My letter to Ella

Dear Ella,

I hope you learn to laugh at yourself, and not take life too seriously. Life is meant to be lived to the fullest every day, with no regrets. I hope you understand that in life, there are no mistakes, just lessons. I want you to know that no matter how bad something may seem sometimes, it won't last forever. I hope you learn before it's too late to love with everything inside of you, and never question your heart. I hope you love baking cookies with mommy, and being tickled by daddy - for we love you more than anything in the whole world, and our love for you grows every single day. I hope you appreciate the little things in life, like picnics at the lake with the sun shining on your skin, or the feel of grass on your bare feet. I hope you never forget your ability to achieve absolutely anything you may put your mind to, no matter how difficult it may seem at first. I hope you ignore stereotypes and bullies, and understand that absolutely everyone on this earth deserves your respect and kindness. I hope you become a mom someday, so you can understand just how much I've loved you since I first looked in your eyes. I hope so much for you, mostly I hope I am able to enjoy our lives together for years and years to come. I love you so much, you are my entire world.

Forever and always,
Mom :)

We had the public health nurse out to the house on Wed. Jan. 25th, and she could not believe how big Ella is getting! She is 14 lbs even, and 23 inches long. Her head also grew a half inch in circumference in the last 3 weeks! She grew an entire inch in just 3 weeks, I can't believe how fast she is growing! :) Already upgraded to size 2 diapers too, although I'll credit that to her big booty that she inherited not only from mommy, but also from daddy, haha. :) 

The nurse kept saying how great Doug and I are doing with her, we have specific tummy time every day and that Ella is rolling over all the time now and that she is literally already starting to crawl... yay! 

Another new thing that I am super excited about- I learned how to drive stick shift! I got sick of not knowing how to drive Doug's car, so I got in and drove it. I am a natural, it just clicked and I rock at it! :) I am so excited to finally be able to drive myself places and not rely on Doug to run to the grocery store every time we need something. :) 

Anyway, not much new on our end. Just loving life and laughing constantly. :)

Here are some new pics!

Two month check up!

I woke up this morning to a text from my mom saying "Tell Ella happy 2 month birthday!" I couldn't believe it, we have been so busy this week that I literally forgot what date it was. My little babe is already 2 whole months old, and thriving!

We had her check-up today as well. The nurse weighed her in at 13 lbs, 7 oz.! and 23 inches long! She is growing like crazy, already an inch in the last 2 weeks and a full pound in 2 weeks. Its insane how time flies! She is so healthy, the doctor was just in awe and kept saying how beautiful she is and how wonderful we were doing with her. The Dr. put Ella on tummy time, and Ella was starting to roll over right there in front of us! The dr just kept commenting how she is one of the strongest babies she's ever seen, and how healthy she is. They foresee her to be crawling around all over the place by four months already... time to baby-proof even more!! Ella was such a good little girl too, she needed to get her shots today- three shots total and one orally. She did great on the oral one, no problemo. However, once the real shots came she did not like that one bit! I'm so used to her being such a calm baby, it literally brought me to tears to see her so upset. After the shots were over, I picked her up and she looked in my eyes as if to say, "MOM why the hell did you let them do that to me?!" I cuddled her and kissed her and she calmed down in an instant. Total mommy's girl. :)

After the appointment, Doug and I went to the Golden Dragon for chinese. It was scrumptious! I haven't had chinese in months! I always feel like we annoy everyone around us wherever we go, since literally everywhere we go we end up laughing so hard we are almost in tears. What can I say, we make each other laugh :) I can't wait until Ella is big enough to laugh with us, I am excited to have our big happy family! Soon! :)

Loving life every day and haven't woken up without a smile on my face since Ella was born.

