Monday, Monday.

We are in the midst of some serious sleep deprivation, between general fussiness, gassiness and a possible growth spurt. All normal, I hear, but it's still enough to make me feel a little crazy at 3am. Thank goodness for my mom - just as I'm doing my best to keep Ellie calm, she is doing her best to keep me sane.

Ellie's umbilical cord stump finally fell off today (gross.) She was wearing a sleeper thing with an open bottom and it hit the floor while mom was holding her. I wondered what a baby could possibly drop (since it's not like she has any fine motor skills, or pockets in which to hide treasures) and there it was. Her next bath will be in her little tub!

In other news, today Lulu is seven. It's her made-up birthday, based on her approximate age when we adopted her. Lulu has been a sweet little girlfriend to me over the past three weeks, even though I don't have nearly the time to love on her that I once had. She's happy to snuggle up to me on the couch while I nurse, and if I lay down to take a nap, she's immediately at my side. When the baby's wailing, it's nice to have my little cat friend still purring away.

Baby Hiccups

Another video for your viewing pleasure. Sorry that it's sideways. It's still funny, even if you have to turn your head a little.




Here's how I managed a nap yesterday. Nothing better than a sweaty baby and a crabby cat.

We Survived Week One!

Unbelievable but true! Elizabeth and I survived a whole week without Tim being home. Massive credit goes to my mom for coming over and keeping an eye on me, and Don and Eileen for bringing us dinner several times. And to Tim, for taking over the baby watching duties when he gets home from work so that I can go and get an early jump on sleeping.

Today I went to a mommy matters class that they told me about at the hospital. Didn't make any new best friends, but it was a really nice group of women, so I will be back next week, and will perhaps be brave enough to get some phone numbers and make a lunch date or two. Then Ellie and I ran by Blizzard to meet her daddy's nerd friends. The boys were all very sweet about her, even though Ed was obviously frightened of her babyness. Andrew asks questions like, "if all she eats is breastmilk, how does she turn it into poop?" I do not know, but she certainly does.

It's nice to know that I have Tim's full time help for the next 48 hours. He's great at cuddling and calming her down, and gives me a couple of nap breaks a day. For a guy who was always scared to hold babies, he is pretty fearless with his own, and he's a champion diaper changer.

Pictures!

Here's a few shots of Ellie in her cute outfit yesterday... which we had to change her out of shortly thereafter because it's so hot in our area that we let her sleep in a diaper (and then wrapped up like a burrito.)

Here she is, just hanging around. Tim made her clap her feet together for awhile. It's the little things.

She is almost done with her newborn scaliness. She has incredibly long fingers and toes, much like her daddy. Hopefully she will not have as many problems with her feet as he has though.

Close up of her darling, darling little face.

On a programming note, she slept from midnight until almost 4:30 last night. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing. And then she went back down at 5 and slept until 7:30!

Thursday Evening.

Ellie and I had a pretty fabulous night of sleep last night - between 10pm and 10am, I was asleep for more than 6 hours, so that's miraculous. Part of it she did spend sleeping on me, but most of it she spent in her Lulyboo or on her big boppy pillow.

I am also getting better in general about always answering yes when someone asks me if I want to go lay down while they watch the baby. YES TO SLEEP! Also, I am doing better on "just say no to crying." It has been 24 hours since I last wept for no apparent reason. Oh hormones, thank you for giving me a break.

Today mom came over with lunch and then we took Ellie to Target, to buy diapers and also to get me out of the house. Ellie normally enjoys time in her carseat, but she got pretty nutty at Target and I ended up carrying her around in my arms, where she fell asleep. Probably better that I couldn't try on too many outfits. It also encouraged mom and I to bust out my ergo baby carrier and moby wrap, to try to figure out if I could babywear Ellie. The answer is yes, so that's good.

Auntie Sara came by for a little bit this afternoon as well and go to help change diapers. Hey, any time someone else wants to change a diaper, I am all good with it.

Other than that, things are pretty quiet around here, as one would expect when living with a little critter who spends her day sleeping, squaking and eating. Tim and I have had a couple of hours here and there where Ellie just WON'T stop crying and we can't figure out what's wrong with her... until she suddenly trumpet blasts a huge poo. Such is the glamorous life of a new parent!

I took the cutest picture of her today, post-bath... but then I accidentally deleted it. DANG IT. She looks real good with her hair did. And considering that yesterday while on the scale she peed, and then the pee went all down her back, she needed a bath, good hair or not. Her cord has still not fallen off so she only gets the washrag, but we're looking forward to busting out her baby tub not too long from now.

Before the Baby Starts Crying Again...

Just a quick update. We went to the doctors this morning - Ellie is up to 8 pounds, 12.5 oz. So she gained almost an ounce a day over the past week. She's a good eater, and it makes all of my nursing woes worth it. She had a good three hour stretch of sleep last night in her bassinet (and then fussed for the next four hours. You win some, you lose some.)

We also made our first social visit and hung out with the knitters this afternoon. I spent 7 hours away from the couch! It was a MIRACLE.

The Littlest Voter.

So, Ellie and I survived our first day home together, thanks to some help from Grams (thanks Grams.) Overall, Tim and I don't know what we'd do without our families so close by.

Things are getting easier every day, but I'd still define my current state of living as "survival mode." For example, baby will sleep on my chest for a half hour, allowing me to sleep for fifteen of those minutes? Fine, do it. Fifteen minutes of sleep I wouldn't normally have. Today I did manage to get a shower in all by myself, during the only time of the morning that Ellie wasn't fussing. I am not quite sure what her deal is, and I sort of miss my baby friend who would sleep for two hours straight between changings and feedings. It's cute to see her more alert, except I'm not really sure what she wants. I suspect it's that she wants to nurse for three hours straight, and let's be honest, I'm not capable of that. We're trying to keep her off a pacifier for now, so she ends up sucking on one of my fingers instead. Which still does not leave me with a lot of room to roam.

This morning the Ford family walked together to the local elementary school to vote. Ellie was very excited about her first bit of democracy.

I know, she's a little slumpy. It's not her best shot.

At 10:30 tonight Ellie will be officially two weeks old. She's really growing up. Even her little face is changing - she looks more like a baby and less like a squishy newborn. She spends more time alert and looking around at us. I still love all of her little squeakiness. Tomorrow we're back to the pediatricians for her two week check up - hopefully all of this eatin' will have her a few ounces up.

In closing, this baby is cute.