Life By The River

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Aunt Sue saves the day

James went back to work after being off with us for 4 weeks. Luckily my Aunt Sue offered to fly up from LA and stay with us for that first week. She was a lifesaver.

Aunt Sue was so amazing with Ellery! Those two really bonded.
She also helped out so much around the house, made her amazing granola, made sure I had a chance to take naps and helped us run errands and make it to appointments.

We ventured downtown one afternoon.

These are the lactation specialists at Sutter that I've been seeing, Maggie and Katie. These women are amazing! They have been so encouraging. We've been going each week to check Ellery's weight and for them to check in with me about how breastfeeding is going. What an amazing resource we have in this community. I recommend seeing them for any mom who is breastfeeding for the first time!

Then, if I couldn't get anymore spoiled, my grandma offered to come stay with me the week after Aunt Sue. They overlapped by a day, so they got to visit with each other too. (Aunt Sue lives in LA, and Grandma Jan lives in northern CA). I'm am so thankful for these women in my life. They are full of wisdom and encouragement and love.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Behind the name

I've been meaning to share where the name Ellery comes from. James and I choose it because it is the name of a beautiful lake in the Sierras. Ellery Lake is in upper Lee Vining Canyon off of Hwy 120, outside of Yosemite. We love spending time in the Sierra's, and plan to take our kids there often, so we thought it fitting to name our little girl after a place that had so much meaning to us.

http://activesole.blogspot.com/2010/07/following-sierra-clouds-over-tioga-pass.html

<a href="http://www.flickriver.com/photos/buckforester/popular-interesting/">Buck Forester's most interesting photos on Flickriver</a>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfolio/3861450707/

We haven't run into the name Ellery in too many other places. In the 30's there was a popular series of novels about an amateur detective named Ellery Queen (a man). There is also a fun folksie band named Ellery that you can find on Facebook (but no one in the band is named Ellery). I've also just recently talked to two different people who know of an Ellery. So, she's not the only one, but we're not expecting her to run into too many other little Ellerys along the way!

As for Jade, we really like colored stones, and specifically the color green, and it seemed to flow well with Ellery...

So that is how our daughter came to be named Ellery Jade

more to come from this photoshoot by Peter Thomsen...

loved how precious she looked sleeping this morning...always sleeping with that mouth open

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Papa and Sweetie

Mike & Donna, now known as "Papa and Sweetie," visited us from Texas the second week in February. They are so excited about their first grandchild. Ellery had a great time with them.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

More visitors, bath time and a fussy face...

My sister Katie and her husband Wes came to visit over the weekend. Katie is such a proud Auntie.

On Monday our friends Ted and Christina Burrows came to visit, with their two girls Sophie and Amelia. Ted and Christina went to seminary with James in Vancouver BC.
It was cute to see the girls together.

Why the stunned look Ellery?!

I think she can't believe how good it feels to have a bath and be clean! (actually baths haven't been her most favorite thing...but we really hope that will change soon)

One of my favorite pics so far...what a precious face!

Fussy face

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A visit from her Great Grandparents and other adventures from Ellery's second week

Ellery's Great Grandparents came to visit over the weekend, as well as my Aunt Lynn and Uncle Dan.
This is Grandpa Chet, my dad's dad. It also happened to be his 81st birthday!
Below is Grandma Jan. She has already made several beautiful blankets and a carseat cover for Ellery. She is one of the most talented people I know.
I love seeing my grandparents with Ellery! What a lucky girl!

Shelby, Grandma Jan, Aunt Lynn and I taking a walk around the block with Ellery.

Ellery is going to get so much LOVE from her Uncle Jason and Aunt Shelby who live with us.

We ventured out to dog beach, for our own sanity and for Sheldon's sake. He is doing pretty well adjusting to less attention from us, but he definitely appreciated getting to go to the beach.