Well, the babies turned 7 weeks old this past Monday and will be hitting the 2 month mark late next week!  They are starting to seem more like real babies now.  Annabelle is currently sitting in her bouncy seat, stretching each of her limbs in every possible direction while she grunts and groans and screws her face up in very unattractive ways.  Oh, there’s the fart!  She’s back to just moving her arms and hands as if she is doing a slow interpretive dance now.  And sticking her tongue out.  I feel like I got a real smile from her two days ago, but she hasn’t repeated the performance, so perhaps it was well timed gas.  Aw, she’s smiling now as she starts to (finally) drift off to sleep.  I have to say, their fake smiles are so beautiful.  I can only imagine how wonderful their real ones will be.

I’ve been enjoying watching them grow into their features a little more.  Annabelle has beautiful eyes.  They are currently a smoky gray with delicate, curly eyelashes and they’re almond shaped (not sure where that came from).  Her eyelids are pink from a birth mark (her version of the V between the eye brows that Benji has) so she looks like she has make up on.  I can’t wait to see what color they turn out to be.  I’m voting green, like her mama.

Benji’s eyes are definitely going to be brown, like his daddy.  His features are much more delicate than Annabelles, and his head and face are a completely different shape.  He is almost identical to pictures of Eleanor at this age.  Sometimes he strikes a pose and I do a double take, because we have a picture of Eleanor doing the same thing.  He continues to stay almost exactly a pound behind Annabelle, but he has a completely different build.  Annabelle looks much chubbier at the same weights.  He has such slender arms and legs, unlike Annabelle, who has creases for her wrists and elbows.    I really think they are going to end up being a mini-Mike and a mini-Me (poor Annabelle).

They are very different in some ways, but weirdly similar in others.  Benji grunts and groans and wheezes like a geriatric dinosaur.  That boy is noisy!  Annabelle, too, but not to that degree.  Annabelle is so much chunkier than Ben.  She is just solid when you pick her up.  She eats a little more than he does, she sleeps a little longer, and she’s starting to be awake a bit more often.  But when it comes to eating, they are on almost identical schedules.  Sometimes they both start wailing in tandem (and when they’ve decided to wail, they start WAILING!).  They almost always will want to eat within 20-30 minutes of the other one.  So, as you finish one, the other is waiting.  You could chalk this up to training them, but they have days where they eat every hour and days they go three hours, but they always do it together.  It’s a little odd.  And they’re starting to poop and pee togther.  Wet diaper, wet diaper, wet diaper.  Bam!  Stinky poopy diapers x 2.

This is week two of doing this on our own.  I have even been wrangling all three kids out of the house together on the one day a week Mike goes into NYC for work.  The weekdays are pretty non-stop.  Well, I get some down time while the babies sleep, but once Eleanor gets home, it’s dinner, clean up, bath, and bed, all while the other parent is feeding, changing, or comforting babies.  Once Eleanor is in bed (and thank goodness she is pretty good about her evening routine), the race is on to make bottles and get prepped for the night shifts and prepare for the next day.  We are usually upstairs around 10 and one of us is on shift until 2 or 3, then we trade.  Currently, you’re lucky if the babies let you sleep for an hour at a time, maybe twice during your 4 hour shift.  I am really looking forward to them sleeping for longer stretches of time.  Please, please, PLEASE let that be happening by the time I go back to work!

Speaking of which, I’m back in the office on 8/30!  I’m both excited and scared.  Can’t take a nap at work!

On that note, I should go take care of some work!  I need to catch up on a few things before I am back in the office with no time to do anything.  I am going to be comped some of the time, which will be useful for the inevitable doctor visits and sick days that lie ahead.

Hugs to all!

When I found out I was pregnant in November, it felt different from the beginning.  I had more nausea (as opposed to none with Eleanor) and I was showing earlier, but I kept telling myself that “every pregnancy is different” and it isn’t unusual to show earlier with a second pregnancy.

