10 Weeks!

I can't believe that Eleanor is already 10 weeks old!  I meant to post pictures for her 2 month "birthday" but ... well ... we're pretty busy ... and she's a second kid ... so really she should just be happy we're getting around to this at all!

My dad used to say that babies get cute just in time.  That just when you are thinking that you'd like to put your infant on an iceberg and set them out to sea (my dad's example) or wrap them in bacon and leave them for coyotes (Jeremy's suggestion) they get just cute enough that you're willing to put in a few more weeks of parenting.

Frankly, newborns just aren't that great. They are tiny with squishy heads so you are always worried about breaking them. Also, they need to eat - All. The. Time.  It is one thing to read about newborns needing to eat every 2 hours and to understand that fact intellectually.  It is a whole other ball of wax to live that reality. Especially when it can take 45 minutes to slog through one feeding.

This is Phoebe pretending to be me.  She is using her travel neck pillow as a boppy while she "feeds" her baby.  Note the exhausted look on her face and the defeated slump. That about sums up my past few months.  Tiring. You'll notice that Eleanor finds this all hilarious.

Add to that the fact that newborns aren't very grateful for all the sacrifices you make - they mostly scream at you (disclaimer: this behavior is kind of particular to our children, we hear of people who have sleepy, happy, loving newborns.  We are not those people). There aren't even any smiles until about 5 or 6 weeks.

After all that you're probably wondering why we decided to have a second kid.  We often find ourselves asking that same question :) I kid ,,, mostly ... anyway, the point of this is that Eleanor is starting to outgrow that newborn funk. She babbles, smiles and giggles. She LOVES both Jeremy and Phoebe and will turn and smile when she hears their voices enter a room. It is absolutely adorable to watch. This week Eleanor has started to kind of sort of flail her little hands in a somewhat meaningful fashion. Meaning she can sometimes aim one at her mouth (more or less).

Ellie definitely still has her quirks - she is not an awesome sleeper and she screams bloody murder in the car, but we are finally getting to the point where there are some rewarding moments in the day. We are still figuring her out and figuring out how to be a family of four but we're starting to at least occasionally feel like we can do this :)