Independent

Ellie is becoming Ms. Independent! She is attempting to walk a little bit and doesn't even want us to hold her hands while she is doing it. Also naptime has changed too.

Typically to put Ellie down for naps, Erik and I rock her. I know that for bedtime I usually brag about how we just put her down and she goes right to sleep. However, at naptime she just can't do it. And to be totally honest Erik and I can't take the crying. So usually we rock her and then put her down. Lately however, this has been working either. When we try to rock her, she gets upset and she cries or whines. Finally after a few minutes of this I just gave in and put her down...she fell asleep instantly! Erik and I were so amazed we try it again the next nap, and it happened again. She no longer needs to be rocked, she is a independent girl and can put herself to sleep! Of course, secretly I am missing our cuddle time. However we are so proud of her!

Dance Party

Eliana and I love to dance. Yes, I know that she can't walk yet, but I hold her and we dance in our living room. Usually Ellie and I listen to some guilty pleasure like, NYSNC or Miley Cyrus, but today we danced to worship music. Recently I have been listen to a particular worship song that I just love sooo much!It's called Revelation Song. So today I put the song on, scooped Ellie up in my arms, and started to spin around and bounce to the beat. Ellie was laughing and lifting up her "praise arm." We had so much fun! Anyway, I love the song so much, mostly because of its amazing lyrics...so I have posted them below.
As you read them, imagine Ellie and I getting our praise on!


REVELATION SONG
by Jennie Lee Riddle

Worthy is the,
Lamb who was slain
Holy, holy, is He
Sing a new song
to Him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything,
And I will adore You

Clothed in rainbows
Of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the only wise King

Filled with wonder
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your name is power
Breath, and living water
Such a marvelous mystery

10 Things I Love About Ellie

Of course there are hundreds of things I love about my little girl, but I have composed a list of things I have seen over these past few weeks that crack me up or make me smile...

1) When she wakes up from a nap she always looks baffled about being awake

2) I love that she laughs when other people laugh even if she has no idea whats going on.

3) I love that she picks up dirt off of the floor and hands it to me as if she is saying, "Hey mom you really need to vaccum"

4) I love that she says "Mama" and reaches for me when she is upset

5) I love her smile. Even when I'm upset her smile makes me smile

6)I love that when I'm running to stop her from pulling something off of a shelf she crawls faster and laughs, she thinks we're playing a game.

7) I love that Ellie bounces up and down in her high chair when we are about to feed her fruit or veggies

8) I love that Ellie always ALWAYS tries to pull her socks off. I think she likes to feel the carpet on her cute little feet.

9)I love that when I'm giving her a bath she always kicks and splashes and giggles with delight

10) And I love that if I'm crying or frustrated, Ellie always stops what she is doing and crawls in my lap and snuggles with me. (Its like she knows whats happening)

And Now, A Rant About How My Daughter is Growing Too Fast

Eliana is growing up too fast, and I feel like I can't keep up. This week 3 signs of "growing up" occurred.

1) Eliana started crawling. While, I am excited about this milestone I wasn't expecting it to happen at 6 months. I mean I guess that's not too early, but I was thinking more like 7 months into 8 months. However for the past few weeks she has been rocking back on forth on her knees and lunging forward at random objects on the floor. I knew I jinxed myself last week, when I told Erik that Ellie was going to start crawling any day now. And just a few days later my little baby started crawling around and touching EVERYTHING. So now we have to baby proof, and I am struck with the reality that she no longer will be content just relaxing on her floor gym.

2)Not only has Ellie started crawling but now she is trying to pull herself up on things. Ellie doesn't seem content with crawling, she actually gets fussy when she crawls and giggles when she stands. So, she is trying to stand all the time...which will only lead to walking. WALKING? I'm not ready for that! I can't help feeling proud and sad at the same time. She is so amazing, but what happened to the newborn who just wanted to sleep in my arms?

3) My last thing I want to rant about is how big she is getting. Ellie is pretty long for her age (90th percentile) so she is constantly growing out of her clothes. Now, she seems to be out growing her car seat. I know that she still has a while until she gets to sit in a front facing one, but her legs are hanging out of her car seat, and we have loosened the harness straps so much we are running out of slack.

I feel like I am going to blink and she is going to be graduating from high school. I understand why people might want to have more than one kid. Sometimes their kids keep growing up so fast they might want to make another one to catch up. We won't be doing this anytime soon, so I guess I better buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Inspired to Dream Again

I haven't been writing lately because I really haven't felt like it/ I haven't had much to say. In all honesty, things haven't been that great. I haven't had any funny stories to tell, and I figured if I wrote anything it would be in my "Debbie Downer" voice. However, I got inspired today.

