So Far, (Mostly) So Good

Ella didn't know what to think of her grandparents when they arrived.  She cried when my mother-in-law first held her.  I think she's in that "stranger = danger" phase (and her regular daycare providers have commented on this as well when the "floaters" come into the infant room to help out).  I thought that perhaps she would warm up if my mother-in-law fed her rice cereal that first night, but she again cried, even though I was sitting at the table as well.  But she warmed up a bit the next day (even despite the shots from her six month appointment), and was all smiles by Tuesday morning when I left for work and she stayed home with my husband and her grandparents.  She's home with the grandparents again today while both my husband and I are at work, and my mother-in-law just called to inform me that she seems to know that something is different but is happy enough.

My mother-in-law has made a few tiny comments that I'm trying to let slide, but for the most part, they are respecting our wishes in how we're raising our daughter.  Ella fussed for a minute or two around 1:00 am the first night, and sure enough, they left her alone to fall back asleep.  She has been waking up in the 4:00 am hour, which isn't quite normal, so I've been "trouble-shooting nursing" at that point, and praying that she'll go back to her 5:30 am wake-up after this week.  They leave on Friday morning, so that gives us two more nights to get through, and then the weekend to recuperate. 

I'm really trying to have a good attitude.  My husband is disappointed that I've been going to bed early and haven't stayed up to visit and chat after Ella goes down.  But I'm waking up at 1:00 am to pump, and waking up at 5:00 am to get ready for work, so sleep is very precious to me.  I know that they love Ella very dearly, and the last thing that I want is any sort of friction.  I just want Ella to be happy.

Today's blessing is seeing our trees start to bloom.  We had a late freeze in the desert, so it seems like it's taken everything just a little longer to turn green.  Slowly but surely, it's starting to feel like spring in the desert, and it's absolutely beautiful.