Ella Updates and Life

Raspberries
Miss Ella started trying to blow raspberries at the end of last week. My mom saw it and so did Jason but then she hasn't done it since. So neat (that she's doing these things) and so hard (that I'm not there to see them) at the same time.

Long Car Ride
She recently had her first really long car ride. There were some moments of crying but overall she just chilled or slept. She did great. And there was only one poop blow out, but it made for an interesting paper towel bath in an Irving rest room :) (And yes, the poo blow out occurred wearing disposables...NOT cloth)

New Cries
The cries we did hear were new cries. They were distinctly different from any we'd heard before. It was no longer a newborn, "I need something" cry. It was an, "I'm ticked and am telling the world" cry. Interesting and quite humorous at points too!

Tummy Time & Rolling Over (attempts)
Ella doesn't really like tummy time. She tires of it in approximately 2 minutes and then gets real fussy and tries to roll over. She gets about half the way, but still can't figure out how to get that pesky arm out of the way!

Grabbing
She did tolerate tummy time a little today and even reached out and grabbed a toy that was in front of her, that was a first on her tummy!

T.V.
I'm afraid this little one takes after her mamma in that she likes to watch T.V. The little bugger hears it and cranes her head right around to try to see it no matter where she is. Consequently, her mamma doesn't watch T.V. anymore! It stays off when she's up!

Page Turner
Ella turns the pages of her board books when we read to her. At first I thought she was just grabbing them, and no she doesn't get them turned quite the whole way, but now I'm pretty convinced she's actually trying to turn them. I even got it on video. It makes sense that she's trying to copy what we've been doing with her since the day we brought her home!

Laughing
Also today, I think I heard her first laugh. She LOVES laying on her back and grabbing at dangling toys. She talks up a storm and smiles and squeals. Today amongst all of her chatter, I'm pretty sure I heard a few laughs. They were so funny! Low "hahahaha's" and a little evil sounding if I do say so myself!

Good Life!
And today is just a wonderful Tuesday. I'm relaxing, baking homemade bread, washing diapers, picking up around the house and just soaking in the moments with my babe. Every sigh, every cry, every smile, every coo, every movement and every snuggle is precious. Life is good.

Smokin' !

You gotta spice things up once in a while right? Get out of the same old hum drum routine....well that's kinda what I did at work yesterday night.

I was helping cook dinner (tacos) and the tortillas were still frozen, so I popped 'em in the micro for 2 minutes to get them thawed out, went and did something else and then came back and started chopping veggies.

I heard the microwave still going behind me but thought nothing of it. I thought someone else had popped something in there...because surely what I had put on for 2minutes was not still going 15 minutes later.....Ummmmmmmmm WRONGO!

My co-worker said, "Do you smell something burning?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I think it's just something on the burner." Then I turned around. AHHH!

Thick smoke coming out of the microwave! I shut it off and open it up. Good. No fire. Just smoke. Then the hardwired alarm starts going off. Blaring WHAA, WHAA, WHAA! Emergency strobe lights flashing! Residents start streaming out of the house looking at me with big eyes as I explain, "Everything is okay, but we still need to go outside."

Everyone gathers out front. It take the firemen 10-15 minutes to get there and the station is LITERALLY around the corner. (Maybe this was a blessing in disguise, finding out and being able to be proactive in remedying response time.)

The firemen are nice. I explain what happened. They clear the house, open windows, put a fan on. Everyone has a good chuckle and life resumes as normal....only a little stinkier from all the smoke.

Apparently I hit an extra zero and those taco shells were cookin' for a good 20 minutes!....and I'm supposed to be helping the clients learn kitchen safety skills!? Wow. Good one!

Until we meet again.

I'm not sure why this strikes me so sentimental, but on March 20th I know of one life that began and one life that ended. An old friend of mine welcomed her first baby into this world. And on that same day, the world said goodbye to a wonderful man, Bill Gormely.

I attended Bill's memorial service today. I've only attended two funeral's since my father's. One was my grandfather's and the other was Steve's, a man who was a secondary father figure to me. I find funerals just too difficult. I like to remember the person the way they were. Not have my last memory be of the way they looked in a casket.

But I recently decided that that's kind of selfish of me. And decided to start going to funerals and memorial services to pay my respects and to offer love and support. Boy am I glad I decided that not too long ago.

Bill's memorial service was exactly what it said it would be... a celebration of his life. Many, many poster boards filled with pictures of him living and loving life. Belongings of his that reminded us all of who he was and the things he loved to do. Singing beautiful worship songs that were among his favorites. Friends and family members getting up to share stories about Bill that often sent laughter erupting from the crowd. And a message reminding us of the reason that we can be so joyous and celebratory in the face of such loss and grief. Bill knew Jesus Christ as his personal savior. And because of that, how truly wonderful it is that we can know for sure that he is in Heaven.

