HAPPY Baby!!!

Ellis has a few new tricks up her sleeve these last few days.  She has begun giving us these big, wide-open-mouth smiles completely without prompting.  She also has figured out how to enjoy this little play thing I bought at a garage sale last summer.  Her favorite part is looking in the slightly-fun-house mirror at herself and smiling up a storm.  No one can make that girl smile quite like she herself can.

She was in such a fun mood that I wound up taking 279 pictures of her this afternoon. Here's a fraction of them:

Notice how great my skin looks in this next one. Some new expensive cream? you might ask.  No. For this photo, I utilized our computer's editing tool that allows you to erase things like crow's feet.  It's a great tool. The beauty of technology.  

Big blue eyes.

This next one is from a series I've entitled "WIGGLE". Ellis' legs rarely stop moving, left-right-left-right, while she's awake.  Here is a rare non-blurry image of her "running" in place, staring off in the distance, out the window at the places she dreams of running someday:

Here we are

Phew.  Some moments to myself, and my blog.  Time gets eaten up so easily these days.  Don't get me wrong though, it's absolutely delicious.

I returned to school/work last week and was pleasantly surprised to find that I'm able to enjoy my time there.  My students were left little choice but to develop some pretty obnoxious habits in my absence, but they've quickly snapped back into shape.  They are once again the funny, manageable teens I knew before my unexpected departure.  From the sound of it, it's possible that in the twelve weeks I was away, that kids were literally climbing the walls of my classroom and exhibiting other animalistic tendencies like growling and attacking the weakest pack members.

On Friday I undertook a massive excavation in search of my desk top (the sub left some overgrown piles of paper and junk at least a foot high).  One of the more interesting finds was a post-it note which read, and I quote:

'student's name' does minimal work

in Art class.  He seems to have a bit 

of power over girls and possibly women

in general.  He deserves almost no credit.

Whoa!  Are you kidding me?!  What kind of note is that?  I definitely want further explanation, but of course will never get it. 

 

So I teach three classes in the morning and then come home to relieve Gabe and snuggle Ellis for an hour and a half, or so.  Then it's back to school for two more classes and I'm done!  Not too shabby.

***************

I might have a new favorite day: Mother's Day.  I awoke (after Ellis' thoughtful gift of 6 uninterrupted hours of sleep for the first time ever) to find a trail of notes leading me through the whole house (see picture above).  Each one was a piece of a letter of love and appreciation Gabe wrote for me.  The trail took me down the stairs, around the living room, out to the kitchen and ended in the microwave, where I found a maple donut (my favorite kind) waiting for me.  When I turned around, Gabe was there with two gifts: framed pictures of Ellis.  All of my meals were lovingly prepared by my wonderful husband.  I was granted a leave to go to Lowe's and purchase some plants and flowers for our yard and garden, then given time to plant it all. It was a dreary, slightly rainy day---which I LOVE, so all in all, I could not have asked for a better day.  Plus I am utterly in love with Ellis and being her mama, and with Gabe and being his wife.  

Just three short months ago I found myself being hurled into motherhood nine weeks earlier than I expected.  I don't often share very private things on this public blog because, well, they're private. However, in honor of Mother's Day, I'm going to share some of the first thoughts I recorded after becoming a mother.

"...I think of the conversation Gabe and I had when we

went out for brunch after church the Sunday before we 

found ourselves unexpectedly in Labor & Delivery.  

We spoke about the past year or two and how I was having 

this feelingor realization that my faith 

was being transformed 

-and though many days it had felt very lackluster 

and sometimes I wondered how much was even there-

I felt stable in life and faith.  I was sensing

that God was laying the groundwork of stability 

in my life and faith.  

Broken away were many of the false pretenses

I'd operated under for so long.  

Gone was any show I ever

had the urge to put on for myself, God, others.

I had been left with "boring,old" belief 

in a God who loved me, 

a God who sacrificed his Son for me.  Now what?

I was content (enough) but at the time didn't 

"get it." What was God stabilizing me and my life

and my faith for?  

Was there a purpose or was I fooling

myself?  Enter Ellis Jane -and quite dramatically,

 I might add.  

The tiniest person I've ever met.

Never before have I even come close to understanding the immeasurable sacrifice it would be 

to hand over your child

for someone else who has done nothing to deserve what 

you're about to do for them.  

The love Gabe and I feel

for this little soul is hard to put into words, 

but I can say

I have a brand new understanding of the degree 

to which I am

-we all are- loved by our God.

I'm certain it's more than I can fathom.

But I'm also certain it's so, do, so much more 

thanI ever came close to realizing 

before Ellis came and turned our world 

upside down in the most wonderful,

necessary way. For this, and for her, 

I THANK GOD."

