Ellie - 6 weeks old

This was the best shot I could get of her today!

She's smiling! Although I have yet to capture it on camera, Ellie started smiling a couple weeks ago. It was hard to coax a smile out of her at first, but now it is easier. I can't believe how much she has changed in a few short weeks. Her hair is getting lighter and is, sadly, starting to fall out. Unfortunately, it seems to be falling out mostly on top and in the back. I am afraid that she is going to look like an old man! She is awake more often now, usually for about an hour after eating. She likes to look around with her big, dark eyes. She is also starting to be vocal. Not much cooing, but more like little shrieks and "AH!" sounds. It's adorable.

The sleeping situation at night is getting a little better. She still loves to be awake from 9pm to midnight, and it is so hard to get her to sleep during this time. Rob can rock her to sleep more easily than I can. I usually lay her next to me on the couch until she falls asleep. The only problem with that is that I fall asleep too!

She is still a rockstar pooper. I try to wait until I think all of the grunts, pushing, and mini explosions are over before I change her diaper. But it is not uncommon for me to have to change two diapers within 5 minutes.

Tate is starting to take much more of an interest in her and has asked to hold her several times. He is mostly gentle with her, but sometimes we have to remind him that he needs to be "soft." He also likes to pretend that he is a baby and has started asking for his own binky. We tell him that big boys get to do fun things like play soccer and eat cookies and that babies only get to take naps. That usually seems to work.

Sleep all day, party all night

I need to write this post so I won't forget how Ellie slept as a one month old . . . HORRIBLY! She takes really great naps during the day, but at night she is up so much! She experiences horrible gas at night that causes her to grunt, push, moan, and wiggle for hours. By the time she finally goes to sleep, she only sleeps for an hour or so before waking up to nurse again. I have been in tears a couple times because I AM SO TIRED! It is not uncommon for me to get only 3-4 hours of sleep at night, and that is only in one hour increments. It is really rough. I hope she grows out of it soon and starts sleeping better at night. Mylecon does not seem to help with the gas at all, so I need to do some research and find some other remedies.

Ellie's 2 week check-up & Tate's pending surgery

Tate and I took Ellie to the doctor today for her first check-up. She weighs 7 lbs 7.5 oz (30th%ile) and is 20.5 inches long (75th%ile). Her head size was in the 15th%ile, small like Tate. The doctor said that she looked great. She does have a "stork bite" mark on the back of her head. It is about the size of a golf ball but will fade with time. She is a rockstar when it comes to pooping - we usually change her diapers in pairs (she waits until you get a new one on and then minutes later fills it up again). She is also a pretty good little eater, if I can keep her awake long enough. She is starting to be awake more during the day. She will usually stay awake for an hour or so after she eats. She still struggles with sleeping well at night, so I usually only get about 1 or 2 hours of straight sleep in between feedings. Rob has been home all this week, which has been a big help. I am struggling a little with getting the hang of two kids. I guess it is a learning process, I just hope I can get a handle on it soon. Rob leaves for Boston next Tuesday!

We took Tate to a pediatric ENT doctor yesterday. He still snores loudly at night and often pauses in his breathing. I never realized how used to his snoring I had become until Ellie came home. She is such a silent sleeper, I often wake up and get freaked out by how quiet she is. I have to stare for a while to make sure I can see her breathing. The ENT doctor had an x-ray of Tate taken and told us that his tonsils and adnoids are large and he would benefit from having them removed! I almost started crying right there in the exam room. I just can't imagine sending my little boy in for surgery. But, in an effort to help him sleep better, we have scheduled his surgery for September 28th. I am NOT looking forward to it at all.

Ellie - 8 days old

My baby is a rockstar! She slept for six hours last night! It was so nice. She fell asleep around 9:30pm and didn't wake up for a feeding until 3:20 this morning! I don't know if it was a fluke or not, so I will just appreciate it. When Ellie was a couple days old Rob said "We know two things about her: she cries like a kitten and farts like a sailor!" Both of which are true. She has kind of lost the "mewing" cry and has developed quite the wail (but she doesn't cry unless she is really ready to eat) but she still passes gas that smells like rotten eggs. She is starting to develop a schedule, which I love. And she is also starting to stay awake for a while in between naps and feedings which is fun. I can't wait for more milestones to come.

I have been struggling a little bit with my feelings about how this is all affecting Tate. He has been a little sensitive the past few days and I have had less patience - which is the wrong combination. I know that he is going through something, trying in his own little way to deal with the change in the family. I felt sad last night when Rob and Tate went to Rob's parents house for a visit after dinner. I feel a small temporary division of the family - me and Ellie (for obvious feeding reasons) and Rob and Tate. I just hope that the feeling goes away soon and that I can have more patience with my little boy.

Introducing . . . ELLIE MONA ANDERSON

She's here! We are so excited and grateful that everything turned out so well. We got a phone call around 9am on Wednesday, August 5th, that they had a bed available for us. So we quickly packed up and took Tate to Janet's house and then on to the hospital. We got to the hospital at about 10am and into our room around 10:30am. The nurse started the pitocin at 11am and after checked me, telling us that I was 3+ centimeters dilated. At 11:30am, Dr. Hebert came in and broke my water. At that point I was dilated to 4 centimeters. My mom arrived shortly thereafter (with some lunch for Rob) and we spent the next little while chatting. I got an epidural about an hour after they broke my water. That was not a fun experience. I think that it was less painful when I got the epidural for Tate's birth. Still, I am grateful for modern medicine that takes away the pain and allowed me to enjoy the experience.