When I was scheduled for my first ultrasound I made multiple comments about wanting to see THE heartbeat and there better be only one.  The day of my appointment, a colleague half jokingly said she thought I was having twins because I was starting to pop at only 9 weeks.  Little did I know how right our suspicions were.

People still talk about the day I walked into the office, slammed my ultrasound picture down on that insightful colleagues desk, and told her this was HER fault!  Everyone looked at the picture of two dark little circles with a fuzzy white bean in each and gave a polite “Awww…” followed by raised eyebrows and an “OH!” as they realized what they were really seeing.  Much semi-hysterical  laughter ensued.

It took me about 6 weeks to enter the acceptance phase of this news.  I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to find out at 20 weeks instead of nine.  A lot of people don’t understand why I wasn’t thrilled from the very beginning.  The thing is, I loved being pregnant with Eleanor.  I was looking forward to being pregnant three times.  That is less likely to happen now.  And the pregnancy itself was more stressful because I was high risk multiple times over.  Having kids every 2-3 years would have meant Eleanor would be starting kindergarten when kid #3 arrived, which means paying for only two kids in daycare at a time (goodbye paycheck with three!).  Not to mention college costs when the time comes!  Would I be able to make enough milk for two babies when I struggled with Eleanor?  Would I ever sleep again?

I started reading books on pregnancy and raising twins and they only freaked me out more.  I was seriously not happy about this twin thing!

By my last two months of pregnancy, though, I was actually getting excited about the babies.  And I have to say, so far, the reality has been far better than I had feared.  Annabelle and Benjamin are 1 month old today.  They are eating machines and are plumping up nicely.  Our nighttime routine has settled into something we can manage, and having family staying with us and taking a shift has been awesome.  So the sleep deprivation hasn’t appeared just yet.  And with a good night’s sleep, I can handle almost anything else.

Eleanor seems to love her Annabelle and Benjamin.  She gives them hugs and likes to fetch diapers.  I am really thrilled with how well she seems to be adjusting.  Her routine is fairly unchanged.  She heads to daycare everyday and still has her nice bedtime routine.  The hardest days are weekends when we have to keep all three kids happy at the same time.  It wouldn’t be so bad except it has been so hot that we can’t go outside during the day and, being two, Eleanor gets pretty restless.  But, seriously, she is making me very proud with how good of a big sister she is.

As for the babies themselves, they aren’t doing a whole lot just yet.  They are starting to wake up a little more, and I love to see their big eyes open, soaking in the world.  Mike was playing with Annabelle today, making her “walk” around and dance.  The expressions on their faces when we do that to them; furrowed brow, curled lip, scrunched up face.  It cracks me up!  As if they’re saying, “Um, I’m going to remember this humiliation when it’s time to pick out your nursing home!”

If Annabelle is hungry she will suck on anything she can get her mouth on, particularly if it is Benji’s head.  She leaves cowlicks in his hair!

My Aunt Missy has been staying with us for the past week and a half.  She has provided a soft, warm bosom for sleeping babies.  I think Benji is in love.  He’s definitely a boob man.  The best part about having her stay with us is she has been taking the 3-7am night shift!  Missy heads home Friday and then my dad will be with us for a week.  We’ll see how helpful he can be!

After that, we’ll have 6 weeks of really doing this on our own before I head back to work.  Hard to believe I’ll be back in the office on August 30th!  Time flies.

Well, I should wrap this up.  We’re having photos taken by a professional on Sunday.  Hope to get some good shots out of it.  I’m really excited to see what she makes of our family.

Love to all!

Benjie gave us a bit of a scare as he had spit-up/gasping episode overnight.  Fortunately, he had been in the nursery, but you never like to hear that your baby was turning blue at one point.  He is a little prone to spitting up if he eats too much, since he’s so, so tiny.  Of course, then I’m freaked out about him choking to death at home.  Ah, the anxieties of mother-hood.  But one of us will be sleeping in the babies’ room at night, so we will be able to hear him if he’s having any problems.  They said he was very noisy when it happened.  They kept him in the nursery all morning for observation and it was funny how bored we were with only one baby.  :-)

For me, I had to have my staples removed.  That just sounds gross, but it was actually quite painless.  I’m healing up nicely, so I really can’t complain.  :-)  The staff seemed impressed with my progress.  One nurse kept asking me, “Are you sure you don’t need anything?  I feel like I’m not taking good care of you!”  I really felt fine most of the time, and took the drugs when I needed them.  And I was the talk of the floor with my two births.  A lot of, “Oh, you’re THAT one!”

