Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween greetings from my favorite little banana :)

Fall Photoshoot

Start by cleaning out pumpkin

Assemble props and place baby inside pumpkin

 

Try to capture baby's attention while baby tastes pumpkin.

Attention is captured!

Enough is Enough!

Happy Fall from the Larson's!

 

Yes, we are THOSE parents!

Sitting, Bumbo-style

I'm getting to be such a big girl!

Afternoon Surprise!

There's a first time for everything!  I came home from work this afternoon and Elli's nanny was so excited to show me Elli napping.  Reportedly, Elli put herself to sleep while sucking on the pacifier!  So maybe I won't stop offering the pacifier yet...

3 months...

My little Ellianna,

Its so hard to believe that you have been in our lives for only three months because you have taught us so much!  You have completely turned our lives upside down.  You continue to challenge us and have thrown any ideas we had about raising a newborn out the window.  You have taught us more patience than I thought we had.  Your smiles light up a room and your coos make everything else seem insignificant.

You went on your first vacation this past month to meet your extended family in the Midwest.  You were a great little traveler.  Much to my relief, you either nursed or slept on the plane and the change in pressure with take off and landing didn't seem to bother you.  You enjoyed walking through the airports, looking at all the people and lights.  You also began to tolerate sitting in your car seat for longer periods of time with less fussiness.  Your Great Aunt Karen and Uncle Scott gave you a lullaby CD with your name in the songs and this is the first CD that I have found to calm you...not consistently of course, but this CD made for pleasant car rides that weekend.

Unfortunately, you developed another cold.  You have a forceful cough and nasal congestion.  You and I are taking steam showers together to help loosen your mucus and once again, you dread the bulb syringe.  However, we learned a lot from your first cold so we were more prepared this time and you are steadily improving.

Your personality this past month is once again a happy, easy going baby.  Your fussy times are when your diaper is wet yet you don't fuss with poopy diapers, when you are hungry, and when you are overtired.  You continue to bless us with some of the worst smelling gas, something you showed off while visiting family.  But, your gas seems to be decreasing as this past week wasn't very bad at all!  We have put away our exercise balls as you no longer required that intense bouncing motion for calming.

Your hair is beginning to thicken slightly and grow longer.  Everyone confirms that you do indeed have a reddish tint in your hair so it'll be interesting to see if that lasts.  Speaking of your hair, you have rubbed a tire track into the back side by your constant moving when in your swing or on your activity mat.  We need to increase tummy time!

You love sucking on your hands.  You have been seen shoving your whole fist in your mouth while smiling away.  You continue to refuse the pacifier and I'm not sure how much longer I am going to keep offering it to you, as it seems kinda pointless.   I have seen you roll from your back to your side and you have brought one of your hands up towards the bottle, often holding onto our fingers while you are feeding.  You have also developed a love of ceiling fans.  You are also now happy to watch t.v while in your bouncer or our laps and will focus on the colors for about 30 minutes before you are ready for a new activity.  I'm not proud of letting you watch t.v. at such a young age, but, sweet child, your lengthened attention span has allowed me to wash dishes and fold laundry while you are happy and independent.

Your salivary glands became active around 8 1/2 weeks and you are a little drool machine.  Bibs are your new fashion accessory!  Your bottle intake varies between 2-3 ounces every 2-3 hours.  You do okay with your daily vitamin, despite how it smells.  You remain in newborn clothes and diapers but size 1 diapers are also in the rotation and size 3 month sleepers for the length.  Diaper changes have become fun for you as you enjoy kicking your legs around and bringing your knees to your chest...all while strengthening your tummy muscles.  You are enjoying bath time and kicking your legs around in the water.  You enjoy shopping, but only because you like the vibrations when your car seat is in the big basket of the shopping cart.  You nap best on your tummy but I'm not comfortable with letting you sleep on your tummy at night. 

First dinner in high chair 10/20/12

You and I continue to plow ahead with breastfeeding.  We have become a much better team with the weekly clogged ducts and combining warm compresses with your suction, the blockage only lasts for 1 day now.  The bonding time while nursing is something that we both enjoy.  We were given an amazing gift from your cousin, hundreds of  bags of her frozen breast milk to help us.  This gift is allowing us to continue nursing while supplementing with breast milk rather than formula which means NO COLIC!  I think the best way we can thank them is to see your weight go up in the percentiles!

I should probably mention your growth stats here.  We visited your pediatrician yesterday for a follow-up to your cough and you have officially broken 9 pounds!  You weighed in at 9 lb 1 oz, length of 24 inches, and head circumference of 15.2 inches.  You remain in the 5th percentile for weight but the pediatrician no longer feels you are a 'failure to thrive' as your growth chart curve from birth is steady along the 5th percentile line.  Pediatrician feels you may just be a late bloomer.  Your length however is in the 75th percentile!  So you are indeed long and lean.

Bedtime continues to be challenging for us as you have your own ideas of when and where you will sleep.  We aren't comfortable with the cry it out method, so we're just going with the flow.  After repeated failed attempts to sleep in your bassinet, you wind up sleeping in your co-sleeper between us without stirring.  But each night is different and most nights, you will stay in your bassinet.  We have been doing your nightly bed time routine for the past month.  We start with your warm bath around 9, lotion and massage, put your PJs on, and either nurse or bottle feed while rocking to your lullaby CD.  Regardless of what time we start your routine, you don't fall asleep until 10:30 - 11 p.m. but then you fully wake for the day between 9-10 a.m.  You usually wake for a feeding and diaper change twice during those hours.  Before your recent cold, you were consistently sleeping 5-6 hours before waking.  If you would just stop fighting sleep, it would make bedtime and naps so much more enjoyable!  Naps remain hit or miss and you seem completely fine with that.  The other day you napped from 11:30-12 and 1-1:30 p.m. then didn't fall asleep for the night until 10:30 p.m.  You are anything but a typical baby!

