ellie: 10 months

oh my, so late.  sorry elle.  we still love you loads. this is basically 10.5 months but i'm sure you'll forgive me, right?  i could make this really short and say YOU ARE SO MUCH FUN and I LOVE THIS AGE.  in fact the only thing i don't love about this age is that your sleep is still not so good. but here are a few details anyway.

...  you are talking!  you say mommy, daddy, doggie (this sounds a lot like daddy), baa baa (for sheep although you say this randomly all the time anyway), and cat.  i really do love this milestone.  so fun. 

...  you're still a crawling machine.  you're fast and you get where you want to go no questions asked. 

...  you're climbing stairs.  uh-oh.  

...  you're pulling up on anything and everything and starting to walk with your walker a bit.  you will also walk when you hold our hands and you get the proudest smile on your face when you do this.  

...  you 'read' books.  you like me to read to you and you turn the pages and you will also flip through on your own.  board books are pretty much the only ones that are safe around you.

...  you love to wrestle with your daddy.  avery too if she's gentle enough.  

...  you are a really tough kid.  you don't cry for much (except when you don't get your way).  in fact at one time this month avery hit you in the face because you took her toy and your lip started bleeding.  you didn't even think about crying but you did give her a look like, 'oh hell no'.  i think she's in trouble when you get bigger.

...  speaking of toys you love to play with anything and everything your sister is into.  we're constantly hearing from avery that "i'm frustrated!" and i get it.  but thankfully when she's in the mood you guys are starting to play together nicely.  this usually involves her dictating the game and giving and taking toys away from you at random but you're usually amused enough by her made up games that you play along for a bit.

...  you eat everything.  you're eating three meals a day and i usually just give you whatever we're eating unless it's really hard or tough to chew.  dinner is your favorite meal and i'm always impressed with how much food you can actually eat. 

...  you have three teeth.  two on the bottom and one on the top.  

...  you do not like sleeping without me.  you've regressed to waking up after a short period of time after i put you to bed and you will scream your face off as long as you deem necessary (until i come and rescue you).  we probably need to night wean at some point but i'm not mentally ready for that battle yet.  

...  you hate the car and only tolerate the stroller when you're tired enough to be sleeping.  i really hate driving anywhere longer than 20 minutes with you because there's a change you'll scream the whole way.  i moved you into a convertible carseat this month in hopes that it would help but no such luck.  

...   you love ollie and like to lay your head down on his fluffy, fat belly.  he's pretty good with you, too.  the rest of the animals are a distant second to him.  

you love your sister, your dad, and i'm guessing me, too.  and we have loved watching you grow.  lately we've been thinking that there's a good chance you'll be our last baby, which is sort of bittersweet.  it's made me cherish those snuggles that i get from you even more and worry a little less about when you'll start sleeping through the night.  you are the sweetest baby and as hard as those first few months were with you these past few have been so sweet and happy.  love you big e.   

ellie: 9 months

happy 9 months, elle.  i feel like this was a huge month for you, filled with lots of changes.  i cannot believe how fast you are growing and changing.  

... the biggest change this month is that you are full on crawling.  you started right after your 8 month 'birthday' so by now you're not only on the move, but really fast, and really good at it.  you crawl 'normally' and have officially mastered the cross-crawl.  you are literally moving all over the house, from room to room, eating all the dirt you can find and messing with your big sister any chance you get.  i thought that crawling would make you a happier baby and i was right, but man it is exhausting chasing you around all day.

...  you're also pulling up on anything and you even try and stand on your own, which hasn't been successful for you yet but i can't believe you're even trying.  you like to try and stand from a sitting position and you also love to pull up on all furniture and people.  

