Ellie Bellie: The first month!

Month 1:

Chris and I are having a wonderful time getting adjusted to life with Ellie. We have visitors pretty much every day! Chris was able to take 8 days off after Ellie was born. Me: 12 weeks! So excited to watch this little girl grow. Every time I think about going back to work, my heart sinks. I love work, but I feel like she changes everyday and I don't want to miss a beat! I know it’s still far away, but it’s so hard to imagine spending 10 hours or more away from her.

She has been such a great baby! She eats just about every 3 hours. She sleeps quite a bit, normally falling asleep as she is eating. I try to tickle her feet and her side to wake her up, but she loves her sleep so won’t wake for long! Sometimes nights are a bit rough for her, so Chris and I take turns walking her around the house. She seems to calm down pretty quickly to "Our God is an Awesome God!" My mom comes over almost every day to let me take short naps. Sometimes I take advantage of other visitors too!

Baxie - not sure what she thinks just yet. The first night was a rough night for Ellie, she was not interested in sleeping in her beautiful bassinet (courtesy of the Spiegels/Bohlings); which really surprised us because she slept so well in the hospital! So Chris and I took turns walking with her, trying to get her to sleep and then stay sleeping once put into the bassinet. Once we got her to sleep and both climbed into bed, Baxie was so nervous; she just started pacing and whining. Then she would shake her whole body, which would wake Ellie up. At one point, I was ready to just kick her out the front door! Chris got up, went over to her, started to pet her and said, “I know this is hard on you too.” It really took me aback, helping me to realize he was so right…and that I needed to start working on my patience as I’m sure Baxie will probably continue being a puppy another 3 years! That said, we let her out to roam the house that night and she headed straight for her blanket on the couch. Every night since, she’s been sleeping there. She won that battle.

When our little angel was born, she was 8 lb 5 oz. When we brought her home 2 days later, she was 8lb 7.5oz. Then just 3 days later, she was 8lb 3.5 oz. We've had tons of visitors...pretty much everyday.