Missing Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop!

Dad and Mom did a great job of gardening with us while they were down here! These are our new planters on either side of our back porch. :) Didn't they do a great job on them?! :)



Mom and Hannah in the Kitchen making 'The Last Supper' (Which was great by the way!)

Ellie sleeping in her swing chair...

This evening after we took Dad and Mom to the airport, we came home and took Ellie for a walk around the neighborhood. She misses them!! She also can't wait to see the rest of her family!

Morning time with Mommy!

A cute video from Tuesday morning..

Another Doctor Visit

Today we went to the doctors again. WOW what a difference!! We went to University of South Florida campus at Tampa General hospital. Our doctor that came in was a guy, which at first I guess I would have rather had a woman doctor looking after my daughter. However, he blew me away! He was so great with her, was extremely knowledgeable. Talked with us about what we should be expecting over the coming weeks, stuff that looked good about Eliana, things to keep an eye one. Here's something that he told us, that I would have never known, it is normal for a baby to have 8 messy diapers a day, it is also normal for them to only have one messy diaper in a week! (A number 2, that is, a wet diaper should average about the same number of feedings) So yeah, I was very, very impressed with him. Oh, and he also washed his hands, after he entered the room and had touched the dirty door handle. Then when he sat down and typed stuff up on the computer, he washed his hands again before touching Eliana again! We had taken Eliana in because she was getting green goop in her eyes, and it spread from one eye to the other. I don't know the name of it, but I know that you need eye drops to get rid of it. So not only did he take care of her as far as her eyes went, but he checked everything else out as well. VERY impressed!! His name was Danny Lenord for the record, and a special thanks to him for doing a great job!

Back to Work!

So yesterday I came back to work...
It's good to be back, and get stuff done... But not being with Hannah and Eliana isn't fun. I love the time that I am able to spend with her at night. It is so cute to hold her and have her looking up at me just staring with wonder. Wathcing her make all sorts of cute faces!
But, for now, it's back to the grindstone...

Ellie's new chair

Yesterday we went to Burlington Coat Factory. What a huge selection of baby stuff! I never would have guessed that. While we were there we got a couple more swaddling clothes, as we found these to be VERY helpful in putting her to bed. We also got her a swing chair. Man, I don't know how she got a message chair before me, but she did! :) LOL So the chair swings, plays music or nature sounds and vibrates. She LOVES it!! It's so cute to have her watch her in it. :)
Here's a couple more pictures while I'm at it... :)

Baby Dedication.

Today was a great day! We stood in front of the church and asked that God would give us wisdom, strength, and grace in raising our child. We also asked that we may be the example to Eliana of Christ's love, both in discipline and in grace and mercy. It is a great task to train up a child in the way that is right, so that when they are old they will not depart from it. We know that this will not be an easy task. We know that there will be times that we would rather just give in to her will so that we don't have to hear her cry, or set her in front of the electronic babysitter instead of spending time with her. We won't be perfect parents, and we will make mistakes, but I pray that God will be glorified through it all, that he will use the good things and the bad for His perfect plan. Looking down at Eliana as I write this, I hope and pray that when she acts up, or does something 'wrong' that I will give her the grace and mercy that God has shown such a terrible sinner as me. I pray that when she looks up at us that she will see a reflection of Christ, in both Hannah and I.
A wonderful part of the dedication today was to have Hannah's parents here to see this, and to pray over her. Hannah's father was able to share a few words of encouragement, and challenge the new parents to be Godly parents. What a blessing it has been to have them visiting from Delaware! It is great to have the love and support of parents when you're raising a child. I am especially proud of my parents, and the job they did raising me. If you see my father, he has white hair now, and I'm convinced that I gave most of that to him! I know that I didn't make raising me easy, and fought him along the way. But, I am happy that he stayed the course, and was firm with me when he needed to be. He has been a reflection of Christ to me, in his strength and dedication to doing what is right, and raising me up in a Godly household.
Anyway, I better get to sleep now, Eliana is already ahead of me, and I look at her going to sleep like starting a countdown. She'll be awake in a few hours, so i better sleep while I can! :)

Fun with Ellie!

Every day is so much fun with Eliana!

Umbilical cord

Today Eliana's umbilical cord came off! This meant that she was able to get her first real bath!! No more stinky baby. :) LOL

Video of the day!

So a lot of people have been telling me that I need to keep the pics and video's coming, so here's a video. :)

Ellie Time!

Mom Mom and Pop Pop enjoying precious moments with their first granddaughter. Mommy can't get enough of her adorable little angel - esp. when she is wide awake!

Ellie is just too cute for words - we can't get enough of her and all her cute faces and nuances! We have yet to capture her adorable smiles, but we're bound to catch one here real soon with as much footage as we've been taking of her so far:)

Mommy isn't the only one that gets to have fun!

Seeing Eliana sleep makes daddy tired too...