...  your sleeping sucks.  i started having you sleep in your crib for at least the first portion of the night right before you turned 8 months and i really didn't think that you would be screaming your face off a month later.  i will nurse you and rock you and then put you down in your crib and about 50% of the time you'll wake up, pull up on your crib and scream for a while.  i've tried going back in to rock you or pat your back but that never worked because you never really fell back asleep and would always start screaming the second i left your room.  ugh.  i hate this part of parenting but i know that you need your sleep and letting you cry a bit before you fall asleep on your own seems like the only thing that's going to work for you.  one thing that's slightly hilarious/annoying is that you almost always fall asleep sitting up and holding onto the crib.  it drives me nuts that you won't lay down to sleep after all of this but i've learned that going back into your room to try and lay you down only makes things worse.  you're napping twice a day.  the morning nap is often on the go but your afternoon nap is usually your longer one at home.  you prefer that i lay with you for this nap and i really need to work on getting you to nap alone so you don't develop the same bad habit that your sister had of needed to be held through her entire nap.

...  you have a tooth!  finally.  and i actually thinking you're working on more with the crappy sleep and the constant chewing on everything.  

...  you're eating just about anything these days although i've been much less structured about feeding you than i was with feeding avery.  you don't really like purees from the spoon so all of that baby food that i made is still in the freezer.  luckily avery likes it so i know it won't go to waste.  you love eating solid foods and i can usually feed you some chunks of whatever we're eating.  you also have started to like pouches, so i've been buying those too since it's easier to get more fruits and veggies into you that way.  you're still nursing approximately a million times a day/night so i know you're getting a lot of nutrients through that, too. 

...  you took your first road trip this month and did pretty good.  you slept terribly, but did pretty well in the car although we did have some rough moments.  feeding you puffs seemed to keep you entertained for a bit and you eventually fell asleep, too. 

...  you are one determined child.  you know what you want and you're going to get it.  you will throw a fit if we take something away from you and you have no problem attempting to push avery around if she's in your way or not 'sharing' with you.  i actually have to watch you two pretty closely because you're officially into everything and she officially hates it.  

...  but despite that you really love your sister.  your face lights up when you see her and you love to touch her, play with her, wrestle around with her, and basically do all the things that she's doing.  she's actually not all that into you at the moment with is a little heartbreaking as a parent but i'm hoping she'll warm up to you more once you can actively play with her. 

...  you are a physical kid.  your favorite game is to flop around on our bed and wrestle with your dad.  you'll throw yourself backwards and you think it's the funniest thing ever.  you're constantly banging your head on things and scratching yourself.  luckily you seem to be pretty tough and get over things quickly.

...  you're getting to be weary of strangers.  you like to people watch but if they make eye contact with you you'll start crying.  i think you prefer me to other people but you really love your daddy, too.  i'm so thankful that you're so into him at this point.

...  you love baths.  you will seriously throw a fit if i don't get you in the tub fast enough and you always scream when i take you out.  you splash around like crazy and love all of the toys that we have.  this is actually one of the few times that you and your sister play nicely together. 

...  you also started climbing stairs this month.  woah kid, too fast.  our house in telluride had two stairs from the den to the kitchen and you quickly mastered going up those but would then face plant down them.  uh oh.  you haven't attempted to do this since we got home but it's only been a day.  :)  i think we might have to invest in some baby gates for you.

happy 9 months baby girl.  we love you!

ellie: 8 months

8 months feels like she's almost in toddlerhood.  a little too soon for that but wow has she changed in the last month.  i feel like from 6-7 months there wasn't a lot happening for her but from 7-8 she's just grown bigger and gotten older.  i can really see the one year old she'll soon become.  and as always, these ages remind me so much of how i love the second half of the first year.  some of my sweetest moments with avery were in those six months and this is proving true for ellie, too. 

... she isn't crawling but is about as mobile as she can get without being able to crawl.  she rolls all over the place and goes from sitting to laying down and back to sitting easily.  she can get pretty far between this and inching and scooting her way around and it's no longer safe to put her on the couch or bed and walk away.  she wants to crawl badly and is so very close.  

...  she is really into standing and pulling herself up.  she's not quite able to pull herself up on anything yet.  she'll do it all day while holding your hands and has even let go a couple of times! woah kid, too soon! but i caught her successfully pulling herself up in her crib on the monitor the other night and had to drop her crib down the next day.

...  between the two things above this has been a very frustrating month for her.  she wants to badly to be fully mobile but just can't quite figure it out yet and there is a lot of crying in frustration because of it. 

