Early days

It's been 12 days since we brought Ellie home from the hospital and we are getting accustomed to life as a family of three. She is such a joy and it surprises me how much she has already grown.  She has gotten much pudgier since she was born and she is spending more time awake. She likes to stare at faces and shadows and especially loves our ceiling fan.  When she is having a cranky moment, usually standing underneath the fan will help to calm her down.  Obviously takes after her father! Her facial expressions especially crack me up. When she is sleeping she smiles, grunts, squeaks, frowns, pouts and snorts. When she sleeps in our room, it's sometime hard for Tom and I to sleep because she makes so much noise. She's our little squeaky toy.  She hates having her diaper changed, but lately has really enjoyed "airing out".  We can leave her naked in her crib for long periods of time before she starts to fuss. She loves to eat and than means she inevitable needs to be changed a ton.

We are still working on breastfeeding happily since we had a bit of trouble at first.  Come to find out, she was tongue tied and it was keeping her from fully swallowing correctly.  We also had latched her incorrectly to begin with and all this combined resulted in raw, bloody nipples (ouch!).  A quick visit to the lactation consultant fixed the tongue issue and I've been pumping all week while my nipples heal.  We are just getting her back on the boob and hopefully everything will go smoothly.  She most definitely prefers the boob to the bottle and it is so much easier than having to pump and then feed her...especially in the middle of the night. 

Poppy and Mamanina (my parents) have been visiting and helping out every since she was born and it's been a big help.  It will be interesting to see how we fare when we are on our own and Tom is back to work.  Tom is such a great dad and it is really amazing to watch him with Ellie.  Even when she is in full blown tantrum mode, he is so patient and sweet with her. He has been such a help to me since I've been pumping - taking over feedings, burping, rocking, etc. - since it's very hard to do both.  Oftentimes the boobs and the baby need attention at the same time. I feel like we are doing pretty well adjusting to life with a newborn and the inherent sleep deprivation.  There have only been a few times when I've slept through my alarm and woken up totally confused. We've ventured out of the house a few times but only to go on walks around the neighborhood (did you know the sun comes out during the day?!).  It always feels like a success when we can all leave the house at the same time.  I'm looking forward to the day when we can go out and get errands done without the panic that she'll wake up and be inconsolable. Baby steps as they say. :) 

It is still very surreal to us that this little baby is ours and that we are now parents.  I think it's going to take some time to really sink in.  Even though she's only a few days old we are starting to see her personality and it's fun to decide who she takes after more.  She definitely has the Parrish chin but the Jauregui affinity for being cool and comfortable.  Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

Poppy and Ellie

Celebrating Poppy's and Ellie's birthdays

Polka dot cuteness!

Zzzzzzz

Snuggling with Dad

Grandma Jauregui

Mamanina feeding Ellie

Ellie's finished room

Baby quilt  handmade by Auntie Camille

Daddy's little helper

Milk drunk!

Ellie and momma

Penguin onesie courtesy of Orange Twist aka Auntie Claire

Bath time

Bath time

Hippie (and unhappy) baby