ben

Grandpa’s 89th Birthday and Post-Christmas Fun

After Christmas, Auntie Lynn threw Great Grandpa a party to celebrate his 89th birthday (90th year!). Mike and Ali came from Wyoming, Sarah and Mike from Portland, cousins from LA, and the rest of us local family and friends celebrated at Wood Ranch in the Irvine Spectrum for Great Grandpa’s big day.

Family photos by Aunt Sarah!

All the grandkids and great grand kids.

The girls were excited to have extra family around to carry them.

Uncle Mike and Meredith.

Cousin Ben thought carrying around Eleanor would be a good bicep workout. He was right.

Ali and the chunk-a-monk.

Eleanor was excited to sit with Grammy at dinner.

The kids table was a little crazy.

Cousins doing what cousins do.

Must…touch…sparklies.

Happy birthday, Great Grandpa!

While most of the grown-ups chatted at the restaurant after dinner, the rest of us high-tailed it out of there for a walk around the Spectrum before the kids trashed the place.

Good thing Ali, Mike, Sarah and Mike were there to help carrying screaming/tired girls!

Meredith and Hailey were so cute! Two-year-old Hailey borrowed 6-month-old Eleanor’s coat for the evening and it actually fit!

A trip to the Spectrum would not be complete without a ride on the ferris wheel.

Ferris wheel photos by Aunt Sarah.

While we had aunts and uncles in town, the girls took them rock climbing at Sender City. This time, Meredith joined in for the first time and was pretty fearless.

We attempted lots of board games while we had family in town, even though they nearly always ended in tears. Samantha and Amelia are not the best gracious winners or losers, despite our best efforts.

Roasting s’mores with the fun aunts and uncles.

With all the extra hands, I got a lot of projects done while Grammy and Grandpa took on outings to the park.

Too much fun with their new chalk markers.

During the break, we also had a Secret Santa gift exchange with the Nguyens and the Erpeldings, which was supposed to be before Christmas, but we ended up having to reschedule. Since all the kids are in different schools, it’s been a long time since everyone has been able to play at the same time! Sheela had the kids draw names at the beginning of the month and wrote up cute letters for everyone, giving a few gift ideas for each kid received. The girls were so excited to see their friends open their gifts and announce that they were the Secret Santas. They also loved all the bonus gifts they got!

Practicing the art of balancing on the slack line with the neighborhood kids.

Practicing our tennis swings.

Amelia’s swing is getting pretty good!

Grammy watched Eleanor at home while I took the girls to the zoo. It felt like a lot less work just having three for a change.

We saw our friend, Brian, who works at the entrance!

All aboard the ferris wheel.

Jake and I celebrated our anniversary by staying at Pelican Hill Resort in Newport while Grammy and Grandpa watched the kids. Beautiful views and sunsets!

Lots of love,

Eleanor 1 Month Old

Eleanor at 1 month old!

Time flies when you are eating, sleeping and pooping all day!

Eleanor stilled liked to snooze during the day, and we’d have to wake her up to eat and get her used to a regular nighttime schedule. She would typically do a dream feed at 10 or 11 p.m, eat again at 1:30 or 2:30 a.m., and again early in the morning at 4:30 or 5:30 a.m. There were a handful of 4-hour stretches at night here or there, but most of the time she’d do 2.5 or 3 hours. Sleep improved for everyone when we moved her from the crib right next to our bed to her nursery in the retreat, which is still in our bedroom, but is its own room with barn doors that can close. Once she was in the nursery at 4 weeks, we weren’t waking up from every little noise and neither was she!

Eleanor has surprisingly good neck control. She’s so observant and loves to look around, especially outside.

She didn’t mind tummy time too much on her Boppy, but hated to be put down just on her stomach without support.

I want to see the world!

Where’s my swaddle? This girl loved being swaddled in her soft aden and anais blankets, especially when master swaddler Jake was doing the swaddling. All the girls still cuddle with these blankies at night and nap.

We couldn’t figure out who she looked like most– probably a mix of everyone. Amelia is the first pic, Samantha the second, and Meredith the third.

A Meredith look-alike, minus the hair?

Getting in alone time with Eleanor was difficult! There was always someone in line to hold her next! The twins were always very protective of her at preschool pick-up and at the park when swarms of kids would come to coo at her. “YOU CAN LOOK, BUT DON’T TOUCH!” instructed bodyguards Samantha and Amelia, arms crossed protectively in front of Eleanor’s car seat carrier.