Four Weeks, and ... Just Going

Happy 4 weeks, Ella!  We thought we'd do a quick overview of Ella at 4 weeks old:

• Baby Ella loves cuddles (that also means she hates to sleep when she's not being held)
• Can hold head up when she has tummy time
• Everyone says she's the poster child for newborn babies
• She doesn't scream all the time, but can't smile yet
• Has a VERY full head of hair
• She loves the "swaddle-majig"

Daniel went back to work full-time this week.  The Relief Society brought us food, which was awesome (it tasted good and vas very helpful).  My visiting teacher came by every day for a little while to work on burp cloths.  The doctor says that Ella is growing just like she should be.  Ella tried really hard to meet her 7 oz gain this week and succeeded.

What Nobody Tells First-Time-Dad

So Elissa made a post last week about what nobody tells you as a first-time parent, but it was pretty skewed toward the 'mother' experience.  I figured I should make my own list:

1. You'll need to be patient before baby will do more than cry, poop, and eat.  But you would be surprised how cute they are even then.  I mean, seriously, check these out: Baby & Bear, Just Chilling, Dad & Baby(apparently she had a question :P ), The Ella-rrito (loosely packed this time).

2. If mom's breastfeeding, then you're really not all that useful compared to mom. Deal with it. But that doesn't mean mom doesn't want/need you around for those moments when she feels overwhelmed or you can actually be helpful.

3. Even if mom says you can sleep all night, your baby may have a different plan in mind. Believe me, I'm a heavy sleeper, but a baby's cry is quite good at waking people up.  Also, unless mom is incredibly skilled she'll need light to figure out that feeding thing (and if you're feeling helpful once you're up, you might as well help burp & change a diaper).

4. Make sure you try to spend time with your baby -- you can't bond if all you do is hear them scream. Holding babies is pretty good weight training too -- they get bigger as you get stronger. Also, apparently women find husbands spending time with babies incredibly attractive.

5. You're probably going to feel inexplicably tired, and you DON'T have hormones to blame like your wife. At these times, it's good to look at people around you who have babies and aren't always tired -- it'll remind you that some day you'll figure it out.

6. You'll need to be prepared for a lot of excitement over things that sound (and actually are) pretty gross. I still don't get it. I understand that we expect these gross things, but being excited about it just seems strange. I mean, seriously: "Oh, baby just pooped all over in the diaper and it was this gross color and consistency, which is exactly what I always wanted!!!" (exaggeration of course).

7. Everyone's going to ask you how things are going. If you're anything like me, you'll have no idea what to tell them. Just say something, and if it's crazy, they'll probably figure you need more sleep, or, they'll think you're amazing for being able to take care of a wife and baby, AND still have social skills and/or wit.

8. Since mom is sleep-deprived and constantly attached to baby, you're going to have to do all the things she normally did around the house (or do without). Your list may or may not contain: laundry; filling/starting a dishwasher, doing the dishes that don't fit; sweeping, mopping, vacuuming; cooking meals; cleaning (not that I don't usually do SOME of those tasks, but doing all of them is a big job).

9. If you're like us, something will break around the house, making regular tasks take even longer. For us, it was the kitchen sink drain, which is attached to both sinks, the disposal, and the dishwasher. This meant that if we didn't want to have water spewing all over the kitchen floor and cupboards, we had to do our dishes elsewhere. It turns out that in most modern houses, this is incredibly inconvenient, but kind of a fun adventure (once).

10. Even after just a couple weeks, it's easy to see that it get's much easier as time goes by. You've just started something great. Even if you don't feel like it's rewarding now, I am assured that it is the most rewarding thing you could ever pursue, and from the parents I know it seems pretty true, even if it doesn't always seem logical.

What Nobody Tells You

So, I'm all for keeping it real, so here is my blog post of the things that people never tell you (or at least didn't tell me) to expect from the first 2 weeks of your baby's life.

1) Your life will now revolve around baby eating. I know they say "about every 2 hours," what they don't tell you is that you will be latching and feeding and cleaning for a half hour to an hour of that 2 hours, and the rest of the time your chest is just sore! You will never get away! (well, not in the first couple of weeks anyway.)