Mike was cute about a lot of random things.  When I called to cancel some of my pre-scheduled appointments, most people say “Congratulations” when you tell them you had the babies so no more ultrasounds.  One lady was just, “OK. *pause* Um, thanks for calling.”  It was kinda odd.  Mike was disapointed in her response.  He goes to get the car seats out of the van so they twins can try to pass their car seat test and he waltzes in saying, “THAT is the response you’re supposed to get with twins!”  Apparently everyone he passed awwed or ooooed or congratulated him.  And there weren’t even babies present!  Too funny.

So, despite the babies having to get their hepatitis vaccine in their car seats because they forgot until the last minute, we were finally ready to get wheeled out to the car.  Mike had a car seat/baby in each hand, I had my purse on my lap and a little mascara and lipstick on, and Mom brought up the rear with the video camera and the pretty flowers she had gotten me to brighten up my room.  We loaded up and headed to…McDonalds!  Yeah, so kill me.  :-P

Pulling away from the hospital, babies invisible in their rear facing seats behind us, the enormity of what we were about to take on hit me and I started bawling like a baby.  Mike was quick to reassure me that we would do great, and I was quick to  reassure him that these weren’t tears of fear or sadness.  It was a mix of hormones, and maybe a little bit of a good bye to our lives up to this point.  I had the same moment with a newborn Eleanor in my lap 26 months ago.  It reminds me of one of my favorite books Eleanor received as a baby.

“On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, ‘Life will never be the same.’” – On the Night You Were Born, Nancy Tillman

We made it home with our cheeseburgers and immediately passed the babies to the in-laws, who were anxiously awaiting our arrival.  Got a few things set up with diapers and wipes and formula and stuff, and then…sat.

So far, the babies eat, sleep, and fill diapers.  Annabelle has a reactive sphincter.  Wipe her little butt and things get messy.  It’s kinda funny, as long as you’re prepared.  The babies are on a pretty good schedule of eating every 2-3 hours, one after the other.  They are both starting to eat more and more, which is good.

We had a visiting nurse stop by on Saturday and they are both still losing a bit of weight, which is normal.  Hopefully, by Tuesday, they will be gaining again.  Ben is so, so tiny.  I want to see him start plumping up!  I hate that I couldn’t keep them in my for another two weeks.  But I’m very, very, very thankful that they are still healthy.

We’re settling into a routine with feedings.  The lactation consultant says 35 weekers are really too small to nurse.  They just don’t get it and they struggle with coordinating sucking and breathing.  But they need to gain weight as quickly as possible.  So I try to put them to breast before every feeding so they can “practice”.  Then I pump.  Fun fun.  But I’m making enough milk already that we only need to supplement with 2 feedings of formula.  Hopefully, by the time the babies hit their original due date, they’ll be happy little sucker fish.  And if not, at least I know they’re still getting healthy breast milk most of the time.

Well, I think that is about all I have to report.  The babies sound like rain forest birds when they get noisy.  It’s pretty funny.  Eleanor likes to hold them and help feed them for about 10 seconds  before she moves on to something else.  Having my mom here to help keep Eleanor entertained has been very, very helpful.  We’re enjoying the little chunks of time we get with bright eyed babies checking out the world.  All in all, things are very good.

We’ll keep you posted!

