tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21073754894125410082024-03-12T17:41:31.731-07:00East Bay BabyCallaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-37790517478686246322014-10-22T14:43:00.001-07:002014-10-22T14:44:42.964-07:00Nine Months<div>
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My sweet Winston is nine months old. He weighs 22 lbs 4.5 oz (90th percentile) and is 29.5 inches long (94th percentile). He can wave hello, sign for “milk,” give kisses on request, and scoot around wherever he wants to go. </div>
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He can crawl, but still prefers to get around on his belly, which he can do much quicker. He will do a proper crawl for a few paces, then drop his belly and scoot the rest of the way. He is totally mobile now, but is still quite happy to sit on the playmat and explore toys. He isn’t into everything yet, which makes my job a bit easier, but that could change any day. He has figured out how fun it is to pull the books off of the bookshelves though. </div>
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He is a very observant boy and loves to stare intently at strangers, which gets him a lot of smiles and hellos, which he meets with even more intent stares. I can’t remember if staring is a normal baby trait, but people comment on the directness of his stare a lot (including his doctor), so it seems worth it to mention it. </div>
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He loves eating and his favorite food is anything bread based, including homemade pizza crust, peas, black beans, and pears. He almost always feeds himself, unless I’m eating oatmeal or yogurt, in which case I give him little bites off of my spoon (which I can never manage to do fast enough, in his opinion).</div>
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He is really sweet and happy all the time. He can be a bit clingy and prefers to be worn or carried most of the time (and hates when any member of his family walks out of his sight), but other than the only time he fusses at all is if he is tired. When he was a newborn my mom called him Win Poppins because he was such an easy baby that he was practically perfect in anyway. I’d say he’s just about back to Win Poppins status these days. At this phase, he is very easy to look after and simply delightful to be around, with his big gapped-tooth smile and sparkly blue eyes. </div>
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He loves to swing on the swings at the park and always laughs when he watches his sister run around. He favors the toys he knows she likes the most, her Elsa doll with its fascinating blond hair and her baby dolls with their chewable hands and feet, but he is also developing that typical little boy fondness for everything with wheels. He loves to sit and push the doll stroller back and forth, and will roll a little tractor toy from our farm set around the wood floor and scoot along after it. He also loves our bead maze cube with it’s spinning blocks and beads and doors to open and shut.</div>
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Nine months is always a bit of a bittersweet milestone, I think. Nine months in, versus nine months out. These first nine months of his life have seemed to go by so fast for me. Instead of thinking back though, I find myself thinking forward to what life will be like in another nine months when he is a year and a half. He will be playing at the park, trying to keep up with his sister, and probably starting to really talk. He will be a full fledged toddler, throwing unintelligible tantrums and telling me “no!” at every turn. There is so much to look forward to, but there is so little of his babyhood left now. Just a few short months. I’m going to do my best to savor them, because the last two nine month intervals of my life have passed at breakneck speed. I don’t want to blink, because I know if I do then my little baby scooting hilariously across the floor on his belly will be toddling into my arms, then if I blink again he will be running away from me with a defiant chuckle, and if I blink a third time he will heading off to school.</div>
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Say little Win, for just a bit longer.</div>
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<b>35 weeks</b></div>
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<b>36 weeks</b></div>
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<b>37 weeks</b></div>
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<b>38 weeks</b></div>
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<b>39 weeks</b></div>
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Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-42355520605209235512014-09-25T14:37:00.003-07:002014-09-25T14:40:49.565-07:00Eight Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Win now has six teeth (four on the top, two on the bottom). He is very close to crawling, but isn't quite there yet. He can get up on his hands and knees into the right position, and will rock back and forth, but hasn't figured out how to move forward. Sometimes it really upsets him. I know it will make my life more difficult once he is mobile, but I'm rooting for him because I can see he wants to do it so badly. There are so many places that he wants to go! Like, to the other side of the playmat, or across the living room floor. There are so many toys scattered around by his big sister, placed just out of reach. It’s a frustrating existence for a curious baby.</div>
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I was thinking the other day about how Win doesn’t have too many nicknames. When Eleanor was a baby, the list of her nicknames was a mile long, but we mostly just call Win by his name, or refer to him as “brother.” There is one nickname that Eleanor coined that has really stuck though, “Brud,” short for “brudder.” It isn’t the most graceful sounding moniker, but it’s pretty cute. We love our little Brud. </div>
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At 8 months old Win loves:</div>
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<li>His daddy</li>
<li>Pulling his sister’s hair</li>
<li>Getting ahold of her Magiclip dolls </li>
<li>Blowing raspberries </li>
<li>Biting with those new teeth of his</li>
<li>The novelty of exploring new toys (as well as new “toys” like spatulas and slotted spoons and empty cardboard boxes)</li>
<li>Giving big, sloppy, open-mouthed baby kisses </li>
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<b>31 weeks</b></div>
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<b>32 weeks</b></div>
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<b>33 weeks</b></div>
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<b>34 weeks</b></div>
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Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-57581402242577309282014-08-26T14:47:00.001-07:002014-08-26T14:48:08.563-07:00Seven Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since writing the last monthly update, Win has started grown two more teeth, bringing his total up to three, the two bottom front teeth, and the top left front tooth, which is just barely poking through. He has fully mastered the art of sitting up unassisted, and loves to sit on our playmat at explore his (and Eleanor's) toys. </div>
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Baby-led weaning has been going great. Win got the hang of things so quickly, and now he handles food with little difficulty and is always excited when meal time comes around. It’s fun watching his preferences develop. He is crazy about carbs. If there is bread or pasta on his tray, he is definitely going to go for that first, followed by red things, especially strawberries and watermelon. It’s always hard to tell how much food is actually being ingested with baby-led weaning, but I think he manages to eat almost half of whatever he is given, which is pretty incredible. He gets very upset if anyone eats around him without sharing, and you should hear how he screeches if he runs out of food on his tray! Recently he was eating some avocado, and he liked it so much that after he had eaten all of the wedge I had given him, he proceeded to bend down and lick the remaining avocado that had been smeared on his tray. He seriously loves food! And you can see it in those massive thighs! </div>
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Win is the definition of a bouncing baby boy. He is so wiggly and active, it’s hard to keep a hold of him sometimes. He’s always babbling and flailing his limbs around and grabbing at absolutely everything. He loves to hang upside down and his always arching his back to flip himself over. He has started really babbling, adding lots of different tones and consonant sounds to his repertoire. The race is on to see if we can get him to say "Mama" or "Dada" first. Seriously, Win, who wakes up with you at night? It needs to be "Mama." </div>
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Separation anxiety has officially set in, and Win usually gets instantly upset if he sees me move out of view. He has the most high pitched, hysterical, dramatic cry! You'd think the entire world was ending the way he hams it up when I put him down for a few seconds to run to the bathroom. This phase makes me very glad for quality baby carriers.</div>
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<b>27 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>28 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>29 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>30 Weeks</b></div>
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Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-86658828374180581182014-07-23T15:04:00.002-07:002014-07-23T15:05:14.123-07:00Six Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Just the other day Eleanor asked me, “Mom, are babies forever?” and I had to tell her, with much genuine sadness in my voice, “No, babies aren’t forever. They always grow up.” I wish this one didn’t have to, but he's growing up all the same, and is somehow already six months old.</div>
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So what is Win like as a six month old? He is very sociable and friendly. He loves making eye contact. Often if he is fussy all anyone has to do is just lock eyes with him for a moment. He is obsessed with faces. All babies are interested in faces of course, but he will stare and stare at faces. When I read to him and Eleanor, he prefers to turn around and watch my face rather than look at the pictures. He loves to touch and grab faces too. When Andrew comes home from work and picks Win up, the first thing he always does is reach out and put little hand on his cheek. He is super smiley. He is always giving these big, gummy smiles, with his head cocked to one side and his tongue at the roof of his mouth. He gets a bit more serious around strangers, he will stare at them critically for a while, but then usually cracks a smile. </div>
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He is a big boy, just every so slightly under 20 lbs, 27.5 inches long, pushing the limits of 9 month sized clothes. I had to squeeze him into these cute overalls (which are 6 month sized) to take these photos. They were the first item of baby boy clothes that I bought after I found out I had a little boy on the way, and I always imagined dressing him up in them for his six month photos. They really don’t fit him anymore, but I had to do it.</div>