2) You will see your husband in a whole new light. My husband is even more awesome in my eyes now, as unbelievable as it seems. He takes such good care of baby and me. Along with going to work for a few hours every day, he sets up our nursing cocoon upstairs, holds the fussy baby, makes dinner, and gets basically anything I need. He manages to do all this without complaining, and while being handsome. Basically he is my super husband! (Happy Anniversary, by the way )

3) You will stare at and worry more about poop in these two weeks than you ever have in your entire life. You are going to say: "Where is that poop?" "How can she make so much poop?" "Is that yellow or green poop?"

4) You are going to wish baby had some other way of communicating than noises that all sound like crying. We definitely looked up how long it will be before we get smiles and coos. For now, the best thing you can get is sleepy eyes.

5) You will probably panic at least once. That is totally normal. Apparently, that panicking thing is going to be normal from now on.

6) And after all of that, you still love this baby and want to take care of it.

And now for what you've all been waiting for, more baby pictures:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4

These are the Adventures of the Starship Larsen

Our mission, to keep everybody alive and happy -- to boldly do what none of us have done before!

Okay so baby Ella's entrance into the world wasn't cool like this, Star Trek the Next Generation theme song, her entrance to the world was pretty epic (Daniel might tell you that he thought he entered a strange new world where things called "bloody show" are good, along with poop and crying.)

Fortunately for all of us, Daniel got good pictures to share! (because some of us were busy doing other things at the time)

Came into the World Screaming ( We wanted a singer, and now we know she has the equipment!)

All Cleaned Up and Happy 1
All Cleaned Up and Happy 2

Ready to go Home ( and to try out some new clothes!)
Mommy Making Faces

*By the way, if you're reading this blog, you're friends or family of Daniel or Elissa, and you don't have access to the pictures but would like to, send us your email so we can share them with you!  (We just don't want creep-faces having easy access to pictures of our cute little girl)

Ella's Here!

Yesterday, Eleanor Anne Larsen joined our family! We're very excited for her to be a part of our family!
She was born 7 lb 6 oz and 18 1/4", and cutest little baby girl ever (since of course we're not biased witnesses).
Here are a couple pictures:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

Ice Cream Maker and Other Diversions

So, a few weeks ago you heard about our ice cream maker mix up. Don't worry, it has all be solved now, and we have tried out our new toy! To see the ice cream maker go here:
Ice Cream Maker

So you fill up one end with the cream mixture and the other with ice and salt. Then you roll it, or shake it. If it is full, this takes about 30-40 minutes. Now after our first adventure my arms were starting to get really sore, as you can imagine. Then I realized that this ball we were rolling and shaking was the weight of the baby inside of me. No wonder I'm tired all the time!

All in all, we like our new toy. Our only issues are that we wish it came with a scraper. You aren't supposed to use metal to get the ice cream off the sides BUT we don't have any utensils in the kitchen that are the right shape and hardiness to get the ice cream off the sides without a little hassle. We are thinking of running to the fancy cooking store to see if they sell something that would work for our application. (supposedly a thin wooden spoon works nicely, we'll have to see)

We have been busy trying to keep ourselves entertained, but not too far from home. (You know, just in case. . . ) We went out for Mexican food and to the game store last week. I've been feeling big and sore this week, so we have done lots of things that can be done from the couch. (TV, and card games mostly)

A Real Piano!

Well, it's not often lately that we have exciting news that isn't related to the baby, but this is exciting for me:  we got a real live piano (instead of the keyboard I've been using since high school)!

For those of you who know about different types of pianos, yes, it's a spinet piano (a Baldwin Aerosonic).  I've always just judged pianos by how they sound and feel, but apparently according to some people on the internet, spinet pianos are a form of child abuse.  Apparently this particular piano escapes the intense criticism sometimes.

Honestly though, who cares -- it's a real piano, I like the sound and feel, and it means that I don't have to wait until I'm old to play on something other than a keyboard.