Feeling Better :)

Ellie's new plan for her reflux seems to be helping! Nursing her sitting up and giving her the Zantac appears to be making her so much more comfortable when she's eating, which she is doing ALL THE TIME right now! I'm hoping that once her little esophogus heals up, she'll be able to eat more at once and then her feedings will space out some. We've also started the bottle again. She'll take about an ounce at a time, but hopefully in the next 3 1/2 weeks, she'll start to accept a bit more. If not, we'll cross that bridge then, but I am NOT going to stress about it.

On a different note, Dave and I booked our flight to Montana for this summer. We are so excited to take our first big vacation together as a family, even though I'm a little nervous about taking Ellie on an airplane :/

Here are some pictures from this morning:

Mr. Mopey-He still sulks all the time...haha!

Playing with her toys!

She grabbed her toy all by herself! Go Ellie!

Such a Cutie :)

I've gotten some cute moments on video this week. Ellie has really found her voice this week. She is "talking" all the time! She also enjoys playing with her toys more too! Enjoy!

And some pictures...

Her face is changing so much!

Chillin' in my bumbo seat!

Poor Baby Girl :(

For the past week or so, Ellie has been eating horribly. She'll get about 10 minutes into nursing, then begins screaming violently and arching her back. It looks so painful. Last night, it got so bad that we decided to bring Ellie into the urgent care center by our house. Based on all of the symptoms that I was describing, the doctor diagnosed her with reflux. The poor thing wasn't refusing to eat as I had thought. It was painful for her to eat. Her arching her back and screaming was because it was too painful for her to swallow anymore. I feel awful that it took us a week to recognize that it was truly an issue that required medical attention. Anyway, I decided to bring her into her pediatrician this morning. They took her weight. She had lost 2 ounces since her appointment last week. They had me nurse her and then weighed her again to make sure that she was getting enough to eat. All in all, I walked out with confidence that Ellie is in fact getting enough to eat when she nurses, a prescription for baby Zantac, and a recommendation to nurse Ellie sitting up so it is easier to swallow. I already see a difference in Ellie's eating. She seems more comfortable and relaxed. We have to go back in a week or two to get her weighed, so hopefully all goes well. It has definitely been a frightening ordeal. I hate when my baby isn't feeling well :(

Other than her painful eating, Ellie is thriving. She is doing so well! Here are some pictures from the week:

Ellie's first ride on daddy's shoulders!

Ellie met her buddy Avery while Dave and I hung out with old friends!

Sitting up like a big girl!

A Healthy Baby Girl!

Ellie had her 2 month check-up yesterday. She now weighs 11 pounds 8 ounces and is 24 inches long! Craziness! She's in the 70th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height! It looks like Dave is going to get his wish. He's always told me he married me so he could get tall kiddos. Nice, huh? There aren't many milestones to hit this early on, but she is doing what she should-responding to voices, smiling, following objects, lifting her head while on her belly, etc... The sad part was her getting 5 shots...that's right, not a typo...5 shots! Two in the left left leg, one in the right leg, and one in each arm, plus an oral vaccine. Poor baby. She didn't feel good at all last night. She slept most of the day (on me) and then slept all night. I had to wake her after 9 hours to eat. Hopefully, today she is feeling a bit better.

On a happier note, Ellie did have one good moment last night. Being the teacher that I am, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Ellie enjoys being read to so much!

Scrub-A-Dub-Dub...Ellie's in the Tub!

I always imagined that bath time with a newborn could potentially be a very unenjoyable experience. I pictured a screaming baby, a flustered mommy and daddy trying to frantically wash their slippery little one to get it over with. Well, that is NOT the case at all. From day one, well, more like day 10, Ellie has absolutely loved getting her bath! We've even decided to do it every night as a part of her bedtime routine because she loves it so much. We only use soap every 3 days or so, so that we don't dry out her delicate little skin. Ellie could go from screaming and unhappy (not that she is that way very often) to calm and relaxed within seconds of her bare little butt hitting the water.

Recently, she has made two discoveries worth capturing on video. The first being her fists. She has realized that she can suck the water off of her hands,which makes for some pretty amusing sound effects. Second, she has figured out how to splash the water. I think we are going to have to transition her baby tub into the big tub shortly because our counter is getting pretty wet at bath time these days!

Here's Ellie sucking on her fists!

Here she is splashing all around!


In other news, we've decided to axe the bottle for a while. She had one great day with it on Saturday, but other than that, it is a constant source of stress in our house. I've figured out that I can just go and feed her at daycare once per day when I return to work, so it's not that big of a deal. We'll pick the bottle up again in a week or so and give it a try, but for now, it's bye bye bottle! Bon Voyage! Good riddens!