...  she had her first plane ride (three actually!) this month and did great.  

...  she also spent the night away from home for the first time and did pretty well.  thank you cosleeping. 

...  she definitely prefers to be in my company but doesn't seem to be dealing with the same separation anxiety that avery was at this age.  she is happy enough to go to other people or be held by other people and she absolutely loves charlie.  he picked us up at the airport the other night after we were away for a week and she gave him the biggest grin and squeals as soon as she saw him.  it was pretty cute.  

...  she really isn't eating that much as far as solid foods go.  with avery we did a mix of baby led weaning and purees and i think because of that she was eating a lot more at this age.  ellie's usually eating once a day 1-2 ounces of food.  i would feed her more but she's had some trouble adjusting to digesting it and honestly she refuses it a lot.  i know she'll get there eventually and i'm just glad she's breastfeeding well enough that i don't worry about her getting enough to eat.

...  she plays really well on her own especially if someone is in the room with her.  lately avery has been playing with her, so long as ellie plays along with whatever game avery's dreamed up, and it's both cute to watch and nice because it entertains them both!

...  she had her first successful pool trip this month.  we've tried a few times before but we finally were able to get her in the water without her screaming so that was nice.  she loved just sitting in the shallow water and splashing around. 

...  she also had her first beach trip but she didn't do much other than lounge on the blanket and then fall asleep in the ergo.  i even forgot to put her in the sand and i'm so mad about that!

...  she's usually napping twice a day.  her morning nap is pretty short.  longer if she's in the stroller or the car but i can't usually get her to sleep past 20 minutes at home.  the afternoon nap is usually 2 to 2.5 hours and the longer the better or else she's pretty cranky by bedtime. 

...  nighttime sleep has been interesting.  we've still been cosleeping mostly but a few days ago i decided that for both of our sakes she needed to start sleeping in her crib for at least the first stretch of night time sleep.  i know she'll wake up to eat in the middle of the night and i'm fine with that.  the crib adjustment has not been easy (or successful) for either of us but i'm trying to keep at it because i know the longer i wait the harder it will be for her.  also, i could use a few hours to myself in bed and i know charlie is over the tiptoeing into our room when we're ready for bed. so, we're trying but it's not easy. 

...  i'm not sure how much she weighs.  charlie and his mom both mentioned that she looked like she went through a growth spurt but she's still pretty tiny.  she's wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes but some 3-6s still fit and she has a few 12 months that she wears, too.  no doubt she'll be a small one just like her sister. 

happy 8 months, elle.  i cannot begin to explain how much i love you and how happy i am that you're a part of our family.  life is just so much better with you in it and i love all the time that i spend with you, even those 3 am snuggles.  especially those 3 am snuggles.    

ellie grows up: 7 months

oh ellie, you are seriously at the squishest, happiest, best baby age ever.  you're still such a baby but you are really enjoying interacting with the world around you.  what life is like for you at 7 months:

... you cosleep.  you love it, it's working for us, and i actually enjoy the snuggles most of the time.

...  you're a champion sitter and can get from sitting to your belly.  you actually sit in a 'split position' most of the time, which is funny to me.  

...  you want to crawl! but you really can't figure it out yet.  

...  you mostly like your big sister.  you guys are so cute together although she is a big sister, which means she can be a pain at times.  i know because i was one, too. 

...  you are loud! you squeal, yell, scream, babble, blow raspberries, and make indian noises.  of course you are at your loudest when we try and do things like eat out at a restaurant.  you also love to yell at your sister's gymnastics class.  i think the high ceilings and the music gets you really excited.

...  you do not like to be left alone.  you can play really well by yourself but prefer that someone else is close by.  

...  you've figured out how to digest solid foods and now are eating something twice a day.  pears are still a favorite but you also like mangos and bananas.  applesauce was not a hit and you don't really like vegetables either.  i guess only the sweetest things will do. 

...  you grab everything and immediately put it in your mouth.  you're actually pretty quick and strong so we have to be careful when we put things down near you. 

