Meet Ellie

Now that you've read her birth story, let me introduce you to the little lady herself!

How did you come up with her name?

Choosing her name was a 9 month debacle in our house. We fluctuated between 10 different names on a daily basis. One day, we would love the name. The next day, one or both of us hated it. It was like a roller coaster relationship. Lots of ups and downs. 

Ellie was on our list for Brinley. It has always been a front runner. We couldn't decide however to name her Elizabeth (a big time family name on both sides) and end up calling her Ellie, or just straight up name her Ellie. I figured, if we plan on calling her Ellie anyways, lets just go straight to Ellie and skip the confusion. Done Deal.

But now for a middle name.

It is no lie that Ryan and I both love the city Charlotte. Well, turns out we both really love the name Charlotte as well. Of course I thought I was the logical one and said no right away for the first name. This is where the big debacle comes in. Ryan fought tooth and nail for Ellie to be named Charlotte, but I figured, if my parents live in Charlotte, and YOUR parents live in Charlotte, and WE want to LIVE in  Charlotte....isn't that too much if the poor girl is also named Charlotte? I sold him with that one. Finally, one night we were getting down to the nitty gritty and decided to write down names. I wrote down Ellie. And then Ryan joked and said Charlotte? Then it hit me. Use both names! Ellie Charlotte! As I said it, we both knew it was a homerun name.

Batta bing. Batta boom. 

and again with Brinley, when we saw the little lady for the first time, we both smiled and confirmed,
Her name is totally Ellie Charlotte. 

cuddles with Daddy

She is now a week old and has proved herself already to be a rockstar baby. She has the sweetest little personality. The only time she has been upset has of course been with not eating fast enough and often enough. This girl loves to eat! I borrowed a pump from a friend to take the edge off and prevent getting engorged and it has been heaven sent. I have pumped 4 packs of 6 ounces already which have been put way into the freezer to build my stock pile. We don't plan on introducing a bottle for awhile, but it is nice that if something happens, we can thaw that milk and Ellie will be taken care of. 

milk druuuuunk 

Nursing the second time around has been great. I was worried that I wouldn't get a handle on it, but it all came back to me when we got started for the first time. I was having a hard time though with the hold because of the pressure on my incision, so I called the lactation consultant when we were in the hospital. She was an angel! She labeled me her "expert breastfeeding mama" to a new nurse that was walking around with her one afternoon. Which made me laugh because I'm no expert!! She taught me how to do the football hold and it has been perfect for me. No pressure on my incision, and Ellie seemed to really like it as well.

Game Day! Go FSU!

Ellie is definitely the average newborn! Sleeps 16+ hours a day. Poops a million times a day. Nurses every 2-3 hours. She is so precious. Each day she is opening her eyes for longer periods of time and just looks around. It is fun to see her personality blossom. She has been a pretty good sleeper at night so far. We had two really good nights when she only woke up once. The other night, she spent 3 hours grunting which kept me up. Then she fiiiinally pooped and was quiet until 7:30am.

You may have noticed that her hair is totally RED! We loooove it. It is a coppery red and it has been lightening up everyday. There is red on both sides of the family, and I have noticed that my hair has turned more red as I've gotten older. Ryan and I think she is going to go blonde. We have noticed that she has also found her hair. Brinley was about this age when she started to touch her hair, which we all know is her favorite thing-twirling her hair. It is hilarious to watch Ellie touch her hair! I will laugh so hard if she becomes a hair twirler as well.

cuddles with Mama

We just love this little girl so much! I have been spoiled to have my Mom here for a week and now my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are here for a week. I have only had 6 hours of "being a mother of 2" so I'm not really sure how I will be after they leave. Ellie is such a sweet little baby and I am excited to see her grow!

Chubby neck roll