Bill, I am so glad to know that you are face to face with Christ your Savior, that you have no more pain, that you can rejoice in the presence of God for all eternity. And for those of us who know Christ as our Savior, how glad we are that we can say without a doubt, we'll see you again someday. Until then, we'll still miss you greatly!

Meet Mr. Ribbit!

Even though I'd rather stay home (as you all are probably getting sick of me saying) it's nice to know that when I go to work, I get to know that I'm leaving my child with my mom, who respects our wishes as parents and does an amazing job watching Ella. It's also FREE! And as an added bonus, I come home to find fun new things like, lullaby CD's, wonderful books, cute outfits, and an occasional new toy....like Mr. Ribbit here. Happy lookin' little fella isn't he?You see, Mr. Ribbit is our daughters favorite new toy...and the bane of her (and my) existence at the same time. Mr. Ribbit has awesome little flappers to chew on and a jingly little bell inside his tummy. When you hold him up and shake him to make his jingly noise this is Ella's reaction, followed by lots of smiles:She will do this FOREVER and LOVES IT! However, If you do not want to shake Mr. Ribbit for her for 10 hours on end, you can give her the toy. She'll happily muckle onto the little guy and shake him and shove his feet in her mouth, but you're sure to hear some angry little baby wailing 2 seconds later when she loses her grasp and he falls of to the side, or my favorite, ends up on her face and she can't figure out how to get him off! Pick Mr. Ribbit up and give him back to her and she's instantly happy as a clam again....until two seconds later when she loses him....and so goes the cycle!

Double Awesome

Walk in the woods? Ummmm, no....

You know when you're trying to pull out of somewhere and a giant SUV or truck pulls up way ahead next you and you can't see a thing!? How annoying is that!? Well, this guy totally did that today as we tried to pull out onto Main street to go to church and I was about to get a little peeved until he motioned us to roll down our window.

We did and he proceeded to tell us that both tires on the passenger side of our car were losing air...one almost flat. Awesome!

So we tried to find an air hose at three different places before we finally found a place that had one AND was in order.

And our lovely walk after church turned into a lovely visit to Wal-Mart (the only place you can get tires on a Sunday) and a dent in our wallet just shy of $500! Double Awesome!

Handmade with Love

My friend Shannon would never brag about herself. So I'll brag for her! Look at this beautiful/adorable hand made snugly, bunting (I don't really know exactly what to call it) thingy she made for Ella!After church tomorrow this little family is headed to the Bangor forest for our spring stroll together. It will be Ella's first time in her stroller and I can't wait to bundle her in this beautiful creation!

THIRD DAY!

You may recall my previous post about how PUMPED I was that Third Day (my all-time favorite band) was coming to little old Bangor! Well they came last night! Jason had been sick for at least a week and I started to come down with something. I spent all day Saturday recuperating, and Sunday I napped. By the time the concert rolled around Sunday night I was feeling better! But lets be honest, I would have gone on my death bed! Nothing was keeping me from seeing Third Day live!

I took my mom with me and it was such and awesome time! My mom and I both love the band and we've never been to any kind of real concert together. It was just a really sweet time for me, getting to share the experience with her.

We sat with a bunch of my friends because we all bought tickets together. Despite the fact that Jessie looks absolutely stoned in this picture, rest assured, the night was totally chem-free! :)True to form Third Day put on an amazing show/time of worship! We had seats right in the middle at the very beginning of the stadium seats. It was a GREAT view and not too far away despite how the pictures look! Here's the best shot I got of the lead singer Mac Powel.My favorite part was when they went off the stage and had a little acoustic, all request jam session in the middle of the auditorium which was really close to us. Mac sang my favorite song that I had yet to hear live, "Love Song". This is NOT a good picture but it was awesome!The thing I love about Christian concerts is that there are people of all ages, from all walks of life united in Christ. Everyone is happy and polite and courteous. It's just a different feel than many other concerts I've been to. We left energized and uplifted! What an awesome night!

Ella's Dedication!

On Sunday we dedicated Ella to the Lord. This is what we do at our church. We do not baptize babes because baptism (according to every example in the Bible) is for people who have made a conscious decision to accept Christ as their Savior and then want to publicly profess that decision through baptism. So, Lord willing, she will accept Christ when she is able to understand and be baptized then!

Because we believe she is His gift and blessing to us, we publicly dedicate her back to Him and commit to dedicate ourselves to raising her according to His will.

It was especially sweet because two other couples (our close friends) also had their little girls dedicated. Shannon sang a beautiful and perfect song for the occasion that brought a tear to my eye and then Little Charlotte, Kirsten and Ella were dedicated. A lovely day!

If I could freeze time...