...  you love ollie.  you don't get to pet him much because avery usually is too rough and scares him away but you get so excited to pet him any chance you get.  

...  you are the smiliest baby every.  charlie actually pointed out that you tend to swing in both directions more than avery every did.  you're both so much happier and so much sadder than she ever was.  she was a pretty chill cucumber when she was your age.  

...  you're napping two to three times a day and sleeping about 10-12 hours at night.  i think you would sleep better at night but lately i've been having to change your diaper in the middle of the night once or twice and it's always hard to get you back to sleep after that. 

...  you love to stand and get the proudest look on your face whenever you do.  you can't pull yourself up but you love when we help you stand and will do so for quite awhile.  i think it brings a totally new perspective for you.

ellie: 6 months

woah, six months.  my favorite age and half a year since you've been in our lives.  

...  you're sitting!! i love, love, love this milestone.  you figured this out about 2 weeks ago and have gotten better and better at it since.  you love to sit and play with toys and books especially if your sister and i are still right next to you to provide entertainment.  

...  you're eating solid foods!  i wasn't planning on starting this one until after you hit the 6 month mark but you just seemed ready for it.  unlike your sister, who took a while to figure out the food on a spoon thing, you got this right away.  so far you've had pears, sweet potatoes, some banana chunks, a bite or two of avocado (which you hated), a strawberry!, and some of your sister's pouches.  i actually think you would love to go the baby led weaning route because you go nuts over grabbing chunks of food and shoving them into your mouth but you still make me pretty nervous with that right now so we're doing just a little bit of that but mostly purees right now.

...  you weigh 14 pounds 9.5 ounces and are 25 inches long.  you're a little thing.  but that's not a huge surprise. :)

...  you love your sister, the cats, and the dogs.  you've started to smile at the animals when they walk in the room and you love to grab their fur.

...  you successfully road in a stroller for the first time without losing your mind.  you hung out in it for a bit when we were at the nature and science museum and took a long walk with avery and i the other day.  

...  you met your cousins for the first time and it was so cool to see you and your cousin lauren together since you're so close in age.

...  you still are sleeping in our bed.  you're the ultimate cosleeper and prefer that i never leave your side or sight 24/7.

... and on that note i've started to see a bit of separation anxiety develop this month.  nothing huge yet, but you will sometimes cry if i leave the room even if it's just to throw a load of laundry in and you definitely want me to be the one holding you.  i'm sure this will get much worse over the next few months.  

...  you nap twice a day, once in the morning and when your sister takes her nap, usually around 1 pm.  one of the nice things that has happened this month is that you've started napping in the car.  this has been huge for our days since you've pushed that morning nap back and if we had to wait around for you to take it we would never get out of the house.  

...  you actually do really well on the go.  you're usually happy to hang out in the ergo as long as i'm moving (no sitting or standing around!) and can nurse in there too, which makes things really easy for me.  you also hate your carseat slightly less than you used to although you don't love it.

... free/into the mystic by zac brown band is your jam.  that song is seriously like the baby whisperer to you.  if you're completely losing it you will stop crying immediately once you hear that song.  i've been using it's magical powers with you since you were really little and it still amazes me how much you love it.  sometimes we listen to it over and over.  i can't complain since it's my favorite song, too. hopefully you'll be a country fan just like your mama.

...  you grab anything and everything and immediately put it into your mouth although you're drooling much less than you were before.  we no longer have to put a bib on you unless you're eating.

...  you're wearing mostly 6-9 month clothing although a few 3-6 months still fit, too.

i think things keep getting easier and more fun by the day.  this past month has brought a lot of changes and i know you're not going to slow down any time soon.  we love you, e. 

ellie: five months

happy five months, elle!  we're inching closer and closer to having in your our lives for half a year.  wow.  

...  you are, for the most part, a really happy baby.  you smile all. the. time.  and you absolutely light up whenever anyone makes eye contact with you and talks to you.  this month you've even started doing this when we talk to people on FaceTime.  

