Happy Valentine's Day!

Grandmama Gloria babysat Eliana today and dressed her up in this outfit - how appropriate for Feb. 14th! 

Precious moments

The past few nights Eliana has been having some fussy periods in the middle of the night.  She has still been sleeping for 4 or 5 hours straight the first time I lay her down, but then when she wakes up at 3am, she stays awake for 90 mins to 2 hours.  She sleeps so well, then wakes up, eats, and stays awake.  I will rock her to sleep, lay her back down in her bassinet, and then go to bed myself.  After just a couple of minutes, Eliana is awake and crying, wanting to be held again.  It has been frustrating for me because I've met all her needs - clean diaper, full belly, wiped the puke off her head - what more does she want?  Doesn't she know that it is the middle of the night and she should be sleeping?  I find this harder to deal with than waking up several times through the night.  At least then I knew that after she ate, she would fall asleep and I could go back to bed.  With this new middle of the night awake and fussy period, I just never know how long it is going to last.  I rock and rock and rock her, but still her stubborn little eyes are wide open.  When she does finally close them, I try to lay her down.  I say a prayer "Lord, please just let her stay asleep.  Please don't let her puke and wake herself up.  Please Lord, I just want to sleep!"  But it doesn't work.  I lay her down, she cries, and I have to pick her back up.  So I ask the Lord, "Why aren't you answering my prayer?"  And that's when I heard God say there will be plenty of time in the future when Eliana will sleep through the night.  But not now.  Right now, this is what she needs.  She needs you to be there for her when she cries.  She needs you to rock her back to sleep.  She needs you to just hold her for a while longer.  Cherish these moments.  She will grow up all too quick.  This is your chance to give unconditional love to my precious child, my gift to you. 
And so I have stopped praying that Eliana goes right back to sleep after she eats.  Instead, I am now praying that the Lord give me patience and strength to rock my baby as long as it takes.  And I thank Him for giving me the gift of these precious moments I get to spend with my daughter in the middle of the night.  It's our time to be together, my time to show my child just how much I love her.  There will be time for sleeping later.  But for now, I'm just going to enjoy our middle of the night bonding time. 

Pediatrician Visit

This video is not exciting at all.  It just shows Eliana playing (as much as a one month old plays) in her bouncy seat.  I like it because it shows how active she is now.  Probably a video only a mother would enjoy.  Don't say I didn't warn you.
We went to the pediatrician today for Eliana's one month visit.  In case we didn't know already, we have a big girl on our hands!  Eliana weighs 11lbs 13oz and is 23in long!  That's the 95th percentile for both.  So she is a symmetrically big girl.  The pediatrician also checked out the rash on her face.  You probably wouldn't notice it unless you looked closely at her ears.  David and I had diagnosed it as neonatal acne.  Despite our medical background, we should leave the pediatric diagnoses to Dr. Greenfield.  Turns out she has seborrhea, which is commonly called cradle cap in infants.  Usually it shows up on the scalp of infants, but in Eliana's case, it is mostly around her ears and on her cheeks, not on the top of her head.  Luckily it usually clears up on its own by six months to one year.  So our trip to the ped confirmed that we just have a big, beautiful, healthy baby girl!
In one final note, Eliana is still a big puker.  She has been awake for two hours and has already thrown up on herself three times, on me twice, and on her car seat once.  Doesn't seem to bother her though.  It obviously hasn't affected her growth!

Big sleeper

Hanging out with Grandma.  Eliana looks like she is boxing.

Eliana slept for 6 hours in a row last night!  This is probably the best sleep I have gotten since I was about 7 months pregnant.  What a good sleeper we have on our hands!  Although just because she slept for 6 hours does not mean that I slept for six.  Here is what our night looked like:

11:30pm - Eliana falls asleep and is put to bed.
12:00am - I get to go to bed.
4am - Eliana sighs in her sleep.  I wake up.  Are you ready to eat?? No... I go back to sleep.
4:17am - Eliana grunts.  I wake up.  Are you ready to eat??  No... I go back to sleep.
4:42am - Eliana snorts.  I wake up.  Are you ready to eat?? No... I go back to sleep.
5am - I wake up.  I get out of bed and check on Eliana.  She is sound asleep.  I go back to bed.
5:12am - I'm still awake.  What is Eliana doing? 
5:16am - I fall asleep.
5:19am - Eliana coos in her sleep.  I wake up.  Now are you ready to eat? No. 
5:20am - Eliana continues to make noise.  I lay awake in bed listening to her.  Is she ever going to want to eat again?
5:32am - I fall asleep.
5:44am - Eliana cries.  I jump out of bed.  Time to eat!

Fun with Dad

The bobby is perfect for baby holding while playing the Xbox.

Both smiling!

It has been so warm this week!  I took Eliana out for a ride in the stroller on Monday.  We went downtown to check out the Super Bowl festivities with my friend Deanna and her baby Leo.  Today David and I took Eliana out for a walk down the cultural trail after he got home from school.  David is even wearing shorts!  Can you believe it is February?  We're loving the outdoor time!

By the way, we finally have the date of Eliana's baptism confirmed.  Her baptism is going to be Sunday, February 19th after the 11am mass at St. John's.  After the sacrament, everyone is welcome to join us for a party in the basement of the rectory.  Eliana is soon going to be the newest member of the Catholic Church!

One month old!

My shirt says "I love Grandma this much!"

Don't want your picture taken with mommy?

One month pictures!

Happy February!

Is that a smile?

Our little pelican's favorite position - with her head completely to the side.

Her other favorite position - resting on my arm with her neck extended.

Eliana spit up a ton all over herself so we gave up on clothes.  Naked cloth diaper time!

Looking really cute after her bath!

Yesterday we went to the breastfeeding support group again.  Eliana weighs a whopping 11 lbs 3.4oz!  She was bigger than the little girl we were sitting next to who was 11 weeks old.  The other moms were very impressed.  :)

David went back to school today.  He started his ICU rotation at Methodist Hospital.  It has been so nice this past month having him home all the time.  He is so good with her.  For example, this morning, David held Eliana out in extended arms and took her on a "flying exploration" of the apartment.  He showed her the laundry room, the kitchen, the windows, and even his treasure chest.  How sweet is that?  Eliana and I both missed him during the day, and David came home saying he had been thinking about Eliana all day.  It sure is different at home when the only person you can make conversation with only responds with grunts and pterodactyl sounds. 

I can definitely tell that Eliana is getting older.  She is alert much more of the time.  She has also gotten better at entertaining herself.  I can place her in her bouncy seat and she will sit there looking around for 15 minutes or more before she cries.  She stares at our faces a lot like she is trying to memorize them.  And the best part is she is sleeping more at night!  For the past four nights in a row, she has slept for about 5 hours straight when we first lay her down.  I'm loving the sleep; I hope she keeps it up!