There is a lot to update on! The holidays were so busy I haven't had much of a chance to get on here and write. We had the public health nurse come out on Dec. 30, and we had Miss Ella weighed and measured. She is already a whopping 12 lbs 9 oz, and 22 inches long! Her 3 month clothes are now snug on her, and she is in a few 6 month items already. My little baby is getting big so fast, it is making me a little sad! However, I am excited to watch her start to react to things and be able to play with her toys... heaven knows she has enough of them! :) Doug and I were in the kitchen chatting the other day, and we just looked around and were in awe of everything in this house that is hers. She has complete run of the house! We barely have enough room for our stuff, hers is taking over. We decided we definitely need a 3 bedroom when we look for our next place. We are planning on getting a bigger place in August, also a 3 bedroom will work out for when we have our next baby- which we are already planning! If we were to get pregnant again, we have both said we would be okay with it. I want a huge family with 4 or 5 kids, maybe even more! We will see! Maybe we'll give the Duggar family a run for their money!! We were even discussing baby names again the other day. We decided the next one will be Leila Jane if its a girl or Charles Douglas if its a boy. I want my boy soooo bad! Then again, we wouldn't need to update the wardrobe any if it were another girl. ;) I am so completely happy with Doug and our little family that we made. I've said it before, but I will say it again and probably forever. I never knew I could be this happy and this in love. I feel like Doug and I were made for each other... it just took a bunch of crap and an accidental pregnancy to figure it out. But it was worth every tear and emotion that we went through, at this point I can see, and hope, that we will be together forever. 


Anyway, Ella had a great first Christmas! We went to Auntie Sondi's for Christmas Eve dinner on the 24th. Ella was very well-behaved, as usual! She loves her auntie Sondra and Uncles Dave and Vince, and grandma and grandpa Devney! On the 25th we packed up and went to Doug's parents house for Christmas lunch. We spent a relaxing afternoon playing video games and napping. :) Ella got her fill of aunties and uncles and grandma and grandpa Ombati there too! Everywhere we go, people are always sad to see her go. I don't blame them, she is pretty awesome! 


She started sleeping completely through the night right after Christmas and has kept it up since. Since she is sleeping through the night, Doug and I made the decision to put her in her crib in her own room, instead of the bassinet in our room. She LOVES her crib. She sleeps 10 times better in there then she ever did in the bassinet. She is sleeping for about two 6 hour shifts straight through the night, which is perfect for us. We put her down at 10 at night, and she gets up for a bottle around 4 am then falls right back to sleep and is out like a light until 10 am. 


Doug and I were lucky enough that on New Year's Eve, Sondra offered to watch her overnight so we could celebrate together. We ended up going bar-hopping in New Prague, and ran into some friends. We cheers'd at midnight to another amazing year together! 


On Dec 30 I had my 6 week check-up and the doctor was a little concerned about my blood pressure. Because it is still slightly elevated, I am unable to go back on the birth control pill like I had hoped. Basically, my only option is the Mirena. The Mirena has the effectiveness of tying your tubes, but it is reversible and can be removed at anytime, which is great! So no more surprise babies! Doug and I have discussed how long we want to wait, which is no longer than 2 years, until we try again. I would like Ella and the next one to be only 2 years apart. Because Ella's shoulder got stuck during delivery, my doctor said that I will need to do c-sections for the rest of my babies. The reason for this is that if a baby gets stuck coming out, they have to get them out as quickly as possible or the baby has a chance of either permanent nerve damage - OR they might need to break the baby's clavicle to get them out. I can't imagine a newborn with a broken bone, in that much pain right off the bat. So, if I need c-sections, that means I can only have 3 more, 4 if I'm lucky, since it weakens the uterus. That really got to me, and I asked how I could possibly make it so I could deliver naturally for the rest of the babies. She said I could always elect to do only naturally, but the risk of the next ones getting stuck is greater since it has already happened once. She said the best way to improve the chances of the baby not getting stuck is to have a smaller baby, and the best way to do that is to lose a significant amount of weight. 


That leads me to my next thought. I have been considering weight-loss surgery, most likely soon, if I were to get it. Because of recovery time, I would need to wait about a year before getting pregnant again after the surgery. I would be a great candidate for the surgery because it would reduce my blood pressure to lose weight, and also losing the weight would help me continue to have natural births, like I prefer. My insurance would cover it since I have two medical reasons to have it done, and I would most likely not have to pay a deductible on it even. That would be nice. I am strongly considering it, but need to do more research before I make a final decision. Doug said he would be by my side no matter what I choose, and will support whatever decision I make. Any input you may have, please comment! I would love to hear your thoughts on the surgery. :) 


All in all, I love my little family and my big family, and we are still having an amazing experience being Ella's mommy and daddy! 


Have a wonderful day! :)