10 Months

Wow, the time goes by so fast! I've gotten behind and I don't know how it happened.

I was talking to Jen Lanbeck (Michael's sister) the other day and she suggested that I blog more often. Not that I have to do a nice video every time, but just let people know how I am doing. I told her that I felt a little silly doing that because my whole day is just taking care of Ellie. It's an accomplishment when I get the laundry done. She said that's exactly what she wants to hear.

So, I got the laundry done, but it's not folded. Most likely that will get done another day... (sigh).

Michael and I have been trying to get our Christmas gifts done. I won't say what we are doing, but I will say that it's going to be fun.

8th Month Video

So, here is the video I promised. It's 4 min 7 seconds long, so if it takes a while to upload or whatever that's probably why. It's been so much fun being with her. I hope you enjoy a taste of our days.

Happy Halloween

Here are some pictures of us on Halloween. We were the 3 Amigos (from the movie).

New Video

So, this isn't the video that shows Ellie in her element. Sarah has been learning about photography and photoshop lately and this is her first attempt. As soon as we have more room on the computer we'll be posting that one. As a teaser, Ellie was listening to Music and the Spoken Word before church one day and 'conducted' the choir. It was so cute.

Trying to post

So, all is well. My back is great, Ellie is great and so is Michael. We've been trying to make another video, but we have too much on our computer. We have to archive stuff before we can finish it. *sigh* hopefully, we'll be able to post soon.

Problems

So, Sarah picked up Ellie Tuesday morning and felt some pain in her back. Then she tried picking her up again that afternoon and was out. We're sure it's not bone; looks like she just stretched out a ligament or some muscle. She's on the mend and should be able to hold Ellie in a day or two.

News!!!

Ellie has grown up in just one day. Along with the news of this video, Ellie also stood up in her crib! We moved the bed down for safety and she stood up in it this morning!!! It's a good thing that her legs are still a little too short to climb out.

A Play Date

Ellie spent over 20 minutes just staring at Brinley (from the ward). By the way, Brinley is 2 weeks older. Ellie, as you can tell from the video, is a bit closer to crawling. Having a crawling baby around got me to baby-proof the bookcase in the front room today. :)

The Last 2 Months

Michael and I have had a blast being with Ellie (and I think Ellie has, too, judging on this video). Ellie is just about to crawl. Any day now and I think I'll be getting a lot more exercise than I am now!

I hope you enjoy the update!

Half an Update

So, this isn't the all out update that we normally do. We have all the pictures in Provo and we are house-sitting for Grannie in South Jordan. I'll give a real update as soon as we get back.

Michael is doing really well in school (he just found out that he got 100% on his latest assignment), Ellie is almost crawling. She makes to almost do it and than decides that it's too hard. Sarah is just enjoying living with her two favorite people.

Six Months!!!

A woman in my ward has a photography business and was wanting to expand it to include children. She asked if she could do some photos of Ellie for her website. She took 300 pictures and 200ish were really cute. The video here is of my favorite shots.

It is amazing to think that it has been half a year. I was looking at Ellie's slide shows that we've done in the past and it's amazing the difference a few weeks make. She definitely isn't the helpless infant she was before. She holds herself up, she is sitting (though it's new), she's eating solids (baby food) and is still adorable. What lucky parents. We have our 6 month check up next Tuesday (her actual six month birthday).

As an update:

Michael was going to get a job and do school in the evenings. We thought it would be best and that way Ben (my brother) and Laura (his fiancée) could live in the condo we are in. It was all working out. Michael got a job offer, but we just didn't feel right about it. It didn't make sense. This was what we had planned and prayed for. We prayed again and we knew that we shouldn't take the job. We don't know how things will work out, but we know they will.

So, Michael is studying for his final this week. He'll start taking two classes at a time instead of one and therefore be done with school next May. We are excited for that.

I am going to get my hair cut. I've waited and waited hoping that it would be less tiresome to do as Ellie got older, but that just isn't the case. I'm not getting it cut too short, though.

We are happier now then we've ever been. We don't know how things will all work out, but we do know that all will be fine as long as we stick together and stay close to the gospel.

Ellie Update

We're finally done with the new video! It took forever because there was so much to show! We ended up making a two-ish minute movie but had to cut it to under a minute. Here is the short version.

Ellie has been absolutely wonderful. Cranky some from teething...but overall a delight to have. The video will show why.

Hope you enjoy it!

We had Ellie's blessing yesterday. It was so wonderful. We had it at Grannie and Pop's house after church. Lots of family there to support. Grannie made the dress and bonnet. Ellie was blessed with a lot of wonderful blessings. Some of which include a sweet disposition and character, an eternal outlook and being blessed with the peace of the Holy Ghost. It was really beautiful. Wet eyes all around.

Snow Shoeing and Making Forts

Michael went snow shoeing with his brother-in-law, Tim and had a blast. Sarah stayed home and built a afghan fort with her sister, Tona and also had a blast. Ellie slept most of the time (by the fort).

(For those of you who are curious about why the fort is named Fort MaGa: it's because my name is Mama and Tona's is GaGa (a 'great aunt' and a 'god-aunt'). Hence - Fort MaGa.)

A little clip we made of Ellie from birth to now. I hope you enjoy it.

Ellie changes everyday! She is getting older and more fun to be around. She is a very patient baby, but also a bit picky. She doesn't cry too often, and you can pretty much do what you want with her, but sometimes she really wants to be held a certain way, or to be changed or fed. She loves to smile but still figuring out what making noise is all about. Here are some pictures/video so you can see how much she has changed.

