2-29 - Leap Year!

Me and my daughter...getting ready for bed

This is how Ellie holds her thumb in her mouth!

She was so good as we went to my 6-wk after baby check-up... I can't believe Ellie is almost 6 weeks old...

This is what I came home to after choir practice! I LOVE my husband, and apparently, so does Ellie... :)

Ellie rolled over twice today - so Daddy got to see it too!

2-28

I think Rabbit is going to be Ellie's favorite stuffed animal friend...

This is the most perfect pacifier to do the purpose for which it was intended :)

2-27

Ellie learned to suck her thumb! Whenever she's waking up from her morning swing ride, she now sticks her thumb in her mouth as she calmly waits for Mommy to come get her!

This is what sucking her thumb looks like when Mommy isn't holding her fingers away from her face!

Besides sucking her thumb, Ellie reached another milestone today - she rolled over for her first time after I put her on her belly! Such a strong baby girl!

2-26

Beautiful hair! Ellie and I cuddled together on the couch this afternoon taking a nap, but I woke up before her. When I put her in her swing so that she could continue to nap, I couldn't help but laugh at her bed hair... Is there a market for baby hair gel???

Funny story regarding today... I sang with the worship team at church this morning which means that Jeremiah was left to care for Ellie. I pumped milk ahead of time so that he could feed her. I also told him that I would have my cell phone on me in case there were any emergencies, and he assured me that unless the house was burning down, he wouldn't call... Meanwhile, I had left Jeremiah with Ellie for a few hours yesterday as well, and when she had finished her bottle of yesterday's pumped milk, he placed the bottle on the coffee table. While looking out our window facing the backyard later on that day, I noticed Sandy playing with a bottle outside - Ellie's bottle! Sure enough, she had done what I feared - chewed up the entire nipple! And, it was the only slow-flow nipple I had! So, Jeremiah tried to give her the medium-flow nipple today while in church.. needless to say, when I finished singing and checked my phone, there was a text message asking me to please come home! The milk had gone everywhere except in her mouth, and our starving daughter was quite fussy... I'm not sure who I felt more sorry for, my daughter on my husband!

2-25

We caught a glimpse of a smile today when Daddy and Ellie played with her rattle. It's neat to see her focus in on the toy now!

Such love!

Regarding the video, I just love the interest that Clara has recently shown Ellie. I think she feels that Ellie is a dog!

2-24

My beautiful girl!

Had to catch this shot today! Ellie was just waking up from her swing ride / nap, but this picture makes it look like she is MAD at that poor bunny! Her facial expressions crack me up all the time!

I am just so amazed at her alertness. Here she watches the little birds flying in circles above her head...

This is what Jeremiah does when he gets home from work...

And here's to some videos of special little moments in our day today!

A milestone has been reached! I put Ellie on her tummy and for the very first time, she raised her head off the floor entirely - and all on her own. Of course, she was pretty tired by the time I got the camera filming her, but at least I sort of captured the memory :)

The next video is of an Ellie routine: hiccups! Hiccups were the only movement I felt regularly while Ellie was inside me, so I'm not too surprised that she hiccups still..

The next is of Ellie swinging - I always want to remember how very tiny she was!

The next is of Ellie just waking up - she's so funny (in my opinion). She makes so many faces and cries like a cat, and then her hands fly into the air and into her mouth...

The next two is of Ellie awake in the swing - I love her alertness, and I love that she can pacify herself for awhile....

2-23

Flowers everywhere!

2-22 Happy 1 Month Birthday Ellie!

I can't believe it! - One month old! Last Sunday was 4 weeks - but still, ONE MONTH - already?! But to think of all that's happened in this one month is crazy to me - and it makes the month actually seem a lot longer! I am enjoying looking back on how much she has changed in just this one month - today we went to the doctor's office for an appointment and I was amazed that she is already 8 pounds, 1 ounce! Such a good eater... :)

Ellie has been enjoying several clothes changes each day - not by my own choice, but by hers. She really wants to make sure she wears all the newborn clothes in the closet before she grows too big for them and has to move to 0-3 month clothing. In truth, she's actually worn almost every single newborn outfit MORE THAN ONCE already :)

We've started giving her the pacifier more and more now while she is calm - it seems to really soothe her... She doesn't really take it when she's fussy - but that's probably because I didn't let the NICU staff use it for that purpose...

We've gotten so many gorgeous handmade afghans and blankets - here's the latest...

These two shots (above and below) are actually from the hospital on the day of her birth ONE MONTH ago! :) I recently found them while scanning my pictures on my cell phone - I am amazed that for a pretty old and definitely not modern phone, the pictures are quite clear and good. So thankful for them... The clock on the wall says 5:45 - so Ellie was exactly 3 hours and 1 minute old in this one below!

