Six Weeker Squeaker Squeaker!

My Ellie the Jelly Bean is six weeks old today! Supposedly, this is when things get "easier," as most people's advice is "just survive the first six weeks." Then I hear it never is actually easy and wonder what I've gotten myself into. But yes, everything is easier now that I'm getting more sleep now that Ellie and I are champion nursers, and now that I feel more capable in handling her on my own.

Today we went to the post office to buy stamps for her birth announcements/our holiday cards. She slept the whole time, and since she was so out, I decided to walk through the mall, which is next door. Didn't buy anything (I was hoping to find a good baby's first Christmas ornament and was disappointed with the selection available) but we walked up and down and looked at stuff. Even when she's asleep, I talk to her basically the whole time, just narrating what we're seeing (or what she'd be seeing if she opened up her eyes.) Basically, having a baby gives me someone to chat with other than myself.

We're getting into a good routine. Our evenings are still tough and fussy. She'll spend about an hour eating from maybe 8-9, and then I hand her off to Tim and race to bed as fast as possible. He sits with her during what we call "fuss hour" where she basically cries, sucks on his finger and fusses until she falls asleep. She doesn't want to eat, she doesn't want to be rocked, she just wants to FUSS. Whether or not this is colic I don't know, but it is what it is. She wakes up between 2-3 to eat, and that's when Tim goes into our bed and I take over in the nursery. It's not an ideal system, but it means that one of us gets to go and crash hard and get a 5 hour stretch of solid sleep every night. Whoever is in the master bedroom doesn't have to worry about the baby, or a baby monitor, or being disturbed. Ellie then usually gets up between 6-7 for the day. Tim's up at 7 and will hold her for me or do the first diaper change so that I can use the bathroom without worrying about whether Ellie is upset (the only time I get to do that in a 12 hour stretch!)

She's so much more alert now! She'll sleep for a two to three hour stretch. Wake up, demand to eat for a half hour or so, and then we'll just spend some time talking and singing (my favorite thing is to bounce her in my lap and made up songs to the melody of popular showtunes, such as Bloody Mary from South Pacific, only it goes "Ellie Ellie is the girl I love (boom boom boom boom!)" or Everybody Ought to have a Maid from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, "everybody like to change their diap. Nobody likes to have a poopy diap!") She also really seems to like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. We'll read for a little bit, or just walk around the house and look at things, like ceiling fans and flowers. She also usually gets a case of the hiccups. It is so great when she sits there and smiles at me. She'll be up for maybe two hours total and then I'll feed her again and she's back to snoozing.

The awake times are really fun! When she's not crying, she's delightfully bright eyed and bushy tailed. She's also getting better control of her little body - she has great head control and will stand herself up on your lap if you hold her under her armpits. Still waiting for her to figure out her hands. I love when she sort of wrings them together because she doesn't know that those are her hands yet. When I change her, she has one leg that she sort of kicks back and forth like she's trying to batter down a door. Also, I think it's funny that when she yawns, it makes me yawn, but she doesn't have whatever that instinct is so when I yawn, it has no effect on her. I'll be interested to see when that reaction changes.

Tomorrow she and I both have our six week checkups. I don't know what I was thinking, scheduling my doctor's appointment at 8am. We are NOT ready by that time of the morning, but we'll do our best. I'm excited for her to meet all of the folks in the office who took such good care of me while I was pregnant. I'd planned to bake cookies to bring in, but then I had a newborn. And we know how that goes. They will just have to get my eternal gratitude.

Here's my six week old darling!

FYI, those are my feet. She has not sprouted head appendages.

Monday Movie Monday.

Fusserina and I are having a quite excellent day! A week ago, I would have not thought this was possible. We were able to be dressed and showered by 9ish, which meant that we could go to a theater in San Clemente that does Mommy Movie Mondays - early shows where they encourage you to bring your nugget. Except... when I got there it was just a regular showing of Burlesque, with non-babied patrons also attending, and only three babies in the audience. Thankfully, all of the babies were pretty well behaved. Ellie only cried during the cheesy love scene. Also, one of the other mommies also attends the Mommy Matters group on Friday, so I had a friend there! That was exciting. Afterwards, we all went out for a quick lunch. Ellie cried - her daughter slept. LUCKY. But it's okay, I can eat tacos using only one hand.

