She's Here! (and a long overdue update)

Alice Margaret joined our family on Saturday, March 22nd!  She weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 21 inches long (so 3oz and 0.5in bigger than Eleanor).  I'll post her birth story soon (I promise, really).

We are settling in well to life as a family of four.  Eleanor is an awesome big sister and she loves Alice a ton.  She always wants to give her hugs and kisses, tries to calm her by singing or "shhh"-ing when she cries, and loves to help get toys out for her to play with.  I have loved seeing Eleanor fall so naturally into that big sister role.  She has such a kind little heart.

Alice has been a pretty easy baby so far.  She is eating well and gaining weight (she is up to 11lbs 8oz as of last week!).  She has been giving me one good stretch of sleep at night for about a month now.  She usually goes down around 11pm or so and will sleep until around 6am.  It makes for some late nights, but that initial stretch of sleep has been great.  Eleanor is usually up for the morning by the time Alice is finished nursing, but I can function pretty well on 6-7 hours of sleep.  Alice loves to smile and look at toys.  She is especially fond of the birds that go around at the top of her swing.  Turn them on and she instantly starts grinning and cooing!  At 12 weeks Alice is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes already.  The 0-3 month things still fit her, but she's so long that everything looks like high waters on her :)

I was fortunate enough to be able to take off the remainder of the school year, so I've been home since Alice was born.  I have really been enjoying my time with the girls, especially now that Eleanor is home too.  We let her finish out the school year at her daycare to help her stay in her routine and to help me settle in.  But May 30 was her last day and she's been home with me since.  I'm loving the time I get to spend with her and seeing her personality continue to develop.  It's so fun!

Eleanor is doing great as well!  She's been talking in complete sentences for months now, so it's really fun to be able to have a full on conversation with her.  She potty-trained over Christmas break, so while she is still in pull ups at nap time and a diaper at night, she is (mostly) dry during the day.  Girlfriend would live in dresses and skirts 24/7 if she could.  Every morning she tells me, "I want wear a dress, Mommy!"  She loves anything to do with dancing, ballerinas, dresses, etc.  We haven't really pushed those things much, but she gravitates toward them.  It's really fun to watch her.  She has been in to playing pretend a lot lately too, so it's fun to make up stories and act out scenarios with her.

As far as Matt and I, we are both doing well.  Work is slowing down a bit for him after his busy season, so it's been nice to have him home more.  I'm currently dealing with some eye issues related to a scratch on my cornea that happened last summer, but I'm hoping surgery #2 tomorrow (the first one happened when Alice was three weeks old) helps heal everything and I can go back to being able to see and function normally.  I'm not looking forward to the actual procedure, however.  Let's just say that for eye surgeries you don't get sedated.  They numb your eye and then start coming after you with metal objects.  "Scrape" and "eye" should never be used in the same sentence, especially when it refers to what the doctor is going to do to your cornea.  Fun fact: the cornea will regenerate itself if it is all removed except for a thin outer edge. (So you should be able to connect the dots and figure out what is happening to my eye tomorrow afternoon.  It's going to be super fun...)

And, what you really want to see, pictures of the girls!

 The first three pictures are from Alice's newborn photos with the super talented Elisabeth Smith, of Elisabeth Smith Photography!  (fun fact: she has a giant canvas of Eleanor up in her studio from Eleanor's newborn photos :) )

Sisters!  Eleanor absolutely adores Alice <3

One month photo

Two month photo - what a difference!

Playing dress up!  Eleanor is very into pretend play right now and it is so much fun!

Big sister!

I've been seriously slacking on the updates here.  I'm sorry to those of you who actually read this.  I've thought about updating often, but by the time I can sit down in the evenings and pull out the computer, I've been too sick and too tired to post anything.  But the sickness and exhaustion are for good reason...because Eleanor is going to be a big sister in March!

I'll be 11 weeks tomorrow and Eleanor's little brother or sister should be here around March 27.  Though if he or she is anything like Eleanor, we'll get to meet this little one a few days earlier than that :)

Eleanor has been adorable.  She hugs and kisses the baby every night before bed - though I'm pretty sure she thinks my belly button is the baby!  She often looks at the ultrasound photos hanging on our refrigerator and talks about when we saw the baby and how it sounded like a train.  (That's what we told her the heartbeat sounded like when we had her listen during the ultrasound.)  Hopefully she stays this excited once this baby actually arrives!

