ONE!!!

As of one year and one day old, Eleanor had the following statistics:

Weight: 17lbs 15 ounces (5-10%)
Height: 28 inches (10-25%)

Head Circumference: 43cm (5-10%)

She's a bit on the smaller side but very healthy. She got a clean bill of health from our pediatrician who thinks Eleanor is doing and looking great. Her birthday was a fun day, and we celebrated with family on Saturday. Here are the pictures...

First thing in the morning on her big day - my happy girl!

So excited to have us all there.

In her birthday tutu and "I'm the birthday girl" shirt.

We had lunch at Eleanor's favorite restaurant in town, Prasino.

Sitting with Grandma after she got a little freaked out by the candle on her cake.

My mom gave her this Leap Frog birthday cake - pretty cute, but Ethan has already claimed it.

It's my birthday!

Opening a present from us - the Melissa and Doug pantry food for her new kitchen.

I made bolognese sauce with orrechiette for her birthday dinner - one of her favorites, if you couldn't tell.

And she had a cupcake for dessert. She got a bit scared of the candle again, but once she calmed down, she enjoyed the cake.

Here's Ethan on Friday, the day of his royal feast at school. They were supposed to dress up, and since I don't have any kind of knight or king costume, I just put him in his Christmas outfit. He looked a little silly at our pediatrician's visit later. :)

Ready for her party.

I loved this dress, but the picture doesn't do it justice.

My mom made this great cupcake creation to match my flower theme.

With Grandma

"Walkin'"

Here are some of the decorations I put up in the kitchen.

And here is the flower garland in the living from...and some family.

I am in love with this banner. Not sure when I'll take it down.

Yeehaw

See ya!

Aunt Courtney and baby Emme, who's birthday is this week!

Tables in the basement, which is oh so nice to have for parties now.

Hangin' with Aunt SandyBest family pic we have.

Cake time. Still not a fan of candles but did better with the cupcake this day. No big show, though, with face full of cake and such. :(

Playing with cousin Emily.

This is my favorite picture from the day. Baby Emily was crying and Eleanor started fake crying right when I snapped this picture. Pretty realistic, huh?

Morning after party fun. Eleanor goes bananas for these balloons.

We had dinner at our good friends' house Sunday night, as we often do. The babies had a chance to catch up.

Best Buds - When we arrived and Derek saw Ethan in this shirt, he ran upstairs to put his on.

Too busy/tired to update too much. Ready for February to be over - what a BLAH month. But we're excited for Eleanor's birthday tomorrow. My baby is one! Getting over another cold (much milder this time), and she should be good for the party Saturday. Here are some recent photos/videos.

Eleanor loves to play with her kitchen. She pulls all the pots and pans out and plays with the door of the oven.
Dancing with Daddy.

I have to keep shoes on her or she takes off her socks.

Love Ethan's face here.

Her favorite pastime these days is the pull all the DVD cases off the shelf here.

We had a few mild days last week - here is our first picnic of 2011.

A bit cold - but nice and sunny. Ahhh...vitamin D.

Ethan loves to make these little sleeping beds, as he calls them.

We took a trip to the aquarium this past weekend.

Eleanor looks slightly intoxicated.

Since we didn't plan ahead and it was Saturday night in the city with a line out the door at Gino's East, we ended up at Portillos. Oh well. It beats Rock 'n Roll McDonalds, which was our only other option at that point.

Eleanor caught in the act of raiding my bag. She loves to pull everything out.

My almost one year old!


And old video of Ethan playing in the blizzard drift.


Eleanor's first experience actually in the snow.

Here's the video of Ethan playing on his own. Not sure how much you can hear/understand, but I thought he was so cute.

I took this video of Eleanor the other night when she was just playing on her own. Will and I have noticed she puts everything on top of her head when she's playing with it. We think it's because Ethan loves to put things on her head. She must think this is what you do with things.

I caught Eleanor trying to get up the stairs the other day. Time to get the gate out, I guess.

Happy Valentine's Day

Our little Valentine! Yes, she has a small cut in her eyebrow - playpen fight. You should see the other guy!

And, now, a short anecdote:

The night that Will left for SD, he came home from school late after recycling club. He was rushing around the house, trying to get packed so he could drive up to his parent's house and leave with his dad for the lake that night. My mom was over because she was going to help me take the kids to swimming lessons, and we were feeding the kids dinner. I wasn't really paying attention to what Will was doing, and it was not until later that I realized that part of what he was doing was gathering all of our recycling so he could put it out on the curb. He was doing this, despite the fact that he really just needed to get on the road, because he didn't want me to have to do it. I thought that was sweet. The next day, as I was pulling out of the driveway on an errand, I saw that Will had put all the recycling into boxes instead of using our bins. Why? So that I wouldn't have to carry the bins back up to the back of the house. I knew right away that he had been thinking that I would have enough to worry about being on my own with the kids and that he didn't want me worrying about the jobs that were his.

