Swordplay.net

Yesterday, we celebrated Mother’s Day. Tara said it was her best Mother’s Day ever! I believe her, chiefly for these two reasons:

1. because it was her first Mother’s Day
2. because of the awesome gift I gave her

Tara’s recently rediscovered her favorite cocktail, the Cosmopolitan. But this is a drink we’ve never been able to enjoy at home. So I got some martini glasses, a stainless steel shaker, and all the booze, juice, and fruit needed to make a professional Cosmo. It went over quite well. Nothing says “motherhood” like getting all liquored up!

I also cooked both breakfast and dinner, and tried my best to prevent her from lifting a finger all day. No question, she deserved it for all the hard work she does every single day taking care of la bebé.

I have to say, parenthood is not easy. I didn’t think it would be. But I’ve come to realized that there are extra demands placed on mothers by society, by biology, and by their own emotional clockwork. I’ve gaind newfound levels of respect and admiration for all the mothers everywhere, throughout time.

So I’d like to take a moment and wish a (slightly belated) Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s in my life: Tara, Betty, Michele, Meg, Nicolle, Sylvia, another Betty, Donna, Kelli, Samantha, Kathy, Nancy, Maxine, Rita, Claire, Alicé, Kate, Sophia’s Mom (sorry, I don’t remember your name!), Melanie, Maria, Paulette, Judie, Maquita, and Toni-Marie. Plus recently departed Moms Genevieve, Johanna, and Selma.

I apologize in advance for any name I forgot to include. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you!

Family, General Musings, Life

I’ve uploaded some more pics to this month’s gallery. Some wicked cute ones, if I do say so myself. Behold!

This is Ellie fighting off a vicious panda attack. “Panda Attack”, interestingly enough, is the name of my former guild in the World of Warcraft. I say former guild because I got kicked out due to inactivity. The inactivity was due to the fact that I have hardly any free time to play. I have hardly any free time to play because I have a baby. Eleanor is that baby. And now the panda has its revenge.

Make of that what you will.

Baby, Gaming

First of all, I’d like to apologize for the lack of updates. It feels like I just blinked, and suddenly 3 weeks have gone by without a post. I suppose that’s the same process by which kids grow up fast. I’m thinking that I should probably start mixing up the content here by including some non-baby-related posts. More typical blogging stuff such as interesting links, general musings, or other happenings in our lives. Ideally I’d like to avoid these long stretches without new content. We’ll see how it goes.

And speaking of growing up fast…

Disgustingly cute, I know. Don’t you just want to grab her cheeks and pinch away? I finally put some new pictures online. But sorry, no videos this time. I’m actually working on a much longer video project, though it may take a while to complete. I will try to post another small, easily digestible video on the blog in the mean time.

So what’s Ellie been up to, you ask? A whole bunch actually. She’s been very social, attending a play group and going on several little trips to see family. We also had a lovely visit from Ellie’s adorable little cousins, Claire and Sophie. Ellie is a hit wherever she goes. Everyone approves of her cuteness and sweet disposition.

She still enjoys many of the same playful activities as she did last month, but she is much more adept at them. For example, l’d say she’s batting about .723 when it comes to reaching out and grabbing objects that interest her. That’s pretty good considering that last month she could only swat at things. Of course her favorite pastime seems to be just staring at her hands. Well, and the TV. We really need to curtail that habit…

Her personality has continued to develop as well. She smiles broadly at stuff she finds amusing. Making silly noises and faces seems to work best to elicit a smile. Every now and then we get a little giggle too. She’s also better able to just hang out on her own and entertain herself by looking at her hands, toys, patterns on furniture, etc. In fact, she is generally much more self sufficient. She is even able to wake up in the morning and chill out for a while without needing us right away. She still requires a fair bit of attention and/or cuddling to fall asleep, though. Fortunately, we don’t mind one bit.

Her most recent doctor visit went swimmingly. Well, except for the shot. She found that to be quite uncalled for. She is a solid two feet long and she’s just shy of fourteen pounds. She is still pretty chunky, but it’s more in proportion to her body size now. The doctor basically told us (yet again) to keep up the good work.

And Finally, I would like to report that Eleanor has been sleeping through the night! She typically passes out anywhere from 6pm to 9pm and is down for a good 8 hours. She’ll often kinda halfway wake up in the wee hours and want a quick feeding and then fall right back to sleep. But we still consider that sleeping through the night. Huzzah!

Baby, Blogging, Life