My first little cold

Ellie woke up this morning with some congestion. We decided to err on the side of caution and took her in to the urgent care clinic. The doctor said she has some mild congestion and not to worry too much. You can't medicate such a young baby for the common cold, but we made some saline solution and have been flushing out her little nose and then using the bulb to suction out what we can. She hates that, but her nasal passages are pretty clear. She's eating and sleeping well. As you can tell from the pictures below, she's not suffering too much. She still has her energy and is in good spirits! Here are some shots from our Saturday.

Reflection

Overall the week went very well. Seth, Ellie, and I all survived to enjoy another weekend. It will be interesting to see how Ellie does with her schedule tomorrow after being with Ms. Betty all week. All of the worrying about eating was for nothing...thank goodness! I send three full bottles each morning and Ellie always eats about 11.5 oz of the 12 oz I send. She is very content in the evenings, which is reassuring. The change in her schedule has not affected her sleep significantly - she still only requires one feeding per night. I worry a little that she isn't sleeping as much during the day as she used to, but if that's the case it doesn't seem to bother her too much. Ms. Betty is beginning to figure Ellie out. For the first several days Ellie would fuss every day at 3, after taking her only formula bottle for the day. Ms. Betty made the connection and asked that I send more breast milk. She hasn't had the same problem since. Ellie even turns towards Ms. Betty's voice when she hears her talking (I'm only a little jealous!). Ms. Betty calls Seth, Ellie, and I "the triplets," which I think is hysterical.

I'm excited to spend some significant play time with Ellie tomorrow, as we have only gotten one play time a day with her this week. I wonder if she's learned anything new that I haven't picked up on. We'll take plenty of pictures this weekend and post them as soon as we have the chance. We love you all and appreciate all of the well wishes and prayers.

Lots of love.

Happy Endings

Who could ask for a better ending to a long day? She's the perfect remedy :)

Tummy Time is not all bad...

Ellie hated tummy time for the longest time. I had parent guilt about it because the nurses in the hospital really stressed the importance of Ellie spending time on her tummy. We tried to be strong and let her fuss it out, but it was very evident that she was miserable on her tummy. Since Ellie learned to roll over she's decided tummy time isn't so bad. We've been very impressed with her arm strength when she pushes herself up and surveys the room. Such a cutie pie...see for yourself!

We made it!

Our first day back went better than I could have hoped. Ellie ate normally for Ms. Betty, who reported that she had a very good day as far as first days go. I'm thrilled to see that Ellie is in such a good mood this evening and see that as a sign that she got along well at Ms. Betty's. I was glad to see my students and they were very well behaved. I hope the honeymoon period lasts longer than just a few days! Thanks for your prayers.

XOXO

Tomorrow's the big day : /

I'm feeling a little nervous about returning to work tomorrow, but not too bad. Everyone pray that Ellie has a stress-free transition to daycare and that Ms. Betty will be a wonderful caregiver. I'm so thankful that Ellie has taken to the bottle again. That alone brought my stress level down significantly.

Now that I'll be working I'm sure I won't be able to post messages as often. We'll do our best to keep up the blog and keep you all in the loop.

Lots of love!

All dressed up