7 Weeks

I threw a headband on her when her & Daddy were sleeping!

A stranger says to me, " You got the next linebacker there!" I quickly corrected him and said, "You mean cheerleader :)"
Our family photo by Kelsey SteindlerMy little baby is growing up so fast! The past week has been absolutely nuts. My mom & I took Ella to to the doctor and she is already 12lbs 10oz which explains why she needed to upgrade to Stage 2 diapers. My doctor was at a conference so we got a "substitute doctor" who informed me that I should decrease the amount of ounces per feeding. He also asked me if I was a teen mom which horrified my mother. I get that I'm not wearing my wedding ring but I had to get it sawed off in the ER because my finger swelled up like crazy the second I tried to squeeze it on. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper when we left. When I spoke to my pediatrician she said that Ella is gaining weight appropriately and to keep everything exactly how it is, phew :)

Our schedule is getting much more predictable. She continues to feed every 2.5-3 hours and is hardly spitting up at all. We switched bottles because her suck is super powerful and inverted the nipples causing the milk to go everywhere. Now we are good to go. Nights are not bad at all. I'm fortunate to have a husband who enjoys participating in the AM feedings (especially since he hardly sees her during the day). It has actually become their bonding time (he feeds, I pump). We put her down now around 9:30pm and, if we feed her right before bed, she won't wake up until 3am-ish. Luke and I have been trying to get up at 6:30am so we have an hour together to chat and catch up before Ella is awake for good. Our favorite thing is to go into her room in the morning and look at her in her crib. She gazes up at us and we say together "good morning" in super high voices. Without hesitation, she gets this huge gummy grin from ear to ear and it makes our entire day! The smiles are constant and I just can't get enough. The one benefit to her crazy poops is that she LOVES the changing table and smiles as if she's saying "thank you for changing my diaper".

We have had numerous photo shoots which have been SO much fun! We won a free photo shoot from Mac 'N Madi and it was awesome! The same photographer (ingrace) had Ella & Julian (Lindsay's 10 month old) model for the store (she is definitely her father's daughter :), hence my favorite photo ever on the surfboard. Then Katie's BF, Kelsey Steindler, took some family photos for us which are just to die for. We are so lucky!

4 Weeks Old

Life has changed so much in the past 4 weeks, it's hard to even know where to begin. When we first brought Ella home from the hospital she developed abnormal jaundice immediately and had to be treated with phototherapy. Suffice it to say that she basically had to be attached to a tanning bed for 48 hours. Her blood bilirubin level reached the high-risk zone so we had to go back to the hospital the next two days after we brought her home so they could test her. I cried every time they gave her a shot and probably took it harder than she did. The doctor thinks this happened because the amount of formula we were giving her to supplement the breast milk (mine hadn't come in right away) was not enough and our blood types were incompatible. This meant that my "o" blood destroyed some of her red blood cells leaving her with more bilirubin than the average newborn and it was more difficult for her body to break down. Needless to say, it was not a fun way to start our lives together.

We quickly got into a routine as a family and the baby was on a 3 hour feeding schedule in no time. She spent the first week pretty much sleeping 24/7 and now is only sleeping about half of the day or less. We had visitors every day for 2 weeks straight (and no, I am not exaggerating). This might sound annoying, but it was actually really helpful and made it easier for me to adjust to my new life with a baby. On the days where I am totally alone it is easy to get depressed about being inside all day. I have to constantly remind myself to take walks and get outdoors no matter how difficult it is to drive or travel with her. Last week we took our first 2 hour trip to Grammy & Poppo's in Ventura. Johnny was amazing and drove us so that I could sit in the back with Ella. She slept the whole way there and the whole way back (it is all about timing :). She is so lucky to have 4 great-grandparents who absolutely adore her. I've been horrible about taking pictures and videotaping so I am really going to work on that this month (especially with the grandparents).

Nights are getting easier every week. She tends to go down around 8pm-ish and, about half of the time, won't wake up until 1am giving us a nice little block of sleep (we are super lame and go to bed around 9pm every night). Because we do it together (he feeds her, I pump & change her) we can be back in bed in about 15 minutes. Our only issue at this point is that she has a 4am feeding and then wakes up every morning at 5:30am for no other reason than she wants to be in bed with us. We (actually it's kind of Luke's fault because he gives in to her) now have created a very demanding child who is in our bed every morning.

I absolutely love watching her grow and change everyday. She smiles now on a regular basis, coos, and farts and poos like it's nobody's business (sorry Kara :). She is so big that every where we go people always think she is at least 3 months old and are shocked when I tell them her age. She has outgrown almost all of her newborn stuff and is wearing 0-3 month clothes. I can't believe she is nearing 11 pounds! My little baby is getting so big so fast and I just want the time to stop.

We had her first formal photo shoot today (I won a free photo session with my Mac 'N Madi basket) and I am DYING to see the pics. I have to post her 4th of July pics too because her outfit and bathing suit were too cute for words.