Stretches

Baby stretches will never not be a) awesome, b) dramatic.   :)

Dear Diary

As I get ready for bed, diary, I reflect on the hardships of the day and marvel at how I continue to persevere. This morning, for example, I was abandoned for several hours by the only one who can feed me and was reduced to taking my milk from a strange plastic device.  It was not ideal, but it appeared that it would be my only choice if I wanted sustenance. Then, not content with just one instance of near-starvation, Mother again abandons me this afternoon! She claimed it was for "groceries," but I don't see what all the fuss was about. The only food I need comes ready-made and pre-warmed, not from some store. I was so drained from the ordeal of waiting for her return that I was unable to keep my eyes open when I was bundled into my mobile snuggee after dinner. (I must confess, I do like being wrapped up next to Mom's chest, being gently rocked as she walks about. It's very relaxing. Don't judge; we all have our guilty pleasures.) In case even further evidence of my trials is needed, I needed five hours before I was able to regain my strength. Five hours! To her credit, Mom did provide an adequate pillow and allow me to rest. (It amazes me how my food dispensaries can be so comfy.) So now, diary, I am renewed and have the strength to carry on. Hopefully tomorrow will bring more snacks and less cold wipes on my hindparts.

Sincerely yours,
Ella

One Month!

It's crazy! How has a whole month passed already? This is ridiculous. I am in shock. I honestly don't know how we made it this far. [looks around stunned]

We took Ella to her doctor's check up on Tuesday, and she was given a good grade again.  We talked about things that apparently all babies struggle with -- sleepy eating, getting fussy in the evenings, gas, etc, etc.  Apparently she is acting normally for a baby.  Ready for the real shocker we learned?  Her weight is in the 75th percentile, her height is 90th.... and her head is 98th!  Dr. Cold Hands seemed like she was trying to reassure us that 98th was "still good," that it had a little wiggle room before they might suggest ultrasounds and whatnot of her head to make sure everything is still good.  John and I just had to laugh!  No, no, it's ok, doctor.  Our baby is just living up to her genetic destiny.  Pumpkin heads, all of us.  Can't escape it.

I managed to get a chalkboard at the ill-fated Target trip, but I hadn't found time to write / decorate it yet for her month picture.  Yes, I'm going to (try) to be that mom who takes a cute posed picture of her child each month for the first year.  I might not get the cute saying or stats on the chalkboard each time, but I'm aiming to at least get a posed picture on her quilt each time.  This time, we unfortunately got ready during her fussy evening time, so it was a real gamble if she would let us take pictures without screaming.  We tried our best to calm her between poses and put the camera on burst-mode to increase the chances of making the shot.  I think we took 70 pictures total!

I'm looking at the camera!

I'm gonna get that sign!

 I was doing my research online (i.e. Pinterest), and lots of people propped the baby up in a chair to make a consistent background, but one lady suggested using a blanket as a backdrop.  This way, you can change locations for optimal lighting, if you move houses, if baby is being uncooperative, etc.  Since my grandmother (Ella's great-grandmother) has finished Ella's "grandma quilt," I thought that using it would be a nice sentiment.  All of us grandkids have a quilt from grandma, and it will mean a lot to look back and see the pictures of Ella with hers.  I think they turned out well!

Cuz it ain't a good party until someone ends up
passed out in the basement, wrapped in a sheet

Multitasking

How to both help soothe away the evening fussies and work to keep the baby weight off....

(This treadmill has gotten more use this week than in the last four months of my pregnancy!)

Dresser construction

Soooo... without going into excessive detail because I'm still really irritated by it... we bought a dresser and bookshelf hutch for the nursery, but there was massive problems in getting the dresser delivered.  The hutch arrived promptly, but we had to wait on the damn dresser for a whole month.  Anyway, the dresser finally came in!!  We were very excited because the nursery has been a bit unorganized with the actual arrival of the baby, and there was no point in fixing anything before all of the furniture arrived, you know?  Yet, here was the biggest problem -- it's hard to assemble furniture when you have a newborn taking up all your time and attention! We were finally able to eke out some time because Ella is now big enough to entertain herself in the swing.  I looked around at one point and just had to bust out laughing at all of the supervision that John was receiving: I was navigating with the instructions, Ella was chatting away in her swing, and Winks was thoroughly enjoying the packet of parts.  Three supervisors for the one guy working! (Sounds like a government job. Haha)

Target from Ella's view

Target is a hot, large, scary place.  All kinds of horrors happen there... including festive hats!  

