Spring has sprung in The Big D!

Dallas is a wonderful town!  We have so enjoyed living here over the past two years.  We always said if our family and GA friends were closer, we would have definitely stayed here.  We are officially down to our last 3 months here.  It's hard to believe that in three short months, Brent will not be a "student" for the first time in 23 years and will finally be a pediatric dentist (yay)!  I couldn't be more proud of him.  He has really devoted himself to achieving his dream of becoming a pediatric dentist and knowing that the end is near is all the more exciting!  So, the count down is on...Brent is finished with school June 24th!!  While our time here dwindles down, we have dedicated ourselves to doing all things Dallas--at least the things you can do with a baby!


We are members of the Dallas Arboretum which is Dallas' botanical gardens and it just so happens to be right across the street from our neighborhood. This place is incredibly beautiful.  My Junior League placement last year was volunteering in the Arboretum Gift Shop--60 hrs. of volunteer work to be exact-so I learned a lot of facts about it.  Fact #1: The tulip blooms last from the beginning of March through April and are absolutely breath taking.  Fact #2: People from around the world come to The Dallas Arboretum just to see the blooms. I met people visiting from Sweden, Africa, China...you name it.  Fact #3: The Dallas blooms are among the top ten best blooms in the world!!  It's just a really awesome Dallas attraction.


Well, we took Miss Ella to the Dallas blooms last Wednesday.  Every flower was in bloom, the weather was warm, Spring was in the air--but, Ella was not feeling so sunny.  She cried on and off the whole time....she didn't want to be in the stroller; she wanted to be held.  She was fussy and we were a little bummed.  We did tour most the garden and got to see some gorgeous flower gardens.  When Ella wasn't crying, the brilliant color of the flowers caught her eye and she enjoyed looking at them.  We didn't get too many pictures--but I'm going to post the ones we did get.  Please look past the sourpuss frown on Ella's face.  You'll be happy to know she was fine once we got home...I guess the pretty flowers were a little over stimulating for her.  Who knows!  But, she can say that she's been to the Dallas Blooms and we will have some funny pictures to prove it to her when she's older!  We are going to try to go back again before they are over.  Maybe next time she will enjoy herself a little more (and we can get better pictures).  If you are ever in Dallas during March or April, I strongly recommend that you stop by the Arboretum.  It's definitely worth your time.  Hope you are having a "blooming" good spring and enjoying the beautiful weather!  We are determined to make our last few months in Dallas memorable ones...it's always great to spend spring in The Big D!!

At lunch...starting to get a little grumpy...wouldn't smile

A little happier...didn't want to look at the camera!

In front of the tulip blooms...she's just not a
happy camper now!!

Headband was thrown off...guess she didn't want to wear it!

Gorgeous tulip blooms!

One of the gardens

Another garden...don't know the random man

Daffodils, Dogwood, and Azaleas

It's been a while

Hello!  It's been a while!!  March has been a busy month at the Herrin house--busy in a great way!  We took a week long trip to GA and had two of my dearest friends visit this past weekend (a blog entry about the weekend is soon to come).  We also went to the blooms at the Dallas Arboretum and had family photos on Sunday!  We have found that the more Ella is on the go and the more people that are making over her, the better her colic is!  Ella loves to be held so much that we literally can't put her down or she hysterically cries.  This makes day to day life when it's just the two of us a little less productive then we'd like.  The doctor says we can't let her "cry it out" until she is four months old...so we have no choice but to pick her up when she gets too upset.  I keep saying to myself, "Before we know it, she won't be a baby anymore--just hold her and enjoy this time."  So that's what we've been doing.  We left her in her swing last night while I made dinner and Brent tried to study for boards.  All of the sudden, we heard the most pitiful little cry...it was Ella and she was lonely.  As soon as Brent picked her up, she was as happy as she could be.  She just loves to be cuddled and held--she's a sweetie!


