i'm still behind in writing about Ella's first weeks, i saved some space for them below and will update when i actually get to publish them. sorry. as i said before, parenthood means that you don't always have time to do.. well.. anything :P
and a reminder - the link to the photo album is on the right.
we think, hope, that our little munchkin is converging into a reasonable schedule. in the last few nights (maybe we have grandma Sandy to thank?), she went to bed at 8-9PM, slept till 3am woke up for a late night meal and went back to sleep until 7AM.
sometimes the 3AM-7AM stretch was shifted by a couple of hours (i.e., 1AM-5AM) but she still went back to sleep right after eating, without complaining or fussing or wanting to play. we're cautiously happy about that.
in the meanwhile, we're trying to figure out a daily routine, that will allow us both to get some work done (suggestions are welcomed!)
we tried taking Ella to work again today, but unlike the last few times (a week ago) when she was content if she was dry and not hungry - now she needs to be entertained if she's awake. smart little girl :) we can't carry around her mobile/bouncer/bookshelf with us, so our options are a bit limited at work. still we both got a couple of hours of work out of the day.
our dealing with Ella's crying, in the first few weeks, was much like a nested if loop:
usually one of those things was broken, and we could find and fix whatever was wrong... recently, another thing was added to the loop: boredom. she's an active baby, that needs to be looking at something, smiling at someone, or talking about stuff whenever she's awake. it's adorable, but hard to maintain :)
lately she likes to interact with her mobile. we didn't hang it on her cradle because it would throw it off axis :P but we were able to improvise.
she spent about 20 minutes talking to the mobile, trying out her vocal options.
sadly, grandma Sandy had to go back home to grandpa, Grady and the cats. come again soon! PLEASE!!!
june 23
trying to get Ella to spend some time on her tummy is hard - she gets upset pretty fast. we try to keep her entertained with the help of safta Dalia's art. 
we took advantage of Grandma Sandy's patience, and left them together alone again :)
June 21: more baby clothes, and Father's Day
Ella is pretty big for her age (in a very lady-like way, of course!) and after sorting and washing the 2nd batch of baby clothes that her safta Dalia brought from israel, we realized that we're not in sinc with the seasons. the clothes she wants to wear now (i.e., the ones that aren't too small) are labeled "3-6 months". by that age it would have been fall, and therefore most of these clothes are long sleeved shirts and long footed pants! while we do have some short sleeve shirts and onsies that fit her,
so we decided we probably need some short pants. summer can be brutal in chicago :P
that means that Grandma Sandy and us had fun at Babies'R'Us shopping for more baby clothes! someone had to stop us after a while so we don't end up buying the entire store. and, hurray for the clearance isle :)
having grandmas over is so great, we actually get some time for ourselves. we hand Ella over to grandma in the morning and get a couple of extra hours of sleep, and tonight we went on a date and had a couple of beers at Hop Leaf (and mussels. mmmmm!!!)
all in all, great Father's day :)
June 20: summer!
it's 88F (31C) out today and sunny, a perfect summer day (though some would say it's too hot). we walked to Gesthemeny to ask the experts there about repotting Phil and the orchid, which finished flowering for this year. Phil graduated to the next size pot, and orchid can be trimmed down and may flower again next year. i admit that i'm not taking as good care of my plants as i used to since Ella was born...
June 19: first day without mom&dad, and the grandma lock
Sandy came to spend a few days with us, so first thing we did is leave Ella with her for the day and go to work! it sure was strange not having her around. walking down the street without a stroller, and actually getting work done at work!
after a few hours i missed ella too much :)
ella and grandma had a good time. it rained all day, so not a good day for a walk in the park, but they got lots of playing time.
June 18: first words
until now Ella mostly said "ah ah ah". on thursday morning, just after being changed, Ella was (as usual) talking to her butterfly, and said "echo", and then "aba".
I totally recommend Northwestern for delivery. Starting from a couple of hours after giving birth, and fir the next 48 hours, the three of us stayed in our own private room, that has a bed for mom, a fold-out bed for dad, and baby crib. The grandparents spent the days with us taking turns holding Ella :)
Everything seemed to be going just great. Ella's checks came out perfectly normal, and breastfeeding seemed to be natural for her!
going home
On the third day it was time to be discharged and leave the hospital. Ella's pediatrician came to check and release her, and my doctor came to check and release me, we got a load of supplies (diapers, etc) to take home, and a tiny hospital volunteer came to show us how to lock the baby in the car seat and accompanied us out the door.
At home, safta Dalia and gramma Sandy waited anxiously for us all :) it was Thursday, and soon enough we had to say goodbye to Saba Oddi.
boom trach
Ella's bowel movements have a way of announcing themselves very loudly (well, she's taking after her Sharon unclus!). one afternoon saba Oddi read "a tale of 5 baloons" to her, i wish i had that on video (sorry for the non-hebrew readers, it just doesn't translate well):
Ella made sure she tries on all of her newborn outfits by having us change her clothes every time we changed her diaper. the way to do that, for the record, is to pee all over EVERYTHING as soon as the diaper is off.
although lots of things happened over the last 3 weeks, being a new mother seems too exhausting to even find the time and energy to write about it. i hope to catch up on the stories. for now, there are photos and some captions... see the link on the right.
i finally finished writing about the day Ella was born, below.
It's about 11:00 pm on the midnight shift, and I'm trying to keep silence, maintain order, and stay awake while Ella, her Imma, and her Safta sleep. The last 3 nights Ella has slept on the couch pretty solid from about 9 pm to 12ish -- and we let her. I watch her until it's midnight dinner time...and I've had some help from our favorite h
ell-raiser:
Gray Scrooge.
After not even giving her the time of day, the last two nights Gray Scrooge has given her a little sniff and slept next to her on the couch until we take her to her cradle.
He's still more dog than cat. If this continues, I will have to devote a Picasa album to our faithful guard cat with the concrete head.
