Week in review 3/28-4/4. An *epic* update.

I am diligently working on part 3 (and possibly 4) of Labour Day..see? But it’s not ready quite yet.

It is possible that it is taking longer because I have a wee bit of a mental block about reliving the hardest part, and that it is hard to find opportunities to type for any great length of time what with all the nursing nursing nursing….which interrupts the flow of the saga and then I have to start over. Ok…really it’s just because I am lame, but I do assure you that it is in the works.
I didn’t want to get too behind on the life that goes on though. So here are some pictures of our week. For my benefit more than anyone else’s.  People I warn you, this may well be labourious reading for y’all so feel free to skip it.  It’s just that I always get sad when the first miraculous month passes in a haze and I resolved to record as much as I could this time.  Just for me. Not even posterity. ‘Cos I’m selfish that way.
On Monday Ellabeth met her pediatrician for the first time. But not before mommy had an meltdown of note at the receptionist (who only managed to get us into the office for her 2 day check-up at 6 days old, and then merrily informed us-without apology- that we had been scheduled for April 28th rather than March 28th and that she would “try to fit us in”. Then we sat in what was supposed to be the “clean” waiting room (reserved for newborns and geriatrics) with hacking coughing people of forbidden ages for an extended period of time.  When Aaron would politely ask when we’d get in they would say, “soon”. Eventually my low blood sugar, combined with my crrrrrraaaaaaaaazeeeeeee new mama overprotective 6 day postpartum hormones propelled me to barrel past Aaron and take on  the little glass window myself, whereupon I leaned toward the receptionist with a demented gleam in my teary eye and shakily uttered words such as, “unacceptable” “newborn” “people coughing” “must be seen”and “RIGHT NOW” several times, whereupon we were magically whisked into a private room with a very solicitous nurse and a short time later a bemused looking Dr. (I picture him having been hauled from a dark room where he was peacefully enjoying his lunch because of a “Code CW” (Crazy Woman).  I feel that may be notorious there now. But whatever works.
Our girl was pronounced perfect. Albeit not entirely thrilled about being woken up, pulled from her cozy cocoon, stripped naked and poked at.

After this we went on our first outing. Lunch to celebrate Aaron’s birthday the next day. This photo makes me laugh-don’t I look radiant and isn’t the shot well composed?  It shows off her Auntie Jenny hat nicely though.

I guess I did not do much better….my beloved iCamera has it’s limitations I suppose
Later though the iPhone did capture a decent shot of Ella doing one of my favourite things. The backwards stretch. Also known as the “Question mark”.

On Tuesday at 4:00am Gracie woke me up burning with fever. I panicked. So Aaron’s return to work was put off by one blessed day. It was also Aaron’s birthday. (See the birthday video post above-it’s cute even with my irritating baby talk) Ella continued to be pink and precious.

On Wednesday…well as I remember it, Wednesday sucked.  Aaron went back to work. Gracie was even sicker and Ellabeth attached herself to my chest for the entire day and protested mightily when she was detached.  Do you think I am exaggerating? Check it out. Literally attached. She would not let go:
It was sad because she rarely protests, mightily or otherwise, (she is an AWESOME baby so far) and it was clear that she was very hungry and not getting enough food (hence the permanent attachment). Also sad was that poor Gracie was cared for gingerly and at arms length amidst a flood of hand washing and anti-bacterial gel. She was uncharacteristically patient in her trials and lay mostly quietly on the couch looking very sick and wan and making me feel terribly guilty for not being a more solicitous nurse.  To make matters worse, my hormones were utterly out of whack.  At around noon I found myself keening in the shower. I was feeling somewhat miserable but nothing dramatic when suddenly I took a deep breath and started….well….Keening. Keening is the only word I can use to describe the sounds that were coming out of my body….seriously, it was the sound of woman in the deepest of mourning. And it went on…and on…and on…I was alarmed by this since I could not pinpoint the exact reason for the mourning and I was worried Gracie would hear and be freaked out. And then as suddenly as it started, it stopped. I got out the shower with a swollen face but felt completely calm, if not entirely on top of the world.  Hormones….tres bizarre. 
Things did improve.
Gracie, from her bed of pain pointed out the gorgeous late afternoon light  (no edits on this, straight of the camera it was so much prettier in person) which felt like a good omen…

And indeed it was, Aaron came home, we were blessed with an amazing dinner from a friend who is a lactation consultant and gave me the best idea ever for a less painful 24/7 nursing baby latch, and I after doing some whining I was showered with lots of love, sympathy, and general ministrations and even homemade Postum (thank you Kim!!) from lovely friends. That always makes everything feel better. My theme song lately is definitely, I get by with a little (lot) of help from my friends. What amazingly kind people I am blessed to know.
Through it all, Ella remained pink and perfect.
Thursday
We were surprised with a giant fortune cookie from our friend Muss Cindy. 
She and I found it hilariously appropriate for a baby girl when you look at it from certain angles…

It was thoroughly delicious.
Gracie rallied around mid-day and we took advantage of the sunny day for our first All Girls walk. Come ON Spring! We need more just like it.

It was a day of firsts…Ella had her first real bath with me in the big girl tub. I was disappointed that she ranged from ambivalent to downright unhappy about the experience.  I thought she would love it since we spent so much peaceful time in there together when she was in utero. The bath used to be our happy place. No longer. But I have faith. She will get there….

