Fourteen Weeks Old

Weight: 9 lbs. 13 oz.
Length: 21.75"
Head Circumference: 39.4 cm

Wowsers...it's been almost the entire month of July since I last blogged. I know, I know and I'm sorry!!! So the short of it is that DJ, April, and the twins came to visit for ten days. And Alysia came home during that time too! We had a FABULOUS time!!!

In these past few weeks, Ella has become that much more smiley and talkative. She is certainly capable of babbling up a storm at times!! She has also packed on the pounds - gaining almost 2.5 pounds over the last month. She was 9 pounds 13 ounces as of last Wednesday!!!

The California crew came in late on July 8th so we had to wait to see them until the 9th. It was hard waiting but was well worth it!!! DJ, April, and I spent many of their days here together feeding, changing, and rocking the babies. In fact, many of the times, all three of the babies were on the same schedule. So we would all sit down and feed together - which was fun to have company. Now I sometimes get lonely feeding all on my own!!

Then we would get to trade off babies depending on who was being the quietest and which one of us needed to do something or get some sleep. One of the nights I left Todd and Ella home and traveled with DJ, April, and the twins to a picnic in Lewiston. Even though I missed my crew, I enjoyed being able to give my time to holding and taking care of my niece and nephew!!

On Thursday, July 10th, Alysia came with me to Children's for a Hematology appointment. Boy was I glad she came. The first 40 minutes I spent checking in at 4 different windows (check in for the general clinic, check in for the specific Hematology clinic, check in for the blood labs registration, and check in to get her blood drawn). After another hour's wait Ella got 5 tubes of blood drawn (poor baby). We were then able to be seen by the hematologist which always includes a resident coming in first and then we see Dr. Ambrusko. And after all of this her labs were not ready to be read...argh!

But that same night, my friend from school, Megan, had her baby - Emily Marie. She sure is a cutey!! We're hoping to get over to see Emily soon.

Mom and John then hosted a big ol' family picnic on Sunday, July 13th. It was so great to hang out with a bunch of our cousins, aunts, and uncles. I do have to say that it was such a relief that just about everyone 'volunteered' to wash their hands before holding Ella or the twins. It's so helpful to not have to ask people to wash their hands. It's such a simple task that can save any baby from picking up germs that can lead to illness - some that are harmless to us but will knock out a little bambino!!

The next day, on Monday, we had a Radder breakfast at CJ's on Sheridan. We basically took over their back room! It was great because Grumpa was able to join us and meet the twins too! And the food was quite yummy in our tummies!!! And...there were plenty of arms ready and willing to hold the babies so us new parents could eat using BOTH hands!!

On Tuesday, Todd, Ella, DJ, April, Maya, Zachary, and I ventured up to Lewiston again, this time to Tom, Kate, and Anna's house. Tom is DJ's bestest friend - the one who has been my medical dictionary and medical terminology translator as well. My cousin Kevin and Gen and their two girls, Mason and Isabella were there too. It was funny to step back and look at how our get togethers have changed from late night beer drinking to mid afternoon cookouts. The neat part is that we are all going through this 'stage' at the same time.

Wednesday was another Radder meal with Dad, Heather, Grumpa, and Cathy (Grumpa's lady friend), Alysia, DJ, April, Zachary, and Maya. We have definitely found that entertaining is not as easy anymore especially because we tend to be down a person especially when I'm feeding Ella. But tonight was at least a little easier since Dad brought over, prepared, and cooked the meat. Every little bit of help we can get these days helps. Besides Todd has certainly been a trooper picking up a lot of the slack too!

Thursday morning, mom's neighbor and a mother of two students I have taught, came over and taught DJ, April, and I infant massage. It was really neat to learn. Cheri was kind enough to compact three sessions into one so that DJ and April could participate before they leave. I will probably do it again with Megan (my friend from above who just had a baby). I have since tried to do some of the 'moves' at least once a day with Ella. She seems to enjoy it!