Really though, after two very fussy attempts to take Ella shopping with me, I think that I will not be shopping in Target in person anymore.  The store is much too hot for Ella (strike one), I am easily distracted (strike two), and public diaper changes / feeds are no fun (strike three).  We went through two diapers (should have stopped for a third, but we were on the way out) and stopped for a snack in the changing rooms.  It was an ordeal that lasted many hours, and I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

Cooking frenzy part 2

John was on baby duty for most of this afternoon as Mom and I started cooking frenzy number 2. Making food for the week is messy and time consuming!

Ella did have time for some more deep thoughts, though.

Nap Time

To recover from last night's fussiness, there was a lot of napping going on today.  I've noticed that Ella has the most difficulty getting settled into the evening -- from dinner time up to about midnight.  Once we make it past midnight, she seems to mellow out and start taking longer sleep intervals before she wakes me up for snacks and clean diapers.  Getting to midnight, however, can be rough some days.

So, yes, today we were napping a lot.  At one point, she started out in what we call the "tree frog" position on my chest (hands by face and feet tucked up by her bum).  Though this didn't last long as she soon fidgeted herself sideways, where her face was nestled under my ribs diagonally.  Add a few more fidgets and she was perfectly perpendicular to me with just her head resting on my belly.  Eventually she rolled herself off of me to be parallel with me again.  Such a little mover, and this was all while she was asleep!  I think we may be in trouble when she actually starts to be mobile....

Stretchy

This may be a continuing project with multiple installations.....  Ella makes this adorable little face when she is gripped by a big stretch.  Her little hands come up to her head and she pushes her chin out (usually with her tongue out as well).  I think it's the cutest thing I've ever seen!  However, it's usually pretty quickly done, and I'm never ready with a camera.  Since we've been swaddling her at night, she gives a huge stretch when I let her out to change diapers, so today I was prepared!  Even still, the little goober seemed to know that I was waiting with a camera and only did about half as much stretching as she usually does. But I will continue the fight! I will get her on camera with a big, adorable-faced stretch someday!

I did a thing!

It's been about (let's see, how old is Ella again?) two weeks since I actually accomplished ANYthing in the house other than feeding a baby. Add to the exhaustion a moderate concern about eating the wrong thing and making Ella gassy and cranky, and you can see why I haven't been in the kitchen much. But! My mom came back for a quick "weekend" visit, and I used the opportunity to cook up a storm yesterday. I made (mild spicy) enchiladas, prepped everything for the creamy tortellini soup we like, and Mom made a batch of hot pockets. Go us!! Granted, I was completely exhausted after the two dishes and ended up napping with Ella after she was fed.... But still! I did a thing!

....We all love when the grandmas come to visit!

Never Seen that Before

I just had to burst out laughing while we were snacking today.  Now, even though Ella is only a few weeks old, we are no strangers to poo explosions; however, today's incident was a little unusual.  I was upstairs nursing the monkey and could really do nothing but holler out for Mom to come running with paper towels when I saw this expanding out from her britches....

Really? I mean, foamy poo?? Definitely something new for us!  I think there was a slight bit of panic in my voice because I've seen too many science experiments where the foam reaction just keeps going and going and going.  We both were clean and dressed and on schedule to leave for her doctor's check up, and all I could see was this foamy poo mess expanding and getting all over both of us.  I was not prepared to wash everything she and I were wearing!  Thankfully, aside from the little foamy burst out the side, it was a normal diaper and we were able to make it to the doctor on time.

Ho hum, Mom. Why the panic?

What really amped it up from humorous to hysterical was Ella's facial expression -- a total lack of concern was happening up top while potential disaster was happening down below.  She never even stopped eating! 

Birthday Weekend

Yay!  We've now made it two weeks!  It's Ella's birthday weekend!

This is my sunshine face

Saturday was nice and lazy at home.  Always nice to just kick back and take it easy with our new little family.  Sunday was our day of "celebrating" -- we made a trip to the store and even paused for brunch afterwards!  I was quite proud of our little monkey for not having a meltdown while out in public; she ended up going about 2hrs between feeds, which is long for her daytime schedule.  Our waitress kept saying how surprised she was that Ella was so quiet and well-behaved in the restaurant.  That's because we have the best baby ever!

