It's Official...

I'm exhausted. I must be a new parent.

Our little lovebug has had a bit of a set-back with her sleeping schedule. She's been up two or three times a night for the past week. Now, that's not too bad, but I can't seem to get her to sleep until about 11 p.m. For normal human beings, that wouldn't be much of a problem. For those of you who know me, however, my preferred bedtime is 8:34 p.m. 8:45 p.m. is really much too late, so 11 p.m. feels downright painful. I've always been a fan of sleep.

We are really looking forward to this Sunday. We are going to dedicate Eliana at church. Joe and I pray each morning (Well, Joe prays, and I try to keep my eyes open - yes, open. Otherwise, I wouldn't be conscious.) and give Ellie into God's hands. But there is something about standing up in public, and yielding her over that is both so right and so scary at the same time. I never dreamed that parenthood would tear at my heart so.

Speaking of tearing at my heart, I left Ellie the first time yesterday for a couple hours. I was asked to proctor some Ohio Graduation Tests just a few minutes from our house. I was a mess. I'm so grateful that my mom was able to come and be with Ellie while I was gone. I didn't have to be gone long, but it was against everything inside of me to walk out that door. It couldn't have gone better, though. Ellie ate and fell asleep right before I left and was just waking up when I arrived home. I'm sure that at some point I will come home to a crying baby, but I'm so happy that it wasn't the first time I left her. It was hard enough.

Well, Ellie seems to be sleeping (and it's 9:26 p.m. Hurray!), so I'm going to take advantage of the time! 'Night all!

Morning Glory

"Of all the joys my life brings, a child's smile makes my heart sing."

-Anonymous

At about 8 o'clock this morning I heard cute little "waking-up" baby sounds coming from the bassinet. I went over and Ellie was wide-eyed. As soon as she saw me, her face burst into the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. Could there be anything more wonderful in the world? Time and time again, I am bowled over by the immensity of emotion I feel for this little girl. There was a part of me that, until now, was not complete. Now my "heart sings."

Prayers for my OB

Just a quick post tonight. I just learned that the obstetrician who performed my c-section had a brain aneurysm. Please pray for him.

Thanks.

1 Month Ped. Appointment

Smiling at Daddy's Funny Sounds

Eliana will be one month old on Wednesday (Can you believe it?), and we went to see the doctor today. She is growing - quickly! She is up to 12 pounds and 22.25 inches. That puts her at the 97% for height and a "tad bit" overweight. The doctor says her weight will even out as she grows but that she is going to be tall! He says she looks beautiful. I tend to agree with him. :-)

We went to the mall for the first time today. I needed to buy some new jeans (sigh). The adventure started out peaceful enough, but by the end, all of Kohls knew we were there! :-) Wouldn't you know it, we met two friends that I haven't seen in quite some time (Hi Dawna and Carrie!), but Ellie was in full voice, so there was NO chatting going on. The sales lady still wanted me to sign my e-mail up with them, though. Um, thanks. Some other time when I can hear myself think. :-)

Well, I'm just about to do some online tutoring with Ellie sleeping on my lap. Let's hope she stays that way. Otherwise, it's Daddy Duty time!

Ciao!

Beat Like a Drum

Hi all! I'm still recovering from all of yesterday's parties (Andy's and Joe's Mom's B-Ds), so this won't be much of a post. I just had to share this photo with you, though. I totally understand this feeling!

Trial and Prayer

I just love figuring out how to take care of Eliana. Sometimes it's almost comical because, looking back on an event, it seems like I should have known the solution from the start, but these little ones don't come with full manuals (just a million books that say "You can try this, but it might not work..." :-) Every time we do something that actually works, it's a major accomplishment.

Last night was a great example.

Eliana typically starts to get fussy in the evenings around 7 p.m. (common for many babies, I hear.) I can tell that she is tired and needs to go to sleep, but she really fights it for a while. Last night, she was especially so. Nothing seemed to help, poor little thing. At about 8:30 p.m. I decided to go put her down in her bassinet to see what would happen. WONDER OF WONDERS: in about 20 seconds she was sound asleep and didn't wake up until her midnight feed. How about that? I was actually keeping her awake trying to put her to sleep in my arms! Wouldn't you think that if I knew she was tired, I would have tried to put her to bed before that? :-) Now, putting her down might not work every night, but I'm sure going to give it a try from now on!

It's a little scary that it seems like parenthood is a lot of trial and error (or I should say, "Trial and prayer!")

New Job

Today was my first day on the new job. It was great! I "attended" a recorded online meeting about reading fluency and started generating some ideas for projects that I will begin work on soon. I had a friend from church come and spend the day with me. (The biggest "thank you" to you, Jodie!) It was tremendous to have her help with Eliana, so I could focus a bit better as I'm getting started with things. She's offered to come weekly, which will make the times I have live meetings much easier.

