Crazy hair

Eleanor's hair is ridiculous. Currently I give her a bath every other night and then at while she sleeps I put a hat on her head to smash her hair down. Even with the hat at night, her hair only sometimes sits down on the second day until her next bath. 

The other fun thing currently is that she is rubbing a bald spot on the back of her head. I am hoping this ceases soon because she still has some hair there - it's just shorter than in all the other places. Yesterday she learned how to roll over from her back to her front (!!!) so I am hoping she'll spend less time on her back and the hair will keep growing in.

The third strike against us is that since it's winter, her hair (like mine) is becoming more and more staticky. Her hair feels pretty soft and fine so I'm sure as it keeps growing and gets a bit more weight to it, it'll start staying down, but for now, it does what it wants.

This is Eleanor this morning - it's a bath day and she's worn her hat at night twice in a row since the last bath:

November wrap up

Here are a bunch of random things and pictures from what we've been up to throughout the month of November that I have not had time to post about:

We took several walks this month through Colonial Williamsburg and hit up their pre-Thanksgiving holiday farmers market.

We've taken lots of walks, with and without friends to explore new trails through our neighborhoods and enjoy the end of the fall colored leaves.

Eleanor has taken many, many, many naps on the couch, which I imagine will probably cease to happen in the next month or so when she becomes a bit more mobile. Right now she can't do any moving while she is on her back but I understand that will most likely be changing soon.

For Homecoming this year, W&M sent out reminder post cards with these stickers for your W and M keys - I love them! What a fantastic idea. They've been on for over a month now and I see no wear and tear yet.

We've had several more bonfires at our neighbor's house. Eleanor loves these. She is completely mesmerized by fire, as you can tell be her gaze in the picture below.

We've had lots and lots of spills, including spitting up on the couch, on me, and most notably, coffee on the bed. I tried to pose Eleanor for a picture to send to a friend who brought me coffee one afternoon. The cup only had a little bit left in the bottom so I didn't really think it would be a problem, and now our comforter has a new color added to it.

Eleanor's nails are growing much more quickly now and I have to cut them more frequently. I accidently cut her finger with the nail clippers (I think everyone does this at least once) and while it was a tiny cut and she only cried for about a minute afterward, it bled for like 10 minutes. It got everywhere. Needless to say Chris refuses to cut her nails.

We have done a ton of yardwork, mostly leaf raking. It is absurd. And we still have tons of leaves yet to fall.

We are bundling Eleanor up in super cute winter outfits.

She is starting to get more interested in her toys like her play mat and her taggie (sent to us by Chris' aunt Mary Ellen and uncle Paul up in Boston - thank you!!). She loves the taggie and will have conversations with it contentedly for 15 minutes at a time.

Eleanor still hates tummy time. She escapes every time I try to put her on her stomach. Yet again she had launched herself over the boppy by about 2 minutes in.

We've got a small play ground in our neighborhood and Eleanor seems a little touch and go on the swing so far. At this point I think she'd take it or leave it. But she sure is cute in it!

At work, I finally got ACLS certified - something I had been putting off while I was pregnant and we were moving. We've also had a couple in-services lately with food involved, which have been wonderful! This particular one is thanks to Brilinta:

We bought Eleanor a winter jacket to wear hopefully through March. It's size 3-6 months, but it's obviously still a bit big on her.

We kicked off the Christmas season by watching Elf and drinking hot chocolate with friends the day after Thanksgiving. It's a short Christmas season this year and we are pretty busy and don't want to miss a minute of it!

It was a great month. Now that we are both working full-time, we are getting very behind on stuff like cleaning (I probably haven't vacuumed since the moms were here right after Eleanor was born - I just don't have time..ah!), decorating for Christmas (we got our tree today and we're already a week into December - not sure when we'll have time to decorate it), and dishes tend to sit in the sink for a couple days, but we are doing our best to prioritize, spend time with each other, our friends, and our family and we're just letting go of things we don't have time to do anymore. I really will try to vacuum though soon...hopefully tomorrow...tonight we have plans :)

Turkey Bowl 2013

Thanksgiving morning was very clear and very cold! We went out to kick in Leesburg before we headed over to Chris' family's house, and then we kicked over there, too! Chris and I didn't set any records this year, sadly, but I did get it over from 15, and Chris got it over from 39. Yet again, every kicker got it over including my parents even though they each only kicked once and then took Eleanor back to the house because of how cold it was outside.

Turkey bowls of yore: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008.

Two Thanksgivings and a lot to be thankful for

My family agreed to celebrate Thanksgiving on Wednesday this year in order to maximize our time due to my work schedule, so we headed up late Tuesday night in a torrential rain storm so that we'd be able to have the full day on Wednesday together. Wednesday morning was overcast and we spent the morning cooking (my mom), baking an apple pie (me), and decorating the table (Lauren). We had a delicious dinner that evening and enjoyed some wonderful time together.

My mom and sister had just gotten back from a trip out to California for one of my cousin's wedding and they brought Eleanor back a black bear from their stop in Yosemite. She loved it and was thoroughly entertained by pushing it and pulling it and sucking on its nose throughout dinner both nights. It's her new favorite thing.

And, of course, we played games.

On Thursday we headed to Chris' family's house to celebrate Thanksgiving again! We also had a delicious dinner there (we are winners - two Thanksgiving dinners!) and then played a rousing game of fishbowl charades. All his siblings and spouse/girlfriend were there so it was great to catch up in a big group! We were around when they got their Christmas tree the next day but then headed back home for work that weekend.

Chris' parents brought up a box of Chris' stuff from the basement and he went through it to see which things were keepers and what was to toss. A lot of it was stuff from high school but we did end up keeping a few things. We also took the opportunity to pose Eleanor in Chris' speedo and goggles from swim team...she's going to grow up to be a swimmer like her dad! (Don't let the speedo distract you from the super cute pajamas she got from her grandmom!)

It sounds like it was a super quick trip, which I guess it was, but we feel like we got to spend quality time with both our families! There was a lot of Eleanor holding going around and she seemed to love every minute of it. Sadly our car didn't start when we tried to leave to come home, but after a jump and a new battery, it seems to be working decently again. It will be interesting to see how we end up doing Christmas this year because I work Christmas day! All in all though, a great first Thanksgiving for Eleanor :)