Meeting Grandma

Ella and I made our first trip home to Farmington this week. Thankfully, she did great on the trip. I fed her just before leaving, then we stopped at my sister's and ate again, and she slept the whole way.

On Tuesday, we made the rounds and went to see Ella's Great Grandma (Granny Nell) and Great Great Grandma (Grandma Rowe). Both of them cooed over her and said how beautiful she is.

Ella and Grandma Rowe

Max, Ella, and Grandma Rowe

Max, Grandma Rowe, Ella, and Ellie.

Three of Grandma's twenty-two great great grandchildren.

Grandma is 96 years young, and we feel so blessed to have her. She is such a wonderful grandma. When I was a kid, we used to love to go to Grandma's and play in her sandbox and run in her huge backyard. She always had strawberry soda and ice cream. She still does.

Mommy's Little Piggy

Today is Ella's 2 week birthday. It has been wonderfully uneventful. She is still trying to decide how she likes things. We change sleeping places and positions and times every day. Sometimes she eats fast, sometimes slow. She certainly keeps her mommy guessing. Our biggest news is just how big our girl is now. 2 weeks ago, she weighed 5 lbs 9 oz. We went to the doctor yesterday, and she weighed, get ready for this, 6 lbs 10 oz. That's right. She's done more than just catch up to her birth weight in the first 2 weeks - she's gained a pound. I'm not kidding when I say she's a good eater. We think she may even be working on some chubby cheeks.

Cousins

This is Ella with her cousin Max in a picture I stole from The Freeds' blog. In this picture, he is 5 weeks, and she is 3 days. It is somewhat deceiving since she's all curled up. But his 10 1/2 lbs compared to her 5 1/2 is pretty impressive.

Bringing Home Baby

In the hospital just before we came home.

The 10 minute trip home from the hospital will really take it out of a girl.

And out of a daddy.

Can you tell that Nathan is completely enamored?

This is pretty much what she does. Her wakeful times consist of about 5 minutes after she eats if she makes it that long. Most of the time, she falls asleep while eating.

Ella Grace Hesemann

Our little angel made her debut on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 9:40 pm. 5 lbs 1 oz, 18 inches.

She was wide awake and very calm as soon as she was born.

This is what happens in the nursery when your daddy is a doctor.

This is what happens in the nursery when your daddy is an eye doctor.

My mom was video taping all of this from behind the glass. When the nurse brought out the tape measure, the grandpas were joking about how it looks like the conservation tapes for measuring fish. She measured in right at 18 inches, to which they both said, "She's a keeper." It's pretty funny on the video.

Overall, we're doing well. We're all adjusting to each other and trying to get into a routine. I've been a pretty nervous mommy so far and really thankful to have my mom here to help me. I don't know how people bring babies home without having help.

We really feel blessed that Ella is doing so well. We didn't mention it to a lot of people before, but we knew for a while that she would be very small and at risk for complications. We and lots of people around us have been praying very hard, and our prayers have definitely been answered. So far, she's acting very much like a normal baby, just small. She is very strong and has great head control as if she's telling us all that we worried for nothing. Somehow, I don't think the worrying will stop anytime soon, though.