I hope that you are blessed enough to have times in your life that you want to just freeze time, capture that moment and keep it forever.

Neither Jason or I are singers...or musically inclined in any way shape or form. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE music! Put me in a room or car alone and I'll belt a song right out...one that nobody else wants to hear! But Jason could really just take it or leave it. That's makes this all the more precious.

I bought Ella a CD of Christian children's songs today. During her awake time Jason laid her on her happy hippo mat in her room, laid down next to her and turned on the CD. The next thing I know, through the baby monitor in the living room, I hear Jason singing to Ella! There he is, shaking her toys, smiling at her and singing along to songs like, "Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory Glory" and "He's got the Whole World in His Hands". Yup. I love that man!

Week Two

Bear with me if you will...for a little while you will probably get a weekly post on how my work week went. It's my way of getting it all out and moving on.

Jason has been quite the sick puppy for a good while now. Tuesday night before I went back to work he was in rough shape and coughing so loudly that he slept on the couch because it kept waking Ella and I up. I got very little sleep due to that and due to the fact that Ella, who usually wakes up once in the night, woke up 4 times to eat! And Jason, who is usually super helpful with her in the night by alternating diaper changes, was down for the count. In the morning I was so exhausted I felt like I could barely stand!

My morning prayer on the drive to work Wednesday morning was tearful and short and went something like this, "Lord, I know you tell us You won't give us more than we can handle. But this sure FEELS like more than I can handle right now. Help. Please." I was lucky to make through Wednesday. I felt absolutely out of it all day and by 4pm I had a raging headache. On my drive home that night the street signs looked blurry and I had to fight to stay awake.

Thursday and Friday were much better. Jason was still down and out so I was on my own with her at night but she went back to her normal sleep pattern. I felt motivated at work and got a lot accomplished and, surprisingly, felt pretty good when I rolled in the drive Friday at 11pm. I remember distinctly thinking. I remember distinctly thinking, "Okay, maybe I CAN do this whole working mom thing." So it's still a bit of a roller coaster ride!

And Jason is feeling better now. And I am feeling sick. Blah. I'm determined to fight it off. Jason has been amazing as usual. He spent his Friday afternoon and a good part of his Saturday doing things he saw on my weekend to do list like: Tidy House, Change sheets, do laundry, do dishes. What a man!

More Ella Cuteness!

I distinctly remember a picture of me sitting in my father's lap at his desk in front of his typewriter as he's working on paperwork or something. Flash forward to the age of laptops and I couldn't resist snapping this picture of Ella and her daddy when I came out into the living room and found them like this.We snapped this picture on our way out the door to church. It was Ella's first time wearing tights (FAR too big for her!) and probably her last time wearing this adorable jean jumper I love so much (She's growing out of it so fast!) When I had a chance to look at the picture I was shocked at how increadibly much she looks like Jason's baby pictures. With that goofy, deer in the headlights face she could literally be baby Jason in a dress!
I love this picture. It was last Saturday just after her bath. I always put a little hat on her so she doesn't get chilled. She was all relaxed and getting sleepy and snuggling right into me. Sweet moments!
And here she is going down for her nap the other day. Just a cute little button!

Sew Much Fun!

What's cheaper than using cloth diapers? Using cloth diapers that you made from material your mother gave you for free!
There's been some frustration, even to the point of a few colorful words flying about. But with much patience and ingenuity I've developed a winner and a good system to get them made! How cute is this!? And I've got two other cute fabrics I'm using too!I ordered some larger prefolds and based on the % that the smaller ones shrunk in the wash I guesstemated what the final dimensions of the larger ones would be after being washed and dried and tried to sew my diapers to those dimensions. I'd say I did pretty darn good!

Working Mother

"Working mother"...someone called me that today...it was the first time I had heard that in reference to myself. Surreal. Can't say I like the ring of it. Because that was never the plan. Let's be honest. If I had all the money in the world of course I'd be a stay at home mom! But life isn't so.

Work week number one is over. My team makes it easy to be back. I did miss them and the clients. I'm getting back into the swing of things there quicker than I expected.

Surprisingly enough there were no tears. I cried a little the day before going back, thinking about leaving Ella, but there were no tears during the actual workdays or even the drive to and from. There was a lot of praying, and a lot of singing along to worship tunes in the car to distract myself. And a lot of trying to stay distracted enough in general so I didn't really think about missing her. So maybe I'm just repressing all the feelings. Hmmm healthy for a social worker! :)

My first day back wasn't hard because I had seen Ella all day the day before. And it was exciting like your first day back to school after summer break (So maybe I was a nerd! So what!?). It was day number two and three that were killer and double killer.