I am a mama because Ellis exists.  I love her for that.  I love how pure and innocent she is.  I love how she can toot like a grown man and keep a perfectly straight face.  I love the pensive look she gets on her face when I talk to her --as if she is fascinated by the mumbo jumbo I'm saying.  I love her smiles -real or gas. I love her from head to toe and feel like I've won the lottery because I get to be a part of things as she discovers life.  

 

New pics

I've thought of all sorts of things to post about lately, but finding the time has been hard.  I'm home for lunch, so I thought I'd just throw some newer pictures up for your viewing pleasure.

My cute family:

To give you an idea of size:

Ellis' favorite friend, Mrs. Bear:

The hicky Ellis gave to me while waiting for her bottle to be ready:

Tried really hard to get a cute baby behind picture, but she wasn't in the mood to pose and as it turned out, had to pee...

skills to pay the bills

I'm comfortable stating it now:  Ellis is an easy baby.  She's twelve weeks and 2 days old today (2 weeks and 1 day adjusted) and she's just a good baby.  When she cries, there is always a reason. As soon as that reason is taken care of, she stops crying.  On a dime. No simmering down time, she just full on stops.  Need to cuddle, pick her up.  Wet diaper, change it.  Wakes up, hold her. Hungry, feed her.  I can count on one hand the number of times she cried for no (apparent) reason. Normally when that happens (the few times it has), it's pretty clear to us that she's just over-tired or over-stimulated.  Walk around bouncing with her enough and she calms right down and typically falls asleep.  

Gabe was reading aloud the developmental milestones you can expect to see from your baby at one, two, three, and four months.  Keep in mind that Ellis is only two weeks beyond her due date, so our doctor considers her a two-week-old baby.  She is doing some of the things a four month old MIGHT be doing!  

Here is a semi-complete list of Ellis' skills to date:

-holds her head up while lying on her tummy

-can turn her head from side to side while on tummy

-coos

-smiles at us

-follows objects with her eyes and head

-holds her hands together

-finds her mouth with her hands

-pushes self up with her arms when on her tummy

-can "stand" with support

-holds head up when sitting

-gives rolling over a good college try (no success yet)

-says her ABC's forwards and backwards

-can count to ten in Spanish and English

-cooks a mean grilled cheese

Isn't she great?!

flikr

I started a flikr photostream---most of them so far you've seen on the blog, but HERE it is!

I did NOT take over 235 pictures of Ellis in under five minutes.

So the other day I was photographing Ellis (I know you're shocked) and I discovered that if you just hold down the button without lifting up, the camera fires pictures off in rapid succession...like over 235 in under five minutes.  I'm guessing. It's not like I actually took over 235 pictures of Ellis in under five minutes. But if I had, which remember, you can't really prove, I could make a pretty nice flip motion book.  Hmmm...maybe I'll have to do that sometime since like I said, I have not yet taken over 235 pictures of Ellis in under five minutes...

It was probably more like six minutes.

Ellis' lovely yellow dress

Today was the first day Ellis wore a dress.  I bought this weeks ago thinking it would be forever before she would fit into this little polka-dot number, but alas, it fits!

This picture was actually taken toward the end of our photo session. I think it's clear why this was shortly before the end:

How you doin'?

Beautiful peepers:

Either tired or completely bored:

Look at how BIG she's getting!!!

Speaking of how BIG she's getting, check out these comparison shots from today and the day Ellis came home.

My finger is pointing to the strap level we had to use on the day we brought Ellis home:

Today {April 21st}:

March 21st:

April 21st:

March 21st:

Sorry, no word yet on how long this blog will continue to be strictly devoted to baby pictures of Ellis.  It could be permanent...

Gabe, author extraordinaire

I just posted a zillion pictures a few minutes ago, but I need to post again!  Gabe just received one of two advisors' reviews of his completed novel.  I'm so proud and want to post the letter he received.  Consider it a teaser for his to-be-published-in-the-future novel:

Gabe is one of the best students I have ever had at Goddard.  He is very smart but also humble and hard working.  He is a deep and serious person and his book really shows this.  A Thousand Fires  is a well developed novel about a missionary and how he comes to terms with the REAL GOD, a different God than the one he has all his life been taught about.  Gabe is able to bring this forth, this spiritual growth in a meaningful and real way.  In this draft he works to make Hannah a less conventional character, someone with a real struggle.  This book is about the difference between trying to eat the menu versus actually eating the real spiritual food of life.  It's very important in that way as it breaks down the idea of a knowable God and what is right and wrong.  I really enjoyed working with Gabe on this book.  I am sure if he continues to revise, A Thousand Fires will see a bigger reading public!

Congratulations, Gabe!  I admire you so much and am so very proud of you.