1.16

 I had Ella and I pose with Poly. There aren't enough pictures that have both Ella and Poly.

I took Ella for a walk and it was sunny. I used the blanket to block the sun. The one above I was about to move. I changed the blanket depending on the direction we walked. If possible, I liked to have her look out so I didn't want her covered the entire way.

This one is more zoomed in and at a different spot. See how cute she is out of the sun.

Sometimes I did cover the entire thing.

I learned if I walked slower, she was more likely to fall asleep. The sidewalks are so uneven around here that she doesn't sleep so well.

Photo book (update)

Update: I realized Shutterfly has a 100% guarantee and I contacted them. I got a credit to reorder the photobook with the missing wording. (I even updated a few pages to get rid of a couple pics that ended up blurry. I also changed the font and added wording to the spine.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly photo books offer a wide range of artful designs and embellishments to choose from.

The photo book I should have ordered is the one above. Somehow it says matte finish but that's not the only difference. Most words are missing and I didn't notice. I'm so mad. I got my photo book today in the mail and I'm just so mad that my nice stories are gone.

After this I did some research and tried to look into other photo books. I used Costco before so thought I'd look into them. They charge $.78 for each additional 2 pages versus $1 for each additional 1 page with Shutterfly. I got out my photo books that I own and the one I have from My Publisher is amazing.

I'm so mad about this that I'm grinding my teeth. I'm more mad that I should have noticed the lack of journaling. I got warnings numerous times that the book didn't save properly but I didn't always recheck all the pages.

I'm not a big fan of the font used in the book. I used a default font. If I did it again, I'd change the default font.

I complained before about a lack of spell check. Well when their site wasn't working right, someone suggested I use IE since that's what she was told from their customer service once.  Well well well in IE there IS a spell check. IE is insanely slow loading things but I guess the features are different.

I wish I would have realized that I could add text to the spine of the photo book too. I guess I have learned a few things for next time.

I couldn't fall asleep because I was so mad about this.

1.15

Dave can hold Poly and Ella in similar ways!

1.2 (Again. Ooops)

Sometimes I manage to use a laptop. It's a little challenging but at least I got some emails answered.

We went to Panera for lunch. We decided to start small with taking her to a restaurant. Dave did take her to the car before I was done eating but after he was done eating.

 As soon as I put Ella in her crib, Poly hops on me. She wants to be held like a baby.

 Ella does tummy time. We also got some video of her too.

Just look how small she is and how big her outfit looks. What a sweetheart.

1.15 - Olive Garden

We went to Olive Garden. We tried a few days earlier but she started crying in the parking lot so we didn't even go in and ended up getting cheesesteaks and heading home. 

It was so hot inside Olive Garden, that we took of Ella's socks. We knew she would not cooperate. It was awfully warm outside that day but was worse inside.  I decided to take Ella outside after we ordered and before the salad arrived. I thought she might be able to cool off a little and allow us to eat.  She wouldn't stay in her carrier though. She started to cry and we didn't want her ruining everyone else's lunch so I held her.

I held her while I ate my salad. It was hard to cut up the lettuce with 1 hand.

When the meal came, I held her and took a couple bites. Once Dave was done, he held her and I ate.

He ended up taking her to the car a minute or so before I was done eating. That wasn't too bad. We at least made it through our first sit down meal. I think she would have lasted in her carrier if it wasn't so hot in the restaurant.  People around us had on sweaters or light jackets. They must have been dying.
There are more pictures from January 15.

Photo of the day: Dave Smiling (11.1.10)

Look Dave is smiling. It might be fake but he never looks happy in pictures (besides that time he was filling out the census). (Well he never looked happy in pictures before Ella.)

This is from November 1, 2010.

I wrote this ages ago and kept postponing the date since I had other more current posts go up. Since I wrote it, I have captured Dave smiling a lot more because of Ella.

1.14

Ella wore one of her homemade onesies.  It's hard to tell the words are purple both in the pic and in person.

The scale fluctuated between 8 lb 12.5 oz and 8 lb 13 oz. I zeroed out the scale first with a onesie, diaper, and socks. 

Dave and I both held Ella the same way.  She enjoyed that.  I look way fatter in my picture than I think I do in real life. I guess it's a bad angle.

Her steelers onesies are actually a lot bigger than the Disney onesies of the same size.

She did much better in the bath this time. You can see she's in the tub and not crying.

