Wednesday Afternoon Knitting.

...it's only fun until someone pees on Jan's floor and then starts crying.

I won't tell you who the culprit was, but I'm pretty sure you can guess.

Ellie and I had a good day, following my good sleep last night. We even ran a couple of errands this morning, pre-knitting! We went to Hallmark and bought some recordable storybooks for Elizabeth and her Grandma Rosie to work on together. And then, since I was right there, I went in to UPS and got their notary to notarize the paperwork for her birth certificate. I'll mail that off tomorrow and then hopefully get all of her paperwork in a few weeks. Not sure what I'll need it for immediately, but you know, it's always nice to have on file.

It's kind of fun to take her out and about (though slightly stressful.) Everyone asks about how old she is, and then tells me how cute she is (darn tooting!) It also makes me feel proud and capable to be seen out in public, showered and pulled together. Sure, I'm not wearing makeup and still rocking my maternity jeans, but you know what? I have on a clean shirt and deodorant. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

Grandma and Grandpa are coming by tonight to see their little gal. She just spent an hour eating, so hopefully they'll get five minutes with her before she demands her second dinner (and hopefully I'll get to eat my dinner while it's still warm.)

First Time for Everything!

1. Gramps changed a poopy diaper yesterday. He also asked to learn how to turn the baby into a burrito via swaddling blanket. He is a very excellent and devoted Gramps (also a nice dad, who made me go take a nap while he chatted with his favorite girl.)

2. Tim took the first shift of the evening last night and I slept for FIVE HOURS. That's the longest stretch that I've gotten in four weeks, and it was a miracle. Tim is excellent at managing Ellie's fussy phases (of which there are many of course.)

Also, here is a picture of me and my girlfriends.

I had brought Ellie up on the couch with me because she was squirming in her sleep and I hoped she'd drop into a deeper slumber. When Lulu realized I was going to have a little lie down, she decided she wanted to be up on my chest. It was either let her lay right next to the baby, or put up with her stomping around on my csection incision. Poor Ellie - I am constantly picking cat fur off of her face. Such is the price she pays to be a member of my family.

Excellent Monday.

After a really rough day yesterday (which included the baby nursing for 20 minutes, sleeping for 5-10 and then screaming for 20-30 minutes, rinse repeat) Ellie and I had a fabulous day today. As for her behavior yesterday, around 7 I finally gave in and called the doctor's office and the nurse on call said that it was probably something out of character that I ate and the baby didn't like, so she was in nursing overdrive to try to get whatever it was out of my system, and her system as fast as possible. Nothing to do but wait it out and stay hydrated. Thank goodness Tim was home with us to refill my water bottle and help flip between football games.

But yes. Today. We had a lovely one! We slept in until almost 9, we spent a lot of time eating, and then she got in a good snoozer while I put together her birth announcement (look for it in your mail in the next few weeks!) I got a chance to eat lunch and tidy a little and then she and I went for a walk around the neighborhood for 45 minutes or so. It's nice just to get out. She slept basically the whole time, but I talked to her all the while about dogs and flowers and the weather and everything else we passed. I felt so much more human to be out and about, even if I was unshowered and in fancy pajama pants.

Then Grams came by and did some baby holding while I took a shower. Gotta stay sweet smelling for my hardworking husband! And now, more football to be watched!

Here's an out take from her birth announcement photo session

Baby Beano.

We managed a trip out to Target today and bought Elizabeth some baby beano, which should hopefully help with her overall fussiness, in addition to solving the tandem problems of burping and farting. Though, baby farts are pretty funny.

She had one good three hour stretch of sleep last night. And then chewed on me for an hour and a half, and then got passed off to her daddy at 6am so I could go and get some actual rest. Oh, it is so sad when someone comes and wakes me from my nest deep inside our down comforter. But a growing baby must be fed, and I'm just the mommy to do it.

We gave her a bath in her actual bath tub today, now that her umbilical cord has fallen off and her belly button has healed up. She thought the bath was pretty okay, which is always good. I think she mostly likes the noise of the bathroom fan. And having her hair done.

Other than that, a pretty quiet day. It's always nice to have Tim home though, so we can tag team her.

Here she is last night, sporting her very first charm bracelet, from her pal Kacky.

Here she is cheering for another Wisconsin touchdown.

Here she is getting manhandled by me.

I turned around for ten seconds in Target and look what she grabbed. Baby Sequins indeed.

Ellie and I had a much better night last night. I was asleep more than I was awake, even if it was kind of fitful. But whatever works - we tried the swing, we tried cosleeping, and then this morning she napped in her bassinet inside her crib. I think one of the solutions is her white noise machine. It's actually supposed to be a bear, but we took the guts out and then just put that in her crib with her. It makes a heartbeat type noise, and shuts itself off after five minutes. But if she fusses or if someone touches it, the beat starts up again. Super handy!

The white noise really keeps her quiet. This morning I was able to shower because I brought her into the bathroom in her boppy pillow and let her hang out, hearing the shower and fan running. I even got a chance to brush my teeth and shellack on a little eyeliner!

Then I went to mommy matters class, which was super nice. It's facilitated by a RN/lactation consultant. I asked about my concerns re: Ellie's nursing (she'll go for an hour at a time, and then cry and want to eat 15 minutes later.) She said that Ellie is a pretty orally fixated baby, and recommended getting her on the pacifier. We've bought several, but haven't found one that she LOVES. She also said that she thinks Ellie is a pretty gassy baby, which causes her discomfort and fussing. She had a couple recommendations for me to help solve that, which I am ready to put into place. The good news is that she thinks I've got nursing pretty well down. The bad news is that she basically told me to buck up because it's going to continue to be tough for another couple of weeks, and such is the nature of having a newborn.

Which I knew... I just wish there was a better answer. Some sort of magical solution that will help the baby sleep through the night and allow me the opportunity to be a little less stressed and a little more sane.

The good news is that there's nothing seriously wrong with anyone - we are just having regular baby and mommy growing pains. And we'll get through it, and someday all of this discomfort will be a distant memory. SOMEDAY I WILL EVEN SLEEP FOR MORE THAN THREE HOURS AT A CLIP!

In the meantime, I also went to Babies R Us and bought more diapes and wipes, and felt pretty capable there, steering the cart around all alone with my little baby friend. Hooray for getting out of the house! (and then for coming home and taking a 90 minute nap.)

Prettiest Little Blossom

Even if she is the worst little sleeper.

Three Weeks!

In a few hours, Ellie Bean will have been an outside baby for a full three weeks. It has been quite the adventure, though as we move into week three, I am feeling like I have a slightly better handle on everything. Emphasis on slightly, and only through the help of our wonderful families.

Today Ellie spent some time hanging out at Grams' while I ran and got my giant mullet trimmed. I feel like a whole new person! Grams was excited that Ellie slept in her little travel crib. Rocky and Petunia were less than enthused with Ellie's crying. Tomorrow we may go hang out with the knitters for a bit. Or a long time, depending on how Ellie naps for her various surrogate grannies and tias.

Right now she is being a regular snoozerina in her boppy pillow. I am still holding out hope that we will see a repeat performance of her 4 hour night sleep the other night. I am also getting closer to moving her into her own crib (in her Lulyboo) and moving myself back into the master bedroom. The one upside to sleeping in the guest bed is that the sheets are nicer than on our master bed. Look people, it's the little things that help me cling to sanity.

Here's a cell phone picture of my little friend this afternoon. She is very cute when she's alert... as long as she's not also crying.


And here's yesterday's cat-birthday girl.