Nicknames

We are still searching for an Eleanor nickname. We do call her Ellie Ellie Eleanor, but that, obviously, is not much of a nickname. Just Ellie doesn't seem to fit her and besides, I still associate it too much with me.** Nora or Nory just seem too much like their own names rather than nicknames. But we did stumble on two possibilities. Gillian calls her Elna now (she use to call her Ellen-a) and just Leanor is another possibility. I always wondered where Lenore derived from in Poe's The Raven and perhaps it was a shortened from Eleanor. Makes sense.

Any ideas?

**I went by either Ellie or Buffy in college and completely dropped the Elizabeth

First Time Rolling

Ellie Eleanor has completed her first roll over. We sleep her on her belly and several times today when we go in to pick her up after her naps, we find her on her back just smiling up at us.

Normally I'm a distracted enough mother that my baby's milestones pass me by without me even noticing (except for first steps, that is normally just too cute to miss) but this one is a big deal to me because it assuages my mother guilt just a little bit, about putting her on her belly in the first place.

Jumper

Eleanor's first time in the Johnny Jumper a few weeks ago. She took to it immediately. She is a baby who LOVES standing up. Just in the past couple days she has even started taking little jumps with it. Gillian just loves to play with her in it, swinging her around and making it do little jumps. Both Eleanor and Gillian just laugh and laugh (Gillian more than Eleanor).

Needless to say, it has freed up a lot of my time.

Tiiiimberrrrrr!

Ellie Ellie Eleanor

Eleanor just had her 2 months appointment (yes, I know she is almost 4 months, but you do the best you can). She actually handled the immunizations very badly and woke up from her nap crying inconsolably. It is the first time she just cried like that. I went immediately to the Pharmacy and got her some Tylenol and she did much better after that.

"Is it eeeevil medical school?"

That is one sleeply looking Tim

yay!

Gillian on her first day "dry and clean all day." She got a pretty bracelet that we made together the week before. Not a fabulous picture of her with her face all messy and the serious lack of clothes. But it was actually the best I could get from her--she was extremely unwilling to take direction.

Finally!

I have long wanted to make a quilt out of our old jeans and after much plotting and planning I moved from making a family quilt to making one just for Gigi because I loved the way the vintage strawberry shortcake material looked with the denim and it seemed to fit Gillian's personality so well--such an interesting mix of ultra girly and yet so not, all at the same time (I can't describe the difference--those of you who know Gillian probably know what I am talking about).

So October 2006 I started this quilt and I finally finished it just last month. I also made the pillow case and the two little throw pillows.

If I could start over, I would have researched quilt patterns more. I just made the pattern up and I regret it. I have seen a couple patterns since that I liked so much more and would have fit what I wanted even better. But oh well, I was completely unwilling to start over :-).

The back is the red flannel. My absolute favorite part are the pink and red triangles. I just copied it from the Lissa Melissa Ashby made for James. At first I was thinking a ruffle, but I think the triangles match the quilt so much better.

Plus, I love pink and red together. Best combo ever.
The little pillows were my first attempt at embroidery too--I thought they turned out cute although there are tons of things I would do differently next time. For one thing, the pink is see-through, so you can see all the back stitches and the green is too dark to see the cute strawberry leaves and vines climbing up the letters. But still, it was fun. (I like the little pom-pom embellishment.)
After two years of work I am relieved and please to say that Gillian took to the quilt immediately. I actually asked my mom to make the PJs to match the quilt, but my mom obviously finished the PJs a lot sooner than I finished the quilt.

Cooking Kids

I taught James how to make pancakes. He poured the Bisquick, mixed in the milk, stirred it all up, poured out the batter, flipped them, and then we all ate them.
I am actually hoping to make aprons for the kids and a cute little cookbook of easy recipes with pictures next to each of the ingredients so they can use it even before they can read it all.

So any suggestions on easy things for kids to cook. I'm not sure how I feel about actual heat involved (pans, sauces, anything that can spill and scar for life). But then again Ramen is a great thing for kids to cook. Maybe it just depends on the kid and if I think they can remember the rules. It's just that James is always begging for me to let him cook. What do you think? Too soon?

