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Mommyhood 101

Baby Ella is just over two weeks old.  We had a rough transition in the beginning because Daddy had to go to Seattle for business during week two.  Luckily, my mom was able to stay with me to help care for Ella.  Now that he's back, I think Ella is re-familiarizing herself with Daddy.  We've also begun transitioning the bedtime feeding with a bottle.  That way Ella can have some bonding time with Daddy.  Bottle #1 didn't go so well- 2 ounces of milk wasted.  So for bottle #2, I only filled it up with 1-1.5 ounces of milk just in case she didn't take. Surprisingly, she took it and we warmed up another 1.5 ounces.  Yaaay!  We'll try again tonight and hopefully come Friday night, Mommy and Daddy can leave Ella with Mama Bernadette during dinner so we can attend my sister's bridal party dinner.  (Cross your fingers, folks!)  

Although I've helped to take care of numerous children, nothing compares to the experience of taking care of your very own baby/newborn.  The following are a list of things I've learned about baby Ella in the last two weeks:

1-Just when you think she's done her business (uh-hem...#2), wait two more minutes.  She's not done.  If you don't wait, you're in for a happy projectile #2  once you take off the diaper.  (Sorry to Mama Bernadette and Daddy for getting the bad end of that.  I'm not gonna lie, I'm ecstatic she's never done that to me.  Knock on wood!)  

2-When you begin to feed her, she lets out one HUGE #2.  It never fails.  

3-She sounds like a kitten.  For the first two weeks, every time she made a noise while she was sleeping, I would think to myself, "Where's the cat?"

4-Her frown is pretty permanent.  

5-Many of my family members have said it and I called it when we saw her ultrasound.  With the exception of having my nose, she looks like a Dressler...in particular, Wyatt's twin, Scott and their dad (Ta-ta).

6-Just like in the womb, her favorite position to be held on her tummy, against your chest.  Her favorite position is on her stomach.  Either way, the only part of her that moves side to side is her bottom (just like in the womb!).

7-She is like the hulk of all newborns.  If you lay her on her back, she can roll halfway onto her side.  When you hold/lay her, she can rotate her head from one side to the other.  (SERIOUSLY!  It's frightening.)

8-Getting Ella into a car seat is a battle, but once she's in, she's out like a light and can be for up to 4 hours!

9-The pediatrician tells me that breastfed babies don't usually burp that much.  So I shouldn't be shocked.  However, I've never known a newborn to have hiccups all the time (another thing she did too often in the womb).

10-She is an actress in the making.  She lets out a cute little wimper/whine...then the tears begin to flow.  I wonder where she got this trait from?  :P

11-She has the thickest hair I've ever seen for a two-week old.  It's so curly too!  (Again, I wonder where she gets this from?)

12-The pediatrician also said that most newborns will feed every two hours.  Wrong again, doc.  This newborn was feeding every hour to hour and a half.  (Thank goodness we've moved onto every two to three hours!  Mommy just couldn't hang.  Hahaha.)

I'm sure we have so much more to learn about our Ella bug, but week two has been nothing short of an adventure.

*Bonus Video:  Baby Ella gets a sponge bath.  I cut the video before she started screaming.  This way it's enjoyable for all of us to watch.  :)  This was also the same day her cord came off!

God Bless,
Kat

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