Here's a brief recap of our trip to GA:  Our trip to Georgia was great!!  It also marked Ella's first plane ride.  She did an excellent job on the flight there and the flight back.  She didn't cry at all and slept very peacefully.  We landed in Savannah, GA where the first leg of our trip began.  For those of you who don't know, Brent will be associating with a wonderful pediatric dentistry group in Savannah this summer.  We will be making the move from Dallas to Savannah in June.  We stayed at Si and Suzanne McCaslins' beautiful historic home in downtown Savannah.  Si is one of the dentists in the practice.  They were so gracious to have us stay.  We had a lovely visit the McCaslins, their daughter Carey and her wonderful family, and the other dentists in the group.  It was so great to see everyone and it made us very excited about all the wonderful things to come.  We truly feel blessed.


Ella and I left Savannah while Brent stayed to work in the practice until Thursday.  We had a wonderful visit to Dublin, GA.  That is where her Mimi and Papa (Brent's parents live).  They had an adorable nursery set up just for her!  Ella doesn't have her own nursery space here in Dallas, so it was really wonderful to see a little nursery created just for her.  It was super cute!  She also got to meet many of their wonderful friends which was really special.  Ella had a fabulous time getting all her Mimi and Papa's attention.  Ella left Dublin feeling very loved and with some adorable outfits her Mimi picked out for her.


Next, we headed to Roswell to see Nana and Uncle J (my mom and brother).  It was a great visit.  Ella got to visit our neighborhood park on a beautiful, spring day.  I spent many days playing there while growing up.  It was surreal that I was now bringing my daughter there.  Time really does fly so fast.  Ella got to meet her great aunt and uncle and so many wonderful  Roswell friends that have been special to me for a long time.  It was great to introduce her to everyone.  Nana and Uncle J enjoyed every minute they got to spend with her.  Ella "talked" up a storm and enjoyed playing with both of them.  She loved spending time with them.


Ella also got to meet my Dad.  We met him for lunch at PF Changs (yummy).  He brought Ella an adorable owl stuffed animal.  He enjoyed holding her and got lots of pictures.  I was really glad they got to meet.  It's times like these I really wish he was still living at home and not missing out on family time especially now that Ella is in the picture.  But, I can't change it, so I have to be content that Ella got to spend some time getting to know him.  I know he was excited to spend time with her too.


Ella also got to go to dinner at "Aunt" Lindsey's house in Atlanta to meet my best college girlfriends.  I need to stop and give props to Lindsey.  She is the reason I started Ella's blog.  She begged me to do one when I was pregnant.  I decided not to, but told her I would do one once Ella was born.  So, it's because of her that I've been doing the blog.  I had forgotten how much I love to write...not to mention how fun it is to write about little Ella.  Thanks, Linds!!


Back to dinner--we were an hour late--Ella had a meltdown day that day--but it was a wonderful night.  I have a group of college "besties" that I met through Alpha Chi Omega (AXO) sorority that still keep in touch and get together whenever possible.  Our group has expanded in recent years.  Mary Catherine has two little girls, I have Ella, and I wouldn't be surprise if some of the other girls didn't have new additions soon (just a hopeful hunch)!  We had a delicious dinner and I was so excited that Ella was able to meet them.  They are like family.  I just love them so much and was so happy that they could spend some time with our little bundle of joy.  I know we have so many more memories to come and I can't wait for Ella to grow up around them.


Later in the week, Brent and his parents met us back in Roswell.  We spent the last couple of days hanging out and spoiling Ella--of course.  She was just in heaven with her grandparents and uncle making over her!  Of course, the week went much too fast and it was over before we knew it.  We would definitely say our trip to GA was a success.  Ella met so many people who care about her and spent valuable time with family that adore her.  She's a lucky little girl.  She really is.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives and we get so excited to share our little joy with the people we love.  Ella--you're a good little traveler!!  You made mommy and daddy proud!


We didn't get as many photos of the trip as we would have liked.  We tried to relax and let all the grandparents take care of Ella.  I'll do better next time--I promise!!  We have so much more to catch up on...stay tuned!

Ella sleeping on the plane :)

Ella still sleeping on the plane :)

Still sleeping... :)

Self-taken family photo of plane ride!!
Ella's still asleep...shocking!!

