Salmon and Souvlaki

Ellie has been sick with a stuffy nose since Saturday morning.  We’re going to the doctor today for her one-month appointment so I’m hoping he can tell me if we need to be worried about it.  But it’s been a hard past couple days.  Luckily, it was the weekend so Nik was here all day to help with the holding.  I was able to get some sleep that way.  But last night, she basically wouldn’t sleep unless I was holding her and wasn’t happy nursing.  So we spent a lot of hours trying to nurse, trying to sleep, and not being all that successful at either.

But around an hour ago, she finally nursed calmly and then fell asleep.  And let me put her down.  And I realized that I basically hadn’t put her down, except to use the bathroom, for about 15 hours.  Thankfully, blessedly, miraculously, she’s been asleep for about an hour and I’ve had the chance to do a few dishes, finish up one thing I had to mail today, and eat lunch.  She’s waking up now but oh, the gift of an hour.  What a difference  it makes.  I am grateful.

And through all of this, Ellie has been such a sweetheart – smiling at us through her discomfort and really not complaining.  We are blessed by her sweet spirit.

Today, students, we have three objectives that we need to accomplish.

Objective #1: Ending the crankiness of family members (who shall remain unidentified) who are upset with me for not posting enough pictures.

Objective #2: Proving that Eliana’s cheeks are totally adorable and kissable.

Objective #3: Saying thank you.

So let us begin:

For Auntie Julie who convinced us to not get get rid of this hand-me-down onesie.  Nik thanks you especially, because they’re having tie-dye day at his high school next week for Homecoming and he’s going to show this picture to all of his classes.

For Uncle Jon and Auntie Leah who sent us this fun shirt (thanks!) and to all the other British sympathizers out there (like Auntie Julie)

For JinAe, who knitted Eliana this gorgeous sweater and hat!

For Betsy and Nikki, who gave us this super fun onesie

And now class, let’s review.  Are you less cranky?  Aren’t her cheeks super-cute?  Do you feel thanked?  Yes?  Then objectives accomplished!

or “Why there haven’t been many blog posts lately.”

Eliana gained15 ounces in 9 days!!  So now she weights 7 pounds, 12 ounces after going down to 6 pounds, 9 ounces after birth.

I knew it felt like she was eating a lot!