As for me, I've not been feeling great.  Compared to my pregnancy with Eleanor, this has been a walk in the park so far.  But in reality, I feel awful in the evenings and I'm still getting sick.  Though instead of getting sick daily now I'm down to every couple of days.  That's an improvement I'll take.  The difference makes me wonder if this little one is a boy.  We'll find out when he or she arrives in March!

Touch a Truck!

Part of what I love about summer break is getting to do all the fun things with Eleanor that I miss out on when I'm working.  You know, all those fun programs offered for kids, but only during the day on weekdays.  This past Friday our local parks department had a Touch a Truck event at one of the parks. Eleanor loves trucks and frequently says "Truck!  Honk honk!  Vroom vroom!" when we see one driving down the road.  We registered for the program beforehand and paid the $5 to get in.  I'm so, so glad we went!  Eleanor had a blast!  The kids also got plastic hardhats and a little truck to take home with them!  Eleanor is in love with her hat and truck, and requests them both frequently.  What a fun morning!

With her hat and truck

She was a little leery of the trucks at first (perhaps trying to let her climb in a semi as the first vehicle was not a smart move).  I put her on my back and she calmed down.  We climbed on the firetruck and in a bus.  Once she figured out what we were doing, she wanted down so she could explore on her own!

Getting on a bus

Just chillin' on the bus

Driving the bus!

inside an RV

Playing in the TumbleBus!  (Those of you from Louisville, remember these?  Apparently they're original to Louisville and this one has been in Indy since 2002.)

Going down the slide on the TumbleBus!  (For those of you who aren't familiar with TumbleBus, it's a school bus with all the seats ripped out and different gym equipment like trampolines, monkey bars, tumbling mats, etc.)

Tunnel on the TumbleBus

Inside the SWAT vehicle

Cruising in the Mustang

Driving the 4-wheeler

Driving the mixer

Running down the aisle of a school bus

Honking the horn of the flatbed truck

Reading a book (that we got for free  from the Book-mobile truck! underneath the coach bus

Such a fun morning!  I'm so glad we were able to go!  

Life at 17 months old!

It's been a busy past couple of months!  Committing to regular blogging right as Matt was going into busy season, effectively making me a single parent during the week for the rest of April and all of May, was not a smart idea.  By the time I got Eleanor and I home, dinner made, and girlfriend to bed, it was time to straighten up the house, work on a few things for school (since this is a crazy busy time of year for me as well), and then go to bed.  Thankfully, busy season is over and my last day with studentswas last Tuesday.  We've been trying to spend some quality family time together on the weekends since Matt doesn't get to see Eleanor much during the week with busy season.  We are all looking forward to spending lots of time together as a family this summer!  Here are some photos from the past month or so.  

Eleanor is turning into quite the little ham!  She is hilarious, loves to laugh, and enjoys finding ways to make others laugh along with her.  She is so fun to be with.  Her curiosity knows no limits, and she is constantly asking what things are, repeating words after us, and doing her best to figure things out.  It is such a joy to see her little mind working.  She still loves animals.  Lola is her favorite cat and, oddly enough, gorillas seem to be her favorite animal.  She is so stinkin' cute when she says the word "gorilla" and thumps her chest!

Just another morning with Lola and the bear

On a walk on the path behind our house.  Girlfriend insisted on saying goodbye to the yellow posts at the end before we turned around...

"Lo?  Lo?" Any object becomes a phone when you're 16 months old!

So tired she tried putting herself to sleep

My parents came up for a visit on Derby Day, so they brought some fun hats.  Eleanor was ready for the race!

Going on a walk.  Both babies had to come with us.

Chillin' in her swing in the backyard.  Too bad the photo can't also do the sound effects of "Whee!  Whee!" as she goes back and forth!

What?  Who doesn't read while riding a pony?

Recent obsession with Mommy's water bottle.  "Water! Water!"

Who knew that plates made excellent pillows when you get tired of unloading the dishwasher?