...   you are still eating all the time, but you're starting to space your feedings out a bit.  you still like to eat pretty often in the evenings but i've noticed that it's twice or so in the last two hours before you go to bed instead of the every 45 minutes that you were doing. 

...  you nap anywhere from two to four times a day.  with three to four being most typical.  you take a morning nap around 8:30, another around 11:00, and a long afternoon nap around 1 when avery naps, and you'll sometimes even take a evening nap, too.  the morning nap happens in the rock 'n play and the long afternoon nap happens in our bed.  the other two naps typically happen in the ergo.

...  you like to be outside when the weather's nice and you happily ride around in the ergo whenever we're running errands. 

...  you absolutely hate the stroller.  i really hope you get over this because i would like to start walking more and the stroller is just a better place for you to be when we do this. 

...  you LOVE your big sister.  whenever you hear her voice you look all around to see where she is.  sometimes this can make feedings or putting you down for a nap difficult.  but you absolutely light up whenever she pays attention to you and no one can make you laugh quite like she does.  i'm really looking forward to watching your relationship with her grow. 

...  the cradle cap is completely gone from your eyes thanks to some jason's dandruff shampoo.  i'm so glad because not only did it look awful but it also seemed like it was really painful for you. 

...  you love your bath time.  i'll be honest, your sister definitely got more regular baths than you do, but you get a kick out of splashing around the whole time. 

...  your hair is finally growing.  looks like you won't be a bald baby forever. 

...  you can roll over from both back to front and front to back and you do both pretty often.  no more leaving you on the couch or on the changing table for even a second.  

...  you've found your feet this month.  you love to grab them and shove them in your mouth whenever you can.  

...  you grab anything and everything and immediately put it in your mouth.  we've entered the stage where toys can actually entertain you and so now we have 'baby toys' all over the house along with avery's toys.  

...  you are still teething like crazy.  you chew on anything and you bite really hard when you do!  you're also still drooling like crazy which is still new for your dad and i since avery never did this.  if you're not wearing a bib you'll soak through your shirt in a few minutes.  

...  you've started to notice the dogs.  henry is a favorite and he always gets big smiles from you.  i forgot how good he is with babies.  he loves to sniff you and lick your feet.
...  you still don't love the car but are getting a little better about this.  as long as you are well fed and not terribly tired you usually do okay.

love you, ellie belly.

ellie: 4 months

happy four months elle belle!
you are growing up super fast and are entering maybe my most favorite baby months with you.  you're definitely no longer a newborn baby and as much as i'll miss those sweet, sleepy, squishy moments i am so excited for your next adventures.  i feel like the past month was a big turning point for you and you are now a very happy and content baby 99% of the time these days.  thank goodness!

things you are up to at 4 months:
...  at your well visit yesterday you were 12 pounds 7 ounces and 24.25 inches long.  25th and 50th percentiles respectively.  you're maybe a smidge bigger than your sister was at this age and i would guess you too will be around the same size when you're all grown up.
... you are a happy, smiley baby!  you smile at everyone and it's the best.
...  you laugh!  you did your first real belly laughs this month although you're pretty stingy about when you'll give them out.  and you almost always stop once i break out the camera.
...  you love your big sis.  she always gets smiles from you and i think she likes you, too.  it's actually pretty cute to see you guys start to interact.
...  i started to move you into the cosleeper for your first nighttime stretch but then you got sick and i ended up moving you back to the rock 'n play since it was easier for you to breathe there.  your daddy is pretty anxious for you to sleep in your own room so we'll see what happens in the next month.  right now you still spend a decent chunk of time in our bed, which seems to be where we all sleep the best.  my guess is that you're waking up about 2-3 times to eat at night although i admit that i sleep through most of your wake ups.
...  you're not rolling over yet although we've been pretty terrible about tummy time and since you were pretty fussy for the first 3 months of your life you spent most of that time being held by me.  you'll roll to your side but can't figure out how to get the rest of the way over
...  you grab things with pretty good accuracy and of course once you have something in your hand it goes straight to your mouth.
...  you drool like crazy and love to chomp on your hands.  the doctor mentioned that you looked like you were teething when i brought you in at 3 months for a sick visit.
...  you're big enough for the ergo now so i think we've retired the moby wrap in exchange for the ergo.  you loved the moby wrap for those first three months but it was beginning to hurt my shoulders when you were in it for long periods of time and i always preferred how easy the ergo was to put on.
...  you're napping more consistently now.  you still take about 3-4 naps a day.  usually 2 morning naps with the first one in the rock 'n play and the second in the ergo.  you'll take a long afternoon nap when avery does although you will usually nurse your way through half of it.  if this nap is long enough then you'll stay up until bedtime but if it's too short than you'll take a quick evening nap, too.
...  speaking of naps, unlike your sister you prefer to put yourself to sleep by either sucking your thumb and being sort of jiggled or by walking around in the ergo.  you usually don't like to nurse to sleep but you will do this for bedtime (sometimes) and during the middle of the night.
...  you're a thumb sucker!  you finally figured out how to get it in your mouth and it really helps to soothe you when you're tired or trying to fall asleep.  this has actually helped a lot in the past month!
...  you're still nursing really well.  usually about every 2-3 hours during the day.  you're definitely not a comfort nurser like your sister was so it'll be interesting to see how long you nurse for.


