I love my baby.

3 Weeks!

Time is a funny thing. Sometimes, it seems to drag by at a snail's pace, while at others it passes so fast that you hardly have time to blink. Strangest, though, is when it does both at the same time. It doesn't feel like it's been 3 weeks since Elora was delivered into our lives, but it has been. The days are going by so quickly! And yet, it feels as if Elora has always been here. It's weird.

In 3 weeks, Elora has gained more than a pound and a half, and is 3/4" taller (longer?) than she was when she was born. She's experienced her first Easter, gone for her first walk (I did all the actual walking), had her first doctor's check up. A lot can happen in just 3 weeks.

This picture is from our Easter stroll around Hildrizhausen. It silly that it's taken us this long to finally get out and explore our town, but we finally did it. Easter Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day for a walk. We put Elora into her little harness, and just went. I'm hoping that it will become a common occurrence, when the weather is nice anyway. We went again on Monday, and hopefully it will be nice enough for us to go tomorrow. We have a stroller now, so it should be even better.

Her visit to the doctor's yesterday went well, but it was nerve wracking for me and painful for her. In addition to all the normal check up stuff that I was expecting, they also did a hearing test, a PKU (heel prick), and a vitamin K shot. The hearing test was simply unpleasant; she fussed and squirmed and it took them 3 or 4 tries to get the results she needed. But who could blame her? They kept sticking this metal probe in her ear and playing (what I assume were) annoying noises. The heel prick was the worst, though I think she screamed louder for the shot. At least the shot was brief. For the PKU, though, the lab tech had to squeeze enough blood out of her pricked heel to cover 4 dime-sized circles on this special paper. She screamed her poor little head off the whole time. At least she conked right out between torture sessions. I guess all that screaming wore her out? Anyway, I hated the whole affair.

After we left the clinic, we walked over to The Shop to visit with everyone there. It was great to sit and relax with friends after the stress of the morning. Elora just snoozed the whole time, completely oblivious to the people passing her around and fawning over her. I was actually there Thursday as well (I really just can't stay away) and I snapped quite a few photos over the two visits. I haven't managed to see everyone there yet, but I'm working on it.

'Stuff' Revisited

I just had to go back and do more with those 4 photos of Elora that I used before, now that I have a greater arsenal of digi-scrap materials at my disposal. I like this one a lot better than either of the last 2 pages I've done. And I should, since I spent way more time on it! I think I might actually print this one... ^_^ Now, I'm thinking I need to get started designing Elora's birth announcements...

Ok, I'm learning, I'm learning!

My first foray into the world of the Shabby Princess was magical! So many wonderful digi scrap kits! Kelly sent me to check out the site, shabbyprincess.com and I simply fell in love. I've heard the name thrown around both the shop and the blogosphere quite a bit, but I never knew what they were talking about (uninitiated as I was). Well, now I do, and now I'm hooked! I've already downloaded two scrap kits, though I've only gotten to play with one of them. This isn't my best work ever--the colors kind of blur together so it doesn't really pop--but I'm learning, and the learning process is fun. Stay tuned for future experiments!

2 Weeks, and Stuff.

After 2 weeks of motherhood, I find that I'm amazed by everything these days. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, but I am just astounded by every little thing. Like, the number of diapers we are going through. It's crazy! More than 80 diapers in just 11 days. Don't ask me about the wipes, though, because I just have no idea.

Ok, in all seriousness, being a mother is truly amazing. The joys and frustrations that I have experienced in the past two weeks are unlike anything I've experienced before. And the craziest thing is, the joys and frustrations are almost always two sides of the same coin. Nursing, for example, can be wonderful. It is a great joy to watch her nurse contentedly, when the process is working as it should. But when it isn't, then we both usually end up frustrated and soaked in milk. And it is a joy to watch her sleep, and a joy to play with her when she's awake. But it's frustrating when she sleeps too long (maily because I worry about whether I should wake her to eat or not) and really frustrating when she won't go to sleep in the middle of the night or when I'm trying to help fix dinner. So, everything is all wrapped up together, the joys and frustrations inseparably twined. It's crazy and it's wonderful and I love it.

