Merry Christmas!

Christmas this year was undoubtedly a special one for us, and one certainly to be remembered as we celebrated the holiday cherishing the precious little addition to our family. For us, our Christmas present arrived in October and this year's Christmas served as a reminder of how lucky we are to have Ella in our lives. Every day she enchants us with her giggles, her cheeky smiles, her pouting lips, and her little personality that has permanently charmed her parents. Needless to say, we are in love with our little daughter who puts smiles our faces and warms our hearts constantly.
The Christmas celebrations started on the 23rd at the Abbott's home for the yearly Christmas party. And what fun it was! We look forward to these Christmas parties each year as it gives us the opportunity to be with some of the most wonderful families, many, if not most, of whom have been friends with the Buehrig's for the last 30 years. This year was particularly neat as it marked a whole new era; there were little babies and kids galore! The next generation is beginning to grow....
We relaxed quite a bit on Christmas Eve; Erika and her mom treated themselves to manicures and later that day our friends Keith and Cory stopped by to meet Ella. The visit was short but it was good to see them! Later that evening we attending mass and were joined by the Mercantini's, Mrs. Fay, and Meg for a fun evening at Erika's parents house for a Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas day couldn't have been more perfect - it started late morning and we enjoyed opening presents, eating the Buehrig's traditional Christmas breakfast, and just enjoying the day by lounging around the house and doting on Ella. Ella received her first baby doll which is truly bigger than she and Tim was speechless when he realized a small TV he opened up was a miniature representation of a real LCD flat screen television....a very very generous gift from both our parents. Tim loves it for the football games, Erika loves it because it's created more space in their little living room! To each their own!
The Christmas holiday didn't end on the 25th - the Carlson's, with Monica and her boyfriend Olivier, arrived from Williamsburg on the 26th. We had a relaxing afternoon with them by the fire in our condo and spent time opening up Christmas presents (it was all about Ella, of course!) and just enjoyed being with Tim's family. Later afternoon, we took a trip to Reston Town Center for a few pre-dinner beers and oysters before enjoying a yummy raclette dinner - a Carlson Christmas tradition and one of our favorites! The next morning, we headed up to Morristown, NJ to visit Tim's relatives. Ella received further adoration from her extended family members and we all enjoyed being together. The Burkharts hosted a tasty dinner on Thursday night and we enjoyed a fantastic meal on Friday. The days flew by too fast but it was wonderful to see everyone!
We'll be home for the new year as we plan on these last few days of 2007 to be relaxing and slow-paced. This has been a big year for us; the highlight of course being the birth of Ella - we'll cherish the remainder of this year but look forward to good times ahead in 2008!

Click here to view some pictures from our Christmas!

Tulsa, OK and Ice Storm 2007

The Carlsons visited Erika's wonderful family in Tulsa, OK this past weekend. We wanted to share our little daughter with her great grandmother (Nana) and her many cousins, aunts and uncles. Ella handled the airplane ride very well and thoroughly enjoyed being held, bounced and gawked at by the Hinson and Marlow clans during our extended stay. I say extended stay because we were held captive by an incredible ice storm that rumbled (there was thunder!) into town on Sunday. Tim was supposed to leave Sunday evening, but instead returned late Tuesday evening with Erika, Ella and Aquina. All during the night on Sunday and into Monday were the sounds of ice encrusted tree limbs snapping off and crashing to the ground like giant chandeliers - terrifying. Erika's cousin Cory had one smash through his bedroom window inches from his head! About 80% of Tulsa lost power (including the airport for 12 hrs on Monday). We made the most of it by huddling around fireplaces, eating lots of good food and shopping at the mall that, by the grace of God (in some eyes), retained power. Anyway, it was a trip we'll be recounting to Ella many times over.

Below are some picture from Tulsa but click here for MANY updated pictures from November and December. Sit back, relax (grab a drink, or two), and enjoy!

4 generations of beautiful women


Nana's backyard on Monday morning

Something to Blog About

It's been quite awhile since our last blog post. Since then, we've had a pretty busy few weeks! Where to start!?!?

