Breathing a Big Sigh of Relief

Ella Grace is pushing four weeks old this weekend. She is just an angel. We are so blessed. These last four weeks of getting acquainted with her have been so good. She sleeps really, really well. This is her totally passed out while sitting up straight...haha!

She is calmed quite easily, with just a couple exceptions (one of them being during my first YW presidency meeting we had since she was born this week!). For the first couple weeks she would smack her lips every so often when finishing up a meal-- it was so cute! She hasn't done it for a little while though. She also had quite the knack for filling her diaper RIGHT after we changed it;) but this also seems to have not happened for a little while now. She has big blue eyes (and super long fingers as you can see here! Also, long feet and legs. Lucky girl. She did not get that from me!) that seem so eager to take in the sights around her when they're open (which is still pretty seldom).

I think her blocked tear duct may have cleared itself up for good this week. Her pediatrician said it may come and go throughout the first year of her life, so it might pop back up to say hello, but I'm thinking it could be gone for good now!
sayonara gunky eye!

Her belly has become a "perfect circle" as Stace likes to call it!
bath time today:)

She wants nothing but to be held; that's just how Julian was:) Nobody minds! I'm holding her now as she sleeps & type this post one-handed.


Speaking of Julian...

he has truly been amazing with her. He really seems to understand the need to be gentle with her...with one exception happening so far (this afternoon), when he really wanted to touch her eyes. I think he only wanted to because he knows that's a no-no. Haha. Toddlers. :) But I have been so happy to see him treat her so well: he truly was the one and only apple of my eye before she came along, so for him to be so willing to share that role with her, & to be so loving and accepting of her really has surprised me, and filled my heart with relief. It has put lots of smiles on Stace & I's faces as we croon "aw, Julian! You are such a sweet big brother!" He seems to really like that;) When we say things like that to him, and give him that positive reinforcement, he will give her another kiss or another little hug. Today he got to play basketball, and when we left the court he was saying he wanted to "shoot the ba-da-da with dadda. Shoot with mama & dada & Ella Bwace." Stace likes to make her dance (just moves her little body side to side in the air), and Julian thinks it's hilarious:) Which is hilarious. Though he has been so good with her, he has upped the amount of times he says "mine!" in a day from maybe 2...to probably 200! He never says it to her though...so, that's good, right? :) Yes, though he's been really sweet towards her, he has really been testing us lately! He is definitely his own little person with his own very strong opinions & agenda! Amelia put a nice spin to it: "he's a leader!" haha:)

I've gone from being a "No TV" mom to Julian to letting him watch quite a few shows! I was trying to hold out until he turned two. But now he's a fan of Thomas the Train, Curious George, Super Why, Sid the Science Kid, parts of Toy Story & Finding Nemo. Hopefully I can reign it in soon.

Here he is watching a riveting episode of Thomas the Tank Engine.
But my sister-in-law (my mommy role model) ensured me this would happen. I distinctly remember her laughing a while back when I told her I didn't watch Julian to watch any TV and saying "just wait til your second one comes along!" Well, she was right! In fact, here are the gems Beth texted me one night that I don't want to forget. My phone automatically erases texts after a few weeks, so I'm going to write it here before I lose it! "If there's one thing I've learned in my years of motherhood...A.) A little extra TV doesn't hurt their brains. B.) No matter how hard you try, you can't make your kids do the right thing all the time & probably most important C .) a big hair bow can make any outfit cute! Oh yeah, and D.) No matter what you will always feel guilty about something you did/ didn't do/ said/ didn't say to your kids. But I think that means we're just striving to be better!

Onto my "big sigh of relief": So after what seems like an eternity of testing & waiting on the the results, today we found out that no one will again be drawing blood out of our tiny baby girl's body anytime soon! Her labs from Tuesday testing her thyroid levels came back smack dab in the middle of normal! YAY!!!
Tears of gratitude came this afternoon as I gave a big sigh of relief. I have been fairly confident for a little while now that they would come back normal, but to hear it from the doctor today...to know it, just filled my heart with gratitude as I remembered the depths of worry I found myself in just a couple weeks ago. Phew...ahhhhh! So, so happy:)


Funny Things Julian Has Said This Week:

• He will take any object and turn it into a train. He slides it along the ground and said "chugga chugga choo choo!" over and over again. He also ALWAYS says "ho! ho!" It's so funny! That's what his train says...it's a Santa train;)
• Stace started making the train noise with him, and when he stopped Julian said to Stace: "Sing it Dada! Sing it wif me!" (meaning, keep making the train noise! And he was happy when Stace started the train noise back up:)
• He often says to me "hi mama! how ya doin?!" such a polite little fellow;)
• He got a Fisher Price baseball tee from Target last weekend! It may have been the best $16 we've ever spent. He LOVES it!
  
• Last weekend Stace was rocking him and Julian asked him to sing Baby Beluga (or "Baby Yuga" if you're Julian). Stace sang all 3 verses, & then started to just softly hum it. Julian then said "turn it up, Dada! Turn up the music!"
• He likes to say "conductuh say 'aaalll abbooaaaaad!"
• When Ella Grace was fussing last week while they were in the double stroller, Julian leaned forward & tried to give her one of his goldfish & said "here ya go Ella Bwace" so sweet:)
• Last week she was getting fussy while in her swing & he looked up right away, said "oh no!" ran to her, and gave her the train he'd been playing with:)
• With any peep she makes, his mouth drops open & he gets this concerned look on his face and says "oh no!" and will say "Ella Bwace is crying!" or "baby cwying!" and run to her to try & comfort her:)

I sure love my sweet babies!