Since, I have been avoiding writing, I have also been avoiding my blog altogether. Today, I thought I would see what my friends were writing on their blogs, and one blog entry stuck out for me. My friend Cindy writes such great blogs. They make me cry, laugh, and get excited. She and I went to college together, and in all honesty we weren't really that great of friends. However, we both got married and got pregnant around the same time and we became pen pals. I get really excited to read her notes and hear about her daughter and tell her about mine. Basically I really value this new friendship.

At any rate, Cindy's newest entry is about she and her hubby's dream home. The way she described it, made me feel really excited and sad. I was excited because I am a strong believer in dreams, and its beautiful that she and her husband dream together. But I was sad because I realized Erik and I haven't been dreaming lately. We have been kind of swept up in our problems and not really looking toward the future. We have been so distracted that I feel like we have been only living day to day, and have forgotten to dream. I don't want Eliana to grow up not dreaming. I want her to truly believe God can do anything, and that He cares about her dreams...He put them in her heart.
At any rate, Erik and I have agreed to start dreaming again, and we couldn't be more excited about our future.

ZZZZZZ

Drum role please...

ELLIE IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!

Okay I don't want to jinx it, but Eliana has slept through the night for almost a week now. We are so happy. I'm going to have to give my best friend Sam credit. She called me about a week ago and told me about her newest discovery: Humphrey's Teething Strips. It's all natural, not medication, strips that dissolve in your mouth. You just put it on the baby's tongue and BAM! Instant relief. Eliana hasn't awakened once for a feeding at night! Hopefully this will last. However, Erik and I still look like zombies, so perhaps its not just the feedings at night that are making us tired...perhaps its just parenthood.

Midnight Feeding

Ellie is smart. She knows that if she screams loud enough at midnight, her father and I will give her pretty much whatever she wants, so we can go back to sleep. Ellie's pediatrician says we need to wean her off of her midnight feeding. This has been a BIG challenge. He says to let her cry it out for about 15 min, we can pick her up, change her diaper...just don't feed her. However when REM sleep is interrupted by a blood curdling scream, you want to do whatever you can to make it stop.
Because we are having such a difficult time we are going to sleep in the living room and let Ellie have our room. Perhaps it won't be so bad to let her cry it out if we are in a different room.

Wish us luck

Time

I can't believe that I haven't written in so long. I feel like time has just slipped right by me. So in order to give an update, I thought I would just write out some of the highlights of what is going on...

-Bedtime has been conquered! Ellie is always ready for bed on time! Its amazing to have quiet time in the evenings.

-However, we have not conquered sleeping through the night or naps. Ellie still wakes up 1-2 times during the night for a feeding. The doctor says we need to started weaning her out of this over the next month or so...we are not looking forward to this. And Ellie still is having a hard time with naps, but we're working on it

-Ellie is officially on solids! She has been eating rice cereal for a while, but we started giving her sweet potatoes a few days ago, and she loved them! Next, carrots!

- God is testing us. We are definitely having to rely on Him and trust in His plan, but we know He has one.

-We are going home to Colorado for Christmas in 2 weeks! We are so excited to see family and friends. We miss the mountains and the nice clean air.

-And finally here is a new pic of Ellie

Bed Time Blues: Day 3 and 4

Day 3: This was the night that I had to put Ellie down by myself. Erik was working that night and I was not looking forward to it. 7pm rolled around, I gave Ellie a bath, fed her, and read her two books. She still seemed pretty awake so we danced in the living room to N'SYNC (don't judge me). After that I put her down...and she was asleep within 15 min! She barely cried...it was a miracle! I was so thankful and she slept for 12 hours that night.

Day 4: Last night was a little different from the night before. Erik and I did our usual night routine with her. I think she is starting to read the signs that its bed time. She immediately started crying when we took her to the bedroom. We tried calming her down but it just wasn't happening. Finally she got quiet enough and we put her down. Quickly Erik and I ran out of the room, and she fussed a bit but finally she fell asleep.

Dealing with the crying is starting to get a little better, but I still don't like it. However since we started this Ellie doesn't wake up as often as she used to. So I know this is good for her and I'm glad we're doing it. Doctor Andy said it would take 5-7 days to make this a habit for Ellie so we only have a few more days!

Bed Time Blues: Day 2

On Sundays Erik and I usually go to church and then spend the rest of the day with my family. My sister and her husband come over and we all play games, have dinner, talk, and laugh a lot; it's kind of like a mini Thanksgiving every week! At any rate, yesterday we knew we had to go home early so we could get ready for our second day of sleep training.