The weekend before Thanksgiving took us to Smith Mountain Lake to meet our good friends Shea and Jim for the weekend. Not only was this Ella's first weekend trip away, but she was also introduced to Shea and Jim's little baby Brady, just 3 weeks older than Ella. Erika and Tim might have met their future son-in-law! It was neat to be back to the house since just several months before, both Shea and Erika were pregnant and they were cons babies. So much has changed! While the girls stayed at home and enjoyed a relaxing Saturday afternoon (relaxing? Hmmm, that could possibly have been one of Ella's MOST fussiest days of her short little life....how convenient!) with the babies, Tim and Jim were cheering on the Hokies to watch them beat Miami. We've decided however, that next year both Ella and Brady will be old enough to attend the game, too - the mommies won't be left out again!

The following weekend was Thanksgiving and Ella's second road trip to her grandparents house in Williamsburg. We arrived on Wednesday evening and Erika's parents and brother arrived the following morning. Plus, it was Grant's first introduction to his niece Ella! We all had a great time together - ate lots of great food, did a little shopping on dog street, walked through W&M campus, saw some beautiful sunsets from the Carlson's dock, and just relaxed! On Saturday, we drove to Suffolk to spend the day with Camille, Ryan and their two girls Peyton and Anne-Perry. Of course, the girls did some shopping (so hard to resist) while the guys stayed home with the kids (Ella included) to watch some college football.

The following week was very exciting as we welcomed Monica home from Africa on the 29th. And like Grant, it was her first chance to meet Ella! Monica snuggled up with us in our cozy abode for a couple of days until the Carlson's arrived on Sunday for the day to take her back to Williamsburg. It was also a busy but fun weekend, too - our friend Ami arrived in town from Charleston to surprise Sandra for her 30th birthday dinner which was so much fun! On Saturday, Meredith and Erika hosted Christi's baby shower at Erika's moms house - it was a wonderful celebration for the expectant arrival of little baby Claire. . .due on January 18th. Christi is getting close!

This week wraps up Erika's last week of classes from the fall semester....and so nice it is! With the last paper handed in this past Monday, the semester's work is over. She'll have about 5 weeks off to enjoy the holiday season before returning back to school in mid January.

Tomorrow, we're off to Tulsa, OK to visit Erika's relatives....this will be Ella's first airplane trip (can breastmilk be spiked??) so we're hoping all goes well. But we're looking forward to seeing the family and Ella will be meeting her GREAT-grandmother..pretty amazing!

Speaking of Ella....she is doing so well! We took her to the doctor's today for her vaccinations and like all babies, she exercised those lungs of hers during the shots (she had three of them in her little thighs!). It was tough for us to watch but it all went so quick and she stopped crying immediately after we picked her up and hugged her. And she is growing, too...right on track! Today, she weighed 11.4 pounds and measured 23 1/4 inches - our little baby is growing so fast! She's already outgrown her newborn onsies that Tim bought for her when we brought her home from the hospital! It's so hard to believe. But she's healthy and developing just perfectly - 70 percentile for height, 60 for weight, and 50 for head circumference. Her personality is really devloping, too - she has the most cutest smile and just grins ear to ear. It's pure joy to see. Plus, she's able to focus on us and direct her eye gaze at noises but has been just great to see. She's a beautiful little baby, we are just in love. Although we're still working on her day time naps, she has been sleeping 6-7 hours consistently at night for the past 3 weeks or so and pulled in a 9 hour night last weekend! Wow! Needless to say, she woke up happy but HUNGRY!

So that's about it for now! Check back soon for an updated web album revealing pictures from the last month - take a look and enjoy!

One more post for today....

Here are a few pics of Ella's nursery...all bedding, window valance, and blanket are the amazing work of Eva. She worked with Erika over the past month or so to pick out patterns (Erika really wanted toile) and much to our delight, it all turned out just PERFECT. We love what Eva did! Erika has been convincing her to go full-time as a seamstress :) Although there's still some work to do in the room (you can't see the extra boxes hidden from the camera's view!), we put some of the finishing touches to Ella's room last night and voila! Here it is!

Crib (not sure why the picture is so crooked!)

Laundry Hamper

Close up of crib - notice the beautiful bed skirt!

Inside of crib with bumper and pillow

The big picture!

