14 Weeks

Ella is officially a rolling over baby. She rolled over three times on Monday, then not at all Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday and then like ten times today. Jeff kept flipping her back to her tummy and she would immediately roll back over. She's only done it in bed so far, she doesn't seem interested in rolling when she's doing tummy time on her mat.

Not much else to report this week. It's been kind of challenging this week, she hasn't been in the best of moods. I'm guessing maybe because she's been working on the big developmental milestone, she's not sleeping well and therefore cranky when she's awake. Jeff is going to Houston for a cook-off this weekend. I'm a little scared for our first weekend with Daddy gone. Fingers crossed that she's gotten the crankiness out of her system!

Ella Rolled Over!

Ella was fast alseep on her tummy, we were watching her on the monitor. Jeff and I turned away to look at fighting cats and when we looked back a few seconds later she was wide awake and turned onto her side. We thought that was as far as she was going to go, but after a few minutes like that she got herself completely turned over to her back. She seemed suprised to find herself on her back, but she didn't cry or anything. Of course she was wide awake after that. We eventually went in and flipped her back to her tummy. We're waiting to see if she figures out that she can do it again... What a busy week this has been for her!

13 weeks

This has been a very eventful week, I feel like Ella's a whole different baby! She finally "got" her mat and now she loves it. She spends up to an hour laying on her back looking up at all the little animals. She "talks" to them and smiles and laughs. She's been trying to grab them, but usually just ends up kind of batting at them. Then yesterday she reached up and grabbed the giraffe's leg and tried to pull it to her mouth, but it wouldn't reach. She also got hold of her monkey later too. She's also been kicking her legs and wavy her arms like crazy. She gets all excited and wiggles all around.

She's talking and smiling so much now. My dad came over on Wednesday and got to hear her babble a little. She's squealing too. At first it was just when she was crying, but then she figured out she could do it any time. It's cute and loud.

For a couple of weeks she's been pushing up with her legs, trying to stand, but her knees would buckle after just a few seconds. Yesterday she figured out how to lock her knees and can now stand for a few minutes with just a little assistance from us.

Tuesday she almost rolled from her tummy to her back. She was supposed to be taking a nap and I was watching her on the monitor. She started squirming around, but she wasn't crying or anything, so I left her alone and just watched. After a few minutes, she had completely rearranged herself in the bed and was half way rolled onto her side. If she would have just pushed off a little with her arm, she would have rolled. She hasn't tried again since then, but I don't think it'll be much longer.

Sleep has been interesting this week. She's been waking up earlier and earlier in the mornings, but she's ready to go back to sleep again very soon, like 30 minutes. Most of the time I can get her to go back to sleep in her swaddle, but not always. She's also been taking much longer naps, usually in the morning. It's nice, but then it's hard to get her to sleep for longer than like 45 minutes in the afternoon. Which means she gets cranky fast in between. I think she's trying to consolidate her naps to be one long one in the morning and one long one in the afternoon, but it's taking her a while to figure it out.

She keeps rubbing her face on her blanket while she's sleeping. Her nose and cheeks, especially her right cheek, are all red from it. Her right cheek looks like she skinned it. It doesn't seem to bother her and if you don't look too close it just looks like she has rosy cheeks. Silly baby!

Bath time

Other than her very first bath, we've always taken Ella in the shower with one of us when she needs a scrubbing. However, she spit up a ton today and Jeff was teaching a class, so I needed to bathe her by myself. The shower thing doesn't work well with just one of us, so I decided to try a real bath. She really seemed to like it. Right up until she didn't, that is. She lost it as soon as I took her out and was beside herself for quite some time afterward. I think I missed her early warnings that she'd had all the fun she could stand and waited too long to get her out. And she was tired. I got some cute video with my phone, but I can't get it to upload here. So here's a picture instead.

12 weeks

This week was better than last, although Sunday was pretty rough. It's good thing we were both home to trade back and forth that day. I'm not sure what exactly the problem was. We got off to a bad start by keeping her awake too long in the morning. After that she was just a mess all day. She would only sleep for a few minutes at a time and when she was awake, she was screaming. The next morning when I was changing her clothes, I realized that the leggings she had on were digging into her little thighs. Maybe that was part of the problem too. Either way, we survived, but it was a hard day. Since then she's been doing better. It's still not perfect, but I feel like we're moving in the right direction.