Silly girl!

Cheese!  And loving her sunglasses!

Must have both her milk and water.

Inside the heart is a mirror.  Yes, she is kissing herself.  She's so funny!

Eleanor is still talking up a storm.  I've lost track of how many words she knows.  She is able to very clearly communicate what she wants (or doesn't want!) the majority of the time.  She has even started shaking her head yes or no.  It's pretty cute!  I love that she is so verbal because I feel like we don't have a lot of the tantrums or frustration that a lot of toddlers do since she is able to tell us what she wants.  If she is tired, she will even say "night night!" or "nap!"

She still loves animals a ton.  She can tell you what dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, snakes, lions, frogs, and birds all say.  She loves watching birds outside.  We found an earthworm on our walk today and Eleanor squatted down and watched it for a good 5 minutes, excitedly yelling "worm!" the whole time.

Eleanor also really loves her babies.  She has two dolls that she loves to wrap up in a blanket (she will bring you a blanket and say "Wrap!  Wrap!"), and carry around.  Just last week she started pretending to put them to bed or give them water from her cup.  I love that at 17 months old (today!) she is already doing pretend play.  

We are so lucky to get to be this sweet little girl's parents.  We are excited that summer break is here because it means 9 weeks to spend hanging out together.  Matt does have to work, but not full time the whole summer, and certainly not the crazy schedule that he has during busy seasons!  I see lots of time outside, trips to the zoo, and other fun things in our future!

The past 2 months, in bullet points

-Keeping up with blogging, on top of work and home, is hard.  I'm thinking of having one set day each week to do a short blog post so we don't go a LONG time without updates again.  It's a shame there aren't any days of the week that start with a B, because the alliteration of "blog B____" has a nice ring to it.  As it is, I'm thinking maybe Wednesdays might make a good blog night.

-Learning how to use eating utensils

When spearing doesn't work, just stick the food on by hand!

Eating chicken and rice soup

-Eleanor continues to talk up a storm.  In addition to the words she had last time, she has added a ton of new ones.  Matt and I made a list in preparation for her 15 month well visit last week.  Girlfriend is up to over 40 words.  Did I mention the average for 15 months is 5-15 words?  Some new words lately:

-basketball (pronounced bah-ball)
-bubbles
-milk
-shoe
-yay
-uh oh
-baby
-banana
-swing (we just put one up on our swingset for her)
-walk
-Nonna (my mom)
-Nana (my grandma)
-Papaw, Pawpaw, Poppa (all sound similar; these are my grandfathers and my stepdad)

-Phrases!  My 15 month old is starting to (every now and then) talk in phrases, people!  So far we've heard "Hi Lola!" and "Bye bye baby."

-Eleanor can follow spoken directions like a champ!  She knows what "Sit down," means (usually so we can put her shoes on or if she's trying to stand in the bathtub).  If I hand her something and say, "Go give that to Daddy," she'll carry it over and hand it to Matt (or vice versa).  "Go get your jacket."  "Let's put on your shoes."  "Go get your milk."  "Go upstairs."  "Get a book."  "Give a hug."  "Can I have a kiss?"  "Can I have hugs?"  "High five!"  "Hold ______'s hand."  "Clap your hands."  She's got all of those down.  Such a smart girl!

vanilla extract, Eleanor's new BFF.  She makes a beeline for it in the pantry.

-Games are fun.  Eleanor's current favorites include shutting bedroom doors, then saying "Hi!" when you open it.  Then telling you "bye bye" as she closes it.  She claps her hands once the door closes, then waits for you to open the door again.  Rinse and repeat.  We've also taught her to say "knock knock knock" while knocking on the door.

(As a side note, I was pulling a pan out of a cabinet the other night, and Eleanor tried to shut the cabinet on my head, saying "bye bye.")

She also loves running in circles around the island in our kitchen.  Over and over and over.  Wiping the floor with a towel and "helping" with the dishwasher are also apparently great fun when you're 15 months old.

take dishes, leave cat

Bet you can't guess how the salt got there huh?

Wiping the floor.  She now shakes her water cup to try to get drops on the floor so she can grab a towel and clean it.