Pondering deep thoughts in the car

Meditating while mom & dad ate brunch

Passing out after my own lunch.
A well-rounded day!

John keeps teasing me that I'm "becoming that pregnant woman all the other pregnant women love to hate" whenever I do something ahead of the usual recovery schedule.  Like the fact that I was able to complete a natural delivery with no bad after-effects (no tearing, no hemorrhoids, nothing).  Or that I've already lost all the baby weight and am back at pre-pregnancy levels.  Or that I was back at the gym doing deadlifts within two weeks of delivery.  Or that I was wearing pre-pregnancy skinny jeans today while we were out.  He laughs that I need to keep this stuff hush-hush so I don't get myself  in trouble.  I'm trying not to brag; I'm just excited I have a waistline again and can wear more than 10% of my wardrobe!

Week 2 Catch Up

Okay, I've realized a few things after our first week with Ella.  1) There's no way I have the time / stamina to update this blog with daily postings.  2) There's probably only a few of you out there who want daily updates about our baby.  So, to get caught up chronologically, I'll do a big post now about the Ella's second week at home, and then reduce down to posting only about the exciting events and anecdotes.  Fair deal?

Week Number 2 started out pretty busy.  On Monday (Labor Day), we went to the grocery store.  It took all three of us!  John manned the cart, Mom manned Ella in the stroller, and I manned the shopping list.  We purposefully went to the fancy grocery store in case either Ella or I ran out of steam before all the shopping was done -- the big store has a little cafe in the front, and I could take Ella and sit for a bit if we needed to.  Thankfully, Ella was a trooper and slept the entire time.  (I know I was not really prepared for my first public feeding!)  I, however, got really tired about 75% of the way through the store and needed to sit while John finished up the last few items and checked us out.  Overall, it went really well.  And it was another moment where I was thankful for family helpers because Mom taking care of Ella allowed us to move faster through the store.

We love our personalized pearls!

Tuesday was Mom's last day with us before she had to return home for the week.  John's mom came over for the morning to watch Ella while we ran a few errands before Mom needed to hit the road.  Good news -- I had some returns to make and was able to immediately swap the gift card (store credit and all that) for a few cover-up cardigans.  You know, no one honestly tell you that breastfeeding is messy.  Yes, people like to scare you with horror stories about leaky boobs, but no one gives good advice like dressing in layers or wearing scarves / wraps to cover possible leak marks.  So I was excited to immediately find a few lightweight cardigans that would work perfectly until the weather cools off enough for real sweaters and scarves.

Sleep update -- again, we continue to alternate between fussiness and calm sleeping.  Just to keep me on my toes, right, Ella? I gave up the struggle and just cuddled her a few nights so that we could both get a few hours of sleep.  I know, not the pediatrician-approved manner, but you get desperate after a while.

On Wednesday, John picked me up for lunch, and we ate with the in-laws. It's always nice to get out of the house.  I had found a few recipes for homemade Hot Pockets (here or here. Thanks, Pinterest!) because I felt bad about not getting John breakfast since Ella arrived.  Yes, I'm the wife that made her husband breakfast each morning.  I enjoyed the few extra minutes with him before he went off to work and I had to wake up about the same time anyway, so why not? Anyway, obviously, me making breakfast after being up all night feeding the little one was not really happening, so I wanted to find something that John could grab and take with him that wasn't a pre-packaged pile of chemicals or that came from a drive-through window. (Don't read too much into that sentence. I love me some store-bought Pop Tarts or Hardee's biscuits, but I also realize you can't eat them every day.)  So my afternoon endeavor was making a batch of sausage & egg hot pockets.  And I do mean an endeavor that took my whole afternoon!  Ella was a trooper and at least only got really demanding at stages when I could pause cooking to deal with her.  All in all, the hot pockets were a success with ready-made pizza dough.  I'm excited to try making my own dough on the next batch.

Thursday was fine for Ella, but sort of rough for me.  We did all the things we were supposed to (pumped excess milk, went on walkies in the neighborhood, took a bath), but I was feeling a little bit of the postpartum blues.  After having visitors and helpers pretty consistently for the past eleven days, Thursday was the first day I was fully on my own until John came home from work.  I made it through, but I learned that I need an adult visitor each day for my own mental health. Boo, postpartum hormones!

