photo session before the swim

mike and i couldn't resist! this is eleanor's first bathing suit. it isn't visible in all its glory in the video, so i have to include these stills. fashionistas, eat your hearts out, eleanor is on the scene!!!!!

eleanor was urging us onward

after hanging out with some friends at the park, eleanor wasn't interested in riding in her stroller anymore, so mike carried her the rest of the way home. his arms were so comfortable that she promptly fell asleep!

sitting up

this is the first time i had seen eleanor sitting up on her own. this was during her purple period... a phase out of which we are moving.

first born

i think that everyone has seen this amazing sight! eleanor was just a few minutes old in this picture. mike and i had just completed the hardest work that we had ever done (but had no idea how hard our new work was to come). we were both surprised to discover eleanor's gender and when paige and rebecca asked us her name, we both slowly said, eleanor...eleanor louise! we didn't know her last name yet! she was grunting her little heart out at this point, and would continue to do so for the next few hours. mike has said that if our next child greets the world with a grunt we will surely be in trouble. i remember feeling so surprised and relieved at this point. somehow the whole pregnancy-labor-birth sequence seemed like separate events that didn't necessarily relate...strange but that is how i experienced it.