Ella's shelf

Weekend Updates

We had a pretty busy weekend! Tim, Pat, and Kit Campbell drove up from Richmond to meet Ella and we all enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with them. They got to see the condo and then we enjoyed a great lunch at the Reston Town Center. It was so great to see them! Later that afternoon, Tim went to Kayleigh's 1st birthday party while Erika went home to tend to Ella duty :) That evening, we had our good friends Greg and Andrea over for dinner....our first dinner guests in our condo! Ella behaved particularly well that evening so it was nice to enjoy the time with our old neighbors. There visit was an extra treat for Cooper since Arlie made an appearance. The two buds were together again!
On Sunday, the Carlson's arrived for a visit and saw Ella for the first time since she was born. For us, they were such a big help...Tim and Rick took a trip to Home Depot to buy some necessary items for the condo while Erika and Mary Ann got the condo organized by hanging pictures and sorting through the last of the boxes. And wow, what a difference. Finally we don't have junk piled against the walls and layered all over the floor. Phew. It's finally starting to feel like home! But it was a real treat for them to visit and they also got some extra Ella time as they babysit her while Erika went to class on Monday. We'll be seeing them again soon for Thanksgiving!

For some more updated pictures of Ella over the past two weeks, click here.

Ella and her grandmother

Ella loves bath time!

Post bath picture with her grandmother!

Happy (Belated) Halloween!

Okay, so things have been slightly hectic for us recently. We moved back to Reston this past Thursday and are just starting to feel settled into our condo. Granted, the place is still a MESS and we still have alot of organization and work ahead but things are starting to work out. Luckily, the weather has been just perfect for us recently so when we've been getting cagey from unpacking and cleaning, we're able to get out for some nice long dog walks with Cooper and Ella.

But before the move, we celebrated our last night in Arlington on Halloween which gave us the opportunity to not only hand out candy to the neighborhood kids but to also dress up Ella in her first halloween outfit, compliments of our friends Keith and Cory. Now granted, we're a bit biased since we think Ella is the most beautiful and cutest little baby ever but if you need some convincing yourself, check out the below pictures (along with some other pics). Seriously. She is just too cute for words in her little outfit and certainly gave us a good laugh!

Also, we have some more things to celebrate! NO, Erika is not pregnant again :) But we want to first extend warm wishes to our friends MEG and MIKE who got engaged in Disney World last Wednesday. We are so exited for them as they begin to plan their wedding and lives together!
Second, many congratulations to MARTHA and JEFF who welcomed their first child, a little girl named Kathryn to the world on November 2nd. Kathryn made a late appearance so we know her parents are just thrilled to finally meet her! Once we get "approval" to post some of their baby pics to our blog, we'll get them out here to show everyone!

Ella in her first Halloween outfit - just too cute for words

Quack, quack!

Erika and her little "chicken"

The Carlson's - last night in Arlington!

Cooper tries on the chicken hat - nice fit! :)

Ella and Cooper

Cooper has fully adjusted to the new addition to the family as Ella often goes unnoticed by the unfazed Cooper who finds her antics not so entertaining any longer. He's even adjusted to the nightly feedings (and crying) and just continues his zzzz's. But that doesn't mean he'll miss out on his opportunity to pass a few kisses to Ella. While we've been busy with little Ella, we have not forgotten about our little Coopman! Below are some pics of the two of them. Also, we've updated Ella's gallery so feel free to check out the newly added pictures by clicking on her gallery to right of our blog.
As for the move, we're getting there. Last night, Tim and Erika celebrated Ella's 2 week birthday by unloading kitchen boxes and getting the cabinets organized. We're aiming to keep this move as easy as possible and trying to take advantage of any extra time by moving boxes over to the condo. The official move date is November 1st - less than a week to go!
This afternoon, we took advantage of the weather and walked Ella and Cooper up to Clarendon to shop around and enjoy the day. Ella, as usual slept the entire time in her stroller while Erika and Tim shopped around with Cooper. We sure are going to miss the walk and our neighborhood once we move but will just have to scope out some new trails once we get there!
Hope you all enjoy the updated pictures!

Cooper can't resist Ella...

...But she doesn't seem to mind!

