Zella's First Christmas

Well, Zella had a good second week of life (as far as we can tell) and a fun Christmas.  Denny's parents, Nana D & Grandpapa, came to visit on Tuesday and headed out this morning.  

She also had her 2-week well-visit with her pediatrician yesterday (Friday) and that went great.  She's been gaining weight (yea!) and now tips the scales at 7lbs., 10oz. (5 oz. above her birth weight).  She grew a 1/2 inch and measures at 18.5 inches.  Her head also grew a whole centimeter!  Apparently, this is a good amount.  :-)  

Here are some pictures from the past week...

 

Aunt Michelle stopped by just to hold me (and bring me some cute Christmas bibs).

Emma, Natalie, & Aunt Michelle just can't get enough of me!  Emma & Natalie brought me a monkey teether.  They know how much I love monkeys!

Nana D loved holding me and feeding me this week. 

Tummy Time!  Aunt Laurie, Uncle Mike, Harrison, & Sophie sent me so many great gifts.  This was the first one my daddies opened for me.  They want me to get my exercises in every day.  

Yo!  Whatup?  Christmas, boyeee!  Wicka, wicka, wicka...

Ok... I'll try to strike a good pose for this one.  Don't you love my Christmas dress?  This is from Aunts Jenny & Tracy down in Houston (proud mamas of Sophia & Cooper).  You can also see my very first Christmas ornament above my head, from Aunt Jen, Uncle RJ, Sophia, & Phoebe.  (Now how many aunts and uncles do I have, exactly?)

You people exhaust me!

Grandpapa holds me while Papa works in the yard.

Grandpapa & Nana D hold me this morning one more time before they head out.  

It's been one week!

Zella had a great first week with visits from family and friends.  Here are just a few pics from the past few days.  And I'm still trying to get this blogger thing down, so please forgive any formatting issues.

Is that giraffe friend or foe?  All of these animals look like they are attacking me!

Aunt Lisa giving me a good snuggle.

Andy & Brian (Clark's daddies) stopped by for a visit.

YAWN!

Nana K makes me laugh.

Nana K loving on me.

Pops & Nana K holding me on my first week birthday.  They gave me so many cute gifts.

Trying to upload more pictures...

A few more pictures

Ok - Blogger isn't playing well with pictures right now (probably user error).  More to come soon...

4 Days Down

(Warning - Blogger would not let me upload photos with this post.  Sorry.)

Ok - another post, finally.  Not too bad given the whirlwind of having Zella home.  So, let's see... 

Zella came home from the hospital on Sunday afternoon after a long two days for all of us.  Somehow, two days in a hospital can seem like a week.  She finally got to meet her new friends - Emmy, Gypsy, & Lucy (our dogs).  Emmy is a little scared of her (all the strange noises), Gypsy just keeps a safe, aloof distance, as always, and Lucy is right up in there trying to help out as much as she can.  

The first night was better than expected.  She stayed on her regular schedule and Denny and I were able to trade-off.  Not too much rest from the excitement of it all, but a good night.  By the way, it occurred to me  to write this in Zella's voice, but after seeing a Saturday Night Live skit this past weekend about a woman who writes a Christmas letter in her cat's voice, I realized that it can just sound annoying and a little weird.  Sorry to disappoint anyone.  :-)

On Monday, we just hung out and tried to get into a routine of sorts - figuring out what we still needed and phone calls with friends and family.  The social worker came by to finalize this stage of the adoption process (one more big step in 6 months).  During her visit, Emmy managed to catch a squirrel, bring it inside, and chew on it like a toy (it was not alive by the time she brought it in, thank goodness).  The only thing that alerted us to it was the loud crunching noises.  So, the adoption agency probably thinks we're insane (the last time they were here, we showed them how one of our chickens likes to come in the house).  Amazing that they actually let us adopt little Zella.

On Monday afternoon, Zella's birth mother, Michelle, and birth grandmother, Joanne, came by for a great visit.  We have all grown so close over these past months, it was really nice to just relax and visit.

And on Monday evening, Zella's first friend stopped by for a visit.  Enzo lives right across the street and was born just two days before Zella.  We had fun visiting with him and his mom (Alexia), dad (Scott), and big sis (Ella).  

Today was Zella's first visit to the Pedatrician's and that went well.  Everything looks good and we received some valuable lessons about cleaning and such.  :-)  We love Zella's doctor, so that should all be good.

Oh, the last news of the day is that Zella loves her new vibrating jungle chair, courtesy of Aunts Michelle, Kate, Erin, & Lisa.

Life of Zella Begins!

Zella Mae was born on December 12, 2008 at 6:46pm.  She was 7lbs., 5oz. and measured 20 inches long.  We are all so excited she is here and can't wait to join Zella on her amazing adventure!