New Hair Cut

The weekend before Eleanor was born, my mother gave my dad a hair cut that went awry. In the end, they just decided to shave it off. Below are pictures of my dad's shaved head.

First is a collage of my family and Eleanor in the hospital. In the "It's a Girl" phase of the blog, I didn't properly acknowledge that when we called my parents to announce E's birth, they delegated their church responsibilities and hopped in the car to come see Eleanor for the day. It was good to see them for the afternoon and below you will see my parents, Tony and Baby George holding Eleanor. I am grateful they were willing to make the drive.

This is a picture of my dad the week we stayed with them. I think you will all agree that my dad looks good with his shaved head and Jamey--you also look very good with a shaved head and you should go for it. It is, after all summer time, and hair will grow back (at least for a few more years).

How I Spend My Nights

Lego Star Wars Rocks!

You have to admit, this looks like fun.

This is us playing Wii at Christmas time. I can barely remember being pregnant. It is amazing to me how quickly it fades. It really is neat having a little life growing inside of you. It is also amazing to me how much my PJ bottoms have faded since Christmas. I guess that is what happens when you wear them all day, every day. Pregnancy pants are really uncomfortable.

Mother's Day Cookies

We went back to Raleigh in early May and my parents watch the kids for the weekend while Tim and I drove to Pittsburg for a friend's wedding. We found out afterwards that Cleveland (where Chauncey and Melanie live) is only 1.5 hours from Pittsburg. I could just kick myself for not paying better attention during geography lessons. What a waste.

When we got back I found a plate of delicious cookies the kids and Allison had made me for mother's day. It was really very sweet. I am afraid I exericed my right to the cookies and didn't share with anyone. I am a bad, bad, bad example.

apparently the mixer is too loud.

Raleigh Trip

I took the kids to Raleigh when Eleanor was a couple weeks old (I know I am a little late in posting this blog). I wanted my parents to spend some time with Eleanor when she could still be considered a new baby. It was fabulous. My mom took care of James and Gillian during the day with her day care kids and I was able to just hold Eleanor and get lots of sleep.


It was our first major trip with all the kids in the back seat. They did really well. In fact, having them all back there isn't as inconvenient as I thought it would be.

We bought Gillian a new booster chair (since her old one wouldn't fit back there with the other two). It is my first non-gender neutral baby apparatus I've purchased. When she first got into the car, she stroked the car chair telling me that her "pink chair was so bootiful"

It looks like we were all able to get a little sleep.

Left to Right: Allison, Mom, Me and Eleanor, various day care kids on the floor.
At the Raleigh Life Science Museum.

The kids loved it there. There were tons of hands on activities and a butterfly garden.

We of course had a fire w/ s'mores.

"Don't bother me, I'm eating."

Tim was just glad to have us gone because then he could finally use the new swing set.

Little Miss George

Eleanor is almost two months old and is just a fantastic baby. We feel so lucky to have her.

She sleeps well ... as long as I am holding her. For the life of me, I can't remember how I managed to get my other two from my arms into their beds for naps and the night. It's like every time is the first time with babies. I'm not rushing it however. She sleeps really, really well in the Ergo Baby Carrier I bought (the best purchase ever) so the kids and I can still have our daily outings without being hampered by a stroller or car chair bucket. I love my mobile baby. I am dreading three months when her naps get more regular and needs to be at home in her own bed more. She loves laying on her own on the floor.

If she is awake, she is NOT happy in our arms, but will only stop fussing when we lay her on the floor. She doesn't even like swings or those vibrating chairs. She wants to be flat on her back. As soon as I put her down, Gillian is by her side. They are inseparable.

She is a fantastic eater and is weighing in around 10lbs.

I know I have more to report on her, but I am drawing a blank right now. Sorry

Aww--Yeah, That's What I'm Talking About!

X-Files: I Want to Believe

Check out the trailer for the new movie: http://x-files-2--trailer.blogspot.com/

You know where Tim and I will be July 25.

The Claw

I love it when babies sleep in this "claw" position.
My Grandma Louann made this quilt for my dad. She is an amazing quilter with a fantastic eye for color. I adore the golden hues in this quilt.

Always Asleep

I made a pact with myself to get at least a two hour nap during the day while Gillian is sleeping. James watches a movie and Eleanor and I nap on the couch no matter what else needs to be done. It has gone a long way to staving off the "I just can't take it anymore" of night wakings.

