Week 8 - The Best Week EVER!

Where to begin, where to begin? So, this was simply the best week ever... so far. I know that is saying a lot but it's not hyperbole. Earlier in the week, Meredith and I were discussing what our next blog entry would be and then Tuesday night happened. I had worked two particularly long days on Monday and Tuesday and was just unable to take my regular nine to midnight shift and let Meredith go to bed. Instead, Meredith, goddess she is, let me off the hook and go to bed around 10. She then stayed up with the baby until the midnight feeding. I allowed guilt to consume me for the time it took me to brush my teeth, then I was out. Little did either of us know then that the most exciting event to date in Ellie's life was about to occur -

Two words: Six hours.

That's right, our little sweet pea blew right on past the four hour mark, right on past the five hour mark and slept for SIX HOURS! I don't really know if I can explain how exciting this was. And if you think I was happy, the only reason I'm writing this week is because Meredith is still bouncing off the walls.

At this point you may be saying to yourself, 'okay, that's great, but I hardly think it is worthy of best week ever status.' And you'd be right, however, I have not told you about Wednesday night yet. On Wednesday night, Oma and Opa Wolfe were up and took Ellie to let us get a few extra winks together. Unfortunately, Ellie was only able to last two or two and a half hours before Oma brought her up to Meredith for a feeding. Mer fed her and Elise went to bed and slept for five hours... this is nice and has become pretty standard (she sleeps for 4-5 hours overnight.) However, rather than going back to sleep for a simple three more hours, she slept for FOUR MORE HOURS! Meredith got a total (although interrupted) nine hours of sleep.

I know you're saying to yourselves... with so much sleep what did you do with yourselves. But wait... do you know what happened on Thursday night? Go ahead guess. SEVEN HOURS!!!!!!!
Let me shout it from the rooftops... SEVEN HOURS! MY BABY SLEPT FROM 12:30 AM - until 7:30 AM! HALLELUJAH! Birds were singing, the sun was shining and Meredith woke up, looked at me and she was actually giddy with glee. Have you ever seen a new mother giddy with glee? It's really cool.

We know that this could change at any moment and are not taking anything for granted. And it might have something to do with her reaching the two month mark on Friday, or maybe it's the change in Mer's diet (see previous entry) or maybe it's just dumb luck. But the fact is, when we had reached our most tired, my most exhausted, Mother Nature comes through and Ol' Blueberry Eyes (I'll explain this later) sleeps for six and seven hours. We can function on that kind of sleep and as the real bonus, my soul mate, the woman who gives literally everything of herself everyday to this little creature, who has been nurturing not just this little life, but also her cranky husband was given this gift of continuous sleep. So you see... for everyone involved this was the BEST WEEK EVER!



By the way, the Ol' Blueberry Eyes thing... Ellie is my little blueberry. Strange nickname - I know, but the other morning, Meredith and I were eating breakfast and munching on some blueberries. I picked one up while I was holding Ellie I noticed, her eyes are exactly the color of blueberries. I never said it was a creative nickname... but its been sticking.




Now, it's not all good. despite all the good stuff, Ellie has developed cradle cap. Basically, the eczema that she had on other parts of her body have cleared up, and unfortunately moved to her scalp. Frankly if that is the worst thing we have to deal with, I'll take it. She's not nearly as fussy as she was and she's smiling a ton more, so if we have to trade off, then everything is okay.

Lastly, this week also brought us, Aunt Amy and Uncle Lief from San Diego. It was so good to see them. They of course fell immediately in love with her and she is going to form a very special bond with them. Amy took more pictures in two days than we have in two months. It was great seeing them and we look forward to them moving back east as soon as they can.

That's it. I'm hoping that next week can also be titled, the best week ever... but with Ellie in our lives, how could it not.
((group moan))


This post is dedicated to our little sweet cat, Gigi who died last Thursday. She was old and after we had resuced her we tried to give her a more comfortable life. She went peacefully and I think that is all any of us could want.