All smiles for Ella while staying warm with Cooper

Kooper Kisses

Ella visits the doctor again

Today, Ella visited Dr. Weinstein for her second wellness exam. She continues to be a healthy little girl and although has not reached her birth weight yet, she did gain 6 oz since her last visit so now weighs 7 lbs 12 oz...right on track, the doctor says. She still remains our tiny little baby! Of course, she was not happy when her clothes and diaper had to come off for her weighing in and definitely did not like her belly button cleaned out (her umbilical cord already fell off last Wednesday!) but was easily consolable once it was all over. Good news: she is sleeping well at night...Bad news: she is NOT sleeping during the day. Hmmmm...this makes it tough on mom and dad, especially since mom has been trying to finish a major school paper! Hopefully she'll pick up a better sleeping pattern soon! We also visited our condo in Reston - just about done! Just a few super minor repairs and it should be 100% complete. We love our new kitchen...here are some pictures of it, along with Ella and her daddy at the doctors office:

Ella (11 days old) and daddy - just weighed in and waiting for Dr. Weinstein

Our little "princess"



New kitchen!

Looking good

Ella Update

Thought we would highlight some pictures from Ella's gallery that we thought were particularly cute! Although we had a rough night on Friday getting her to sleep, we made it up last night. Ella went to bed around 12:30am and slept almost 5 hours before waking up for her next feeding. Hooray! That was a blessing for mom and dad. She then went down again and woke up again around 8:30am. While we don't expect any major sleeping patterns just yet, we seem to be getting there. Regardless, we're just enjoying our little bundle of joy and are just in awe of how wonderful she is!

Ella wears pink!

Wide awake!

Tiny hands!

Ella's first bath

Ella did pretty good during her first bath - Mom and Dad are very proud of her. We think her hair may be a little blonder now that she's clean ;-).

Ella - Day 5

Ella has a couple of "busy" days! Yesterday, we took Ella to her first doctor appointment and boy, was she not happy! As soon as we had to take her clothes off for the weighing and exam, she screamed like crazy. Yikes! But, Dr. Weinstein was great with her and gave her a clean bill of health. He also said she was a very pretty baby - duh! As if her parents didn't know that! She lost a bit of weight since her birth but at 7 lbs 8 oz at her appoint, the doctor said the weight loss was completely normal. Plus, she's been busy breast feeding so that weight should hop right back on. After the appointment, we took Ella to her new home in Reston to see the completed kitchen (see pictures in Ella gallery) which is turning out really great, we are very pleased with it. Afterwards (yes, there is more!), we took her for her first stroller ride with Cooper and got lunch at Booeymonger where we sat outside and enjoyed the nice afternoon. Whew! Big day!
Today, we slept in until 12:15pm! But after not really getting to bed until 3am, we needed the sleep. We've discovered Ella has a "witching hour" of 12am-3am where she's difficult to put to bed...all makes sense given that is when she was probably MOST active in the womb. We're working on changing that schedule around! Ella had her second Cooper walk today in her Kozy Carrier - highly recommended to any mom out there.....it's been just great. It keeps her all cuddled up and immediatly knocked her out on a nice long nap. It'll be great for Erika to use on walks with Cooper without Tim and also around the house, too.
We posted a permanent "Ella Gallery" to our blog - see to the right side column. Feel free to check it out whenever, we'll try to keep it as updated as much as possible. Enjoy our little one, we sure are!

At home with Ella - Day 1

We just had to post a few pics of Ella that we took today. Ella allowed us a whopping 7 hours of sleep last night - she's become less fussy each day as she adjusts to her new world. We're hoping for a repeat performance tonight!

Ella Aquina Carlson, welcome to the family!

Ella Carlson was born on Friday, October 12 at 11:18pm! She weighed 8.1 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Mother and baby are doing wonderful, but we're all pretty tired after being up for 40 hours straight, including 24 hours of labor, phew! Erika was so courageous through it all and she's adjusting very well to motherhood. Ella is a big eater, apparently, and figured out the whole latch thing quite easily. The Carlsons got home today, Sunday Oct 14, around 2pm and introduced Ella to a very excited Cooper - let's just say Ella got her first of many tongue baths! Enjoy the pictures of our beautiful daughter below.