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He can sit supported by a boppy pillow very well, and can manage the tripod sit for a few moments. He has great hand coordination, and if he gets a hold of a toy, he almost never drops it. He seems to love having things in his hands to play with and chew on, so we have various baby toys scattered all over the house for him. We started Baby Led Weaning in earnest a few days ago. I have no idea how much he is actually swallowing, but he loves the chance to play around with food. Even after just a few days, I can see him learning. At first he would take hold of a piece of food and suck and suck and suck on it, but now he has started mashing it with his gums and managing to break off little bites (that mostly get spit out). </div>
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On Saturday his first little tooth broke through (the bottom right incisor), but it seems to be taking its sweet time pushing up. It’s still just barely there, where I can feel it with my finger but can’t really see it. I’m anxious to see what his smile will look like when it is fully of white baby teeth.</div>
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I don’t know what it is, but all of a sudden he seems to look so much more grown up to ne. The way his face has matured in even just the last month is really dramatic. Win has always been a cute baby (in my biased opinion), but lately he has hit this level of cuteness that is just unbearable. I can’t even look at him without saying at loud, “Win! You are just too cute!” Of course it doesn’t hurt that he is almost always smiling at me. But seriously, his cuteness quotient is off the charts, with his perfect little button nose, his giant chubby thighs, his bright blue eyes, and his ridiculously long eyelashes that curl all the way up to his eyebrows. I can’t get enough of him. </div>
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He still loves bath time, being naked, bouncing in his jumperoo, and playing with his big sister more than anything. He is almost always happy (unless he is in the car, which is still a bit of a challenge). His disposition is as sweet as honey. </div>
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<b>22 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>23 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>24 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>25 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>26 Weeks - One Half of a Year</b></div>
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<br />Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-27230706375932672612014-06-21T14:18:00.004-07:002014-06-21T14:19:49.839-07:00Five Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My sweet baby boy is 5 months old today, and it’s hitting me hard. Isn’t 6 months supposed to be the big, emotional one? 6 months is half of a year, but there is something that strikes me about 5 months as well. It feels like the transition from little baby to big baby. At 4 months he was still practically a newborn, right? And now, he’s 5 months, which is almost 6 months, and everyone knows that 6 months is almost 12 months, and 12 months is almost 12 years, and basically my point here is that he will be grown up before I know it. But I shouldn’t be getting ahead of myself. For now, he is just 5 months, and that’s still pretty little.</div>
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At 5 months old, Win is friendly, social, and smiley. He loves to play with toys, anything soft that he can chew on and smash into his face. And don’t you dare take his toys away, because he will cry so hard and bitterly until he has them back in his little fists. He isn’t sitting up unassisted yet, but he started sitting up the second I strapped him into his bouncy seat, so we had to switch it out for this floor seat that allows him to be upright. He has rolled over once, but isn't doing that consistently yet. He loves bouncing in his jumperoo and his happy in there for long stretches of time (seriously, yesterday he hung out in it with a huge smile on his face for 45 minutes, which is basically forever in baby time). He is very cuddly and hugable and always laughs when you kiss his neck. I’m so glad he is mine.</div>
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Tomorrow Win takes his second flight. We'll be in Phoenix for the week. We're looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family!</div>
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Here are some photos from the last few weeks (his 4 month photos were taken on the same day I usually do his weekly photos, so I counted those as his 17 week photos too):</div>
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<b>18 weeks</b></div>
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<b>19 weeks</b></div>
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<b>20 weeks</b></div>
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<b>21 weeks</b></div>
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Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-63173448599619827352014-05-30T15:00:00.002-07:002014-05-30T15:00:43.098-07:00Four Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Win turned four months old last week. I'm late with this post because he had a doctors appointment today, and I wanted to add his stats. He weighed in at 17 lbs 11 oz, and measured 26.5 inches long<br />
He is up 3 lbs and 2.5 inches in last two months.This baby is giant! He’s in the 95th percentile for weight, and 90th for length. Everyone jokes that he stores it all in his chunky thighs.<br />
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In the last few weeks, Win has mastered the art of grabbing. He is now very interested in toys, and loves to pull whatever he manages to grasp into his mouth. He has started drooling a ton and always has his fingers in his mouth, which makes me think he might get his teeth on the earlier side, like Eleanor did (he first broke through right at 5 months). He has started laughing a lot and loves his sisters antics. She can always crack him up with a silly dance or a tickle.<br />
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He is still a pretty happy baby on average. Our only problem area right now is the car. He absolutely hates being in his car seat, and he screams pretty much the entire time. When I put him in it he gives me this pitiful look like, "No Mama, don't do this to me again," and starts crying immediately, then the moment I open the door to unbuckle him he is all smiles. Luckil, we don't have to drive very often--usually just once or twice a week to run errands. I try to keep our car trips to the minimum, and still do as much walking as we can, which we all prefer anyway.<br />
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<b>13 weeks</b></div>
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<b>14 weeks</b></div>
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<b>15 weeks</b></div>
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<b>16 weeks</b></div>
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Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-87507946161419842052014-04-22T15:17:00.000-07:002014-04-22T15:20:23.578-07:00Three Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had such a hard time narrowing down photos for this month's update! Win is just so sweet and smiley and happy and when I look at him I feel like my heart is going to burst right out of my chest. I take photos of him every Tuesday (I try to keep to a schedule so that I don't forget), and I always end up with dozens that I love. I've been posting them to my <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/callai/sets/">Flickr</a> (which has better upload quality than Facebook), so if you're like me and you just can't get enough of this darling boy's face, feel free to take a look. There are several photos of Eleanor and Win together as well. </div>
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In the past month, Win has discovered his hands. I had forgotten how fascinating it can be to sit and watch a baby being a baby. It's amazing to watch him concentrate so intently on his hands, stare at them with complete focus, and bring them slowly to his mouth. He has started to soothe by sucking on his fingers and fist when he is sleepy, which makes me wonder if he will become a thumb sucker. He is working hard on learning to sit. If he is in a reclining position he always works his little abs and pulls himself upright. He can sit up now if he has some assistance from either pillows or my lap.</div>
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His personality is very calm and happy. It's easy to get him to smile and he is becoming very sociable. He loves to have one-on-one attention, to be able to lock eyes and babble with someone. He really likes diaper changes because it affords him the chance to have a conversation of “ah-goos” and “hoos.” I wear him in a carrier for a large portion of the day, but he gets into playful moods now where he wants to get out where he can see my face and interact with me. I love to hear his voice and watch his facial expressions. It makes me anxious for the day that he is able to actually talk. That will be so fun. But of course I’m in no rush for him to grow up. </div>
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<b>9 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>10 Weeks</b></div>
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11 Weeks</div>
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<b>12 Weeks</b></div>
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Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-75375904935890578782014-03-28T15:42:00.000-07:002014-03-28T15:46:06.567-07:00Two Months<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm posting this a week late because I wanted to wait until after his doctors appointment so that I could record his stats. He weighed in at 14 lbs 2.5 oz and measured 24 inches. Big boy!<br />
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He is growing out of everything at record speed. He needs 3 month or 3-6 month sized clothes. He no longer fits in the Puj tub (a small baby tub that fits in the sink), the infant insert for the Ergo carrier, or his small size fitted cloth diapers. I'm trying not to feel too heartbroken about it, but it's hard. My baby isn't a newborn anymore.<br />
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Win is really strong, and for a few weeks now he has been able to hold his head up for long stretches of time while he looks around. He seems to really enjoy observing his little world. And around 7-8 weeks he finally started to wake up, spending decent chunks of each day awake and alert. He is very cheerful and easygoing. I say that holding him for a few minutes is guaranteed to lower your blood pressure. He just oozes sweetness.<br />
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Now that he is more awake, he is becoming very smiley and social. He loves to catch your eye, flash a grin, and coo. He likes to sit and have little conversations, and of course he loves when his big sister pays attention to him.<br />