Pop-Pop's Here!

Yesterday late morning, I was able to go and pick up Hannah's Dad from the airport, now known as Pop-Pop. :) It so great having family down to visit!

Also today, I was able to feed Eliana for the first time. That was so cool!

Here's some more pics and video's from today for all of Eliana's fans out there. :) Some of the faces that she makes are soooo funny! :) Enjoy!!

1st Doctors Visit!

So today Eliana had her first doctors appointment. It was a cute office about a 1/4 mile from our house, so I thought we would check it out and see how we liked it. The waiting room had hardwood floors, so it looked real nice, but had nothing to absorb the sound, so it was loud. Everything had a train decor, so it looked cute. However, I didn't see the nurse wash her hands before touching Eliana, and she didn't have gloves on when she pricked her heal to take blood samples. Also, when the doctor came and checked her out, I didn't see him wash his hands either, and he didn't ware gloves. No one seemed to have very good people skills, it was more of a get them in, get them out mentality. So it was good to check out someplace close to our house, but they didn't meet Mommy's or Daddy's standards, so that's the last time she will go there. Oh, and one other thing that I really didn't like, is they didn't tell the truth. I asked about her hepititus b shot that they gave her today, and asked if it was required by state law to give it to her today. They said it was. Well, I could be wrong, and I have been wrong before, but my understanding, and Grandma's understanding is that it is only required by law that she gets it before attending any public school. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a good shot to get, but integrity matters to me. :)

Success!

I am now completely convinced that being a parent changes your outlook on life. It's a little before 5:30 in the morning, and I'm ecstatic that we got about four and a half hours of straight sleep! Eliana feed one last time before we went to bed a little after midnight, and slept soundly till WE woke her up at 5!! If we PDCA (plan, do, check, adjust) this a little more, we should have her sleeping through the night in no time!... I know... wishful thinking! :)

After a good feeding

So tonight she had a really good feeding. Of course with Hannah breast feeding, a good feeding means that she is sore after. It is amazing how peacefull she looks when she falls asleep.

After the feeding, well, you know what comes next... :) So after the good feeding she's relaxed, and then it's time to change her diper. Well I think she's a bit like me, and doesn't like the cold air, 'cause most of the time as soon as that cold air hits her, she starts to fuss! :) LOL

We watched a DVD before she was born called the happiest baby on the block in one of the baby classes that we took. We liked the video so much, that we went out and bought it. In the video, they talk about the 5 S's that will calm a baby down. The first 'S' is Swaddling. This is wrapping her up in a tight blanket, with her arms at her side. This is tight and confining, kind of like being back in the womb. She likes this. The second 'S' is Side. This is holding her like a football, on her side with her head facing out. The Third 'S' is Shushing (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). This is where get up close to her ear and make a shushing sound. This is kind of what it sounds like inside of mommy, so she usually stops crying. This is my favorite technique so far, as it seems to work the best with Eliana. The fourth 'S' is swinging. This is rocking her back and forth, as she swaddled, on her side, and shushing her. The last 'S' is sucking. We haven't gotten to this one yet, as we haven't intoduced a paseafier to her yet. Here's the Shushing techniquie in action.

She can be screaming her head off, and after swaddling her, putting her on her side swinging her back and forth while shushing her, always gets her to stop crying. I have figured out however that if she's hungry, (even though she just fed less than an hour ago), all these techniques will get her to stop crying till you stop shushing her, then she starts again. So, after a couple days of being parents, we still have a lot to learn! :)

So it's Monday! Eliana grace is doing well. Hannah and I are getting used to the new sleep schedule, and the crying baby, but most of the time she is great. The last couple nights she has been a little fussy at about 3 in the morning, so we are going to try to keep her up more during the day, so hopefully she will sleep better at night. We'll see how this works today. Grandma is a huge help. I am so glad that she is able to be here and help out. It makes me feel a lot better knowing that we have a nurse in the house, who can let us know what is normal and what isn't. She has been great teaching us how to give Eliana a bath. Check out her first hair washing!

I will try to keep posting on this new blog, so that everyone can keep up to date on what is happening in our world, whenever they want. Now all I got to do is teach Hannah how to post on here and we'll be all set! :)

Coming Home!

At about 11:30 on May 16th, 2009 Mommy and Eliana were able to come home from the hospital!

New Member of the Family!

On May 14, 2009, Eliana Grace Crosby entered the world. She weighed 7lbs 3.3 ounces, and was 20 inches long.

The Begining

About 4pm on the 13th of May Hannah began to go into labor. She labored at home till about 9:00pm when her contractions were about 3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. So we took her to the hospital to see if she had dialated enough to be admited. They checked her out and said that she was four centimeters dialated and about 90% effaced, getting her a ticket into a labor and delivery room. They said this was really good for first time mom's to be admitted on their first visit, most of the time they aren't dialated enough. :)