1.13

We went for a walk or something. Looking at the picture now, I'm not even sure where had such nice sidewalks like that. I also can't figure out the mulch so maybe we went to a store or something.

Ella hung out with Dave. We were probably watching TV but I can't remember.

Then Ella fell asleep.

Ella got her arms out of her swaddle halo sleep sack.

Matt visited and held Ella for the first time. She was sleeping but I said that might be easier for him to get used to holding her. She slept the entire time.

Photo of the Day: Poly (10.11.10)

Sometimes Poly really jumps up for ponytail holders. I don't think we've done this much lately though. Maybe she feels neglected.  There are more pictures from this day but if Poly had a good leap, Dave's arm was up high and his gut was showing so I guess I shouldn't post those and I'll just tell you about them.  Poly is cute.  When I do this same thing with Poly I never hold the ponytail holders as high. I feel bad making her work so hard. Or maybe I should say when I did the same thing because I haven't in so long.

Ella's 1 Month Photobook

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

This is my first time using Shutterfly. I hurried to get a deal that was ending. I didn't get all off that I should have. I used a ton of pictures but was also selective. I just take a lot of pictures.

So Shutterfly should have a spell check when you type. I should have had time to reread this. There are going to be typos and I'm going to be mad later. 

Ella 1 Month Update

I don't know how these get written by any moms out there. I've attempted 3 times so far and just got the headings written.  The post was mostly written when Ella turned 1 month on the 20th but finished writing it on the 21st. I had issues with my computer and had to wait to upload my pictures so that's why this is posting late.

Stats:

• Weight: 9 lb 4.5 oz (We zeroed out the scale with a diaper and onesie.)
• Height: 21.75"
• Head Circumference: 36.5 cm (14.4 inches)
• Diapers: Size N until January 16 and then size 1. She could have probably switched a day sooner since she had some blowouts. She was well into 8 lbs before the switch. She has about 10 dirty diapers a day. The first week or so she had a little more. (Well we change her diaper this month. We don't wake her up in the middle of her sleeps to change her diaper even if we can tell she just went.)
• Clothing: For most of the month she wore newborn size clothes. She also wore Gerber 0-3 month right away.  Around 3 weeks, she started wearing 0-3 month clothing. It's a little big in the shoulders. 

Sleep
The first 2 weeks she wanted to sleep longer than she should and I was waking her up to eat every 3 hours since that is what the doctors recommended.  Now at night she goes between 2 and 3 hours between feedings. But after she wakes up and I change her and she eats and then falls back to sleep she's up for an hour. So she's mostly sleeping about 2 hours at a time at night. During the day it ranges from 30 minutes to 3 hours now.   Ella's sleep has actually been the worst this week. There were a few times she only slept for an hour at night. Sleeping during the day has been the worst this week too. I almost referred to it as naps but I'm not even sure I want to call them that yet. I feel like she consistently sleeps longer in the late morning than in the middle of the night.  She's been eating a lot so sleeping less during the day.  During the days she also will stay up for a few hours at a time instead of sleeping, having her diaper changed, eating, and then sleeping again.  According to my app she sleeps between 6 and 12 times a day. Except some of the times with 6 might actually be more and I just didn't fill it out. She sleeps between 11 and 16 hours a day.

I've taken a lot of screen captures from our video camera but I'll do another post with those.

Ella was sick of pictures and the flash and would not cooperate.

Eating
She almost consistently has 3.5 hours of breastfeeding a day according to my app. Well that is for January.  I had 1 day that was insanely high that will throw off my averages.  The app says I had 210 minutes per day this month and last month that was 261 minutes per day.
At the hospital she latched great and the nurses even talked about how great she was. I think this really helped my milk come in and produce enough. I actually produced a lot and had a lot of issues at first.  From what I hear lots of babies eat from both sides at each feeding. She eats from both sides maybe 1 in 20 feedings.
She hasn't been given a bottle yet. I pumped a little for the first time late on the 20th so that we can introduce a bottle if necessary. Then I don't have to be glued to her and can potentially run to a store and leave her with Dave. That's difficult not because sometimes she's starving an hour after she started eating (aka 30-40 minutes after she finished eating and not enough time to do anything).

