Six Weeks?!

Tomorrow, Eleanor will be six weeks old. Things are going SO well. Our basement is officially finished, and it looks amazing (pictures in another post, I promise). It changes our lifestyle, for sure. I'm so happy with it! I've definitely gotten into the groove of having two kids right now, and it helps that Eleanor is a great baby. She sleeps really well (through the night for over a week!), nurses fairly well (still a sore subject...), and is totally laid back. She is a bit fussy at night, which makes getting anything done difficult (hence the 6 week blogging hiatus), but I can't really complain. There's limited time before the next feeding, though, so I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Ethan decorated my Boppe pillow with Curious George stickers. At first, one of the hardest things was keeping him at bay while I was nursing Eleanor. He has since gotten used to this very frequent activity.

Either her first or second sponge bath. Not a huge fan of this part.

But she did LOVE having her hair washed. I think she will love the salon later in life.

Sleeping in the papasan...love those hospital hats.

Ethan put on Will's giant (and terribly ugly) coat from L.L. Bean circa 1990. It looks better on Ethan, I think.

Pre-haircut

Haircut

Eleanor's favorite sleeping position. We swaddled Ethan for 6 months. I stopped with Eleanor during the first week or so. She has sleep really well without it.

Ethan finally came around to wanting to hold Eleanor after he watched all of his cousins fawn all over her. Now, he requests a hold at least once a day.

Eating cereal - Will took this for some reason, but I think it's cute.

Grandma and Eleanor

The nice weather we've been having has made things a heck of a lot easier. We get outside quite a bit. Here is one of our driveway picnics.

Trying out tummy time. Ethan is definitely smooshing her, but I think in a nice way.

Another eating picture. This is pasta fagioli. We are so lucky that Ethan is a fantastic eater!

Cute strawberry outfit.

Here is Eleanor dressed and ready for my mom's retirement party.

Surprise!

Table 1 at Macaroni Grill

Table 2

We match, minus the bonnet.

I gave a little speech. My mom worked in childcare at COD for just short of 25 years! Happy Retirement!

Poor Pop Pop Jeff - he says he never gets to hold Eleanor.

But Grandma always holds her!

Eleanor with Laney and Andrew, children of my great friends Annie and Susie, respectively. Andrew was born about 8 hours before Eleanor on the same day. :) And, apparently, he's gang affiliated based on the sign he's flashing.

Eleanor and Andrew do not seem to happy to be propped up here.

Susie with the birthday twins!

And here we are - who would have thought 10 years ago, when we were in college, that this is where we would be now.

Will with a sleepy Eleanor.

Grandma Meuer, all 102 years of her, came to Chicago from South Dakota, for a few days. Here she is meeting Eleanor.

Aunt Lou has her now.

This is Ethan at our playgroup Easter egg hunt. Will showed up at the end. With so many big kids this year, it lasted about a minute, but it was great fun nonetheless.

He loved seeing what was in each egg.

This year, Lisa and I, along with cousins Jeanine and Amy, made our own calzone on Holy Saturday. It's a lot of work, but we felt it was time for the next generation to learn how to make it so as to continue this very special tradition.

Dad stopped in to taste the filling. :)

The finished product. Both mom and grandma were very proud of our results. It was yummy!

Eleanor loves Great Auntie Nancy!

Here we are before church on Easter Sunday. Both kids did very well at Mass.

Mommy and Eleanor. Eleanor is the one with the bow.

Our family picture.