Ella's First Shabbas

The caring committee from our synagogue has been really helpful after my surgery. Twice this week, someone from the Temple has brought us food for dinner. Last night, we were given a Shabbat dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, and a challah. I decided we should light the candles and eat at the table like a true Shabbas dinner so we moved the swing closer to the kitchen so Ella could join us. She hung out the whole time and looked all around.

Good Shabbas everyone!

She's Even Prettier When She Smiles!

Ella started to smile here and there about a week ago. Daddy got the first smile and Aunt Robin got the 2nd one. I didn't get a smile for a while, but finally got one before I left for my surgery. By the time I got home from the hospital 3 days later, Ella was smiling up a storm for Grandma. She even smiles once in a while for me now!

Ella Is Two Months Old Today!

I can't believe that Ella has been in our lives for 2 months already! She had her 2 month checkup yesterday and the doctor said she is doing well. She weighs 10 pounds, 4 ounces and is 21 3/4 inches long. She is in the 40th percentile for weight and the 32nd percentile for height. Her head circumference is 15 inches, which is also in the 40th percentile. I can't believe how big she has gotten. Ella has nearly doubled her birth weight. Here's her official 2 month photo and a few others that we took today. You can also see a few more photos from today here. There are also other photos from the last few weeks here.

Our Little Houdini

Ella has a new trick. Every night, we swaddle her in her Miracle Blanket (a gift from cousin Stephanie that really rocks!). For anyone not familiar with the MB, it is truly a miracle. We tried swaddling her in regular receiving blankets, but she always found a way to wiggle out of it within minutes. The MB is supposed to keep her from wiggling out of it. Or so we thought! The last couple of mornings, we come in the room to get her and this is what we find:


If it's not her arm that comes loose, it is a foot. One morning, she even had one arm and one foot out. It is truly hilarious!

Ella Gets a Taste of Alpharetta

Tom and I met Robin and Danielle at the Taste of Alpharetta (ToA) this evening. Our plan was to get there by 5:00 PM when it first started, but that didn't work out so well.

I had my 8 week post-pardum appointment with my OB this afternoon. The appointment was at 2:45 PM. I was finally called back to a room at 10 minutes to 4. She saw me at 4:15 PM and I still had to stop by another doctor's office in the same building to pick up some medicine. I didn't even make it home until 5:30 PM.

We arrived at ToA right around 6:00 PM and found Robin and Danielle. Ella was doing great in the beginning. She was sucking on her pacifier and looking all around. At 7:00 PM, I sat down to feed her, while Tom and Robin went off to eat more food. Ella was such a good girl! She even let Tom change her very poopy diaper in the grass (don't worry, we didn't actually put her on the grass directly, she was on her diaper changing pad!).

As for ToA itself, we were all sadly disappointed this year. Most of the restaurants that had booths were either fast casual, pizza places, or dessert. We finally found the "good" restaurants as we were leaving. Bummer that we didn't get to try anything we were really impressed with. But, we were very happy that Ella did very well on her first outing with thousands of other people!

Go Gators!

I'm thinking this post doesn't really need any explanation...

Not Her First Bath

We have been using the "blue" bath tub for all of Ella's baths but yesterday was the first bath without using the hammock (it's an attachment that hooks to the top of the tub until the baby is big enough to sit in the newborn part). Ella is now such a big girl that she now fits comfortably, and without sliding, in the tub itself. She really loved her bath for the first time yesterday. She is usually very squirmy and it takes both of us to hold onto her so she doesn't fall under. She was so happy yesterday that she actually sat still. If she was smiling yet, I'm sure she would have been smiling from ear to ear the entire time. Here are some pictures where you can really see how happy she is:



Enjoy even more pictures from her bath and other things here.

Play It Again Sam...

We tried the playmat again yesterday and Ella was a bit more receptive this time. She still isn't crazy about it when she's on her tummy, but she is looking at all the animals hanging from it when she's on her back. When she's on her tummy, we put her in front of the mirror and she will look at her reflection, but hasn't really taken to it yet. She can also lift her head a little more than 45 degrees when she's on her tummy. She's so strong!

From Sleepy Time to Play Time

Ella's new favorite place to sleep is in my lap on her Boppy. It is really cute to watch. Of course, she tends to fall asleep about 30 minutes before she's supposed to eat or right before I need to get up. And, of course, if I try to move her, she wakes up and complains!




We have also taken out the Tiny Love Play Gym mat for Ella. As you can see from these pictures, Ella's not so sure whether she likes it or not yet.

Who Let the Cat Out of the Bag?

