So far Josie is very even tempered.  She rarely cries for more than a minute or two and she has been sleeping very well.  She’ll conk out for hours at a time during the day if we let her.  But we’re worried that sleeping all day means being awake all night.  So we’ve been trying to wake her up and keep her engaged.  The coolest thing however is how Josie (even at this early stage) really watches whatever Ellie does.

And Ellie, for her part,  has been a wonderful big sister.  She is eager to help out with bottle feedings, diaper changes, and all the other little baby tasks.  (Her favorite is burping the baby… and she’s good at it!)  Obviously this is a big adjustment for Ellie, and there have been a few moments when she’s acted out.  But overall she seems very happy about the changes to her world.  We are trying to stay very attentive to her needs and feelings.

Oh hey, another thing.  I added a few more pictures to the gallery in the post below this one.  New ones start here.  They are as cute and precious as you might expect.  There are a number of adorable videos that I will get online in the near future, as well.

Today is Eleanor’s first birthday! We simply cannot believe how fast this year has gone by, nor can we believe how much our lives have changed. Thanks to everyone that sent along birthday wishes and/or attended her super-fun birthday party two weeks ago. Our family is lucky to have so many loving people in our lives.

Ellie is such a pure joy. She is almost always happy and calm, and loves to play with anyone and everyone. These days she is always on the move. She chooses not to crawl, but instead scoots all over the place on her rump. It’s adorable. She can stand up, too, and likes to cruise around coffee tables, book shelves, the cats… She also has a lot to say.

Although I have not updated the official picture gallery in a while, I have compiled the absolute best hundred-or-so photos from Ellie’s first year in one, easily digestible gallery. You may view them here:

There is also a 14-minute long video version that contains a number of added video snippets and sentimental music accompaniment. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. Ellie really, really loves cake.

Ellie seemed to have a great time. She was really relaxed, very sociable with everyone she met, and slept better than she ever does at home. We don’t know if it was the fresh air, the peace and quiet, or something else. She also enjoyed spending lots of time with her far-flung relatives. And I got the sneaking impression that they enjoyed spending time with her, too.

I’ve posted a large batch of pictures from the trip taken both my myself and my Mom. You can view them here.

I’d write more, but we’re rather disjointed at the moment. Although we’ve just returned, most of our extra time is occupied by getting ready for my next trip. I leave for Dallas on Tuesday to attend QuakeCon 2006. This will be my 7th year in a row. I’m really looking forward to it, but it’s making everything hectic at the moment.

I am not, however, looking forward to being separated from Tara and Ellie. I’ll be gone 7 days and 6 nights. I think the longest I’ve ever been away from Ellie is about 16 hours… and it was hard! This trip will be quite a bit longer. I’m going to be sad. :(

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

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

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

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

To atone for my inaction, here’s a picture of Ellie with a cookie on her head: (She is going to be so mad at me one day…)

I’ve added several additional pictures to the latest gallery page. (Sorry, Mom… they’re the ones you’ve already seen!) And while you are there, please check out the spiffy new gallery software I’m using. Since I had to transfer my entire website to a new host, I decided to take the opportunity to upgrade. The new gallery is a lot more powerful and flexible. But unfortunately, it broke many of the links from older blog posts. At some point I’ll probably go through and fix them, but in the meantime you may find broken links.

As I mentioned, I was trying to find a good way to let people sign up for e-mail alerts for blog posts here. I found a good plug-in, but I haven’t gotten it working 100% correctly yet. But since I can at least manually send out notifications, I’ve decided to start letting people sign up. There will be a little box for this that lives over on the right. But for now, you can enter your email right here:

As for Ellie updates, there’s a whole lot to report. She’s such a joy to have in our lives. She is sweet and mellow most of the time and loves to examine things around her. Her naps still usually only last about 30 minutes, but every now and then she’ll take a nice long one. She is still chubby and jiggly. Every few days she adds a new sound to her repertoire. She is still rolling from back to front, but has not yet mastered the reverse, front to back. Although now she’s getting more comfortable with tummy-time.

I guess the big new development is that we have started experimenting with “solid” foods. And by “solid” I mean “mushy” things like oatmeal and apple sauce. At first she didn’t know what to make of these strange substances in her mouth, but after a few tries she figured out that she is supposed to swallow them. It was so cool to see her reaction the first time she tasted the sweet apples. Her eyes got super-wide as she processed the experience.

And while we are on the subject of Ellie’s mouth, I am pleased to announce that Ellie’s first tooth has poked through her lower gum! I’m sure she’ll be biting us in no time.

1. because it was her first Mother’s Day
2. because of the awesome gift I gave her

Tara’s recently rediscovered her favorite cocktail, the Cosmopolitan. But this is a drink we’ve never been able to enjoy at home. So I got some martini glasses, a stainless steel shaker, and all the booze, juice, and fruit needed to make a professional Cosmo. It went over quite well. Nothing says “motherhood” like getting all liquored up!