It felt so nice to be doing regular grown up stuff. Going to a movie! Having lunch! Having a conversation with a new pal! Ellie fell asleep once we hit the car, so we stopped by Auntie Sara's store to get some more baby beano and say hello. And then Ellie got a nice bath and some lunch before hanging out with Grams.

Oops, now she is awake and ready to eat again, so I must go, but not before presenting you with this picture, inspired by Auntie Sara. I call it "how do you like my new haaaair?"

Visitors.

Ellie had a busy day yesterday, meeting lots of new friends. Bob and Nancy were in town so they dropped by to say hi, and two of my best girlfriends made the trek down from LA to finally meet our little lady. She was on her best behavior all day, other than having a huge poop while being held by Nancy (thankfully, all of her poo blowout got on me instead of Nancy) and some minor fussing. We are finding that she naps better in her swing lately. Of course, this will probably only work for another few days and then she will inform us that she HATES her swing and HOW DARE we put her in it for any reason, even if she is dead asleep when we plunk her down.

Lauren has a lovely, fancy SLR camera and she took a ton of pictures, including some that capture Ellie's amazing new smiling ability. It's so nice that some of her awake hours now involve her looking at us, grinning like a loon and cooing. It absolutely melts my heart.

I mean, seriously:

How can you not adore this little face?

In further excellent examples of parenting, here is Tim doing his baby balancing trick. Check out the head control on that kid!

Lastly, here we are having a family meeting. About how stinking cute Ellie is.

Baby's First Thanksgiving!

We had a good one, though I must admit, the last few days with Ellie have been super rough. She has been very fussy, really bitey while nursing and just all around difficult. It makes me feel all around crazy, but such is having a newborn, I suppose. Thankfully, when she stops fussing, she has the cutest little face and the most kissable cheeks.

Seriously. Who is the cutest when she's bright eyed and bushy tailed and not fussing?

Here she is in her first Thanksgiving outfit. I thought about trying to get one where she's not crying, but let's be true to life. This is what she looks like most of the time when she's awake and not being fed.

And here's what she looks like when she's been napping on my chest for two hours.



Did I mention that we jumped on the trampoline at Cathy and Evan's house? Yeah, Grandma did not think it was as funny as I did. Sorry for Tim's shoddy camera work.

More Babies and Cats.

Surprisingly, of the Thiel cats, Chuckie is the one who is most tolerant of Elizabeth. I think because while mom was holding him, he was more concerned about whether or not I was going to touch him. He knows he loves me, he just likes to pretend he doesn't. BUT HE DOES, DAMMIT, HE DOES! And for those of you keeping score at home, Charles Ruckles will be 17 this spring. Can you believe it? He may outlive Sparky in terms of longevity. And will torture mom every day while doing it, with his stupidity and his stomach issues.

Ellie and I had a super rough day. I am pretty sure that she disagreed with my choice of a burrito for dinner last night. Beans are not the musical fruit when eaten through breastmilk, apparently. At least, I am hoping that Baja Fresh was the culprit and that there's a reason for her crying for about 8 hours straight today (in between farting and pooping. And then farting some more.) Poor little lady is sleeping now, and I have my fingers crossed for an okay night tonight.

I took the opportunity to download some new books onto my Nook. The last time I read a page was sitting in the nonstress test recliner on October 19th. The lending period for all of the books I had stored expired, so now I am attempting some new light fiction, since I can manage my Nook with one hand. I hope the combination of TV and sleep deprivation haven't totally rotted my brain. I foresee myself doing a lot of sounding words out though.

Couple of Pictures

I had really hoped to rely on Lulu as an extra pair of hands, since she raised four kittens on her own, before she was even a year of age. However, she mostly sleeps on the job. She is not getting paid for those hours!

Grams came over yesterday and I got to run to Target without the baby, which was nice. But then later Ellie and I went on a walk to the local park and around our neighborhood, and that was super nice. She is cleverly disguised as a bear, inside her Ergo carrier.

Last night after a feeding I was bouncing her on my legs, singing one of my ridiculous made up songs, and Ellie looked me square in the face and gave me a HUGE grin and cooed. She did it a couple of times over a fifteen minute period. I know it could just be gas, but you know what? I'm counting it as her first smile. It's a nice reward for all of the hours of sleep deprivation and nursing. The cutest toothless grin ever!

Too Cool for School.

"Oh my gosh mommy, you are SO EMBARRASSING!"

Also, please note that she wore this outfit in the hospital and I had to fold the sleeves back about 15 inches to get her hands out. My tinykins is growing up!