Original Due Date: July 10

Date of Birth: June 7

How Far along you were when delivered: 35 weeks, 3 days

Weight: A- 6lbs4oz, B- 5lbs4oz

I had been having horrible back pain the past few nights, and on Sunday evening, I started having contractions.  There were more than 6 in an hour, but my OB said, don’t do anything until you hit a contraction every 5 minutes that lasts for 60 seconds.  I decided to try to sleep, which was NOT happening, thanks to that back pain, and I continued to have contractions anywhere from 5-11 times an hour, but never at a steady 5 minutes and never lasting 60 seconds.  I also had a few instances of “bloody show”.  7:30am and I call the OB again and he agrees with me that 12 hours of pretty constant contractions is worth getting checked out for.

Got our toddler to daycare, pack our bag, and work our way to L&D.  I wasn’t able to take my BP meds that morning because I couldn’t make myself eat and if I take it on an empty stomach I throw up.  So they take my BP and freak out because it was 191/102, which is the highest it’s ever been!  Once they rolled me on my side, though, it went down to 142/76.  They finally check to see if I’m dilated and I’m at 6cm!  So, at this point, it became pretty clear we were having our babies that day!

I was handling the contractions pretty well, but they were definitely getting stronger, and I was ready for my epi.  Had to wait an hour for labs to come back first, though, because of my blood pressure.  When I finally got the go ahead, the epidural was MAGICAL!  OMG, the pain was gone!  The instant relief from that terrible back pain was the best part.  I wasn’t feeling a single contraction, so when the doc came back to check my dilation, he asked if I was having  a contraction, to which I said I felt fine, and he ended up breaking my water a little earlier than he intended to, because I WAS having a contraction.  He had me do some test pushes.  This was the hardest part because I couldn’t feel what I was pushing, thanks to being numb from the epidural.  When he found out I had pushed Eleanor out with three sets of pushes, he decided it was time to move into the OR.

For those who don’t know, you usually deliver twins in the OR, just in case they need to do an emergency C-section.  So we settle in there (at this point, I think maybe 20-30 minutes have passed since I got my epidural and I’m already at 10cm) and start pushing.  Annabelle came out a few minutes later without tearing me up or anything.  There was a team of people in the OR and it was like having a cheering squad.  They’re all hollering and encouraging me to push and telling me I’m doing great.  It was kinda funny.  So she came right out and was whisked away to be checked before I could see her.

The doctor then proceeded to stick his entire arm up inside of me to find Benjamin and convince him to start working his way out.  Something happened in the midst of all this and Benjie tried to come out face first, which isn’t good.  Some other things started to go wrong, and before I knew it, they were calling for a C-section.  Our nurse had warned us that our doc was a little too “pro” C-section and that we might have to fight for a vaginal birth, but she also said she would support him if she knew he wasn’t full of hot air.  So when we looked at her and she said “yes, this is for the best” we went with it.  I was sobbing at this point, and scared, because we were in such a time crunch that they couldn’t use the epidural, they needed to knock me out completely.  This, more than anything else, told me that this really was a necessary emergency.  The anesthesiologist was very sweet and comforting as I started to fall asleep.  I found out later that Benjamin had the cord wrapped around his neck twice and Mike overheard one of the docs say it was the thinnest umbilical cord he had ever seen.  So we’re really lucky he came through it with no bigger problems!

Next thing I knew, I woke up in a recovery room, baby-less, and feeling no pain.  I didn’t get to see my babies for several hours as they ran various tests on them, but everyone told me they were doing great.  Annabelle was 6lbs 4oz, and Benjamin was a bit smaller at 5lbs 4oz.  He is pretty tiny!  They both are.  I had forgotten how small they are at this stage.  And at the same time, I think to myself, I had BOTH of them inside of me?  That’s over 11lbs of baby!

It’s Wednesday now and we’re getting settled into a routine of feeding, changing, snuggling, and sleeping.  The babies are on formula, due to being so early.  But I put them to the breast before each feeding and they’re starting to get the hang of it.  My milk should come in any day now, and I imagine they will be more interested when they can actually get something for all their efforts.  Their sugars have been good and they both passed their car seat tests, so we can safely drive them home.  Annabelle had a little bit of bilirubin, so she was in a fancy light up space suit all day, but she seems to be over that and doing well!  There is no reason to think they won’t be coming home with us!

