six weeks old

Ella, Carl, and I have made it to the six week marker. Everyone and all the books we have read said that it would start getting easier at this point and more rewarding. Well, i better hope so. no, really, it has not been so bad now for a couple of weeks. It was very helpful to have my mom here for the first two weeks, then Carl's mom helping out in the mornings for the next two weeks and being on standby since then.
Ella and i spend most of our days in a pretty good routine now. She is doing better about being able to entertain herself for longer periods of time while i get things done around the house, like updating my blog.
right now she is looking around the house while sitting in her vibrating chair. that thing is a life-saver, give to us by one of carl's friends.
I still have six weeks left of maternity leave. i am trying not to think about the end yet but it will be here so quickly so i better make the most of my time with my baby girl until then.
Tomorrow i am going to sign Ella up for her daycare, Jack and Jill Childcare. I hope she loves it because she will get to spend more time with them than with me. we will still have our nights and weekends.

SMILE!

So I am counting this as Ella's first smile. Well the first one we captured on film. Carl had been telling me that Ella would smile for him in the mornings as they did there usual routine which includes leaving me alone to catch up on the sleep i missed due to night feedings. Ella had been smiling for me too but it was rare so i told Carl that i wanted him to capture the smile to prove it to me.
Well on this day, Easter sunday, i was in the bathroom doing my thing when i heard Carl running through the house then he shouted out to me asking where the camera was. i yelled back and when i came out of the bathroom i saw him in the bedroom snapping away at Ella because she was smiling for him.

 

happy bday carl

 

 

 

 

ella's had quite a day. she had her first bath in her whale tub, she had to be groomed for her dad's bday, and she got to wear a special shirt just for her dad. now we just have to wait for him to get home from some meetings he had today.

Two weeks as a mom

wow. parenthoood is a lot of work. Ella is just over two weeks old and she has really tested me. I went into this knowing nothing about infants and it sure has been a learning adventure for Carl and I.
I knew that babies just eat, sleep, and poop but i never thought about how involved i had to be in all of these activities. Ella feeds about 10 times in a 24 hour period and each feeding typically lasts 45 minutes. There goes about 8 hours of my day. Then the endless diaper changes that occur at least once during each feeding and a few times in between. Ella has been pretty good about sleeping at night. She doesn't sleep through the night but she sleeps until it is time for a feeding then falls asleep right after. Occasionally she will stay wide-awake after a feeding and i have to "hang out" with her until she falls asleep but this doesn't happen too often. When she does fall asleep she stays asleep in her crib so i can sleep in my bed without fear of smothering her.
the day is another story. Ella doesn't always sleep after a feeding in the day and sometimes demands feedings back to back to back. Right now she is sleeping and i hope she doesn't mind that i put her down to sleep without me. Up until this point i have been napping with her resting on my chest. This has worked for both of us but i also need this time to get other things done so i am testing her out to see if she can handle the early afternoon nap without me.
my mom has gone home as of last Saturday. This has been hard for me and Ella, and Carl. My mom was a big help in watching Ella, cooking for us, and cleaning. Now that she is gone we are working on watching Ella alone. Mary has been coming over in the morning to help too. That is when i need the most help and i appreciate that she is offering her time to help. Her coming over in the morning gives me a chance to sleep a couple of hours without worrying about every little sound i hear from Ella. This morning i even had a chance to take a shower and put on clean-smelling clothes!
Well, i best be off to make some quiche before Ella wakes up.

Ella Aviv Gillies

 

This is it. the first photo of my Girl Ella Aviv Gillies. Yah! for me.
She is a doll. Born at 9 am after an intense, med-free, short labor. Ella weighed in at 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 19 inches long. Carl did an amazing job as a labor coach, especially if you consider the fact that it did not go as planned and his wife went raving mad with the pain. Carl was also the one who cut the umbilical cord and the first to hold Ella. The chance was offered to me but i was shaking and feeling very weak after the labor and i feared i would drop my baby girl.
We spent the obligatory 2 days in the hospital after the birth and that made me crazy with cabin fever but it was nice to have all those nurses and aides around to help with any concerns and questions.
We came home yesterday and had a terrible first night at home. i guess we are a bit fearful of falling asleep at night and not knowing if Ella is breathing or hungry or whatever. The other problem has been that Ella and I have been having trouble with breastfeeding. This is not coming naturally and Ella has been losing weight. Carl and i were just thinking about it this morning when a Lactaction Consultant called us out of the blue, like an angel. She had us come in and gave us all sorts of advice for feeding and we have been feeling a little more successful since. We will go back on friday to find out just how successful or if we need to come up with another plan. One way or another we are going to get Ella eating.

 


Another day of waiting. We have 10 days left till we hit the due date. How irrating it is not knowing when this labor thing is going to start. It's like a child waiting for christmas morning but each time they wake up excited to open presents her mom tells her, "sorry, not today. maybe tomorrow."
Carl and I are trying to be patient and to use the time to do things we still need to do to prepare. Today we went out to look at changing tables or dresser/changing table combos. We came home with nothing. We decided to just buy what we need to complete the closet instead. The dresser part isn't really necessary and the changing table alone seems like a waste to me since one isn't likely to keep it after the baby outgrows the diaper stage. I like furniture that is multi-purpose.
We also bought our first box of diapers. It seems like a lot but if the baby goes through an average of 7 diapers a day then the box will only last 30 days.
I made carl pose for this photo of us. it makes me laugh that my belly looks so big. It really hasn't grown much in the past month. The baby has but her home hasn't so i am sure she is feeling scrunched. Hope that motivates her to move out. She will have a lot more square footage out here.