-Eleanor may or may not have a slight obsession with shoes.  And really, I think she's obsessed with shoes because shoes = going bye bye.  She frequently goes into the pantry/laundry room/mud room, gets her shoes, and brings them to you.  If you don't immediately put them on her, she will sit down and try to put the shoes on herself.  Or she may try to put her shoes on your foot.  She will also grab her jacket, stand by the door going out to the garage, and say "bye bye!  Bye bye!" over and over again.  It's hilarious.

Bye bye!

-Books are still a huge hit in our house!  I love that at 15 months old Eleanor already has favorite books that she can identify on the shelf, pull off, and bring to us to read.  Current favorites include From Head to Toe by Eric Carle (and she will also do some of the motions with it), The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle, Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? by Eric Carle, Hop! (the pictures move when you move the pages; Eleanor is a pro at doing this by herself), and anything with animals.

I absolutely love when Eleanor gets a book, hands it to you, then turns around and backs up until she plops down in your lap.  Love it.

-Animal sounds are fun to make!  Eleanor loves looking at pictures of animals and imitating sounds.  She knows that ducks say "quack quack," dogs say "woof woof," cows say "moo," sheep say "baa baa," lions say "roar," and cats say "meow."  She will also imitate us with other animal sounds.

-Cutest.thing.ever.  When you ask Eleanor where something is, she gets a quizzical look on her face and throws her arms out to the side.

-Eleanor finally has more teeth!  She cut two more bottom teeth a few weeks ago, and then one of her top teeth decided to join the party.  I'm pretty sure her other top tooth is almost through the gum as well. I'm definitely going to miss her gummy grins, but I'm glad we're not going to have a toothless wonder on our hands :)

-Girlfriend had surgery to put tubes in her ears on March 25.  She'd had a double ear infection on and off (mostly on) since before Christmas).  After 5 rounds of antibiotics and fluid still on both of her ears, the pediatrician and ENT both agreed that tubes were her best option.  The good news is, her hearing test showed that her hearing still seems to be normal and her speech development is a little ahead (according to the pediatrician), so the ear infections haven't seem to have affected those two areas much, if at all.  The surgery went well and the ENT said Eleanor had a ton of fluid on her ears and it was some of the thickest fluid she's ever seen.  She likened it to rubber cement.  Poor Eleanor!  Thankfully, she was back to her happy self by that afternoon and even went back to daycare the next day.

At the surgery center waiting for the anesthesiologist.  She was in a pretty good mood for not being allowed to have anything to eat or drink.

"helping" put ear drops in

-Eleanor also had her first nights without her mommy and daddy.  My spring break was last week and Matt and I took a few days to go down to the resort in Mexico where we spent our honeymoon.  It was hard leaving Eleanor, but it was also really good to have some time just the two of us.  Eleanor did great with my mom and we were able to video chat with her every day!

pretty much how we spent Sunday-Wednesday of last week

not bad, huh?  Definitely much needed relaxation

View from lunch

candlelight dinner on the beach - celebrating our 5 year anniversary a few months early :)

-The new swing on our playset is a big hit with Little Miss.  Whenever we are outside and she sees it, she takes off running for it yelling "swing swing!" or "whee!  whee!" depending on her mood.

-Toddler tantrums are in full force.  Except she hasn't really figured out the tantrum part and just mostly sits or lays down and refuses to move.

I don't want to hold your hand so you can stop me from running into the street.  So I'm just going to sit here with my basket.

"Tantrum" because she couldn't walk around with an open container of baking powder.

-Chalk, bubbles, nice weather - we are spending lots of time outside

-At her 15 month appointment last Friday Eleanor weighed 26 pounds 6 oz and was 30.75 inches long. She's still wearing 18 month clothes and size 5 shoes.

Snow is cold! She laughed hysterically every time she touched it!

Eleanor and Matt surprised me at lunch the day after she got tubes. He picked her up from daycare mid-morning, took her home to get her dressed up, and they brought me flowers.  Just because.  Matt also got Eleanor her own small bouquet of flowers.  Yep, he's a keeper :)

Visiting Papaw (my mom's dad)

Going on a walk with Pawpaw (my dad's dad)