The Schmidgalls

The Washington Times featured our church on Monday.  Cool!

In place of a crib, Ella is sleeping…in a laundry basket.  It is the perfect size!  So cute!

My family LOVES flowers.  So, the ladies picked us up from the airport and we went to Santa Barbara…to see the orchids.  People in DC may think it is funny but, hey, my family also goes to rocks shops (yes, to BUY rocks).

Anyway, the flowers were GORGEOUS.  We also got to visit one of my bestest friends Heather and her husband Chris.

Look at the TONS of orchids these growers had.  So pretty!

GG (”great grandma”) and Ellie

Ella and I are in California! I brought her to southern CA to visit family. Joel couldn’t come and I was feeling confident about bringing her on the plane…until each person that we told got wide eyed and said,”You are taking her by YOURSELF?” It made me worried.

However, the baby was a champ. I think it was the noise and vibration of the plane, but she slept a ton. When she was awake, she did great. Everyone was ooohing and aaahing over her. My friend Laura gave me a tip to find a friendly looking stewardess to hold her in case I had to go to the bathroom (five hour flight!). Luckily, when I got up and went to the rear of the plane, two of them said, “Can I hold her while you go?” They all wanted their hands on her cuteness.

The funniest moment of the trip was when we were going through security and the TSA agent said, “Ma’am, the baby needs to remove her shoes as well.” Are you kidding me? I removed them, of course, but was cracking up inside.  These were her oh-so-threatening shoes…

This is what babycenter says about seven week old babies:

“Gimme, gimme. Your baby’s movements are slowly becoming smoother and more coordinated. Her newborn ability to reflexively grasp objects is fading away. You’ll notice your baby can now grab objects voluntarily — rattles, spoons, you. She may grasp them for a short time before letting go. Expect random, jerky movements for another month or so.

Now that she can hold her head steady, see more clearly, and understand that her fingers and hands are attached to her body, she may think that the rattle is an extension of her hand, too. You can encourage hand practice by making sure her hands are free.”

We still swaddle Ella every night before bedtime. Otherwise, she gets her arms going and wakes herself up. The swaddle is part of her “night night” routine. Joel wraps her up saying, “Night night Ella, night night.” She seems to really know she will be fed and go to sleep. The routine really works!

Ella was looking so cute yesterday!  I was worried that she looked too much like a boy in her yellow jumper.  A yellow headband fixed that!

Smile for Momma!

Here she is looking shy.

Check out those LONG fingers! Joel has big plans for a basketball career.  I have my hopes on piano or violin.

Since all of you wait so patiently to see more Ella pics, I will reward you with some kisses from our family. XOXO

(taken by my brilliant friend, Allison)

Though the past couple of nights with Ella have been rough, every morning is pure heaven. She is the happiest, smiling, talking baby.

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