James and Ola Jordan are amazed by how much their baby girl is changing. Having reached the three-month-old milestone, little Ella is learning new things about herself almost every day, and the former Strictly pros have revealed that her hair and her eyes are different week-by-week as well! But as she has changed, so have they! Find out what the couple have learned in the first three months of Ella's life in their new parenting column...
"I've learned that there is really no time for anything else, the baby is the priority and that's it," Ola explains. "I used to go to the gym when I wanted to, and did things when I wanted to, have a bath when you want, but now there's no time for a bath! There's time for a two-minute shower, if you're lucky!" James adds: "Everyone who has a child knows how difficult it is, but having a baby in lockdown is very strange. Someone might say, 'You get to spend every second with your baby,' but you also stress because you're not going to see people who can tell you things are okay. The normal everyday stuff. It's been a stressful time, especially with everything with our families."
WATCH: James Jordan shares cutest video of baby Ella enjoying first swim in their pool
WATCH: James and Ola take Ella for her second round of injections
Unfortunately, James' dad Allan is still very ill in hospital, and the Dancing on Ice winner spoke about his frustrations that he is still unable to visit him, despite lockdown restrictions starting to loosen. "Dad's not good," he says sadly. "I was on FaceTime to him this morning and he had a seizure during our conversation and it is absolutely horrendous to see, so that really upset me today. Yesterday he had around seven seizures and no one knows why... Today they're sending him for a MRI. I think there needs to be a lot more to be investigated to work out what's wrong, but I'm not a doctor."
"It's just really tough and my mum is really struggling at the moment and finding it really, really hard," he continues. "She's been on the phone to him when he's had seizures as well. I mean, you see all of these people going to the beach right next to each other and they say they're going to open the shops, and yet my mum still can't go in and sit next to my dad when he's very sick in hospital? It's quite upsetting and frustrating."
Allan is sadly still in hospital
The pair have tried to take their minds off the heartbreaking situation by spending time with their baby girl, and James jokes about how she has started to lose her hair. "She looks like a monk at the moment," he laughs. "She's lost all of her hair on the top and she literally has a tiny sliver of hair around the sides so she looks like a cute little monk. I keep telling Ola I'm gonna trim it! She keeps going mad at me and she said she'd hurt me if I did, so of course I won't really. I just want it the same length all over!"
James opens up about how his daughter has changed
While her hair was dark as a newborn, it has steadily become lighter, and James thinks it might be a while until they know for sure what colour it'll be. "When I was a baby, I had really blonde hair but over the years it's changed colour, so I don't know what colour hair she'll have." He adds: "Every week her eyes are slightly changing colour too. At the moment they are green-hazel. I noticed this week they've become a lighter shade... by 12 months most baby's have their permanent eye colour so she has a little while off it yet, but that's something we've noticed! We have no idea if she'll have my blue eyes or Ola's dark eyes."
READ: James Jordan reveals heartbreak for baby Ella ahead of doctors appointment
They also had a tumultuous day with their daughter earlier this week as she had to go to the doctors for her second round of injections - and wasn't at all happy about it! Ola explains: "The jabs were worse than the first ones. She was tired going into the appointment then I had to weigh her and take her clothes off so I was irritating her. She was crying on the weigh scale and then by the time of the injections it was a big scream." James agrees, adding: "She was still crying when you came out to me, when the first time we went to get them done she'd already calmed down. Maybe it's because she's a bit older she's more aware of the pain? I don't know!"
Ella is growing up fast!
James jokes that Ola always has to go in with her, saying: "One parent can go in and I thought mummy can take her because she's stronger with things like that, I get upset!" Ola explains: "I just think it's for her own good so it doesn't upset me. I feel sad for her but it's for the best! Then she was a bit miserable for a couple of hours, I think she was punishing us and letting us know she wasn't happy. I reckon for about two hours she was crying but then after that, she seemed fine!"
Little Ella is loving experiencing new sounds and colours, and the couple explain that she is starting to get bored if she doesn't have enough entertainment. "She can get a bit bored if you don't pay her attention," Ola says. "She likes to chat to you!"
Ella is now three months old
James continues: "She has a baby gym and we've noticed that she does get bored. If we put her in her rocker or in her little bed, she doesn't like it during the day. But when we put her under her little gym, which has loads of colour and toys, she really starts to play with it. She's trying to work out her arms, and we've noticed she's starting pushing herself with her legs. We have to keep an eye on her a lot more now, we can't leave her for a second!"
READ: James and Ola Jordan reveal one phobia they don't want to pass onto baby Ella
Speaking about what they were most looking forward to in Ella's future, James says: "I'm looking forward to the stage where you can tell what's wrong with you or she can tell you, while at the moment you have to guess, it's a guessing game. I'm looking forward to chasing her around the room. I can't wait for her to start moving and crawling and running up to me, but we're still enjoying this stage! I worry about everything though, when she's crying and you don't know why, you think, 'What's wrong with her?' Ola adds: "I'm looking forward to her saying her first word but I don't know! Everything really, I want her to crawl and move around more - and she is, she's getting there."
Tune in next week for the latest updates on James and Ola's parenting column