Mary Ellen is 3 weeks old!

It's so hard to believe that Mary Ellen has been a part of our family for 3 weeks already. But then I look at her and see how much she's grown and changed since she was born, and I have to admit that she is, in fact, 3 weeks old. Here's a little video clip from yesterday:



We had a few more firsts yesterday. I took her out on my own. Totally on my own. Our destination: the Mother-Baby Tea. I was pretty nervous about taking her out, actually, but just as she's approached each new adventure so far, she was a champ. She slept the whole way there and most of the way back and made it very easy on her nervous driver. The tea was wonderful - it's hosted by the hospital and designed for nursing moms and their newborns. You can only attend until your baby is 8 weeks old, so it's a really safe place to bring your questions and concerns. I met some nice moms and got some reassurance about a few things that Mary Ellen and I were struggling with. I'm heading back on Monday, too, and I just love having something on the calendar to look forward to.

In other news, Mary Ellen finally lost her cord last night. I have to admit that I was pretty grossed out by the whole thing and that we had not been pulling the cord up to clean it like I know we were supposed to. We'd been good about cleaning it, but the pulling up part was just too much for me to handle. I guess I'd better get over that kind of thing fast, huh? Either way, the deed is done, and it's amazing how much older she seems now that she's sporting a shiny new belly button.

And finally, Mary Ellen and Brian and I took our first walk as a family last night. We loaded Mary Ellen in her stroller, affixed the bug net that Grandma Janet sent us (the netting actually makes her stroller look kind of regal), and off we went. It was just lovely, and Mary Ellen really seemed to enjoy the fresh air. In fact, she and I have already had another walk this morning. We managed to catch the weather while it was in the 70s! Perfect!

Now that Mary Ellen is a little more alert during the day, I've been working to get photos taken for her announcements. She's quite the little ham for the camera. I don't want to share too many before we get the announcements put together, but I think this one is just darling.