The Summer of Us...

As my 'summer break' is coming to an end I've been overcome with emotion. My first emotion is gratitude. I have been so incredibly blessed to spend these last four months getting to know Elli and experiencing all the ups and downs of becoming a mother for the first time. I also feel grateful that Greg and I were able to spend Elli's first couple of months together as a family. The timing was really a God send (literally) and I'm so glad that Greg was off for the summer when Elli arrived. I can't imagine how people do it on their own...kudos to all of you! I also feel so overwhelmed by all the love and support I've received from our family and friends. We haven't wanted for anything these last few weeks - from gifts for Elli to dinners for Greg and I, people have been so generous and thoughtful.

As I figured, I am also feeling sad...almost 'bittersweet'. I'm excited to get back into the swing of things at work - I have a job that is satisfying and work with people who constantly make me laugh, so my sadness isn't about going back to work. I think it's more about missing out on what I've so enjoyed these last few months - I haven't missed anything when it comes to Elli. Pretty much every cry, every coo, every laugh, every everything I've been there for. When Elli was waking up from her first nap yesterday I went into the nursery to get her because she was fussing a bit. As soon as she saw me she scrunched up her eyes, laughed really loud and gave me the biggest smile. I am sad that I might miss some of those belly laughs. I have to remind myself often that I am lucky enough to have Friday's off and that it's my day to spoil and love on Elli...and that I am going to be a better mom and wife for working (I've learned that as much as I've enjoyed being home the reality is that I am not stay-at-home mom material). I am so lucky that two people who I adore more than anything are going to be loving on Elli in my absence. Our babysitters - Ehrin and Kelly - are terrific moms and amazing people. I feel so blessed that the schedule and timing is going to work out...definitely a God thing.

My other range of emotions include guilt, excitement, and about fifty other things that are hard to put into words. I am lucky that I have a lot of working mothers to look up to...both at work and in my personal life.

This has been the best summer of my life. I love being a mommy. I love that God blessed me with the child He did - Elli - who is such a good and sweet baby. More than anything I would say that this has been the summer of us...and such a blessed summer it was.

Nicholson Friday Family Fun

We are starting a new tradition at our house...Friday Family Fun Night. I was mentioning to my accountability partners that it seems like Greg has been so busy since school started and he's going to get even busier once coaching starts. One of them suggested that I get really intentional about family times as well as date nights for just Greg and I. I kept thinking about this idea and asked Greg is he was up for a weekly family night for just the three of us. He was game and we created a few rules...

1. The whole family has to agree on all of the rules.

2. No boxing, sparring, fighting, arguing, etc.

3. At least two Fridays a month must be dedicated to just the three of us hanging out.

Sub-rule: Pizza is encouraged, but not mandatory.

We ended up walking about a 1/2 mile to a little pizza joint by our house...the Pizza Shack by the Tracks. It is truly a shack and the service was about as hole in the wall as it comes, but the food was yummy and Elli was awesome on the walk there (on the way back Greg carried her most of the way...she must have been tired of her stroller by that point). Once we got home we put Elli to bed and Greg and I busted out the Monopoly game. We had so much fun...and I took Greg for all he was worth...literally! Having all four railroads was my key to success. :) We tried to take a silly picture to commemorate our first Family Fun night. Not sure if you can tell but Elli was not thrilled about this pose.

SUPER FUN ELLI NEWS: She rolled over yesterday! Elli seems to really enjoy laying down and being talked to (i.e. on her changing table) so I put her on a blanket in the middle of the floor yesterday morning and as we were playing she rolled over on her side a few times. I went over to my sister's to hang out with her, her kids and my mom yesterday afternoon and as Elli and Owen were laying on the floor together she rolled all the way over. I wasn't sure if it should officially count because her arm was stuck under her, but my sister said it did and my sister has been my baby coach for the last year so I take her word for gold. Elli showed Greg when he got home from school yesterday...although it wasn't as good as her roll at Ehrin's. She's getting so big, and of course she's a genius and way advanced physically and mentally for her age (written like a proud mama, huh?!).

We celebrated Greg's birthday with his family on Sunday afternoon (bummer about the Bears). The Nicholson's were very gracious about my futile attempt to cook a big meal (the meatloaf was overdone, the potatoes were underdone, but the deviled eggs were delicious - yea!!). Addie enjoyed our jumperoo...she was jumping like crazy and quite adorable. We were so glad to be able to spend some time with her. She just gets cuter and cuter.

