First time voting

Eleanor voted for the first time today! She was very interested in everything that was going on and talked to all of the poll workers.

A tisket, a tasket...

A baby in a basket!

I know I have posted similar pictures on here before, but these are just too cute not to share.  This basket seems to have become Eleanor's favorite place to just hang out and read a book.  I normally keep it full of library books, but we haven't been in a while so she found a great use for the empty basket.

Here's a little video too.  I love the part around :55 where she just leans back in the basket like it's the most comfortable seat in the world! At around 1:00 she starts waving because Hunter started waving to her.

We're done

Today is the first day I haven't nursed Eleanor since she was born.  It's both sad for me and a little bit of a relief.  After all, this is the first time since November of 2007 that I'm not pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or breastfeeding.  Yes, almost 3 years!  I'm not planning to go out and do anything crazy, but it's just nice to know that no other human being depends on my body for a change.

Eleanor didn't even seem to notice the difference today.  We had been down to only nursing first thing in the morning for about a month, and today I just brought her straight downstairs and gave her a cup of milk.  She was perfectly fine with that.  So I guess it's a bigger deal to me than it is to her!

I'm so glad that I nursed and glad that we did it for a whole year.  I'll admit the first month or two there were times that it was rough, but we quickly got past that thanks to help from some wonderful people.  It's just pretty cool to know that Eleanor went from this:

to this

 (5 months)

with nothing but her Mama's milk. :)  And of course, she's eaten LOTS of food since then and now enjoys whole milk:

So I now have some big plans.  First of all, I can finally take care of a tiny spot of sun damage on my lip.  And much more importantly, for the first time since July 21, 2009, I am going to SLEEP IN!  Sure, there have been times that Hunter brought her to me in bed in the morning and then took care of her after she was done nursing, and there have been times that I fed her around 5 AM and then got to sleep until 8 or even 9, but those don't fully count.  And yes, I could have pumped and let Hunter give her a bottle, but I never did that because it's more trouble than it's worth.  (It's kind of like being absent as a teacher and coming up with sub plans - it's so much easier to just be there yourself!)  So anyway, I am looking forward to Saturday!  :)

New videos

Here's Eleanor dancing to one of the songs from her music class!

Here's Eleanor "reading" to herself.  I have to be sneaky because as soon as she notices the camera she stops!

This one's long, but the first part is really cute of her playing with her blocks.  I'm not sure what she was building exactly, but she was very focused until the camera fell off the couch!

Friends!

This is Eleanor and her buddy Elijah.  Elijah's mom and I met in our childbirth class and discovered that we're practically neighbors.  Elijah is just a week older than Eleanor, so they really play well together.

They both insisted on drinking out of each other's cup and refused their own.  I suppose the water is always greener from the other cup...

Playing with the Little People house together

Reading/making a mess together

Just being cute!

Why Eleanor is still rear facing

I saw this video several months ago and it convinced me to keep Eleanor rear facing in the car as long as possible.  The video is a little long, but if nothing else start it at 1:40 and watch for about a minute to see the two car test crashes.

Kids are more than 5 times safer in accidents when they are rear facing.  Even the American Academy of Pediatrics is advising that you keep your child rear facing until they're at least 2 years old.  The laws in most states (including South Carolina and Florida, I know) just require that your child be at least 1 year old and 20 lbs to turn them around, but it is still safer for them to be rear facing at that point.

Eleanor's car seat is a True Fit by First Years and it can be rear facing until she weighs 35 lbs and is 52" tall.   She's around 21 lbs and 31", so she's not outgrowing it any time soon!  Somebody recommended this seat to me because it's especially good for taller kids and thanks to the angle in the head rest it fits well in my small Corolla.  She seems very comfy in her seat, has plenty of leg room, and is happy!  Well, as long as her favorite music is playing...  The pictures I change out in front of her and her mirror seem to help too.  So until she gets too big or unless any other issue comes up, we see no reason to turn her around.

More on the 101 goals

I have already updated my list from yesterday several times and I plan to use that post as a way to keep track of how I'm doing.  I made a link to it over on the right, mainly so that I will keep up with it.  If anybody else cares though, that's an easy way to check out my progress.

101 Goals in 1001 Days

I recently heard the idea of making a list of 101 goals for yourself to complete in 1001 days.  It's kind of like New Year's Resolutions, only a little more doable because you have a longer timeline - almost 3 years - in which to complete your goals.  Many of these are things I've never done but always wanted to do or meant to do, while others are things I've done before but it's just been a while.  I tried to only list things that are quantifiable, not generalities like, "Be a nicer person."

Feel free to leave additional ideas in the comments!  I haven't come up with 101 goals yet!