As far as updates go, here is the scoop: we are both doing exceptionally well. The doctor took my stitches out on Thursday--I'm healing up nicely. It still hurts a little bit if I cough or sneeze, but otherwise I feel pretty much back to normal. I'm still taking it easy, though. I'm not lifting anything heavier than Elora in her car seat, and I'm resting often. Also, I'm already back to my pre-pregnancy weight, which is awesome. (Now I just need to re coop my pre-pregnancy shape, and I'll be good to go. But don't worry, I won't try to start any exercise regime until the doctor gives me the all clear.) Brandon is still wonderful. I've taken to calling him "super dad" because, well, that's what he is. It's obvious that he's just as in love with our daughter and amazed by parenthood as I am. I find myself falling more and more in love with him. It's crazy to think now that before I'd feared that Elora's birth would affect our relationship in a negative way. We're closer than ever, and I still couldn't be happier.

Brandon and I have been wading through all the paper work associated with having a new baby since before we were discharged from the hospital. We've made 3 separate trips, now, to Panzer, trying to get everything taken care of. We finally got her enrolled in Tricare (our insurance) today, and that was the big one for me. Now, I can call tomorrow (they told me I had to wait until then) and make the appointment for her first well-baby check up. Hopefully they will be able to get us in during the recommended window for her first check up. (I'll be sending out the next update after this appointment, whenever it ends up being.) Everything else really is just paperwork, and so long as it gets done, I'm not stressing over it. I have better things to do. :)

I haven't been doing anything crafty since Elora's arrival, mainly because I've been sleeping, or at least stretched out reading, during my down time. But I have been taking pictures, and today, I finally sucked it up and bought the full version of Photoshop Elements. I spent way longer playing with it than I should have this evening, but I couldn't help it. First I was just touching up all my photos with the quick edit feature, and then I decided to try and play more with the digital scrapping thing... I found this website with a lot of free digi papers and alphabets and such, which was great. I used 2 of the papers I downloaded from them to make the page I have up top. It's still really basic, but I'm learning. I'll have to play some more tomorrow...

Baby Toes

I am so totally in love with my new baby girl. My entire existence has come to revolve around this tiny little person that I never knew I couldn't live without. I know that life will eventually settle back into a normal groove, although one that is substantially altered from what it was. For now, though, I am just completely enamored of my daughter. Everything about her, from her expressive little face to her tiny little monkey toes, amazes me. (I can foresee many Elora-based posts in the future...I hope I don't bore you all with my new obsession!) I've been taking more pictures; if you'd like to see them I've posted them here.

Introducing Elora Marie Gager

She's here! Little Elora was born at 8:53 in the morning on March 23, 2009. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and was 19.5" long. She's incredibly healthy... her Apgar score was all perfect 10's, and she's already putting on weight just like she should. (We were able to start nursing her right away, and that has been going really well.) The pediatrician who examined her for discharge said that she's just perfect, and I couldn't be happier about it. :)

As promised, here are the pictures that we have of Elora, so far. Thank you so much to Corinnea, Kelly and Kara for stopping by to see us! And, thank you for posting some pictures so everyone didn't have to wait for me to get home. (I will, of course, be wanting copies of all the pictures that you took. ^_^ )

There is so much more that I could say --I am so excited and overwhelmed and happy!-- but it will have to wait. I'm still so tired! We're home now, and we are both still doing very well (Brandon has been absolutely amazing, taking such great care of us I know he is just as tired as I am) and I'm super happy to be here. The guys that Bran works with have gotten together to bring us dinner every night until Tuesday, which is an incredible blessing, since we both have our hands pretty full...me with the baby and Brandon with the both of us. I'll try to post again soon, if nothing else I know I will have new pictures to share.