My little Emmanuel Lewis?

My brother always tells me that Ella looks like Emmauel Lewis. Truth be told I'd be lying if I didn't say I can see a few similarities. Maybe she is destined for stardom! 

 

An uneventful ER trip

On Saturday I could tell Ella wasn't feeling well. She was a little bit warm, had some diarrhea. All in all not that big of a deal. That night was my nieces super hero birthday party, so off we went. Once we got to my brother's house she was on fire. She was super warm and her cheeks turned bright red. She was so uncomfortable. I gave her some Tylenol and she remained hot and became inconsolable. She just wouldn't calm down and normally she is such a good baby. So I finally decided she better be seen. I thought she probably had an ear infection. It was a Saturday night. I really had no other option than just to go to the ER. To make a long story short once we got there she smiled at all of the nurses her fever was close to gone (because of the Tylenol) so I looked dumb, was told she had a virus and we went home. Sigh.

She did look cute with her red cheeks though!

Witches breakfast & Pumkin carving

My nieces bithday was on Monday when Ella was in the hospital. I also didn't know at the time I would be taking Ella to the ER during her party (story for later) Luckily I took her to witches breakfast at Gardner Villiage. She is a cute kid.

Later we went shopping and carved pumpins. Ella helped be sleeping and not bothering us while our hands were covered in guts!

The finished products

Quins Spiderman, Laura (my sis-in-law's Bat)

Mommy and Ella

Luxie's Monster High

Cute voice

This child of mine



before



Tonight I find myself asking... Why does my child keep trying to die? Ellas tubes were WAY more eventful than anyone would have liked. Her ENT said she did great getting the tubes, it took 10 minutes, she had an infection on the left (I thought so!)... then she stopped breathing, and had to be intubated. Once they thought she was okay they extubated her and she yet again stopped breathing and had a severe laryngospam (which closes the airway) eventually they got her re-intubated etc. etc. and after almost 2 hours she finally came out of the OR. During this time they discovered that Ella's airway is TINY. Much smaller than it should be, Dr. Meier also questions whether she has some type of lung disease so we will be seeing a pulmonogist for all of that. Overnight we had more fun and had "abnormal cardiac tracings" so we spent the day with cardiology. Everything turned out fine with that. We are now home, Ella is doing just fine. I need a drink.

after

Happy Birthday Lulu

To my darling, spunky, unique, and loving little Lulu Happy 5th Birthday my princess. Ella is so lucky to have a wonderful cousin like you!

more pictures

soaking her head in baby oil. Cradle cap is my arch enemy!

still loves her baths

I love her profile!

5 months

Where has the time gone? My little beauty is 5 months old! She is getting very vocal and so smiley. She will now put her feet down to stand up. She is a wonderful baby. She is rarely fussy and basically sleeps through the night. She does usually wake up for a bottle around 5 am then will go back to sleep until around 9-10am. I adore her. As much as I would like her to stay little I have to admit she gets more fun everyday. I don't have new measurements but last I heard she was 9 pounds 10 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. She still wears some of her newborn clothes especially pajamas and onsies. I usually use 0-3 month size clothes. My favorite thing to do is rock her and sing to her. She smiles and tries to join in. She gets her tubes on Monday (my singing may not be so great once she can hear it better!!). I love her. I know I am not biased, she is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.

December 19, 2011

she is mine in a way that she will never be theirs, yet she is theirs in a way that she will never be mine...

Decemeber 19, 2011

Judia Wilson W.

will forever become

Ella Nicole Olson

Updates

Today we went and got surgical opinion #3 from Dr. Meier. He was GREAT! I love him! He will be putting tubes in on Monday. We will be leaving her adenoids alone for another year or so. While we were in the office they did a weight and length. Being a NICU parent makes you obsess about such things because previously that information was always current, up-to-date and available. Now I never know. She is a total fatty! She weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces (up from 8.3 a little less than a month ago) and she is 20 inches long (up from 18). She is doing great. She is trying so hard to "talk". I can only imagine it will explode after she is hearing better!
She looked so cute today. She had a onsie with a tutu attached to it. I was just about to take her picture and then I smelled her and decided to change her first. Guess what? It is really difficult to change a diaper with tutu lace everywhere. Needless to say I got poo everywhere. So after a nice bath ...

Couldn't be cuter, even with her tutu!

Pumpkin Patch

Last week my SWAC (single mothers adopting children) group went to a pumpkin patch then back to one of the gals houses for dinner. This group of ladies is WONDERFUL and an invaluable resource for me. Great women, great kids, and always great fun (so long as the kids don't play pinata with a wasp nest!) We got a few pumpkins. I have never been to thrilled to carve them, likely because that means gutting them but I am going to give it a try this year. I'll have to post pics once they're done.

*these pictures were pirated from a variety of wonderful paparatzi. I believe Leanne and Joy!

A year of things to remember and things to forget

I just had my last post-placement visit from my social worker. The only thing we have left to do now is wait. As soon as the Florida courts have everything all things are a go for our court date and finalization. The adoption process will end and she will just be mine forever. We will be finished all of the hassels and formalities of her adoption (with the exception of udpdates) forever. I find the timing ironic because it was 364 days ago that I made the first official call to the adoption agency to be assigned a social worker. This last year has been a hard year. A year filled with emotions of grief, sadness, fear, impatients and of course elation. Our adoption journey was really relatively smooth. I have loved everyone I worked with and plan to use them for my next adoption.
Someday.

big girl

My little one is getting so big! Today I finally put her Guardian Angel Adoption shirt on and took some pictures.

big things

this last week Ella has made some great strides. She now socially smiles, and is "talking" this of course means to me that she must be hearing better. I am currently trying to transition her into her own bed. So far it isn't working well, but I do love my new video monitor!