The Diva in Diapers

An Amazing Grandmother

Heather's mom, Christine, left to head back to Texas today. It has been such an amazing blessing to have her here during Elliana's birth and afterwards as Heather and I adjusted to being parents. Christine was amazing during her stay. As some of the highlights, she made us Cafe Rio-like pulled pork salad, she took several midnight shifts rocking Elliana during gassy episodes, she doubled Elliana's newborn wardrobe, and she taught us how to efficiently change Elliana's diapers and give her sponge baths. Also, Christine took Elliana to her first movie: Robin Hood. She loved it!

Thanks, Christine! You're amazing.

Friends of Elliana

Since we brought Elliana home, several friends have stopped by to drop off a meal or see Elliana. It's been really wonderful to have such supportive and encouraging friends, and we have loved showing off our adorable daughter.

Unfortunately, we haven't taken many pictures of these visits, but here is one that we did take. This is Giovanna and Michelle, Heather's coworkers.

Napping with Elliana

I love this stage of Elliana's life: she's so small and cuddly and warm. We love to nap with her. Thinking about her getting bigger is kind of bittersweet: I can't wait until she's bigger and more socially aware so that I can interact more with her and see her personality. At the same time, I know I'll miss her tiny, little body and all of our snuggle time.

Here are some pics of Heather and I napping with her.

The Elliana Fashion Show

Heather knew that one aspect of parenthood that she would love is dressing up Elliana. It's been a little bit of a surprise to me to discover that I enjoy it, too. She's just too cute! Besides, Elliana has amazing fashion sense; she's at the forefront of newborn fashion trends. So here are the many looks of Elli...

Vote and tell us which one of the following are your favorite.

1. Elli au natural. Life is just so demanding as a 2 week old.

2. Calm and perfect.

3. Elli pondering deeply on such topics as the relationship between ladybugs and flowers.

4. The sunflower girl.

5. Elliana's coy look. Watch out; she can reel you in with one look.

6. The plaid princess.

7. "Who's adorable? Oh, little old me?!"

8. Theatrical Elli. "To be, or not to be...?" She's already catching Heather's flair for drama.

9. Dreaming daisily.

10. Pretty in pink and working it with those pursed lips.

11. Chilling in her flower dress.

12. Excited about this big, new world, and that amazing flower headband!

13. Intensely practicing paper, rock, scissors.

How To Pronounce Elliana

Hi everyone! First of all, we are so grateful to all of our family and friends for your well-wishes, congratulations, and support. We feel more certain than ever that we definitely would not be able to be the parents that we want to be without the examples and support that you all have given us.

Now a change of topic. Many of you have asked us about how to pronounce our daughter's name. I'm no expert in whatever phonetic system dictionaries use to clarify pronunciations, but here's my best shot. We pronounce her name El - ee - ah - nah, with the accent on the third syllable.

For a nickname, we like Elli (pronounced El -ee, with the accent on the first syllable), although we want people to use her full name as often as her nickname.

Meet Elliana

Heather and I are thrilled to introduce to you all our daughter, Elliana Lorraine. She was born on 11 May (Tues) at 9:58pm. She was 6 lbs 8 oz in weight and 20 in long in height, with (as you'll see) lots of brown, silky hair.

But, before we get to all of our Elliana pics, let's go through the lead up.

Here we are right before going to the hospital. We found out Monday at 2pm that we needed to go to the hospital that night at 8pm. We were expecting to go on Tuesday morning at the earliest, and maybe even on Friday. Needless to say, Monday afternoon was very rushed, but we still got in a great dinner at Sweetwater Tavern!

Here's my incredible wife on Monday night, getting ready for the big day.

Heather started a pitocin IV Tues morning at 8am. Right around 2pm, when she was feeling some of her strongest contractions, our nurse surprised Heather and gave her an orange icicle pop. She was in heaven! She waited until around 3pm or so to get an epidural, which was good because any longer and she wouldn't have been able to hold still long enough. By the way, we went to Reston Hospital, and every one of the nurses we had in labor and delivery were fantastic!

A little bit before 9pm, in the middle of a movie, Heather was feeling lots of discomfort, so much so that the nurse decided to check her earlier than she planned. Which was a good thing because our little girl was ready to come out! So our nurse got everything ready, she taught Heather and me how to push (I had to assist the nurse), and then Heather went to work.

