Bathtime

5th Wedding Anniversary

Last Saturday was our 5th wedding anniversary. Thanks to the plethora of willing babysitters that were visiting we were able to leave Ella at home and go out for a date!

Gas Smile

Despite the reason behind this smile, it's still cute!

Recording

Someone came up with the idea of recording our family reading books to Ella. Each person picked out a book to read to her and L recorded it all with the recording equipment he has been accumulating since February. I'm really excited about this idea!

Reading with Aunt Jo

Ella Video

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Here is a video of Ella that my dad made!

One Week Old

It's hard to believe that Ella is one week old. Today she wore a bow for the first time. My brother has nicknamed us all Ella-copters because we all just hover around her waiting for a chance to hold her. Like all new parents we basically think she is the cutest, sweetest, most adorable baby in the universe!

~A

Train Ride Home

After 24 days in the birth city, we finally came back home on Tuesday. It's been so good to be back home!

~A

Ella's First Outing

Today Ella got all dressed up for the first time so that she could go to the American Consulate and start the process to become an American (contrary to popular belief she will not have dual citizenship). The first picture is the one we used for her passport picture. It's not so easy to take a picture of a newborn with open eyes.

Ella's Eyes

The verdict is still out on the color of her eyes. Right now they look like the typical baby blue so we will see if they stay blue or change to another color over the next several months.

Love at First Sight

Here are some pictures we took the night Ella was born.

Birth Announcement

Ella's Due Date

Well, so far Ella's official due date has been pretty uneventful! This morning my mom and I went to a La Leche League meeting at the hospital and then this afternoon I had another doctor's appointment. The doctor has decided to resume the guessing game and says that she thinks Ella will arrive within 48-72 hours. That's what she said three weeks ago so I'm trying to not get my hopes up! If she doesn't arrive at some point this week, I will be induced next Wednesday or Thursday but the doctor thinks its very unlikely that it will come to that. We also had another sonogram and Ella now weighs a little under 7 pounds.

In other news our family members arrived on Sunday afternoon! It's been good to see them all!

~A

Reasons Why Ella Is Waiting

My Grandpa and Grandma are pretty smart people. After raising four sons, we figure they have the whole baby business down to an art. Here are the reasons they think our little girl is waiting (in no particular order of importance):

1. She's content in her present environment to lay back and gain some weight. She's part Danish you know and is attracted by weight gain.
2. She's waiting for her Gramma and Granddad to get there because she's heard they are special people in her life. [My family and L's parents arrive TOMORROW!]
3. She's heard baby showers are fun and she'd like to witness at least one first hand that's put on in her honor. [We missed a shower our friends were throwing us because we left for the hospital city early. We'll probably have it sometime after Ella arrives.]
4. She's all snuggled in where she is and wondering if that arm cradling and rock-a-bying are really all they're cracked up to be.
5. She's not all that excited about having to wear clothes.
6. She's practicing her gymnastics getting ready for the Olympics.
7. She really would like to help cook but she's afraid she might have to help with the dishes.
8. Her Mom is walking all over so she is being gently rocked in her special hammock most of the day. What could be better than that?
And last but not least:
9. She'd really like to go to Iowa but she hears it’s just too wet at present. [My grandparents live in Cedar Rapids where a lot of the flooding has taken place.]

We also suspect that she thinks the trick her cousin Gavin pulled (because we all thought he was going to be a girl) was pretty funny and wanted to get started on the pranks herself!

~A

Still Waiting!

Today when I went to the doctor for my regular check-up she looked at me and said, "Oh, A still pregnant. She getting tired of this wait." True on both accounts! After checking me over she concluded that Ella is gaining weight and is probably up to about 6 1/2 pounds and that she is just waiting for her grandparents to arrive before she comes. The hospital's policy is to induce if the baby is a week late but she said she will induce me on my due date if we want her to since I'm already dilated. At this point we would rather just be patient instead of being induced but we will see how we feel if she still isn't here by next week. We're getting pretty ready to head back home.

Other than that we are just playing card games, reading, walking as much as possible and watching Prison Break!

~A