I don't know why, but I really thought this was just so sweet. It may not be candy and roses all the time anymore, but not a day goes by that I don't feel terribly loved by my husband. He makes us all feel safe and loved, and no giant teddy bear or grand gesture can compete with that. It truly is about the little things. This past Friday night, we were sitting at the dinner table, and Ethan was singing his "Please and Thank You" song from school, and Eleanor was blowing kisses. Will said, "Well, this is by far the best part of my day." Ordinary but extraordinary, no doubt, this little family of mine.

When I think back to all the sad, lonely Valentine's Days I have celebrated, I know that they were all worth it to get to where I am today: completely loved and in love.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are some overdue pictures of Ethan's school program, the blizzard, and other winter events.

This was his pajama program, and they sang songs about nighttime, going to bed, and morning. Cute stuff.

Here's Eleanor before she fell backwards, causing a bit of a ruckus (oops) during the program.

Ethan (sort of) with his teacher.

Here's one of Eleanor's boyfriends, Jason. She's keeping her options open.

I took this the day Will came home, I think. Ethan was feverish but still playful.

Before

After

The drift in front of the garage was pretty substantial. Funny how some parts of the driveway were completely clear but others were piled so high with snow.

Eleanor was still a bit under the weather, so we didn't let her outside. I love this picture of her watching big brother out the window.

Never too early to start them on fitness.

This was Eleanor's first time actually in the snow.

She likes it!

Ethan and I went to his favorite park, which was a bit ridiculous since it was buried. I had to rescue Ethan a few times.

Eleanor's best Sue Sylvester impersonation.

I snapped this picture of Ethan playing the other day because it was just too cute. He's so good at independent play sometimes, and this was him playing with his dinosaur and fire station. He was talking to himself the whole time. It reminds me of Andy from Toy Story, a bit and how he uses all of his different toys in play scenarios.

Saturday night, I invited Will (seriously, I made an invitation on the computer) to a picnic dinner in our living room. The menu - tilapia milanese served over quinoa with roasted asparagus and a small arugula salad.

Here we are! Who needs fancy dinner reservations? (Will commented later that he loved that there was a dirty cloth diaper in the background of the picture - oops. Well, this is as romantic as it gets in the house with two kids.)

Single Parenthood

I learned one very important lesson over this past weekend: I was not at all cut out to be a single parent. Will left for SD Wednesday evening and did not return until Sunday. When he told me he was going to go to help his father with moving his grandma (all 103 years of her!) from her assisted living facility to a nursing home, I knew it would be just fine. I was mostly nervous about the nights, since I tend to be a bit of a baby about being home "alone." And, because I know I'm terribly spoiled to have a husband around early in the evening, I made plans that would help me get through the long days.

By Friday, I was actually feeling a bit foolish because I felt like I hadn't really even proved that I could do things all my own. Friends were calling to check in, and I was embarrassed to admit that I'd really only been alone after the kids went to bed. Well, just when I started feeling like I was a baby, everything hit the fan. Friday evening, Ethan started complaining that he did not feel well; shortly after, I discovered that he had a fever. Within the hour, he threw up. Thankfully, this all happened when my sister-in-law was here. Eleanor was in the bath, and Ethan came in looking pretty miserable. Mother's intuition told me he was about to lose his cookies, so I quickly had her switch with me and keep an eye on Eleanor. Seconds later, he threw up, thankfully in the bathroom. I've written before about how anxious I get when my children vomit. Well, multiply that by about a hundred when you know your husband will not be around that night...or for 2 more full days! The night was a disaster, with Ethan up for most of it. I maybe slept 2 hours, intermittently.

Needless to say, that next day was among the longest of my life. It would not have been bad had I not constantly been thinking, if the night is bad again, I'm still on my own. I tried to keep things positive, but Eleanor had started coughing, and both kids were incredibly clingy and cranky. The only saving grace was that I had no qualms about watching cartoons pretty much all day. Fortunately, Saturday night was better, and I woke up Sunday feeling okay because I knew that Will would be home later that day.

That morning, though, when he called from the lake (3.5 hours away), I broke down crying. I knew I was fine, the kids were fine, and that it was not a bit deal, but I was just so overtired and completely spent. Not only was I being demanded physically by my kids ALL day (I'm used to this - my kids have always clung to me), but all the emotional drain was on me as well. I had no one to balance it out with, and that was getting to me.

With Will home, my days and our nights have still been rough (last night was particularly harrowing, with two kids coughing themselves awake), but I've felt ten times better just knowing he's around to offer a little support. Ethan seems to finally be fever free, and the doctor confirmed yesterday that it's not an ear infection. Eleanor seems to be at the worst of it now, with a very runny nose and lots of coughing, but she has remained fever free, so that's good.

The whole experience has me thinking so much about single parents and the strain that is on them at all times. Maybe I am just weak, or lazy, or inept, but I cannot imagine living that way all the time. I thought a lot about the man who lives near us whose wife was hit by a car over a year ago, leaving him to parent a 4 year old and 4 month old. It breaks my heart to think of this man who not only has to deal with the pain of losing his wife but also have to move on while learning to parent completely solo. He has a large support system, but he's still on his own every night, waking when his kids wake, tending their needs all on his own. It makes me feel incredibly fortunate and also like a big baby about my anxiety of my few days on my own. At the very least, I know now that I can do hard (and I use the word hard lightly) things - and survive.