What up?
I'm not really sure what to say about this picture. Lisa said it looks like she's flashing gang signs....
And thanks to Shelly and Rob for the cute outfit!
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September 28, 2003
September 25, 2003
Grandpa Dauernheim visits
Grandpa D was in town for a visit last weekend. Unfortunately for him, he was just in time for a nice three day power outage! We got power back just in time for him to take a hot shower and head home.
I swear, Ellie wasn't crying every time, she just happened to be when we took pictures...
September 23, 2003
Great Falls
We took a trip up to Great Falls this weekend, to check out the Potomac River after the hurricane. It was pretty wild! The pictures don't do it justice, but they give you some idea...
Power's back
Sorry for the lack of updates, but the power was out thanks to the hurricane from Thursday until Sunday morning. I'll try to post some pictures from the weekend trip to Great Falls with Ellie a little later on.
The good news is that Lisa took Ellie in to get weighed on Monday, and she was up over 7 pounds 11 ounces. So it looks like she is settling into a nice weight gain and eating pattern.
September 18, 2003
Cutest little baby face
I know it's been a few days since the last picture, so wait no more. From the edges of Hurricane Isabel...
In case you haven't figured it out before, you can always click on the picture to see a bigger version.
September 17, 2003
Messing up our child
Lisa just got a couple of books on breastfeeding, as well as books on what to expect in your child's first year. I love these things, because they say that everything we are doing is absolutely WRONG! We are scarring our child for life.
Exhibit A: the pacifier. Apparently, you're just not supposed to give the kid a pacifier. Oh well. YOU sit up with "Yell-anor" at 3AM for two hours and see what you do. When the kid just wants to suck on something, the pacifier works, and you don't question it. I like this guy's attitude (caution, he does curse a bit). If you read his entry for each week of his child's life, you'll get the idea as to where we are on the scale of exasperation...
This is the third day I've been back at work, and so far Lisa isn't going completely crazy yet. She hasn't even been thrusting the kid into my arms when I walk in the door either. I've been hurting though, because I have to stay awake for 9 hours at work, no naps. Especially rough when you're up until 1AM watching Monday Night Football.
No new pictures today. I haven't been home to take them or upload them, sorry. Hopefully later this week I will find some time...
September 15, 2003
Nanny Dog?
Daddy's first day back at work. I can't say that I am sorry. It's nice and quiet here. :-)
I almost forgot, but Ellie got her first shot on Friday. So painful watching her poor little face. She didn't have to talk. She was staring at me all nice and peaceful, and it rapidly turned to surprise and utter pain. Poor girl!
Anyway, on to the pictures...
Well, it would appear that Max is a little bit of a nanny dog after all. He's adjusting well to Ellie being around, and occasionally when he hears her stir, he will lean over from the bed to peek into the Pack N Play to see what's up. But mostly, he just hangs out like normal.
September 12, 2003
Big hat, small head
Ellie went for her two week checkup today. Only about 7 pounds in weight, not quite up to the original birth weight like we hoped, but it's been a rough couple of days. She was up a lot last night, until I finally managed to force her to eat from the bottle. She is a pretty teeny baby, percentile wise: 10th percentile in head size, 12th percentile in weight, and 50th percentile in height. We'll definitely have to keep an eye on her weight. Hopefully she will eat more easily over the next few days and we'll get it under control.
This one's for Michele Ricks, who sent us this outfit. The sleeper itself fits pretty well, but the hat is just huge (she is only in the 10th percentile of head size after all)!
September 11, 2003
Pretty in Pink
Despite much protest (it was tough getting Ellie into it), Ellie wore her first pink outfit when we went out shopping today.
September 10, 2003
Ellie's first walk
We finally mustered up the energy to take Ellie for a walk around the neighborhood in her stroller. We've taken her out to the doctor and shopping and such before, and we always get comments on how cute she is. Well, yeah, she's asleep, and she's only a week old! Of course she's cute. Come over at 4am when she's doing her banshee imitation and she's hungry.
Here's some pictures from her first walk in the stroller.
September 9, 2003
Ellie is cord free!
Ellie lost the last little bit of umbilical cord recently. So naturally, this is a good time to post a picture of her cute little belly button.
September 8, 2003
Rough few days
Not long after my last post, I went downstairs to check on the laundry and found that the basement had flooded. Not a good kind either: the sewage backed up into the house. Yuck! The plumber was not able to arrive until the following morning, so we headed off to a hotel for the night. Read on for more...