Ella asleep in her new cow car seat
on her way to Dublin :)

Ella was still happy when we got to
DFW airport...it was a good trip and we
had a great time!

Last Week as a Newborn!!

Can you believe it??  Ella will be three months old on Wednesday!  I read that three months marks the end of the newborn stage.  So, next week, we will no longer have a newborn, Ella will be a baby!!  Even with the colic/reflux time has flown so fast.  She looks older every day...still not really growing hair though!  The reflux meds appear to be working somewhat for her...knock on wood.  They say it takes about a week for the medicine to fully kick in, but she she seems happier already!  We are just glad she doesn't act like she's in pain all the time now...and she's less fussy :) YAY!! I wanted to make this post a little gallery of photos taken lately--I know you're shocked that I could make a blog post that was only a paragraph long!  Enjoy!!

Brent pretending to be asleep...Ella definitely asleep!

My really silly face!

Look at me!  I'm grabbing my rings and watching
 the play gym mobile!

I love sticking out my tongue!

Watching the play gym mobile...again.  I get so mesmerized by it,
I forget to play with the other toys.  The mobile spins and the lights on it flash!

This is truly a Herrin trait...I walked in and Brent and Ella were watching TV!
Side note- Brent is obsessed with watching TV.
 I took a picture and made him turn it off.  I swear she'll have terrible ADHD
 if she starts watching TV at this age!

There's that tongue again!

Think this picture is really funny!

Daddy's girl!

Slowly slipping down...look at me prop myself up!

I cried too much today... now I've passed out!

We'rrrreeeee baaaaacccck!!

This week I got so many emails/comments in response to "The Spirited Child" post.  Thank you all so much for the encouragement and awesome tips.  It was so great to hear from friends I talk to all the time and friends from the past that I don't get a chance to talk to often.  This blog has been a wonderful way to reconnect and stay connected with so many wonderful people.  I did purchase a vacuum cleaner CD on I-tunes.  Several of you mentioned it being a life saver.  The CD plays a full hour of a vacuum cleaner running.  It works great at bedtime to get Ella calm--it puts me to sleep too...I have to be careful not to dose off while I'm holding her in the chair.  I have tried various other remedies you all have suggested and things are starting to improve.  Baby steps, right!??  Just wanted to thank you all for caring!! :)

Ella and I took another visit to her pediatrician yesterday.  I wanted to parade into the office and say, "We'rrrreeeee baaaaacccckkkkk!!"--but I refrained.  It seems like everyone knows Ella at Pediatrics of Dallas (POD).  When I think about it ,she's been in many times in her three short months: ten times for jaundice/weight checks, once for colic, once for constipation, vaccinations, and now again for colic.  Not to mention that yesterday she made her presence known with a medium level colic episode. Dr. Curtis finally saw what I was talking about in action (and she didn't even see her at her highest alert level)! But it was enough;  she's decided Ella may have silent reflux causing her pain.  Poor Ella.  She's now on medicine for it--she had her first dose today.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that this will help out.  However, Dr. Curtis isn't 100% convinced it is reflux and thinks she just might be a SEVERELY COLICKY baby.  I wanted to affirm "Yes, she does fit into the HIGH NEEDS category...have you read my blog?  But, we'd like to TRY to see anything works."  So, I'll let you know how it goes.  We think it's funny that the doctor can pick up on her little personality in the short time she sees her...LOL! We've decided that we should have given Ella a more flashy name than Ella Grace.  Don't you picture a quiet, little meek girl when you hear the name Ella Grace?  This little one's got more pajazz.  My grandmother's name was Ruby Lou...that's more BOLD like Ella's personality.  I kid about changing her name (we really do love it)...there's no turning back now and we'll let Ella keep the name so she can shoot down any Ella Grace stereotypes out there.  Don't get me wrong, Ella is a sweet little pumpkin... she's just also going to be feisty too!! :-)