Sample Schedule:
I don't think I have anything for this now but in future months I'd like it.  There isn't that much that's consistent besides cranky time around dinner time. Also anytime I have food, she wants to eat so then my food gets cold.  Some days she starts wanting to eat every hour at 8 am and other days that waits until noon. Sometimes she sleeps a solid 3 hours starting around 8 PM and other times she's on the 1 hour kick.  In the mid afternoon is when she stays awake for longer. But we also seem to allow her. I'm always trying to get her back to sleep when it's night and when I'm still too tired (aka until about noon daily). There are plenty of times she's asleep but moving all around and making noises. This makes it difficult for me to sleep even though she is sleeping. She kicks all around.

She would be upright but by the time i backed up and looked in she camera she leaned

Special Moments:

I feel like all the special moments were just her doing things for the first time. We didn't go anywhere fun or interesting yet.

Development:
She started holding her head up early. I know I posted a video in my 2 week post with tummy time. If I had time I'd go back and check the date but I think it was even closer to 1.5 weeks and that wasn't even the first time she held her head that high. I had no idea this was early until people told me. She likes to sit and support her own head while we support her body. Sometimes now we are barely supporting her body.  I put her on my chest and sit at an angle and she holds her head up. But if I put my hands under her feet, she will try to climb her way up my chest. She has moved up me quite a few times now. Once I saw her push up on her arm and fall over.
It was interesting to see the progression of her eyesight. Now she recognizes our faces. She also likes to look at things around the room.
She smiled at me for the first time on January 19. She smiled at Dave before that at least a day or 2. On the 18th or 19th he showed me how she smiled at him. He said "hi" and smiled and she'd smile right back. She did this 3-4 times in a row, so I know it wasn't gas. I tried to do the same to her and she licked her chops and wanted food. She still only smiled at me once (Sunday morning). She has smiled at Dave a ton. I can't seem to capture it on camera but I got the tail end of one. I will get more smiles next month.
She started grabbing fingers if you held them out in front of her, but didn't grab other things.
She held her rattle for the first time today. She seemed to ponder holding the rattle the first time she did it, then she liked the hold it.

Other Tidbits:
Likes
She loves it when she's swaddled. She can't sleep without it.
She likes to get her arms out of the swaddle just for fun.
She likes it when Dave sings to her.
She likes holding her head up. She liked tummy time the first couple weeks but now she always wants to sit up and hold her head up.
She likes to eat.
She likes to sit sideways on my lap, lean against my body, and have me pat her back. I did this burping her and learned she likes it so I do it often.
She likes to have her back patted.
She likes to be held chest to chest.
She likes to go outside naked.

Dislikes
She hates the act of swaddling her.
She refuses a pacifier.
She doesn't like her swing, monkey, or activity mat yet. She tolerated the swing one day when I manually pushed it instead of turning it on. When it's on, it moves so much and so fast for her little body.
She hates when I change her clothes. She only sort of dislikes when Dave does it.
For a few weeks she hated having her diaper changed but she's much better now.
She doesn't like when I touch her feet. I only did because I was going to massage them since I saw that a foot massage can calm a baby.

I'm torn between thinking her legs are long or normal. I'm also torn between thinking they are chubby. I need other babies to compare to.

I'm not sure if she's vocalizing in other ways besides crying.  I feel like she has made some other sounds at times but not sure if it counts .

My recovery
At the hospital nurses kept commenting how I was acting like I didn't just have major surgery. I was up and moving around and would be neatening up the hospital room.  But then when I got home, it wasn't as fun because getting out of my bed was a lot worse than getting out of the hospital bed. I'd have to get out of my bed a few times a day so that sucked.  I felt like my insides were tearing out for a good 2 weeks each time I was in or out of bed.  I had 2 medicines to take a home. I could take them every 6 hours. I took them less often but at least tried to take them to be covered when I was getting in or out of bed but sometimes I failed and then it was awful.  I forget when exactly I stopped taking medicine but it was around two weeks if not earlier. Once I quit taking it, I read the bottles again and the one medicine said I could take 1 or 2 pills every 4 to 6 hours. I was taking 1 pill every 6+ hours.

I lost weight consistently the first 3 weeks. Then 4th week I was basically the same as at the end of the third week.  I'm walking slightly more often than every other day. I really want to walk daily or twice a day. My doctor recommended 3 walks a day but I don't know who has time for that.