Friday, I was feeling much better though!  We lined up my sister-in-law to come visit and watch Ella while I took a morning nap, and she ended up staying most of the day.  We both kept laughing at ourselves throughout the day -- she was reluctant to over-stay her welcome (even though she really wanted to spend a lot of time with Ella), and I was reluctant to wear her out by asking her to stay (even though I really wanted the adult social time).  It was a case of "I'll go if you want me to" / "You can stay as long as you want" with neither of us coming out and saying what we wanted. We just had to laugh at our attempts at politeness. But, wait! There's more! After such good company and help with Ella all afternoon, I felt perky enough to make it back to the gym.  Yes, yes, I took it much easier and slower than normal, but it felt good to get the muscles moving again.  I feel like I lost a lot of muscle strength while pregnant, and I am ready to get it back!  John also kept commenting that my complexion color was looking much better, too.  Apparently, I had been really pale since delivering Ella and was only just now starting to come around.

Gotta get my cuddles in while
she's small and can't talk back!

Sleep update since Thursday -- it's a swaddling miracle!!  We decided to give the baby wrap another try; Ella had not liked how we first were attempting to swaddle her when we came home from the hospital, so we had not really tried to force her into it.  Well, it seems that we were just not wrapping her tightly enough (her hands kept popping out) or something, because she slept like a log Thursday and Friday nights!  Yes, I did still have to wake up several times in the night, but getting a nap that's a few hours long is much better than getting one that's only 45min or so.  (Sleep deprivation is no joke.  There's a reason why it's used in POW torture situations.)  We have decided to release the kraken during the day so she can stretch and build muscle tone, but then keep her wrapped up and calm for the nights.  There's definitely some kind of magic involved.

Whew! What a busy week!  I'll try to keep the posts shorter and with more pictures from now on.  Thanks for sticking with me this long.

Cats. What can you do?

Those of you who were with me through the pregnancy know that our cats appropriated most of the baby furniture almost immediately as it arrived in the house.  Well, apparently things don't change once the baby arrives. The changing pad was delivered today, and this happened within five minutes!

Martin even tried to tackle the box in his own.  This is the action shot of a cat realizing he has made a poor decision and is trying to backtrack. Silly kitty!

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

You ever see those internet posts that say how hard it is to move when your pet falls asleep on you, that you'll sit there until limbs fall off rather than disturb them? Yeah.... multiply that by like a thousand and it's starting to reach the sleeping baby levels. She is just so cute when she's sleeping!! Forget that my arm is tingling, my foot itches, or I haven't had breakfast yet! My baby is snoozing!

One Week Down!

Saturday 8/30
Sunday 8/31

WE HAVE SURVIVED THE FIRST WEEK!!!

It's exciting and exhausting and bewildering and stimulating and... and... and... I'm just pleased that we all are alive at the end of the week with no significant damage.  Admittedly, my mom is still here, and both grandmas are helping A LOT (seriously, how do new moms survive without grandmas' help??), but we made it!  Everyone is being so thoughtful and helpful with me that honestly I'm a little concerned about when I'm on my own next week after Mom leaves and John has to go to work.  It's hard to ask for help sometimes, you know?  Even when you know you will probably get it, it's still hard.

Anyways, we celebrated the week-aversary with our usual pre-baby weekend plans: taking it easy at home!  It was nice to feel a little like "normal" again, and Ella was often cooperating by being calm and not very fussy today.  She usually does well during the day and gets cranky at bedtime.  All the medical professional say that most babies are nocturnal and give their parents problems at bedtime simply because they don't know what "day" and "night" mean yet.  Ella did get her first bath on Saturday. It was very stressful and weird.  The water part was kind of okay, but the soap and cleaning was not.  It takes a lot of hassle to be "clean," in her opinion.  The towel at the end was interesting, though.

 And it seems that good days are followed by cranky nights, and vice versa.  Saturday was quite nice, but Saturday night was pretty tough. We think Ella was a little congested, so she really didn't want to be lying down flat to sleep.  Which meant a lot of rocking and holding and singing and praying and snuggling.  Which of course meant that she slept all morning on Sunday to recover.  Boo, Ella! We really need to figure out that darkness means sleepy time, and daylight means cute cuddles & social time.  At least she is alternating fussy nights with semi-decent nights so far. We haven't really had two bad nights in a row yet (knock on wood!!).  I'm pretty sure that's a survival instinct that babies are born with.  Yes, you can test your parents, but throw them a bone every now and then so they won't disown you!  Haha.