We gave Ellie a bath and fed her. She still seemed pretty wide awake so we read her a book and sang her a song. She seemed really fussy and we realized that she just wanted us to put her down. As soon as we put her down, she fell asleep...as if that's what she was waiting for! Thank goodness, because I don't if I could have handle another night with the screaming.

Tonight however I am on my own with the sleep training. Erik is working tonight. I hope I can do this.

Bed Time Blues: Day One

Erik and I recently changed pediatricians. We are now going to my doctor I saw as a child. We love him! He really listened to us, he fell in love with Eliana, and he gave good advice! Pretty much we made a good decision to change doctors. One of the things he gave us advice on was Ellie's nighttime routine. If you remember I wrote recently about trying to put Ellie down before she falls asleep, and I mentioned how horrible it is to hear her fuss. Well apparently, we still weren't doing this whole bedtime thing right. He said that we needed to feed her, change her diaper, and read her a story...all without letting her fall asleep. Then you put her down (unswaddled, I might add!)and come in and comfort her after 5 min, 10 min, and then every 15 min for about an hour and a half. He said it would take about 5 days for her to get used to this routine, but in no more than a week...she would be putting herself to sleep. At first this sounded easy enough. Erik and I decided that tonight was the night...

We fed Ellie her last feeding, changed her diaper, read her a story, and sang her a song, and just as the doctor ordered we put her down unswaddled and wide awake. At first Ellie was fine. She was talking to herself and making gurgling noises. All of a sudden as if she realized what we were doing she started to yell. Like the chicken I am, I ran out of the room crying while I left my hubby to fend for himself. I know you all are probably shaking your head at me as you read this, but it was just too much. I am used to picking her up as soon as she gets upset and holding her till she falls into a coma like sleep. I know that I have to grow out of this, but it's just soo hard. At any rate, we listened for 5 min while Ellie yelled and threw a fit. Then I went in first and cuddled her and kissed her and when she calmed down I put her back down. This time we waited 10 min, while Ellie yelled and pretty much screamed bloody murder. I sat in the living room crying and praying that I could make it through these few min. This time it was Erik's turn to comfort Ellie (also I didn't think I would be able to put her down if I went in there). Erik picked her up comforted her and put her down, and this time she fell right to sleep. Thank you God! Seriously, I didn't know if could do the next 15 minute interval.

This was not a fun experience, and right now I don't really like Ellie's doctor :) However tomorrow night is night numero dos...hopefully it will only get easier with time. Pray for me!

Wet the Bed

Well I knew putting Ellie in the bed with me would come back and bite me in butt. I imagined that Ellie would 16 still sleeping in the bed with us, unable to be independent. She would live with us forever and use us as a security blanket. I thought I had years before I saw the effects...that is until this morning.

As usual Erik left for work around 6:15 am and as soon as I heard the door close, I tipped toed across the room and grabbed Ellie and brought her in bed with me. She smells so good and I love to snuggle her. (I realize I sound like a nut-job but I just love her soo much!) At any rate, there we were sleeping peacefully when I felt a warm spot pool over to my side. I knew what it was, but I didn't want it to be true. I looked at Ellie and she was awake (I'm sure because she felt the same warm spot) and smiling at me. I couldn't believe she wet the bed!

Now I am sitting here, listening to the washing machine clean my urine soaked sheets, and I am hoping that I have learned my lesson. We shall see

Don't Let The Bed Bugs Bite

Confession: I am totally addicted to holding Ellie, and unfortunately she is addicted to being held. So when it finally came down to being a tad more disciplined with her sleeping habits, I just couldn't do it.

Ellie is almost 4 months now, and we still haven't nailed the whole "put her down for sleep while she is still awake" thing. I usually rock her to sleep and sometimes hold through her whole nap. I know I shouldn't but I just can't help it. However lately it has been difficult to keep her asleep. Ellie hasn't mastered putting herself back to sleep without our help. So yesterday Erik and I decided to try to let Ellie put herself to sleep. I read it is crucial for Ellie to have a bedtime routine. We kind of had one, but lets be honest...it was more up to however Ellie felt that day.