PRAISE REPORT: Joe's dad has absolutely NO blockage of the artery as the doctors thought. GOD IS SO GOOD!

It's Bath Time!

Eliana had her first real bath today, and despite the look on her face in the photo, she loved it! It seemed, however, that Joe and I quickly grew about 20 thumbs. How is that possible? It never ceases to amaze me how "they" just let you take your baby home from the hospital when you really have no idea what you are doing with them. How do you keep your baby from going doo doo in the bath water anyway? :-)

Back to Church

Wow! What a wonderful day we had. After being gone for two weeks, we made it back to church today. It felt so good to show off our little girl (Is that a bad thing?). The time of worship was just tremendous, and I loved watching Eliana during it. It was clear that she was in familiar surroundings. All during my pregnancy, she would be fairly still during music, and then just go crazy when it stopped - as if to say "More! I want more!" Today, she did just about the same thing. Even though she had been awake since 8 a.m., she was wide-eyed but calm during the entire song service. She got moving then when we finished. Too fun!

After church, we had lunch with Aunt Kerry and Uncle Michael, good friends of ours. It was so great to be with them again (Shout-out to you guys!). Ellie slept through the entire lunch. I think it was actually the first meal that I ate without interruption.

After lunch we made a trip up the hill to see Baba Helene. She didn't get much of a chance to love on Ellie at church since we were getting so much attention from everyone there.

From there, since we were out, we made a quick grocery stop and then headed home. All in all, it was a jam-packed day, but Ellie did great! I was exhausted! It was nice to come home and relax a while.

It is now 8:45 p.m. and Ellie just ate and fell asleep on my shoulder. Could it be? A 9:00 p.m. bed time? I've been shooting for that since we came home from the hospital! I'm almost too excited to hope it might happen.

Good night all!

I'm Free! I'm Free!

I had my two week postpartum appointment with my doctor today. Everything is looking good, and I have been okayed to drive again! What a relief! I've got to thank everyone who made trips to the store for me during these two weeks. I have the best family and church ever! Not being able to drive was really one of my biggest concerns prior to Eliana's birth, but I never wanted for anything. Not a day went by without someone calling to see if I needed something. What a blessing you all are!

Ellie continues to do well. She is up to 10 lbs. 1 oz and has gone from 20 inches to 21.5! Her sleep has been a bit iffy the past two nights, but some ups and downs are to be expected. :-)

I start my new job next week, just working two days a week through the rest of October. Although it will be a major adjustment to work again, I'm looking forward to seeing a new aspect of education. I'm also so grateful that I don't have to get "beautiful" or leave my daughter to go to work. I may have to put some hours in after Joe gets home, but how much better is that than having to leave all day? God is so good to me!

Keep praying for Joe's dad. Thanks so much!

First Pediatrician Appointment

We visited our pediatrician today for the first time, and Eliana is doing great! Really the biggest news is her weight. She was born 9lbs 4ozs. When she left the hospital, she was 8lbs 7ozs. Now at 12 days old, she weighs in at a hefty 9lbs 10 ozs. To paraphrase the doctor, Wow! She's eating a lot! They want the babies to be back at birth weight by 2 weeks of age. We left that in the dust a while ago. As a mother, it's nice to know that I'm providing sufficiently for my baby.

It was really nice to get out the house today for the first time. Mom drove for me and we did quite a bit of running around that I needed to do. We were out for about 5 hours. On the down side, my feet are significantly bigger than they have been since I was on them so much. I have lost 18 pounds of water, though, in the 9 days I've been home! Ahhh, the saga of the feet!

We had a wonderful visit on Saturday with Joe's family. His mom was sick, but his sister's family and his grandparents were able to come and celebrate his birthday and see the Ellie. His nieces, Madison, Alaina, and Sydney, did a fantastic job taking care of Ellie for the afternoon! I got to kick back and relax. :-)

My Father's Hands

Over a Week!

Ellie loves her swing - really.

Wow! I can't believe Eliana is a week and 3 days old already. The time has flown by. She is doing just great. She eats well and continues to only get up once during a 7 or 8 hour night. It feels wonderful to get some good sleep. She lost her umbilical cord yesterday, so soon we'll start regular baths. We'll see how she likes that! After the first sponge bath that Joe and I stumbled through, she has come to like them, so we'll see. Ellie's first doctor's appointment is Monday, and I'm anxious to see what kind of weight she has gained back. She had dropped from 9 lbs 4 oz at birth to 8 lbs. 7 oz at discharge.

I am feeling better daily. With the joy of Ellie, it's hard to remember that I did have surgery. I'm forcing myself to not do housework, and just relax as much as possible. My legs and feet are slowing getting smaller. Since I've come home, I have lost 16 pounds of water! That's great because when I arrived home from the hospital, I had actually GAINED weight by giving birth! How depressing is that?

Be sure to click on the slide show to the right. I keep adding photos!