Swordplay.net

Ellie turned five months old this week. Sometimes I can’t believe the time has gone by so fast, and sometimes it feels as if it’s been about eight years. We took her to the doctor today. Another clean bill of health. She weighs an astounding 17 pounds, 3 ounces and is a phenomenal 25.5 inches long.

Eleanor’s biggest new achievement is that she sits up all on her own! Observe:

Speaking of new pictures, I have started the Month 6 gallery. Some great shots in there already. Please enjoy.

At the moment, we are packing up to go to Nova Scotia for two weeks. Thus, updates here may be a little spotty for a while. But we should have plenty of great pics and video when we return! Including some of Ellie with her Great-Grandma Sylvia who has not met her yet.

It’s a big trip and it’s taken a lot of preparation to get Ellie ready to go. We’re a little anxious about the 8 – 9 hour drive tomorrow, but we’ll get through it somehow. My parents managed to do it year after year for decades.

Baby, Family, Life

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

Today was gorgeous! It was a crisp and sunny 80°. A great day to enjoy the park with the family. My sister, Laura, also joined us. We took some great pictures that I am quite happy with. Check ’em out!

Over the past few weeks, Eleanor has really been coming into her own. First of all, she now flashes beautiful smiles at people when she’s in a good mood. It’s truly a moving sight for her mom and dad (and grandparents, and aunts, etc). She is also expressing herself verbally with various squeals, grunts, and prolonged vowel-sounds. Sometimes we know what she is trying to say. Sometimes we’re clueless.

As you can see from recent photos, Ellie is filling out quite nicely. That, of course, is a polite way to say she has totally chunked out! According to the doctor, her weight is in the 95th percentile for babies her age. But he also says that it means she is healthy and strong. He said, “Whatever it is you’re doing, keep doing it”. Sure thing, doc!

Eleanor has been fixated on her hands. Staring at them, sucking on them, whacking at things. She doesn’t exactly grasp at objects yet. It’s more of a pinching motion. She’ll pinch at our clothes, our hair, her hair, her ears. It’s so cute. (But then, I think everything she does is cute).

We’re working hard to get her on something of a fixed schedule. It’s not easy, but we’ve had some small successes. She’s also slept through the night a few times recently. We’re hoping that it wasn’t just a fluke.

Baby, Family

A real post with Ellie-updates is still forthcoming. But I’ve got what you really want right here. Pics and movies!

Several adorable new pictures have been added to the newest gallery. No doubt, you’ll want to check them out.

Next is a video of Ellie chillin’ out at home in a big comfy chair:

And here’s a video with a bit more action and excitement. Xander puts in an appearance:

I hope that keeps you all sufficiently happy. Thanks for continuing to read the blog!

Baby, Family, Kitties

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.

Baby, Family

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!

Baby, Family, Life, Work

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.

Baby, Family, Life, Work

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.

Baby, Blogging, Family, Life

I’ve been remiss in posting here on the blog. But there hasn’t been too much to talk about. A few more pictures have trickled online in our general gallery. You can see a representative sample of their cuteness over on the left. View at your own risk.

I also uploaded a bunch of pics from Uncle Stu’s 50th birthday party. There are some great shots of Ellie with her great-grandparents, and other assorted family members, including little two-year-old cousin Molly. The two of them are so adorable together, it hurts.

Ellie is almost one month old and she has really been coming into her own. She’s so much more alert than ever before. She follows you with her eyes and head and is really taking the time to examine things
around her. It’s so cool!

I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Baby, Family

Ellie’s cord stump fell off today. Kinda gross. I suppose it was one of her first rites of passage, though. Hooray for Ellie!

I’ve just put another handful of pictures online. Most are of Ellie visiting with cousins Raina and Nicholas. And there are a few just generally cute baby pics thrown in for good measure.

I guess our sleeping patterns have improved a little bit, but we are still a long way from any sort of established routine. At least we’re getting good at tricking the little muffin into going back to sleep when she wakes up at night. The only real “complication” is that she simply will not sleep unless she is being held. Even if she is completely conked out, if we place her in her crib, she’ll be awake within 10 minutes. For right now this is fine. She currently sleeps with us in bed either nestled between us or on our chests. And we are happy to accommodate her snuggly demands. But this could be problematic in the long run. Y’know… like when she has to go to college.

That’s about it. I asked Tara if there was anything else about Ellie that we should report. She said only to tell everyone how cute Eleanor is. Consider it done:

Baby, Family, Life