Eloise Helen

As I type this, Eloise is sleeping (knock on wood) and the fireworks are starting. People in this city are firework-crazy. I don’t know if it’s the proximity to Washington or the reservations or what, but regular folks just set off huge fireworks in the street, which is really fun when you live in an apartment and don’t care too terribly much if it burns down. The stakes get higher when you buy a home, and when you have a baby in whom you’re trying to cultivate good sleep habits, well, it’s kind of stressful. Last night she was awakened by some pretty minor fireworks right behind our house. So tonight we turned up the sound machine and have a fan going too. And all the windows are closed (it’s not too hot). She’s probably going to wake up any minute. Someone get an award ready for this girl just in case she sleeps through this madness. I feel for anyone who has PTSD (they had a radio show about that on yesterday): this is ridiculous. I wonder if people would think this stuff was so much fun if they’d actually lived a war zone. Probably not so much. I like the pretty fireworks, but the just-plain noise-maker ones don’t make sense to me. Is it a boy thing?

Eloise celebrated Independence Day earlier today by taking a step toward her own independence. She ate rice cereal … and loved it! I felt a little sad. Hannah’s mom Jorjan said she cried when she fed her first baby something that wasn’t breast milk, and I can totally understand that. It’s weird to nourish my baby with something that doesn’t come from me. But I’m also proud of her. She is a good eater! She knew just what to do and really seemed to enjoy herself.

Then we went to Hannah and Robert’s house for a BBQ. We had hot dogs and beer and strawberry shortcake and cherries fresh from their cherry tree. All the very best things about summer. In one of the pictures below, you can see Chris picking cherries with a cherry picker. These were hands-down the very best cherries I’ve ever had in my whole life. They made me want to sing. I’ve had some cherries from farm stands in the Columbia River Gorge that were almost this good, but it seems there’s nothing quite like black-juiced cherries right off the tree. Oh, and take note (how could you not?) of Eloise’s adorable dress from Margot and David, our friends in Wales. She looks like such a patriotic flower child, doesn’t she?

P.S. Random Book Recommendation: If anyone’s in search of a good nonfiction book, as I was until a week ago, I’m reading Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Polan and loving it. I keep reading paragraphs aloud to Chris and saying, “Who knew corn reproduction and agricultural policy could be so fascinating?!” It’s really interesting and well-written. Robert also says Polan’s newest book, In Defense of Food, is good too. I think it’ll be next on my list: well, when it’s in paperback. Hardcovers are hard to manage when you’re reading while nursing.

Today I talked to Amber who asked how things are going. I said when we’re all getting sleep, life is pretty great. When we’re not, life is pain, as Uncle Dan would say. These days we’re getting sleep, though, so life is good. Look at this lady, first asleep and then waking up yesterday morning. She’s wearing the I Love You! onesie Amber gave me when I was about thirteen weeks pregnant.

Eloise is really into reading this days. She loves Sandra Boynton books. Here she is reading Old Mother Hubbard with Grammy. It has colorful pictures and rhymes, so she likes it, even though it’s not by her favorite author. New tricks include grabbing her feet, squealing, turning the pages of her books, and drinking water from a glass. We are going to try rice cereal this weekend. It makes me a little sad: she is growing up so fast.

Since it takes just 25 minutes to get to the airport and flying is just like relaxing time with a book, Nanny and I figure that it’s pretty much like we just live 25 minutes away from each other. Creative math is always good for justifying your clothes purchases and geographical life choices.

We had a lovely time with Uncle Wes, Nanny, and Grammy. We mostly just sat around. We did make it out to Powell’s, and Eloise got some exciting new books by Sandra Boynton (from Nanny) and some other rhyming books. Nanny also notices that Eloise is not too keen on books that don’t rhyme, but that overall she loves to be read to. She is even trying to hold books and turn pages on her own. She is so smart. She is also experimenting with her voice big time, having just added squeals and coos and other variations on high pitches to her repertoire. It’s pretty adorable, and you can all enjoy it when I figure out (i.e., Chris teaches me) how to upload video to the blog.