Tim and His Girls

A Moratorium on Kisses

Every time Tim kisses Eleanor she starts crying. It is really the most funny and the most sad thing I have ever seen. Tim really, really, loves kissing babies. We are both hoping she grows out of it.

And it starts again...

He found another Box.

Dare to Dream: The Chevy Volt

This is a picture of Tim's graduation present. We are both quite smitten with it. Yes, it's a Chevy, but it's electric (boogie, woogie, woogie--I couldn't resist, I'm a product of my era).

It will run 40 miles on just electricity and if you have to go further, it uses gasoline to fuel a generator that recharges the battery while you drive and can get 640 miles per tank. All that, in a high end performance sports car. It can go 120 mph and goes from zero to 60 in 9 seconds.

We are in Love.

Private--No Boys Allowed

Just teasing, everyone is allowed. Clarification, everyone I love is allowed. I got my second comment from a complete stranger on my blog earlier this week and it kind of creeped me out. I have a slightly paranoid streak that has only grown since becoming a mother. So I immediately made my blog private as a knee jerk reaction. I didn't have people's e-mail addresses memorized however and so couldn't invite people before I got distracted by one of my three darling children screaming for something.

I finally got a chance to check my e-mail and was greeted by everyone trying to figure out why they were suddenly denied access. I wasn't trying to exclude anyone, honest, I just find it hard to do computer stuff with this baby attached to me all the time (and truth be told, I would rather be attached to the baby than doing computer stuff anyway and so it is not a bad existence really).

In the end, it doesn't really matter since I haven't updated my blog recently anyway, so no harm no foul. But it is nice to know that people actually check it routinely. I will be and do better in the future in the updating arena. The kids and I are at my mom's house this week. We came to see Baby George in his last high school musical performance. He did a fabulous job.

Little Gillian on the Prairie

I put Gillian in prairie braids today, inspired by my cousin Becca's daughter Rachel. Rachel had an adorable head band on as well, but Gillian wouldn't stand for that. I decided not to push my luck. Seeing Gillian like this brought me right back to my childhood.

I hero worshipped Laura Ingalls Wilder in my younger years. I spent a great deal of time in my head pretending to be her. I was a pioneer several Halloweens in a row. My friends and I would constantly be preparing and acting out pioneer plays. I have one poignant memory of childhood angst because dinner came when Little House on the Prairie was on TV and I had to miss it. I loved that show. I still remember writhing with embarrassment when Laura went to school with those apples in her dress (she was upset that she wasn't "blooming" as fast as the other girls) and one fell out in front of the class. I read those books so many times and I still pull them out occasionally to read from them. They are comfort books.

I really, really enjoyed my childhood.

Fantastic Picture of Jean

I realized that the only picture I had of Jean on my Spring Break blog was one of her in curlers. I wasn't sure how she would feel about that, but I know how I would feel about that, so here is another picture of Jean from Spring Break taken while playing Settlers of Catan. We really did have such a good time.

New Siblings

At first, James and Gillian completely ignored Eleanor. James still largely ignores her, although he seems to accept her presence in our lives and occasionally shows outbursts of affection ("Mom--she's looking at me with her big, blue eyes.").

But Gillian has gone completely ga-ga. She is constantly wanting to hold Eleanor and in the car, will always hold her hand and try to calm her down. She is very sweet and gentle with her. She does realize that she has lost her place as baby and she seems sad about it, but not resentful.

Spring Break

Tim's family was kind enough to spend Spring Break at our house so that we wouldn't miss out on seeing everyone since I was not up for travelling because the baby was due around that time. The timing actually worked out perfectly, with Eleanor coming Easter morning and everyone else coming into town that evening. It was the first time in a while that Tim's entire family was all together and I am glad that Eleanor had the good sense to come and be a part of that.

It was a great week full of good food, good conversations, and good gaming.

Gillian I think was a little overwhelmed at first and spent a great deal of the first two days in the hospital with me, watching Dora on Tim's laptop. It was good for her to have a little quiet time.





Someone thought it would be great fun to put the boys on the roof of our condemned garage. I have to admit that despite my initial outrage, it did take a cute picture.

There was lots and lots of baby holding.


