11 posts tagged “ella”
We took Ella to the barnyard zoo last week, and she had a blast. Well...except for the fact that she learned she doesn't like horses. That wasn't fun for anyone.
Ella learned how to walk about two weeks ago, and has since taken to running and climbing as well. I'm never going to sit down again.
Or sometimes we just say "BRAAAAIIIINNNS" when she walks around with her arms out like that. We had such a great Mother's Day at the beach! More pictures to come soon.
On Valentine's Day Chad and I decided to have a family day and we took Ella to her very first zoo trip! The LA Zoo is small, inexpensive, and perfect for a nice day. It's a great place for kids because you can do the whole zoo in about three hours, and not have to really worry about missing nap time or ending up with crankiness. We've been having tons of rain lately, so we were so excited to find out that the weather was perfect for being outdoors-that kind of weather where you're totally comfortable in the sun, but you need a hoodie in the shade. All in all, we had a blast. We've got some video, too, but it's mainly just Chad and I laughing at Ella getting all excited over getting some poofs. (BTW, Chad and I call those things "baby Pounce", because if Ella is across the room and we shake the can, she'll crawl like a little lightening bolt to get them)
Ingredients:
1 adorable baby, preferably in cute pink jammies
1 Bumbo chair
1 bib (do not skip this ingredient)
1-2 tablespoons of rice cereal
1 baby spoon
Seat baby in chair, attach bib. Using spoon, guide rice cereal toward baby's mouth. This may take three or four tries before success. Baby may try to help, and that's okay because it will guarantee that your baby turns out extra messy. See photos below:
Your end result should look something like this:
Oh not so much. Lounged on the couch for a little while.
Then I read a magazine* while I had my coffee.
I was feeling a little lazy, so I went to the gym and did some push ups.
And then the next day, I was tired so I slept in.
And all that sleeping made me tired, so I took a nap with Daddy.
So to say thanks, I helped him fix his computer.
Well, gotta run. I've got to get up early for jury duty** tomorrow.
*We only have Entertainment Weekly because we ended up with a 12 week trial after Chad's credit card was stolen. It's a long story.
**Chad is actually serving on a jury right now, so I had to photoshop out all his information.
Since Janine reminded me of what a nerd I was (ok, still am), here's a picture showing that nerdiness is indeed genetic:
...is finally getting to bring home your tiny little girl from the hospital.
Of course she wasn't too happy about it.
So when we brought her in the house, I immediately swaddled her and put her in the basinette of her pack and play, which was just a little too big.
But the sleep positioner helped with that.
Welcome home, little girl. We've missed you.
Today we got to give Ella a bath. She was pretty dirty because she'd only been able to have little sponge baths because she had an IV in her scalp. I know that sounds pretty strange, but it's a pretty common place for nurses to put an IV in infants. The good news is that she's completely off IV fluids, so she won't have to get poked every day! And, on Monday the occupational therapist is coming to determine whether she can start bottle feeding yet (I'm not allowed to breastfeed yet because of my blood pressure medication). I'm looking forward to her being able to bottlefeed, because that means no more feeding tube in her nose!
So, here are a thousand pictures of her bath. This might take a little while to get through, because like all new moms, I took thousands of pictures and need to show them to everyone.
As you can see, she was pretty dirty.
Daddy got her partially undressed and took her temperature:
She wasn't too happy about the bath at first:
But she calmed down and felt great after a second:
Daddy washed her hair:
I washed the rest of her:
I wonder if all new parents look this scared the first time they bathe their baby:
This picture of us dressing her after her bath makes it look like we're performing surgery:
After bath:
Even the preemie clothes are too big on her! After I washed them, they looked like they were small enough to fit her, but she's still swimming in them!
And then she finally got some Daddy time. Chad doesn't get to hold her as much as I do, since he's saving his bonding time for when she comes home:
It made Ella a happy baby. She was smiling so much today!
And this is Laura, our nurse who has been a godsend to us:
So today was a great day for me and Chad. Doing little things like bathing her and changing her clothes/diapers help us feel like parents. It's hard to feel like a parent when you're not with your baby every moment of every day, but these little things really do make me feel like a mom!
I just got back from the hospital, and Ella has gained weight! She's now up to 3.64 pounds, and she's eating well. She just keeps getting stronger and stronger! Tomorrow we get to start kangaroo care (skin to skin contact) and this evening they let Chad and I put our picture up on her isolette so that she can see us when we're not there. I have a lot of trouble posting pictures on Vox, so anyone who wants to see her can go to www.victorialife.typepad.com to see her on my mom's blog.
As for me, I got my staples out today. I have to say that anyone who is considering having a c-section instead of doing things the regular way is crazy. I'm healing fast, but this really sucks. Getting the staples out didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. I've just been through the ringer the last three weeks, and to be honest I'm terrified that I'm going to end up back in the hospital again. I did see my doctor today, and although my blood pressure is still high, it looks like I may be in the clear. As long as my kidney infection doesn't pop back up, I should be okay.
I really feel like everything just might be okay.
