one month old

our girl eleanor ruby turned one month old yesterday. in turns i feel like time is flying and that she can't possibly only be 30 days old. this week she slept for her longest overnight stretch yet--five and a half hours! this feat has yet to be replicated, but we're definitely looking forward to it. she also bravely look her first few bottles of milk this week. we're trying to get her ready for when i go back to work, and though she ate very reluctantly at the first few attempts, she's getting the hang of it. admittedly, well-timed bottles made my thursday trip to the hair salon and last night's restaurant dinner a bit easier (for me, at least--not necessarily the person giving the bottle!). we will always attest that she is the cutest baby in the world, but it's true that eleanor has been losing her hair on top (like papa, as some [not me, mind you!] have pointed out) and has a touch of baby acne at the moment. i'm interested to see how her hair will grow back--based on rob's and my blond young years, i suspect it'll be lighter. here she is in action on the living room floor with tucker the turtle and a pinwheel toy that makes a pleasant click-clack sound. the dress--her first "big girl"/non-onesie or sleeper outfit--is a gift from sarah and orion. unfortunately, you can't see the embroidered mermaid princess detail at the hem. it's been a busy few weeks with lot of visits from friends and family. samantha, sarah and i spent a lovely long weekend catching up and doting on the baby. i hadn't seen the two of them together since our wedding almost two years ago and it was wonderful to sit and chat and knit and have meals together and revisit a few old local haunts. jackie stopped back through iowa city to see samantha and we got this group shot.

on monday, brandy, mike and jack ventured east from des moines to iowa city. eleanor and i went to lunch with them as well as sarah and o. nory was a trooper and cashed out almost the entire time, so i was able to eat my atlas buffalo chicken burrito with both hands.

jack is getting bigger and bigger by the day (okay, i don't see him every day, but just a few weeks ago during their last visit he seemed smaller!) and had some fun crawling around at our house. check him out, along with brandy's other doings, at earth mamaspace. as you can see, oscar has been relishing the additional attention from guests that we've had a hard time giving since eleanor was born. he's always quick to find someone willing to invite him up on the couch and perhaps indulge him in a belly scratch.

this weekend, my grandma, aunt chris and cousins michael, sarah and matthew drove down from libertyville to meet their new great-granddaughter/grand-niece/cousin, respectively. we had breakfast at bruegger's this morning--matthew gave a cheer for chocolate milk. yesterday at the ronalds st. house, he spotted a little diamond-shaped prism that was discovered when the kitchen cabinets were pulled out. it probably once hung in the window above the sink. we told him he could have it and it never left his hands. he had fun "reading" the menu through it and spinning it like a top.

here are chris and sarah with eleanor. the little one was a bit of a show-off yesterday and this morning--hardly fussing or crying at all. we were even able to take a swing through the IC farmer's market (where we ran into grammie jean).

here's michael with the baby and my parents in the background. those beautiful gladiolas were a farmer's market gift from my aunt and grandma.

sarah was a great baby-holder, with grandma looking on. eleanor appears to be in a "no photos, please" mood.

The Golden Compass

We found this awesome thing for those of you who love the Golden Compass Books by Philip Pullman. You can learn what your own daemon is!

Uncles, Aunts and Cousins

This weekend had a lot of stuff going on. Carrie blogged about some of it already. First off, I just wanted to do a quick house update. Not a ton has been going on over there but a number of small things continue to be done weekly and I thought i'd catch you up.

We have a new mail-slot which is quite cool I must say. Dave put this in for us... thanks Dave.

Our front light has been installed now (the old gas light was removed.) Here it is.

Last week our 4' cedar fence was finally installed and the garage was completed. You can see both in this picture. The garage still needs to be painted, the planter caps need to be finished and the yard re-seeded and mulched.