After the plumber left, I bleached the heck out of the basement, but still wan't able to finish in time for Lisa's mom and grandmother's visit. They ended up having to sleep on the couch and air mattress for a night. The basement is back to normal now though, and we even watched a movie down there last night with Ellie.
The results for the doctor visit on Friday were much better. The jaundice levels had dropped in half, and Ellie was back up to 6 pounds, 11 ounces, a gain of 5 ounces in just two days. So we are back on the schedule of having her wake us up when she is hungry. Not too bad, though she has her moments... This morning, she woke us up at 4, 6, and 8:30, and chowed down each time. Very tiring. But she was up to 6 pounds, 14 ounces this morning, 3 ounces more than Friday, and only 5 ounces to get to her original weight by Friday.
On to the pictures... These are from Grandma and Great Grandma's visit this weekend:
Obviously, Max is warming up to Ellie, though he misses being the baby of the family and getting all the attention. We are pretty sure he has accepted her as part of the pack though. But that doesn't stop him from trying to get more attention and getting in every picture!
September 4, 2003
Today's update
Rough night last night. We went to the doctor again yesterday, and Ellie seemed okay. We may have to go back on Friday for another jaundice test, just to make sure everything is on its way back to normal. You can see the jaundice a little bit in the picture below, especially in her eyes.
We also went to a lactation consultant yesterday. Ellie is having a little bit of trouble getting used to the breastfeeding thing, and so she lost about a pound from her birth weight. The lactation consultant gave us some tips to help get her feeding more regularly, and as a result, we were up every three hours last night to get Ellie more food. It was definitely rough. One time, Ellie didn't want to wake up, another, she was really fussy. But we made it through the night, and she got around 2 ounces of milk each time, even if we had to resort to bottled breast milk on occasion. Hopefully she will be back up to her birth weight by next Friday, which is what we are shooting for.
Without further ado, here it is, your daily Ellie picture:
September 3, 2003
Ellie's first bath
Everyone's favorite, naked baby pictures! Ellie's first bath was quite a chore. She doesn't like being wiped during diaper changes, so you can imagine a bath...
September 2, 2003
First doctor visit
Ellie had her first visit to the doctor today. She has been a little jaundiced, but nothing to worry about. She lost a little weight recently because she has had trouble breast feeding, but we think now that the milk has come in, it should be a little easier for her to figure it out.
We go back to the doctor tomorrow morning and see a lactation consultant tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see how those go.
Here's a quick couple of pictures of her first trip out:
September 1, 2003
Ellie is home
Yes, everyone is now at home and happy. We picked Max up today, and he seems to be okay with her. Of course, she hasn't had a huge crying fit since we got him home (knock on wood).
We took some more pictures too, of course. We love the digital camera!
Ellie takes a nap before the ride home.
Daddy's little peanut. Daddy is also wearing a Saw Doctors t-shirt. The first song Ellie ever heard was "Green and Red of Mayo", which has the line: "Oh take me to Clare Island, the home of Granuaile". Granuaile is Grace O'Malley, the female Irish pirate, and partially the inspiration for Ellie's middle name.
Ellie is all dressed and ready to go home. Thanks to my co-workers, especially Deb Bloom, for providing Ellie's going home outfit!
Ellie strapped into the car seat. We decided not to get the "bucket" infant car seat/carrier. So of course, the hospital made me take this one OUT of the car, lug it upstairs, strap her into it in the room, then lug her AND the car seat back downstairs, and try to get the darn thing in the car without waking her up. Luckily, I managed to do it, but it wasn't easy...
Anyone who knows me could have guessed that I would go all out on the cheesy factor. So the stork was waiting when we got home. Lisa loves it! A couple with a five month old who were taking a walk took the picture for us, and were the first strangers outside of the hospital to meet Ellie.
We're using the Pack 'n' Play bassinet for the first little while. That way Ellie can be right next to our bed during the night and Lisa can check on her whenever motherly instincts wake her up. Lisa spent most of the first night sitting up with Ellie while Ellie slept. Luckily, Lisa was able to get about 4 hours of sleep in this morning while I took care of Ellie.
Ellie loves the aquarium bouncer. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her face when I first put her in it! It was priceless. She just had a look that said, "Wow, this is sooooooo cool!"
That's all for now. Everyone is doing very well. Ellie is sleeping soundly after finally eating. She had a little trouble getting anything going, but today she was going for about 45 minutes. Time for me to get in a nap as well!