Er.... Okay, so this one has nothing to do with Ella, but I had to post it! No, we didn't purchase a new cat at Publix last week, Weasel just thought the bag would be a fun place for him to play! He is so silly! The best part was when Tom picked up the bag with Weasel in it. Weasel just hung out in the bag!

Happy Mother's Day!

I have the most advanced daughter in the world. She got me a card and wrote me an entire note about how much she loves me! Her spelling needs a little work, but her handwriting (in crayon) is pretty darn good for a 7 week old! Apparently, she doesn't like when I use the nasal aspirator on her though, as she felt the need to write a P.S. about why she didn't thank me for cleaning out her nose every day!

Daddy made pancakes for breakfast and is making Alaskan king crab legs and scallops for dinner. Mommy is very happy about this meal and can't wait to eat it! In a little while, Robin and I are going to get our nails done, sans kids. The dads are in charge today!

Last night I discovered that reading out loud to Ella puts her right to sleep. It doesn't keep her asleep long, but it does get her started. We read The Very Hungry Catepiller three times and read a nursery rhyme book and a Berenstain Bears book. We never did finish the Berenstain Bears book, but we'll try again tonight!

What's in a Name?

I have come to realize that not everyone understands the play on words reference in my blog title. So, if you don't keep up with Sesame Street these days, you probably don't know Elmo's theme song. I'm guessing you've at least heard of Elmo, since he is the most marketed character these days! If you'd like to hear the theme song, watch this video. If you still don't understand the reference after watching the video, I simply can't help you!

Do Redheads Have More Fun?

We were wondering whether Ella would have dark brown hair like me or be a tow head like her dad was as a kid. Well, it looks like we may be wrong on both accounts. While she is losing a lot of hair, what's left appears to be turning red. Yep, I said red. Talk about a recessive gene!

You can kind of see the red hair in this picture.

Ella and the Boys

Ella and I met up with Lauren and Ike and Traci and Benjamin last Friday at Land of 1000 Hills Coffee Shop (LOATH). Here are a few pictures that I took of Ella and her "boyfriends." Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of all three of them together (Ella, Ike, and Benjamin) because Benjamin is a little monkey and doesn't like to sit still very long!

Ella and Ike

Benjamin

Sweet Sleepy Baby

Ella is sleeping better and better every night. She has been sleeping anywhere from 4 1/2 to 6 hours each night. I feed her around midnight and then Tom feeds her in the morning. We're hoping she'll move closer to that 6 hour mark on a more regular basis in the next week so that it will be easier on everyone helping out after my surgery.

There is nothing like watching a baby sleep. Ella is so adorable when she sleeps. Especially when we let her fall asleep on her tummy (only during the day when we're around to keep a close eye on her). She puts her tushie up in the air just like her cousin Danielle!

Surgery - again :(

So, I know this blog is supposed to be about Ella, but this one is about me. Again, I'm copying a post from another place. This time it's a note from Facebook (no sense in rewriting all this stuff, right?).

Back story: 9 years ago I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC). After 9 months of continuous flare up, I had to switch GI specialists for insurance purposes. The new GI specialist decided to try an aggressive treatment and put me in the hospital over the weekend. The treatment didn't work and that Monday afternoon, she recommended surgery to remove my colon. After talking with the surgeon for over an hour and then meeting with a young girl that had the same surgery, I decided it was the best thing for me. So, eight years ago, I had a total colectomy with a j pouch. The pouch is actually made from 2 loops of my small intestine and keeps me from having a colostomy bag (that's the non TMI version). I have been fine since the surgery other than a few infections here and there over the years. Nothing that a dose of antibiotics couldn't fix.

Fast forward 4 years when I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). I have been on medication since then to help keep the symptoms at bay. The medication also keeps the UC in remission.

Now that you're caught up, here's what's going on today. When I became pregnant, I had to stop taking the medication for the RA. I was very fortunate that my body produced some mad hormones that kept the RA from flaring. Unfortunately, during the 3rd trimester, I started having issues with the UC. I now know that it was not b/c I was pregnant that I had these issues, but b/c I was not able to take the medication.

So, my surgeon had been treating the issues during the pregnancy and wanted to do some more exploration after Ella's arrival to see what was causing the issues. That was the reason for the CT scan last week. On Friday, I found out that the issues are coming from my pouch. It apparently has a hole in it that is the root of the issues. When I asked the surgeon what may have caused the hole, she said she would know more after surgery, but she is almost positive that I actually have Crohn's Disease (the difference between UC and Crohn's is that UC only affects your large intestine or colon and Crohn's can affect both your small and large intestine).

