Spoke too soon

Well, it seems that I spoke too soon about Ella outgrowing her tantrums. From Saturday to Tuesday she threw 5…and one of them was in the middle of the night Monday. She was up most of the night crying and nothing we did helped. Ultimately we just put her in her room and shut the door and Joe and I went back to bed. Around 4:30 she calmed down and we all went back to sleep. When she does that it’s really hard to know what the problem is. Does she itch…does she hurt…does she not feel good…is it none of the above and she just wants to be mad? Monday night I think it was due to being over-tired. She skipped her nap Friday-Monday, so I think the lack of sleep just caught up with her and when she woke up in the middle of the night she didn’t know what else to do. Since Ella being awake meant that Joe and I didn’t get any sleep, I stayed home from work on Tuesday. This meant that I could ensure that she got a nap…and she did! She slept for 2 hours at naptime, then went to bed at her regular time and slept as well as Ella ever sleeps (she woke up once at 2 am). It’s true what they say, sleep begets sleep.

The best news of the day is that we went for Ella’s well visit this morning and she weighs 26 pounds! According to my internet research this puts her in the 27th percentile! I can’t believe it! Ella has never been above the 25th percentile, and even that was when she was just a few months old. Ever since around 6 months she’s been below 20th(with most of that time being spent in the 7th percentile), so this is great news! Sure, she still has nothing on her cousins Sam and Nate, who each have a good 10 pounds on her, but we’re still pumped.

Ella also didn’t have to get a shot today. Joe, however, wasn’t so lucky and the doctor suggested that he get his flu shot while we were there. Ella watched daddy get his shot and I told him that no matter what he felt, he had to keep a smile on his face and at the end say, “That didn’t hurt.” He did a very good job and said his line as written, then turned to the nurse and said, “Actually that does hurt.” Ella was a rock star at her appointment. We got her a doctor kit for Christmas in hopes that it would make going to the doctor a bit easier. I think it helped. When the doctor went to listen to her heart she knew exactly what was going on and she sat perfectly still. Of course she gets the most excited when it’s all over. She starts announcing to everyone, “Ella’s all done!”

There’s not much else happening in Murrayland. There is an Elvis exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery that I think we are going to visit this weekend. In case you missed it, Elvis turned 75 last week (Jan 8th). That will be a fun family activity.