As I was cooking dinner last night I glanced out the window to see what Greg and Elli were doing and saw them on the hammock. I think both of them were pretty near a nap. When I saw them together my heart gave me love pangs (an articulate way of saying that I got overwhelmed with love). I'm the luckiest girl in the world...being a mom is the most amazing thing and having Elli has made me love Greg even more, which I wasn't sure was possible.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is Greg's birthday. All he really wanted was a Bears victory. I'm so bummed for him that it didn't happen. We do, however, have some cute pictures of Greg and Elli sporting their Bears outfits. I put Elli in her Chicago Bears cheerleading outfit for church this morning to suprise Greg (he gets to church early to practice with the worship team). We thought she looked pretty cute.

We hung out with my parents and sister's family on Saturday. Grace's preschool participated in a parade on Saturday afternoon. She was too cute...and grandpa was quite a sport pulling her in the wagon. Grace was great at flashing her big blue eyes at the other parade participants to collect candy. We had quite a pile by the time it was over. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures of Grace (I was taking video instead). Here's a cute picture of Ehrin and Owen as we were watching the parade go by.

Babies, babies everywhere...

We had pictures taken at our church for the directory on Sunday afternoon, so we snapped a few pictures of Elli in her robe as we were getting her ready.

Elli's 3 Month Pictures

We took Elli to get her three month pictures on Monday morning. After a late night of screaming on our victorious Bears I wasn't sure I was ready for it...thankfully (I'm being very selfish here) my parents plans were cancelled and they came to offer me moral support. Unfortunately, the pictures ended up being when she should have been napping and she was super sleepy and then super mad about it. Despite Elli's not so happy mood I think we got some really great pictures. I am a tad bit biased, I do realize this.

If you are interested in seeing the pictures I'm hoping you'll be able to log-in using the following information...

To get started, click below and enter your Customer Name (Carrie Nicholson):https://www.smilesbywire.com/home.asp?AC=LTPP0567102541JCP or go to http://www.smilesbywire.com/ and enter the following:Customer Name: Carrie Nicholson
Access Code: LTPP0567102541JCP

You'll note that you have to spell my first name wrong in order to get in to the site. Let me know what you think! I will have the pictures on September 20th so I'll be passing them out in the next couple of weeks!

Weigh-ins and giggles...

I took Elli to be weighed in this morning and she is officially at 10 lbs. Woo hoo...double digits! I've been tracking her weight gain for the last couple of weeks and she's been exactly where she should be. Yea! I finally feel like we can breath easy...it's been a struggle to get Elli to gain weight but this last month has felt so much easier...and Elli has a leg roll! Greg and I celebrated that leg roll! I keep telling her this is the one time in her life that thunder thighs and lots of rolls are quite adorable, but I respect the fact that she prefers a slim figure. Hopefully she has her daddy's metabolism.


I was raising holding Elli up and laughing today and she giggled at me. I kept doing it and she would give me a short laugh each time. She giggled a couple of weeks ago at Mamaw Sally. I loved it.


Here's a picture of Elli during her tummy time yesterday (which she pretty much hates...it's only second to when I read to her...unfortunately for her, I'm not going to stop doing either). It's hard to believe that she is going to be three months tomorrow!!

It's official...we are now bloggers!

Well, I swore I'd never be a blogger because our life isn't that interesting that someone would actually want to go online to read about us...and then on June 6th our life became so incredibly interesting with the addition of our beautiful baby girl, Elliot Rose. Elli is amazing. Every day she confirms how incredibly blessed we are to have her in our life.

I was so hesitant (for lack of a better word) for her to start growing...I wanted the baby stage to last forever. A good friend of mine told me that I needed to stop thinking that way and to enjoy every moment as every stage in Elli's life will get better and better. She was so right. Elli is so strong - she's been holding her head up since about day 10, loves to 'walk' across the floor with Greg's help and loves to watch the world. She smiles and coos...Greg and I savor it every time.

Having Elli has made me truly realize how blessed we are to have the family and friends we have. Elli loves her grandparents more than anything...it's so great to see her with them (and a nice break for mommy and daddy). We are looking forward to the day when Elli and her cousins become BFFs. We love our nieces and nephew so much and it's been a great experience to go through everything with Ehrin and Sara.


Elli's not going to have much choice but to be a Chicago Bears fan. Her wardrobe of pink is gradually become more orange and blue. She's already seen the team in action at the Chicago Bears training camp. Elli and I are both hoping that they have a good season...Greg just seems so much happier when they win. :)