Eleanor is already two months old! Okay, technically she’s eight weeks today. But who’s counting?
And I can’t believe how much new stuff she is doing. First of all, she is far more aware of her surroundings than ever before. Consequently, she is fascinated with simple moving objects, preferably ones that play music. Such as mobiles! Observe:
Eleanor has also become much more aware of her mouth. She blows cute little spit bubbles and like to explore her lips with her tongue. She’ll often make fun clicking noises while doing so. And most exciting, she’s discovered that she can put her own fingers in her mouth and suck on them! There is nothing like watching her derive such pure satisfaction from munching on her hands. And it’s noisy too, which I think she also enjoys. I’ll try to get a video clip.
As you can see from the latest pictures, Ellie has finally been putting on some real weight. She’s a little chubster! We’re not sure exactly how much she weighs right now, but she’s going back to the doctor next week. We’ll let you know.
We recently mailed out the second batch of birth announcements and included an invitation to check out the blog. So if this is your first time here, welcome! You should definitely click here to get the scoop before reading further.
Hi folks! It’s nice to hear that so many of you enjoy reading the blog. I put a fair bit of time and love into this project, and so I’m pleased it’s been worth it.
Going back to work was certainly a shock to the system. It was hard to be totally sharp or carry on adult conversations. I also found myself missing Eleanor terribly. I had really gotten used to her round-the-clock presence. But it was nice to be surrounded by people eager to know how we were doing and to hear about Ellie’s exploits. Plus, it’s been a lot harder on Tara who suddenly had to be the sole caregiver during the days, but she’s done a great job. And I know Ellie is benefiting from some quality Mommy/Baby time.
I realized that I hadn’t put a video on the blog since Ellie’s actual birthday, so I’d like to remedy that. Here is a clip of Ellie getting ready for a bath:
Isn’t she cute?!? I certainly think so. And speaking of cute…
As most parents do, we’ve started collecting a bunch of silly nicknames for our baby. Some of the more pervasive ones are “Sweetpea“, “Beebers“, and “Squirmy“. But Tara recently came up with a hilarious one that needs a little backstory.
Many of Eleanor’s little one-piece jumpsuits have these ridiculously big collars. So she kinda resembles a miniature Elvis Presley when wearing them. And Mini-Elvis quickly got shortened to “Melvis“. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…
Melvis
If you need even more happy fun cuteness… you should go check out the pictures from cousin Molly’s 2nd Birthday Party! Remember to breathe!
Sadly, my paternity leave comes to an end tomorrow. Happily, spring break starts in a week!
But I’ll be back into the normal routine of work soon enough. I’m going to miss having day after day after day of quality family time. I’ve really enjoyed the six weeks that the three of us have spent simply hanging out. I also know it’s going to be a lot more work for Tara with me out of the house all day. I guess I’ll just have to be all that much more helpful when I get home in the evening.
A new batch of baby pictures have been added to the gallery. There is a healthy mix of “Ellie-with-Family” shots, and just plain old “Drop-Dead-Cute” shots. I hope you enjoy!
Oh, and if this is your first time here, please read the previous post.
Hello everyone! We recently sent out a large batch of birth announcements. Along with the obligatory cute baby picture and birth information, we also included an invitation to our little corner of the Internet. So many of you are probably visiting this page for the first time. Welcome!
Let me give you the lowdown. We decided that this would be the best way to keep everyone up to date on Eleanor. And, equally important, this page serves as a repository of all our baby pictures. You can always access them (and other various galleries) by clicking on Pictures over on the right.
I actually created this blog on the day we found out that Tara was pregnant. So you can really start from the beginning if you go back far enough in the archives. My posts between then and Ellie’s birth were somewhat erratic, and there wasn’t much baby-related topics to talk about… but at least I tried to get something online. Well now Eleanor is slightly over one month old, and thus I have had lots to talk about. For the full blow-by-blow account of our lives since her birth, go back and read the blog. But I will give a quick overview here:
Tara was in labor for 16 heroic hours.
Eleanor was born January 31st at 11:40pm, weighing 8lbs 5oz.
Eleanor and Tara both recovered quite well and were released from the hospital after 2 days.
Eleanor loves to snuggle and won’t sleep if she isn’t right next to us.
Eleanor is quite mellow most of the time and doesn’t mind meeting new people.
Eleanor is becoming very observant, spending a lot of her time examining things around her.
Eleanor hates taking baths, but is getting used to it.
Eleanor’s eyes are blue/grey, but this may change.
Eleanor is exceedingly cute.
Eleanor’s parents (and grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, etc) love her very, very much.
That about covers it. I hope you find this website useful. It’s certainly been fun to document Ellie’s adventures so far. Keep coming back to see how she grows! For now, click here to go back to the main page.
Let me give you the lowdown. We decided that this would be the best way to keep everyone up to date on Eleanor. And, equally important, this page serves as a repository of all our baby pictures. You can always access them (and other various galleries) by clicking on 
visits since 6/21/2009