Our famous Ellie...

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First Road Trip, Pictures, More Family Introductions, First Easter, Baby Dedication and Sleep!

Wow! Just the title wore me out! Well, Ellie definitely had an eventful weekend and is proving herself to be quite the trooper! Friday, we left for Ellie's first little road trip out to Chris's parents' home in Great Bend, Kansas. The trip wasn't too bad, a normally 4 hour trip took closer to 6 on the way there with a few stops for changing, sretching, feeding and cuddling. She was even better on the way home though and it took closer to five. Not bad! She even got her first "bonker" as she was eating, she got too excited about seeing Nana and Papa and kicked back to smack her little head on her car seat. But, as she is quite the tough little girl, not even a peep. Mommy felt pretty bad about it though...

Saturday morning brought her first photo shoot. (Website link for these pictures to come...hopefully later this week!) Ellie took all the snapping, flashing and posing in stride for the first hour or two until she had enough. She let us all know by projectile pooping on the photographer. We got the hint. So, out the door we went. When we got back to Nana and Papa's, it was time for more family introductions. Here she met Great-Aunt Mary, Great-Uncle Terry (yes, they are all VERY great!), Second-cousins Kyle and Cecily, and more! Daddy broke out the Baby Bjorn to get some advice on how to put little Miss Ellie in it and got quite the helping hand from a fellow Daddy, Justin, and Cousin Kyle. Once again, our little Ellie is QUITE the trooper! Not even one little fuss as she was passed from loving hand to loving hand! Of course, I think she was pretty happy and excited that she had her very own cake with her name on it to share with everyone! That night, she even got to meet her Great-Great Aunt Mac! (Yes, she is certainly EXTRA great!)

Sunday brought another big event, first Easter and her baby dedication! Chris and I were honored and blessed to be able to have Pastor Bill dedicate her as he was the one who married us almost three years ago! Ellie was wonderful, looked so special and slept her way through the dedication. We were sure proud parents! Of course, we would have been no matter what!

And to top it all off, Ellie had her first night of sleeping all night! She woke up once last night just to make sure I was still around so I made sure she knew I was, and then we enjoyed a night of sleep! All of us! What an amazing little girl she is!

All in all, a beautifully busy weekend full of firsts, family and fun! We hope you enjoy our pictures...once again, I think Ellie has had enough pictures for awhile after this weekend...

Lots of firsts...

Last night Chris gave Ellie her first bottle! This is a dangerous situation though...this means he could now potentially get up with her in the night...uh oh...No - he does a great job of offering, there's just no reason for both of us to get up. Especially when he's working so very hard! He's been putting in regular 70 or 80 hour weeks since Ellie's been born! Hopefully it will slow down a little in the next few weeks - but he does it all for his girls at home! What a man! In all seriousness though, I am constantly amazed at how precious each and every day is. Even if we spend the whole day at home, or take a walk, or run errands or visit friends, it is precious! She's starting to try and talk to me in little grunts and coos...I pretend I know what she's saying. It's pretty much always things like "I love you mommy" or "Daddy is really handsome" or "I have the best family ever!" I'll tell ya, she's a sweetheart! She's also been going with me to Jazzercise. Jazzercise has a room right next door to the studio where moms and grandmas watch the babies while their mommas workout. It's really nice because I can run back between songs to make sure she's doing okay and if ever need be, they come get me! She pretty much sleeps through every class though. We're working on getting at least two or three good naps in a day at about two to three hours each. I've really noticed a difference in how needed these naps are. She sleeps so much better at night after these naps! Funny opposite thing! Again, my sleep book I've been reading emphasizes the fact that babies this young shouldn't be awake longer than an hour to an hour and a half at a time before soothing them to sleep. Sure enough, I worked on this yesterday and little Ellie slept a six hour stretch and a four hour stretch last night! Granted, I was pretty bummed because I was only in bed for three of the six hours, but I COULD HAVE slept... :) So, that is the focus this week, naps and longer sleep cycles. It means letting her cry longer, but I'm willing to give it a chance! We've also been taking more walks together. Last night Daddy, Pippy, Ellie and me all went for an hour long walk around our beautiful neighborhood. Today, our good friend Jessica took her two doggies with us and went for another long walk at a park not to far from our homes. This peaceful spring weather is addicting!

