So Griffin and I had a wonderful evening at Tucanos a few weeks back. Um um um we stuffed ourselves with the incredible meats and grilled pineapple and salad bar offered. It was so delicious. We were using a giftcard along with my birthday free meal coupon. But the with remainder money on the gift card Griffin splurged and got one of their desserts...yummy!!!!! (see below) It was a ginormous chocolate cake slice topped with a divine cocunut glaze. Amazing! But there was one down side...

The next day Jaylee was inconsolable! She was spitting up each meal and would never calm down. She didn't sleep more than 5 minute naps throughout the entire day and continued to have the hardest time pushing stuff out. We didn't know what to do but then I read in Babywise a description EXACTLY like Jaylee about a boy named Asher.

Babywise is a book given to us by Jonathan and Stacy about baby raising techniques

It reads, "Asher showed all the normal hunger signals, began to nurse ferociously, and then suddenly stop. he would pull away from me and just start screaming. I knew something was wrong, but what? I tried eveything. Nothing helped. Ashwer took very short naps, 30 minutes, if I could get him to sleep at all. At night he would wake four to five times. Nothing brought ocmfort to my son."

Then the book counsels to get help for reflux because if your baby develops and aversion to eating then it could leave to very severe problems.

So the next day i called the nurse who without me prompting her said it sounded like reflux. We got an appointment with our Doctor for later that day. But amazingly at our appointment my doctor said it probably wasn't reflux. He said because her stomach was so huge and because Jaylee's stools have been such odd colors that it was an indication of gas...which is related to things I'm eating. If I changed my diet and found no difference with her spitting up and everything else then I was to come back and get a prescription to try to treat her for reflux.

Can you believe that? He had the nerve to tell me that it was probably something I was eating and that I needed to change my diet!!! The worst part was that he said the top five foods that cause problems are     1)DAIRY (includes CHOCOLATE!!!!) 2)wheat 3)nuts 4)gassy vegetables and 5) spicy foods

So I went home very depressed at the idea of giving up my cheese and chocolate. Deep down i knew that the amount of wheat I ate was also probably a problem. But lets just say the next week was very discouraging and difficult trying to figure out what correlated with her fussiness.

But then I talked with a friend who referred me to a resource online "Dr. Sears" who recomends a very basic diet consisting of turkey, potatoes, rice based products, zucchini/summer squash, and pears. Then gradually you add in other foods to figure out what triggers the unconsolable behaviour and the aversion to eating within your baby. So that is what I did for over a week....only on those foods...

This is pretty much what I ate for dinner and or lunch every day.

Let me just say that jaylee's behavior has improved soooooo much! But the hard thing is that I've found not only cannot i not eat any dairy or wheat (and that substitution foods are dang expensive) but I cannot eat a lot of any food at one time... i'm guessing too many of the proteins in my body at once mean too many in my breat milk...which mean too many in jaylee's tummy at one time. So I really cannot ever binge on anything which has been very difficult for me and depressing at times! I love my food.

But she eats better, she rarely spits up now, she sleeps quieter at night and her stools come out slightly better. Plus i don't have to stuff my baby with meds to get these results. Its a sacrifice but its worth it...almost all the time haha.

How do we FIT in our apartment?

So I've been asked on a number of occassions how Griffin and I are managing having a BABY in our TINY TINY TINY apartment. So i decided to share with you all our not so secretive and not so beautiful arrangements!

This is a picture of Jaylee's second bedroom/our living room. lol  After going shopping for a good bookshelf to store all her stuff in we landed one at walmart for 30 bucks. It has ended up being perfect for our stuff. Mom Lynda when she was in town even sewed the little curtain for us. Griffin insisted that we needed to protect the shelf with all the baby clothes since our apartment collects dust like no other. He has an allergy to dust so in case Jaylee inherited that allergy he felt it would be best. Thank you mom for sewing the curtain and finding the rod and everything for us while you were here.

And yes...that is our stroller and bath and diaper bag all in our living room as well. What a beauty our living room is now! :)

This is Jaylee's first bedroom/our bedroom/the only bedroom in the apartment. You can see that the basinett BARELY squeezed into the space between the foot of the bed and the wall. On the floor is the bouncer that Jaylee slept in the first month and a half or so. We've been trying to get her to sleep in the basinett again now that its not so cold by the window. And on the floor next to the bouncer is a space heater we had to buy for Jaylee. And next to the space heater is our basket of diaper changing items so in the middle of the night when jaylee needs to be changed its all right there. Next to the diaper basket is the plastic bag we put dirty diapers in. haha. Then comes the door and all our shoes on the shoe rack. Lovely lovely lovely.

In the kitchen we openly display all the prenatals and multi vitamins we take

And in the bathroom is our homemade spotting station and clothesline. Since we do not have a washer and dryer...or a bathtub we can spot stuff in I knew we'd need a bucket to spot dirty clothes that wouldn't be washed for a couple weeks. What I didn't know was that I would end up hand washing clothes on a daily basis! Yes it has just been way easier to spot and or hand wash the clothes, hang them to dry and then have them to wear again than to wait and take a trip to the laundromat with all Griffin and my clothes as well as Jaylee's clothes as well as the different things of detergent and the towels to lay stuff to dry on and the coins and then JAYLEE! So yeah it has worked out really well to have a little washing station right there at home!

