Ellie- 5 Months

I feel like 5 months snuck up on me. We are so lucky to be the parents to this little girl. She has such a fun personality! Updates on Ellie include:

Rolling over the entire living room. If we leave the room, we come back to find her on the other side of the room. It's time to start hiding the power cords. What's with kids finding power cords anyways, they are drawn to them!

She is eating solid food like a CHAMP! She eats sweet potatoes, green beans and bananas. I am pretty proud of her. I am also proud of myself because I made it all! Let me tell you, making baby food is so EASY! I just steam the veggie and then put them in the food processor. Add a little water and blend until smooth. I freeze it in ice cube trays then pop them out and store them in freezer bags. When its time to eat, I put one ice cube size of food in the microwave and warm it up. I have still been mixing some rice cereal and formula into the food, so it only needs about 30 second to warm up. With ONE sweet potato I got a tray and a half of baby food!!!! That will probably last me 2 weeks!!! The baby food at the store is almost a dollar a piece... I think. Not only does it save a lot of money but I know exactly what Ellie is eating. Veggies and water, that is all that is in the food....NO PRESERVATIVES!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited about this :)

Along with eating solids come real baby poop. I miss there infant, milk only diapers. Since I am cloth diapering, I now have to rinse the diapers in the toilet. Not my favorite thing, but the fact that in 5 months I have only bought one package of diapers helps put things in perspective. 

She is still sleeping through the night! She goes to bed later than I would like, but she is still taking a late nap, which I know she will slowly stop doing. She gets up pretty early and sometimes we go back to bed and sleep in to 9-9:30. Hey I don't have anywhere to be and I only have one kid! I don't know if we lucked out or what but she doesn't have to be swaddled to go to sleep. She sucks her thumb and rolls over and is out. She cries for maybe 10 minutes and then she is asleep. It seems to make things easier, rocking a baby to sleep is tiring. She seems to prefer putting herself to sleep. 

Until next time. We will see what kind of progress she makes in one more month.

 How you doin?

Being Mommy's model

What a Wonderful Job

I had to share this video, I cry EVERY time, seriously. After 4 months I realize that being a mom is a hard job, but it really is the best job. I know that as the years go by the job will probably get harder, but it is so rewarding. I am already so proud of Ellie, she has started to fall asleep on her own like a big girl!  I know that whatever she decides to do in life, she will be great, and I wil stand by her every step of the way. 

also

I am extremely excited for the Olympics!!

Ellie- 4 Months

I can't believe that it has been 4 months! Our lives have changed so much, but the change happened so fast that it is hard to remember what our lives were like before Ellie. She is changing constantly, sometimes it feels like I put her down for a nap and she is bigger when she wakes up an hour later. 

July 13, 2012

Weight: 11lbs. 12oz.

Length: 23.5"

I fall more in love with Ellie each day. I feel like we have less rough days, partially because I am getting more use to being a mom, and Ellie is better at entertaining herself. I get to know Ellie more and more with each day that goes by, understanding what she needs. I think sometimes how great it wold be to go back to work, then I think of how much I would miss my little girl. I am so lucky to be able to stay home with her all day. She has such an amazing personality within her little body, and a constant surprised expression. I can't get over how beautiful she is and neither can anyone else. I try not to be that gushy mom who brags about her baby, but I don't have to because other people do it for me. Wherever we go people are always telling us how pretty she is, and how she looks like the Gerber baby. We are proud parents to say the least. Jared and I are so grateful for such an amazing daughter. 

 The Jungle, Ellies loves spending time in this thing.

 She rolls over and is enjoying tummy time more and more. She has discovered her reflection and thinks is funny.

 She has started to bring her knees up a bit, we might have an early crawler!

 Loves her Daddy

 She sucks on our noses and gives really great mouth kisses ;)

 I love how she will stare at us and study our faces, discovering out features.

 Loves sucking on her hands, sometimes she gags herself

PS. These pictures were taken by me, I was playing around with Jared's camera...it was fun!

Ellie's Birth Photos

Ellie is 3 months old today. I finally got around to editing the photos from her birth. It already seems so long ago that she came into our lives. After giving birth to Ellie I thought I might never feel back to normal, but I do. It didn't take that long either. My body is healed and feels pretty much the same, despite those few areas that now giggle. I have started to run again, slowly but surely, it feels great. As I look back on these photos I just think about what a crazy experience it all was. All mothers sacrifice so much and all have their own unique birth story, here is a little glimpse of mine.

 I had to be hooked up to antibiotics since I was so sick

 This is how I managed to get through 7 hours of contractions....I couldn't have done it without him

 Finally got an epidural

 Still waiting into the evening, testing out the GoPro

 This girl was awesome! She was a residents and we just clicked. Her shift ended and she came back for the delivery. I am so glad she did!