Here are some pictures from our time together. Nanny and Wes dressed Eloise in a crazy outfit to go for a walk:

Last night Eloise wore her jean miniskirt to Kennedy School, although we all agreed that she was kind of a scandal. The shirt she’s wearing was mine when I was a baby.

Here are some nice family pics. We broke out the family baby pictures today and all agreed that the resemblance between Eloise and Uncle Dan is remarkable, except for her smile, which is all Chris, and her grumpy, serious faces, which are all mine.

Right now Eloise is listening to beautiful classical music and rolling around on the floor. The sleep log also indicates she might take another nap soon and that overall her sleep has improved a lot this past week or two. Whew. 

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words about the haircut. They’re not necessary. It’s bad, and that’s life. Here’s how I know:
Uncle Wes said this morning, “Oh yeah, uh, you should put it back up.” (This from the guy who says he goes to Super Cuts because he doesn’t actually care what his hair looks like.)
My stylist said, when I went back to make her fix the damage, “I don’t want to cut it anymore because at least you can wear it in a ponytail,” and, “The nice thing about hair is that it grows back.” And she prefaced a lot of her advice with, “If you go to someone else …” I think she expects to never see me again.
Chris said, “I don’t think it’s as bad as you think it is.” (That’s all the compliment he could muster.)
Stephanie said, “I don’t think it matters too much because your baby’s so cute no one is really looking at you anyway.”
And Hannah, the nicest person ever, could only come up with, “I think the length is good …”
So, yeah, ponytails for now and it will grow back. In the meantime, the upshot is that I have less hair to vacuum up. Plus, it’s true that no one is looking at me when I am hanging out with this gorgeous baby. Look at her!!!

Uncle Wes adores her, I think. She has captured his heart. He would not stop hugging her on her way to bed tonight.

Today I worked a bit while Eloise napped and Uncle Wes read. We watched naked butt time. We listened to beautiful music on the radio and read Barnyard Dance a million times. We walked to the park and lay down on a blanket and looked up at the trees. Then we went to Kennedy School for Happy Hour and walked home. When we got home, Chris was getting home. Then we had a big lovefest in which Eloise laughed and laughed and laughed while I held her up in the air. In addition to laughing more, she now rolls from tummy to back. She can still only roll in one direction, but she can keep going now, which makes her highly mobile and impossible to leave unattended. Last night she and I took a bath together which was so fun. She was starting to be afraid of the water, so we thought some company would be good for her. She loved it. She splashed and played with an inflatable ball and watched as we poured water out of containers. She also liked being held so that she was floating. It must be a nice sensation for her. She’s getting really sick of lying on her back on the floor.

Today Hannah and Robert got married, and it was absolutely wonderful! Every detail was so perfect: the chocolate eggs, the flowers, the cello, the weather. Lovely, lovely. But nothing compared with my friend Hannah who looked oh-my-God-gorgeous. Here she is loving up Eloise who also looked delicious in her fancy silk dress from Diane Costello. My goodness, petticoats and all. So cute! Everyone wanted to eat her up.

Oh, and here we are, including my new haircut. I am not totally sold on it. I am going to go back and ask for some adjustments. I told Courtney, the darling girl who cut my hair, “I will never, ever blow dry my hair.” I don’t think she believed me, because I ended up with a haircut that doesn’t look good unless I take a heat-oriented appliance to it. It just won’t do.

The day before, we went to the rehearsal barbecue at Hannah and Robert’s house. That time, Eloise wore her old-fashioned white cotton dress with the lace collar and sleeves that Jorjan gave her. I looove it! She looks so classic. I cannot stand how cute my baby is. Just look at her. What are we going to do about it?! Clearly that is Chris with Eloise, and the other photos are of David, Hannah’s dad, and Iris, Robert’s mom. Iris makes no secret of how ready she is for some grand babies. I guess Eloise will have to do for the moment.

