14 Weeks

Fourteen Weeks Old

Mary Ella's favorite toys right now are her hands. She really is getting more interested in grabbing and playing with her toys, but she thinks her hands are really the coolest things. She looks at them, grasps them together, turns them all around, puts them in her mouth, and touches everything she can get them to.

This week was a busy one! Monday was our only day at home. On Tuesday Mia came to visit. We went out to lunch for her birthday, and Mary Ella and I took her to our favorite children's store Cupcakes and Caterpillars. She was ready to go home after Mia bought the tutu she wanted. Ha! The girl was a little grumpy this week because she was having trouble GOING again, but more about that later. Wednesday was Veteran's Day so Brad got to stay home with us. We all went out to eat for lunch and while she napped in the car, my mom and I ran into Hancock's to look at Christmas fabric. I really got into the Christmas spirit this week. I try to wait until after Thanksgiving to think about it, but I've got to get moving early to get everything done this year. We went home and while Mary Ella napped my mom and I got back out to do a little shopping before she had to go home (I love that she took 2 random days off during the week to come see us). And that night we took Mary Ella to a life group for the first time. She was wonderful! On Thursday it had been a week since Mary Ella had GONE, and we had been giving her juice for 3 days with no results. So I called the doctor, and the nurse said we better bring her in. I know it sounds like we take her to the doctor all the time, but you have to believe me when I say I am not a doctor person. I usually like to diagnose myself. I will only go when I am deathly ill, and I will only take Advil about once a month. But it is different with her. I never want her to hurt or be sick, and I don't know what the heck I'm doing. So, I'll leave the diagnosing up to the doctor. Besides, before she was the most regular girl with explosive bowels, so this problem was bothering me. Anyway, the doctor poked around on her, said to stop giving her the vitamins that we had started about the time the problem started (which I had already done), and to try a suppository if things didn't move soon. Yikes! So, that night we went out to eat with Brad's old boss that was in town and tried the juice one more time. No luck. Friday morning I had a hair appointment, and I took Mary Ella with me. I was a little worried how that would go, but she did great! When we got home Joe and Rita had gotten to our house for a weekend visit. When Mary Ella got up from her nap, Papa took her for a walk, and Gigi and I went to Holiday House. For those of you in Jackson, this is a mini-version of Mistletoe (oh, how I miss Mistletoe)! I got some great gifts (for Christmas and for Mary Ella). That night we cooked steaks, and Brad went to Walgreen's to get the dreaded suppositories. Now, earlier in the day Gigi had pulled out Mary Ella's first laugh. It was the cutest one syllable laugh that you have ever heard. And by that night she was putting in her first suppository (I just watched this time.) Ha! But thank goodness it did its job, and we went straight to the bathtub. Saturday was the battle of the grannies. Just kidding! My mom came back for the night with Cole's girlfriend, but Gigi and Mia are very good about sharing Mary Ella. They just don't share her with anyone else! Ha! My mom, Jennifer, and I went back to Holiday House, and I picked up a few things I wish I had bought the day before. Mary Ella refused to take a nap, so she went with us. I thought she would fall asleep on the way there- not so. I thought she would fall asleep in the stroller- no way. She was too busy watching all the people and looking at the pretty things. She rode in the stroller awhile, I held her and she took a teeny nap, but for the most part she did great. I guess she was feeling like a new woman! I sure do! If I can tackle Holiday House and getting my hair done with a baby, I feel like I can do anything! That night we had more taco soup and watched the Razorback game. On Sunday we all went to church and said goodbye to all the company. It was a great week!

Go Hogs! Beat Troy!

Mary Ella is more vocal than ever! She says "go" all the time, so I'm sure she means "Go Hogs!" Sounds in her vocabulary are: goo, gah, go, ooh, ah, oh, uh, eye, loo, la, mmm, coo, gurgle, wuh, whoa, and of course waa. She is starting to talk to herself too. She'll talk when she's on her playmat, and we can hear her sometimes in her bassinette when she wakes up. So cute! She also has the most dramatic yawns with sound effects. She coughs when she is hungry or wants your attention and squeals when she is excited or thinks something is funny. Like I said, she laughed for the first time this week at Gigi twice, and she tried to sing with Brad too. I love her sweet voice and hope she can sing like her daddy!

3 Months

3 Months Old

I tried so hard to get good pictures in her Razorback tutu, but she doesn't smile a whole lot when she's sitting up (and she looks a little awkward propped up). She is just enthralled by her surroundings. She LOVES to look around. I think the girl is going to be very serious about learning.