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At two months old, Win's favorite things are kicking his legs in the bath, having his diaper changed (he's always all smiles when I put him on the changing table), taking naps on my chest in one of our various baby carriers, and having naked time. That's such a boy thing isn't it? If he is at all fussy all I have to do is lay him down and take his clothes off, then he is the happiest baby in the world.<br />
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<b>5 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>6 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>7 Weeks</b></div>
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<b>8 Weeks</b></div>
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Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-70149679575812558972014-02-22T15:40:00.002-08:002014-02-22T15:48:33.227-08:00One Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday Win turned one month old. That month felt like the shortest in my life. It really sped by. I know this little boy is going to grow up way too fast.<br />
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At one month old he is getting really good at holding up his head. If I hold him up on my shoulder he lifts it up and looks around for long stretches of time. He seems so strong and big all of a sudden. He is really starting to fill out and develop some lovely rolls on his thighs and nice plump cheeks.<br />
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He is still a very sleepy baby. He has a period in the morning from about 7:30 (or whenever big sister wakes us all up) until 10:30 where he is very alert, but other than that he still sleeps most of the day, and thankfully most of the night as well. When he is awake he is generally calm, but he is starting to prefer that I hold him or put him in a carrier rather than leave him in his bouncy seat.<br />
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He is starting to smile for us, which is so much fun, but since he is so sleepy the smiles are few and far between. If I'm lucky I'll get one or two out of him a day. It definitely makes life easier to have a baby who prefers to sleep the day away, but I'm looking forward to him perking up a bit so that we can all have a chance to interact with him on another (more wakeful) level.<br />
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We're going back to Phoenix the first week of March for a wedding and I'm looking forward to getting to introduce Win to his extended family. I'm really glad we have a chance to visit while he is still so young. See you soon!<br />
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And just for fun, here is a comparison of Eleanor and Win, both shots taken on their One Month Birthdays:</div>
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<br />Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-24385531666398753342014-02-11T15:49:00.001-08:002014-02-11T15:49:23.400-08:00Win's First 3 WeeksWin is 3 weeks old today, and he is already growing out of his newborn sized clothes and on into the 0-3 month range. Last Friday he had a doctor's appointment and weighed in at 9 lbs 3 oz (up from his 7 lb 14 oz birth weight) and had gained an entire inch in length.<br />
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He has (so far) been the most mellow baby you could imagine. He hardly ever cries and very little bothers him. He loves having baths (which is good because he spits up a lot) and doesn't even mind having his diaper changed. He sleeps a ton, maybe even a bit more than your typical newborn. In his first two weeks of life I had to wake him up to eat. He would have slept for 4+ hour stretches day and night if I would have let him.<br />
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He is starting to have more awake time now. He has two long wakeful periods, one in the morning right when we get up that last for at least two hours, and one in the evening around 8:00 just before bed for at least an hour. He is still a calm, tranquil baby, even when he is awake, in contrast to his sister who at this age was only calm when she was sleeping. He is content to spend his wakeful time sitting in the bouncy seat or in the crook of my arm, watching Eleanor play. He is fitting in to the rhythm of our family so well.<br />
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He seems very close to smiling. He smiles a ton in his sleep and will give me these open mouthed almost-smiles when he is wide awake. He also laughs in his sleep, which is the sweetest thing to witness. And when I say laugh, I mean he full on chuckles, with a little giggle sounds and everything. We all can't wait for the real smiles to start.<br />
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<b>1 Week Old:</b></div>
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<b>2 Weeks Old:</b></div>
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<br />Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-41065178417636003542014-02-04T18:13:00.000-08:002014-02-04T20:30:33.569-08:00Win's Birth Story<div style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.81818199157715px;">
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On Monday, January 20th, I was 39 weeks and 6 days pregnant. I had really reached the end of my rope, and I was committed to doing whatever I could to help labor start. That morning Eleanor and I had a playdate with our friends. They came to our house and the kids played for a while, then we walked the few blocks to Whole Foods for lunch. Andrew came at met us there. He was home from work early because someone had stripped the phone lines for the copper near his office, and their phone and internet was both down. We walked home together and I joked that it would be a great day to have the baby since he was already home from work.</div>
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After we got home I spent a lot of time bouncing on my exercise ball, and at about 4pm I decided I really wanted to go on another walk, so we headed out, Andrew and I each holding one of Eleanor’s hands. We live in a hilly neighborhood, and in a few spots there are huge flights of stairs to give pedestrians quicker access up and down the hills. I walked those stairs a lot when I was pregnant with Eleanor and hoping to kick start labor. I hadn’t had the energy to attempt climbing them with this pregnancy, but like I said, I was at the end of my rope, so we made our way down the stairs, walked a few blocks to put some letters in the mail, and then back up the stairs. I had a few good contractions on the walk, but I didn’t think much of them. I had been having random contractions here and there—real ones, not Braxton Hicks—for days, including a false alarm the previous Friday. After being really disappointed by the false alarm I had made up my mind that I wasn’t going to get excited about any contractions until they were strong enough to stop me in my tracks.</div>
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We headed home and started planning dinner. I was looking at Pinterest and saw a picture of waffles, which gave me a huge craving, so we decided to make Breakfast for Dinner (aka “Brinner”), with waffles, bacon and eggs. I ate an absolute ton. It was delicious, and a very appropriate meal to have as my last meal while pregnant. After dinner we put Eleanor to bed and settled in to watch the first episode of season 3 of Sherlock. It was a long one, and I was feeling pretty tired, so I told Andrew I would probably only want to watch half of it, but then I got too invested, so we watched the entire thing and went to bed at 11:00pm.</div>
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When I went to the bathroom right before getting into bed I noticed a tiny bit of spotting. I got really excited, but I didn’t think it meant that labor would be starting right away. I hoped it meant positive progress and that Win might come in the next few days. Andrew and I high fived and got into bed. I started having pretty strong contractions immediately, but they were very far apart, some as many as 15 minutes apart. I figured it was just more of the same random contractions I had been having before, so I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn’t. I was starting to get excited. Something about the contractions felt different. They were sharper and definitely more painful than the ones I had been experiencing previously. I laid in bed half paying attention to the contractions and half trying to force myself to sleep until about 1am, when I decided to get up and time them with the app on my phone and figure out how serious I thought the situation was.</div>
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I went into the living room and bounced on my exercise ball while watching an episode of Downton Abbey and eating a bowl of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. The contractions were getting a bit closer, about 6-7 minutes apart. I was starting to feel more confident that this was the beginning of labor, so after about a half an hour I decided to try to go back to bed. I figured if it really was labor I could use the rest, especially since I hadn't slept at all, and if it wasn’t really labor laying down and relaxing might make the contractions go away. Andrew woke up when I climbed back into bed and I told him that I was having contractions but that I wasn’t sure if it was labor or not yet. I only stayed in bed for a few minutes. The contractions hurt enough that I didn’t like the way it felt to have them laying down, and that is what finally convinced me it really was labor.</div>
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It looked like I was going to have a due date baby, and that alone seemed way too good to be true. I had a much easier time accepting the fact that I was in labor with Eleanor, but that process had been such a slow build in comparison with many escalating signs. This time everything seemed to have started so quickly, and all I had to go off of was the intensity of the contractions. It felt surreal, like I didn’t have time to process what was really going on.</div>
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I was laying in bed next to Andrew, breathing out slowly to get through a contraction, and I said to him, "Sorry, I have to get up again. I can't do this on the bed." So I got up and decided to get out the hospital bag. As I took the bag out of the closet I felt a surge of doubt. I thought to myself that this could very well be another false alarm, and that I might find myself putting the bag back in the closet the next morning, depressed, still pregnant, and really, really tired after staying up all night for nothing. This back and forth kept going on in my mind every step along the way, with one part of me being decisive and taking action, and the other part second guessing everything and worrying that I was jumping the gun. I was worried about calling all of the people I needed to notify and wake them up in the middle of the night for a false alarm. I was worried about getting myself all excited only to be let down again. But for whatever reason, the decisive voice won out each and every time, and the timing of the birth went perfectly.</div>