Some Portraits

We had way too much fun taking pictures of Ellie this afternoon:

One of the lesser-known techniques of Kung Fu: Ellie-mantis

Angst

Sweet Eyes

Too Cute for Words

*Sigh*

Queen Ellie the First

Peace!

Ewww!

Ellie-Yo, the DJ

Our Little Sweetie

Have you ever tried to clean a loaded gun?

(Did you notice Mom's blue topaz pendant from Dad?)





Check out this Harry Potter - type picture of Grandma and Grandpa:




Ellie's cord fell off last Sat. or Sun. and healed enough that we were able to give her an immersed bath for the first time yesterday (Sat). She seemed delighted to have the nice warm water around her. She has been growing nicely. She regained her birth weight by last Tuesday and has been eating vigorously and regularly.


I try to wake up and burp Ellie and change her while Sarah gets some more rest right after middle-of-the-night feedings. Diapering has been mostly uneventful except for a couple of blow-outs and a noteworthy experience a few nights ago... I was sitting on the edge of our bed, twisted to the left to help Ellie change what appeared to be a harmless, wet diaper. We noticed that she grunts and mumbles a lot, but especially as she's trying to pass some gas - or worse. However, she makes these little grunts often enough that it can be hard to differentiate them. So, it was like the "Fire Swamp" in Princess Bride. They hear a bit of a "Kkkk Kkkk Kuh" noise before the "Fooooosh" explosion of deadly fire. Well, I thought I heard a bit of grunting from Ellie, but didn't think much of it. And before I knew it, * FFFOOOSH FFOOOOOOOOSH * -- Two explosion-backed streams squirted a foot or so onto my left thigh. It was like someone had stomped on an open bottle of mustard aimed right at me. I just stared at it in shock for a while as the heat of it soaked through to my skin. Being half awake made it worse. Plus, I felt strangely betrayed that absolutely none of it got on the diaper or even the bed. Now, every time I change her I feel like I'm cleaning a loaded gun.

More Pictures!

Day 2

Hello!

I'm writing from the hospital. We will be going home tomorrow morning before 8:00. Sarah's brother Mike is letting us borrow his computer. I'm really grateful.

We feel so happy to have Ellie join us. We're glad that she has such a loving extended family.

Mom and baby are still doing very well. Sare mentioned that she is in a fair amount of pain. The postpartum contractions are what's bothering her, but she has been dealing with them well. She's trying to sleep while I hold Ellie and try to type with one hand.

We met Dr. Kendall today. She is Ellie's pediatrician. We thought she was delightful, helpful, and professional. She said Ellie was doing great, a bit jaundiced, but not more than normal.

The muconium diapers are a sinch. I'm trying to enjoy the lack of odor while I can. Feeding is still going just fine. Sarah saw a lactation specialist today just to make sure. It helped a bit, but Sarah and Ellie had already figured out most of it on their own.

Barb and Sarah think they saw dimples last night. They are also suspecting curly hair. We look forward to seeing some smiles soon.

We were very grateful to have Barbru back at the hospital today. We have been feeling like the nursery is just too far away and there are just too many babies around for Ellie to get the kind of attention we want her to get. Of course, that has meant that we have not slept much. It was nice to finally get a couple solid hours in this afternoon. Sarah is still sleeping off and on, but usually not more than an hour at a time. We're going to try to get what we can while we can because we know sleep will be hard to come by in the next several weeks.

Our love to all of you.

Meet Ellie Babcock

8 lbs 1 oz.
19.5 inches
Born 2:57 a.m. on 1/28/09

Mom and baby are both doing very well. Sare went into active labor at about 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, and was admitted to the hospital at 4:30. Upon examination we learned that she was dilated to about 4cm. She received an epidural soon after admittance and gradually progressed (with the help of pitocin) to a 10 at about 12:30 am. After that she just waited a bit in order to "rest and descend." At 2:30 the nurses came in to set up all the gear. The doctor showed up at about 2:45. After some foreceps, an episiotomy, and some amazingly powerful pushing from Sarah, Ellie left the womb to begin her mortal experience. She produced the most beautiful, piercing cry. It was gentle, but intense. It came up into my ears and out my eyes. Her messy little body looked so perfect. She looked so innocent. A couple of the nurses remarked that her lungs seemed to be very strong. She and Sarah have been sleeping off and on since then and have had great success with nursing. I was able to sleep for about two hours in the afternoon, but I've spent most of my time just staring at her.

At about 8 p.m. we celebrated her 0th birthday with singing and cake. Since we couldn't light a candle in the hospital, Ben pulled out an iPhone app of a zippo lighter. Sarah and I "blew it out" after the singing. We wish all of you could have been with us to share the moment, have some cake, and meet our beautiful baby girl. We hope you enjoy the pictures. Feel free to call.

Waiting...still.

For those of you who may not know, the doctor gave us the option of inducing this Wednesday. We talked to a lot of people, prayed and discussed it. We've decided not to induce. We feel that is best. Let the baby come when she is full ready.

The waiting game is hard, but we know it will be worth it. Thanks for all your support and input.

Update on Us

We sent emails out and made a few calls, but we wanted to make sure that everyone knew the latest news. We went to the doctor last Tuesday and found out that Sarah is about 2 cm dilated and about 50% effaced. The doctor said that sometime in the next two weeks we'd have a new baby. It's now Sunday and we are getting more and more excited. We have another appointment on Tuesday to see/track progress, but it could happen at any time. - Hopefully soon. :)