Ela Anne

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Sleepy Girl

A few sleepy girl photos from the first week...

Zonked out in the co-sleeper.

And the bed works, too.

Dreamland.

Ela was a pro at nursing pretty much from the moment she was born, but she and I still needed a bit of help from Grandma Anne to get a good system going. Notice the bracelet on my right wrist... That is a birth blessings bracelet made by Grandma Anne (with help and added love from other family members). Post-birth, it was a good way to remind myself which side I was supposed to start on for nursing -- I'd just switch wrists at the end of each session.

Getting settled in on the couch, with the trusty Boppy.

Where we spend lots and lots of time.

Learning the fancy "football hold."

Momma's favorite view.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Ela's Books

During a recent family walk Brian and I started reminiscing about our favorite children's books. Even though Ela is still a little ways away from reading on her own (at LEAST a few months) we'd really like to collect a wonderful little library of books for her. That way we can begin reading to her right away, and hopefully she'll grow up loving books.

We wanted to share our "favorites" list, and ask for suggestions of any great books we may not have thought of.

Wish list for Ela:

New!
The Little Composter by Jan Gerardi
The Narnia Books by C.S. Lewis
---------------------------------------
Shel Silverstein

A Light in the Attic

Where the Sidewalk Ends

The Giving Tree

Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat

The Sneetches

And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street

Maurice Sendack

Where the Wild Things Are

In the Night Kitchen

Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Berenstein Bears -- The Spooky Old Tree

Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary

Babar the Elephant books

Love You Forever

The Going-to-Bed Book

The Marvelous Men books

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Books already in Ela's library:

Goodnight Moon

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Goat Lady

A Teeny Tiny Baby

On the Day You Were Born

The Napping House

Moo, Baa, La La La

A Color of His Own

Rooster's Off to See the World

A Pocket Full of Kisses

Strega Nona

The Umbrella

Town Mouse Country Mouse

Chrysanthemum

Sassafras

What Mommies/Daddies Do Best

Sheila Rae, the Brave

Inch by Inch

The Tiny Seed

The Secret Garden

The Velveteen Rabbit

Can you suggest some favorite children's books that we should add to Ela's wish list?

Bare Bottom Time

We've tried to give Ela some good bare bottom time to get a little breeze on her fanny. The problem is she really likes to be swaddled, wrapped up in layers, and held tight to our hearts, so we've only had marginal success so far. It's getting a little better though. Before we know it, she'll probably be running down the block sans clothes to catch a passing butterfly. Here are our first few attempts.

Not too excited about this!

Another attempt captured *just* before and after
plenty of crying.

Our most recent attempt, where Ela had her moments.

Fishy!

Ok, tired from squirming. Need a rest...

...and... let's go!

Lucy comes over to inquire with her nose.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Ela's First Bath

Little Ela is pretty good about keeping things nice and neat; but even so, sometimes a bath for baby is in order. Ela had never had a proper bath and her mommy and daddy had never given a baby a bath. So, Grandma Anne gave us some great pointers and away we all went to restoring Ela back to her sweet baby smell (peaches and vanilla ice cream) again. Just like most days, for Ela there were moments of great bliss (in particular, once submerged in the warm water) and other moments where life seemed like it couldn't get any worse. Fortunately, those less spectacular moments were few and fleeting.