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.
Big few days for the Sweet Pea. Lots of firsts. Seventeen new pictures added to the gallery.
Tara and Ellie went to a La Leche League meeting on Wednesday. I think Tara found their approach to be a little over-the-top, even if we agree with most of their advice. The group leaders seemed rather inflexible in their views of “proper” nursing and childcare practices. Nonetheless, I think Tara found the experience useful. It was good to be reassured that we haven’t been doing anything horribly wrong. Also noteworthy, this was the first time Mom and Baby spent any length of time together alone away from home. Everyone survived.
The next day, emboldened by the previous day’s adventures, we attempted another first. The three of us went out to eat at a restaurant. It went quite well. Ellie slept for a while, but then started fussing once the food arrived. Tara was able to discreetly nurse her while continuing to eat, herself. There might have been a little curry sauce dribbled on the baby. I plead ignorance.
On the following day, not much happened with Eleanor. But I actually went in to work for several hours. It was the longest I had been separated from her since coming home from the hospital. I found myself missing her much more than I thought I would. :(
Then today, both Tara and I went out for a few hours while Nana Betty and Grandpa Bruce babysat. Again, it was surprisingly emotional. We are just so used to always having The Little Wriggler with us at all times. But we know it is good for us. And Ellie did wonderfully with her grandparents. Plus it was nice to be able to walk around outside doing adult things. Even if it was just running errands, eating lunch, and doing our taxes. Wee.
Tomorrow is the last part of our whirlwind of activity. We are going to Great Grandma’s house out on Long Island to celebrate Great Uncle Stu’s 50th birthday! It should be fun. And this will be, by far, Ellie’s longest journey. In fact, this will be her first time leaving New York City. She did leave Manhattan twice to go to the Bronx. Once for a doctor visit, and once to shop at Target. But tomorrow will be her first journey outside the confines of the five boroughs. I hope it isn’t too much of a culture shock for her!
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:
We’ve spent the past couple of days at home getting to know Eleanor (or Count Squirmula, as she is sometimes referred to). The days have been long, and the nights longer… but sleep deprivation has never been this fun. She’s a big sweetie most of the time.
I’ve gone ahead and added some new pics for your perusal. More cute stuff! Mostly various family members enjoying some quality Ellie-time.
Oh, and I think we’ve figured out who she looks like. Mom brought over some old snapshots. I submit the following pictures for your consideration:
Hooray! The hospital gave both Mommy and Baby a clean bill of health and sent us home. And let me tell you, it feels great to have Eleanor on our own turf. It’s like having home field advantage. She is sleeping in my arm as I type this. And while it’s slow typing with only one hand, I think I’ll be learning to do lots of things one-handed.
For the most part, Ellie is pretty mellow. Yesterday she was rather congested and miserable so she fussed all night. But today is a different story, When she’s not conked out or eating, she is very alert and quietly spends her time staring at whoever is holding her. I have to say, it’s quite magical.
I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has sent along their good thoughts and well wishes. It means so much to us to know that Eleanor is arriving into a world full of people rooting for her. The messages people have been writing to us are some of the nicest words we’ve ever read. The love we feel is palpable.
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for! I’ve just put a bunch of pictures online. So go check out the:
Today is our official due date. We’re at 40 weeks, which only actually counts as about 38 weeks of gestation. Doctors have a funny way of doing math.
Tara is uncomfortable, tired, and the size of a small planetoid. Not unexpected, seeing as how there’s a person living inside her. But I truly admire the stoicism and grace she continues to exude throughout this entire process. I know I’d be terribly grumpy and out-of-sorts were I in her shoes.
We’re going for a doctor’s appointment at 2:00pm. Hopefully we’ll get some idea when the little potato will be ready to come out of the oven.
I realized that I never posted two baby-related items here on the blog which might be of interest. First is an actual sonogram snapshot of the baby, herself, taken at 20 weeks. So technically this is from half her lifetime ago. She hits 40 weeks on Thursday — our official due date.
Next is a little video clip taken the night of Tara’s baby shower. It depicts the incredibly massive amounts of baby paraphernalia we received. And it’s only gotten worse since then. Obviously, we realize that we are very much blessed to have so many people who want to help us and give us things. But at the same time… crimony! We’re drowning in baby junk. How can something so tiny require so much equipment? Anyway, here’s the video:
I’ve said those words about nine hundred times over the past few days. And yes, I am guilty of giving the impression that the baby’s arrival was imminent. I believed it, too. But that appears to not be the case anymore.
One week ago our doctor told us that Tara would likely go into labor within a matter of days. That, or she would need to induce. Well, we had another appointment today and she apologized to us for prematurely raising our prenatal hackles. Apparently everything is normal again, so we are back on our original timeline. Tara’s official due date isn’t for another week, and we might very well be late (as are most first time first-time mothers).
So I can now look forward to yet more probing, anticipatory questions day in and day out. “No baby yet” shall continue to be my mantra for a fortnight. Tara suggests I get a pin to wear saying that. Perhaps I’ll start referring people to my blog for the full story.
And speaking of the blog, I’ve finally gotten it pretty much where I want it. I upgraded to WordPress 2.0, so under the hood, it’s functioning efficiently. I’ve added in the “Currently…” sections over on the right, and I’ve even set up a “Previously…” page for archival purposes. There is also now a “Links” page, too… although it still needs some more bulking up. But basically that’s it for the major features I wanted my blog to have. I wouldn’t mind sprucing it up a bit, however. I may try to figure out an attractive way to throw some subtle graphics on here. But I want to keep it rather minimalist and clean. We’ll see what I come up with.
I’m sitting here trying to figure out why I named my previous post We’re at 90%. I have no idea. I know I was interrupted while writing it, and then went back and finished posting. But I obviously was going to say something else. For the life of me I can’t remember. Oh well. Life goes on.
Tara is going to give birth any minute now, so to speak. We really thought our doctor was going to induce labor yesterday, but she decided not to. She said Tara was far enough along naturally that we could get away with waiting. We’re thinking it’ll be this weekend. (!)
The impending birth of our daughter is the reason I created this blog in the first place. I wanted a way to keep family and friends up to date. So expect updates to appear with more regularity. I promise there will be cute baby pictures!
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.
visits since 6/21/2009