Her sweet brother Gabe comforted her after the trauma of being undressed (she’s still not a fan) AND wet was over.

Beautiful tulips remind me that spring will eventually come-Thanks sweet Lucia!

Finally Friday came
Ella got her ruffle-butt on…

Since it was April 1st. Here’s our tribute to “April’s showers”since I was not feeling up to my usual April 1st Foolery…boo :(

We took Ella to the Dr. because I suspected that she was not getting enough milk from me. I had been nursing her non-stop and Aaron gave her a 2oz bottle of formula every other day or so when I could tell there was absolutely nothing left to give and she was still hungry, but it was becoming apparent that all was not as it should be in the calorie department. To be specific, she had not pooped in a week and did not seem to need to.  Once she was weighed, it was confirmed that I was not keeping up with her in the milk dept and the Dr. prescribed an oz of formula after every feeding until I can catch up.  I was sad because I do work very very hard to nurse exclusively (and yes, I am taking every galactagogue/milk making substance known to man) but it was not shocking. I have shed a few tears but I am happy that we got her in before next Wednesday by which time she might have been in some real trouble and we would have had to take more drastic measures. I am hopeful that we will get back to nursing exclusively soon (I have dealt with this with my other kids too),  but until then the family have really enjoyed having the chance to feed her so there’s a silver lining.
Other than her diet….Ella was just ducky (thanks to awesome Aunty Jilly-bean who has kept her in a vast array of super stylish and criminally cute outfits-mwwwah.) I love her suspicious /outraged expression here.

She even got to meet Coach Nathan…big day! She made her long awaited first poop in a very long time while he was holding her. We will always remember him for this honour.

On Saturday we all vegged at home together as we watched/listened to General Conference. Poor Gracie was finally feeling a bit better and finally got on some antibiotics so she was able to hang out close to her baby again….

I am appropriately attired as I was having another “blue” day  but my gorgeous girls  and beautiful boys cheered me up a lot.
 

Finny helped with the supplementing. Shemly got some cuddle time. Ella was perfect in purple
On Sunday we did more of what we did on Saturday….

Don’t you wish your dog was spiritual like ours?
 
Finny finds his sister’s kisses, absolutely hiLARious.
 
I love this picture of Gabe and Ella watching Nanny McPhee before conference. They look similarly horrified.
 
Yesterday, was our 12th day home from the hospital. I know this because my visiting teachers have been doing a special “12 Days of Baby” for me.  It has been full on out of control in the most fun way. Check out what they have given us over the last two weeks…it has been so exciting to receive the package every day, definitely a great distraction from the baby blues and on several occasions they showed up with exactly what we needed that day. Thank you so much Laura and Tiffany xo
Some more lovely flowers we received. People have been so very kind to us.
  
We had a visit from my pretty friend Cassie bearing homemade hummus and pita chips (mmmmm………..mmmmm)
Gracie and Ella compared foot sizes.. and we spent a lot of time marveling at the cuteness of our little bug.

And today it’s Monday again…. It’s been a good day. I woke up to the sound of a spring thunderstorm. Oh how I love a good thunder storm. Especially when I get to enjoy it while snuggling a warm, sleepy, delicious smelling baby in bed.  One of life’s great luxuries for sure.
I also survived my first solo trip out on the town with kids. It was somewhat complicated and took a lot longer than expected. I feel mildly triumphant though and I will tell you why.
I had my first visit to the gym. It was sweaty. I bench pressed 200 lbs, did 300 situps and 40 pull ups.  Ok fine I just walked but it was still sweaty.   Here’s my little trainer yelling at me to walk faster:

GO! GO! GO! Move it! You’ve got a lot of flab to lose woman! Don’t you love her little hat? My friend Brenda made it for her, and a matching one for Gracie. I need to get a photo of them both wearing them…stat!
After the gym, I couldn’t figure out how to collapse the stroller wheels after standing for several minutes in the rain trying to figure out how.  So Amy helped me stuff them still upright into the front seat. (I was greatly comforted by the fact that Amy couldn’t figure it out either.)
Then I went to the grocery store. I couldn’t figure out how to get the carseat to sit on the front of the cart properly. (Yes, this is my 5th kid, why do you ask?)  So I put it in the basket instead and had to shove the groceries all around it.  I saw a young dad look at me pityingly.  Right at checkout, my sweet and meek and mild baby woke up and shrieked as she never has before.  Then we walked out into a torrential downpour. I got the groceries loaded into the van, then I managed to feed a baby and change a very messy diaper (another unusual occurrence) on my lap, in the front seat of our van in the Kroger parking lot in  the middle of a huge thunderstorm which was incidentally, excellent for people watching.  This experience included jumping out to tell the nice lady who was waiting for my spot that I would not be moving anytime soon and fielding various phone calls….like I said…slightly complicated.  I had Finny with me, who was incredibly patient with the long delay. (Full disclosure: Finny was tranquilized by technology- I am once again struck by the blessedness of the iPhone..and Angry Birds.)
I arrived home to a very special delivery from my friend Claire. I won’t tell you what it was but I will share that it was incredibly thoughtful and generous beyond compare.
Tomorrow Ella will be 2 weeks old! I can’t believe how quickly these weeks pass….

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