Ellie has her two month appointment today, so I'll update everyone on how that goes. I'm sure I'll be more upset than she is when it's all said and done :(

To end this post, I have to include an update about Kirby. Kirby has decided that he loves the Boppy pillow just as much as everyone else.

A Great Saturday!

Today has really been such a nice day! The morning started off pretty quiet. Ellie was up early and as a pleasant surprise took down a 2 1/2 ounce bottle! Hooray! That is quite an accomplishment seeing as how she has been refusing to take it at all for two weeks now. Our neighbor came over to watch Ellie while Dave and I had our first lunch date since the baby was born. I, being the first time mom, was nervous of course, but resisted the urge to call home a million times. I didn't call, not even once! Granted, we were only gone for an hour and a half, but still :) When we got home, Mary had succeeded in getting Ellie to drink another ounce out of a bottle, and I got her to finish it, so in total, she drank 5 ounces today! Success at last! I know it seems trivial, but I have been seriously stressing out about sending my child to daycare and having her starve. Not that that would actually happen since I could go and feed her at lunch, but you all know how I stress about things. Anyhow, today was a good step in the right direction!

After lunch, Ellie went down for a nap, so we loaded her up in the car and went to walk around the lake at Centennial Park. It was 50 degrees out, which is like summer compared to the frigid temps we've had lately! It was so nice to get out and get some fresh air! Here are some pictures from our walk:

A great view of the bare winter trees!

The lake is frozen, which makes for a nice photo op :)

After our walk, we stopped by Target, and stumbled across some equipment that will surely be a part of Ellie's life...we hope :) Hey, we can dream, right?

Yesterday, I bought Ellie a new tummy time play mat, which is making tummy time a bit more enjoyable :)

Here's some video of Ellie playing with her new tummy time toys. She still isn't a huge fan, but we're working on it :)




All in all, we've had a great day together as a family. I feel so blessed to have a wonderful family and great friends. Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

Wow! I Have Hands!

Ellie has recently discovered the little wonders that are her hands and feet. She waves her hands in front of her face, grabs and reaches for her toys, and is always opening and closing her little fingers. Just in the past few days she has realized that she has feet and legs, and often lies there and kicks her feet up and down, and up and down. It's quite amusing! Here's some "footage" of our daily playtime. (The things I get excited for now are pretty funny---ahhh, life as a mommy :)

Here are a few pictures from the week:

Daddy reading Ellie a story. She LOVES to be read to!

This poor girl is going to have a camera complex!

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to our new blog! The past 2 months of our life as a family has been new, hectic, exhausting, and most of all, absolutely wonderful. I wish it hadn't taken me 2 months to get this started, but regrets are so 2009 :) So, what's new with us?

Me (Natalie, or Nikki to some): I am 9 weeks into my leave from work. I never thought that I could stand being home this long, but it is so absolutely satisfying. I love being at home with Ellie. I get to witness every little thing that she does, which is amazing! I have 6 weeks left before I need to go back to work, and although I completely trust the daycare providers that we've chosen, I am honestly dreading the day I need to return to the working world. I have decided, however, not to ruin my last 6 weeks at home with my little one. Rather, I am going to cherish these moments and enjoy them all! On a different note, I've recently started back at Weight Watchers, which is going well. I've lost 5 pounds so far with Weight Watchers, and about 40 total since Ellie was born. I tried going back to the gym, but with Dave's work schedule, it has been really hard to get there. So...I've decided to cancel my membership and do my workouts at home. I bought a Biggest Loser DVD and it is kicking my butt, so I think I've made the best decision! I also figure once Spring rolls around, I can go walking with Ellie and Kirby. Enough about me...

Dave: Dave is into week 20 of 31 at the police academy! He seems to really enjoy it and is doing so well! I do think he is quite ready to move onto the next phase in this whole process though. After the academy, he moves onto 3 months of Field Training, which I compare to student teaching. He shadows a mentor officer for 3 months, and I think he has to do 1 month of each shift: day, evening, and midnight. Other than work, just like me, Dave is absolutely smitten with Miss Ellie, and is such a great dad!

Ellie: What can I say? This little one is the joy of our lives. She seems to grow each day, and I am amazed at how fast time is going. She is now sleeping about 7 hours straight at night, which is great for Dave and I. She has recently started smiling more and more, and is almost laughing! I can't wait to hear it! She's also getting better at grabbing onto her toys, and even reaches for them from time to time. It sounds so cliche, but I cannot believe how in love I am with her. I still tear up from time to time when I look at her. We waited so long to get her, and I wouldn't change a thing now that she's here!

This smile gets me everytime!

Kirby: Mr. Kirb is still adjusting to life with Ellie. I still think when we leave with her in the carseat, he secretly hopes that we'll return without her, but all in all, he does really well. I cannot wait for warmer weather so that I can get the poor guy out for some long walks!

Ellie wakes up so happy, so we decided to try and catch it on video. Success!