Ella 1 month

Yesterday Ella turned one month old!

People keep asking me if I love having a girl.  My answer is always “of course I do!”

But, you know what?  I love just having a baby.  We waited so long for this little one to join our family.  We just love and treasure her so much…despite whether she’s a girl or not.

We are so thankful for her.  She’s made all heartache and suffering worth it.

Love moments like this.

Ella is a happy little baby!  She still sleeps a lot during the day, but sleeps pretty good at night as well.  She’ll go to bed around 11 and wake up once around 3ish and another time around 6ish. 

She likes to nurse, but isn’t a ravenous eater like the boys were.  If she’s not hungry, she’s not hungry and doesn’t want it.  I’m doing a better job with giving her a bottle every few days, so I can have a little bit of freedom if I want it.

She seems to have some mild reflux.  I’m trying to drink less milk which seems to be helping.  She still gets the hiccups a lot.

She likes her car seat better and better and doesn’t just scream the whole time.  She likes to be outside and go on walks around the neighborhood.

Sunday--all ready for church!  Too bad she had a blowout and had to change her clothes halfway through church!

Ella is a smiley baby!  You can’t convince me that this is a gassy smile.  This is a REAL smile!  She’s most happy right after she wakes up in the morning.

We love you Ellie!

Boys

Yes. 

We do have other kids besides Ella.

They’ve done some fun stuff in the past couple weeks.

:Soccer camp:

:Ward Campout:

Darrin took the boys camping at Cape Look Out.  I probably would have gone, but had to take my mom to the airport that day.

:Cub Scout Camp:

Josh has been at scout camp all week.  He’s had a BLAST!  Darrin chaperoned on Monday.  Josh got two bull's-eyes at archery.  And archery was definitely his favorite station!

Ella 3 weeks

Ella 2 weeks

From the first 2 weeks, I want to remember:

• Hiccups!  Ella gets the hiccups all. the. time.  They are loud and squeaky!  The kids have given her the nickname of Squeakers!
• Ella’s a very good nurser.  She picked it up very fast.  I hardly got sore or engorged at all. 
• Ella’s not totally in love with pacifiers.  We try and try and half of the time she won’t take one. 
• Ever since driving back from Utah, she cries when she’s in her car seat.  (Luckily she’s better now and doesn’t mind it :)
• Ella likes to be swaddled in the Miracle Blanket.  She knows when she’s wrapped up tight, it’s time to sleep.

I love the wrinkles on her forehead!

Ready for her first day at church (7/8)

Grandma came this week to help us out (7/7-7/14)

Andrew and Luke finally decided to hold her!

Ella loves to have her hand up by her face while she’s sleeping.  In several of our ultrasound pictures it’s up there as well…like the profile pic here and the face pic here.  Even during birth when her head was crowning we could see her little hand next to her head! 

So sweet!

Ella’s 2 week check up stats (7/11):

Weight: 9 pounds 3 oz. (74%)

Length: 21.5 inches (85%)

Trip to Utah June 29-July 6

We got to Salt Lake just in time to attend the pre-wedding dinner.  Boy were we glad to get there! 

The little boys found an ant hill they enjoyed playing with!

Ella slept through the party!

The next day (June 30) we got up and drove back to Utah Valley to attend the wedding and reception.

It was sooo hot at 2pm taking pictures after the wedding.  We used the umbrella to shield Ella from the sun.

Grandma Morris had this dress made for Ella for the wedding.  The sleeves were as big as her head :) 

The boys had fun running around the reception hall that night!

4

I was 6 days postpartum…don’t judge how I look :)

Overall it was a great day!!  I was glad we went, although at times I thought we were crazy! 

Congratulations to Natalie and Cory :)

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing, recovering, and celebrating the 4th.

Darrin spent lots of time making sure the sprinklers at his parents house were working.  The kids took full advantage!

On the 4th we did the normal parade, picnic and fireworks in Grantsville.  Ella and I stayed home for everything but the picnic.  The kids love their cousins, and it was great to see most of them. 

We left on the 5th to come home.  We spent the night in Boise again.  Ella was not quite the good traveler on the way back that she had been on the way there…she cried quite a bit, but we survived.  One event to note:  I got pretty good at changing her diaper on my lap in the car when we stopped to nurse.  I only regretted it one time….

this is looking down at my lap.  And this was after I cleaned it up a bit.

And all she could do is yawn and be her cute self!

We were so glad we made it home! 

So so glad!