Sleepy baby

Dear Eleanor, you are a fabulous sleeper. Thank you for that. You are such a special little blessing, and already one whole month old. I love your newborn smell, your sweet breath, the smiles you give us accompanied by adorable coos. When you smile, your eyes smile so much. You are pretty much magical. While I look forward to watching you grow, seeing what you look like, getting to know your personality, for now you are nothing but sweetness and innocents. I love you.

Snuggles with uncle ewic

Pre thanksgiving

The weekend before thanksgiving uncle Eric came up for a visit. With a job in retail, he couldn't take thanksgiving off. This was the first time he met eleanor, and by now, him and Hadley are old friends. They two of them had so much fun together! We (especially Hadley) can't wait for you to come back over Christmas!

Happy birthday uncle Jon!

The sweetest cousin love you ever did see!

So much fun in the fall leaves

Hadley, Eleanor, and I took a stroll down to nana and papa's. Hadley and papa had a fun time playing in the crunchy leaves... And I was thankful to get out some of her wiggles!

First smile on record!

Here is our little darling Eleanor smiling away at two weeks, 3 days. Be glad you can't see the crazy momma behind the camera acting a fool to make this possible.

A baking kind of weekend...

Chris has assumed his many hobbies with the close of harvest. This weekend he baked flakey biscuits to go with our minestrone soup, then woke up bright and early the next morning for more ingredients. Hadley joined him, meaning more sleep for Ellie and I! He returned home with a latte for me and everything needed for cinnamon rolls. Soooo delicious!! He didn't stop there. For dinner, it was rosemary garlic focaccia. So much for those pre pregnancy jeans!

Night on the town...

I had forgotten how easy a new baby can be to take out! Ellie is snoozing away in the booth at norman rose. Thanks for letting me eat my dinner with two hands, little one.

Two weeks!

Eleanor had her two week appointment with dr martin. He said that she looks just perfect. Now weighing in at 9lbs. 3oz. And measuring 20.5" long. That is one whole pound and one whole inch up from her birth weight/length!! Go Ellie go!!

Poop

We know what you are up to when you make this face!

Just us girls

Locals night!

Tuesday night is a night of the week we look forward to! We love the locals night specials at the oxbow market. Nana and papa offered to take Hadley off our hands for the evening, so it was just ellie, the mr., and myself. This was Ellie's first meal out. We had forgotten how easy it could be to take a new baby out to dinner.

weekends...

chris' famous pancakes, ellie's first sunday at church, and so many snuggles.



...are wonderful

lama lama

last night, we had visitors! pete and kelly came over with ice cream for us and books for the girls. hadley had so much fun showing off all her toys and learning new songs with kelly. we have now read "lama lama mad at mama" at least a dozen times! thanks, pete and kelly!

it's a special kind of love

daddy daughter date

today chris took hadley on a little date. they went to the park where daddy pushed hadley on the swing for as long as she wanted to swing, let her climb as high as she wanted to climb, even let her mingle with cute little boys. next they went to gott's where hadley could eat all the french fries her little heart desired. after a bite to eat, hadley and daddy ventured to the toy store downtown. daddy let hadley wander around the store until she found two perfect additions to her farm- a horse and a pig. sleepy and sandy, they came home, where mommy and little sister had missed them.

my first time home with the two girls.

made it out alive!

jaundice follow up appointment...

went great! the morning started off a little rocky, running late, feeding babies, collecting all the necessary baby gear for our outing- normal stuff. hadley tumbling down the front steps barefoot was icing on the cake. we had already decided chris would stay home with hadley, so he nursed her wounds with the wonderful "boo boo bunny".

waiting in the waiting room at the lab was not a pleasant place to take a five day old. old people coughing everywhere! eleanor did so well while having her blood drawn, nothing but a little whimper at the first poke. in other good news, she gained 8oz. since the appointment just two days before!

later in the day we got the news that the bili level went down, and jaundice was no longer a concern. what a relief!

happy halloween!

having a baby four days before halloween definitely caused the holiday to take the back seat. i had wonderful visions of carving pumpkins, dressing up hadley in her costume, taking her to a few of the neighbors for some trick-or-treating, taking LOTS of photos of the family, and heading out to the church "light of life" festival. most of these things did not happen. i have high hopes for next year!

eleanor's frist doctor's appointment

today we took eleanor to kaiser for her "newborn club" appointment. we met with a nurse and dr. ben deters ;) hopefully ben will be our pediatrician once he is finished up with medical school! the nurse thought eleanor looked great, she was impressed with her weight- eight pounds, four ounces, and her nursing skills. the nurse was, however a little concerned with her color, and decided to do a blood draw to check for jaundice. later that afternoon, we got the call that her levels had gone up from 11 to 13 and we were asked to come back in on wednesday for another blood draw. for now, we are nursing constantly, trying to get this girl's liver working!