Little Girl Cat refuses to surrender lap space to the new interloper

How to Lose 7lbs in 2days

Thursday 8/28
Friday 8/29

Thursday definitely went by in a blur of exhaustion and tired boobies. Have you ever heard of "cluster feeding?"  It's pretty rough.  Essentially, for various reasons (stimulating milk, growth spurt, etc), all baby wants to do is eat.  But, Anne, you say, all babies do is eat and poo; how is this different? Well, cluster feeding is more like baby wants to do nothing else but eat -- no poo, no sleep, nothing.  For those who understand quantitative measures better: Ella averages about 15 feedings each day... but on Thursday, she ate 31 times!!  She wanted a quick snack about every 30-45 minutes, which doesn't sound too bad until you realize she needs to latch on every 30min.  Neither of us were very satisfied after each feeding. It was nowhere near as bad as engorgement, but it lead to some pretty sore ta-tas at the end of the day.  Also, I'm fairly certain that my complete focus on Ella's nutritional needs came at a detriment to my own (but really, what else is new after nine months of pregnancy?).  The title of this post is no lie; I really did lose 7lbs between Wednesday and Friday.  I know a lot is fluid weight as well as some more uterine bleeding, but not having time to eat for almost a whole day probably helped.  P.S. I do not recommend this diet plan!!

Friday was our day to get out of the house and try out the new MeiTai carrier -- we went down to take the trash out!  Exciting!  The mei tai ("may-tie") worked out well; I just need to get used to tying it.  I didn't get one of the straps tight enough this time, but overall the design is nice and sturdy.  I think it will work well for trips out of the house that I will need a hands-free carrying system.  Plus, our outing must have helped tire out the little monkey because we actually had some success in getting her to sleep in the rock n' play Friday night. She's not comfortable to lie flat in the bassinet yet, but the intermediary step has been accomplished at least for one night!

Snoozing while Mom does the hard work

Sneezles!

We seem to be handling our body functions better, but sneezes still scare us. This is our post-sneeze stunned face.

Momma Merit Badges

Well, I got spit up in my hair yesterday.  That's got to count for a merit badge, right?

By my count, I'm racking them up:
- spit up in hair
- calling the pediatrician after midnight
- projectile poop
- no make up or "real" clothes for over a week / going to Walmart like that
- letting my child cry a little longer because we both really had to pee, but we both didn't have the luxury of diapers

Crazy Day of Outings

Wednesday 8/29
We had our official first doctor's check-up for Ella this morning. (Of course, she received an A+.  Why would you doubt it?)  What amused me was trying to get three ladies out the door on time!  Knowing how hard it is to get just me ready on time, I really shouldn't have been surprised that adding my mother and my daughter to the mix would make it about a thousand times more difficult.  Haha.  So, I fed Ella breakfast when she wanted it, but of course, as soon as we started to look at our watches and try to hurry out the door, she starts getting hungry again!  Bah!  I called John (who was meeting us there) and said that I would try to feed her quickly and just hope that it would last her until we got home again..... Nope!  Kids do what they want.  We weren't really late, but Ella did need a quick little top-off while we waited for the doctor to see us.  Other than the trauma of being naked for Dr. Cold Hands, we rather enjoyed riding in the car.

Trying to look classy for the doctor, but my socks are too big!

Doctor's report -- she's practically regained all the weight she lost after birth.  She only lost 2% while in the hospital (average is about 7%) and had already gained all but the last ounce or two back.  Babies have the first week to resume their birth weight.  Ella also was looking so good that she did not get the official bilirubin test for jaundice.  Actually, it was the amount of diapers she was going through that made the doc feel the most comfortable about her progress.  What can I say, pooping champion!

We took naps in the afternoon, but when John went to the gym, we met him there afterwards to meet and greet some of the friendly staff who have been watching me get ever bigger these past few months.  Our trainer was impressed that I was up and about already.  He said that he's already used me as fitness motivation for some of his other clients.  "See her?  She did natural childbirth and looks great!"  Haha.