Here is a picture of the new deck that Dad did for us. Also pictured is the picnic table that he made for us a while back. They make quite a nice combination. Now all we need to do is put a grill back here! Thanks Dad! Kathie also helped him a couple days on the deck... want to make sure she gets some credit too!

Yesterday I had Dave's help working on cabinet removal in the kitchen. The cabinets are coming for installation in 10 days and we need time for the tile guys to come back and add on/repair a couple of places now that the area is cleared out. Because of this, we couldn't leave the job until next weekend. Here is a picture of us getting started near the stove area.

Here is the sink area at the end of the day. No sink... no cabinets... ugly paint.

I know that Carrie already put a picture of this on here but here is another cute picture of Henry meeting his new cousin and holding her for the first time. He was a very good baby-handler.

Here is Aunt Sandy's first meeting with her new niece. Sandy brought her a great dreamcatcher which we have up in the nursery. Here's to sweet dreams...

Uncle Will also got some baby-time on his first visit to see his new niece.

Henry and Will had to do some horse-ing around. Taking cell phone photos from what I can tell.

Lastly, this morning, the horseplay continued. Will decided to show Henry what Ed Grimley's pants used to look like. I have to say that I like the look and hope he'll stick with it.

gDiapers

Not really "baby" interesting, but I found this on the diapers that Carrie and I have been using:

NRDC's This Green Life says, "gDiapers seem to have the environmental edge."
February 27, 2007
This month's edition of the Natural Resources Defense Council's This Green Life, authored by Sheryl Eisenberg, revisits the environmental diaper debate. The article states "gDiapers seem to have the environmental edge over more conventional choices because they send no material to the landfill, use no elemental chlorine or plastics, and require much less washing (therefore, less water and energy usage) than regular cloth diapers." Read the full article here.
Sheryl Eisenberg is a longtime advisor to the NRDC and writes the column, The Green Life, that is published by the NRDC. NRDC is the nation's most effective environmental action organization. They use law, science and the support of 1.2 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.

We've been pretty happy with them so far. Not much laundering, and they have been doing a better job containing leaks and blowouts than the disposable Pampers/Huggies that we occasionally use. Plus they're so darn cute!

two weeks old

eleanor's second week of life outside the womb has been marked by lots of visits and a milestone or two. unfortunately, we have no photos of eleanor meeting friends matt, sarah and noa, jackie and sarah and orion--i blame sleep deprivation.
on monday, rob went back to work and it was just us girls at home. i found it really difficult to heed the sage advice "sleep when the baby sleeps" even when she was just a few feet away. every little noise out of our quite noisy sleeper would have me wide awake. my mom came over for the day from wednesday through friday, allowing me to get some good napping done. here she is with her little eleanor and her little oscar, both sleeping happily.
here's a close-up of the onesie she's wearing in the above photo. very appropos now that we don't have to get her up for nighttime feedings.
here's eleanor showing off her newly exposed belly button. her umbilical cord stump fell off the other day, and if rob was doing this post, he'd have included the photo of the little raisin-like cord remnant. i'll spare you, but don't be susprised if it shows up in a later post. like the monkey wrist rattle?
dear friend sarah--in iowa for almost two weeks with orion--made this wonderful sweater for the baby. if you click on the photo, you'll see that the buttons sport likenesses of mother theresa, einstein and jfk. they also gave eleanor two adorable outfits from petit bateau, picked up on fabulous st. barth's last week while they were there for a wedding.

yesterday, eleanor met her uncle pete and cousin henry for the first time. she and aunt betsy are old pals by now--she was one of eleanor's very first visitors. while holding the baby, pete announced that he's ready for another one, which is good news since the second little decker/herr will arrive this winter.
henry doted on his wee cousin and was intrigued by her tiny toes and fingernails (but who isn't?). he is going to be a great big brother! this was another great use for the boppy (nursing pillow), by the way.

today, eleanor will meet uncle will and aunt sandy--more photos to come...