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At about 1:30am while I was putzing around the apartment trying to distract myself, Eleanor woke up and got out of bed. I took her back to her room and whispered to her that I thought her brother was coming that night. She perked up and said, “Really?” I told her yes, and that when she woke up in the morning my friend Morgan would be there to watch her, and that her Grandma would be on her way to help. “Will they take me to visit you and Tickley?” she asked. I told her yes, that has soon as Grandma’s flight got in Grandma would drive to our house, pick her up, and take her to the hospital. Eleanor went right back to sleep, and I went back to milling around the apartment and timing contractions.</div>
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At 2:00am I started making the calls, although I was still feeling very unsure of myself. My mom’s plan was to fly out from Phoenix as soon as I knew I was in labor and be with us as soon as possible, so I looked up the flight schedule for the day and saw that the earliest one she could get was at 7:10am. It’s an hour later there, and I knew that if she was going to book the flight and get to the airport easily I needed to call her right away, so I did despite the doubt lingering in the back of my mind. Andrew woke up right after that and got out of bed to be with me. I was ambling around the apartment, bouncing on my ball, and timing contractions here and there to see if I was making progress. They were about 5 minutes apart. They became strong enough that I had to stand up and sway or walk through them, which was a benchmark of active labor for me the first time.</div>
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I called my doula, Caitlin, at 2:40 and my midwife directly after. Caitlin said she would get ready and be over in about 45 minutes, and the midwife said to call her again when we were heading to the hospital. I called my friend Morgan, who lives nearby and had agreed to come stay with Eleanor if I ended up going into labor in the middle of thee night, and put her on standby.</div>
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While we waited for Caitlin to arrive I got a huge burst of energy and started running around doing all of the last minute things I could think of, ticking them off of the “Things To Do In Labor” list that I had written. I went downstairs and took Win’s car seat out of its box, put it in the car, and moved the car into the garage to free up our parking spot. I finished packing the hospital bag and got a towel to put down in Caitlin’s car in case my water broke enroute to the hospital. Andrew was fussing at me about doing all of that work, but I enjoyed feeling busy and told him just to let me be. When I ran out of things to do I started pacing the apartment like a caged animal. I had walked throughout my entire labor with Eleanor, and I hated that it was the middle of the night and I was stuck at home.</div>
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Caitlin came at 3:40. I hadn’t been timing my contractions very regularly, but I noticed right around the time she arrived that they had gotten a bit farther apart, and my burst of energy was totally depleted. I was really starting to feel the effects of having been up all night. I told Caitlin I was feeling tired and didn’t know what to do. She asked if I could rest, but I hated the way contractions felt when I was laying or sitting, so that seemed out of the question. I told her want I really wanted to do was go for a walk and see if that helped my contractions pick back up again. I was secretly afraid that if I did try to rest in any way that the contractions would go away. When I told Caitlin I wanted to walk, her response was, “Ok! Let’s do it.” I was hesitant about walking around our neighborhood in the middle of the night. I love it here, but it is Oakland after all, and you can't be too careful. We decided that since it was almost 4:00am that made it close enough to morning to probably be safe, and we headed out. Andrew stayed back at the apartment with Eleanor.</div>
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Caitlin and I walked up and down the hill our apartment is at the top of chatting about TV shows and the ways women act during labor. I was having really good, strong contractions, but I was able to walk through them. Neither of us were timing them at all, we were just living in the moment. The cold night air was so refreshing, and I felt my energy returning. As we walked my contractions got stronger and stronger, and I started having to slow down through them, but I never wanted to stop. It just felt so good to be up and moving. I told Caitlin that I couldn’t imagine laboring in any other way.</div>
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During this time I still felt like the experience was very surreal, and I kept thinking to myself, "Is this really happening?" But at the same time, it was progressing exactly the way I always imagined it would. Somehow I just always knew I would labor in the middle of the night, when everything was still and quiet and Eleanor was sleeping safe and sound in her bed, allowing me to focus all of my attention at the task at hand.</div>
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We walked for almost an hour, until I started feeling my energy waning again. I realized I felt a tiny bit hungry, and I thought that getting something to eat might raise my blood sugar and perk me up a bit, so we came home and Andrew fixed me a bagel with a bit of cream cheese. I was standing up, swaying through contractions and munching on it between them, trying to get as much of it down as I could. I started feeling like I wanted counter pressure on my hips during contractions, like I needed help getting through them, and I remembered feeling the same way right before I felt the need to head to the hospital when I was in labor with Eleanor. When I started needing help, that’s when things were really serious. Then I felt a contraction with a strong amount of pressure down low, and I realized we needed to leave as soon as possible.</div>
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We called Morgan and the midwife, and I put my birthing skirt on (another sign that I definitely mean business). We left right after Morgan arrived, at about 5:00am. I went through transition in the car when I was in labor the first time, and I was really afraid of that happening again. I knew I couldn’t sit down through contractions, so I got on my knees in the back of Caitlin’s car and locked my arms around the headrest. From that position Andrew was able to press on my hips when I needed him to. There was no traffic on the roads at all since it was still so early and we made all green lights, so I only had to suffer through a few contractions in the car. As we were arriving at the hospital Caitlin asked if we wanted her to drop us off at the entrance and go park, or if I felt like I could walk the distance from the parking lot. I wanted to walk some more, so we parked and started walking in. Andrew asked if I wanted to take the elevator or the stairs out of the garage, and I picked the stairs, so down three flights we went, contracting every few steps along the way.</div>
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During the walk from the car to the hospital I started shaking uncontrollably. I thought it was maybe because it was chilly outside, but it was a sign that I was entering transition. By the time we got through the main hospital doors, I was feeling like I really needed to get into a room, so we booked it as fast as we could to labor and delivery.</div>
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As soon as the nurse at the check in desk saw me, she asked if I was Lindy’s patient. Hiring Lindy, my midwife, was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I could sing her praises all day. She was incredible. She was at every single one of my prenatal appointments, was always running right on time, and always took as much time talking with me as I needed. She was always so sweet to Eleanor, who accompanied me to all of my appointments. And during labor, she was exactly what I needed. The only time she left my side was when she went to put on her scrubs right before I started pushing. </div>
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She had told me over and over again to call her as soon as I knew I was in labor, no matter what time of day it was, so that she would have time to make it for the delivery. She had beaten us to the hospital and had a room already prepared for us. She heard my voice while we were checking in and came down the hall to get us. It was 5:09am. Because I was her patient, I was able to skip going to triage. She held my hand and lead me to the room, number 11, where a nurse named Fe was waiting. At this point, there was still a part of my brain that couldn’t believe that this was really happening. I remember looking around that room, thinking that this was the place where my son would be born, and reflecting on how impossible that all seemed.</div>
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Lindy told the nurse right away that I didn’t need an IV started, didn’t want a hep lock, and that I prefered to labor upright (all things she knew about me from our prenatal visits). Right after we got to the room Lindy asked if I could get on the bed for a cervical check. I did, and she told me I was a good 8cm, and that it would be alright to start pushing even though I wasn’t fully dilated if I got the urge. After that I stood by the side of the bed so that I could keep laboring upright and swaying through contractions. Lindy raised the bed up as high as it could go so that I could lean over it. Caitlin got on the other side and held my hands, while Andrew stayed behind me and pressed on my hips. I was firmly in transition by this point, and starting to vocalize through contractions and focus all my attention on my breathing. Caitlin was needing to remind me to relax through my neck and shoulders. Every time she told me to relax I would let go of all of that tension, put my shoulders down and back, lift my face, and breathe out as slowly and as controlled as I could. Between the contractions I was shaking uncontrollably, and I hated it because it made me feel like I couldn't properly relax the way I needed to. I kept telling everyone that I hated the shaking, and they assured me it was normal was would be over soon. </div>
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The nurse got out the monitor and starting moving it around my belly, but was having trouble finding the baby’s heartbeat. She had been fishing around for a while and hadn’t located it. I was starting to get nervous about how long it was taking, so I told her that I had felt the baby kicking in the car, more as a way to reassure myself that he was ok than anything else. Lindy noticed my worry and gently said to the nurse, “Knowing this Mama, I would say that the baby is very, very low.” The nurse moved the monitor down but still couldn’t find the heartbeat, so Lindy took the monitor from her and held it way down low, right over my public bone. She found the heartbeat right away. The monitor had to be so low that they couldn’t secure it with the belts, so Lindy just crouched down on the floor holding it in place and assured me over and over again that he was doing great. “He doesn’t even notice a thing,” she told me.</div>