Ella Carlson

Updated Belly Shots - Maybe for the Last Time!??

So, no baby yet....BUT a doctors appointment this morning indicated that the baby is making progress now (finally!). No dilation, but the head has dropped from last week (+1 for all you preggers out there). . . some news is better than none! We also briefly discussed an induction date but they want to see how things progress by next week - we have another appointment on Monday. Either way, this baby is coming soon! Although she said she was no good at the weight guessing game, our doctor said it felt like it was around 8 lbs. So let's see, if babies gain 1/2 each week, an induction sure sounds nice! :) And finally, some new belly shots...

Also - take a vote! Check out our baby poll to the right.

The kitchen is almost complete!

Check out some recent pictures of our condo that were taken today. There's been some real progress since the last shots and we are so very pleased with the results thus far! As you can see, the remainder of the cabinets have been installed, the granite is in place, and the floors and backsplash are starting to get underway. Also, the entire place is getting a a new paint job - you can see the new yellow for the nursery, green for the master bedroom (we just loved the green we have now, we decided to go with it again!), and once the kitchen is finished, the rest of the house will be painted a neutral brown/linen color. We also had the ceilngs painted, too. Lots of work, but it's almost finished!

And still...no baby news! Sorry!

Still no baby...

Unfortunately, no news to share just yet! Seems like this baby is planning on making his/her introductions later than we expected. Just as well, though, we figure the baby will come when the time is just right. Luckily Erika is still feeling comfortable though and aside from considerable less stamina than before (those dog walks can be exhausting!), she's feeling great and has no complaints. The baby still moves around quite a bit and is just as active as always, although the punches and rolls have more power these days! But the parents-to-be are patient and just taking these last few days (hopefully not WEEKS!) easy in preparation for parenthood! Stay tuned! Maybe we'll get a chance to post one more belly shot before the big arrival, too!

Preparing the Condo for the move...

Kitchen renovations are under way already! Out with the old and in with the new! As you can see, we're still at the beginning stages but the new cabinets are starting to be installed and we had all our new appliances delivered today. It's all a still bit of mess, but as expected and we're excited to see the finished product. Tim met Erika's dad at the condo to put together the baby's crib - our first step towards getting the nursery started! We're having the nursery bedding made so that is underway and should be close to being finished soon after the baby is born although there will be some last minute touches as varying color fabrics have been selected based on the baby's sex. Slowly but surely we'll be settled...until then, we're enjoying our last month in Arlington anticipating the baby's birth!

Our new cabinets! It's hard to tell from this picture, but we also had the entire left wall removed to open up the kitchen

Yikes! What a mess. This would be our living room, aka "holding room" for cabinets and appliances. The kitchen is around the corner, on the right.

New fridge installed!

The crib! Just the start to getting the nursery prepared for Baby C.

Tim Turns 32!

Happy Birthday, Tim! His birthday was on September 26th and what a great day it was! His office coordinated a dual surprise baby shower/birthday party for him in which Erika was invited to attend. His work team was so generous with baby gifts (our registry is just about complete, now!) and really provided a warm and wonderful atmosphere to celebrate Tim's birthday and the baby's upcoming arrival. Tim swears he "knew something was going on" but his surprise was pretty genuine when he walked into the conference room for a "meeting."

That evening, we celebrated Tim's birthday at Carpool. Our friends Andrea, Greg, Shaun, and Molly joined in the fun and even though it was a Wednesday, the crew drank a Car Bomb in Tim's birthday honor...certainly Erika was absent for that toast! We all had a great time and enjoyed sitting outside. Continuing Tim's birthday, Erika took him out for dinner on Friday (see pictures below) to Beck's, a Belgium restaurant in DC which was just delicious. The restaurant has amazing decor, a huge assortment of beers, and a wonderful menu of great food. It was fun to get out to DC and we kept thinking throughout the night that Beck's might just have been the LAST DC restaurant we visit cons baby! Yikes!

Erika enjoyinng her Duck Congolese (and yes, a glass of red wine!)





Mmmm, mussels...

A little piece of heaven for Tim....

Smile!