Okay so back to yesterday...Around 8pm Erik and I gave Ellie her bath, then fed her the last feeding of the night, swaddled her, and sang her a song. She was looking sleepy and rubbing her precious eyes with her tiny hands...and we knew it was time. We each kissed her good night and then laid her down in her bassinet. Immediately Ellie began to fuss. She was kicking (luckily she was wrapped nice and tight), and yelling, and whimpering. For some reason (I'm going to blame my hormones which are not quite back to normal yet) I began to cry. All I wanted to do was pick up my little girl and hold her tight until she fell asleep. Erik had me wait on our bed for a few min till she calmed down. He even turned on quiet worship music to soothe her. Finally after what seemed like forever (Erik claims it was only 3 minutes)she fell fast asleep. I was a wreck. It took me several minutes, a few hugs from Erik, and 2 pieces of chocolate to pull myself together.
"Why can't she sleep with me for a year or two?" I asked Erik while munching on my theraputic chocolate
"Because she will be 45 still sleeping in bed with us." With that vision in my head I became determined to figure this sleep thing out.

Even though I had a small victory today (I put Ellie down for her nap before she fell asleep and she put herself right to sleep!),I still am not looking forward to bed time tonight. Wish me luck.

I miss my ex boyfriend

It's true I miss my ex...his name was Boppy, Boppy the Body Pillow. He has been my close companion since I was about 4 months pregnant. I met him at Babies R Us in Colorado. He was covered in blue birds and was about 5ft long, and I knew immediately he was the one. I had a few friends who had Boppies of their own and they loved them. So I went out in search of my own.

And before you judge me too harshly my husband,Erik, does know about Boppy. The three of us slept in the same bed every night for 5 months. Usually Boppy was snuggled up in between Erik and I. Erik never liked Boppy. But was Boppy was always nice and respectful to Erik. If Erik wanted to snuggle without Boppy, Boppy didn't mind giving us some room.

Boppy was really great for my back support and he really helped keep my hip pain at a minimum while pregnant. Boppy came with me everywhere...in bed, long car rides, on the couch, on the airplane, and even on our cruise. Yes, Boppy has been with me through so much, but after I had Ellie, I decided it was time for our relationship to end. So sadly I packed Boppy up and put him the in the attic until I needed him again. However recently my back and hips have been hurting again, and I find myself reminiscing of the good times we shared. Boppy was just always there for me and always made me feel better. I just really miss him lately, and I am seriously considering getting back together with him. Erik isn't too happy about my dependence on Boppy, but he doesn't understand our deep relationship. I just need Erik to understand that I love Boppy and just can't let him go...
I think its time for me to find Boppy and see if he'll take me back

TO BE CONTINUED

Two Babies

This past week the unthinkable happened...my husband got sick! Erik NEVER gets sick. Seriously I think I've only ever heard him sneeze twice. It's not because Erik takes his vitamins or eats healthy,nope, it's because he has some sort of Viking Super Immune System (Erik is Norwegian, and feels this is why he is sooo healthy). So you can imagine my surprise when, The Viking (as my Dad affectionately calls him) said his stomach hurt.

It was about 3am when we both thought he just had bad indigestion...so I was a tad annoyed when he woke me up for this. However as 4am rolled around he got progressively worse. He was throwing up and was in a lot pain. I rushed to the nearest 24-hour Walgreens and spoke with the pharmacist. She said it sounded like an ulcer and suggested Pepcid AC and Prilosec. We tried both and they didn't work. Erik's pain got worse and he had a fever. So, now I'm trying solve the mystery of Erik's illness and do my usual routine with Ellie. She's crying, Erik's whining, and I'm running around playing Dr. Mom.

Around 3pm Erik's fever and pain got really bad and I decided to call the doctor. The doctor said it sounded like potential appendicitis and I needed to get Erik to the hospital ASAP. Immediately I panicked. What if I had waited too long to call the doctor and now Erik was in danger? Quickly, I called my sister and asked her to come and take Ellie (luckily we live in the same building...super convenient!), packed a bag for Ellie, packed a few things for Erik in case he needed to stay over night, and we were off. Every bump I went over hurt Erik even more, it was awful.

Finally once we got into the E.R (after waiting nearly 2 hours in the waiting room), the doctors started running tests on Erik. Luckily we found out it wasn't appendicitis. But they couldn't decided between an ulcer and the flu. After 6 hours of playing a guessing game, they sent us home with a few prescriptions for an ulcer and told us to follow up with Erik's doctor. Once we picked up Erik's prescriptions and picked up Ellie, Dr. Mom was back in the house. I went back to running back and forth between my two babies. Erik's fever was up and down all night and I made sure I was right there with Tylenol. Finally around 6am Erik's fever went away, and he seemed to be better. We spent the whole day testing Erik's stomach with bland foods, and he was right as rain by that evening. So, we're pretty certain he had the flu. Irregardless of what it is was, it was stressful! I now officially know I'm not even close to ready to thinking about having another child (although I kind of knew that the moment I went into labor) because I already have two at home :)

Baby Fat and shots

So I am trying to lose all the baby weight. So far I have lost about 35lbs, but I still would like to lose 10-15lbs more. I have always been pretty small, and I kind of miss it. I can definetly tell I have lost weight, but there are several parts of my body that have not given up the baby fat yet. Erik of course says I look great, but I don't think he understands I would like to be close to my weight pre-baby. I have never had to diet really, or exercise that much, so this is new to me.