My little wiggle worm...

...Enjoying play time with mommy...

...She's my superhero!
Another beautiful spring teaser day...and another wonderful day in the life of Miss Ellie. Daddy took a trip back to the college days with some fraternity pals for an alumni bar-b-que so Ellie and I played on her rainforest mat for awhile today. She certainly is moving and grooving these days! She loves to kick her legs and practice crawling and is even trying to talk in her cute little cooing way! In fact, after a quick visit to the doctor, we found out she is now 9 lbs and 3 oz! Wow! And has grown to 21 1/4 inches long! That's all the way up from 6 lbs 13 oz at birth and 20 inches long! She's also graduated from newborn diapers that are getting a bit tight and into size one!

First day in shoes...and smiles!

Maybe I'm a bad mommy or maybe it's because I really don't enjoy wearing shoes that much (although as Chris can attest to, shopping for them is a different story...) but I realized today that Ellie is four weeks old today (Yes, I sang her Happy Birthday) and my poor little budding fashionista has yet to wear shoes! Oops! So, since today was a big day anyway as we were going to introduce her to my class and fellow teachers, I took this opportunity to don the little tootsies in some pink flats. My little Ellie must have loved her fashion statement as the pictures below demonstrate and proceeded to serenely snooze all the way through the visit to school and actually through a five hour stretch into the afternoon! What a doll! Every day is new, fresh, precious and exciting here in Ellie-land!


...Patiently waiting for mommy to finish blow-drying her hair this morning...

...First smiles...

Lazy Saturdays...

One look through the pictures on our camera and you can tell we've had a lazy weekend of just being parents! All day Saturday we just watched movies and played with our little girl...and had photo shoots! Pippy definitely enjoyed our movie selections as she confided in us that she has a little puppy crush on Brad Pitt...


...Bonding with Pips


Ellie LOVES fun facial expressions...

Starting to make happy faces...

Daddy time...

Pippy's crush...


...Getting ready for the Easter bunny...

Our little family...

I think Pippy and Ellie have a new best friend in each other...

More introductions...

The first of many wonderful spring weather weekends blessed us on Saturday and Sunday...and with it came important introductions for Ellie! Her Nana and Papa came to visit Thursday evening through Sunday and spent many quiet hours just rocking her. Papa even has started teaching her the alphabet, math facts, and the Gettysburg Address. Now if he could only pass on the skill of filing our taxes for us... We even got to enjoy a quick outing to Target, Blockbuster, and Pizza Hut to pick up a pizza! It truly is the little things in life...
Then, Sunday we celebrated Ellie's Great-Uncle Donnie's birthday and dear friend, Debbie's visit with a grill-out! By the end of the day little Ellie was very worn out so Chris and I rewarded her patience and lovely nature with a long walk around our neighborhood. It was actually the first time that we've gotten to walk our neighborhood since we've moved in! She LOVES her sling that I wore her in, about two minutes of walking and she saws some serious logs! Any new mommies definitely should check out www.heavenlybundle.com.
She is really a tremendous sleeper - most nights she sleeps about 3 to 3 1/2 hour stretches between feedings and then 1 1/2 to 2 hours stretches during the day. At this point in her life, she's not quite an early bird, but loves late-mornings as her most awake time. She's spending closer to two hours awake at a time maybe once or twice a day. I'm reading a book titled, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, and it advises to soothe an infant to sleep after one to two hours of wakefulness so we're trying really hard to abide by these tidbits of wisdom. It also encourages us to let her sleep as much as she will during the day as sleep begats sleep. Completely opposite of what we would think, but it really seems to work!
Chris and I both feel so blessed and in awe every day to be her parents. The other day Chris asked me, "Is it bad to say she's growing on me?" No. I feel the same way. Each day she grows on us both, wrapping us tighter and tighter around her little finger!