We do have a new thing that we are going to have to work on...Ella is favoring the left side of her head.  Dr. Curtis informed me of this while we were discussing colic. Ella cocks her head left--which we honestly hadn't noticed because we are always working on making her happy.  When she's not crying we feel successful....didn't think about her head cocking left.  However, not anymore.  We now have two missions which we choose to accept: 1. Keep Ella from crying by doing anything we can and 2. Making sure her head is positioned in the center of her head and not cocked left.  We are having to do some neck exercises too.  And one more thing...we also have to remember to rotate the side of her head she sleeps on each night.  I'm going to be honest, I've done a bad job of doing this and I will explain why.  I do bedtime duty nights Brent has to work (which is six days a week most weeks).  This requires rocking and singing to Ella for approximately an hour (but lately it's been taking more like three hours).  I think she's asleep, I get up to put her to bed and her eyes popped back open as wide as they can be.  I sit back down in the rocking chair and begin again.  This proceeds for two or three rounds.  Finally, she falls asleep.  I carefully walk to her crib and place her down without trying to wake her.  This is when I forget about the way her head is facing or which side of her head she's laying on.  You can see with this production, how I honestly forget.  Well, not anymore.  I have integrated head position into our routine.

  I'm sure it would be a funny sight to see, us walking around trying to calm a colicky baby and turning her head away from the left as she screams. Brent says she's like Zoolander...not an ambi-turner.  But, in all seriousness, we need to really work on this because it could be a problem later on if it's not corrected now.  I think poor Ella says, "Leave my neck alone.  I can hold it up on my own and now you want it to be perfectly centered...sheesh."  But we'll get in straightened out...no pun intended.  I never realized there was so much to think about being a parent.  How did our parents make it look so easy or at least never let us know how tough it really was?? (My friend Jackie recently brought this to my attention). I think the first one is the hardest because EVERYTHING is new...the second time Brent and I will be pros...with a straight headed baby.  Sorry, Ella, you're the guinea pig...but a cute little guinea pig...that's for sure!  I promise we will help you use both sides of your head equally before you know it.

The Spirited Child

Ella will be 3 months old in less than two weeks!  She is growing right before our eyes.  We love our Ella Bean so much, but she still has major colic.  For those of you who are reading this that have had a colicky baby, I know you can relate to how we feel.  No matter what we do, she still cries and is upset probably 70% percent of the time when she's awake.  When I talk to the doctor she says she'll outgrow it and that her weight gain is so good that nothing is medically wrong with her.  She also says some babies are just REALLY FUSSY.  Okay...that doesn't make us feel any better.  We have given her baby gas-x, rocked her, paced the floor with her, driven her around in the car, I have pretty much eliminated dairy from my diet in case she has a milk allergy...and still no relief.  She's miserable, and we are too when the colic sets in.

Exhibit A: Ella during a colic episode

But, something happened today!  We went to the grocery store as a family.  We just have to get out of the house sometimes.  Well, she made it halfway through the shopping trip and the wailing began.  This is unusual.  She's usually so content in public...something about the din of random noise soothes her; but not today.  I took her outside and Brent finished shopping.  When we got home our sweet neighbors asked us how it was going.  We laugh when we get this question.  We absolutely love Ella more than anything, but we'd be lying if we said, "It's going great; we've never had so much fun."  Don't get me wrong, we are so blessed--but this colic can WEAR YOU OUT.  So, I was truthful.  "We love her, but the colic has been really rough."  I have to mention our neighbor has the most ADORABLE and SWEET five year old daughter.  If Ella was anything like her, I'd be thrilled.  Diana (the neighbor) told me that her daughter had been severely colic and screamed ALL THE TIME.  She finally eliminated all dairy and soy from her diet and it went away.  As she was telling me this, I was a.) overjoyed...looking at her sweet little girl gave me all the hope that this would pass and Ella would be a happy, carefree kiddo one day soon and b.) what would I be able to eat if I eliminated dairy and soy? She said that it's basically a gluten free diet (which I've done before) minus dairy!!  It's not easy, but it's worth a try.  So, that will be my latest undertaking in attempt to defeat the colic monster...wish me luck!