happy four months, little one!  we love you.

ellie: three months.

wow, three months!  that always feels like we're almost out of newborn territory.  for me that milestone seems to be around four months but i've noticed that there have been a lot of changes this month, too. 

... the biggest thing is that you no longer scream your way through the evenings.  this has been huge.  i love to see those smiles all day long now and i no longer dread the 5 o'clock hour. 

...  you still are sleeping in the rock 'n play and our bed at night.  i have a feeling i'll attempt to move you to either your crib or the cosleeper for that first stretch at night in the next month or so.  i would love to get our bedroom back for that first nighttime hour so i can read books in bed.  

...  you're still spending a large amount of time in our bed after that first wake up.  whatever.  it seems to be where we all sleep best for right now.

...  you got sick for the first time.  your sister came down with an upper respiratory virus and you got it about a week and a half after she did.  considering she was coughing and sneezing all over you, despite my best attempts to keep you both separated, i'm not at all surprised that you got sick.  i took you to the doctor to make sure that you were okay.  you were really stuffy, miserable, coughing a ton, and had a low grade fever.  but he didn't seem concerned.  

...  you just took your first ride in the stroller without your carseat.  you seemed to like it a lot better and slept most of our walk.  

...  you have really bad cradle cap on your eyes. it looks terrible and i think is pretty itchy and painful for you.  you rub your eyes all the time and this makes things even worse.  i've been putting coconut oil on it to help but i'm hoping this goes away for you soon. 

...  you weigh about 11.5 pounds and are wearing almost all 3-6 month clothing.  you feel huge to me but you're around the 25% for weight.

...  you're still napping in the moby.  as much as i like having you close to me and i don't mind you napping there i think we'll need to start getting you to nap in your crib soonish.  i think you'd sleep a lot longer stretches if you weren't being woken up by avery's screams or my constant movement.  if you fall asleep in your carseat then you can sleep for hours and then wake up much happier then you do from a 45 minute nap in the moby.

...  you smile all the time.  anytime anyone looks at you they're rewarded with a big smile.  you and avery spent a good amount of time separated this month because at least one of you was sick most of the time but even though you're still sick i've started to let you guys hang out together more and you're definitely a fan of your big sister.  she loves you a lot, too and is always telling you that.  she'll try and comfort you when you cry, pat your head and squeeze your thighs saying "chunky, chunky".  she calls you elle belle all the time and is really into you having "tummy time" (something we are terrible about doing), and helping you roll over.  

...  you're beginning to laugh.  we're not really at the belly laugh point yet but we get a lot of little laughs.  i love to see you happy.  