We’re looking forward to a mellow day tomorrow. Then Monday we get Ryan and Stephanie back from Eugene, and Uncle Wes touches down for his almost week-long visit. Yay! Eloise can’t wait to do some more baby gymnastics in the kitchen with Ryan.

The flood of visitors has begun! Stephanie and Ryan are with us until Friday morning when they head to Eugene for their friend Dani’s wedding. Yesterday we hung out, went out for barbecue, got coffee and pie, and talked about how cute Eloise is. I think Eloise’s eyes are almost as big as Steph’s. Steph looked at a picture of Eloise smiling and said she looks like Uncle Dan. It’s weird to see so much of Uncle Dan and Uncle Wes in my baby girl. Look at her sucking her thumb! The good things about it are that it looks cute and helps her self-soothe. I’m hoping the down side won’t be bank-breaking orthodontic bills.

For those of you keeping tabs on Eloise’s sleeping, last night was much better. She only woke up one time at 1:55 (she always wakes at 1:55, not 1:45 or 2:00, but 1:55 on the nose) and then woke up for the day at 7:40. Very civilized. I made a chart to track her sleep. In part, I hope to see if there’s anything that seems to consistently disrupt or promote sleep for this lady (and for me as a result). I also hope that channeling my energy into this chart will calm me down a bit and deflect my frustrations away from my poor husband and cats. Chris says there’s a fine line between meticulous and crazy and that although I’m walking it pretty narrowly, I have not yet crossed over to crazy. We’ll see. I feel like I’m trying to bring myself back from the crazy side, actually. Lack of sleep does not agree with me.

I’m going to get a short new haircut tomorrow. Since Stephanie and Ryan have offered to babysit Eloise, I can actually do this! I haven’t had a cut since right after my wedding (nearly two years ago). I’m in Hannah and Robert’s wedding on Saturday, so I thought it was high-time I got a haircut. Also, since I have about 7 hairs left on my head, it really needs to be shorter. Since it’s still falling out like crazy, maybe this will reduce my vacuuming load too. Gross.

We’ve regressed with the sleep lately. Eloise is a bear to put down at night, and she’s been waking every three hours. Is it teething? Is it because she has a cold? Whatever the cause, we hope it’s fleeting, because I am not any fun for Chris (or the cats) to live with. Any grumpiness and frustration gets projected onto them. Poor Chris and the cats. Here she is at the beginning of the nearly three hours it took tonight to get her into a slumber. Off to a bad start? I don’t know.

Here she is waking up the other day. After very bad nights, I just surrender and bring her into bed with me. No matter what, she seems to sleep really well if I just nurse her lying down. And then I get to wake up next to her, and it’s really just the cutest thing ever. I don’t really want her in our bed (no one will sleep well), but it’s a really nice time for me and her together.

I know I’m getting old because I went to kids’ birthday parties both days this weekend. But not too old, because both parties featured full kegs. So at least we’re takin’ the edge off. This weekend was also Father’s Day, of course. As a tribute to the best new father, here are come cute pictures of Eloise with her dad:

This weekend we worked hard to amend our soil and plant a bunch of plants. Here is Chris hard at work. We paid our neighbor Skylar to help us. He’s eleven and doesn’t know any better: he helps whenever we offer him any money! He seems to like it, he’s good company, and we need the help. I should get befores and afters up soon. Although, it looks a little spotty. It’ll look better when we get in some more plants and when the ones in the ground start to fill out a bit. Not the best time to plant, but the weather is still so cool and it’s better late than never, I guess.

Here is Eloise grumpy and tired in one picture and the essence of delight in the other. Can you tell which is which?! This is my blanket from the 70’s. I love it. I think she looks a lot like me in the grumpy shot. She has a lot of my serious facial expressions, but her smile is all Chris.