I know I've been mocking our little apartment but I know that I am going to miss it when we leave. It really has met all of our needs and more. Even though things break down every now and then and it sure ain't that pretty and it smells like old people...I love our little log cabin!

Roommate Dinner

(R to L, Top to Bottom)

Carson Fenimore, Joseph Keller and Griffin

Esther Fenimore, Celeste Fenimore, Deb Weiss, David Keller, Lisa Keller and Christi

So 4 days before Jaylee arrived, Griffin and I joined some of my former roommates (post mission roommates) for a dinner. Gosh I love these girls and their wonderful spouses. Celeste on far left had a baby boy on March 26--just 3 weeks after I had Jaylee--though you really can't tell she's even pregnant in this picture. I always love coming together with such spiritual, uplifting friends. A major bonus too is getting their their yummy recipes!!! We missed Tom and Miranda Evans since Miranda ended up having to work (she is a nurse and nurses are needed on all days of the week!) We're really looking forward to a BBQ up at Carson and Celeste's place sometime this summer. :)

The Walkers Came to Town Easter Weekend!

So a few weeks before Easter we heard from the Walkers (Griffin's good friends from his Freshman year at BYU--who subsequently got married). They were coming to visit and Griffin was so excited to finally be able to give Ryan one of the  guns Griffin inherited from his late father. Ryan always wanted a simple shot gun and this gun apparently is the most basic you can get. I don't know anything about guns so ask Griffin if you want the downlow on its cool gadgets and what not.

I on the other had was so excited to have some time with Stephanie...(gotta be one of the sweetest people on this planet). She was a natural with Jaylee (hopefully she'll have a girl next now that she has two little boys of her own) :)  Jaylee really never fully woke up so maybe Griffin and I will have to drive up to Portland area again so Jaylee can really meet them both!

It really was so good to see Ryan and Stephanie. Ryan is set on getting Griffin and I to move up near them in Camus, Washington. That would be so fun to be so close to such an awesome family like the Walkers...so maybe maybe... if Griffin gets a job up there who knows where we'll end up... :)

Pettersen Toes or Not?

So Pettersen's are known to have abnormally long and ugly toes. When I first saw Jaylee toes the day she was born I immediately thought "Wow her toes are long so she's got Pettersen toes!" But since then Griffin and I compared feet and realized that he has long toes too...so hmmm the debate is on. Did Jaylee inherit the Pettersen gene or Ellis gene for her toes? haha

Here's Griffin's foot (on left) and Christi's foot (on right) and below is Jaylee's foot. Judge for yourself! :)

But oh I love her little feet no matter what kind of toes she's got!!!!

Jessica Matt Peter and Red Robin!

So it's kind of becoming a tradition for Griffin and I to go to Red Robin each year for our birthdays. We are "Birthday Club" members on their Website and so we get free burgers each year for our birthdays. Lucky for Griffin and me, our birthdays fall so close together that we can both go at the same time. Griffin's birthday is March 27th and mine is April 2nd. But I must thank Jessica (my roommate for first 3 years at BYU) for introducing me to Red Robin. She has always LOVED Red Robin so we've come many times for her birthday or other roommates birthdays and even for a couple Freshman Year Dances. :)

Griffin and I invited Jessica and her husband Matt to join us on my birthday to celebrate at Red Robin. Their son Peter was born 3 hours before Jaylee was born and so they hadn't been out of the house yet either. It was a great time for all of us to get out for practically the first time with our newborns who were about 3 weeks old. Thank you Jessica and Matt and Peter for coming and celebrating with us!

                            Jaylee and Peter meeting for the first time. Can't you feel the love??? ;)

Griffin is now Beta Gamma Sigma

So Griffin has awaited having high a enough GPA to be counted among the top 10% of the Woodbury Business School. As you can imagine it is very competitive since he's competing with all the accounting, finance, marketing, business management majors. The honor finally came in one of his classes this semester when the Dean and other professors came to his classroom dressed up in their robes just to honor Griffin and a couple other students also being honored. Once you are among the top 10% academically of your class you are invited to join Beta Gamma Sigma, an internationally known Honor Society. Below are the pictures we took from attending Griffin's Induction Ceremony.

                                                         We're so proud of Daddy

                                       Griffin sitting on the front row with the other nominees.

                                                      Griffin being awarded his certificate

I'm so proud of Griffin and his studious efforts. I admit it is hard sometimes when other things must be pushed aside so Griffin can concentrate on his studies when he needs to and relax when he needs to. But I know not all husbands strive so much academically to excell like Griffin does. It is quite a gift that Griffin has to be able to be amongst the top students (if not the top student) in ALL his classes. I know he'll be just as amazing an employee as he is a student when that lucky company hires him!