bringing home baby!

sunday, october 30th 2011 we brought our precious eleanor home!

we were so ready to get this new season of life started with our sweet little girls.

here are ellie and i dressed and ready to leave that little hospital room

we came home in the afternoon to a quiet house. hadley was still with gramma and poppy, and she had plans to go to cousin judah's 1st birthday party. we relaxed and settled in. chris was missing hadley so much, he decided to pick her up a little early. big sister and daddy arrived home with a lovely bouquet of pink "boons" (balloons) and a card so sweet i cried.

we packed up and headed down to nana and papa's for dinner. hadley was so excited to hold her baby sister! she didn't want to let her go :)

hadley and ellie meet

a few hours after eleanor was born, my mom brought hadley to the hospital to meet her sister. she marched the room, quite sure of herself, with a big smile on her face, decked out in her "big sister" shirt. my mom told us that on the way up, someone asked hadley if she was a new big sister and she confidentially replied "yup!". hadley crawled up in bed with me and said "sister ella baby ella". she checked out eleanor for a while and pointed out all of her features. we could already tell- this is LOVE.

next, dada helped hadley open up the present ellie got her. i don't think she understood the concept, but she loved the gift!

a new backpack from (my very favorite kids stuff on the planet) blabla kids, some activity books, and "the napping house" book- to remind her of the importance of a good nap ;).

our little accessory queen thought her sister needed a hat.

Just us two

As Ellie's due date is drawing near, I am trying to soak up the last
moments of "just Hadley and I". I mustered up the strength to take
her on a little nature walk before lunch today. Sounds easy enough,
but makes me feel pretty accomplished. Our newest nature walk fav-
collecting rocks along the way to toss into the creek.

Sweet memories

Growing up, my mom and/or grandma made most of my Halloween costumes.
I remember it so well. Going to the fabric store, picking out the
pattern and the most tacky pink shimmering fabric I can find. I
remember the halloween movies on tv, drinking instant hot apple cider,
and watching my mom sewing away at this amazing little machine. It is
a simple antique singer. Now I am sitting at this very machine,
stitching away on my daughter's costume. I hope to build the same
wonderful memories for hadley year after year. In my book, there is
nothing like a homemade costume. Looking forward to next year, I am
certain Hadley will have an opinion on what she would like her costume
to be. Hopefully nothing to complicated!

thirty nine weeks

dear little ellie,

you have been inside, baking to perfection for thirty nine whole weeks. we have prepared for you in every way we could think of. you have a lovely little nursery all your own. you have a closet and dresser filled with freshly laundered sweet little clothes and cozy blankets. our hospital bags are packed, the car is washed, and the kitchen is stocked. we think your big sister is starting to understand that concept of, well, you! she is almost as excited to meet you as we are! we can't want to hold you in our arms and see what you look like! will you come out looking like your sister? with you have dark hair or light? ...maybe no hair at all? will you have green eyes like your daddy, or brownish like your momma? all we know is you will be beautiful, our beautiful little girl.

now, please stop pretending you are on your way, and come meet us already!

love,

momma and dada

more fun at the pumpkin patch!

auntie sarah invited us to meet her, bella, and judah at the pumpkin patch this morning. we had a great time running around and playing with cousins! after my weekend on and off labor, i was hoping all that activity would get things moving again... no such luck!

Last night was a long night

a harvest party

today we celebrated the end of harvest! i have been looking forward to saying those words for the last few long months, wondering if it would be over before baby eleanor arrived. we enjoyed authentic (i.e. simmered in lard for hours) carnitas, salsas, guacamole, beans, rice, and various spicy pickled vegetables with the crew and their families. hadley had a ball! she payed with rosie, the bernese mountain dog; and pinto, the teacup chihuahua. there were lots of older kids who welcomed hadley.. with open arms, literally. she loved making new friends and running around on the lawn with the pups.

i had contractions the whole ride to and from, but things seem to be settling down. maybe tomorrow will be the day? we snuggled hadley extra close this evening, and read her extra books. our current favorites are "big sister, little sister"; "sisters"; and "baby dear"- a very old fashioned story about a little girl who takes care of her baby doll in the same ways her mommy takes care of her new baby. we are trying to prepare you for this huge change in your life, hadley. i hope and pray this will be an easy transition for you. we love you dearly, and know you will be the best big sister.