Daddy, Papa and Great Uncle Donnie with Ellie

...The grill master...

...Enjoying the beautiful weather...

Miracles

I've been wanting to write this for several days now and have just put little Ellie down for a nap to be able to. I'm so very thankful for everything in my life these days, what a blessing to have family, friends, community surrounding us, supporting us and encouraging us every step of the way. Ellie's birth was the most beautiful, wonderful, incredible event I have ever experienced. I replay it almost every day in my mind. A lady at my work calls babies "everyday miracles". They happen everyday and it is a blessing to see them as miracles. I think now that I have been through the pregnancy and birth experience, my sense of trust and miracles has heightened. Chris and I pray everyday that Ellie would be just what her name means, a light. We pray for her to be a light that shines the love of God and opens other people's minds and hearts to miracles.

It started the weekend before March 4, I had just finished state testing at school and really was hoping that the weekend would be Ellie's birthday. When the weekend came and went, I was one grumpy camper. I was huge, waddling, sleepless and apprehensive. The past nine months held so much anticipation and wondering...we were just ready to experience the good and the bad...just no more waiting! Tuesday afternoon I called Andrea and complained to her on my way to Jazzercise. "Will it be soon?" She asked. I replied that I had given up hope of even having a baby on her due date and was sure it was going to be quite awhile. In fact, every day after school since February 1st I had been leaving everything in perfect order, laid out and planned for my sub...just in case. This afternoon, however, I left my slippers under the desk, a baby gift next to my chair and papers scattered across my desk. I was tired of preparing. That night, I noticed my back was especially sore but attributed it to the weight of waiting...Not so. About two o'clock in the morning I woke up with really bad back pain but had been through this several times over the past couple of weeks and knew that chances were it would disappear just in time to get up in the morning. I laid awake from two until five tossing and turning just enough to make sure Chris was aware of my misery and couldn't get too comfortable himself. About five I decided to get up and shower and get ready for the day as I wasn't sleeping anyway and figured it might take me a little longer this morning. My back pain continued to get worse and was noticeably coming and going now. Chris, ever so hopeful, kept asking me, "Are they contractions?" And I, although not exactly sure myself, kept telling him, "No...I think it's just back pain...why don't you go ahead and go to work..." So he left for work about six and as he left I told him I just couldn't do work today. I had been diligently saving my sick days for my maternity leave but knew that today I was out of commission. I called my sub and emailed people at work telling them that I just didn't feel well and wasn't sure if it was labor pain at work but couldn't come in today. At about 6:30 in the morning I then called my mom who answered with, "Are you on your way to the hospital?" I told her that I wasn't sure if these were contractions, but it was definitely back pain that came and went and asked if she could come over and just be with me for a little while. I then proceeded to do as much as I could around the house, straightening, laundry, etc. until she arrived about eight. She now says that she was the slave driver making me walk through contractions as long as I could and having me go up and down steps as much as I could until about nine I knew I couldn't anymore. From about nine until ten we timed what we had now determined were contractions and realized that they were about five minutes apart which is when I had been told to call the doctor. Up until this point I had been trying to stay very low key and not get my hopes up, texting Chris periodically to tell him that all was well so he wouldn't get his hopes up too much. But I went ahead called the doctor and talked to a nurse who stayed on the phone with me through a contraction and realized that this truly was active labor. She immediately told me to come on in and when I asked if I could wait for my husband to get home from work she said, "No. You need to come in right away." At this point, I wasn't talking much and pretty much would just raise my hand in the air when a contraction came for my mom to do some deep tissue rubbing through the contraction. Between contractions I kept my eyes sealed tight as I was already exhausted, my mom on the other hand ran down to clear out the back of her explorer and lay the seats down for me to collapse in the back. She also called Chris and told him that the doctor had told me to come on in to the hospital and he needed to meet us there. He was pumped. All nine months he had been waiting just for this....the chance to drive fast!