...  you're eating about every 2-3 hours during the day and will go longer at night.  you've had several nights of 7 hour stretches but your norm is probably 5-6 hours for that first stretch.  you've also had several nights of just waking up once to eat, which was amazing.  but you normally wake up at least 2-3 times during the night to eat.  this isn't usually too bad since you're right next to me but i could get used to the once a night wake ups.  :)

happy three months, elle.  i love watching you grow up and learn new things.  i cannot wait to watch you explore your world as you get older.  and i'm really looking forward to all of the outside time that we'll get once the weather warms up this spring.  

ellie's birth story.

ellie was born on november 25, 2013 at 3:30 pm.  i was induced.  a decision that i agonized over.  her birth was quick, easy, and really sweet.  i was shocked that she was a she.  the experience was everything i wanted from a birth experience (except for maybe avoiding that epidural) and it was a thousand times better than avery's birth story.  

the month leading up to her delivery was a bit dramatic.  around 33 weeks she flipped from head down to a transverse position.  it happened overnight.  i woke up in the morning and immediately knew that she had flipped.  she stayed mostly in that position with her head digging into my ribs until 39 weeks.  i used to ice my ribs at night.  both to encourage her to flip around and also because they were so sore from her ramming her head into them all day long.  she was never a true breech baby and actually flipped back and forth for a while until settling head down at 39 weeks.  because she wasn't head down i had a version scheduled twice throughout those last few weeks to flip her.  the first got cancelled because i had eaten breakfast that morning and the second was cancelled because she flipped around just in time.  we went ahead with the induction because my mom was in town and was able to watch avery.  

we went into the hospital monday morning.  we kissed avery goodbye, told her we were going to the doctor to have a baby, and drove to the hospital.  i was very thankful my mom was in town and was staying with avery, which meant that charlie could be with me.  avery's induction was horrible.  and with that experience in my head i cried on the way to the hospital.  when we got there my midwife was already there.  i got into a gown and freaked out a bit when the nurse wanted to start an iv.  during avery's labor and delivery i was given over 7 bags of iv fluids and was so, so swollen from it all.  it was not good.  thankfully this time they just placed the line for access, gave me 300 mL of fluids, and then capped it off.  i felt much better.  i was about 3 cm dilated when we went in (yay!), they gave me cervidil, which i was actually comfortable with because i had it with avery and i knew my body would respond well to it.  i had to stay in bed for two hours and i started having irregular contractions almost immediately after i got the cervidil.  2 hours later, around 9:30 i got out of bed and started walking around.  this was something i never got to do with avery and it was so nice to be up and walking.  my contractions got more regular and by 1 pm i was 6 cm dilated and they were getting much stronger.  at this point i had charlie rub my back during contractions, which seemed to help a lot.  my midwife offered to leave me alone or break my water to speed things up and i took her up on that since i wanted everything over as quickly as possible.  as soon as my water was broken the contractions got much more intense and i asked for the epidural.  this part sucked as the contractions were much stronger, i had to stay in bed, and they had to place the epidural twice since the first one got messed up.  it actually took an hour (between 1 pm and 2 pm) for the whole thing to be done and that whole hour was pretty much a blur for me.  i believe i may have used a few curse words at this point.  one thing that was awesome was that my midwife stayed with me the entire time.  i loved having a midwife instead of an ob this time.  she was wonderful.  

after the epidural, which was a much better one than the one i had with avery, i progressed pretty quickly.  by a little after 3 pm i was completely dilated and ellie was ready to come out.  the nurse had me start pushing and called my midwife.  i pushed maybe 5 times and in less than 5 minutes she was out.  i saw that she was a girl before they announced it and honestly i was really expecting a boy.  i remember saying, "oh it's a girl.  i wanted a girl" and my midwife said, "really?".  they laid her on my chest and she nursed pretty immediately.  about an hour later they weighed and measured her right next to me and then gave her back to me.  she was 7 pounds 8.8 ounces and surprised everyone with her size.  most of the predictions were around 6.5 pounds for her weight.   charlie and i weren't 100% decided on her name.  we actually had a few others picked out for her but didn't officially decided until after she was born.  but ellie alex seemed right once we met her.  although i must admit that i call her elle at least 50% of the time and avery calls her that just about all the time.  we actually went into the hospital not having decided on whether to circumsize if it was a boy or knowing what we would name a girl and so all of her hospital paperwork said "baby girl" on it.  

