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5/25/08 - Well, as we all know, Ella was never a big fan of "tummy-time." Whenever I would flip her on her belly, she would whimper a little and keep her head face down on the blanket, then suck on her hand awhile, then cry her eyes out until I flipped her back over. Well, we were over at Nana & Grampa Moase's house and I was explaining her dislike for "tummy-time" to my mom (Ella's Nana :)), then proceeded to flip her over on her belly to show how much she hated it... Then to my surprise, Ella chose that very moment to lift her head right up, and look around. No tears, no bobble-head, no whimpering - Just looking around, drooling all over and loving "tummy-time". I don't understand how it happened or what brought it on, but now she loves "tummy-time" and has no problem holding her head up and looking all around!

Three Month Birthday!!! (Cont.)

One more picture of her in the highchair... I couldn't resist.

This was later on in the day. I drapped a blanket over the front of the chair and gave her some toys to play with. She was in her glory!

Three Month Birthday!!!

5/21/08 - Well today was Ella's 3 Month Birthday and I thought we would try a few new things... First we tried sitting in the highchair (Thank you Uncle Bob & Aunt Nancy!) just to get a feel for it and she LOVED it! She sat right up with no problem and although the picture looks like she is scared and confused, she sat very contently and looked around the whole time :)

Next, I tried putting her down for a nap in the crib for the first time. She has been sleeping in our bedroom in the basinett or the car seat for the past 3 months and I was thinking about moving her out in the next month or so. I plopped her down in the crib and within minutes she was out like a light!

So at her three month milestone, she weighs around 15-16lbs and she is a little over 2 feet long! She still likes to eat about every 2-3 hours during the day, but she has been sleeping for 4-5 hours at night :). She has almost outgrown all of her 3-6 month clothing and on Sunday she wore a 12 month size dress!! She's growing so fast! :)

Almost...

5/20/08 - And the struggle continues for Ella... she can't quite figure out why all of her fingers won't go into her mouth at the same time, but she keeps trying. She is a persistant little bugger :)

(p.s. look at that crazy hair!)

New Discoveries!

Ella smiling away while playing with her little rattle toy (you can't really see it in the picture, but it's there!)

Theres the rattle from the above picture by her head... of course now she's preoccupied with her hand...

So close! She's almost got her thumb in there...

5/16/08 - Just lately I noticed that Ella was using her hands a lot more than usual. She would reach for her knees during diaper changes, grab at her mobile and suck on her mittened fingers. I decided that even though she always ends up scratching her face when I take off her mittens, she needs to start using her hands and learning how to grab. I attempted to trim her nails (this is the most painstaking task I've ever had to complete) and then I let her go free with her newly found hands.

Yes, one scratch did result on her nose, but I think it was worth it for her because now that she has finger freedom 24-7 she seems more interested in grabbing things and stucking on her fingers than scratching her face :) Thank goodness!

So far, she has almost fit her entire fist in her mouth and is still working on the fine art of thumb-sucking. She hasn't quite caught on to the concept just yet, but she's working on it.

Our First Big Trip!

5/12/08 - Well, we took our first big trip with Ella this weekend to go visit Dan's family near Erie, PA. The trip usually takes about 4.5 hours, but with Ella it took about 5.5 with two stops to feed her (not too bad!). She always loved riding in the truck, so needless to say, she was asleep almost the entire trip to and from with the exception of when she would wake up with her tummy growling.

Our first stop was in Bradford to meet Ella's new little cousin (born Wednesday, May 7th!), Lydia Grace. We had a nice visit with the new Mommy and Daddy, Maria & Chad (Dan's oldest sister and husband), and then we were off to see another new baby...

Little RJ was next on our list (Jim & Kelly's new foster baby (- Dan's cousins)) and boy was he a cutie! It's hard to believe that babies can be as small as Lydia and RJ, but I guess I'm spoiled with little "meat & potatoes" Mokwa :) RJ was born at 14oz (yes, that's right, just 14oz!) so he is still on the oxygen and apnea moniters, but that didn't stop me from holding the little guy and playing with him in his bouncy chair!

Lastly, we were off to the farm to meet Great Gramma & Grampa Wright, along with Uncle Dicky, Uncle Russ, Cousin Lisa, Cousin Dave, little Noah as well as many others.

All in all, it was a great trip and Ella was a great passenger :) No spitting up during the drive, only one big poop and only tears when she was hungry.

Little Trooper

5/7/08 - Well, she made it... 3 shots and she's still a happy baby :)

She cried for about 5 minutes at the doctors office while they were giving her the shots (Dan said I cried more than she did), but within just a few minutes, she was exhausted and just wanted to be held and go to sleep. By the time we got to the truck to leave, she was already out. We got home and when she woke up, she was the most pleasant little baby you'd ever want to see.

At around 7pm her Tylenol was starting to wear off and we had a 20 minute crying spell followed by spitting up her next dose of Tylenol, then she was out cold for about 4 hours. She slept well at night and this morning (5/8/08) she still didn't like the Tylenol, but she doesn't seem to be in too much pain. What a little trooper :)

Fun on the Play-Mat

4/5/08 - Thanks to Mrs. Fisher, Ella enjoyed an hour or so playing on the floor in her new little play place today. It has a little ladybug rattle that she really loves and a big ladybug that plays music and lights up. She used it a month or so ago, but wasn't really interested in all the bright colors and toys hanging in her face, but now she absolutely loves laying in there batting at the dangling toys and staring aimlessly at the light up ladybug. She also seems to enjoy "tummy-time" much more when it's happening in there. She's lifting her head a lot more now and her legs are getting big muscles from kicking at the playplace walls (and at Mommy and Daddy during diaper changes :))


In other news, Ella has to get shots tomorrow.... *gasp*
We'll keep you posted :(

"shots?!"

Non-Smiling Photo Shoot

5/2/08 - After meditation in the morning (see below post), Ella was feeling more photogenic, but not feeling more smiley. I don't think she let me take one picture of her smiling today, though she does it all the time now. There's always tomorrow :)

Our Little Buddha

5/2/08 - Deep in meditation... :) Look at her little arms!