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Transition is a very emotional time for me. When I was in transition with Eleanor I kept tearing up and telling everyone that I loved them and hugging them. This time, my thoughts kept returning to Eleanor. I was missing her so much, and wanted her there with me. I was missing my mom and wanting her there with me too. My mom had just texted me to let me know that she was on her plane and about to take off, and Caitlin reminded me she was there with me in spirit. At this point during my contractions Lindy and Caitlin each held my hands, while Andrew kept pushing on my hips, and although I was missing my mom so much, I felt so surrounded by the love of strong, supportive women, and that gave me courage. And of course Andrew was there with me every step of the way, present and attentive and affectionate. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">Lindy actually had to tell him to stop hugging me so that I could focus on pushing at one point, but it was me who was clinging to him.</span></div>
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I started to bear down every so slightly at the end of my contractions, and Lindy asked me to get on my hands and knees in the bed. She put the back of the bed up so that I could lean over it. I couldn’t stop thinking of Eleanor, and I wanted to see her sweet face so much, so I asked Andrew to give me my phone. I held it in my hands and stared at the picture of her that is set as my wallpaper through the worst of the transition contractions, focusing on her smile and rosy cheeks, and reminding myself that I had done this once before and could do it again. I started to feel the urge to push harder and harder, and started bearing down more purposefully.</div>
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My thighs were getting really tired from supporting my weight in the hands and knees position, so I said I wanted to try something else. I did one contraction while side lying and absolutely hated it, so I settled in on my back, which is the position I was in when I delivered Eleanor. Once I was firmly on my back I felt like I could really start pushing. But I hate pushing. I really hate it. I can handle labor, the worst contractions, transition, it’s all fine until I have to start pushing. That’s when I just want it to be over more than anything. That’s when I start to feel like I can’t do it. The urge to push is so intense and powerful that I struggle to breathe. It’s like my body can only focus on that one task, and finding it difficult to breathe scares me. But it also encourages me to get it done as soon as possible. Andrew and Caitlin held my legs and every time I felt a contraction rising I felt a sense of dread, followed by the resolve to push as hard as I could so that I wouldn’t have to feel the start of another awful pushing contraction.</div>
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Even when I was pushing, in the midst of all of this, I was still thinking to myself, “Can this really be it? Is it really happening now?” My water hadn’t even broken yet (it never really did), and so I half expected the pushes not to work. I was surprised when I heard Lindy telling me that my pushes were very productive, and to keep going. I was waiting eagerly to feel the ring of fire, that undeniable sign that the baby is about to be born. It came soon. And it hurt worse than I remembered.</div>
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Lindy told me that the baby was coming posterior, and that we would need to try to get him to turn. She had me do a few small, very controlled pushes between contractions, and then he gave me a swift, hard kick that made my belly jump, and twisted around. He did that maneuver right in the birth canal while he was crowing, and I felt every bit of it. It hurt like nothing else. Lindy told me later that she watched the little swirl of his hair making the twist. After he turned she told me to reach down and feel my baby’s head. I did, and that was all I needed to get the job done. I pushed with everything I had, my eyes wide open, focusing on the odd little peak of my belly button, bulged out from pregnancy, sitting on top of the round mound of my belly that I knew would soon be empty. I listened intently to my midwife, telling me “Push down. Push through the pain.” And then I heard her say, “Reach down and grab him,” and then the most amazing, beautiful, miraculous, incredible moment of my life occurred. Andrew and I both reached down, and together we pulled our son out of my body. Our love had created him, and together we brought him into the world.</div>
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It was 6:35am, the morning of January 21st, his due date. He was born an hour and a half after we arrived at the hospital, and after only 12 minutes of pushing, although those 12 minutes felt like an absolute eternity to me. </div>
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We placed him on my stomach to wait for his cord to stop pulsing, and I wrapped my hands around his tiny body, just as I had done with his sister, and I cried. I sobbed and the tears streamed down my face. I was crying because I was so happy that he was born, because I was overwhelmed with that incredible love that comes with seeing and holding your baby for the first time, but I was also crying from sheer relief. I was so glad it was over. The pain was gone. I had done it. Again. Two beautiful babies, two perfect natural births. </div>
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I'll be honest, in the moments after Win's birth I was so glad that he is very likely to be our last child. I was so happy to know I would never have to push a baby out of my body again, but after just a few days I was ready to get back in saddle. It's funny how our brains work that way. </div>
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It is such an incredible feeling to birth a baby. It is more earth-shatterin<span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px;">g than anything else I have ever experienced. In one instant my body is locked in the throes of the worst pain it has ever felt, and in the next, my baby is born. My baby is finally here, and my heart soars to its highest limit. I think of births of my children as my greatest accomplishments. The knowledge that I have done it and felt it all, from the first contraction to the final push, brings me more pride than I could ever begin describe. </span></div>
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Here are some beautiful photos that Caitlin took in the delivery room:<br />
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Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-53579838438432693672012-05-28T10:41:00.002-07:002012-08-28T09:01:55.234-07:0012 Months<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfHUFJElOT5uDOhSiGfG82xjHbezWb8cKpTHU-EVwtGzm5o9Tfp1MSAD-xdWcE7Ue36gr7bAPpPbOCmV8VEu2mr-Yv9mXizQB9kw0Lv5CBe2H93Z6v2a8hIDNEqRiB7XOE4kR4C5ekSI/s1600/EleanorWeek52.1.8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfHUFJElOT5uDOhSiGfG82xjHbezWb8cKpTHU-EVwtGzm5o9Tfp1MSAD-xdWcE7Ue36gr7bAPpPbOCmV8VEu2mr-Yv9mXizQB9kw0Lv5CBe2H93Z6v2a8hIDNEqRiB7XOE4kR4C5ekSI/s400/EleanorWeek52.1.8.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
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<b>Eleanor is 12 months old!</b><br />
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I'm one week and one day late, but we've been so busy with her birthday. We owe a huge "Thank you!" to everyone who came to her party and made it such a fun day for all of us.<br />
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Here is what is going on with our beautiful girl these days...<br />
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<b>Size:</b> She is 21 lbs 8 oz and 30 inches tall, holding steady in the 75% percentile for both. She fits well into 12-18th month sized tops, but has really long legs and needs 18-24 month sized pants. She wears a size 4 shoe.<br />
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<b>Mobility:</b> She isn’t walking yet. I’m not sure when she will start. She doesn’t even seem to be particularly close, but that’s ok. She crawls really fast and cruises around on the furniture like a pro. I’m sure she’ll get there soon enough.
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<b>Language:</b> I swear she picks up a new word every day. It’s incredible. So far she says mama, daddy, kitty, hi, baby, tickle, ball, hat, shoes, eye, utoh, puffs, wawa (water), wow, that, and can combine them into very simple phrases like “Hi daddy!” and “Mama, wawa?” She understands so much as well. She is great at following verbal instructions and knows the names of a lot of her toys. She is still using several signs, but talking has definitely taken over.
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<b>Personality:</b> Eleanor was always a shy, serious baby, but lately she is starting to become so friendly! Often she will say “hi” to strangers and wave, especially if they say “hi” and wave first, where before if a stranger paid her any attention it would make her turn away and hide her face. She’s very affectionate and loves to give hugs and kisses. When we are playing on the floor she will crawl over to me, stand up, and give me the biggest hug with her arms around my neck. She also loved to hug her cousin Atlas when we were visiting him, but their interactions made me realize she is definitely on the sensitive side. If he was at all rough with her, or even just touched her too much or in a way she didn’t like she would immediately tear up and cry in a really dramatic fashion. She is trying to be more brave though. Lately if she gets hurt she will think about it for a second, pout, and give me this look as if she is trying really hard not to cry before she gives in to the tears.
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<b>Food:</b> In the last few days it seems like she has really turned a corner with eating. Before she would have some days where she ate well and some where she just threw everything on the floor, but lately she has been consistently eating almost everything I give her. Right now some of her favorite foods are grapes, blueberries, macaroni and cheese, yogurt, cheese, and turkey. Her favorite snacks are veggie straws and puffs.
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<b>Horrid Things: </b>She has always hated to get her diaper changed, but lately she has figured out that she can thwart my efforts by twisting around and trying to stand up on the changing table. Every change is now a mini wrestling match. I try keeping fun toys on the table, singing songs, distracting her by giving her tasks, but sometimes none of that works. It’s not that big of a deal if she’s just wet, but if it’s a poopy diaper….yeah. Let’s not even go there. She has also entered that phase of her life where she has a perpetual runny nose, between minor colds and teething. Yuck.