And then the dreaded day came on Friday - when DJ, April, Zachary, and Maya had to leave. I don't think I've ever cried before when DJ has left but it really hit me this time. I just so enjoyed spending time with DJ and April as well as cuddling, kissing, hugging, holding, and taking care of Maya and Zachary. It was really had to see them leave. It would be a wish come true for us to be together all the time!

So that next Monday, July 21st, we had a GI appointment (liver specialist) only to arrive to locked doors. After calling the main office (I was at a satellite location) they told me my appointment wasn't until August 21st. That may have been how the receptionist put it in the computer but I know for a fact that the appointment was for July only because Dr. Baker did not even want to wait six weeks to see Ella again. So after pulling the "just three months ago my daughter was in liver failure" the office was able to find me an appointment for later in the week with Dr. Putnam. He was very pleased with Ella's progress and went over each one of the labs that were done on Ella. The most impressive is that her bilirubin levels are almost ZERO!!!!

Previous to that appointment we had Ella's three month check up. I can't tell you how much I LOVE our pediatrician's office. First there's Dr. Cavalieri (a friend of my mom's side of the family) who came to the hospital every Sunday to check in on Ella's progress. Then there's Dr. Trask who is so good at listening and letting me know that everything is okay and that we're doing the best we can. And finally, Dr. Watson, who set aside an hour for this month's visit and called me back when I was having a paranoid mom moment. The scary part of the appointment was beginning Ella's immunizations. We had put off the shots until now to allow Ella as much time as possible to get better before putting foreign bodies into her body. Even though Ella is behind on her shots, we agreed to only give her two at a time. One reason is so that if she has a reaction we would know exactly which one since she received one shot in each leg. The other reason is that I just didn't want her body to have to deal with too much. After a slight scare that she was having a reaction (she could not stop crying for over 15 minutes - which is absolutely unlike Ella), everything turned out to be just fine. She will go back for two more shots either next week or at her four month visit.

On Saturday, Alysia left to visit Ithaca, then make her way to NYC where she will get a plane to Gainsville, FL. She is moving down there to teach some classes as well as audit some classes. There is then a possibility that she will apply to the Religion and Nature program at the University of Florida. Sounds like it's all right up her ally! I definitely miss having Alysia around too. She has become one great cook, aunt, and babysitter!!!

And finally, the whole sleep issue. Which tends to be the number one questions when I see people, "How is she sleeping?" I'm not sure if it would be considered a regression, but Ella still has one good chunk of sleep, but is now getting up every two to three hours like clockwork and not napping very well. I'm sure most if it is our fault because we either have a doctor's appointment or just not home to give her consistency. So I reviewed Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and started keeping a chart to see if I can find a pattern to her day. I am also following the author's advice to not allow her to stay awake for more than 2 hours no matter what it takes to get her to sleep. And as of today, it's really working!!! She has so far taken 3 one hour or more naps. Apparently, when we get her naps in order it will really help her night sleeping as well. I'll keep you posted.

Okay, I think I've given you enough to read for now. I will attempt to get back on track updating each Tuesday. Stay posted...

Hold on...I'm coming...

Apologies to all you faithful blog readers. We've been very busy visiting with Ella's new cousins. I promise to update ASAP. In the meantime check out the new pictures under Month 2. I'll be back...

Eleven Weeks Old

So today is Tuesday and it's time to update the blog. However, I'm SO excited that DJ, April, Zachary, and Maya are coming in that I can't think of anything to write about. The crew should have been here already except that their plane was delayed in St. Louis (they were there visiting April's family). Luckily they were able to get themselves on another flight, but they won't be here until after 10:30pm. So that means we have to wait another day to see them.

July Fourth weekend brought us to many places. We started the weekend off with Todd's birthday on the third. YaYa and Papa John babysat Ella so Todd and I could go out to dinner. We went to Frog Hair. Love the atmosphere but the food and service have yet to impress us. Therefore, we picked up dessert and took it back to my mom's house to share.

