Saturday, November 24, 2007

2 Good Nights of Sleep Does Not a Pattern Make...







This week introduced a lot of firsts: Ella's first Thanksgiving, celebrated at the Cohens; first two trips in the new family car (a used Range Rover) -- one to the Cohens, and one to the Marcuses (Emma, Alan and Senan); first time playing in the Exersaucer toy; and first Gymboree class for babies 0 - 6 months old.

She met Uncle Ben for the second time since she was born.

She enjoyed all the day trips, Gymboree class and company (Ben), but naps were short and sporadic over the last three days because we were out, and the night sleeps have been more disjointed. In the last journal entry, we were rejoicing that she'd slept from 10:30 pm until 7 a.m. for a couple of nights. Last night she woke up three times between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., and she hasn't had a nap longer than one hour or pooped in the last 3 days, so we can't bank on a smooth night yet.

Tomorrow we're going to stick close to home so she naps in her crib and try to stick to a routine for the next several days to see if we can get back on track.

Pictured: Thanksgiving at the Cohens, Phil Cohen holding Ella, playtime on her playmat at home (looking at mirror), sitting in the new exersaucer, and visiting with Uncle Ben.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Five months and lots of fun



This week, there's been two nights where Ella slept from 10:30 pm - 7:00 a.m.! Tonight it's midnight and she hasn't woken since she went to sleep at 710 pm.

She didn't poop for five days last week. Since she'd occasionally grunt as though she was pushing, we called the pediatrician to get some ideas. The best of the options was to give her prune juice in a bottle. We gave her a half an ounce of prune juice mixed with one ounce of water. She made a funny face but finished at least an ounce. For the rest of the day, nothing happened, but that evening, at 2 a.m. she woke up crying, and Michael could smell poo before he'd even reached the crib. She's pooped a few times since then, so it seems like the plumbing is working well.

Ella likes to hold our hands and pull herself up to a sitting and standing position now, and spends more and more time on her stomach on the playmat. She rolls from her back to her stomach and pulls her arms free, and pushes up on her arms. Then, after realizing she doesn't have free hands to grab objects with, she starts complaining until someone comes to flip her back onto her back. She's also starting to use consonants in her 'chatter'. She doesn't seem to have a 'grumpy' setting, except when we've put her in the crib to take a nap. She still objects, and spends somewhere between 2 and 20 minutes letting us know she isn't a fan of naps until she falls asleep.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Union Hall Meeting - November 11, 2007



The June Mothers' Group normally meets on Tuesday afternoons. In September, we started a tradition of having at least one weekend meeting every quarter so spouses could attend.
The first weekend gathering took place at Prospect Park on Monday, September 6 (Labor Day) when the babies were all roughly 3 months old. Pictured on the blanket from left to right: Oona, Ella, Stella, Naomi, Soren, Henry, Golden, Matteo.
The second meeting took place at Union Hall Bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn on Sunday, November 11, when the babies were five months old. Pictured on sofa from left to right: Soren, Oona, Stella, Naomi, Henry, Ella.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Playdate with Oona - Nov 15, 2007

Photo at bottom: Oona (white swaddle) and Ella (floral swaddle) at ~4 weeks old, taken on July 15, 2007.
Photos below left: Oona and Ella at Prospect Park at ~3 months old on Labor Day.
Photo on right: Ella (pink pants) and Oona (orange shirt) at ~5 months old, taken on November 15, 2007. Look how far they've come!













Here are recent videos of Ella smiling at the camera (a rare occurrence) and rolling from her back to her stomach (dated November 11 & 12).

Monday, November 12, 2007

Week 20




Possibly the cutest little chicken in Park Slope

Saturday, November 10, 2007

4.75 Months


Ella is 19 weeks old now. Today her naps were too short (30 minutes or less) so she was rubbing her eyes and bursting into tears at random intervals by 5 pm. Earlier in the day, we went out for brunch with our friends, Emma, Alan, and their 20-month old son, Senan. Ella sat in our laps throughout brunch looking around at other diners with great interest, scrunching the paper tablecloth in her hands, and 'talking' loudly. When we left the restaurant, she fell asleep in her stroller for 30 minutes. If she had her way, I think she'd opt to be within eyesight of us 100% of the time. Here's a picture of Ella on her playmat with Mr. Toast.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Surprise!



Michael has successfully fooled Ella into smiling by hiding the camera and catching her unaware. She loves trips in the stroller -- the longer, the better.

New Bugaboo footmuff. Very pink.

Caterpillar


Ella has grown fond of the pink stuffed caterfly (butterpillar) thing in her crib. It was a gift from relatives in Florida (the Demmas!). She'll stop wailing long enough to smile at it when I pull the tail to make music, and she'll grab it and try to suck on some part of it before starting to wail again about being left in her crib to go to sleep. Its antennae usually look a little soggy on close inspection.

This stuffed thingamajig is going to be logging airmiles with us for the trip to California and Sydney in December!