Eleanor came to the hospital for the first time yesterday to meet her little brother and sister.  She was so incredibly cute with them.  She loves to hold their bottle and she was pointing out Annabelle’s face parts today (nose, cheek, etc) before insisting on seeing her “little, tiny toes.”  Mike took her to school this morning and was armed with pictures on his phone.  Apparently, he ended up with a crowd of toddlers around him wanting to see the pictures!  The teachers were all very happy for us.

As for me?  Well, C-sections suck.  It hurt so much to get up and out of bed yesterday!  But today has been better, and I imagine tomorrow will be even more so.  And I am thankful that Annabelle, at least, went gently on me, so I really only feel like I’m dealing with the aftermath of one type of birth.  My dressings came off today and I was able to take a shower!  Nice!  The nurse keeps asking me if I need any more drugs, and I do take them occasionally, but really, I feel pretty good.  I did have a bout of coughing earlier today that hurt like the dickens, but what can you do?

I really want to go home tomorrow, but my official discharge date is Friday.  I miss being home with Eleanor and I’m ready to start settling into our new life.  Everyone says I’m doing great and the babies are doing great, so we’ll see what we can arrange.

Anyway, I’ll keep you all posted as this grand adventure continues.  You can see pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=180074&id=747019629&l=d3ba21a8e1

So, Mike is dropping Eleanor off at daycare with plans to have Aunt Claudia pick her  up this evening.  My mom is on call to catch the next plane to Philly if this ends up being real.  And I caught my office-mates up on my pending duties.

So I guess we’re as ready as we’ll ever be!  Mike will be back to pick me up soon.  I’ll keep you posted!

Anyway, most people here know that I am pregnant with twins.  I am 35 weeks today, and up until this past week, I was doing great and feeling great.  Considering how warned I was about all the high risk things I was at risk for (with zero suggestions on what to do about them), I feel very fortunate to have made it as far as I have and to have done as well as I have.  And I am even MORE grateful now that I have a sense of how miserable I could have been for several months.  Because, frankly, the last few days have sucked.

I have an old hemorrhoid friend that has been around for several years (see, I warned  you some people weren’t going to want to read this!), but he has tripled in size recently and is starting to be uncomfortable.  At night, I had accepted the getting up to pee at least 4 times pattern, but the last few nights have included some really bad back pain.  Is it possible to have a charlie horse in your lower back?  I hadn’t known, until this pregnancy, that you could get them on your inner thigh!  I desperately want to nap during the day and I am waddling like a penguin (especially if I wait too long to go to the bathroom).  And I am finally starting to get a few stretch marks.  :-(  I didn’t really think I would luck out without them this time, like I did with Eleanor.

But all of that is fairly manageable.  The new thing that is driving me nuts is the contractions.  I’ve had days where I pushed myself too much and ended up having a few contractions that required me to hydrate and lie down.  But this past week, they are happening much more frequently. And sometimes, THEY HURT!

I’m past the point where the doctors are going to do anything special if I go into labor (which I suppose is good, because it means the babies are developed enough to not have to worry), and the contractions have not made me think I’m going into labor.  But they are uncomfortable.  And even when I try to rest, they still hit me (though not as much).

What I’m a little frustrated about is the work situation.  I have just enough disability/vacation/sick time to take 12 weeks off at half pay (yay, for the American system of maternity leave!).  Any more time than that and I have to start paying for the full costs of my medical and other benefits, which is a lot of money.  With Eleanor, I was more than ready to be back at work at 12 weeks, and I had originally planned to take only 10 weeks off with this pregnancy.  And then we had that exciting day where our lives changed forever and we found out we were not having one, but two babies.

Frankly, I’m terrified.  I’m mostly scared because I can’t predict just how well we will or will not adjust to the new little ones.  Will I be able to breast feed?  Will I get more than 20 minutes of sleep at a time?  Will I be able to handle two babies on my own when Mike is working and our helpers and left?