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<b>Great Things:</b> There are so many of them. One that I am particularly thankful for is that she is really well behaved when we are out. She does great in her stroller, even for extended periods of time, and she is easy to take to restaurants. She sits nicely in her high hair and nibbles on food while checking out all of the new faces. Another is that she is starting to really show an interest in toys after not really caring about them for her entire life. She got so many fun new ones for her birthday. I love to sit with her at watch her learn how to interact with them, and it also helps my days go by a little easier when there is something other than me that can entertain her.
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<b>Favorite Things:</b> She loves purses and wallets. My mom gave her an old wallet and some used gift cards which she loves to pull out. We got her a Fisher Price purse for her birthday that comes with lots of little accessories that she loves to take out and put back in. Another birthday gift which has been a huge hit is the Fisher Price shape sorting picnic basket. Both toys have handles so in addition to playing with them she enjoys simply putting them on her arm and carrying them around.<br />
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<br />Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-50251045522274664422012-04-20T15:57:00.000-07:002012-04-20T16:02:06.424-07:0011 Months<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ50Gn6DBk25AUEjDiqEoDrmT5iP1wHLJlJpI8UEhz094ZdqaLiJDx-mKnydKq6ezYPfM31IrdBXQinBrIOgqBBEPU6ER9Ip29r3aaovTAZXerTLMVH1_SLTbnpnOD8EMdMTvnc3GDBZg/s1600/EleanorWeek48.1.17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ50Gn6DBk25AUEjDiqEoDrmT5iP1wHLJlJpI8UEhz094ZdqaLiJDx-mKnydKq6ezYPfM31IrdBXQinBrIOgqBBEPU6ER9Ip29r3aaovTAZXerTLMVH1_SLTbnpnOD8EMdMTvnc3GDBZg/s400/EleanorWeek48.1.17.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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Eleanor is 11 months old today!<br />
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Most of you already know this since I posted about it on Facebook, but Eleanor has started saying a few words. First were "mama" and "dada," followed by "tickle," "baby," and "kitty" (ti-ty). She loves to talk and seems so anxious to communicate. Countless times a day she says "Mama?" with inflection as if she wants to ask me a question. I always answer with something like "What, baby?" and she will reply with one of her words or a string of babble. Sometimes we go back and forth just saying "Mama?" "What, baby?" "Mama?" "What, baby?" She loves getting any sort of response to her spoken words.<br />
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She is also starting to communicate with the few signs we have taught her. She picked up the sign for "nurse" the fastest (of course). She also knows the signs for "eat," "all done," and "more." She sort of made up a sign of her own too. When she wants something and I tell her "Say please" (of course I know she can't actually say it yet, but as Julie Andrews says, "Manners matter!" and you can't start too young), she will put out her hand with the palm up. Since she is doing so well with signing I'm working on adding more to her vocabulary, starting with "diaper," "water," and "again."<br />
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The "again" sign will come in handy because this girl LOVES books, and of course just reading a book once is never enough, so we always end up reading the same book to her over and over and over and over and over again. She will go over to the book case (I cleared out one of the lower shelves for her board books), pick out a book, bring it over to us, and hold it up for us to read to her. She loves turning the pages and stares so diligently at the pictures. When we read the end and close the book she immediately picks it up and hands it to us again. It can get very tedious, but if reading <i>Barnyard Dance</i> to her for the twentieth time in a row will help her develop a love of learning and reading, then I am more than glad to do it.<br />
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A few weeks ago we celebrated her first Easter. I wasn’t planning on doing anything for her since she is still so young, but Andrew called me on Friday before Easter and said he wanted to go to Target on his lunch break and get her an Easter basket. How sweet is that? He picked her out a baby doll, a few books, a stuffed lamb, a ball, and a squirt gun (which is a little advanced for her yet, but he wants it to be an Easter tradition). He also got her plastic eggs, which we filled with cheerios and hid in obvious places for her to find. She didn’t quite get the egg hunting process. We’ll have to try again next year. The doll, however, was a big hit. It is her new go-to toy, and what inspired her to say "baby." She is such a lovebug, always giving her doll (along with her stuffed animals and her very grateful parents) plenty of hugs and kisses.<br />
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In just one short month she will be one year old. It’s hard to believe. You know how when someone asks how old your baby is as the month goes on you stop saying simply “6 months” and start to say “almost 7 months”? I do that a lot, always looking toward the future rather than staying in the moment. I’ve been saying she was “almost 11 months” for half of the time she was 10 months. I’m not going to do that this time. I’m going to try really hard to make this month, the last month of my baby’s first year of life, go by as slowly as possible. When people ask, I will say she is simply 11 months old, not almost 12 months, not almost one. I want to cherish every single day of her being just 11 months old, I won’t rush her on.<br />
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<br />Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-40501607693144698182012-03-20T16:12:00.007-07:002012-03-21T08:06:11.539-07:0010 Months<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6947045863_c14da8af5a.jpg"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7252/6855262578_a509eedc53.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7252/6855262578_a509eedc53.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Eleanor is 10 months old today!<div><br />Her favorite things are currently clapping and waving. The first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning is wave at me, then wave at the kitty. She always waves at the kitty even though the kitty never waves back. She waves at strangers, when she hears the words "Hi" and "Bye," and when Andrew walks in the door after work. She claps whenever she hears music, wants to express approval, or simply wants to hear me say "Yay!"<br /><br />She is picking up new tricks left and right. If I hold out my hand and say “Please!” she will put whatever she has at the moment in my hand. At first it was just a fun pass-back-and-forth game, but it’s started to really come in handy when she gets ahold of something I don’t want her to have. Instead of taking it from her and making her cry, I just say “Please!” and she hands it right over. I wonder how long it will take her to figure out she doesn’t always have to hand me something when I ask for it.<br /><br />She learned how to take toys out of containers and put them back in. At first she was just doing it with a blue plastic Solo cup that she picked up at a party over a month ago that has been a constant source of fun, but last week we went to a toy store and got her a little dog house with small plush dogs to put in and take out of. She loves it.<br /><br />She’s also learned how to lay on her belly and fish dust bunnies out from under the furniture. Mommy is not a fan of this last one. But luckily she hands them over to me if I ask nicely and say “Please.” That is if I notice before she puts it in her mouth. Yuck.<br /><br />She has started reliably saying "Mama" and "Dada" now. Any time she wants me she starts on with her “mamamamamamaaa.” Heaven forbid I ever leave the room, because she immediately yells out for me. A lot of her "Mama" talk happens in the midst of whining, but my favorite times are when she is playing on the floor and crawls to me with a crystal clear “Mama” and a smile on her sweet face. A few days after she really got "Mama" down and she learned "Dada" as well. She is also repeating a lot of sounds and even words, but I don't think she is connecting them with anything yet, so I don't want to point to anything as her first real word. She has repeated "yes," "shoes," and "that" so far, but only sporadically. We love hearing her sweet little voice.<br /><br />One last thing, she has eight teeth!<br /><br />Here are some photos from the last few weeks:<br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6947045863_c14da8af5a.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6947045863_c14da8af5a.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6947059997_d1f526e790.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6947059997_d1f526e790.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6968320481_499bec76c8.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6968320481_499bec76c8.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7191/6822188090_fe31fbda4d.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7191/6822188090_fe31fbda4d.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6968352477_0491c50938.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6968352477_0491c50938.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6988582913_dc6571c3ba.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6988582913_dc6571c3ba.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6988597393_1bce4cb47d.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6988597393_1bce4cb47d.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7192/6988618841_2a4b184754.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7192/6988618841_2a4b184754.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6842485990_20af47db6e.jpg" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7055/6842485990_20af47db6e.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><div style="text-align: center; "><div style="text-align: left; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left; "><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7099/7001368465_2d386f3f5a.jpg"><span><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7099/7001368465_2d386f3f5a.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></span></a></div></div></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-72381684868065635002012-02-20T13:07:00.002-08:002012-02-20T13:30:59.002-08:009 Months<div><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/6911857479_efb10d2449.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 500px; " /></div><div>Eleanor is 9 months old today!</div><div><br /></div><div>Wow. She has been out as long as she was in. While those first 9 months went by painfully slowly, these last 9 months have flown by. It's hard to believe it was even the same amount of time. </div><div><br /></div><div>At 9 months Eleanor is crawling all over the place, curiously exploring our apartment. She loves to head toward something she knows I don't want her to touch and then turn around a smile at me, as if to say "Are you gonna come get me now?" She started really crawling a week ago and is now a seasoned pro. She is a good eater and likes to try new foods, making use of her six teeth. She can drink out of a sippy cup by herself (as long as it's the kind with a straw). She usually only take two naps a day and is a great sleeper at night. She is really easy going and does great out and about, at restaurants, and at our friends' houses. She likes her stroller and of course being in the Ergo carrier. She loves to laugh and give kisses. She is unspeakably wonderful.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eleanor and I will be back in Phoenix later this week to celebrate Atlas's first Birthday. We're going to try to get in as many visits as possible. We're looking forward to seeing everybody!</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>38 weeks:</i></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6854675439_42f3a6160c.