I am right now doing the "Naturally Thin" diet. Its not really a diet as much as it is a way of life. The author challenges you to change the way you think about food. She talks a lot about balancing yourself out with food. So if you have a craving for a burger, have half of it and fill up on vegitables. Or if you pasta for lunch have a protein and veggie dinner. Basically have the ideal diet. I'm truly not sure if I can be this good with my diet, but I'm trying. Often times Ellie keeps me so busy I barely have time to eat. So a lot of times I just put whatever in my mouth to keep my going. I am going to change this...I just have to.


In other news, the other day Ellie had 5 shots given to her. It was awful! She was screaming and crying. Then when we got home she didnt want to eat, she was throwing up, and crying so loudly I was sure the neighbors thought we were hurting her. We called the doctor and they reminded us that some kids respond poorly to shots...they just stress themselves out and don't feel very well. It was seriously the hardest day we have had with Ellie since she was born(her birthday was by far my hardest day of life. She went to bed 3 hours early and slept 12 hours. It was horrible. However the next day she was back to beautiful smiling self!Thank God! I am not looking forward to anymore shot days...I don't know if my heart can take it.

A Peaceful Night's Sleep

I don't want to jinx myself,but Eliana slept through the night...twice!

The first night, Erik woke me up around 4am...worried. He said, "Babe, Ellie woke up and I re-swaddled her, and she went back to sleep..." First of all, why was he waking me up at 4am, and wasn't it a good thing that she went back to sleep? Since we had Ellie, she always woke up at 4am for a feeding. Not matter what time we put her down and no matter when her last feeding was, she always needed a 4am feeding. Recently, Erik and I read that we should try re-swaddling her first and comforting her, and if that doesn't work, then we feed her. So for weeks now, we had been trying this, but she always needed a feeding. However on Sunday night, re-swaddling her actually worked! So as my husband is staring at me at 4am, these thoughts came flooding back to me, and I jumped up out of bed and ran over to her bassinet. She was fast asleep! Erik and I went back to sleep and Ellie didn't wake up until 6:30am(her usual wake up time). We just couldn't believe it.

Monday night, we were so excited to get a full night's sleep, no such luck. Eliana woke up at 4am for a feeding. We were a little disappointed. However, last night she slept through the night again...she didn't even need to be re-swaddled! Ellie slept until 6:45 this morning. And for the first time in a long time, I feel like I actually got some sleep.
I just asked Ellie if we could make it a third night of sleeping through the night, she simply smiled then spit up. Is that a yes?

Video

Before Eliana was born, Erik and I invested in a video camera. We knew that we would obsessively take videos of her every move. Pretty much we have videos of Ellie just staring at nothing, and videos of her holding her head up. However, we lost the USB cord. Therefore we cannot upload videos on to the computer. So, when my sister emailed me a video of Ellie that she took on her iphone, I was excited! Here is the video of Ellie and her uncle doing a sort of interview...

Teething

Believe it or not our sweet little girl is getting teeth. My mother made the discovery a few days ago. Ellie had been drooling more and chewing on everything that comes to her mouth. So one day when Ellie yawned, my looked and saw two white lumps in her gums! I couldnt believe it. Even now, a week later they are more prominent. Erik and I discovered 2 other teeth coming as well! Ellie has definetly not been a happy camper! But she isn't super interested in teething rings. However she does like the cold teething rings. And Orajel just made her cry. Eventually she looked entertained about her mouth being so numb. We can't believe she is teething sooo early! I'm hoping, however that her teeth take their time to come to the surface. I'm not ready for a teething baby yet!

I couldnt get a good picture of Ellie's teeth so I found one on the internet that somewhat looks like her mouth...

Frustrated

Ellie is getting her rash back. The good fortune is going away. I thought that the formula was working. But now, I'm not sure if that was the problem. Erik and I are just frustrated because we just want her to get better. Its so hard to see your little girl suffer. A friend of mine gave me the name of a pediatric allergist, that is supposed to be amazing. So today I am going to call her and try to get an appointment. More details coming soon...