my mom and avery came to visit that evening.  avery was interested in meeting her little sister but was a little weary of me being in a hospital bed.  we went home 24 hours after she was born.  both charlie and i wanted to get home, sleep in our own bed, and see avery.  the hospital staff was great there, but being in the hospital is exhausting.  i know some people really love it but i am not one of them.   

i'm so happy that she's here, that avery has a sister to grow up with, and that everything went smoothly with her arrival.  after avery was born i always thought that i wanted three kids, but somehow after ellie got here things just seemed complete.  we'll see if that changes at any point in the near future but for now i think that our little family of four is more than enough to keep us busy.  love you baby e.  life is better with you in it.    

ellie: two months

happy 2 months, ellie!

... you smile all the time now.  you have the biggest, best smiles and sometimes i think they make up for those fussy moments you have.

...  you 'talk' all the time.  you're actually pretty chatty at times and it's fun to talk back and forth with you.

...  you're a champion sleeper at night.  you typically go down around 7:30ish (after big sister goes to sleep) and while it takes you a while to get to sleep you'll usually sleep for 5-7 hours that first stretch before waking up to eat and then be good until 6 or 7 in the morning.  you sleep that first stretch in your rock 'n play and then after you wake up you'll sleep the rest of the night in our bed.  if i put you back in your rock 'n play you'll wake a few more times than if i let you sleep in our bed.  obviously i'm a fan of cosleeping as it's gotten me a lot more sleep than moving you in your crib, but we'll be looking to making that transition in the next month or so.  

...  you nap almost exclusively in the moby wrap or in our arms.  honestly, you hate to be put down and seem to wake up the second i put you down, which means some days i rarely do.  i think that having a toddler in the house has made this more challenging as it's harder to devote the time to getting you to sleep (since i'm trying to take care of avery, too) and it's also a lot louder in the house making it harder for you to stay asleep.

...  you like your carseat well enough.  both walks in the stroller and rides in the car will usually put you to sleep and even if they don't you're happy enough as long as we're moving.

...  you had your first two trips to the aquarium and slept through them.  :)

...  you are pretty fussy in the evenings, although this is getting better.  i'd say that maybe weeks 5 and 6 were the worst, where at times it seemed as if you were screaming for hours and nothing would really make you happy.  but you're much less fussy now and if your dad's around then evenings can actually go pretty smoothly.  

...  you have this new move at night where after you're done eating you'll wiggle yourself until you're snuggled up against me and your head is in the crook of my arm.  and then you drift off to sleep.

... you hate pacifiers.  point taken. 

...  i'm not sure how big you are.  we haven't had your 2 month appointment yet.  you're in sized 3-6 month clothes and size 1-2 diapers and you've outgrown your newborn cloth diapers.  you seem so big to me compared to your sister but my guess is that you're probably somewhere in the 50th percentile for height and weight.  we'll find out soon.  

i love you little e.  even when you're crying and i can't figure out why.  most of the time you're pretty happy, you just prefer to be held by us all the time and i suppose that's not a crazy thing for a baby to want.  happy 2 months.  

ellie: one month

happy one month, ellie!  

...  you had your first thanksgiving and christmas.  

...  you met your grandma niki, and your grandma and grandpa L, and your aunt alex. 

... you passed your hearing test.  yay!

...  you smile a lot more now and spend a decent amount of time awake and actually making eye contact with us.

... you love your big sister.

... you helped us celebrate avery's birthday and daddy's birthday.

...  i'm guessing you weigh around 10 pounds.  you're wearing size one diapers and 0-3 month clothes.

...  you not on a schedule and i have no idea how often you sleep or eat.  i feed you when you're hungry and you nap when you're tired.  i'm guessing you eat every 3 hours on average although you cluster feed in the evenings.  

...  you sleep in the rock 'n play and our bed.  

...  you saw the zoo lights and are usually pretty happy in the moby when you're out.  

i have loved the squishy newborn stage that you're in. i love snuggling with you whenever your big sister is sleeping.  and i love watching you and your sister hang out together.