 Popsicles and Jello...thats all I had to eat for 22 hours

 epidural started to wear off, and I could definitely feel the contrations

 Ellie was posterior...had to lay on my side to try and get her to flip

 Love him!

 O you know...just pushin

 There she is..my beautiful babe

 Off she went to get monitored in the nursery. 

Ellie Ann- 12 weeks

I cant believe it has been 12 weeks since our little Ellie entered this world. It is already hard to remember her at only a few weeks old, she was so tiny! She is getting so big, and her personality is really starting coming out.  I thought I would never feel the same right after having her, but I feeling back to normal, and even ran a mile today.Parenthood has been a crazy journey so far, but so rewarding. It is so trying somedays with her, but it's amazing how a tiny child can bring you to your breaking point, then in a single moment once they fall asleep or crack a smile you can look at them and realize it's all worth it, and they are so precious. She is on the verge of laughing, and I can't wait to hear it! Parenthood is amazing, I love walking into her room in the morning and seeing her light up with a smile when she sees me. Jared is doing  great as a dad, and does so much to help out.

 Ellie is been a pretty good baby so far. She is a great sleeper, she wakes up about once a night to eat, and has even slept through the night a few times. She isn't the best eater, and has made me want to give up on breastfeeding a few times. I am going to stick it out but boy does it frustrate me. Luckily she takes a bottle, so there have been those few nights where I am out of ideas and I give in. 

Before I had Ellie, and even while I was pregnant I didn't really know how I would be as a mother. I am actually impressed with myself. I find that her crying doesn't bug me too much. Dont get me wrong I have the days when I am totally spent but as far her crying in the car, it doesn't give me anxiety. I guess I figure she is either tired or hungry. If she is tired she is bound to fall asleep and if she is hungry we will be home or wherever we are going in 10-15 minutes and she can eat then. I am always worried that her crying is bugging someone else, because it doesn't bother me too much. I cant wait for her to hit more mile stones, we are grateful to be her parents, she is an absolute joy!

BTW: Jared has been dealing with her this whole time, she is having a bad day and night :/

Eleanor Ann Medley

I realized that I would soon be meeting my daughter at 6:15 in the morning on Monday, March 12. I woke up to use the bathroom and as I was leaving the bathroom my water broke. For those of you who have never experience your water breaking, holy cow, it is a gush of water. Doctors say it can be a gush or a trickle, well this was a gush, and it kept on coming! I yelled for Jared, and we got our bags together. In my mind I thought my water broke I HAVE to get to the hospital NOW. Well we got the the hospital and got admitted by 6:30. My contractions started getting strong and regular by 7:30. They were 5 minuted apart and lasted for about a minute. I was dilated to a 3 at this point. I labored naturally for 6 hours, and had made no progress...still a 3. I couldn't believe that I hadn't made any progress, so I got an epidural. I was so happy I got it, I was finally able to get some rest. Pretty much everything I had written in my birth plan went out the window. I was sick and had a fever so I had to be on antibiotics, and I was put on pitocen since I wasn't progressing. I was able to take my mind off things by watching the Bachelor season finale, and Miriam was there...we had to watch it together!! At this point I was dilated to a 4 or 5, and things started moving faster. At Midnight the doctor had me push, I would make some progress but not enough to keep pushing so I kept waiting. It was finally time to push around 2am. The doctor realized that Ellie was posterior so she had to be turned. So I pushed for 2 hours and felt every minute of it. The epidural had started to wear off, it was crazy! Ellie finally greeted the world at around 3:45, weighing 8lb 15 oz. Almost 9 pounds!!!! She had to be taken right to the nursery to be monitored because her heart rate had gone up pretty high during delivery. She also had a fever since I had a fever. Jared went with Ellie while they finished things up with me. I was SO TIRED. I had labored for 22 hours, and couldn't eat anything except jello and Popsicles the whole time. I was so out of it. We ended up staying in the hospital for 3 days. Ellie had to be in the ICU only because she had to be on antibiotics as a precaution. It was tough having to go to the ICU every time I had to feed but the nurses were so nice and helpful, which made it a little easier. We were so happy to be able to come home and settle in. 

This was such a crazy experience, not at all how I thought it would go. I had an awesome experience delivering at American Fork Hospital, everyone there was so nice. Jared and I are so proud of our beautiful daughter. I can't believe we made this baby. After 2 weeks things are feeling more natural, I am feeling so much better, we are getting use to having a baby in the house. We just love Ellie so much, and my love for Jared has grown so much. I am so grateful for him, I couldn't have gotten through labor without him. We love our little family, and can't wait to see Ellie grow.