Two months

Okay, so I couldn't even get myself together to update this monthly! Although this post says 2 months, we're already at the 2 and a half month mark.  Where has the time gone?  Some big things this month:
-At 5.5 weeks old, we finally took her in to the doctor because her umbilical cord was still partially in and we were still doing sponge baths.  The doctor took a look and found that it was a piece of the cord that was not attached, but had lodged itself inside her belly button.  The doctor was able to remove it.  .... we love our pediatrician by the way! She is amazing.
-Elliana is now in 3 - 6 month clothes.  Depending on the brand, she can wear 6 month!
-She started consistent BIG smiles that I just ADORE!
-She is doing lots of cooing and talking to us in her baby ga ga's. She coos 'maaa ma maaa' a lot, which I pretend is her saying 'mama'  :)
-She hates tummy time.  We get about 1 - 2 minutes in and have to stop.
-She hated her baths, we tried so many different techniques and finally found (thanks to a fellow mom's advice) that if we put a warm washcloth on her stomach and keep it warm throughout her bath, she will tolerate the bath with no cries.
-She sometimes cries real tears.
-She is mostly a very happy baby. She is awake a lot more during the day and enjoys staring at everything.  She loves to stare at people (I love having staring contests with her), and objects.  We will put a toy on her swing and she will stare at the bar of the swing instead!
-She is much more interactive with toys, she will stare at them and even smile at them.
-She consistently has been sleeping 4 - 5 hours at night. This past week (August 15) she slept 6 hours, then on August 16, she slept 7 hours! She is now doing about 6 for the past 3 nights. She usually has her last feeding around 9 - 10 pm, and then sleeps until 2 - 3 am.
-She got her 2 month shots on August 06.  It was pretty devastating for me (no, I'm not exaggerating with my use of the word 'devastating')! I cried, but she was fine and handled it like a champ! The shocked look on her face was just too much for me, and her screams were awful.  She only screamed for a minute, then we scooped her up...I cuddled her and gave her the pacifier, and she calmed down.  She weighed ELEVEN pounds at her appointment!  Well, 11.06 to be exact.
-She is in the 95 percentile for height, 43rd for weight. She's long and thin!
-Her skin is SO tan! She has a gorgeous skin tone. She makes me look very pale!
Just a few of the thousands of pictures from the past month:

BBQ we hosted on August 04, 2013. There were six infants.  Danielle and Eric's two boys, Jaxon and Gage, Janelle and Nick's  baby Kaitlyn, and the neighbors Shannon and David's baby girl Halina, and Paula and Seimus' baby Fiona (not pictured)

Halina, Kaitlyn, Elliana, Jaxon, & Gage

One month

Well, I failed to update this weekly as intended! Elliana is one month old already (EEK!).  We set our goals for each day as: getting ready for the day (including eating meals) and doing one errand or outing.  I list out a few thing I need to clean or accomplish around the house, and usually get to half of them.  Sometimes nothing gets done! ...
In this past month we have:
-introduced the pacifier at 3 weeks old. Worked great the first time to get her to calm down, but then she kept spitting it out and wouldn't take it.  We kept giving it to her and it was hit and miss, but now for the most part she loves it and it really helps to keep her calm!
-she officially outgrew her newborn onesies on July 07. She still fits into some of the newborn outfits, but most of them are too short for her.  They still fit her chest and skinny arms, but we can no longer snap them at the bottom.  I was depressed when that happened!
-she is still waking up every 2 - 4 hours at night. One night she slept 5.5 hours, which was AMAZING, except I woke up freaked out wondering why she hadn't woke yet! I ended up waking her up to feed.  Crazy me. Feed or pump, those are my options, so it means I have to be up anyway....
-I am now proficient in the strollers, car seats, and Ergo Baby contraptions and can get myself around with her without any help from Josh.  We made a solo outing to the grocery store (it was a pain, but we did it!), and we frequently walk to Fro Yo, Starbucks, or Zanotto's Family Market.
-She had her baby check up on June 24th; she surpassed her birth weight and weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz.
-We've had lots of visitors! All of my mom's seven sisters have visited, we just haven't yet seen her brother and his wife and family.  Her great grandma and great grandpa (my grandparents) have met her.  She has had two visits from her grandpa (my dad), but hasn't yet met any of my dad's side of the family.  Josh's family has visited her, and we made our first long outing to Morgan Hill for lunch with Josh's mom. We plan to go again this Saturday. She hasn't yet met her grandpa Brad (Josh's dad), but she has seen him on Skype! We look forward to him visiting later this month. All of my close friends have visited, and Josh's friend Paul came over to visit.
-Her umbilical cord mostly fell out, but there is still some left in there, so we are still doing sponge baths.
Lots of staring, cuddling and changing diapers happening here!  Very much obsessed and in love with this little one!  On the to-do list since before she was born is to find child care.... I'm procrastinating because it is the LAST thing I want to think about.  So far, no luck.  I've only called one place. Yikes!

