Out With the Night Light

I knew I spoke too soon about Ella's wonderful sleeping habits. After the two nights of peaceful sleep, she was back to up once in the middle of the night and then up again at 5. I had a night light in her room so I could see her to change her in the middle of the night without actually turning on a light and waking her up fully. I decided the night light had to go and moved it to the hallway yesterday. It seems to have worked and she slept soundly through the night. I left the breast pump in her room so I woke her up (she was actually barely conscious) to change and feed her at 4 am ... she didn't even open her eyes, just ate and continued sleeping until 7 am. I'm trying to put her down now, she's ready for sleep but keeps waking up as it's too bright in her room. The sun doesn't set until after 9pm and the blinds don't make it dark enough.
The medicine seems to help, she's not been spitting up as much and it's just a little. Hopefully we have pinpointed the problem and can get her cured. The medicine however is awful! The Zantac is a strong peppermint and it tastes horrible! It must be like turpentine to her, poor baby. I have to give her that twice daily and I'm not sure she gets it as most of it comes back out as drool it's so strong for her. I chase it with the other medicine that tastes like orange and hope that she is at least getting some.

She has also acquired some new friends. These small stuffed animals are perfect snuggle buddies and she likes to chew on them. What a cute outfit from Auntie Stephanie - "cupcake" indeed, I could just eat her up!

Poor Baby

I took Ella to the doctor today. I've been doing a lot of thinking about her spitting up issue and decided it sounded a lot like GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and the doctor thinks it is too. She basically has acid reflux and it's causing her to spit up a lot of her feeding. We're going to try to see if medicine works, she's taking two different medicines, one smells like peppermint (for a baby? Yuck!) and the other orange popsicle (yummy). Hopefully this will control the acid in her stomach and stop her volcanic spit ups. I guess it's not all that uncommon, and usually goes away by age 1 and is very rare in children over 2. Poor thing has probably had this the whole time and doesn't know any different. She doesn't fuss or seem bothered by it and actually smiles and laughs after so who knows. If GERD is left untreated it can affect the respiratory system, and that's not a risk I'm willing to take, especially with our family history. So, as much as it sucks, medicine it is for now. Good news from the doctors visit...Ella is now 11 pounds, 4 ounces which means that all the spit up isn't affecting her growth (a major concern with GERD babies often meaning surgery). The doctor gave me a strict feeding regimen: feed her sitting up when possible, in a quiet room while listening to classical music, then lean back and lay her over my shoulder for 30 minutes but don't pat her back....I'm so used to multitasking, we'll have to see how I do with this new routine. I've already fallen asleep twice today! Maybe I need the rest. 5 more days until the Canadians are in the house! I can't wait!

Happy Father's Day!

What a great day today. Ella woke up and came to bed with us about 7:30 and we gave Ron his Father's Day presents. Ella was such a happy baby all day, especially for her Daddy. Ron's family came over for a BBQ and we celebrated Ron's first Father's Day with Grandma Beasley, Uncle Joey and Grandma and Grandpa. It was also Grandpa's first Father's day as a grandpa. We got him a mouse pad with Ella's picture on it, and gave my Dad the same one. I know both grandpa's will love to look at their baby granddaughter while they spend time on their computers. Ron got a mousepad as well and a mug to take to work. He loves to show off his baby girl!
BBQ was great! Ron has really mastered the art of grilling and we grill out quite a bit now that summer has arrived. I need to get Ella some swimmers (swim diapers) so we can take her to the pool...she really loves the water. Here is a picture of Ella with her Grandpa...they were talking up a storm this afternoon!

Happy Father's Day Dad! Happy Father's Day Dad! ...Love Ron and Tracey
Happy Father's Day Daddy...Love Ella

Congratulations Tara!

What a beautiful Saturday! Not stifling hot but nice and warm and sunny for a BBQ. This evening we went down to our neighbors for a BBQ and to celebrate with Victor and Tara. Tara received her Masters degree and we are so proud of her! This is such a beautiful picture of Ella and Miss Tara, I love it! Victor cooks a mean BBQ and the food was delicious. We always love going down there to visit because of the good food and great company. We are so lucky to have such wonderful neighbors.
Victor has been afraid to hold Ella, at first she seemed too fragile as a newborn but now her spitting up has scared him away. Ella got Tara's pants 5 minutes after we arrived and then left her mark on their driveway as I was holding her over my shoulder. Victor nearly lost it when she spit up on her bib while we were watching TV. Big strong man like Mr. Victor, in pieces over a 10 pound baby girl and her spit up! One day, Victor, you're little girl will be pooping and spitting up all over and you'll hardly notice for all the love you'll give her! Mark my words. To doctor a quote I once read: Baby girls are "shaped like leaves and men fall"...You just wait Victor.

Grandma to the Rescue

After the day we had yesterday, I decided to expose Ella to time without Mommy...or at least an afternoon. My mother-in-law came over to babysit at noon while I showered and got ready to go to the salon. I had my hair cut shorter than the last time and highlighted...I really like it. It was a treat to get out and have some "me" time, though it was the longest time I'd been out without Ella and the first time Grandma got to babysit. Ron got home before me so I'm not sure how Ella behaved all afternoon. She was fine when I left after a bit of fussing. She better get used to Grandma as she'll be spending lots of time with her grandparents over the next few months. I've decided she needs to get used to other people because I can't hold her 24/7. This has only been happening the last couple of weeks...before this she was fine, as long as someone was cuddling with her she was okay. I think she's finally differentiating between Mommy, Daddy and the rest of the big scary world.
We are still working on the pictures...these are some more "portraits" we took at home. We need to work on our focusing and posing but I say, not bad for an amateur.

