Family

Last weekend ella j got to see her Grandpa George again and meet Grandma Liz! We had a nice visit on Saturday. Aunt Kendall and Kenyon came over and we spent the day hanging out around the house together. We had a great smoked chicken lunch, Clay got to show off the much worked on pond, and the fam went on a nice stroll through our cemetary. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the front porch staying cool as some thunderstorms rolled in. Everyone enjoyed seeing Ella J; especially Grandma Liz and Kendall. Grandpa George was a little hesitant about holding such a 'little' one but he did great. I can tell he's conserving his energy for when she gets a little bigger and they can go wild together! Clay was so happy that Liz brought down some of her famous peanut butter chocolates...so happy that he ate them all that night!

A letter to Ella J on her 1 month birthday.

Dear Ella J,
A month has gone by since you were born and you have grown mentally and physically in that short time more than your dad and I will grow the rest of our lives! I'm amazed by how much you've grown, how much you already know, and how much you can already do.
This month I've also learned what people were talking about when they said "sleep now before the baby comes". Motherhood definitely has it's challenges. As a mother, I've never: slept less, showered less, cried more, managed to do more errands in the five minutes I get a day to do them, seen Clay less, worried more, and felt more incompetent then I have this month.
However, there are some pretty awesome rewards to this motherhood thing-I will do my best to describe my favorites for you here:
1. I've never been able to celebrate toots and burps as much as we do around our house these days. Every one is answered with an "alright, girl" or "ooh, good job!" or "get it out baby". We have toot songs, getting-the-toots-out strategies, and records of the last toot or burp.
2. Before you fall asleep, your face physically displays just about every emotion there is. First you smile, then you frown, then you get mad and red, then sometimes if I'm lucky, you laugh. It's a wonderful falling asleep routine that makes me giggle.
3. I love giving you a bath...you become so relaxed and alert and seem to enjoy it as if the water is where you belong. We will have to get you to the ocean soon.
4. There is pretty much no feeling better than when you lay your head on my shoulder and relax into my body and remind me that I'm your mom. I've done some pretty awesome things in my life and it's pretty much safe to say that none compare.
5. I cannot fully explain in words how awesome it is to be able to think of a human being as absolutely perfect. Prior to you, I'd never met one.
6. No matter how rough our night or how little sleep I'm going on, every morning you wake up so bright eyed and cheery and I fall in love with you more than I was the day before.

I love ya Ella J and I'm so glad I get to be your mom.

Our little water baby

One of our favorite things to do everyday is to give Ella J a bath. She loves them! She seems the most calm and alert during this activity...I think it was because she was born in the water :). Here's a video of her in the tub....

All about Dad

Ella J has a fantastic dad.
Clay returned to work this week and..I have to be honest, I was panicked about how things would go. But Clay handled the week gracefully; he managed to go to work, help take care of Ella J, do the grocery shopping, install a brand new backyard, keep me from losing my mind, and gave me an awesome massage today :).

Dad the SuperNanny:
This week Clay and Xander planted a garden and-the coolest thing-learned to walk on bucket stilts! Clay also received his Montessori diploma for ages 0-3 this week! He'll soon be starting on Montessori certification for ages 3-6. He's busy preparing for August, when his 'peeps' will double from two kiddos to four: Xander, Hutch, Ella J and Xander's little sister (due in June)! I'm so happy Ella J will get to spend all day with her dad in their very own 'natural childlife preserve'.


Dad the Gardener:
Clay found some free sod on Craigslist and loaded the backseat of his car with it and started on Ella J's backyard oasis. His car was completely weighed down with grass..it was hilarious! He's been working on this project for a couple of weekends now...and it's getting close to being finished. The hole Clay is standing in will soon be a fountain with fish to eat the mosquitos.


Just Dad:
Even though he's short a couple of functional breasts, Clay has been busy helping take care of Ella J. She's beginning to understand that the tall goofy guy with the bandana is her Dad and will be sticking around for a while and smells pretty good. He's our very own 'baby whisperer' who gives me great baby advice quicker than I can look it up in any of the 20 baby care books I have. I am so happy that Ella J has a man in her life who is as creative, loving, nurturing and patient as Clay is; we both couldn't be luckier.

Belly button today, driving tomorrow!

A few mornings ago we woke up to find Ella J's umbilical cord stump had fallen off. She officially has an outie belly button (for now). This little step towards independence had me a little worried about her growing up too fast, but she spent the rest of the day snuggled up to my chest to remind me that we still have a little time together :).
I was super excited to see her umbilical cord stump had fallen off because that meant we could try out different types of diapers now that things can touch her belly button. Clay and I decided to go with cloth diapers. I think that used to mean just simply "cloth diapers". Not any more. There are over 10 different cloth diapering 'systems' with at least 20 brands of varying quality for each 'system'.
There are 'all in ones', 'all in twos', 'one sizes', 'prefolds', 'fitteds', etc. People on the web who talk about these diapers like to make it even more confusing with crazy acronyms for every system and brand...so there are AIO BG's and OS FB's...I actually found a discussion forum on the internet about cloth diaper acronyms! This is by far one of the most challenging things I've taken on as a parent.
Fortunately, my ability to make decisions in less than a week's time has returned since no longer being pregnant. I'm happy to report Ella J will be sporting Bum Genius 3.0 One-Size Cloth Diapers. These are really cool because they are adjustable for babies 7-30 lbs and will be the only diapers she will ever need. So hopefully, I will not need to visit anymore cloth diapering forums any time soon.