One

Ellie is one. I'm pretty sure she was just born a couple of weeks ago, but the calendar tells me otherwise. She's still mostly bald for now, but her hair appears to be growing (finally). It also looks like her eyes are going to remain hazel, which is a surprise. Natalie and Ethan were both blue-eyed from birth, but Ellie's eyes are brownish-green.

She started walking the week she turned one, which is earlier than either of her siblings. We started using basic sign-language signs with all of the kids when they were infants and Ellie now uses 7 signs: milk, drink, more, please, thank you, all done and cookie. Not surprisingly, she learned the sign for cookie faster than any other sign.

We have been working on pointing out parts of the body and she can point to her head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, teeth, tongue, tummy and toes and she says them as she points them out. It's adorable, except when I'm rocking her to sleep and she's digging her finger in my ear or smashing my nose, saying "eeeh" and "noss" over and over.

It's hard to remember what life was like without her!

What's Happening Here

There's a lot of this happening these days.

This and lots of other destruction.

She's an adorable menace.

Long Overdue. Literally.

Pregnancy is long, folks. Forty weeks, which is in fact TEN months...not nine. My baby decided that her accommodations were quite pleasant and decided to extend her stay by another two weeks. Women should not have to be pregnant for 42 weeks. While I felt fine physically (apart from being exceedingly great with child), I was mentally and emotionally done and soon began to feel like the proverbial watched pot that never boils. I started to think I would come unhinged if one more person asked me, "Well, aren't you feeling ANY contractions yet??"

Rest assured, the appointed day did finally arrive. It didn't begin the way I had hoped (induction, rather than spontaneous labor), nor did it end the way I had hoped (c-section after 22 hours of labor, rather than a VBAC). It did, however, produce exactly what I had hoped for - a strong, healthy, beautiful baby girl. I even got the added bonus of having our first dark-haired baby! (which was a secret hope of mine)

Allow me to introduce Ellie, the newest member of our family:

Eleanor Elizabeth
9 lbs, 11 oz
21 1/2" long
Born September 23, 2009 at 10:11 PM

Just born:

The next day, meeting Natalie, Ethan and Neena (my mom):
Don't let the picture fool you. The kids weren't nearly as exuberant as this image would lead you to believe. They were a little overwhelmed with the newness of everything, but they are adjusting well now.

Rocking with Neena:
Wearing her first handknits:
Finally home:
It has only been six days, but it's already hard to imagine what life was like without her.