get used because we all were expecting little Lulu to come after her due date ... maybe closer to a Christmas baby!

Then, yesterday I was telling one of my paras that I really should get my desk corner organized and be more prepared with lesson plans in case Molly was going to have the baby before school got out for Winter break.

Fast forward to this morning. I'm minding my business and getting ready to start teaching Math after specials when I notice that I've missed a phone call on my classroom phone. I realized it was Molly & called to check my messages immediately! This is the gist of what Molly said: "I'm being admitted the hospital right now. I'm having the baby sometime today. I'm fine. The baby is fine. DO NOT FREAK OUT! Do not leave work. Call me ... bye!"

Sooooo ... what did I do? I started freaking out. I tried to figure out how and when I could leave work. I immediately scurried around the building to get sub plans made & figured out.

During the day, I got calls from Mom & Molly tell me that things were going well. They were going to induce her this afternoon, but that could still mean that the baby came well into the night or even tomorrow. The next phone call was from Mom a little after 2:00. I answered during indoor recess and Mom said that Lulu's heart rate had dropped, so they were going straight to a C-section. There would be no waiting. No delivery. Just wanted to get the baby out as soon as possible. I was totally out of it the rest of the day. There were some tears because of happiness and because of how unsure I was of what was going on and how everyone was doing. Less than an hour after I got the call about the C-section, I got another call from Mom, "What do you want to know first?" Of course, it was her name! I raced to get things ready to be gone tomorrow and I left school when the kids walked out at 3:45pm.

After running home quickly to let my little baby out, I rushed to the hospital to find that everyone was still in the waiting room and nobody in the family had seen Molly or the baby yet. We waited a bit more because Molly wasn't feeling that well and the little peanut was under the "baby toaster" as someone called it tonight.

So ... without further adieu ... here are the pics from tonight.

Welcome, Ellen Hampton Lund! She's a beauty!! 6 pounds, 2 ounces. 17 inches long. Full head of hair and pink squishy cheeks! Both Mom & baby are healthy and doing well and we are so happy that today finally came!

All bundled up. That is 3 or 4 blankets. She looks much bigger here than she actually is and she was even tiny in her swaddling blankets.

Ellen, Grandma Lund & the proud Daddy!

Look at that smile on Mom's face! She came in to talk to Molly first and to see how she was doing. I immediately rushed over to see Ellen. This was the first time Mom was seeing her.

This is a great pic! So precious! Mom, I think Minnie's got some competition for most pictures up in your office. :)

Here she is with Dad. She was nuzzled up in that blanket so well, that we could sort of just pass her around. I'm sure there will be lots of open arms to hold her!

Both Grandmas and the new baby!

This will be the new background on my computer once I get back to school. Our first picture together!

Look at all her hair! Molly was born with A LOT of hair, but Mom thinks Ellen has even more. We peeled back her little hat so we could see, and E squirmed around a bit. I think it almost looks like one of those baby toupees from that SNL spoof commercial. Ha! Don't worry Molly & Erik ... I still love it!

The nurse unwrapped her to take her vitals. This was the first time we saw more than just her face. Teeny, tiny toes.

That tiny diaper sure does look big on her. After Molly talking for months about the idea that she might be too big for 0-3 month clothes, I was getting worried that she would already be bigger than all the clothes she had. Now I think we have the opposite problem: all the clothes are too big! Since I have the day "off" tomorrow, I'll shop around to see what I can find that might fit her for the first few weeks.

Here are some of us taking a food break. Molly was taking some time with Ellen alone and so the rest of us went back to the waiting room for d'Bronx pizza. We would have felt bad leaving her, but she couldn't have any food anyway! I didn't realize how hungry I was. I was so flustered today, that I didn't eat anything before this pizza at 5:45ish.

And then we came back to the room to find baby & Mommy doing well. Here is Ellen giving me the stink-eye since I was going a little camera/flash crazy. She better get used to it. I'm gonna be taking lots of pictures!

And here's the happy family! So precious! CONGRATS Mom & Dad & Baby Lund!

And one last picture for good measure! Be sure to come back ... I'm sure there will be many more updates! :)

Baby, oh baby!

This weekend was all about babies! We have two "McKnight" babies on the way. Actually, neither will be McKnights when they get here, because both Molly & my cousin, Caroline have new, married names.

Here are the two of them at Thanksgiving. Can you tell which Mom-to-be is due in less than 3 weeks?


Later on in the weekend, we had a family baby shower for Caroline & Eric. Here are the happy Mom- and Dad-to-be! We don't know yet whether the new baby will be a boy or a girl, so everyone was placing bets. I'm hoping for a boy! I think it would be so fun to have both a girl and boy within the year ... and right now the girls are FAR out-weighing the boys in our family!


And here are just some of the great presents they got at the shower to take home with them to North Carolina. It was SO fun to see you both! Good luck with the all the registering and nesting and getting ready for your little one to come!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

These are the reasons why:

REASON #1: Christmas came early for Miss Minnie. Friday night we went over to Adam & Jill's for a lazy evening of knitting & watching Christmas Vacation. Minnie's Aunt Jill & Uncle Adam couldn't wait any longer to give her the present they bought for her.

Here she is enjoying their vintage tinsel tree! Isn't it beautiful?!? I have a tiny one that is definitely NOT vintage, but I'd love one like this!


And here is her present. Minnie clearly needs help to start losing some of her winter weight. This was the large t-shirt, but it's pretty tight. How did my baby get to be such a chunk? She only gets 1.5 cups of food a day and rarely gets treats. I guess we need to make more of an effort to get out for our walks ... snow or shine!

REASON #2: I realized how lucky I am to have a carport this weekend. We've had pretty much constant snow since last night. It isn't much snow, but it's enough to stick to the ground and freeze up on windshields. See how clean my car was this morning when I went out?


My car could have been covered like this one. I'm a lucky duck. This means that I might be able to save myself some time in the morning when I leave for week days.

REASON #3: I brought all my Christmas decorations to my place from my parents' house. I started setting up last night in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, but finished tonight.



Next year, I think I'll have to get a bigger tree, because even though I really like my little tiny trees, I have a bunch of pretty larger ornaments that don't fit on the little babies. That will be my shopping challenge after Christmas. I'm hoping to find some good deals that I can store away until next year!

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekends as much as I did. Here's to 3 more quick weeks until my next holiday break ... and ... THE BABY! :)