"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:3-6

Monday, July 8, 2013

Day Four- July 8

 
Monday, July 8, 2013

Today is always a day that sticks out to me. 

That is because on July 8, 2007 I left Michigan for a road trip to my new home in Arizona.

July just keeps proving to be a good month! Lots of exciting things happen in July--

July of 2008 I moved from my apartment to a house.
July of 2009 was busy with final wedding preparations for an August 1 wedding
July of 2012 I gave birth to our first son, Declan
July of 2013 We welcome home our third child, Elliana
July of 2013 We find out we are having a second son
July of 2013 We purchase our first home and close on the day after Declan's first birthday.

wowzers!  Next July maybe we can just go to the beach and relax:)


Today was a great day!!  Elliana slept the best she had last night.  She woke up a few times and needed to eat, but I think there were a couple times she was soothed by my arm dangling over from my bed into her pack n play.  (remember that recurring theme of it's all a blur in the middle of the night!?) I do know that at 6:30 mama wasn't ready to get up but Elliana needed to eat.  Declan also woke up and wanted a bottle.  Ahhh....so what is a tired mommy to do? Give Declan a bottle in his crib and give Elliana a bottle in bed cuddling next to me, of course:)  Declan went back to sleep for a bit and after I put Elliana back in the pack n play (awake, might I add!) she slept for 3 hours!!!  YAY! I think she is finally getting the hang of napping and just how lovely sleep really can be:)

Auntie Dre and Adele left today :(  So they stopped by on the way to the airport so we could all say our good byes.  Next time we see them there will be another cousin added to the family!!! :)

When Mimi and Papa returned from taking them to the airport, they picked up Raelynn and took her swimming at their house.  They have pool hours for the kids at their community pool from 11-1, so they took her swimming and fed her lunch. 
It was a huge help because Declan napped during that time and I wore Elliana around in the ergo and we packed up all the toys and I did some laundry.

Elliana also played in her discovery center and we tried rice cereal again.  This time we mixed it with some of her formula.  She did pretty well but still sticks her tongue out so funny.  But at least she kept it in her mouth this time. Progress!

Elliana fell asleep in the ergo and went into the pack n play from there for a nap.  She took a great nap in there again today, so that is great.  When we spoke with the agency the other day on the phone, they said do all we can not to let her nap later than 5pm, which was when she was taking her really good naps during those first couple days.  We are definitely progressing out of that, so that is great!! Each day she is napping more during the day.

she LOVES the ergo!!! (well, at least when I'm walking.)


Uncle Kyle came over to meet Elliana for the first time today. AND he brought us In N Out!! :)  (Yes, this is the third time we've had it in the past five days)


 

 

 
Elliana sat nicely in a bouncy chair during dinner that had the vibration on.  Well, she started in the high chair but doesn't really like to just sit in there, so we moved her soon after.  She then needed a bottle and tried to fall asleep during it, but Brent didn't let her.  He kept taking the bottle away so she wouldn't.

We gave Elliana a bath tonight--she didn't cry at all!! :) 
While mommy got her ready for bed, daddy gave the big kids a bath.  We don't think Elliana is quite ready for bath time with them--they are pretty crazy in there!

Tonight was a HUGE success!!! Elliana went to bed fully awake (yet definitely tired) and didn't make a fuss at all when I put her down and left the room.  :) 
 


We bought a paci for Elliana.  We know that in the transition home, the babies are given a bottle when they fuss.  So, this is their source of comfort.  She loves sucking on a bottle, even if it is empty she would suck on it and fall asleep very quickly during the first couple days we had her home.  We didn't want her to do that, so we thought maybe a paci would help.  She wouldn't take the ones we had here. She will take this one for like two sucks and then not really any more after that, but we'll keep trying.
 

 

 

 

3 comments:

  1. Love your posts! Continuing to pray for you :)!

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  2. I'm glad you don't use the bottle as a pacifier, especially not an empty one. I've heard they can suck in a lot of air, and that's not good for their bellies! Also, non-nutritive sucking (like a pacifier) is good, but remember it's still only to pacify. If she isn't fussy, she doesn't need it. (just makes it a harder habit to break later). Anyway, sounds like she's doing great! I knew it wouldn't take long! Praise God for that!

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    1. Brent did on the plane!! :) haha. We don't do it unless she is fussy, but we were trying to let her get the hang of it while she was content. It's always been our style to only give when fussy. Otherwise why hide those little faces?! :) She still isn't taking it, but her crying is getting less and less for naps. It would be nice to try to give to her in the middle of the night because we don't always want her relying on the bottle. But maybe she'll start sleeping longer and we won't have to worry about it. Only time will tell:) Each day brings changes!

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