So, not knowing the answers to these questions, I want as much time as possible learning to survive with the babies after they’re born.  In other words, I don’t want to take any time off of work BEFORE they come, if I can help it.  I knew bedrest was a possibility at any point, and, again, I am lucky to have made it this far, so I shouldn’t be complaining.  But I am so exhausted by the end of my work day that I just want to go immediately to bed.  When Mike is home, that is a possibility.  But with this added contraction issue, it’s starting to get painful!

At this point, I’m doing desk work, so I could theoretically work from home.  But I’m not sure the boss is going to allow that thanks to previous abusers and wanting to be “fair”.  *sigh*  I am going to propose that I come in from 9-12:30, so I can do things that require faxing/copying and colleague interaction, etc.  Then go home over my lunch break and work on paperwork stuff for the rest of the afternoon (while stretched out on the couch, better able to rest the bod).  At the end of the day, I will send an email to the bosses, summarizing what I accomplish, and proving that I did actually do work.  I really hope they’re open to that.  Not only do I not want to lose any maternity leave, I have a TON of patient letters that I would like to get done before I leave!  The work is there, it needs to be taken care of, so let me do it!  Or put a chaise lounge in my office!

Anyway, that’s where we stand today with this grand adventure.  I am hopeful that Annabelle and Benjamin stay in their little home for another 2 weeks.  And I am hopeful that a highly restful weekend leads to a more settled uterus.  :-)

Love to all!

Life is good!

Ok, maybe not that short.  But I am really enjoying my life right now.  Our yard has been full of bloom since April and we are so thrilled to reap the benefits of someone’s hard work from years earlier.  We spend most of our spare time trimming overgrown bushes, mulching, and weeding.  It could sound like that’s not much fun, but I have really enjoyed it.  There is a lot of satisfaction from seeing an orderly flower bed.  And we keep finding new things; either new plants are flowering, or we uncover plants that were being strangled by overgrowth or hidden flagstones rimming a rose garden nook.   I even found patches of wild strawberries!  It has been a lot of fun. 

Mike dug himself a little plot of a garden and has some beautiful lettuces as well as broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and beets growing.  I think we can eat some salad this weekend, although we have a little while to go on the other stuff. 

Eleanor brings us so much joy every day.  I know I sound like a sappy mom who thinks who child is so much more awesome and special than anyone else.  But she is.    She is usually so happy!  She is walking all over the place now and has become a real toddler.  This morning she was hungry after eating her oatmeal, so she had Daddy get her peanut butter crackers and she sat on his lap and munched away.  When he tried to set her down on the floor, she made it clear she expected him to continue to provide a soft seat for her.  They were very cute together.

She has a schedule now that she is very happy with.  One midday nap and bedtime is between 7 and 8.  She gets changed into her PJs and gets a book read to her.  Sometimes she just wants to turn the pages of the book faster than you can read and then wave and say “bye bye” when it’s done.  Othertimes she’ll actually let you read it all.  Then into her crib, tucked in with her favorite blanket.  She’ll say bye and let you leave with nary a fuss (usually).  She typically sleeps through the night until 7ish, but if she gets fussy a little early, she might get to come into our bed and snuggle with us, which I really enjoy.

Shell be moving up to the next class level in June at daycare!  Getting so big already!

We are off to a farm this weekend to find local, grass fed beef.  Got a new freezer and Mike wants to fill it up.  He’s been grilling and barbecue multiple times a week with his Big Green Egg.  Then I have plans to compost and mulch my roses (see how I claim them even though I had nothing to do with their planting?) and work in the garden.  Weather should be nice!

OK, back to work I go.  Love to all who still check this thing out!

She slept through the night Wednesday night, and last night she slept until 6:45, so I’ll give her that as a through-the-night night.  She also fed herself most of her dinner last night.  She had peas, pieces of bread, and some cheese (and then some baby cereal to top it off).  She furrowed her brow and worked very deliberately to put each tiny piece in her mouth.  It was very cute.  I have a video that I’ll try to post soon.