The surgeon has decided that the best course of action is to give me a temporary illeostomy for 3 months, which will give the pouch time to rest and hopefully heal itself. If it hasn't healed itself after 1 month, she will go in and repair it herself. The reason she doesn't want to go in and repair it right away is b/c it's a much more invasive procedure to do that. The ileostomy only requires 3-4 days in the hospital and hopefully no more than a week recovery time.

The ileostomy (first surgery) is scheduled for May 22nd at 12:30 PM. The only thing that keeps my mind off this dreaded date and what will come afterwards is knowing that I get a little extra time at home with my Ella Bella. I'm really looking forward to that!

More from Ella's First Month

As many of my friends and family know, I have an "addiction" to a certain website's chat boards. Fortunately, that addiction is now coming in handy. I posted a lot of stories and questions over the last six weeks and I am now able to go back to those posts and put the really important stuff here. I'm going to post them in date order, word for word as I posted them then. Some of them are pretty funny looking back now (as if they are so old)!

From March 25, 2009: Ella is a Little Piglet!

Ella is only 3 days old and is already drinking 2 oz. Tom fed her at 7 this morning and she sucked down the whole bottle. Meanwhile, an hour later, she is STILL HUNGRY!

It seems like so much food for such a little peanut. Do we feed her more now? She isn't crying, just won't go to sleep and is "fussing" a little bit. If this keeps up, we are really going to be poor from all the formula!

My little peanut in the hospital.

From March 26, 2009: We're Still in the Hospital :(

I was supposed to be discharged yesterday after I had an outpatient procedure to fix the fissure that I had issues with in December and January. While I was in recovery, I spiked a fever of 103. I was stuck there from about 3:30 until 9:30 when they finally released me back to my room. My poor Mom and Tom had been in the room waiting for hours with no word on what was going on with me. We were all very frustrated.

I thought I'd be going home today, but no such luck. The fever came back at 4AM and then again at 11:30 this morning. My surgeon told me that as long as it stays below 101, she'll let me go home tomorrow.

I know that my health is important, but I've been stuck in the hospital since Saturday and am really antsy to get Ella home!

Keep your fingers crossed that my temperature stays down!

Fortunately, my fever did stay down and we were able to take Ella home on March 27th.

Ella poses on her last day in the hospital.

Welcome home, Ella!

From March 28, 2009: Ella is Already to Funny!

We really want to get her on a feeding schedule as fast as possible (who doesn't, right?). So, we've been trying to hold her to a feeding closer to every 4 hours since yesterday morning. Today, her schedule got a little screwed up time-wise, so my mom tried to feed her at 9PM (after 3 hours instead of 4). Ella was not having it! She was so not ready to eat. She is proving to us that SHE makes the rules now, of course!

Hanging out in the crib.

From April 10, 2009: Frustrated

The last 2 nights, Ella has not been sleeping well in her crib. If she is already sound asleep when we put her in there, she's fine, but if she's just starting to fall asleep when we put her down, she'll wake up and start fussing. So, we discovered last night that she will sleep soundly if we put her down on her tummy (figured this out because I brought her into our room and decided to give her some tummy time. She immediately fell asleep and stayed that way until I moved her back to her crib an hour later.

She obviously prefers sleeping on her tummy to being on her back. I am, of course, really nervous about putting her on her tummy in her crib, when we are not right there to watch her, since she is so little. At the same time, I haven't slept at all in the last 2 nights, b/c I keep getting up when she starts fussing. I know that my nephew and both of my nieces would only sleep on their tummies, as well, so I am not totally surprised about this. I'm just not sure what to do.

From April 13, 2009: Update to Frustrated Post

Thanks to all you wonderful ladies for your advice on our fussy Ella! We decided to start putting the gas drops in her bottles and swaddling her in the miracle blanket at night in her crib. So far, it's been 3 nights and she has been much better. No fussing in between feedings. I hope that this trend continues, as I am much less worried now and actually sleeping for a few hours at night now!

Ella continues to do well in her crib, as long as she is swaddled in her miracle blanket. She even sleeps anywhere from 4 1/2 to 6 hours at night now!

From April 17, 2009: Ugh, I think I'm sleeping in the guest room tonight!

Tom went to sleep before me because he is taking Ella's middle of the night feeding. He is snoring so loud, I can't take it! The breathe right strip is worthless! Do you think I'd be totally rude if I slept in the other room after I feed Ella in an hour?

I did sleep in the guest room that night and Tom actually slept in there for the next few nights. He was so exhausted and his allergies were so bad that he was snoring exceptionally loud. Thank goodness that went away!

From April 18, 2009: Ella is a Piglet!