And this is GayLynn (who was in town and came to support Griffin). And THANK GOODNESS she was there! I knew exactly where I wanted to sit...back row and closest to the door in case Jaylee because fussy. It was my very first time bringing Jaylee into public and for this kind of an event. All I gotta say is GayLynn saved the day. My back hurt so bad from the all the weird positioning of breast feeding and holding/carrying Jaylee and her carseat that I wasn't able to hold Jaylee very long. Then there was GayLynn who seemed to hold Jaylee effortlessly...and for so long!!! I had never held Jaylee for as long as GayLynn did. Even a woman came up and started asking GayLynn how old Jaylee was! haha. I didn't mind at all. The thing that totally caught me off guard though was when after many minutes of GayLynn holding her, Jaylee became fussy and started to cry... I was NOT expecting for GayLynn to hand Jaylee back to ME to soothe!!! To me, I was with an expert mother (GayLynn) and so why would she hand the baby back to me to magically make stop crying?! It was a very eye opening experience for me that I was the mother now and I have that responsibility now! So crazy for me.

GayLynn and Brooke came to visit!!!

I was so excited when GayLynn called me to tell me that she wanted to come all the way out to Utah just to help us with the transition of having Jaylee. She knew we didn't have family around to help with everything so she wanted to do what she could. She ended up catching a ride with her in laws who were driving with their family. What a wonderful sister I have to leave her sweet hubby and drive 12 hours across Nevada with a 6 month old (Brooke) and a 3 year old (Jonah)! I love you GayLynn and am so grateful for you!

It was so fun having Jaylee meet GayLynn for the first time. It was love at first sight.

Can't really say it was the same for Jaylee and Brooke who were both pretty unaware of the other one. lol

Besides making us meals and holding Jaylee...GayLynn even made me a birthday cake! Jonah and Dad helped her make it too...and it was so delicious I ended up eating most of it myself...for breakfast lunch and dinner even!

I just had to blow this picture up because I love how much GayLynn and I look alike here. We definitely are sisters. We definitely missed not having Merilee and Stacy with us too!

It may not look as awesome in the photo but I woke up on my birthday to a fully decorated apartment that Griffin himself did...look at his artistic hanging of the streamers! I was so impressed! He also had an entire scavenger hunt set up around the apartment for me as well!

Okay so Brooke has the most beautiful eyes EVER! Isn't she sooooo adorable? On her trip here (which was 1st weekend of April) she was getting sooooo close to crawling. Here she is doing her rocking motion back and forth...

And I maybe its just me but right here I swear that Brookes face resembles someone...everyone I've asked has said the same person. Do you see anyone here?

Well the person i see is Ryan...her daddy! Even though the very first time GayLynn came in our apartment with Brooke all i could see was Rosie (Ryan's sister)...this pic at least reminds me of Ryan. She's definitely got the Ribeira side genes if you ask me. :)

Towards the end of the trip Brooke and Jaylee had a little more interaction...lol

Overall it was so very wonderful having them here. Wish we were in California already just so we could be closer to family. Just 7 more months!!! (hopefully)

Random Pics of Jaylee

Our little sweetheart when I went to burp her after feeding just posed perfectly like this on my chest.

Jaylee in the boppy

When Jaylee gives us "The Look" (shown below) we know she's about to push something out...if you know what I'm saying :)

                                              Jaylee in her carseat and in her monkey

                        I love these sweet pictures of her...evidence of her many expressions...

 Okay I felt like the worst mommy in the whole world when I put Jaylee down on the couch in the corner and returned to her trying to sleep like this...apparently I didn't prop her up the right way because she had no support...and oh I just feel so bad still!

 Don't worry...I don't let Jaylee sleep on adult pillows and with all our loose sheets around. Just when I make our bed each day typically I have her with me. She gets to lie there for a while and the other day when  i saw this and just had to take a pic!

 My first attempt to put a clip in her not so present hair. Hopefully she'll be like Annabelle...starts out pretty bald but ends up with beautiful, gorgeous locks.

                                                             "Just saying hi" she says

                                                                 In a DEEP sleep

 So I totally forgot about letting your baby have tummy time til like 2 days ago. Here she is trying to figure out what on earth mommy was having her in that position for!

 Okay so I admit...I got an email from Aunt Kim and Uncle Michael of their dog Becca. In the photo Becca was wearing these ADORABLE bunny ears that Kim had made for her that I decided I better do the same thing. Poor little Jaylee didn't know what to think of them...

More tummy time fun!

                                                               More bunny ears...

Hello!

 Okay so here is Jaylee NOW (8 weeks) in her basinett and here is Jaylee the first night we brought her home from the hospital (2 days)....CAN YOU BELIEVE how much she has already grown?????

Sorry I didn't turn these before downloading them. First time I ever caught Jaylee sleeping with her mouth open! So funny to me

And here I just have to say that jaylee looks asian to me! Call me crazy but I'm so proud because of my "albino asian" heritage since highschool...makes me think I really do have asian roots somewhere. (But then again any ethnic appearance I'm sure has to do with the fact that she is 25% hispanic! lol)

Goodbye!