As a quick aside, for those who have never seen a woman in the last stages of pregnancy, let me say that the movies and TV shows don't even come close to getting it right. It is amazingly hard, exhausting work and I have a much deeper appreciation for all mothers after this experience.

Heather did great at this point. Within 30 mins of pushing, out popped our little Elliana. And even though her face was initially a little swollen (with good reason), she was still adorable!

Our sweet pea with her Grandma Carr. It was such a blessing to have Christine there. She was a huge comforting presence to Heather in particular, but to me as well. And a fountain of knowledge, too.

It was incredible to see how much Elliana changed in the first two hours after birth. We were lucky to be able to keep her in our room for just over two hours before they took her up to the nursery to get all cleaned up and run all their tests, and she looked very different from when she was delivered to when she left.

Here she is all cleaned up.

Here is our first attempt at dressing up our little sweet pea. We had no idea that she would not fit into any of the 0-3 month clothing. Even the newborn clothes were loose on her. She is such a cute, teenie little thing!

After we got her dressed in something that fit (relatively speaking), she suddenly stopped looking all around her and just stared at Heather. It was very sweet!

The last day in the hospital, Heather had recovered remarkably well from a very, very rough 14 hours after delivery, and so some friend stopped by to say hi.

And here are some of our favorite pics of her.

Here's me with my little princess. I like this fatherhood thing. And even though I'm getting as little sleep as people warned I would get, the nights aren't as horrible as I thought they would be. I like being able to hold and snuggle with my baby girl in the calm and quiet of the night.

Her "Going Home" outfit, courtesy of Grandma Carr.

Elliana praying that her parents will have a clue on how to take care of her (which we are trying our best to figure out).

Finally leaving the hospital and heading home for good!

Amazing Family and Friends and Baby Showers

A few weeks ago, some friends put on two baby showers for Heather: one for her friends and colleagues at the elementary school where she works, and the other for all of our friends from our church. These showers were really wonderful and really made us feel so grateful for all the wonderful people that God has put in our lives. We have made some incredible friends living in Virginia for the past two and half years, and we truly feel blessed to be part of such an incredible community.

A few months before the showers, Rochelle -- one of Heather's closest friends, who lives in Boston -- emailed me saying that she wanted to surprise Heather and come down for the shower. So we kept it secret from Heather, and I'm so glad that Rochelle wanted to. When Rochelle and her husband Jeremy walked in the door on Friday night, Heather started screaming she was so excited. We love those two and were so glad they came down and visited. Nine hours is definitely too far apart.

My sister Alyson also came up from Richmond for the baby shower. And it was a sacrifice for her, too, since she came up with her 4-month old infant Griffey who cried the entire 3 plus hour drive! Thanks so much for coming, Pookie! We loved having you here, even if it was for only a short visit.

So our friends from church put on an awesome shower for Heather. Lots of people came and there was tons of food and games. We've really felt very close to this ward, so it was really wonderful for Heather to have so many people come that she feels so close to and respects so much.

Nichole (below) planned, organized, and hosted the whole event, with some help from others. She did an amazing job! Thanks, Nichole!

A lot of other people helped as well, so THANK YOU EVERYONE for making it such a special event for my wife! Here are some fun pics from the shower.

Even one of Heather's closest friends growing up, Priscilla, was there vicariously through a humungous package sent from Nebraska, which was full of all sorts of great things. My favorite was the bouncing pink donkey in a tutu. Thanks, Priss! We miss you!

One of Heather's closest friends from school, Kimmee, co-hosted a shower for Heather as well. Unfortunately, her baby son got sick and so she wasn't even able to be there for the shower, but she did a fantastic job! You're incredible, Kimmee! Thanks.

Here's Heather with her kindergarten team! They were also very involved in putting on this shower, even complete with party favors and chocolate covered strawberries (one of Heather's absolute favorites!) She is really going to miss teaching those adorable kids with her friends.

One of her coworkers is also due around the same time as Heather, and so the shower was a joint shower. Below is a pic of the two glowing ladies!

The Sunday following these showers, Meagan and Chris invited us to Wendy's baby blessing. It was a wonderful meeting, and that Wendy is simply adorable. We like living close to those two!