Oh Miss Ellianna, you are loved by so many and I know you are loving us back.  It's hard to imagine what we did with our evenings before you arrived because that seems like distant memories. This past month has been lots of fun, watching you develop and explore.  I can't wait to see what you learn this next month!

Reading Time

This picture/post is dedicated to Ellianna's many family members in education :)

Hellooo Midwest!

This past weekend, Ellianna and I flew home to visit family.  She was an excellent little traveler.  First flight left McAllen at 5 a.m. and she did great.  We landed in South Bend around 1 p.m. after having layovers in Houston and Chicago.  I was nervous about having 3 flights which meant 3 sets of take-offs and landings, but Ellianna did great.  She furrowed her brow slightly with the pressure changes but didn't cry.  She either nursed or slept during the flights and when we landed for good, was full of smiles.  She was able to meet almost all of her extended family!  We are looking forward to Christmas when she can meet those she wasn't able too this past weekend.

Grandma, Aunt Amy, and cousin Savannah

I tried to remember to take pictures of everyone with Elli but unfortunately, I didn't do as well as I was hoping.  I apologize ahead of time if you didn't get your picture with her, we'll have to do it at Christmas!  We spent a few days in Granger meeting her extended family on my side.  Then we spent the day in Rockford so she could meet her extended family on Ryan's side.  Next was our final days in Granger where we visited with some friends.  Ellianna did great, enjoyed being held by everyone, and gave everyone her gorgeous smiles.  She is at such a fun age right now where she smiles and coos to whoever is talking to her.  I know she will develop some stranger anxiety later; which made this trip perfectly timed.

Meeting some cousins

Some highlights of her trip included learning to tolerate car rides, finally finding a lullaby CD that calms her, picking her first pumpkin, and watching football or baseball on tv.  We may need to invest in a portable DVD player for our Christmas road trip as she seems to enjoy the colors on the tv.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Failing

Great Grandpa Priebe

The beautiful colors of the leaves reminded me how great the Midwest is in the fall.  If only it didn't get so cold in the winter!  I felt like a tourist because I was loving all the bright oranges, reds, and yellows of the leaves changing colors.











It was an exhausting weekend between the travel and socializing but we managed to fit almost everything into those days.  The first two days back home, Ellianna and I slept in until 9 a.m.!  As wonderful as the weekend was, it's nice to be back home again so Ellianna can be on her schedule.  This weekend gave me a heads up for our Christmas road trip and Ryan and I will have try to maintain her regular schedule.

Only 2 months until Christmas!

Happy October!

Somebody is getting ready for Halloween!  

Actually, now that I have a baby, I'm looking forward to the entire holiday season.  Holidays are already special for us because we get to spend time with family, but now with Miss Ellianna here, I'm so looking forward to experiencing all the magic of the holidays with her and through her eyes.  I'm just hoping that we will be able to create many memories for her.

Update from her 2-month appointment:
Length: 23.5 to 24 inches. I'm not sure which was written down in her chart because she was measured twice and had different lengths.
Weight: 8 lb 8 oz.  Pediatrician isn't concerned about Elli's weight, stating that she has been burning lots of calories fighting her virus for 3 weeks while she was sick.  Developmentally, Elli is smiling, cooing, tracking objects, and very active so doctor said she looks more at those skills than weight.  Elli was 8 lb 10 oz last week and pedi tried to reassure me that it is completely acceptable and normal for a breastfed baby to only be up nearly 3 pounds since birth.  Pedi reiterated that being sick is hard on a baby and it may just take her more time to put weight on as she grows.  Pedi feels Elli is just going to be a long and lean baby :) Of  course, I am still worried about her weight but I keep reminding myself that as long as she is peeing, pooping, and developing, she is doing just fine.

After her 2 month appt, Elli and I met with our lactation consultant (LC) again.  I thought we had previously corrected her latch but immediately, the LC did not approve of Elli's shallow latch.  Through the LC's persistent handling, Elli finally gave in and opened her mouth wider to improve her latch.  Elli and I are now very aware of the difference and I am quick to detach her when she latches too shallow.  Our new method is much more comfortable for me and it'll take some time for Elli to fully accept the new latch.  The LC feels that with a shallow latch, Elli has not been able to fully empty the ducts which is needed to stimulate more milk production...if those ducts weren't emptied that would help explain the recurrent blockages!  I am so relieved and feel things regarding breastfeeding are starting to improve.  The LC also reassured me again that ability to pump is no indication of milk supply.  (I later talked to a home health nurse who told me she had tried 3 different pumps and was never able to successfully pump for her 3 babies so after each pregnancy, she took 6 months off from work so she could exclusively breastfeed.  It was so nice to hear from her that I'm not the only mom struggling with pumping).

Update regarding her colic:
Ryan and I decided to experiment last week and only give her breast milk (as I was able to build up a decent supply while she was previously getting formula in the mornings).  She did not have colic all week!  She slept beautifully at night, in her bassinet, and didn't fight being put down.  Friday we decided to try 2 oz of formula and Friday night was pretty bad with colic again.  We are so frustrated as the Alimentum formula is supposed to relieve colic and be hypoallergenic.  But she just doesn't seem to be handling any amount of formula.  Saturday through today we went back to breast milk only and she is once again, a happy baby and sleeping great at night.  I am trying my best to pump every 2-3 hours around the clock to continue to increase demand to try my best to keep up with her bottles while I am at work.  Ryan is now helping me wake up at night to pump as I've slept through my alarm a few times...

So, here's to no more colic...and sleep filled nights for Ellianna!