The Great Outdoors

Eleanor celebrated her first Fourth of July in this star-emblazoned onesie. While not strictly red, white, and blue, we think it was satisfactory.


She got to spend a nice long afternoon with Grandpa Dave on Wednesday before he had to return to Chicago. He's a natural... he must've held a little girl before.

A present from Grandma Kathie to complete the outfit was her new SmartWool socks. We have to say... these are one of our favorite baby items.

Here is a nice picture that we got of her in a onesie that was given to her by "aunt" Julie. Unfortunately right after the picture she had a large spit up that required laundering but at least we snapped this gem.

Yesterday we finally broke out of our cabin-feveredness and headed outside to walk Oscar and use our new stroller. Eleanor got quite excited about leaving the house as you can see below. While she appears startled, it's probably more a function of the flash than anything else.

As you can see, both Mom and baby enjoyed the walk around the neighborhood. It appears that walks might be good for settling Eleanor down and putting her to sleep. Hmmm... only time will tell.


In other happenings, I have to return to work on Monday which i'm dreading. I've gotten so used to being home with Carrie and the baby that it's really hard for me to think about being away. I wish we had a better paternity leave but we don't. Oh well, I guess the rest of our outstanding benefit package will have to make up for it. I've been enjoying laying around the house, holding the baby and reading the 6th Harry Potter book. I figure I need to knock it out in the next couple of weeks so i'll be ready for the Deathly Hallows later this month. Anyone else annoyed by everyone calling it the "Deathly Hollows?"

One Week Ago Today...

Guess who's ONE WEEK OLD today?!

Google Reader

Do y'all know about Google Reader? It's awesome... you can subscribe to blogs, etc... and it tells you when they're updated all in one place so you can keep up to date, etc... without having to constantly check. I like it... give it a try: Google Reader

OH YEAH - you have to have LIVE FEED turned on in your SETTINGS to allow your blog to be subscribed to. I would recommend turning it on for your blog so people (family/friends) can subscribe to it. I know ours works.

Neo-Natal, Oscar Returns, Face Time

The last couple of days have brought a lot more developments, fun times and great photo opportunities. It appears that our daughter already likes to ponder things... as you can see in the next couple of photos. Whether she's worrying about things (like her mother) or seeking answers to life's mysteries still remains to be seen. Perhaps she's just envisioning colors and shapes... hmmm.


We have started to get her onto a blanket on the living room floor to get her some "belly time" and work on her neck muscles. She seems to take this quite well. Here she's posing for us during one of these routines:

One of the fun things about a new baby is wearing all of the clothes that relatives and friends have given you over the past few months for the first time. Here we have today's installment... enough said.

Also today, Eleanor got her first visit from her soon-to-be best friend around the house Oscar. He's been sleeping over at Grandma Sue's house for the past week or so. He was quite curious at first but went back into normal mode after maybe 5 minutes. We gave Sue a baby blanket from the hospital to break him in and get him used to the smells. Perhaps it worked?

Eleanor is also getting quite used to the Papa San chair that Grandma Sue gave her. She settles in quite nicely and goes to sleep (sometimes for hours) right away.

Today she got her first ride in the car (except for the one from the hospital but that doesn't count) to the Pediatrician. As most babys do, she cashed out in the car.

At the doctor she got weighed... she was at her birth weight today. After 5 days she's gained it back. Holy cow... they shoot for 2 weeks I guess so what has this little girl been eating? Or should I say, how MUCH? We were quite pleased to hear this news... it means she's eating well and is very healthy.


Let me just say for the record that Carrie and I could not be happier. Our little girl appears to be in the best of health and is quickly learning to eat mom's milk and sleep very well. She has a great demeanor and will often just sit calmly for hours at a time and take in her surroundings. She hasn't cried more than a combined 60 minutes since she was born and for this we are extremely grateful. She's quite a wonderful little package and we thank everyone for their calls of support and kind words the past few days. Let's see what the future has in store... it's very exciting!