first day out and about!

the locals have a tradition here that the mom and the baby can't leave the house at all for the first month after the baby is born. there are a ton of rules that go along with this such as the mom can't take a shower, eat certain things, the windows in the house have to stay closed, she can't watch TV or do anything on the computer, and a lot of others that i don't know about still. well, we opted not to follow that tradition, but we did wait till Eliana was one month to venture outside. we got a whole lot of trouble from everyone at the airport when we flew back here, so we knew that it would cause quite the scene if we took her out last week. plus, we wanted to give her (and me!) some time to adjust and grow a little bit stronger as well before we ventured out into the city. so, here is our first of many adventures!


Okay...shoes on...check...baby carrier...check...baby has all of her appendages covered...check...baby in carrier...check...okay, i think we are good to go!

on a side note...we got sooo many comments from the locals about the baby carrier. apparently, you are not supposed to hold that small of a baby upright but only horizontally. so, we did a big no-no by carrying her up right in this carrier. we also had to make sure that she was well covered for several reasons...one being that we knew that everyone would tell us she didn't have enough clothes on (which they actually didn't, so i guess i guessed the right amount), two being that it has been raining and the weather is actually a little bit cooler here, and three being that we didn't want any of our well meaning neighbors touching her hands or face since personal hygene isn't quite the same for them as it is for us. she really likes to suck on her hands, so we wanted to make sure we kept those clean!

our first stop was...McDonalds! i know, it's not very exciting and it certainly isn't very good for us, but it's one of the only restaurants that is non-smoking. so, we got our food and popped a squat in the corner where Eliana slept in her carrier and we enjoyed a nice quiet lunch.

then, the next stop was...the mall, where we tried to find a baby swing since she always wants to be held and we thought she might enjoy a swing. after we found one that was over 200 USD, we decided not to go that route and got ice cream instead at our Baskin Robbins! once again, we were told that you can't hold a baby that young this way, but we plugged up our little ears to such nonsense, Eliana kept sleeping (she loves this baby carrier!), and enjoyed our little scoops from the 31 flavors!!
and, we're finally home and ready for a nap...especially...
the Elly Bean!! look at that yawn!! or maybe she's getting ready to bite into a hamburger or something. whatever she's about to do, it's pretty impressive that she can get her mouth open that big!!

one month old!

As of today, our little Eliana is one month old! we are enjoying the lack of sleep, dirty diapers, and spit up along with the cute little grins, how peaceful she looks when sleeping, and how completely amazing it is to hold her in our arms!


enjoying some wiggle time on the special quilt her great aunt tina made her!
during her tummy time she likes to do what we call her airplane move where both her legs and arms go up at the same time. we couldn't get a picture taken quick enough though so she had already lowered her arms. it's quite funny to see our little Elly Bean balance herself on her tummy though! she's got such talent!
her first visitors!!
and her favorite place to sleep is....someone's chest!! she fights and fights sometimes, refusing to sleep anywhere but on top of someone. this particular afternoon, we gave up the fight, strapped on the baby carrier, and let her sleep on her daddy's chest since she had already missed one or two naps that day (can't remember how many exactly now!)
here's daddy trying to convince her that her bed is a nice place to spend some time!

we're back!!

yep, we're back in our city and settling into life. trying for some form of normalcy, whatever that is! So, far we are doing pretty good. she is a little on the fussy side, but that is to be expected give the fact that we just took her on an international flight, put her in a new place, and all at the young age of 2 weeks and 5 days old! she really did remarkably well on the flight home and slept a lot of the way, which we were very thankful for. at three weeks old, she has already been in two countries as well as to Starbucks (what would you expect from me and Vip?) 4 times! some people are 30 before they reach those statistics!!
so, here's some pictures from our trip home and the first few days back in our city. enjoy!!


her first airport trip! we were so glad that she liked her stroller!! traveling with a newborn and 7 pieces of luggage (including our carry ons) is not easy!!


snuggling with daddy in the airport


she even got her very own bassinet for the plane ride!!


home at last! here's our little elly bean sleeping in her own bed for the first time.


mommy and elly sit down to work on the computer!

her room! I have big things planned for her room at the next apartment (we will begin the search soon hopefully!), but for now we are pretty pleased with how bright and colorful it is.

eliana just loves her floor gym! thanks uncle josh and aunt sarah!!
isn't she just the cutest??
already an LSU fan!
her LSU outfits are still a little too big, but at least we have the LSU burp rag!! geaux tigers!!

Eliana Hope has arrived!!

Here's some fun pics of our little angel!! since I'm pretty pressed for time right now (we are in the middle of packing so we can fly back home tommorow, i'll let them speak for themselves and write about it all later. Hope you enjoy looking at one of the most beautiful baby girls in the whole wide world!! (yes, i am a little biased!)