The next morning (July 4th) Todd's parents came to babysit Ella so that Todd and I could go golfing with our friends, Geri and Mo, at Arrowhead. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. I forget how tiring 18 holes can be. Todd ended up losing more balls than I could keep track of though!

That evening we went to my cousins', Mike and Alex's house for a cookout dinner. We tried to make it to fireworks, but a full night's sleep was more important to the three of us.

Saturday evening we enjoyed homemade baby back ribs to celebrate Todd's birthday at Mom and John's. Sunday evening we celebrated Todd's birthday once again with his parents at their boat with my Dad and Heather.

Other than our outings - and making sure everyone who holds or touches Ella at these outings are washing or sanitizing their hands (it's more difficult than you think - you wouldn't believe how many people are 'put off' that we ask them to wash their hands!!!) - Ella seems to be getting into more of a sleep routine. She is consistently in bed around 10:00pm each night. She will then wake up between 2:00 and 4:00am. Most nights she will then sleep until 6:00 or 7:00am and sometimes 8:00am - which means I am getting up once in an eight hour stretch. However, when I put her back down after that feeding I will usually lay back down too. She then will sleep another couple hours. Ella will also take an afternoon snooze at some point and sometimes an early evening nap too - but nothing predictable yet.

With those nights I get up just once in 8 hours, there are the nights that she is up at 1:00am, 4:00am, and 7:00am still. However, we have started to swaddle her (thanks to the suggestion from my cousin, Wendy) and this seems to allow her to sleep longer.

Ella loves to have her arms free and, therefore, originially fought the swaddle when we brought her home (probably because she wasn't ever 'contained' in the NICU). However, we started to notice that she was flailing her arms and scratching herself in her sleep which would wake herself up. We tried the mitties but she would fling those off too. So that's when Wendy, the Baby Whisperer, suggested we give swaddling a try again. Ella still throws a fit when we swaddle her if she's awake. Therefore, I now swaddle her as she is drifting off to sleep in her crib. However, our little Houdini often wakes up with her arms out. So I am looking forward to taking some swaddling lessons from DJ and April.

Finally, Aunt Alysia got to see Ella again, but this time in a much healthier state. Alysia flew in so that she could be here to visit and see April, DJ, and the twins too. She will also be here for a big family picnic my mom is having on Sunday to introduce the twins (and Ella) to the local family members - as well as some out-of-towners too (my cousins, Matt & Mara, and their son Jackson will be in from NYC).

Alight...off to sleep - we have a big day tomorrow meeting the twins for the first time!!!

Ten Weeks Old

Whoa - this past week Ella slept from 10pm until 4am twice!!! Of course with that comes the couple nights in which she awoke at 2am, 4am, and 6am. I have to admit that as long as Ella and I have one good stretch of sleep (usually from 10pm to 2am) it doesn't bother me to get up as much as I thought it would. It's when I only get an hour or so of sleep that I find it the hardest to wake up and stay up. Although even then I can't really complain because she is good about eating and then going right back to sleep.

We had a chance to reunite with Chris, Ella's primary nurse while in the NICU, this past Friday. We also got to see Chris' nursing student, Kristen, who helped out with Ella and who is now training to work in the NICU. She was great with Ella as well and will be a great addition to the NICU nursing staff! Chris was quite impressed with Ella's appearance, growth, and development and couldn't get enough of her - even shedding a few happy tears. We were so lucky to have her take care of Ella and even happier that we've been able to stay in touch.

This weekend I had my first night out with some friends for a bachelorette. Granted I was home by midnight and only had two drinks all night but it was nice to get out especially since I missed Amy's wedding shower while Ella was in the hospital.

And now that school is done and my teaching friends are off I look forward to spending time with them walking, visiting, swimming, eating, and more as this is my first summer off since 2000. Although this may end up being my hardest working summer!!!

In the meantime, counting down the days (1 week from today) until DJ, April, and the twins arrive on July 8th! I am so excited to see both all of them and to hold and snuggle with Maya and Zachary.

Finally, wishing a very Happy 34th Birthday to Todd on July 3rd!