I don't shower on even close to a regular basis anymore. I showered Sunday, Thursday, and then Monday most recently. Before that I have no idea. I also only remember the days because Sunday I got company and Thursday was Dave's first day back at work.  Now that I don't ever sleep long enough to feel like I slept the night, I don't seem to brush my teeth as much. I don't do the normal get up and go to the bathroom either. I go after a feeding and before I go back to sleep. It all kinds of messes up any sort of getting ready routine.  I don't really care about the not showering or not brushing my hair except it makes for some awful pictures and then I have less to post on here.

I didn't have any signs of postpartum depression. I'm so happy to be a mom and even when she's crying or not sleeping, I'm not hating it.   Sometimes I get a little fed up with not being able to eat. I tell Ella she's starving me because she doesn't give me time to prep any food.  This past weekend I dealt with Dave being sick too. That wasn't any fun. He wasn't getting up to get me things as I needed them. He wanted me to get him things.  This weekend he was supposed to go to the grocery store but he did not go since he was so miserable.  I moved clothes from the washer to the dryer while Ella was in her Moby Wrap.

My belly still feels weird. Above my incision and below my belly button it feels weird. I finally figured it out that it kind of feels similar to when a body part falls asleep and you touch it. My belly only feels this way when I touch it.

I want to say more about me with numbers but no time.

I'm probably forgetting something. It's just so hard to write such a long post. 

The pictures are all from January 20.  It was dark out so a flash was required. She hates a flash so none of these are good. I told Dave I would take another batch the next day and he gave me a hard time that it was a day late. But then on the 21st she slept really well during the daylight so I didn't take any more. I saved the 1 month sticker because I was going to take more. I took the pictures in the pink onesie first waiting for Dave to be done with his video game but since she was miserable after we changed her clothes, I used a bunch of the initial ones. I made a public album with some more pictures from the 20th.

Homemade Onesies (as of 1.19.14)

These are the onesies Ella has worn as of January 19. The 0-3 month ones are still slightly big but I put her in them anyway now.  The bottom right corner is outside Olive Garden. I forget what other ones she's been out in public wearing.  We haven't gone many places so I'm going to go with she has only gone for walks in some of the other ones.   The only one she wore more than once was #BabyElla, but I Just included multiple pictures of each for different angles.   Some pictures aren't good because her bedroom is now dark and I don't use a flash. Most pictures are of Ella swaddled so you can't tell what she's wearing.  These were all created by Brenna and me. I'm not being selective, it's just that we didn't have any this size at the shower. Ella has to get bigger before she can wear most of them.

What do you think?

Update: I missed at least one from above. Here it is.

1.12

7:35 AM, I walk into this. Ella really did a number on the swaddle.

8:15 here she was again. She was swaddled and she always struggles to get her arms out. Dave swaddled the top so well she couldn't get her arms out that way so I guess she decided to get her arms out the bottom.

After Dave wakes up sometimes I do a feeding in the bed using the side lying position. Then sometimes I just cuddle after. Well here Poly is also cuddling. I was sandwiched in.

Dave came into the room later and could get a better picture.

I got out boots to wear and Poly discovered the box right away.

We took Ella to a park to walk.

Brenna and Dan visited and Brenna held Ella for the first time.

DIY Onesie Gifts

Last month I mentioned I made 3 onesies and mailed them to my friend Jen.  Well near Christmas I made 8 more and sent them her way. It was a surprise. I had to wait to post until she got them but then I got busy.  These are the ones I sent her.  They are all bigger sizes than her son wears now so I have to wait a little bit. I made them bigger just in case I was a real slacker at getting them in the mail.  I wanted them to arrive by Christmas but since I went into labor early and didn't get them in the mail the Friday before Christmas, I had Dave go and just get the standard shipping. It took until after January 1 for them to arrive. It killed me to not tell her about them daily or hourly. I'm awful at surprises. Her husband knew because I had asked the address of her parents just in case I mailed them when they'd arrive when she was out of town.  (The Batman logo turned out much worse than I was hoping. I almost didn't send it.  She claims she still likes it.  I did some Star Wars onesies because I know her husband is a big fan.  I had to have someone explain the force one to me.)

These are the 3 I mailed before. 

Neil already wore his Superman onesie. 

I kind of wish I had a baby to put one on before I made so many. I made some words or logos too big now that I look at some that I made. I forgot to compensate for how a onesie goes around the sides of a baby too so it's not fully flat in the front. Sigh.