Cry for the Camera

Today, Ella is three months old. I can't believe how time flies by. It seems like yesterday she was the squiggly newborn we brought home from the hospital. We went to Walmart to get some portraits taken and she was such happy baby. She was giggling at some little girls who were in the waiting room. They were tickling her feet and holding her hand and Ella was laughing and interacting with them. I love little girls! These 3 were dressed up in cute frilly dresses, I can't wait!The day was starting out great! My little baby girl was happy and making new friends. Nothing can brighten your day like a giggling baby...

...And nothing can plummet your day like a screaming one. As soon as Ella got a look at the photographer it was all over. She screamed so much she went purple. Nothing we could do would calm her down and even after I fed her and got her under control, the sight of the photographer would set her off. I'm thinking she's beginning to have some separation anxiety...this young? Really? So needless to say, no "professional" photos today. As we were already out on errands, we had a quick visit with Leah and Eli. I was able to feed Ella and have a chat with Leah but Ella was determined to scare Eli away with her screams. She wasn't having any of Leah either! So home it was. I did fool around with the digital camera and got some nice pictures of Ella...

We took a bath tonight as she's been spitting up all day and a nice play in the tub was needed. She loves to bathe with me and float in the tub and it's much easier than breaking your back leaning over to hold her. This way I have a much better grasp on her and she gets to play and splash all she wants. And with the amount of spit up I collect while burping her, I needed a bath as much as she did.
Alas, today is not our day. What would have been a relaxing bath went awry when Ella pooped in the tub...I know, I know, lovely. So it was drain the tub, walk soaking wet to the change table, clean the baby, then back to the bathroom to rinse and wash the baby, clean the tub, shower for Mommy and finally pj's for us both. She's out for the night and sleeping peacefully, I am ready to follow.

Outfits du jour

Ella has finally grown into some of the clothes she got at my baby shower back in January. She will be three months tomorrow and the 0-3 month clothes are fitting her now. You know, the girl has more clothes than me but that is a good thing as her drooling and spitting up mean lots of changes throughout the day. Here are just two of the four outfits she was wearing today. She loves to be changed and these outfits are her favorites, especially because they have all sorts of fun stuff to play with on the front. She's spent most of her time trying to eat the designs on the front of the shirts or pick at the bows on her pants. This blue outfit is from Mrs. Griffin and Auntie Kim (I'm so glad she can finally wear these now! Thank you for the cute outfits...I love dressing Ella up. What's more perfect on a summer day than a sleeveless shirt and capris!)

We had another marathon sleep last night. I don't want to get too spoiled, I just might get used to this thing people without babies call rest. Ella was down at 8:30-9 and didn't wake up until 5:00 am. I fed her and she went right back to sleep until 7:30. It's amazing what a good sleep can do. I have so much energy, the house is spotless, laundry done, dishes clean and it's not even 4 pm yet!
She hasn't napped well today so she's a little cranky now that's it's late in the afternoon. I'm off to feed her and try to get her to take a quick nap before dinnertime...Ron's grilling chicken tonight, yummm!

Sleeping Beauty

Ella slept through the night last night for the first time. She was in bed asleep by 9 and didn't wake up until almost 7am. I of course was up a few times in the middle of the night to make sure she was okay. Mommy is definitely not used to getting uninterrupted sleep, that's for sure. Ella was happy as can be this morning when I got her out of her crib but I was ready to burst. Long periods between nursing her really makes sleeping uncomfortable...I was up at six hoping she'd wake up and take some of the milk off my chest...literally! :)

We spent most of the afternoon shopping and I bought her some teething rings. She's starting to drool a lot and would rather chew on her hand or suck her thumb than take her pacifier. Ron is against her sucking her thumb, and for the most part I agree. Though it is really nice she can comfort herself by sucking her thumb and can put herself to sleep with it.

Bath Baby

Some days are just going to be quiet and boring so I've decided that I would post some pics instead...even if they are earlier pictures of Ella. I'm sure most of you saw these but I can't resist! I love love love the baby bath towels!


Ella and I are going to bed early tonight, she's already asleep and I'm going right after this. We're going shopping tomorrow and us girls need our beauty sleep.



This one is Ron's favorite picture of Ella. Too cute!

Daddy's Girl

Nothing much new or even reportable today. It was up above 90 degrees so we stayed inside all day. Ron worked all weekend so it was really quiet around the house and we didn't do anything exciting. Ella's sleep pattern was totally messed up yesterday as she wouldn't nap for long and last night she woke up for her regular feeding then was up for good at 5 a.m. How happy was I this morning?!
I got this onesie for Ron at Christmas...of course it is so true! When he walks in the door from work, all has to do is say hi to his baby and Ella is all smiles even before she see him. She'll hear him talking to her as he takes off his shoes and she'll start looking around for him. We went for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner and it's still 80 something degrees. Steph and Christin I hope you are prepared for the heat (and maybe even rain as we get a lot of rain in the summer here). Two weeks today and you'll be here! I can't wait to see you guys and have you meet Ella. I am soooooo in love with her, I know you will be too!