By the time we got to the hospital, I was in a lot of pain. On the walk in, the sweetest older man who just happened to be an EMT visiting somebody in the hospital came to have me put my other arm around him supported now by my mom and this angel in disguise. He was precious, even timed my contractions for me as we made our way in! Chris pulled up right as we were being admitted and looked so very handsome...dad-ish even! As I was wheeled in, the nurses made a prediction just watching me handle the contractions and said, we think you're dialated to a five. Sure enough - they were exactly right! At this point, it was about 11:30. From 11:30 until about 2:00 my contractions continued to intensify and I was completely unable to talk at all. My mom and Chris were amazing. Chris stayed about six inches from my face the whole time holding my hand and helping me breathe through the pain, (He ended up with quite bruised knuckles) and my mom stayed at my back rubbing through every contraction. Annie even was able to get someone to watch her classes and came up to support by rubbing my legs between contractions and running to get mom and Chris food at one point. It gives me chills right now thinking about the level of support surrounding me. At one point, as the pain started to really intensify, Chris was breathing with me in rhythm. The only thing I was able to say for several hours was, "Do you have any gum?" He apologetically said, "Babe, I really don't think you're going to be allowed to have any gum at this point..." "No." I grimaced. "For you. Your breath smells like onions!" Annie quickly dug out five or six pieces and Chris knew well enough to shove them all in at once....MUCH better... :)

At about 2:15 I think, I knew it was time to push. I always wondered what people meant when they said they knew they had to push....well...I knew. In fact, I started telling the nurses this and when they told me to wait so they could get the doctor, I said, QUITE emphatically, "She better be RUNNING!" I'm not quite sure of the time, but it couldn't have been much after 2:30 that I was able to push. I remember pushing three times - Chris thinks four...but little Ellie Anna was READY! She arrived at 2:44pm, perfect in everyway.

My mom told me afterwards that just about a week earlier she had a dream that I was giving birth and as my little girl came out, the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. In the dream, my dad was the one to deliver her and as soon as she came out, he gently slipped the cord up and away from her neck. I truly believe in my heart that my dad was representing my Heavenly Father delivering my little girl in His perfect timing...into His hands and into the world a gift. She awoke knowing that she was to pray specifically for this situation and for the health of our little girl. Sure enough, the exact situation happened. My doctor told me afterward, but the cord was around Ellie Anna's neck. Covered in prayer, my mom and Annie watched as the doctor slipped the cord off of her neck as soon as she came out. A miracle.

My miracle is starting to wake up from her nap right now, but just wanted to share the most special story of my life thus far. She is a blessing.

Our Second Weekend Together

Just held little Ellie until she fell asleep in my arms...Such a wonderful feeling. We went to the doctor on Wednesday, our first outing since our trip home from the hospital. Ellie was 6lb 13oz when she was born, dropped down to 6lb 5 oz before we left and was back up to 6lb 15 oz at her first appointment! I've sure got a healthy eater! She had also grown a whole 1/4 of an inch from 20 inches to 20 1/4 inches. -Waiting in the doctor's office- She officially met Pippy this weekend. Pippy had been staying at my parents house until we all got acclamated to each other, and returned home to find quite a different household! She actually did really well with the little baby, sniffed her quite thoroughly while Chris and I held a tight hold on her. She seems to be taking the adjustment to her status as our "only child" pretty well...last night every time I went in to feed Ellie, she bolted in after me and sniffed around. Life around here has changed...but for the better! Last night was also my Pop's 70th birthday. It was really neat to be able to celebrate with all my cousins (except my special Manders and Tyler in California) and aunts and uncles on my mom's side. Grandma even had a cake welcoming little Ellie Anna into the world and our family! It's pretty special to see our family growing right before our eyes...It seems like just yesterday we were all cramming cousins into the farm house getting ready for Easter together, now dating, getting married, buying houses, having babies...life moves quickly! -The whole clan- -The Cousins -Introducing Ellie to her Great-Grandparents -Ellie and me -Four generations