Around 2pm I turned in my bed, causing the fetal monitor to move. The nurse came in to adjust the monitor and decided to check to see how I was progressing. After checking, she said "You're complete." I thought she meant that she was done checking me, but she meant that we were ready to have a baby! After quick preparations on the part of the hospital staff, and a few pushes on my part, baby Ellie arrived at 2:30pm! She came out quietly and was purple, which scared Rob and I. Apparently she had taken a big gulp of fluid on her way out and that may account for the silence. Once they started suctioning her out though, she started screaming and yelled for a really long time!



After a while she calmed down and Rob and I got a really good look at her. She is beautiful. She weighed 7 lbs and 3 oz and was almost 20 inches long. At first glance I thought that she looked smaller than Tate had, so I was surprised to learn that she was actually bigger than Tate had been (and she had been born 10 days earlier than Tate). Her head was beautifully shaped, probably because it didn't take long for her to come out.



My Mom and Dad were at the hospital before she arrived, so they were the first ones to meet her after me and Rob. Janet brought Tate a couple hours later. I think he was scared when he first walked into my hospital room and saw me laying in the bed. He looked like he was about to cry. I think he was just overwhelmed with everything going on around him. He met Ellie and was interested, but there was so much going on: Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, and Cory were all there plus nurses were in and out, etc. We gave Tate the present that we had gotten him and told him it was from his new baby sister. He opened his new Mack truck (from Disney's Cars movie) and was SO excited. We picked a good gift.

I felt really good after the delivery. I didn't have any pain even though the epidural was wearing off. The nurses kept asking me if I had pain and seemed surprised by my negative response. The pain finally did come, but not until about midnight that night. Eventually everyone left except for Rob and Tate and we finally got some alone time together as a family.

It was hard being in the hospital this time. I didn't mind it so much when I had Tate. In fact, I think Rob and I were terrified of going home and taking him with us. But this time I spent more time alone because Rob was with Tate. So I decided early the next day that I wanted to go home. We left the hospital around 5pm on Thursday. I was glad to be home but REALLY overwhelmed and ended up having a little breakdown around 10pm that night. I bawled my eyes out. I just wasn't sure I was going to be able to handle two little kids plus all the things that come with keeping up with my house. Rob was very sweet and insisted that I go to bed. After a few hours of sleep I felt so much better. It must have been the fatigue and the drop in hormones after delivery.

Anyway, here we are 5 days later. Still tired (Rob and I both forgot about how newborns sleep all day and stay up all night) but slowly getting the hang of it. Rob has to go back to work tomorrow and I am very nervous about being by myself. I am mostly anxious about being able to give Tate the attention he needs. We are trying very hard to have extra patience with him and to make him feel involved in everything that is going on. We'll see how this next week goes!

Me and Tate right before we left the house to drop him off at Grandma's and head for the hospital.

We let Tate take the very last picture of my belly.

This is the last official picture of our family of three before it becomes a family of four.

Such a great picture. Rob gave me no warning before he took it!

She's here!

He is such a natural Daddy.

Our first picture together.

Nana and Papa.

We finally decided on the name Ellie. I have a little girl in my Primary class named Ellie and she is such a doll. We thought the name was cute. It was down to Ellie or Abigail and we decided on Ellie after we got a good look at her. I had picked the middle name of Mona almost from the moment we knew we were having a little girl. My Mom has always said that she hates her name, but I am honored to be able to give my daughter such a strong name and have her be forever linked to such a great woman.

Tate and his new Mack truck.

Ellie in her "going home" outfit. It is newborn size but was really big on her.

Tate holding his baby sister for the first time. He didn't want to hold her while we were at the hospital. We didn't want to pressure him on any aspect, so we just waited until he was ready.

SO CUTE! It makes my heart melt.

Uncle Bryan.

Such a doll. Healthy and gorgeous. We are so blessed.

Pregnancy Update - Week 38 + 6 days

I got a prescription and it is working! Kind of. The blsiter part of the cold sore is greatly diminished and one its way out, but my lip is still oddly swollen. So now it looks like I was punched in the mouth. The pictures from labor and delivery are going to be hilarious.

Rob has the day off today and we have decided to spend the day with Tate, doing whatever makes him happy. We talked to him a little last night about being a big brother and how cool it is. We also mentioned that mommy was going to the hospital soon to get Baby Sister and that he could come to the hospital to see her. We probably need to repeat the conversation today. He is such a great kid, I don't anticipate many issues. But we still want him to feel involved and loved.

Pregnancy Update - 38 weeks + 5 days

This cold sore is not tied for first place in the "worst ever" category. It is officially the worst cold sore I have ever had. I bawled my eyes out last night about it. Rob just stood there and hugged me, poor guy. I am so upset that I will not be able to kiss my baby girl the moment she arrives into my arms. Not to mention the fact that I still look like I am over the legal limit in collagen injections to my upper lip. I called my doctor's office this morning and they called in a prescription of Valtrex. Expensive little pills, but at this point I don't care. I think I can tell a difference in the swelling, but nothing too obvious yet. I am trying to have a better attitude about it all and not get so sad.

Tate is having a strange day today. I wonder if he is somehow anticipating the end of "only child"hood. He has been crying a lot today, which is so unlike him, and wants me to constantly hold him. He has fallen asleep on my shoulder twice already and it is only 1pm. I was able to successfully lay him down in his bed after the first time and he took a 30 minute nap. The second time he fell asleep on my shoulder I tried to lay him on the couch but he woke up. Luckily it seems the little nap may have helped him. He is now watching Curious George while I make him some macaroni and cheese. Which I should probably go check on.