She was also interested in eating the tulle on her tutu.


Her cheeks are getting so chubby!


And this is her new smile- so big she scrunches her nose up. So cute! Go Hogs! Beat USC (and in the south we know that doesn't mean Southern Cal)!


Flashback

8.7.09

9.7.09

10.7.09

11.7.09

13 Weeks

13 Weeks Old

Finally! We saw the sun this week! It was nice to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. We have some great walking trails in our neighborhood, many I haven't explored yet. I try to stay pretty close to home. But this week was the best. Our favorite trail is just off the main street, but winds through the woods that line the street. The leaves were falling and had covered the sidewalk, so it was like we were really out in nature. Mary Ella stayed awake during a whole walk for the first time. There was so much to keep her entertained. The trees, the leaves, and the scrunching sound the leaves made under my feet and the stroller.

On Wednesday we went to Children's Hospital for ME's kidney appointment. I thought the schedule was a little backward. We saw the nephrologist before we had the ultrasound, so the doctor didn't have much to tell us before he read the ultrasound. He did seem to think that a single cyst was not a normal thing to see on a kidney (usually there's a cluster and that's not good). So he thought that the ultrasounds before might have been misread. He took a look at ME, mentioned some possible scenarios that it could be, did some blood work, and sent us to radiology. So, I wasn't really feeling great about the appointment. He had me a little worried that it might be more serious than we had thought, so after the ultrasound we go home and wait for the doctor to call. We didn't hear anything Wednesday or Thursday, so maybe no news is good news? I finally called Friday morning, and it turns out that it does appear to be a single, simple cyst. Her blood work was normal, so her kidneys are functioning beautifully (just as I had thought). So, we will just continue to monitor it and hope it never turns out to be anything that will affect her. I am still praying for it to just go away, but we are scheduled to go back in 3-4 months to take another look at it.

Mary Ella is really getting good with her hands. She is getting better and better and reaching out to touch and grab things, including herself. She likes to touch and pinch her belly, and explore her "button." Right here you can see her hand to tummy.

She was exhausted after her doctor's appointment. She took a 4 hour nap when we got home. And yes, her paci is in her mouth in this picture!


Hand to knee

Both hands to knees, sitting like an old man. Ha!

The slobber and bubbles have begun to flow!

This is the face she makes during her entire bath. She doesn't mind her bath and never cries, but she has absolutely no expression. She knows the routine, but it's almost like she just tolerates it.

She might suck on her hands (so I have to get the soap off quickly)!

And as soon as it's over and I wrap her up, she makes this face. No expression to big smile. Everytime!

First Halloween

Happy Halloween, ya'll!

Boo!

Playing with Super Uncle Cole

I guess Mary Ella was a ghost for Halloween- only the cutest ghost ever! No offense to anyone who has ever put their small child in a Halloween costume, but I think they look silly lost in those giant costumes. So, we went more for a Halloween outfit. And I found this cute bib in Branson. We had a pretty low key night in LR- a few trick-or-treaters, some taco soup, and my favorite candies. It was nice because my mom and brother got to be there for Mary Ella's first official holiday/special day. I don't really consider Halloween a holiday, but kids sure do. I always thought it was funny that every year one of my students asked if we got a day off for Halloween. I guess this year the kids did!

12 Weeks

12 Weeks Old

Peek-a-boo! One of many new things Mary Ella enjoys. Playing peek-a-boo takes her breath away. When I swish a blanket or burp cloth over her face she sucks her breath in, and when I take it away she smiles. So sweet! She is also really into hair, mine and hers. When she's on the changing table she loves for me to lean over and tickle her face with my hair. She sucks her breath in and smiles just like with peek-a-boo. She found her hair a couple weeks ago and loves to put her little hand in the back and rub her fingers in it. It may turn out to be a soothing act for her. Isn't a sleepy hair twirler the cutest thing? She also loves her hands and has discovered she has feet. She is wanting to sit up all the time like a big girl and will just stare at her hands and feet forever. She almost gets into a trance looking at them and moving them around. She grasps her hands in the middle of her body, and sucks on her fingers all the time. She is wanting to put everything in her mouth now! She is getting better at grasping for and grabbing toys, but I think it is mostly to get them in her mouth. It is funny because sometimes she will look at something that she wants and raise her head and open her mouth to try to get it before she will go for it with her hands. She is really enjoying her playmat and is becoming quite the self-entertainer. She was perfectly content for about 30 minutes on her own the other day just kicking, waving her arms, and looking at her toys overhead. She still is amazed by different sounds and is exploring different textures of toys and such. It seems like I am going on and on, but this does seem to be a benchmark week! I have always heard that 12 weeks or 12 pounds was the magic number for sleeping through the night, but I can't say we are quite there yet. It's getting better though! When we got back from Branson last week she slept from 10:30 to 6:00! That was only one time and she was exhausted, but she is going until 3:00- 5:00 most nights, and then she might sleep until time to get up.