Bath time!

4th of July

 

In her car seat on her way to visit her great grandparents

In the Ergo baby carrier! Love it! 

Our first far walk solo.  :)

Father's day. Elliana met her grandpa for the first time.

Fathers day - meeting her grandpa for the first time.

Top Left: Great Aunt Rachael with Ellie and Great Grandpa. Top Right: cousin (2nd) Astrid with Ellie. Bottom Left: Great Aunt Sara (Astrid's mom) with Elle. Bottom Right: Great Grandpa with Elle.

Fro Yo outing, squeezing into my daisy dukes. 

Fascinated by how a baby fits in a belly... I think about this on a daily basis.  

Superbaby!

Great Grandpa with Elliana

4th of July Block Party - 3 newborn girls on the block.  This is Shannon with her baby Halina, Hali for short. We're just missing Paula and her baby Fiona.  

One month old!!! 

Happy with her pacifier!

One month - newborn onesies no longer fit!!!   :(

Welcome to the world, Elliana Jolene!

Well, I didn't make it to 40 weeks! Elliana decided to make her presence on 06.06.2013 - 6 days before her due date. At 10 pm on June 05 my water broke.  I was sleeping and woke up to a sensation that felt like I was peeing my pants .... but I could tell it wasn't pee.  I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom (as fast as a 9 month preggo lady can run!), and sure enough it just kept on coming and was definitely not pee!  I called Labor and Delivery, and the RN instructed me to come in. She said 'come with your bags and plan to stay.'  Josh grabbed our bags, put the car seat in the car, and off we drove to the hospital.  Since I work at the hospital, and know a lot of the employees through the job I do, sure enough the security guard at the door was my first encounter with an employee - 'hey, hey! It's time? You're gonna have a baby?' ....  Embarrassing since I had a towel between my legs since I was still leaking, but hey - they are excited for us so I just have to keep that in mind!  We arrived just before the RN shift change.  We were placed in a Labor and Delivery room, and lots of questions were asked.  As I was talking to the RN's in walks my midwife!!!!!!!!!!!  It is so rare to be able to get your own provider to be present at your birth, so I was SO excited!! My midwife advised that she would not be checking me because of risk of introducing infection since my water had broken.  I wasn't having contractions that I was able to recognize, so she said that likely they would have to induce labor.  I had the option to take the pill to induce at that moment, or wait it out.  I opted to wait it out.  She said that if at 6 am I hadn't started having contractions, they would need to induce.  I called my mom and told her not to bother coming down because I wasn't going to be checked again until 6 am.  I wanted her to be able to have her rest because I anticipated a long labor.  While I was on the phone with her, I had two contractions.  Small, not painful.  My mom opted to come in right then to be with us. My mom arrived just past 12:30 am. By the time she arrived, I was having small, regular contractions, but no pain. At 2:30 am, we asked the midwife to check me; she said I was 3 cm.  I continued to have regular contractions… My mom and Josh took turns getting me through the contractions. At 6 am I started having super intense contractions and had the feeling like I just had to push.  The RN told me I couldn’t push, so Josh worked with me on my breathing through my contractions.  He got me through it.  For all of the contractions, I had my eyes closed grabbing my mom or Josh’s hand, and as they got more intense, I just grabbed the side rail of the bed. I didn’t want to walk, I didn’t want to take a warm shower, and I didn’t want to move at all from my side!  I had to rotate back and forth from the left to the right side because my side would start to hurt, but other than that I wanted to remain stationary and just be silent through the pain in my own space. The RN’s were very supportive of my decision not to have any pain medications.  They offered, but when I declined they did not push it.  I appreciate their suport in me wanting to have a natural birth. When my intense contractions came, I asked my mom to call for a nurse – I asked to be checked again.  The midwife gave the RN the go ahead to check me again.  At 6 am I was 8 cm dilated.  This shocked everyone. The RN called for the midwife.  By the time the midwife arrived I was pleading to push.  She checked me again at 6:30 am and I was 10 plus 2. They rushed to set up the room for delivery.    After the bed was ready, they asked me to start pushing.  It felt like such a relief to push.  An hour later at 7:33 am, our sweet Elliana Jolene was born.
7 lbs 2 oz, 20 inches long.
The advice I got prior to having a baby was always: get lots of rest because you're in for no sleep once the baby comes.  What no one told me was - it doesn't matter. I can stay up all night and all day just staring at my little baby.