Baby in the mirror

Rocket launch

A Delta II launched early this morning with a GPS satellite system. I was feeding Eleanor so I missed it (though I heard it!), but Hunter went outside and got these awesome shots. That's the moon you see in the first picture.

Some pictures

This is how I found her in the cradle once. I have no idea how that arm got out!

Ready for bed!

In her cute outfit from Aunt Pam - I can't believe this fits her already! She is already outgrowing newborn clothes.

This is what Hunter found when he got home from work one day.

Enjoying her activity mat

Eleanor is not a big fan of baths!

No words needed :)

Penny and Eleanor, checking each other out

Eleanor loves to "read"!

Cloth is a success!

Eleanor has been wearing cloth diapers for just over two weeks now, and so far I love them! Somebody recently asked me why I like cloth so much, and here are my reasons:

1. They don't contribute to our landfills! Disposable diapers are the #3 item in landfills, after drink containers and newspaper (or maybe all paper? I can't remember). Think about what a small percentage of the population wears diapers - yet, they are contributing huge amounts of trash.
   
2. They don't leave human waste in landfills, leading to health and environmental hazards.
3. I would much rather have cloth touching my baby's skin than all those nasty chemicals.
4. Babies who wear cloth get virtually no diaper rash. Or so I've been told. I can't vouch for that myself after only 2 weeks, but so far, so good.
5. The $$$ savings! Eleanor's cloth supply cost about $450 total, and we did get the fancy kind. (You can spend a LOT less if you don't mind folding diapers.) That's what about 9 months of disposable diapers would cost, and these are all of the diapers we'll ever need for ALL of our kids, assuming they last well. (Well, I do plan to use disposable for travel, but that's not very much.) Plus, I registered for these at Target and received them ALL as gifts or with a gift card. So, I will not be spending a penny on diapers!
6. They are so easy! Cloth diapers have come a LONG way. These go on just like disposables, and they close with velcro. When I take them off I just dump them into a trashcan lined with a wetbag. Then every other day I wash the diapers and throw the wetbag in the wash as well. Eventually when she's eating solids I will have to scrape off the poop, but we'll either use flushable liners or get one of those toilet sprayer things for that so it won't be a big deal. The only thing that takes a little time and is a little gross is that I have to take the absorbant inserts out of the diapers as I throw them into the washer. It takes about 3 or 4 minutes and then I immediately wash my hands. No big deal. When they're dry it takes about 10 minutes to stuff them all back again with their liners, and then we're good to go for 2 more days!
7. They're just as easy to use on outings as disposables. I have a wetbag I keep in the diaper bag, and you just put the dirty diapers in there. I wouldn't want to use them for travel, but even a day trip would be fine.
   

Eleanor sporting one of her cute cloth diapers:

Clean and ready to use
(Those are wipes on the bottom right. I have a solution in a spray bottle that I spray on them before using.)

What am I feeding this child?!

I have been going to a breastfeeding support group offered by our hospital since Eleanor was born and it's been really helpful. It meets once a week and is led by two lactation consultants. You can ask questions, get them to help you with any problems you have, weigh the baby and see if she's gaining weight like she should be, and meet other moms. It's just nice to get out of the house somewhere and be surrounded by people who don't care if your baby is crying (because theirs probably is too) or if you have to feed the baby right then. Anyway, I weighed Eleanor yesterday and I can't believe how much she's gained! I've adjusted these weights a little bit to keep them consistent since sometimes she's worn a diaper and other times she wore nothing.

Birth: 7 lbs 3 oz
BF Group (5 days old): about 7 lbs 1 oz
Pediatrician (8 days old): 7 lbs 4 oz
BF Group (12 days old): about 7 lbs 14 oz!!

Like I mentioned before, the goal is for babies to be back up to their birth weight by 2 weeks. Eleanor's not even 2 weeks old yet and she's already way over her birth weight. She's already going 4 hours between almost every feeding, and I guess that's not a problem!

Sleep is getting better. The last two nights she has slept from about 10 PM to 5:30 AM with just one feeding in the middle. I don't mind being up for one hour in the middle of the night, but I realize that this probably isn't her pattern yet.

Besides eating, sleeping, and making cute faces, she doesn't really do much yet! I just enjoy holding her all the time and singing and reading to her. Here's a cute picture of her little sleepy face.

Our day

I think I got 2 hours of sleep last night. I was spoiled the previous 2 nights by getting 6 hours/night (broken up, of course), so last night was kind of tough. I think she had a bad night because we did so much yesterday - we went to the pediatrician and also had pictures made. The pediatrician's appointment went well and she now weighs 7 lbs 4 oz, which is over her birth weight. (In case you didn't know, babies always lose weight right after birth and the goal is for them to get back to their birth weight by 2 weeks. Eleanor was 8 days old yesterday.) The pictures were done by a lady at my church who has her own studio but has never done newborn pictures before. She wanted me to be her guinea pig, and some of them turned out pretty well. Anyway, all of this made for a long day for Eleanor and she didn't get to eat/sleep exactly when she wanted to, so I think that just threw her off for the evening.

Today we just stayed at home. I read Host by Stephanie Meyer out loud to her for a while - I'm sure she enjoyed the story about aliens taking over people's bodies. We also listened to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me while she ate - it's important to introduce her to quality radio programming early on in life. We did have a rough point this afternoon when I changed her diaper - just as I was putting the clean diaper on (the only clean one within reach, I might add...), Eleanor peed again and had some major projectile poop. This is not her first time doing that by far, and you think I would learn to keep her covered, but I don't. It went all over the clean diaper, the changing pad, my dresser, my shirt, and our bedroom floor. That was not fun, especially since she hates having her diaper changed and almost always screams while I do it. She's usually very calm, but she does cry whenever you change her diaper/clothes, whenever she's hungry, and especially whenever she gets a bath.

The day got better though. Hunter came home and read to her some more (actual children's books this time, instead of his preferred Science News), and this evening we've actually been able to enjoy some time together. His mom and stepdad were here for a few days, and then my mom and sister were here but they left this morning. We've enjoyed having our family visit and they've been very helpful, but it's also nice to start settling into life as a new little family.

As I write this, Eleanor is sleeping on my chest. It's amazing how even when I get stressed out by the lack of sleep or the poop all over my room, I never get frustrated with her. I love her so much, and she's definitely worth it all.

Eleanor is ready for football season!

More pictures