Recently in All About Ella Category

Ella turned one year old a week ago today. Ella enjoyed her first b-day party. Although she was a little overwhelmed at first, she soon got used to all the people and had a lot of fun. Being the absent minded parents that we are we didn't get too many pictures. But here a couple we managed to get.

We had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen:

My favorite part was having the birthday girl sit on my lap:

Ella and her parents took a trip to the chilly climes of Northern Minnesota for Thanksgiving. Ella got to see her grandparents and experience the food and fun of the holiday for the first time. Her are a few pictures from the trip.

After a fun flight from Columbus to Minneapolis we checked into a hotel. Ella's dad wanted to watch The Game (UM v. OSU) the next day before heading up to Grand Rapids. The hotel bed was quite comfortable. Ella thought so too:

In case you can't read the t-shirt Ella has on, it reads "A good daddy is hard to find (but the couch is a good place to start looking)."

Our stay at stay at the hotel was marred by a last second Michigan loss. Ella was having a hard time dealing with it:

Hard to believe that Ella is over two months old. Time really does fly. I haven't posted a lot of updates lately, so I thought I ought to get some pictures posted.

Ella is doing great. She went to the pediatrician today and she is growing well and perfectly healthy. She is adorable and well behaved in the doctors office too. Today she had to get her initial immunization shots, however, and she didn't like it one bit. She made quite a face and cried for a minute or so, but she calmed down and slept in the car seat on the ride home. She took on her dad's chest later in the afternoon, which was nice for dad. Anyway, on to the pictures.

Here is a great picture of Ella and her mother. Ella is in the little back-pack like carrier that came with our car seat. My two favorite girls in one picture!

I figured I better post an update or people might start getting restless! Ella had some fun last week as we took her out and about visiting people. On Wednesday we headed downtown to visit my old friends in the Ohio Senate. She had a great time and everyone commented on how much hair she had and how she was even prettier in person. Of course I had to bring Ella in to see my current co-workers too. And once again Ella made a big slash. As usual Ella was great and let everyone hold her without fussing or crying. I am not sure why everyone seems so surprised that I would have a beautiful and well behaved child . . .

The next night we took her to our home church and she wowed em there as well. She was real good - except for a few odd noizes here and there during the teaching. With so many people seeing her for the first time mom and dad didn't need to hold her for very long.

What about the pictures? Well, here are a few good ones.

- One of the funnier things we have learned is how much Ella likes to lay on the changing table portion of her pack and play. She seems content to just lay there and kick her legs:

- Of corse she loves to be held by her dad as well:

- And last but not leaset, lately we have been having her lay on her play mat and be stimulated by all the colors and shapes:

We brought our beautiful baby home tonight. It is wonderful to finally have our family home and in one place together! She received a clean bill of health. Pictures in the morning . . .

Today (Wednesday) was another great day for Ella as we move toward bringing her home.

- Today she was able to eat as much as she wanted and her mother was able to breast feed her for as long as she liked.
- The EEG results came back normal.
- She came off the IV and hopes to have the "saline plug" take out tomorrow.

It was wonderful to spend almost all day holding here and loving her, knowing she was healthy and that we would get to take her home soon. Click below for more pictures.

Ella had a lot of hurdles to get over in her early life, but she proved up to the task. Thanks to the many prayers she made a remarkable recovery (the Doctors own words). Here are some of the milestone she has achieved so far:

- 1/29/05 Ella is able to breathe on her own without the respirator!
- 1/29/05 Ella has her first bath (picture below)
- 1/30/05 Ella has her first day in an open crib (without a heat lamp, etc.)
- 1/30/05 Ella has her first bottle.
- 2/1/05 Ella has her first breastfeeding

As you can see Ella is accomplishing a lot these days. We are very excited that she might be able to come home with us soon. The doctors are just making sure here stomach, liver and kidneys didn't suffer any damages during the birth and that she can handle everything on her own before they remove the IV.

As noted below, Ella was born on Friday afternoon. For reasons that are still a little unclear Ella had a very low heartbeat. As a result she didn't get enough oxygen. As soon as she was born she needed to be put on a respirator and taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). This was very hard on her parents as you can imagine. We didn't get to see her for a couple of hours as the doctors worked to stabilize her and her mother recuperated from a stressful delivery. The nurses and doctors were all wonderful throughout, however, and gave Ella the best care possible.

Here is a picture of Ella early on:

It was hard to see your newborn daughter with a respirator on, but we were still excited to finally see her. As you can see she is a beautiful girl with a full head of hair! She is very popular with the staff in the NICU.

I will try to share more when I get a chance.