She is obviously going through a growth spurt right now. Tom and I both got on our scale last night and then got on the scale again with Ella in our arms. She weighs 8 pounds. She's gained 2 lbs. in 2 weeks! She's been drinking 4 oz. for about the same amount of time and the last few days she's been fussy 5 minutes after we finish feeding her. Tonight, there was no consoling her so Tom made her another ounce and she drank the whole thing! I can't believe my daughter is not yet one month old and she already wants to drink 5 oz. She's going to be a porker if she keeps this up!

I took Ella to the doctor's office to get an official weight on April 29th. Sure enough, she weighs 8 pounds, 5 1/2 ounces. We did learn that the reason she was drinking so much was because we were stretching out her feedings too long. We were really feeding her on demand at that point, which was ever four hours. Apparently, Ella is such an easygoing baby that she wasn't fussing until she was really starving! We have now gone back to feeding her on a schedule (every 3 hours until bed time) and she is back down to 4 oz.

From April 21, 2009: Ella is 1 Month Old Today!

Our pediatrician doesn't do a one month appointment so I am going to bring her by the office to weigh her myself sometime next week. According to our scale, Ella weighs 8 lbs. already, but I'd like to know the exact amount!

I took her 1 month picture with Tom's help this afternoon. We plan to sit her in this chair each month to see how much she's grown.

Ella's Birth Story

I was scheduled for a c-section on April 3rd. My only fear was that our baby would decide to come early. Well, yesterday morning, my fear became reality.

I woke up around 8:15 AM to my water breaking. I woke Tom up and told him that our plans for the day have just changed (yesterday was my niece's 2nd bday party). He grabbed my cell phone so I could call my OB. Of course, my OB was not on call this weekend and neither were her partners. It was a doctor from another practice taking calls for her. Dr. Anderson said to get packed and get to Northside.

Meanwhile, our project for the morning was going to be to go ahead and pack my suitcase so it would be ready to go, just in case. That suitcase did get packed, but it went a lot faster than planned! About an hour later, we had everything together and were on our way to the hospital.

Upon checking in with admissions, I found out that the charge nurse for labor and delivery that morning was actually one of my friends from synagogue. I was so happy to see her, I almost cried! She assured me that I would love Dr. Anderson and that everything would be fine. And, she said she was positive I was having a girl! :)

I was put in a room and they hooked up the monitor, had me fill out paperwork, took my labs, etc. I met the anesthesiologist and Dr. Anderson. Dr. Anderson had already spoken w/ my colo-rectal surgeon who was going to come in, even though she wasn't on call (I love Dr. Schertzer!).

The anesthesiologist came back and put in my epidural. As soon as I lied back down, my heart rate dropped into the 40's. They were still trying to readjust the baby's monitor at the same time. My heart rate came back up pretty quickly, but then the baby's dropped. So, we went from a very relaxed environment to full panic mode.

I heard a nurse tell Tom to get into his gown as they were wheeling me out of the room. They literally ran me down the hall to the OR. I was doing fine until that point. I started to get really nervous and panicky!

As soon as they moved me onto the OR table and hooked up the monitors again, baby's heart rate went back up. Apparently, Ella had decided that the doctors were GOING to stick to the scheduled time (I was scheduled for 12:30 PM, but they were running a bit behind, of course).

Meanwhile, Tom was still not in the room with me. They finally brought him in. The anesthesiologist asst. at my head took some pics of us and then Tom sat down and held my hand. About 2 minutes later they said do you want to see? Tom looked over and told me it was a girl! It all went so fast!

Ella did great on her first day. She was pretty feisty (as she was inside the womb) and cried until after her first bath. After the bath, she only cried when the nurses took her temperature.

She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and we are looking forward to loving her forever!

So, I finally did it!

I've been saying I was going to start a blog for about 2 weeks now. Tonight, I finally broke down and did it. Yay, me! Okay, now that that's out of the way, why did I start a blog, you ask? Well, because what they say about "Mommy brain" is totally true! I can't remember anything these days, so the only way to remedy that is to write it down.

Right now, I really want to remember everything I can about Ella as she grows. Also, everyone is always asking me, "What's new with Ella?" or "When are you going to show us new pictures of Ella?" This way, you can just check the blog and keep up with her comings and goings. Hopefully, you won't start asking, "When are you going to update Ella's blog?" because that would mean that I'm really slacking!

My goal is to update the blog at least once a week. I am going to start by importing Ella's birth story and then try to add some of the things that have happened over the last six weeks. I hope that Tom will help write some of the posts now and then (what good is having a writer for a husband if he doesn't ever write?!) so that you can get a different perspective occasionally.

So, to wrap it up... welcome to Ella's World! I hope you enjoy reading about her life.