She loves her bath time now, too.  I posted a video on Facebook if you haven’t seen it.  We let her sit in the water for a bit before we start any washing so she doesn’t get cold and she plays.  She has a rubber ducky, some bath books, a washcloth, and a cup and they entertain her quite a bit.  She is learning to splash just a little and has started moving more around the tub, which isn’t really a good thing.  She seems so skinny now, too.  She’s so active I think she’s burning a lot more calories than before.  Hopefully she has her daddies metabolism.

Ok, back to work, People.  Hugs to all!

I’m sorry I’ve been so lax about posting.  To be honest, Facebook may kill my blog.  I have gotten lazy by just posting mini-updates there instead of detailed updates here.  Sorry!  I don’t promise things will get better, but I thought I would give a little update now.

I’m home with EllaBoop tonight and Mike is currently on a train heading home from NYC.  The Boopadoop only took a 20 minute nap all day, but she had a 30 minute nap in the car and ate a great dinner.  I’m watching her suck on a cracker and we’ll head upstairs for a bath soon.

For those who don’t know, we moved into our new house just before Thanksgiving, and we’ve been going non-stop ever since.  We’ve had some housing adventures (leak in the roof, empty oil tank for heat, blown fuses, broken door locks) and we’ve started some renovating (removed wall paper and refinishing walls), but we still have lots to do.  We’re getting the floors refinished next week and I’m really excited to see how it looks all  new and shiny.  Then we finish our painting (I know, some would do that in the opposite way, but we don’t want to rush our painting).  Our new furniture will start arriving in February through March.  Lots of goodies are on their way!  Woohoo!

So, by the end of March, we will be basically finished!  Well, is a home owner ever really finished?  And we haven’t bought everything we possibly could.  No bedroom furniture yet and lots of room for accent pieces and little things as time goes on.  But we can actually have guests over soon!

I am still shocked that everything has come together so well.  Hosting Christmas dinner went great, despite no real dining furniture.  We’ve been lucky with some good deals on furniture.  Even the “problems” have been straightforward to fix.  

In all this, Eleanor has been getting bigger and cuter.  She’s a master-crawler and she is such a talker!  I mean, she’s not saying understandable words to us, but nonetheless,  it is obvious  that they are words to her!  She got her second bottom tooth a few weeks after the first one, but that was almost two months ago, and no teeth since!  She has been very fussy recently, though; waking up a lot at night and not wanting to eat.  So I think those top ones are finally coming in.  Or we’ve undergone an unfortunate personality change.

She discovered echoes yesterday.  We cleared out Mike’s office to expose all the floors for the refinishing next week and now there is quite the echo.  She sat in the doorway hooting for awhile.  Hoo!  Hoo!  Hoo!

She sometimes sleeps all the way through the night, and other times she gets up a lot.  Usually, she gets up at around 3:30 or 4 to nurse and get a little bottle and then sleeps until 7:30 or 8.  I love the weekend when we don’t have to wake her up and she gets up on her own.  We go in to check on her, and she’s just standing in her crib, looking around at the world with the biggest smile once she sees us.  Melts my heart.  She usually goes right to bed around 7:30 with little to no fuss.  She’s often already asleep when I lay her down, but tonight she was still awake.  She just lay right down, looked around a little with big blinking eyes, snuggled into her blanket and started to drift off on her own.  She is such a good baby.  I’m not sure how  we’ll manage another one if (s)he isn’t this good!  (in the spirit of full disclosure, Ella does occasionally cry for 15 minutes instead of going to bed, and when she makes noises like ma-ma-ma-ma while crying, it kills me inside!)

Ok, enough writing.  This is why I don’t write often, I get too wordy!  Eleanor is in bed now and Mike is home.  We’re surfing on different computers on opposite ends of the couch.  We actually did have a conversation over dinner though, so we’re not completely anti-social.

I’m not likely to post many pics here anymore, so if you want pics, join Facebook and become my (and Mike’s) friend.  You don’t have to join any groups or download any applications or anything you don’t want to do.  But you do get little daily updates from us and the occasional picture and video.

Love to all.  And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

And as promised, here are some pictures marking her 8th month!

From Eleanor Dawn

From Eleanor Dawn