The big snow we got yesterday kept Ella and me indoors. Joel had meetings and church events all day so Ella and I took an afternoon nap and cuddled in bed. Later, I found our sockies next to the bed and I thought it was so cute! The baby items all over our house remind me again and again of how our life has changed!
Ella’s Grandma and Grandpa Krig (Nina’s Dad and Step-mom) came all the way from California to meet her this weekend!
We showed them around and took Ella on her first visit to the Eastern Market breakfast counter (have you tried the “Brick” sandwich? Mmmm!), Air and Space Museum, and Marty’s Restaurant. We also got to show off the yummy coffee at Ebenezers! So much fun to be together… The unexpected snow storm kept Grandpa and Grandma here a little longer than expected!
We are still working on little Ella’s weight. Babies are supposed to make it back to their birth weight by two weeks. They are supposed to gain 4-7 ounces each week. Well, Ella is not there yet. 
At the doctor yesterday, she was 8 pounds, 5 ounces. (As a reminder, her birth weight was 8lbs 11oz.) So, she is gaining…but not quickly enough. After visits to the breastfeeding center and calls to the La Leche League, we are now on a very strict feeding schedule. By strict, I mean that by the time I finish the process, I have about 40 minutes until I have to start it all again - all day and all night. WHEW!
With my personality, I get pretty discouraged to not be able to get anything done. My goal today is to simply get our bills paid. 
Wish me luck.
Thankfully, I have a sweet, happy baby. She makes it all worth it.
Look at this angel! Getting some Zzzzz! I keep saying that I want to video tape her waking up process. She takes after her Dad with her slow-to-wake routine. It takes her like ten minutes to wake up! The best part is that she does this adorable thing when she is not fully awake. Her eyes are closed and she keeps grinning! What could she be dreaming of I wonder?
Last week, Ella’s friend Violet turned one year old! We took her picture with her buddies. Violet is one year, David was ten weeks, and Ella was two weeks (this was last week). There are many fun memories ahead with this bunch!
Last night, we went out to hang with the family at Uncle Robb and Aunt Carrie’s house. Cousins Noah and Sammy had a blast playing with Ella. They went down to the basement to build her a “fort” to play in. Sammy came upstairs very distraught that Noah was building a fort that was “boring and dangerous.” I tried to imagine how it could be both of those things but I suggested they each build their own and she would go in both. (Thankfully, their forts resembled more of a big bed out of pillows and blankets.) Ella loved it! It could be that she had a full tummy and had just had a nap but she was so into her cousins!
Other comedic moments came when Ella spit up on Sammy. “Sick, she threw up on me!” Also, when we changed her diaper, Sammy was asking me about her uterus. I have no idea how or what he knows about that so I did my best to dance around the topic.
I was so proud of our nephews and how good they were with the baby. And I was proud of Ella, sleeping the whole way on her first mini-road trip.
As a special Valentine’s gift to mommy and daddy, Ella gave her first smile today! She has smiled lots in her sleep, mostly after a good feeding. But today was her first smile while fully awake. She looked right at me and grinned! We melted!
She is also starting to coo! She seems to want to make sounds so much. She watches and watches your mouth and tries to move hers. Every once in a while she manages to get a sound to come out (besides crying of course - she has that mastered.)
Today was Ellie’s first day in church! She currently likes to eat in the early morning and then sleep late so she wasn’t too happy that we woke her up to change her clothes and put her in the car. My mom and I joked that, in the future, we should either take her in her pajamas or dress her in her church clothes the night before.
There were so many people excited to meet Ellie girl. Daddy even took her up front to close at the end of service. He said, “Look what I made!” and all Ella’s new friends at church cheered. He held the mic up to her mouth and she let out a chirp for everyone.
“Look at my pretty church clothes! Did you know they made tights this little?”
“It was an adventure for Mommy to get me out the door!”
Poppy had to go home this weekend. We were all pretty sad. The cold weather and frozen pipes didn’t do much to help convince him to move here. Oh yes, we said FROZEN PIPES! We had no water for two days! Apparently, the main pipe runs alongside the front of the house and stopped water into the whole house. We had to call a plumber to come and zap the ice with an electrical current. We learned our lesson and will now leave water dripping on cold nights. Erg! We hate expensive lessons.
