Friday, February 11, 2011

Mommy + Daddy = Ela

You might be thinking "DUH" but in looking through our baby pictures it is amazing how much Ela looks like both of us. Her face is constantly changing each day. Take a look at us way back then!

JESSI


TOMASZ

ELA



1 month old....ALREADY?!?

I know its been a while, but as you can expect Ela has kept us pretty busy, but we are enjoying every minute of it. In addition to Ela keeping us busy we have had several guests over the past few weeks so that everyone could meet her. We love having all of the company but it is hard when they leave because Ela gets spoiled by being held all of the time! Last week Uncle Stephen came to visit his first niece. He was a natural holding her. She loves her uncle!! While he was here Tomasz and Stephen got to catch a Rangers game while Ela and I had a girls night. Most recently my Mom and Dick were here this weekend check out the visit!




Today we took Ela to her 1 month checkup. She is very health and weighed in at 8.7 pounds! She has gained 2 pounds since she was born. At birth she was in the 9th percentile at 6.8 pounds, at two weeks she was 6.15 pounds the 20th percentile and good news.....today she was 8.7 pounds which is the 33%. Slowly but surely she is growing!  The doctor confirmed our suspicions that Ela has colic. It is not all of the time that she gets gassy and cries but when it does happen it is for hours on end. The doctor said it is the "Rule of 3" meaning : 1. She has a gassy crying episode at least three times a week 2. Cries for three or more hours at a time 3. It last for 3 weeks or more. I was a colicky baby and children of colicky babies have an 80% chance of being colic as well.We bought some Gripe Water (fennel,chamomile,and ginger)drops for her which seem to work and I read about some exercises that we can do by bringing up her legs and pushing on her belly that help alot. It just takes soothing and patience. Trust me alot easier said than done. The hardest part is seeing that cute little face turn red and scream!

One of the best pieces of advice for new moms is to read the book "The Happiest Baby on the Block". Before we had Ela I was recommended this book by several parents at my job. Of course I just put it on the back burner in my mind. Once Ela started crying alot I bought it off Amazon and then ironically my step mom also gave it to me as a gift. (Must be good) I will defiantly pass the other copy on to a fellow mom but it is a great book and has a different perspective. The theory of the book is that from months 0-3 the baby is actually in the "4th trimester" as they are not used to the world. Makes perfect sense!



Being a new mom you don't have much free time, but I defiantly made time for this book!
CHeck out the latest pictures of Ela...

 I love this one...she will hate me for it one day!