We played a lot of Xbox. This is a picture of Bryce after he relived his childhood and beat the Legend of Zelda.

A lot of hair cuts and/or styles. Jean is the queen of professional styling. Sara couldn't rave enough. I can confirm that Sara and Jean's hair did look fabulous. Claire and Cady's hair always looked fantastic as well. I should've have been watching more closely so I could figure out how to do more with Gillian's.



Jim brought James and Gillian a wonderful present. He came and built a swing set for them in the back yard. They have gotten good use out of it already.

There was lots of cousin together time.

A trip to Monticello. Tim's cousin Nancy works there and was able to take them on the exclusive tour generally reserved for those who donate tons of money. Eleanor and I stayed home considering the fact that just doing Gillian's party the day before completely wore me out.

The Botanical Gardens and feeding the ducks afterwards.

Tim took some of us on a tour of the cadaver lab as well as his plastination lab. It was actually Eleanor's and my first outing. I was always trailing a good 20 feet behind everyone else. It was fascinating however and I am glad I went. I had to leave the room for all baby skull and fetus displays however.

It was actually the first and only crying I did (which is new for me, normally I am a lot more hormonal after a baby). Tim actually did more crying this time around, making up for my lack. He kept tearing up whenever he held Eleanor.

(Isn't this a fabulous picture of Sara?)

(Sara, Jesse, Cameron-Sara's husband, me, John, Daniel)

Family picture. I am so glad Jean insisted on this. If you can't tell, it was absolutely freezing! You can really tell by looking at Claire and James. All the blankets were cleverly hidden behind us. Someone has got to photoshop that banana out of Gillian's hands.

Left to Right 1st row: Sullivan Powell, Luke Powell, James Bunton, Claire Leavitt

2d row: Cameron Powell, Sara Bunton Powell (Lillian), me (Eleanor), Amanda , Jean Bunton Leavitt (Cadence) Jesse

3d row: Daniel, John, Tim (Gillian), Jim, Bryce Leavitt

Gillian's Blue's Clues Birthday

I had such a fun time planning Gillian's party. I planned on having it the week all the Bunton's were in town since birthday parties are always more fun with cousins and grandparents. Since I knew we would probably have a brand new baby that week, I made sure to get as much done for the party ahead of time as possible.

The kids each decorated their own handy dandy notebook with stickers and then went on a cute little Blue's Clues hunt to find the location of their party favors.

I made these adorable juice pouch bags for the girl's party favors. I am afraid I ran out of energy and the boys winded up with just plain paper sacks for their party favors--poor boys.
I had the template and all the ingredients for the cakes all ready. I can't take credit for how fantastic the cake turned out however. Sara (Tim's sister) is largely responsible for the outcome. She took over for Tim when he realized how hard it was to frost a cake with cut sides.

Pictures of Eleanor

We are really having a fun time with Eleanor. It turns out it was a great thing we didn't find out her gender because she happens to look terrific in green and yellow (the colors people buy when they don't know gender), much more so than in pink.

She is a very well behaved baby who rarely cries, but then again, I pick her up whenever she is even thinking about crying, so that might have something to do with it.

I have to say that my favorite thing about babies is swaddling and the kissing of cheeks. My least favorite thing about babies is the diapers. I don't think I'd mind so much except that I have my Gillian baby as well. I think perhaps, I should have stuck with that toilet training.

Eleanor's First Few Days

This is us going to the hospital at 4:30am. Tim insisted on a picture before we left the house. I was less than thrilled about it since I was starting to think we might not make it to the hospital on time. Looking back, I am impressed Tim even thought of a "Buffy as pregnant as she will ever get" photo. I could tell that he was trying his best not to let his panic turn into running around like a headless chicken. He did a fantastic job of holding it together and remembering to bring all the things I was in too much pain to think about.

We did make it to the hospital on time, but I'm glad I didn't wait any longer. Tim got back from dropping the kids off at my friend's with only 30 minutes to spare before Eleanor came. He did get to deliver the baby again, which I thought was nice of the doctor and they even let him keep Eleanor's placenta to take to his plastination lab at the med school. I personally think that is totally weird, but it made him so happy--so there you go.

This was the first time I wasn't overwhelmed with the "I can't believe they are letting me take this baby home from the hospital" feeling. Finally, by the third baby, I feel like a mother.

Elton Gigi