We just love our girl more than ever this week! I know at this point you start referring to age by months, but I am going to try to keep up with my weekly posts too. I have gotten behind because I have been busy taking care of my little baby and my big baby, Brad. Please pray for him. He has been down in his back and is really tired of living with daily pain. Also, on Wednesday Mary Ella has an appointment at Children's Hospital with a nephrologist to check on the cyst on her kidney. Please pray that it won't even be there!

Can you tell we got alot of use out of our Trick-or-Treat bow?

All about Halloween

Boo!

11 Weeks

11 Weeks Old

I think this picture is funny. It looks like she is wearing lipstick and has possibly gotten botox. Nice pouty lips!

Another busy week! I was still a little puny, so Brad stayed home and helped with Mary Ella early in the week. She never got sick, but did end up in the doctor's office twice in one week. What can I say, we are first time parents. On Monday after a feeding, she had some blood in her spit up. Yikes! We took her straight to the pediatrician (almost to the emergency room), and apparently that is fairly common. The doctor said it could be a number of things, but most likely it was from suctioning her nose with the bulb. Geez! I won't ever do that again! Now I know it's better to use saline drops for a stuffy nose. Then, on Wednesday I made another doctor's appointment because she hadn't, you know, GONE, in 5 days. While I was sick we had supplemented a little bit of formula because I was afraid she wasn't getting enough to eat (probably only 6 ounces all together). And then she wouldn't go, so I thought we had messed the poor girl all up. Anyway, the appointment was at 4:00 and at 2:00 she WENT! You know you have arrived as a stay at home mom when you get all excited about that. We took her to the doctor anyway, and again we hear that is fairly common. Okay, so what do we know? Then that night Brad was holding her and she went again, but he thought he would just wait until the next commercial break to change her diaper. Bad idea! By the time her took her it was running down her legs AND his legs and down the stairs and through the house. Ha!

After another trip to the doctor for another round of antibiotics for me, the week ended on a much better note. On Thursday Mary Ella and I drove up to Fayetteville and from there up to Branson on Friday for a girls' weekend. And it was the perfect weekend for the trip- the leaves were beautiful! Rita, Julie, Lindsay, Renee, Hannah, ME, and I stayed at Big Cedar Lodge and officially kicked off our holiday season with some Christmas shopping. We ate good and enjoyed some girl talk. The shopping wasn't as successful as I had hoped though. It's alot harder with a baby! Mary Ella travels well, but doesn't so much enjoy the stopping to shop. She was fine with the stroller as long as we were moving fast, but didn't care for the cramped shops. We'll work on it girl! You'll love it some day!

Snuggling with Pooh and waiting on Mommy to feel better


Headed to Branson




I stick my tongue out at all this time in the carseat!


Go Hogs! (I won't even comment on the Ole Miss game).

Ten Weeks

Ten Weeks Old

What's wrong with you, Mommy?

One sick Mommy= Not many pictures of baby

This week was not my finest, and I hate that I did not get to enjoy all of Mary Ella's tenth week. Brad went to Tuscan Wednesday, so I decided to go down to Hope and stay at my mom's house so we wouldn't be alone. I hadn't been feeling well, and it's a good thing I went because by Wednesday night I had a fever of 103. Yes, I was terrified that Mary Ella was going to get sick, but the doctor said she should be protected by the breast milk. So, the past few days I have had little contact with her. I have been feeding her and passing her off to my mom. Bless her heart, she had to take care of Mary Ella and me. It's a terrible feeling not to be able to love on and take care of your baby. I feel like I have missed precious days with her. Mama got me back to Little Rock, Brad's home, and I'm feeling a little bit better now. On a good note, Mary Ella had her two month check-up this week, and she is growing right on track. She weighs 10 lbs. 1/2 oz. and is 22 1/4 in. long. Just under the 50th percentile, but that's where the little girl started out.

Napping in her foldover yoga pants and tee


Sweet hand


Curled toes


Go Hogs! Beat Florida!
(Yeah right, Mommy. You know we can't beat Florida.)

*Update: Mary Ella was right. We didn't beat Florida. Should have, but didn't.