I got home at 8:30pm Wednesday and Ella was already asleep. I hadn't seen her all day and didn't get to interact with her except to nurse her. In the morning she was still sleeping at 9am. I was so bummed that I wouldn't get to see her sweet waking up smiles and exchange those adorable coos with her before I left for another 11 hours... so I selfishly woke her up so I'd get to have like 15 minutes with her...it was SO hard to go to work Thursday.

Got home Thursday night to yet again, a sleeping baby and again only got to interact with her to nurse her and had to leave the next morning to be away from her for 13 hours this time. It was KILLER to leave her Friday morning. So now, here I am at 11pm on Friday night and I feel like I haven't seen my child or interacted with her in 3 days straight. Crappy, Crappy, Crappy! (That's the nicest word I can think of right now.)

Ella, of course, did just fine. My mom, sweet woman that she is, had me write sheets of instructions so that she could be sure to honor and follow the way that we raise Ella and the routine that we have carved out for her. So wonderful. And Friday Ella was with Jason because he's a super sicko boy! Here's hoping Ella and I don't get it.

I guess that's all for now. Just needed to process my first week back. I guess it can be summed up with, "I miss her like crazy!"

The "Poopler"

CONFESSION: Being home all the time due to maternity leave and inside much of that time due to not taking the infant out in the cold weather, I've turned to TV to fill my---blah, blah, blah enough justifying. I watched the ENTIRE season of The Bachelor!

RANT: The Bachelor is the WORST show on the face of the earth. (which is probably why my husband affectionately named it "The Poopler") Not only is it filled with high school like drama, but is messes with people's hearts! Yes, they volunteer for this, but it's everything that's wrong with relationships these days.

Their "love" grows for one another in these fairytale like situations and dates and it totally sets them up to fail when they hit real world reality! Who EVER thought the right way to find love would be to kiss 10,000 people at the same time!? Or let your heart start falling for a guy that is simultaneously dating multiple other girls. That's asking for heartbreak! And it's bad for HIS heart too! Letting himself fall for more than one person at once is a good way to rip your heart in two! And don't even get me started on getting too physically involved and going on overnight dates...that's what's wrong with the world. God intended for that kind of relationship to be with someone that you are 100% committed to for life so that hearts DON'T get so attached and then ripped apart! His plan is not to restrict us but to protect our hearts!

I cannot even tell you how wrong it is to have two girls at the same point of possible proposal, so attached to them, and them so attached to you...knowing that one of them is going to be CRUSHED. So wrong!

And, in case you didn't catch this wonderful season, let me tell you how it ended. Melissa got proposed to, Molly went home devastated. Then...THEN... Jason (the Poopler!) bring Melissa on NATIONAL TELEVISION and DUMPS HER! Telling her some line of bull like, "After the show, the chemistry just wasn't the same blah,blah, stupid, blah!" And she said something like, "You're such a bastard. Why did you put a ring on my finger? That's supposed to mean a committment. You just can't handle a real relationshp and when things aren't perfect you're not willing to stay and work on them, you just want to run back to the other girl."

AND THEN! Melissa leaves, crushed, and Molly comes on stage. 2 seconds after he dumped Melissa, the girl he proposed to, he asked Molly if he can have a second chance with her! AND THE STUPID STUPID STUPID girl said YES!!!!! ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

This whole show is aweful and I think he's a ROTTEN guy for doing that on national TV. But I think it truly strikes a personal chord with me regarding my BIGGEST past relationship regret. In highschool my first serious and longterm boyfriend broke up with me and broke my heart at the beginning of my senior year. And after a few months of running around and doing God knows what, he came crawling back. And what did I do!? I played the part of STUPID GIRL with presicion and took him back! Which led to many more regrets and a two time broken heart come freshman year of college. ARRGGHH!

CONCLUSION:
#1) Don't EVER go on the bachelor
#2) DON'T BE STUPID AND TAKE THE BOY BACK!
#3) Don't EVER watch The Bachelor!

Darn Snow!

This isn't your typical "Darn Snow" post. I love the snow. I love it as I watch it barrel down sideways outside my window right now. I love how beautiful it's blanket of white makes everything look. I love playing in it. And you'll almost never hear me saying things like, " I wish spring would come."

But you see, today is another Monday blizzard. Last Monday we had a blizzard too. Monday's are my mommy time. I get to go hang out with a handful of other wonderful mommies and all our babes. So this makes two weeks in a row that I've missed that time because of the "darn snow"! Add to that that I only popped in briefly to the one three weeks ago because I had a stinkin' dentist appointment and didn't go to the one before that because we had Ella's two month check up... and all of a sudden I haven't been in a good month! I'm feeling quite disconnected and right now, pretty hold up by this "darn snow"!

Oh well, whatcha gonna do? At least I'm hold up with my hubby because he got another monday snowday! Here's hopin' for a clear day next Monday!