Ellie: Six Months

Whoa.
Seriously.
Did half a year just go by?
When did that happen?!

True. Some days feel horribly long. And some nights too. But I swear our little monkey was just born!

Ellie is wonderful. A lot of things are the "same old," just more of it, but there are some new developments too!

• She (still) has blue eyes. I will admit defeat and say they aren't changing to green any time soon. And that's OK. They are beautiful. 
• She is no longer bald! Yippee! Although she only has enough hair to do a mini mohawk or a comb over. Sorry, hair accessories, your time will come. 
• She eats real food! She started eating Rice Cereal at 5.5 months.     **Caution - TMI**     Over the last few months I have noticed that my milk supply is drying up, and despite efforts to increase, it is gently tapering off. That had me concerned that Ellie was getting enough to eat. That and she would nurse, quit, still seem hungry and refuse more milk. So we hit the cereal. And she has been loving it! Currently she is eating rice cereal, oatmeal cereal and we are just starting sweet potatoes. (Although she is definitely not sold on those yet!) It has made for some awesome new experiences on the change table.

First Time with Cereal

• She rolls! Currently she rolls from back to tummy, most often to the left side, although I have been trying to get her to practice on the right as well. We are also working on getting her to roll to her backside, right now she'll get on her tummy, get frustrated and fuss until someone comes to save her. Silly baby.
• She continues to babble all the time. To herself, me, basically anyone or anything. She's also very good at "motorboat" noises, and thinks my sneezing is funny, but coughing is scary.
• She has a great attitude. She is rarely cranking or fussy, and will crack a smile for just about anything.
• She will try to eat anything. A toy. A washcloth. A bottle of lotion. A cell phone. My grocery list. Everything is in.the.mouth.
• She loves TV. Seriously, if she knows it is on and she can't see it, she will contort her whole chunky little body to try to get a glimpse of it.
• Her Soothie is still her BFF (other than me). But she is able to hold it, rotate it, and put it in her mouth alone. If I hold it in my mouth or hand she will snatch it from me with no mercy.
• Her nails grow like crazy. I trim them once a week. If I don't, she scratches herself. And pinches me. Jerk.
• She has a stable schedule. We have 5 feedings a day with three of them including food. She has her nighttime bottle at 8pm and will wake up between 7:30-8am. It is wonderful to get a good sleep. Sometimes she will wake up in the middle of the night, usually if she's stuck on her tummy or can't reach her Soothie, but other than that she's a champ!

Ellie, quit growing!
Wait. You need to grow, I already bought clothes for when you're two.

But don't grow up too fast.

You are the sweetest thing.
We love you!

Oh What a Night

And not as in a good night.
It was a terrible night.

Last night I attempted to give Ellie a bath as part of her evening routine: bath, lotion massage, quiet time, bottle, bed. Sounds like a stellar plan, right? I even bought some Night Time lotion during my shopping trip, so I was sure it would be a success.

Well, it went like this:
bath. lotion. scream. scream. bottle. scream. scream. scream. attempt to bathe off whatever was causing the atomic explosion. scream. scream. scream. cuddles with mom in bed. scream. scream. scream. and so on.

To be fair, Ellie did have what seemed to be a small rash (more like some associating dots) on her belly, so I'm not sure if it was the lotion on the rash, or just anything on the rash, but that was it. And it went on for a solid two hours. I am positive I have lost a significant amount of hearing due to the pitch of Ellie's crying.

And then just like that, it was over. She fell asleep on me, I put her in bed, and that was it for the night.

Jeeze.

Needless to say, that lotion is going back to Wal-Mart. It was Johnson & Johnson so I'm surprised, so much for paying top-dollar for a sure-thing! 
Guess I'll be trying something else in the future. 
Or nothing at all. Ever again. Just to avoid that traumatic event.

**Update** SO I have tried the lotion since this post was written, and Ellie did not have a freak out. I don't know if it was just a bad night, or if her skin was irritated due to something else... 
But I should be fair and not completely blame the lotion (although I do not dare put it on any sensitive areas, just limbs & tummy area)

A Little Less Wise

Me right after coming home from the dentist

Well. I finally did it. I had my wisdom teeth removed.
They have never really bugged me. I felt like a giant baby when they all cut through, but lucky for me they all came in straight (more or less) and didn't cause any problems. 
I've always wanted to have them removed, but every dentist that reviewed my 3-D x-ray wasn't comfortable pulling them out and would recommend me to an oral surgeon. And no offence, but I don't have money for that business. So they have just hung out with me for the last handful of years.
But then one sprouted a cavity. Rude. And guess what, it was more to fill the cavity than to have the tooth pulled. So I finally lucked out and found a dentist in Perry (shout out to Perry Dental!) who was willing to yank all four of my giant teeth out, so that's what we did on January 3rd! Nothing like ringing in the New Year by getting your wisdom teeth removed. I'm a party animal like that.
I didn't go under. I just had them numb me real nice, and they gave me some gas, which was fine, the contraption was annoying on my nose though. And yank, yank, yank, yank, gone. They didn't even show me any of them, and that made me a little sad. No teeth under my pillow for cash. Jerks. I bet they kept it for themselves. Dentists getting rich every which way!
Thus far everything has been fine, and I'm sure it will continue to be fine as I dine on soup and smoothies and watch movies from our stockings over Christmas. Everyone makes dry socket sound like the devil, so I'm doing everything I can to ensure I miss out on that. I'm taking some pain medications, which means I am pumping and discarding my milk while Ellie survives on previously frozen goods. She is a champ. I'm so glad she will sit around and cuddle me as I recover.