Still wearing these dad-gum mittens
because I keep scratching my face

All this good news is usually moderated with some bad.  And the bad came later that night.  Mom was helping me a lot with "the night shift," as I called it, so that I could rest a little and John would still be able to go to work in the morning.  However, we hadn't really yet figured out temperature control for our house.  While pregnant, I had cranked the thermostat to the "arctic tundra" setting, but I was concerned that it would be freezing Ella in the night.  We had been dressing her in long-sleeve pajamas as we wrestled to get the thermostat regulated again.  Well..... this night Ella decided to tell us that it was too much clothing for sleeping. Unfortunately, I don't speak Baby so what really happened was many, many hours of a fussy, cranky baby who wanted nothing to do with anything.  I finally was about to lose my sanity (and maybe cry again) around 2:30, so I called the pediatrician, only to find out that their ask-a-nurse is not available from midnight to 6am! Argh!  I either had to wait four more hours of listening to my baby suffer or go to the emergency room. Thankfully, pretty soon after that, she needed a diaper changed and I felt her little hot belly, deciding to get her less clothing as an experiment.  You know, when you finally understand what the baby is trying to tell you, you get pretty fast results!  Ella calmed down really quickly and was able to sleep a little after that.  Mark me down for already completing my first sleepless night concerned about my baby's health.  There aren't anymore of those in my future, right?  (sarcasm)

Adventures with Boobies

Tuesday, August 28
Sooooo, while you may hear a lot about "sore nipples" with breastfeeding, there is nothing to prepare you for the reality.  Yikes!!!  Getting settled at home was pretty rough on Tuesday because both Ella and I were getting used to feeding schedules and techniques.  My boobies swelled up like cantaloupes as the milk was coming in, which just made it harder for poor Ella to get any kind of latch, let alone a good one. (The pediatrician later called it, "like trying to kiss a basketball." Poor Ella!  Poor me!) I was so uncomfortable that I ended up pumping twice just to relieve the horrible pressure.... I may have had my first hormonal, postpartum cry over not being able to feed my baby.  Not admitting to anything.

And, ladies, we should all be thankful.  I know a lot of us new moms this year have gotten our breast pumps through our insurance plans, which is pretty sweet in itself.  But let's remember how far we have come in the pure technology aspect, too:  My mother was watching me set up the pump for the first time and commented, "Oh they gave you two bottles?"  No, mom, it's a double electric pump.  "You mean you can do both at once??!?"  Mother then described to me how thirty-(cough cough) years ago, she was unable to get even an electric pump, let alone a double pump.  She told me that she did all her pumping by hand.  Let's all flashback to having to pump a bike tire or something- it sucks!  My mother and your mothers are troopers for hand-pumping everything for us!  It was super cute that Mom spent most of that afternoon sighing and swooning over the double-electric pump.  She even called my aunt, who was jealous, too.  Aunt said that twenty-five-ish years ago, she was able to rent a huge, cantankerous electric pump, but still had to do each boob separately.  I know I'm thankful not to have to deal with that!

Taking a nap while we wait for Daddy to come home from work

First Fancy Photos

One more thing from the hospital -- apparently they don't do the "baby mugshots" anymore, but rather have a connection with a professional photographer to do a mini photo shoot of you and the newborn before you leave the hospital.  I thought it would be weird, but it was over quickly and we really got some good pictures out of the deal.  Ella was such a good baby for being less than 12 hours old and having her first photo shoot.  We even got several with her eyes open and looking at the camera!

These are some of my favorites.  Commence photo dump!

 

 

 

 
Humorous anecdote -- as part of the whole "born just before midnight" thing, we had gone to bed around 2:30-3:00 Sunday morning once everything was settled.  I guess the photographer comes to your room "the next day" after birth to take her pictures, which for us was barely 6 hours after we went to sleep!  She came to our room mere minutes after I had gotten out of the bed, put on real clothes, and run a brush through my hair.  Any earlier, and we would have looked completely atrocious!

Anecdote #2 -- I had ordered several onesies with her name on them to wear coming home from the hospital.  But the little stinker came so early that only this one arrived before she did! I think she looks super cute, though, so it all worked out.  (P.S. Yes, of course I made her hat.  Even if it is August, babies need a hat)