I also cooked both breakfast and dinner, and tried my best to prevent her from lifting a finger all day. No question, she deserved it for all the hard work she does every single day taking care of la bebé.

I have to say, parenthood is not easy. I didn’t think it would be. But I’ve come to realized that there are extra demands placed on mothers by society, by biology, and by their own emotional clockwork. I’ve gaind newfound levels of respect and admiration for all the mothers everywhere, throughout time.

So I’d like to take a moment and wish a (slightly belated) Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s in my life: Tara, Betty, Michele, Meg, Nicolle, Sylvia, another Betty, Donna, Kelli, Samantha, Kathy, Nancy, Maxine, Rita, Claire, Alicé, Kate, Sophia’s Mom (sorry, I don’t remember your name!), Melanie, Maria, Paulette, Judie, Maquita, and Toni-Marie. Plus recently departed Moms Genevieve, Johanna, and Selma.

I apologize in advance for any name I forgot to include. It doesn’t mean I don’t love you!

And speaking of growing up fast…

Disgustingly cute, I know. Don’t you just want to grab her cheeks and pinch away? I finally put some new pictures online. But sorry, no videos this time. I’m actually working on a much longer video project, though it may take a while to complete. I will try to post another small, easily digestible video on the blog in the mean time.

So what’s Ellie been up to, you ask? A whole bunch actually. She’s been very social, attending a play group and going on several little trips to see family. We also had a lovely visit from Ellie’s adorable little cousins, Claire and Sophie. Ellie is a hit wherever she goes. Everyone approves of her cuteness and sweet disposition.

She still enjoys many of the same playful activities as she did last month, but she is much more adept at them. For example, l’d say she’s batting about .723 when it comes to reaching out and grabbing objects that interest her. That’s pretty good considering that last month she could only swat at things. Of course her favorite pastime seems to be just staring at her hands. Well, and the TV. We really need to curtail that habit…

Her personality has continued to develop as well. She smiles broadly at stuff she finds amusing. Making silly noises and faces seems to work best to elicit a smile. Every now and then we get a little giggle too. She’s also better able to just hang out on her own and entertain herself by looking at her hands, toys, patterns on furniture, etc. In fact, she is generally much more self sufficient. She is even able to wake up in the morning and chill out for a while without needing us right away. She still requires a fair bit of attention and/or cuddling to fall asleep, though. Fortunately, we don’t mind one bit.

Her most recent doctor visit went swimmingly. Well, except for the shot. She found that to be quite uncalled for. She is a solid two feet long and she’s just shy of fourteen pounds. She is still pretty chunky, but it’s more in proportion to her body size now. The doctor basically told us (yet again) to keep up the good work.

And Finally, I would like to report that Eleanor has been sleeping through the night! She typically passes out anywhere from 6pm to 9pm and is down for a good 8 hours. She’ll often kinda halfway wake up in the wee hours and want a quick feeding and then fall right back to sleep. But we still consider that sleeping through the night. Huzzah!

Here’s a bit to tide you over. Ellie had a doctor visit on Tuesday. She weighs an incredible 12 pounds, 4 ounces! She is 23.5 inches long, and her head circumference is an astounding 40 centimeters. It must be because of her massive brain.

So thanks for your patience. Please don’t stop checking the site! If you’re good, I might even post another video.

Going back to work was certainly a shock to the system. It was hard to be totally sharp or carry on adult conversations. I also found myself missing Eleanor terribly. I had really gotten used to her round-the-clock presence. But it was nice to be surrounded by people eager to know how we were doing and to hear about Ellie’s exploits. Plus, it’s been a lot harder on Tara who suddenly had to be the sole caregiver during the days, but she’s done a great job. And I know Ellie is benefiting from some quality Mommy/Baby time.

I realized that I hadn’t put a video on the blog since Ellie’s actual birthday, so I’d like to remedy that. Here is a clip of Ellie getting ready for a bath:

As most parents do, we’ve started collecting a bunch of silly nicknames for our baby. Some of the more pervasive ones are “Sweetpea“, “Beebers“, and “Squirmy“. But Tara recently came up with a hilarious one that needs a little backstory.

Many of Eleanor’s little one-piece jumpsuits have these ridiculously big collars. So she kinda resembles a miniature Elvis Presley when wearing them. And Mini-Elvis quickly got shortened to “Melvis“. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…

Melvis

If you need even more happy fun cuteness… you should go check out the pictures from cousin Molly’s 2nd Birthday Party! Remember to breathe!

But I’ll be back into the normal routine of work soon enough. I’m going to miss having day after day after day of quality family time. I’ve really enjoyed the six weeks that the three of us have spent simply hanging out. I also know it’s going to be a lot more work for Tara with me out of the house all day. I guess I’ll just have to be all that much more helpful when I get home in the evening.

A new batch of baby pictures have been added to the gallery. There is a healthy mix of “Ellie-with-Family” shots, and just plain old “Drop-Dead-Cute” shots. I hope you enjoy!

Oh, and if this is your first time here, please read the previous post.