Also. Look, Ma! No hands! No smile either, but hey, conquering bottle-holding is hard work. Love my whiz-kid.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Good: Ellie legitimately laughed looking at herself in the bathroom mirror.
The Bad: The above occurred after we happened to fall down the stairs together.
Don't stress. It was just the last few stairs, I was wearing my thick socks (so toasty) and slid down to complete my descent. 
The Ugly: Me crying just as long (OK fine. Longer.) as Ellie. I am a horribly ugly crier.

Don't worry. No one died. We're not even critically injured. Not even bruised or bumped or scratched.
I did feel like a terrible mother, so I'm sure the laughing was Ellie's attempt at making me feel better. Thanks, baby.

Ellie: Stats

Well, we survived.
A big shout-out to my dear friend, Misty, for coming to the Pediatrician's office and enduring the first round of shots with us. It wasn't too terrible. I attempted to feed Ellie before we left, which failed miserably, so I fed her right after shots and she fell asleep, the sweet little thing...so naturally Misty & I went to lunch!

Current Stats:
Ellie is currently 11 lbs and 23" long.
Percentiles: Weight - 46th, Height - 62nd, Head Circumference - 51st

Next appointment is at four months. 
I plan on bringing a bottle and giving her some baby Tylenol beforehand.

Onward and upward!

Ellie: Two Months

Our little lady is now two months old.

Wow.

Don't even know how that happened.

We go for her 2-month pediatrician visit next week, so I will have official stats for you then (and probably a horrible story about how the first round of shots went), but for now here's what she is up to:

• still has her beautiful big blue eyes and brown hair.
• she is no longer bald on top! her hair grew in nicely and it is wonderfully soft, I love rubbing it against my face (and who doesn't love a whiff of baby-smell?!).
• unfortunately she has a bald spot in the back, just from a little rubbing while she's lying on her back. it's not the whole back of her head, just a patch on the right because she loves to lay on that side. hopefully it will fill in soon and as nicely as the top did.
• her neck & upper body strength are continuing to improve, but she is more fussy about tummy-time lately, so we have been getting a little less of that.
• she loves to smile. she will smile at basically anyone, for any reason, and her whole face lights up. it is the.cutest.thing.ever.
• she also coos and "talks" a lot more, I also speak baby, so I am positive we have incredible conversations I just don't understand.
• her vision is getting better, she will follow you around the room (if she can see you) and will look for you if you are talking to her and aren't in her direct line of sight
• she also tries to watch TV & our computer screens, we try not to let that happen, I read something about it being over-stimulating for babies, but hey, can't blame her for trying!
• she still enjoys her Soothie, but she is now trying to eat her fist/suck her thumb. unfortunately for Ellie, her thumb is always tucked tightly inside her clenched fingers, so she just gnaws on her knuckles.
• Ellie still loves the bath. these days I fill it pretty full and swoosh her around in it, leaning over so I'm about elbow-deep in water. she won't really smile in the tub, she just looks & listens, but she's starting to flail a little more, so that's fun.
• she is still very cuddly, which I absolutely love and I hope it never ever changes. she also doesn't mind strangers (yet) so just about anyone can enjoy her cuddly cuteness without her crying.
• we are attempting some sleep training...I now give her a bottle of breast milk at night so I can monitor how much she actually consumes at her last feeding. I have been trying 4-5 oz, but she doesn't always drink it all. my hope is that if she gets a hefty meal in she'll sleep a little longer...we'll see how it goes.
• and of course we are chugging along with our cloth diapers. a few friends have recommended using a disposable diaper overnight as she begins to sleep longer and that's been going well. washing the diapers isn't too terrible either, I use a disposable liner, that has helped with stains and catching #2 messes... slowly we're figuring out what works for us.

Ellie, you are a delight! We love you to the moon and back. 

I can't believe how big you're getting...time goes by too fast!

the start of a smile

straight-face

Ellie: One Month

Today Ellie is officially one month old...which is technically older than 4 weeks because of the way the months played out, but really, who's counting? (me...obviously)

Some things to make mention of:

• she currently has blue eyes & light brown hair.
• she's chunking up with chubby cheeks and a double chin.
• we experienced some head-trama:
• she went bald, just on the top of her head so she is rocking the Old Man Horseshoe hair.
• her head is still very lumpy, which is fine, but Jordi seems to be overly concerned about it.
• her skin was also incredibly dry and flaky, so we threw on some EVOO and gently scrubbed with her baby brush while she bathed (shampooing afterwards), it really helped.
• speaking of, she loves the bath; she just lays there in awe of how awesome bathing is.
• she doesn't mind tummy time, which is helping strengthen her neck, but she flops after a few seconds. (Her head is just so dang big and heavy!)
• she is a fast eater, a few minutes on each side and she's done. 
• she's not a screamer...she tends to whimper or gradually cry so you know she wants something. (And by then she better have what she wants!)
• she is beginning to coo, will stick her tongue out, and there are a few smiles, but she generally scowls or is in wide-eyed-awe
• she likes her Soothie (pacifier, sucky, whatever you call it) and staring at toys, the owls on her crib bumpers, windows, and anything with a big color contrast
• sleeping in the crib continues to be a success, there are still ups and downs, but overall it is going well
• unfortunately we don't have a set schedule yet, but we're working on it

One Month Old

Ellie, we are so blessed to have you in our family!

WE LOVE YOU!