Ella's been finding her voice. She's pretty shy about it, but she's added lots of new sounds to her "vocabulary". It's so cute when she gets going. She also finds herself hilarious, she's constantly giggling while she's talking. She's especially talkative when she's supposed to be going to sleep. She'll chatter away even after her eyes have closed and her head has dropped. So far she's really only "talked" to Jeff and me, like I said, she's kind of shy. But it's getting more and more frequent so I don't think it'll be long before she's babbling to everyone.

We finally took her to get her hearing tested. We knew she could hear, but we wanted to do the official test just to be on the safe side. This test is usually done in the hospital after birth, but since she was born in a birthing center, she didn't have it done. I called all of the audiologists in Mansfield and Arlington who took Ella's insurance, but none did the newborn screening. So then I called all the local hospitals and could never get a straight answer or anyone to call me back. Finally, when I went back to see Betty (our midwife) for the last time, I told her my predicament and she gave me the card for an audiologist in Fort Worth. They didn't take Ella's insurance, but at this point we were just happy to find someone who does the test at all. So anyway, it's done, and now we know for sure she can hear just fine.

11 weeks

Oh, what a week this has been! I don't think I've had such a frustrating week since she was brand new. I've been trying to establish a routine for Ella. Not a schedule, just a routine. Which pretty much means she wakes up, eats, plays for a little while and when she starts showing signs of being sleepy (usually about an hour after she wakes up), I put her down for a nap. Sounds simple enough, and it is. Until that "putting her down for a nap" part. Some times it's not so bad. I rock her for a few minutes, she starts to fall asleep in my arms, I lay her down and pat her back, she falls asleep and stays asleep. But most of the time, she fights falling asleep, even as she's yawning and rubbing her eyes; she wakes up and cries as soon as I lay her down and we have to start the process all over again; or she wakes up crying within a few minutes of me making it out of the room. I don't know what else to do really, just keep doing the same process over and over again and hope she gets the hang of it.

I refuse to let her "cry it out". It goes against every mothering instinct I have. I know it works for some people, but I just can't do it. However, I have been trying not to run in and "rescue" her every time she fusses. As long as the fussing doesn't escalate to crying, she usually falls back to sleep fairly quickly. My poor baby. I know she's tired and I can see how much better she feels when she gets good day time sleep. I don't know why it has to be so hard! I really hope it's just a phase she'll grow out of.

Speaking of sleep, here is proof that she does occasionally do it:



She's all decked out in her Aggie gear today for the Cotton Bowl. I can't be held responsible if she spits up all over it later...

*Disclaimer: Yes, she is sleeping on her tummy, but we have a video monitor and watch her at all times! It's the only way she'll sleep by herself.

2 month check up

Ella had her two month check up with her pedi, Dr. Sweet, this morning. Everything was great. She is 13lbs 6oz, which is 95-96%; 23.5in, which is 86%; and 16in head circumference, which is 88%. I can't believe she's such a big girl! Where did my scrawny little baby go?

Dr. Sweet says she doing good with her milestones. She said she needs more of the dreaded tummy time, but gave me some ideas to hopefully help Ella like it better. She also said she needs to be gently encouraged to turn her head to her right more often. She said her neck muscles were a little tight on one side because she favors her left side. Apparently this can potentially make it harder for her to learn to roll over, especially to that side.

We chose not to do vaccines today. After much research, discussion with Jeff, and internal debate, I decided to wait until she's older. Because Ella is exclusively breastfeed and not in daycare, she is at very low risk for exposure to vaccine prevented illnesses and even if she is exposed to them, breastfeeding helps to protect her from getting them. If she doesn't get sick, she also can't spread the illnesses to others. From a public health perspective, I think vaccines are very important and I do plan to catch her up at some point, just not at such a fragile age. Dr. Sweet and I also discussed this at length and she is supportive of my decision.

Dr. Sweet says an A+ again for today's visit!

10 weeks

Happy New Year! This is Ella on the way to the New Year's Eve party...



This is Ella at about 11pm refusing to nap any more...



And this is Ella at midnight, ringing in the new year with everyone else!



She was one sleepy baby when we got home. She slept until 11 the next morning.