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6854675439_42f3a6160c.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7054/6854667135_66e9f73c2b.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7054/6854667135_66e9f73c2b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><i><u><br /></u></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>39 weeks:</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6893482695_cd9316c06d.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6893482695_cd9316c06d.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6893584557_21ce62301a.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6893584557_21ce62301a.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7206/6893510413_c964ac0ef6.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7206/6893510413_c964ac0ef6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7208/6911835611_a8966d4a72.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7208/6911835611_a8966d4a72.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><br /></span></div><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7178/6911857479_efb10d2449.jpg"></a></span></span></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-8825172508132292372012-02-03T15:02:00.000-08:002012-02-03T15:32:10.167-08:0036 & 37 Weeks<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6771706247_9c42b0f0c7.jpg"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6771730745_cb46021c22.jpg"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6813978043_4fe4c0ec05.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6813978043_4fe4c0ec05.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Our girl is getting closer and closer to crawling. She can get into the hands and knees position really quickly now and has crawled backwards a few times, but she's still learning how to coordinate her arms and legs to get her to move forward. She also figured out how to maneuver from her belly into a sitting position.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>She constantly surprises us with her brightness. Last week we were sitting on the floor playing and the second Andrew walked through the door after work she waved at him! He hadn’t even had time to wave to her first. She put it together that waving is something you do when you first see someone. I've also been half-heartedly teaching her a few signs and today she mimicked the "all done" sign.<div><br /></div><div>I inadvertently taught Eleanor <i>the</i> best trick ever this week. Sometimes if she is feeling particularly cuddly she will put her head against my chest just for a second, then look up at me and smile. When she started doing that, I started squeezing her close and saying “Oh, soooooo sweet!” which she found hilarious. Now if I ask her, “Eleanor, are you so sweet?” she’ll put her head down on my chest and I will respond with a drawn out sing-songy “soooo sweet!” So I basically conditioned her to cuddle on cue.<br /><br />She is so stinkin cute I can hardly handle it. I was sad when she started teething because I knew I’d miss her gummy smile, but now I couldn’t possibly imagine my life without her wide bunny-toothed grin. She has the best smile I have ever seen, an ear-to-ear beam where she shows off all 6 of her pearly whites that just melts your heart.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>37 weeks:</i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6771730745_cb46021c22.jpg"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6813979541_be2d30fe2d.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6813979541_be2d30fe2d.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div><div><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6813949153_4420d3a60a.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6813949153_4420d3a60a.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6813935293_9b793518fb.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6813935293_9b793518fb.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6813975781_8f5bc469ef.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6813975781_8f5bc469ef.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6813946657_428af943f0.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6813946657_428af943f0.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>36 weeks:</i></div><div><div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6771735683_37e23fd4a6.jpg"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6771735683_37e23fd4a6.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6771706247_9c42b0f0c7.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6771706247_9c42b0f0c7.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6771717659_4d113fd754.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6771717659_4d113fd754.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7035/6771730745_cb46021c22.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></div></div></div><div><br /></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-20992126113103626292012-01-20T15:24:00.000-08:002012-01-20T15:37:49.613-08:008 Months<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6732465169_32891a7372.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6732465169_32891a7372.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6732428849_823accaa81.jpg"></a>Eleanor is 8 months (or 35 weeks) old today!<div><br /></div>Here are just a few things that I love about our 8 month old baby girl:<br /><br /><ul><li>She has started initiating smiles. Nothing warms my heart more than when I look at her and she smiles at me. Throughout the day she gives me these sweet smiles all on her own, and it feels like she' reminding me to enjoy the present moment and smile too.<br /><br /></li><li>She is either really friendly or really afraid of strangers, depending on the day. Sometimes she is all smiles and make friends with everyone around her. Other times she gives people blank, serious stares and puts her head down on my shoulder.<br /><br /></li><li>She likes to sit on the floor and play with her toys, but only if I sit on the floor with her. If I stand up, she immediately whines at me until I sit back down.<br /><br /></li><li>She loves to blow zerberts on any bit of exposed skin she can find. Arms, shoulders, bellies, legs. All skin is fair zerbert game for her! She also likes to receive zerberts. After blowing on her belly since she was a newborn, it finally makes her laugh!<br /><br /></li><li>Books are becoming some of her favorite toys. She loves to open them up and attempt to turn the pages, but she isn't very good at it yet.<br /><br /></li><li>When she gets excited or is being silly, she yells and straightens both of her arms out in front of her, with her hands curled into little fists. It's hilarious! It's like her little body just can't contain all of her energy.<br /><br /></li><li>She loves going to the park and swinging. She starts to laugh as soon as I put her in the swing, and giggles and squeals the entire time.</li></ul><div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6732428849_823accaa81.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6732428849_823accaa81.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6732434049_af0338f43f.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6732434049_af0338f43f.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6732475641_30d78f283f.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6732475641_30d78f283f.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-88625721481972617902012-01-16T09:23:00.000-08:002012-01-16T09:30:17.915-08:0034 Weeks<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6687579013_09cb294022.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6687579013_09cb294022.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Eleanor is 34 weeks old! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">She is so good at waving now! I mentioned before that she learned how to do it, but she really has it down and will even initiate waving herself and wave if we say "Hi!". I was telling Andrew last night that it seems so incredible because it's the first thing she has done that we have really taught her. It's making us want to give baby sign language a try.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6687580617_df62f53a82.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6687580617_df62f53a82.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6687585409_79ef0eb90c.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6687585409_79ef0eb90c.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Look, all four teeth!</i></div></div></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-434495332338658672012-01-07T15:13:00.000-08:002012-01-07T15:18:15.777-08:0033 Weeks<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6649688747_f1649d66c2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6649688747_f1649d66c2.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6649691255_b384efc1a0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6649691255_b384efc1a0.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">Eleanor is 33 weeks old!<br /><br />She wasn’t really in the mood to be my model when I took these pictures, and she really didn’t like it when I took away the fun lens cap she had just found, but I have to admit, I kind of love pictures of her crying. So much emotion! So much drama! But everything turned out alright in the end.<br /><br />This week Eleanor really developed mastery over the pincher grip. She is now a puffs eating machine, working that little thumb and forefinger like a pro. Because of doing Baby Led Weaning she learned to pick up food, hold it, and take little bites off of it rather than putting the entire thing in her mouth, and she tries to do this with puffs even though they are so tiny. It’s pretty much the cutest thing ever to watch her gingerly pick up a little star-shaped puff, bring it to her mouth, and then nibble off one of the points.<br /><br />This week she also started learning how to wave. We can only get her to wave back about half the time, but it seems like when she is doing it there is that little glimmer of recognition in her eyes. It’s really amazing to watch her learning and making connections.<span><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">She is starting to seem so big to us. Some mornings when she wakes up it looks like she's grown a few inches just overnight. And look at that last picture. Our baldy is finally growing some hair!</div><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6649697341_395318b4cc.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6649697341_395318b4cc.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6649704503_702da5b72f.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6649704503_702da5b72f.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-38545825431045120182011-12-30T18:38:00.000-08:002011-12-30T18:55:22.174-08:00First Christmas (and weeks 31-32)<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6602552159_80880350f2.jpg"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6602429861_c2e15f898c.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6602429861_c2e15f898c.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Last week we celebrated Eleanor's first Christmas. We all had a wonderful time and owe a big "Thank you!" to Eleanor's grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins for all of the cute clothes and fun new toys. She was truly spoiled!<div><br /></div><div>I thought she might be crawling by Christmas, but she doesn't seem to be in any hurry to be more mobile. She enjoys sitting on the floor and playing with her toys, but doesn't seem eager to do much else. She can turn all the way around while sitting and scoot a few inches, and that’s good enough for her. She still hates being on her tummy, and when I try to give her time to practice crawling, she just cries while scooting herself backwards. I think our wood floors make it difficult for her to get any traction. Oh well. I really don't mind if she puts off crawling awhile longer. It means I can put off baby proofing and keep enjoying the freedom to put her down for a second and know she will stay in the same spot.