Ellen; a handbasket.

I've been wanting to write that stupid pun for a while now ... and finally got around to subjecting Ellie to the requisite (strange) picture poses.

Look like anyone you know??

As if the ugly curtains didn't give it away...no its not Ellie, its Ann. At least now we know who Ellie looks like now.

And here is our attempt to recreate the photo...too bad we couldn't get her to show her dimples.

One Month Old!

So our little Ellie is already one month old! I can't believe how fast its gone. We have our 1-month well check-up next week so we'll know how much she has grown then, but I can attest that she has gotten bigger (especially her head!). She is following her toys with her eyes and head now. And she mimics me when I stick out my tongue at her or purse my lips together, seriously!

She is still pretty mellow and I don't hesitate to take her with me wherever I need or want to go. On Wednesday it was in the 60s in Boston so I put her in the baby carrier and we took a long walk around the neighborhood and did some grocery shopping. She isn't a fan of sitting in her car seat, unless the seat is in the car and is moving. Her eyelashes are growing longer and her hair is getting more blonde (she actually has reverse roots), but she still doesn't have very visible eyebrows (they are just really blonde).

Nick being back to work seems to be going well. He is still getting up at 4am and changing Ellie's diaper before her feeding. I have no idea how exhausted he is at work, but he isn't complaining.

Thank you to everyone for the lovely gifts and well wishes!

Yesterday I took probably close to two hundred photos of Ellie. She wasn't really excited about the photo shoots in the morning, but in the evening she relaxed a little bit and we got some good pictures. Enjoy!

(see, she wasn't really enjoying the morning photo shoot...)

This is a photo of her tummy time on my stomach, this is the view I get to see all the time!

A very exhausted Nick stayed up to watch the Illini in the NCAA. Too bad we were the 5-12 upset this year...

Oh yeah, Happy Spring! Too bad its like 35 degrees out here in Boston.

Nick's Back to Work

Today was Nick's first day back to work. I'm sure its an experience for him (since he didn't go to bed till after Ellen's midnight feeding, and was up at 4am to change her diaper before her feeding). At least Nick has never been one to need more than 6-7 hours of sleep. We'll see how it goes for the two of us at home (three if you count Mallie who has been keeping to herself more than usual). I won't be able to leave Ellie with Nick to make lunch or go to the bathroom. I'm sure everything is going to take 5 times longer!

Last week was quite exciting. We really started getting back to normal. Besides the movie, we went shopping, out to lunch, and out to dinner. We also took Ellie to my office and to the TV station. Of course, she slept at both places...but hey, everyone will get to see her baby blues sometime.

On Saturday Ellie and I went out to lunch with my friend Stephanie, and we also went shopping at the Burlington Mall afterwards. (Nick went with Susie to see Watchmen again, this time on IMAX). Ellie did really well! I fed her twice outside of the house (once in a dressing room at Macy's and the other in my car in a parking lot). She was awake and happy some of the time and slept the rest of the time. It was great to get out of the house and have adult conversations. It was a very liberating experience.

And now a few photos...

The dolphin was a gift from my parents, very California, very cool

The bear was a gift from WHDH (Nick's TV station).

March 10th...Big Day!

Today was a big day for us here...

We have switched from disposable diapers to using gDiapers. These are hybrid diapers (cloth outsides with disposable cotton liners) which are much better for Ellie's bottom and the environment. The liners are chlorine and plastic free and can be flushed (or tossed, and will break down in like 100 days unlike regular disposables). And the outsides are totally adorable.

We also went to a movie. All three of us. Yep. We took a two-week old baby to a movie. We went and saw Watchmen, the 11:30am show, with 3 other people in the theatre. Good movie. Ellie did really well. She doesn't like to be in her car seat for very long so I held her for most of the movie. She even had lunch during the movie. Breastfeeding in a movie theatre was quite the experience. Below is a photo of Nick and Ellie in the theatre, we sat in the back row where there was some dim lighting.

She did so well during the movie, we decided to press our luck and go shopping and out to lunch (at 2pm, we are eating on a weird schedule these days...). And that all went really well. We were out of the house for about 5.5 hours today. Ellie did such a fantastic job! I was so excited to get out of the house.

Today is my mom's birthday so after we came home we decided to do a little photo shoot. I put her in another one of my old dresses that my mom saved. This was the time when Ellie got really fussy. She did not have a good time during the photo shoot at all!

She was not enjoying the photo shoot (check out the gidaper on her, they are so much cuter than disposables too!)

Happy Birthday Grandma V!!

Two Weeks of Parenthood

Here we are, more than two weeks of parenthood. I think the hardest part is getting a hat on a sleeping Ellie. We are really lucky with her. She keeps a pretty tight schedule and hardly ever cries (I'm knocking on wood right now). If she does cry its usually because we are changing her diaper.


This week was exciting. Ellie experienced her first City of Boston snow emergency on monday. We actually moved her doctors appointment to tuesday because we didn't want to drive with the snowstorm and semi-plowed streets. Tuesday at her two-week appointment, we learned she was in the 50th percentile for weight and head circumference and in the 60th percentile for length. We let Ellen know that this may be one of the few times she will be above the 50th percentile for height in her life so she should enjoy it.

On Friday we went out to lunch! I can't tell you how excited I was to go out to eat. She did really well sleeping through the whole meal.

Its amazing how much she has changed from when she was born. She is still adorable and still has dimples!

In adult news, I got my Professional Engineer license certificate in the mail. Its official! I have the stamp and the certificate now.

Enjoy the photos!

In the photo above Ellie is wearing a dress that was mine that my mom saved. Its polyester, totally 80s!!

Nick and Ellie at the restaurant.

She is sound asleep, seriously. She gets the biggest smiles (and dimples) while she is sleeping. I only wish I knew what made her so happy!!

First Family Portrait