Walking to prevent violence against women and children

Annette, Ellie, Clara, and I attended a charity walk on Sunday to benefit local violence prevention organizations. It was Ellie's first charity walk, and I'm so glad she was there! She rode in her big girl stroller the whole time, and Annette said she was awake for more than half the walk. Our friends L&L were there as well and so was a family from work. All told, our team raised nearly $400. Yay for that, and a great big thank you to those of you who sponsored us!

Strolling around Boston

On Saturday Ellie and I strolled around Beacon Hill and Back Bay. We went from Blossom Street to Charles Street, then through the Garden to Boylston Street. These are some of the sights we saw along the way.

Auntie Jenny and Ellie

Out for a walk

Springtime!

On Monday it was so warm that Ellie wore her first-ever sleeveless romper (thanks, Monica!). She had a great time outdoors--she loves to watch the trees sway in the breeze.

Ellie's through with tummy time

Ellie said, "Tummy time...what about naptime?" She was playing happily one moment and fast asleep the next. No worries, either--I made sure to place her on her back just after I took this photo.

Ellie's first time at the table

Ellie is a hambone

Have you filed your taxes yet?

Thanks to Stephanie for this funny onesie!

Ellie laughs

Ellie and Stan

Ellie had a big discovery today: She learned that she can grasp objects and explore them with her mouth and hands. Check it out:


Ellie's mouthing Stan, the Chili Pepper Man. This was the first time she purposely brought an object to her mouth to explore it.

She went all big-eyed when she realized that she could move him and hear a soft bell. Holy moly!

After all that, she looked at me like, "Mama, did you know about all this?"

Ellie held and explored Stan for 15 minutes, all in all. It was so neat to see!

News

Ellie gave us a little 3-month birthday present last night: she slept through the night! She went down at 9:30pm and woke up at 5:15am (and we'd been up since 5am, so it counts!). After we saw she was still breathing, we celebrated quietly with hugs and fervent wishes for more sleep-filled nights. Ellie's a star!

In other news, Ellie wore her first pair of jeans today. Exhibit A:

Cute, no? I think she likes them.

Happy 3rd month birthday, Ellie!

And for the record, this photo was taken shortly after you barfed into my right ear.

10 special things about Ellie

In honor of Ellie's 3-month birthday tomorrow, I'm celebrating her quirks. Here are just a few of the things that make Ellie special:

1. Ellie will not take a pacifier. She doesn't like them and she spits them out immediately. Too bad the Easter Bunny screwed up and brought her 4 of them....

2. Ellie loves the song "New Slang" by The Shins. It's on the Garden State soundtrack, and she always quiets and listens when that track comes on. She seems to like Coldplay a lot, too. Our friend Stephanie got her the Coldplay Rockabye Baby CD, and she's enjoyed it since her days in the hospital. (So far, her musical taste is more like her Mumzy's than her Mama's. Clearly, I've got to start playing more Steely Dan for her.)

3. Ellie loves reading. She'll sit rapt through book after book--it's amazing! She's not yet showing a preference for a specific genre of book, so we read her everything from basic board books to complex picture books to the latest issue of Bust or Martha Stewart Living. She loves them all.

4. Similarly, Ellie loves looking at art. Whether it's the saxophone drawing in our living room (a favorite) or random art at Starbucks, you can count on Ellie to stare intently at any art around her.

5. When people meet Ellie for the first time, they always say the same exact thing: "She's SO alert!" And it's true, she is. She's been a curious, big-eyed baby since she was very young, and the older she gets, the more she takes in. Ellie doesn't miss a trick!

6. Ellie does not like riding in the car. She's slowly getting better about it, but the car is certainly not her favorite place. It's particularly bad after dark when she can't see anything except streetlights flashing by. She howls in the car when it's dark outside.

7. Ever since her first bath in the hospital, Ellie has loved tubby time. She still loves it; bath time is one of her favorite times of the day.

8. Ellie has a wry sense of humor. She's never been one of those kids who's all smiles; instead, she's very selective about what she considers to be funny or amusing. She smiled early, but she doesn't smile often. She's serious but certainly not humorless.

9. Ellie's very sensitive to overheating. We learned this the hard way when we bundled her up too much during those sub-freezing winter days. It turns out that Ellie would rather be too cold than too hot. Don't talk to her about cold wind in her face, though--she's not a fan!

10. Ellie loves being close to her moms in the Maya wrap or the front carrier. However, she likes her independence, too--she plays by herself under her baby gym for as long as an hour. Ellie has a v. long attention span.

Big ol' toothless grins!

Easter Morning

We got Ellie ready for church in the early morning. She wore a white Ralph Lauren dress, a hand-crocheted sweater made by my great aunt Ethel that I wore as a baby, tights (her first pair), and a pair of patent leather shoes from our next-door neighbor. We wrapped her in a beautiful hand-crocheted blanket from our dear friend Betty, a woman who's like a grandmother to Annette.

Ellie was great during the service! She looked around at all the people and listened to the music; after that, she had a bottle and fell asleep till church was over. She was the youngest baby in attendance, and she got lots of attention. I think her favorite part was looking at the beautiful stained glass windows.

For those who might be interested in such things, it looks like Ellie will be baptized over Columbus Day weekend. We'll send out more info as the date gets closer, but everyone is invited!

Easter afternoon

After church, we went out for lunch. Ellie sported this cute bib from Auntie Lea and Auntie Lucy. She got many compliments on it...thanks, ladies!

Until this weekend, Ellie screamed whenever she was in the car. However, her moms wised up for Easter and brought along a few of her favorite toys, including this very creepy chili pepper man. Why are the best infant toys so disturbing?

Easter evening

We opened our Easter baskets in the evening. Ellie got a pair of Trumpette socks, several pacifiers, and 2 stuffed rattles from the Easter Bunny, and she got a great new book from her mommies! She wore her new "Baby's 1st Easter" onesie from Auntie Lea and Auntie Lucy as well.

Happy Easter!

Hot wheels

This was Ellie's maiden voyage in her new stroller from Grammy and Grandpa. She liked it a lot!

Ellie & Bubba

Here's Ellie and Reuben sharing the baby papasan chair yesterday. (Reuben thinks the papasan belongs to him, by the way.) I put Ellie down next to him thinking he'd move, but he didn't because he's lazy like that. He just stared at me for a second (so did she, for that matter), then snuggled in.

Issues!

An update

So, the good news is that we made it through our first week of full-time work since Ellie came home. We're exhausted, but we did it. Even better, Ellie adores the kids at my work. She's been playing hard during the day and sleeping hard at night. Awesome!

In other Ellie news, she laughed for the first time on Thursday. I was feeding her a bottle when I looked up to laugh at one of the other kids' antics, but I looked down in time to see her smirk and say through the bottle, "Huh huh huh." Funny girl! She gets sweeter and smarter and funnier each day. She's a joy, through and through.

Ellie also made her first piece of art on Thursday. Tell me the kid's not a genius:

FAQ: "How's she sleeping?"

We're really lucky that Ellie's a good sleeper. These days, she takes a few short naps during the day and goes to sleep for the night between 8-9:30pm. She generally wakes for a bottle and diaper ~7 hours after she first goes down, then sleeps till 6:30 or so. Recently she's been sleeping in her car seat at the recommendation of her pediatrician; Ellie's developed some pretty nasty reflux, and the car seat helps her keep down her food. She likes the car seat a lot as long as it's in the house, but don't even think about trying to put her in the car. She hates the car!

Playtime for Ellie

Newport, RI

We were in Newport over the weekend for Annette's regional conference. Ellie got her first glimpse of the ocean!