Bonnetts, Bonnetts, Everywhere!

Our dearest friends Ryan and Emily (who also happens to be my cousin) came to visit us with their two beautiful boys. We had such an amazing time with just the perfect amount of everything. We played tons of games, we went on lots of fun outings, we talked, and talked and talked, slept very little, had delicious food and a different delectable dessert every night. We went to Virginia Beach twice, the botanical gardens, Tim's art studio, out to eat, Tim's tissue preservation lab, Raleigh to see my parents, and Winston-Salem to see Tim's parents. Everyone stayed healthy, everyone got along. James and Jonas had an amazingly fun time together and I was just so impressed with how well they treated each other.

I just can't emphasize what a fabulous time I personally had. I love having such good friends. I love that we all talk so well together. I love what amazing people Emily and Ryan are. They are each individually so generous and kind. I count myself very, very lucky to have such a great friend in my husband, to have such delightful children, and to have friends like Ryan and Emily.

Tim showing off his muscles--er, um, I mean Eleanor.

Sasquatch Sighting

Although indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, even Sasquatch enjoys a relaxing vacation at Virginia Beach.

(from the Patterson-Gimlin film used under fair use doctrine--hopefully)

Making Waves

Getting caught in a wave.



After affect of the wave.















Baby wave.


Eleanor's first wave.

Portraits of Gillian

Bad, I know, that I give Gillian her own portrait section. But we just got too many good pictures of her and I just couldn't decide and I just love going back and looking at them, so there you go.

Portraits at the Beach

The Hole

Ryan started a large scale excavation as soon as we reached the beach.











The kids voluntarily joined in at first, having a great time playing in the sand. Then one by one they lost interest, with Jonas hanging in there until he finally said, "I'm not working for you anymore!" with strike line zeal that belied his completely voluntary work efforts.

The Upsell

We are trying to convince Emily and Ryan that they would LOVE living on the East Coast. So Tim of course had to take them to his parent's land in Winston-Salem in an effort to addict them to East Coast beauty.

I stayed at my mom's house with all children three an under so that the Em and Ryan could properly enjoy their time at the land (also, travelling with Eleanor is not all it's cracked up to be). Winston-Salem is two hours from Raleigh and so the three adults and two boys just made a day trip of it.



Tim, Jim, Ryan and Daniel took a 1 mile hike that somehow turned into a 5 mile hike in mid-90 temperature and beastly humidity. I am still a little unclear on the details of this strange transformation.

Eleanor's First Home

"Daddy, will you tell me the story of my first home again? "






















Tim plastinated Eleanor's/my placenta. It turned out fabulously apparently. Here I thought one placenta was just as good as any other placenta--but I was wrong. Professors are always coming to Tim's lab to check out his placenta, something about having the amniotic sac still intact makes this particular placenta a valued rarity that no one gets to see...until now.




I have a hard time believing Eleanor ever fit into that tiny little sac, but Tim assures me that I am wrong again and that she definitely did once upon a time.

"No one does this! Tim does this!"

That is what Tim told us while showing us all his recent plastinations. He has really done an incredible job building and utilizing this lab. Doctor's come from all over to look at it and to learn more about doing it themselves. Plastination will completely revolutionize the way they teach in med school (I think).

This is a recent project of Tim's. The skull and face are real and belong to the same man and have just been plastinated separately, then hinged back together so students can get a better idea of the whole.

Better than a picture and way better than an inexperienced hand hacking into it themselves.

Tim even made the base--how does he find a way of incorporating his art into everything?


Tim is lecturing the "class." Do you think holding a baby ruins his street cred?
Tim was impressed with how well Emily and I handled the whole thing.

He made the mistake of saying he was impressed because we are girls. I lawyered him into admitting that he has NO reason/experience to think that girls handle such things less well than guys.

Case on point--Ryan was the big weenie of this adventure and Cameron was the weenie winner during the Spring Break tour.

Sara, Emily and I all "handled it" with the grace and assurance with which we generally handle most things.