(Revelation as of Tuesday morning: She also looks like Uncle Wes to me in the grumpy shot. Anyone else see that? Nanny?)

On Friday, I took Eloise to the school where I did my student teaching. It made me sad that I am not going into the classroom sooner. Oh well. The kids were really taken with Eloise. The fifth graders totally rushed us when we got in the room, and Eloise was so game about it. She didn’t cry at all and made them happy by holding their fingers when they offered them to her (I refuse to think about the germs involved). The boys were impressed with the rolls of chub on her arms. The second grade teacher prepped the younger kids for Eloise’s visit, and they were just so lovely. She told them about not rushing at the baby and using soft voices. They were so gentle and respectful. They said, “What can she do? Can she walk? What does she say?” (I was glad I didn’t take her any earlier when she really had no tricks up her sleeve.) I said, “She can roll over, but only in one direction.” So we put her on a blanket in the middle of the circle. I said, “You can do it, Eloise!” And then they all chanted softly at her, “You can do it, you can do it!” And she rolled over and they clapped for her and it was just so darling, I thought I might die. They asked a lot of questions about her (What does she eat? Does she like animals? Do animals like her?) and I solicited their advice about teething and solid foods; they were happy to instruct me in the ways of baby feeding, but I think we’ll skip mashed pineapple and chips … at least for now. I was also touched to see that above their classroom water fountain they had posted pictures of Eloise with a little sign that said, “Welcome to the world, Eloise!” Another student teacher told me they put them up right after she was born, so they’d been there for five months. So, so sweet.

Oh, milestones. Eloise is perfecting her pincer grasp (yay opposable thumbs!) and trying hard to scoot on her belly. She doesn’t use her arms, though, so mostly she smashes her chest and face into the floor but she does move a little bit. She can do a little mini bridge when on her back, pushing her butt in the air by pressing her feet into the floor. She likes books that rhyme and she likes to hold the books and try to turn the pages. She can stand if we hold her under her arms, but not for long. She grabs at my face a lot and pulls my hair. She smiles a lot, but the laughs are few and far between. Try as we might, I guess we’re just not very funny.

The good thing about it being 50 degrees and dreary outside still is that I can continue making Eloise wear her cute hats. Check out this one I made her wear for our walk yesterday evening. Thank you, Hannah!

She has figured out how to go stiff and arch her back to make it tough for me to put her in her car seat. Uh oh. Here we go!

Oh my goodness, Eloise is five months old today. I can hardly believe it! It seems like it’s gone by so quickly. (I would not have said that a couple months ago, but time goes so much more slowly when you’re awake all the time!)

Let’s see. What’s she up to? She rolls a lot, from back to front and only to her right, all of which is unusual. She does a little superbaby pose when on her belly and kicks her legs to make the toys on her arch jingle. It seems like she wants to scoot or crawl, but she’s some way away from that right now. She also talks a lot. I sing to her a lot, and I think she’s actually trying to sing. It’s really cute. She looks very focused and makes long drawn out noises: she seems to be experimenting with the way changing her lip position changes the sounds she’s making. Oh, and she is really into using her hands and fingers. She likes to manipulate small toys, like her links and her pacifier, which has become one of her favorite things to explore with both hands and mouth.

She and Chris have come a long way in the past week or two. I asked many of you for advice about how we could make her soothe down at night with him. She adores him, but for a while she heartily rejected the idea of him soothing her down to sleep at night. We’ve taken little baby steps, though, and now he can rock her down to sleep after I’ve nursed her at night. Yay! She is very lucky to have such a patient and nurturing dad. Here is a picture of them talking to Tracker, Robert’s very sweet lab.

She is just the best baby. I don’t know what else to say. She can be a little high maintenance, and sometimes the staying at home still drives me nuts, but I feel really lucky to be her mom. Just look at her. This is how she greets me when I go in to get her after her nap. She is a delight (and very beautiful, although that is not her most important quality).