D. Family Coffee Break

Today Bug and I took a trip to work to meet the FIDM team.  She is officially FIDM-ized.  Even before she was born, my boss (the one holding Bug), was already claiming Bug as a grandchild and every time she refers to her, she says, "Our little princess".  :) Left to right:  Angela, Ellen, Carol, Bug, and Andrea After visiting two departments, we ran into the receptionist who insisted I introduce her to the girls on the second floor.  So I did.   Three hours later, Bug and I were home and she was so tired!  I pulled her out of the car seat and put her in the bouncer.  The girl did not move one bit!  What a long day! God Bless, Kat

I realize the blog posts have been very few since Bug has arrived, but I'm trying, folks.  I feel like we're now just getting settled and I can finally figure out when I can/can't blog.  A few weeks have gone by and we've been busy!  So get ready.  This is going to be a long blog! Grandma left yesterday.  We're sad.  She came into town over a week ago to meet Bug and to help us out during my sister's wedding.  Wyatt and I were both in the bridal party and we needed someone to look after Bug, bring her to the photos, love her, hug her, and of course, FEED her! :)   Grandma meets Bug for the first time! During her stay, Bug spent some quality girl chit-chat time with Grandma.  Bug has begun to laugh and spend more time awake and she was able to give Grandma lots of laughs! Grandma and  Grandma Colleen helped Mommy put Ella in the Maya sling for the first time.  After some resistance, Bug finally fell asleep and cam...

[Fingers not typing.]   That's weird.   I went to write a blog entry and have so much running through my mind that I don't know where to begin.  Hmmm... Well, let's begin with everyone's favorite subject on this blog- Ella bug.  :)  Bug is almost 6 weeks old come Saturday and she is beginning to interact a lot more (as much as a two month old can, anyway).  Why, just the other day she stayed awake for 4 hours and she was even crying!  I'm amazed by how grown up she already is! :P The other night I received a phone call from work around 8pm.  I thought to myself, "Who's calling me at 8pm?'  It was my boss.  She said she was just thinking of me, but she seemed kind of sad.  So I asked her how things were going.  She responded with, "When are you coming back again?"  [Not a good sign.]  Although I love being home with Bug, I do miss work.  Well, maybe not so much the work, but having some adult conversa...

Last night, Mama and Papa came over to surprise Bug with a one month birthday cupcake!  Because she is only a month old, I ate it for her. :)  What are moms for?  :P We almost forgot to take the pictures and Bug had already been put to bed so like a good mom and grandparents, we quickly took her out of the crib for a picture. :)  (Don't worry, she had no problems getting back to sleep.) God Bless, Kat

Happy one month to our little (drowsy-at-6am) Bug!   By the way, new development- the pacifier.  We tried to avoid it, but hey...when she wants to feed on your breast 24/7 you'd be okay with letting her have this instead too. It is amazing that time has flown by, but it also felt like an eternity (at night, anyway).  Ella has made vast improvements.  Yesterday, she spent the majority of the day awake (not sure why) and it resulted in 7 straight hours of sleep for the entire family (including McKayla!).  Perhaps this marks the beginning of her new pattern of sleep for month 2.  (Wishful thinking?  A sleep deprived mommy can only hope.)   In the entire month Ella Bug has been in our family, I've cooked maybe twice...maybe.  The rest of the time, my family has been coming by with food and we've become close friends with the delivery people from various restaurants in the area.  And with the heatwave that's been going on, I have ...

Ella bug had a fun-filled 3-week weekend.  (Too much?)  :)  My brother and his family drove down from Sacramento to meet Ella.  Boy, was she welcomed with so much love not only by my brother and sister-in-law, but by my three fabulous nieces.  They are so in love with Ella and spent the entire time wanting to hold her and even just watch her sleep!  (Exciting, I know.)  I knew they would be good to her, but good just doesn't seem to capture how much they love her.  I can't wait until she is old enough to actually interact with them! Wyatt's sister-in-law, Mary forwarded me an online seminar called Moms On Call, which teaches you the ins and outs of newborn care- mainly how to survive with a newborn at home.  I watched the 0-3 months in two days and began to implement the tips and tricks.  Although we haven't been home every minute of the day to implement it, I've already seen vast improvements in Ella bug's behavior.  For example...

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 yo...