Well, this hopeful encounter got me researching the Internet.  I found this site: The Fussy Baby Site.  It's a site all about fussy (or colicky) babies.  Anyway, take a look at it if you like (just click the link)...especially if you are wondering what the heck colic is!!  Within this website I found a term that I absolutely love.  Ella is a "High Needs Baby".  As I read the description of a high needs baby, I was laughing out loud. It was Ella to a T. Any way, the good news is, these babies out grow their fussiness and grow into "Wonderful children and adults"...perfect.  That's all we needed to know!!  I also found a section dedicated to "The Spirited Child".  It said that High Needs Babies turn into Spirited Children.  As I read that, I was like "oh my gosh, this is so Ella."  I read it to Brent and he was like, "Wow, this is really describing Ella."  It was nice to see in writing that this should all pass!

So what's my point here??  We're thankful for our spirited, high needs baby!! Ella is full of personality from the get go.  I think we are in for the ride of our lives...in a good way.   I realize that things may be tough right now, but once Ella grows out of this we have something very exciting to look forward to:  A Spirited Child!  I know I'll have to keep this blog up because we'll have lots of stories and that's a good thing!  I've always been fond of people that have have that little extra " razzle dazzle" in life...I think she'll be one of them.  She'll be a happy little girl once this colic passes...she just can't help it right now.   My neighbor's little girl is living proof of this. We've just got to remember this and practice the two P's--Patience and Prayer!

Our Dear Ella, may you be a spirited, unique, happy little dreamer that has enough of that something special to go out and achieve your goals.  We love you, our Spirited Child, just the way you are...a little sass and all!! :)

Childhood

Having Ella in my life has really made me reflect on the past more than I ever have before.  I just want to do everything right for her.  When I think back, I had a really happy childhood.   My parents were always there for me and investing their time into our interests and making us feel special.  I had (still have) the greatest younger brother in the world.  I grew up in a swim and tennis neighborhood where I could swim with my friends any time I wanted during the summer.  My house was next to the neighborhood park where we played until dusk each day.  My backyard had a creek with a rope swing that you could swing out over the water on.   I went to schools where I loved my teachers. I had friends that I loved and loved me too.  We had many adventures and life lessons together.  My friends' parents were wonderful too.  I spent a lot of time with some fabulous families.  I grew up in a church where I wanted to go each week (I must confess...I didn't love the church choir, but did it with my two best friends any way.  We were too scared of the choir director to quit)!  Through church I went on mission trips and learned about the lives other people had.  I learned how lucky I was to have the things I had and the unconditional love I had.  Childhood was great.  I can honestly say I felt so loved by my parents and always knew that home was a place where I was loved for who I was.


So why do I tell you all this?  Well, I realized something the other day.  You never know what grown up life is going to be like.  You never know if you will be dealt the lucky hand, the losing hand, or a hand you just don't know what to do with in life.  What I am realizing is that adult life is hard; that's why childhood should be all the more blissful.   I just know that I want Ella to grow up happy, care free, and loved.  I want her to look back and say, "Growing up was a happy time!"  I want her to have special memories just like I did.  I guess while she's living at home with us and we can raise her in a home filled with love and happiness, I want us to give 110% to giving her a wonderful childhood!!  Lately some things have been weighing heavy on my mind.  They are "adult" things independent of each other that involve  myriad of people I know.   They have made me think about how difficult adulthood can be.  I think about how growing up, you dream of being a princess, marrying a prince,  having beautiful children, and living happily ever after.  Some of us will get the happily ever after...the modified version at least...nothing is ever perfect.  Some of us won't.  But while Ella is young, innocent, and under our loving care, I want to give her the happy fairy tale the best we can.  We won't be perfect.  We'll make mistakes.  But, when she looks back on growing up I want her to say, "I had an amazing childhood and was (and still am) so incredibly loved."  Maybe knowing happiness and love will make her all the more ready to face the adult world when she's all grown up.  We can only hope!  I'll leave you with a quote that I can't remember who said it, but it's good.  It's how I want Ella to feel-- her Mommy and Daddy are always behind her!


"The task ahead of you is never as great as the power behind you."