To be completed by May 12, 2013

1. Finish Eleanor's quilt (yeah, already a year late on that one!)
2. Finish Eleanor's scrapbook
3. Back up all my digital photos  Woohoo!  First goal accomplished!  I'll need to do this again several times before 2013 though!
4. Create a piece of pottery from start to finish by myself  This isn't the only thing that I made, but it's the item that I'm the most proud of so far!

Make a lemon meringue pie


Practice my violin every day for a month
Buy something from Etsy.com
Organize my recipes
Reread the Harry Potter series  I read the all in less than 6 weeks...once I started I couldn't put them down!
Clean out my desk drawers  Yeah, this is another one I'll need to do again in the next 1001 days!
See at least 3 plays at local theaters
1. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Buy a DSLR camera
Eat at 10 new (to me) local restaurants
1. Big Island Burrito (Indialantic)
2. Beachside Cafe (Indialantic)
3. Viera Pizza (Viera)
4. Panita's (Indialantic)
5. Riverview Diner (Palm Shores)
6. Islands Fish Grill (Indialantic)
Try a completely new cuisine  I had Ethiopian food in DC - so delicious!
Knit a scarf  in progress
Knit a hat
Bake a loaf of bread from scratch
Make all (or most all) of my Christmas presents one year I am going to count this one as completed, though I definitely didn't make them all.  I did make and give away lots of pottery, some soap, heart-shaped crayons, and even a tutu (to my niece.)
Clean out the clothes in my closet that I don't wear
Make Christmas stockings for the 3 of us  in progress
Build a gingerbread house
Carve a pumpkin Done! 

Write a will Sort of done, but it's extremely basic. 
Catch up on our anniversary trip scrapbook that I add to each year
Finish all other incomplete scrapbooks
Make a digital scrapbook
Learn to juggle
Finish redoing our room
Buy an original painting  got one in Puerto Rico!
Get the outside of the house painted
Repaint the interior of the house  We did 2 bedrooms - now I just want to do the living/dining/kitchen
Run a 5K race
Read one of Hunter's science fiction books so he'll stop bugging me about it
Go horseback riding  I rode a horse partway up a volcano in Guatemala, so I think that counts.
Donate to NPR
Find an amazing yard sale deal
Reach my goal weight  I made major progress on this one but it's on obviously on hold now since I'm pregnant.  :)
Visit a country where the official language is neither English nor Spanish
Successfully grow something edible
Make a picnic blanket  in progress
Have a professional picture made of our family
Have another baby  In the works!!!  Due 10/7/2011
Go to SeaWorld ...kind of lame, but I've never been
Go to Epcot with no kids
See Les Miserables performed on stage
Go on a trip with a friend
Go to New York City 
See a show on Broadway (can overlap with #45)
Meet at least 3 of the "baby loss mamas" I've been talking to online for several years in person.  I've met one
Go to Boston in the fall
Visit 5 new states
Sing in a choir again
Make donuts (a special request from Hunter)
Get 15 more graduate level hours of Spanish so I can teach at the college level  In Progress
Visit 2 new countries
1. Guatemala
Visit a new continent  (These last two probably overlap with #38)
Dye Easter eggs
Get a new hair style that I am happy with
Complete 30 of these goals by the time I turn 30
Fly a kite I found this kite at a yard sale for $2!  Eleanor enjoyed watching it fly.

At the end of my 1001 days, donate $10 to Heifer International for every task that I did not complete.
Win something free - like Carl Kasell's voice on my voicemail!  Does a tshirt count?  I was hoping for something a bit more exciting.
Get an organic produce box
Take a flying lesson - yes, I mean flying a plane
Buy fresh flowers for myself
Have dinner by candlelight
Make sushi
Bake and decorate a cake
Watch at least 3 foreign films
1. Priceless (French)
2. Heartbreaker (French)
Actually come up with 101 goals
Read at least 10 new books (That number is so low that it makes me sad, but that is life with kids...)
1. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2/7)
2. The Girl Who Played With Fire (2/14)
3. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (3/1)
4. Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell (3/28)
Go kayaking
Make a list of 100 things that I'm thankful for
Go tubing
Take Eleanor to Big Cat Rescue

Have photos taken (of Eleanor) by an independent professional photographer
Spend 10 minutes lifting light weights and doing ab exercises every day for a month
Try out 10 recipes that are new to me
1. Mexican Spaghetti Casserole
2. Lemon Meringue Pie
3. Quick herb bread
4. Pasta with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes
Tile the carpeted area of the downstairs of our house
Tile our screened porch
Get new furniture for the screened porch
Go to a murder mystery dinner theater show
Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (at Universal)

A few pictures

Working on her map skills

Always finding something new to get into!

At the beach with Buela

Eleanor loves her stuffed rat that her daddy got her

My smart girl

I love this baby so much!

One year photo