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are some photos from Christmas and the last few days:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6602354685_7d6749f0c9.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6602354685_7d6749f0c9.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Sleeping in, 31 weeks</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6602405253_81fdb6f3a7.jpg" style="text-align: left; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6602405253_81fdb6f3a7.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6602453533_b4878ac322.jpg" style="text-align: left; "></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Christmas Eve at Grandma Fox's </i></div><div><br /></div><div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7173/6602433279_ed4f8d6a2d.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Christmas morning with Mommy & Daddy</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6602453533_b4878ac322.jpg" style="text-align: left; "><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6602453533_b4878ac322.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Babies' First Christmas with Atlas</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6602508141_9f67c0d97d.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Back home playing with a few of her new toys</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6602552159_80880350f2.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6602552159_80880350f2.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>32 Weeks</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6602562163_0e0b022926.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6602562163_0e0b022926.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6602525333_7a9dfe12b5.jpg"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6602525333_7a9dfe12b5.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Funny face!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6602508141_9f67c0d97d.jpg"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6602405253_81fdb6f3a7.jpg"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6602453533_b4878ac322.jpg"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6602354685_7d6749f0c9.jpg"></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-90321547516350874612011-12-16T15:52:00.000-08:002011-12-16T15:58:42.573-08:0030 Weeks<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6523038265_f5f16c0672.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6523065877_4dcd7798bf.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6523065877_4dcd7798bf.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Eleanor is 30 weeks old!<br /><br />Today she and I went to San Francisco for a fun Christmasy afternoon. We went to look at the big tree and the ice skaters at Union Square, to do a bit of shopping, and to visit Santa! I wasn’t planning on getting her photo taken with him, I just wanted her to see him. I was afraid she would be scared, but when we got there she didn’t seem scared at all, and Santa was so adorable, I just couldn’t resist. Plus, the photos were free and there wasn’t a line! Eleanor was so captivated by all of the people in Santa hats shaking jingle bells at her that I don’t think she even noticed she was on Santa’s lap at all. Seeing my sweet baby girl with jolly ol’ Saint Nick gave me so many warm fuzzies, I’m still smiling about it.<br /><br />Earlier this week Eleanor's Christmas present from Mommy & Daddy arrived, and we couldn't wait to give it to her. Since we'll be spending the holiday in Phoenix we wanted to do something special at home with just us anyway, so we let her open it. Of course she loved the tissue paper and the bag much more than what was inside (a stocking with her name on it).<div><br /></div><div>We'll be back home from the 21st to the 28th, and we're so excited to spend Eleanor's first Christmas with our family!<br /><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6523038265_f5f16c0672.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7175/6523038265_f5f16c0672.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6523052543_ccc022418b.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6523052543_ccc022418b.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6523050333_b7e7e8cee9.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6523050333_b7e7e8cee9.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><u><br /></u></span><br /></div></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-37222379326912023962011-12-09T19:45:00.000-08:002011-12-09T19:53:38.731-08:0029 Weeks<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6483937521_0cc59d9b05.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6483948125_28bbef6287.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7170/6483948125_28bbef6287.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6483937521_0cc59d9b05.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></div><div><br /></div>Eleanor is 29 weeks old today! <div><br /></div><div>This week she had her first one-on-one time with Daddy. He took her to the park, to get coffee, and to a bookstore while I was at the dentist. They both had a blast. I don't think Eleanor even noticed I was gone, but she had a great big smile for me when we met up again.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've got a couple of videos to post. The first is just a few minutes of her playing on the floor, and the second is an older one that I forgot to put up here last month.</div><div><br /></div><br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/33433749?byline=0&portrait=0" width="500" height="375" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><p></p><br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/31052858?byline=0&portrait=0" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><p></p><br /><br /></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-73202363525067342322011-12-04T13:41:00.000-08:002011-12-04T13:49:53.989-08:0028 Weeks<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6455326423_a169309619.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6455342933_174b98859c.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6455342933_174b98859c.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />Eleanor is 28 weeks old!<br /><br />We had her six month check up on Friday. She weighs 18 lbs 15 oz and is 29.5 inches long!<div><br /></div><div><div>This week Daddy surprised us by bringing home a little Christmas tree! We’ve been married 5 years and this is only the second time we’ve got a tree. I’m typically not much for decorating for holidays, but having the baby around was making me want to listen to Christmas music and make some popcorn garlands or something. I didn’t think I would care, but I’m totally getting into this whole “Baby’s First Christmas” thing. While we were decorating our tree, I couldn’t help but think about all of the fun Christmases to come. I always loved Christmas when I was a kid, and I can’t wait to relive all of that magic and excitement through Eleanor.</div><div><br /></div>In other news, our girl has developed something of a silly streak! Up until now she has been a very serious baby. She isn’t the type to smile at strangers or go out of her way to make people laugh or attract attention, but all of a sudden she developed the most hysterical little sort of laugh. It’s like a pre-laugh, just sort of a breathy “h-h-h” pant. She does it all the time, whenever she is pleased or excited or about to burst into a giggle or even when she just seems to want a little attention. It cracks us up! I’m going to try really hard to get it on video. It’s the best.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6455326423_a169309619.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6455326423_a169309619.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a><br /><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6455319597_7ee4b9cb0a.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6455319597_7ee4b9cb0a.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 500px; " /></a></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-24004368088879065482011-11-25T16:48:00.000-08:002011-11-25T16:58:47.923-08:0027 Weeks and 1st Thanksgiving!<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6402436205_c765dff1ba.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"></a><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6402453067_d56a053bfc.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 333px;" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7157/6402453067_d56a053bfc.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left; "><a href="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6096/6402461631_f0cd301a46.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6096/6402461631_f0cd301a46.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div><br /></div></div>Eleanor is 27 weeks old today, and yesterday we celebrated our first Thanksgiving as a family.<div><br /></div><div>We made way too much food and missed all of our extended family back in Phoenix, but it was still a very lovely day. Holidays are so much more special since Eleanor came along. We're all getting so excited for Christmas! <div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6402434187_0fafeded53.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6402434187_0fafeded53.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6402436205_c765dff1ba.jpg" style="text-align: left; " onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6402436205_c765dff1ba.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div></div></div></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107375489412541008.post-9201476429822490892011-11-21T10:51:00.000-08:002011-11-21T11:10:44.626-08:00Six Months!<a href="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6223/6377769815_41c1b90169_z.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 427px; height: 640px;" src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6223/6377769815_41c1b90169_z.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Eleanor is <b>SIX</b> months old! Can you believe it?<div><br /></div><div>Her baby days are half way over. In the blink of an eye she went from a tiny, sleepy newborn, the exact size as my tummy used to be, to a chubby baby who can feed herself (sort of), sit up on her own (for a few minutes), a baby who laughs and babbles and squeals with delight, who reaches out for me with her little hands, who is full of curiosity and vibrancy.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would give anything to be able to slow time down, but at the same time I am so excited to watch Eleanor grow and change, to see her personality develop, to learn her likes and dislikes, to hear her first words and see her first steps. I feel so privileged to call myself her mother. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've fallen behind with my posts, so here are a few photos from the last few weeks to catch up...</div><div><br /></div><div> <img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6216/6313835438_aae3956d0d.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>24 Weeks</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6049/6344538757_1b7c89f880.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>24 Weeks with Atlas and Great Aunt Debbie</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6099/6344557973_f4f459f503.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>25 Weeks</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6041/6360496373_3c95d42f56.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); text-decoration: underline; display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 500px; " /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>26 Weeks</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6226/6377731067_55eb71ea03.jpg" style="text-align: left; " onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6226/6377731067_55eb71ea03.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 333px; " /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>26 Weeks eating avocado and guacamole</i></div>Callaihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10665168039433640114noreply@blogger.com0