2-21

Wait! That's not Ellie! :) Well, the dogs have been feeling kinda left out, so I decided to post a picture of their nicely groomed bodies today :)

But the rest of the pics are of course of Ellie!

Ellie gave Rabbit a hug! Notice how large Rabbit is compared to Ellie's body! It will be intereting to see how Rabbit starts "Shrinking"

These are my favorite pictures...

2-20

Cute as a button (or ladybug...) - as usual...

Went on a ride to Exeter for a doctor appointment - but I guess I wrote the date wrong on the calendar - the office was closed! So we took a nice stroll around the town. Loved the stroller ride, but she screamed the whole way back in the car... hope that's not a habit for car rides (!)

Ellie made a new friend today - Her name is Rabbit! Since last night, Rabbit is now residing in Ellie's bassinet... Ellie seemed quite amazed when Rabbit joined her again on the changing table after morning playtime on Mommy and Daddy's bed! Her eyes got super wide as if to say "How did you get here too???" I laughed so hard at her reaction!!!

Ellie actually started to smile!

Here are some video clips I got of playtime with Ellie's other stuffed animal friend...Musical Bear... made me smile...

2-19

It doesn't get much better than this!

2-18

Boppy time! Such a great invention!

Ellie meets Musical Bear! She is absolutely transfixed! This is the first time we've seen her actually gazing for so long at one of her animal friends! Musical Bear shares her crib with her. Ellie has been taking naps in her crib for the past few days but sleeps in our room in a bassinet at night right now. It makes night nursing way more convenient for all of us!

This next moved really surprised us! She took her hands out of her mouth and reached them out to pet Musical Bear!!!

Had to share this picture! We got these items as gifts from a good family friend, and the Taggy dinosaur (because of all the fun tags on it that Ellie can play with) and the princess piggy bank were just so adorable! We have now officially started Ellie's savings account for a downpayment on a house one day!

2-17

Look at those huge eyes!

Like daddy like daughter....

2-16

This picture is fuzzy because I took it myself using the Iphone back camera - I just had to capture this moment - a moment I feel fortunate to have almost every morning. As Jeremiah gets ready for work, Ellie usually wakes up. She currently sleeps in the playyard/bassinet right beside our bed which is convenient for the night time hungry hours :) When Ellie gets up, Jeremiah places her onto me and we have our morning cuddle sessions - I LOVE this time soooooooooooo much!

I'm starting to see a difference in Ellie when I show her a toy. She is starting to look more directly at the toy and also uses her arms to reach out toward it - as seen here... I love being able to capture these little (yet huge) milestones!

 It was time for Ellie to go and see the sunshine! I put her in her stroller and for the first time I didn't have her all covered up. It was pretty windy, but I'm so glad we got out for even a few minutes! She was less than thrilled when we began, but we think she enjoyed herself! She kept her eyes closed tightly from the sun - it was so funny!

The following little video clip caught Sandy playing along with Ellie's rainforest toy. I took Ellie's arms and placed them on the ball so she could hit it, and for awhile, everytime she hit it, Sandy would kick the ball back - it was absolutely hilarious! Unfortunately, by the time I got the camera out to record it, I only got one little kick from Sandy - but still... pretty impressive play time! Trying hard to keep Ellie's brain stimulated - I'm sure this had to help!

2-15

One really really special photo today.

Jeremiah came home from work, scooped up his daughter, brought her into her room, found a book and started reading to her. I left for worship rehearsal at church and when I came home a few hours later, this is what I found!

Then, later that evening, I was feeling very exhausted and Jeremiah actually told me to go to sleep (shouldn't it be the other way around?!) while he rocked and comforted little Ellie. He even changed her diaper! He only gave her back to me when he said "I've tried everything else, but she's hungry!" I love my husband so so much!

2-14 - Our First Valentine's Day With Ellie

More Flowers?! Actually, these aren't from Jeremiah, they are from our church! Funny story is that this past Sunday, Ellie's picture was going to be displayed at church. New moms and dads are always given a carnation from the church at this time. The projector broke on Sunday morning, however, so the picture of Ellie has to wait to be shown until next Sunday - so our Pastor said we'll get TWO carnations :)

For Valentine's Day, Ellie and I left Daddy with a special card to read when he had breakfast in the morning before going to work. Inside the card was a Red Lobster gift card for him so that he can take Mommy out on a date the next time my parents come up to visit :)

We practiced tummy time again - and Ellie is able to now roll over onto her side all by herself!

Ellie hardly ever takes a pacifier - only when she's really calm like this - to be honest, I'm thrilled about this. I didn't let the nurses at the NICU give a pacifier to her when she cried because I wanted to learn how to calm her without it...

Our first full family photo! :) Ellie's in the stroller...

About the videos: The first one is just of my Ellie being Ellie! And the second one is something I'm sure only a mommy can be proud of - Ellie went from her tummy to her side. She did it over and over again, so I just had to catch it on video!!!