It's a leopard...no! It's Eleanor

Fever. Rash. Fever. Rash. Do we know how to have fun in this house or what? Ellie continues to be sick, though now she's showing an interest in eating again which, apart from nursing, she hasn't been to keen on for probably about two weeks now. The Doctor says that she does not have chicken pox but that she is just covered in some viral rash.......see, on a baby you say awwww, but in an adult you would say ewwwwww. So, we're pretty sure that she's on the mend. PLUS! I don't want to jinx our luck or anything (or rub it in to Colin's Mommy or Daddy) but Ellie slept THROUGH the night last night - from 6:00 to 5:10!!! AND SHE'S DOWN FOR A NAP AGAIN!!!! Ok, now I'm happy because other parents I know say that they have to WAKE their child up for a feeding at 11:00 p.m. but that they fall asleep again until 8:00 or something ridiculous like that. I know that this is a blog for a sweet little girl and I shouldn't say these things, but WTF? Whatever, it may have taken 10.5 months for her to do it once, but Ellie slept the night. Hooray!! Not much is new here, aside from the fact that Ellie continues to practice her steady footing by climbing everything in the house like she is doing here in her very best "watch-out-I-have-a-mysterious-viral-rash" sweater :)
Here she is being a ham-bone and striking a pose...watch out Colin and Lukas, she's comin' to getcha....rrrreeeowwww.

Nobody here but us chickadees...

Eleanor is making a comeback from a pretty nasty cold, although she does still have traces of a smokers cough - sigh, kids these days - so we have been house bound for a couple of days. But, during this time, we had a nice visit with our brave friends Eszter and Lukas who have the COOLEST foam "map of the world" puzzle mat on the floor, where Ellie declared war on Northern Russia. Thankfully reconciliation took place between Eleanor and the former USSR when pieces of the city and sea port of Murmansk as well as the regions below the Kara Sea were recovered. Efforts of reconstruction were successful and diplomatic relations restored.

Riiiiiight....so, when we finally ventured outside, Omah took Mommy and Eleanor for a walk on a nature trail where chickadees will eat right out of your hand, even if there is a crazy 80 pound dog running around. We were lucky to get some great pictures of the outing where (happily) no one was seriously injured; Mommy took a nasty but comical spill on the ice while trying to get a group pic. Pride and buttocks were the casualties.



Ellie also appears to be a musical prodige. She plays the xylophone like an angel and she also works magic with maracas. She also enjoys pushing the toy bus around. I guess the proud mama, bloggable part about this is that Eleanor is learning to play with toys and though she still enjoys stuffing them into her mouth, she also seems to be developing some motor skills and eye hand coordination. What a love bug.



One final reportable event that happened, we have found a day care provider for Eleanor. She seems extremely nice. Ellie has met Barbara two times now and has played at her house. We are thrilled that we have found a safe and happy place for Eleanor to make friends when it is time to unleash her out into the world.

Just a small warm and fuzzy, we would like to send out hugs and love to all our blog readers. We love you all!

February - The Month of Firsts

Alas, mommy has finally resumed blogging after a brief hiatus away from the computer. Happily, Eleanor is extremely busy. She is our little belly-dweller, an amazing superwoman really, as she pulls herself from point A to point Z in about the same time as it takes me to blow my nose and then look up to see that she is climbing the table at the other side of the room. I mean, come on! What adult do you know could pull their body weight across the floor and then up an incline? Babies are so strong and have so much stamina and are so relentless.....that's a lot of so's :)

Anyway, it's good to be back and we are excited to share with you a couple of firsts that Ellie experienced during the month of February.

On February 1, 2009, daddy took Eleanor for her first toboggan ride at the park. We were able to capture this momentous occasion on video:


Ellie also went for her first public swim on February 2. It went much better than her innaugural swim on earth at Buckshot lake on July 20, 2008.

Lukas - The Ladies Man

Ellie and mommy are both very lucky to have friends so close by. Albeit at times brief due to demanding schedules of naps and feeds, Ellie and Lukas get to meet up for regular playdates. Mommies usually consume tasty snacks during said visits; Erin scamming chocolates, chips and hot chocolate or tea from Eszter, and Eszter dining on chocolate peanut butter milkshakes (made with frozen yogurt because a healthy diet is paramount) for lunch at Ellie's house :)
Pictured is Lukas and Ellie learning to share.
Their play rendez-vous are not all just fun and games.
Also illustrated is Eleanor and Lukas pouring over data to co-find the cure for the common cold, which they plan to have FDA approved by the time they are 11 years old.

Sweet Eleanor

I forgot the computer was on. So, I'll take an opportunity to post a pic of our sweet baby girl. Mommy, Eleanor, Melissa and Colin took advantage of the mild weather today and took Tula for a walk around the neighbourhood.

YEAH MEAT!!

Ok, so Keith is TOTALLY the man! An accomplished fully lisenced mechanic, Keith is also a wizard at making turkey meatballs (pictured) from scratch! Ellie is a very big fan of both daddy and his balls of meat.

The Evolution of a Baby

(this posting is the first of many gratuitous opportunities to show off our beautiful Eleanor Violet)



This...


To this....

to this...





...To this













...to this.