A crazy week

This has been a ridiculous week. I am just so glad we have made it to Friday afternoon and survived! Eleanor has been such a trooper this week and Madi has been so good at home (thank god since she was home quite a lot).
On Monday I had an all day Noyce meeting. Matt played the Farmers Open course and was teeing off at 7 am . . . which meant that I had to get the girls organized and get Madeline to school before I went to SDSU . . . aghh!  We managed to get out the door on time and get to the university on time too, with coffee. Eleanor slept through 90% of the day. She only woke up to eat, potty, and had about a half hour cranky time in the afternoon, so good! Everyone in my fellowship was so impressed with her.  At the end of my meeting, I realized that I had missed a call from Madi's school at ten in the morning.  Oops.  She had bitten a friend hard on the back and was supposed to be sent home. Double oops. Matt went to get her just before four.
On Tuesday I was working on a report for my CREEC coordinator position (due wed by 8 am) when I got another call from day are and I had to go get my biting toddler at 11 am. We came home and ate lunch and then I worked on my report for three hours. Amazingly Madeline entertained herself for the entire time I worked and Ella slept in her swing and the wrap with one break for a snack. I was shocked and so extraordinarily happy to finish my report. We celebrated with a trip to Home Depot and kohls, haha.
Wednesday Madeline stayed home with me (since that's what we decided last week to help try to curb biting problem). We started the day with an hour of me working and then even went to the county office to drop off so,me paperwork. We met Marissa and baby Zev at liberty station for lunch and Madi rode her bike for almost an hour. I had high hopes that the walk to lunch and the bike ride would exhaust Madeline and she would take a nap . . . that so didn't happen. After a quick trip home to feed Ella, we headed out to the grocery store.  Madeline almost fell asleep in the cart, but fought through and was plenty energetic when we got home.
Happily, Madi went back to school Thursday and made it the whole day without hurting a friend! I spent the day preparing my comments for the State Science Framework Focus Group which I was participating in at 4:45 that night. Ella was awake all day, she has decided it is time to be alert. That meant I wore her in the wrap while standing over the table reading, writing, and swaying!  Matt picked up Madi and was home by 4:30 so I could leave for the county office. I had a great time working with the focus group and it was definitely interesting participating in a comment group that was being recorded and was being watched by the public fishbowl style. When I got home Matt was dealing with a cranky Ella and a tired Madi. I put the big one to bed while he got the little one to take a nap and then we celebrated with a beer. I'm glad it wasn't wine because I would have have finished a whole bottle myself.
Friday Ella and I starred the day with a four hour nature group meeting at the Girl Scout center. Again she slept in the wrap with breaks to potty and eat.  I am getting much better at nursing in public using the wrap as a cover up!  We followed this meeting with a quick trip to get my phone screen fixed (thanks Jameson) and then we were home in I time to meet Elena the housekeeper.  I am so glad that we pay someone to clean the house so that I don't have to find the time for that too!
We are looking forward to the weekend, hoping it will be relaxing, and I praying not to have any repeats of this week! If I do, I may start looking forward to going back to work.

Eleanor is 1 month old!

We have made it through our first month as a family of four humans!  I am so proud of Matt and I for not losing our minds yet.  It is amazing to me how much easier having an infant seems this time around.  I am not sure if that's just because I am more relaxed about it or if Eleanor is easier than Madeline was at this stage.  I am leaning towards the latter argument.  Ella eats like a champ.  She has no problems latching, I have plenty of milk, and she stays awake for a whole meal then she's done for 2-3 hours.  What a difference this makes in my days.  I am not spending nearly as much time reading or watching trash tv as I did with Madi (which I kind of miss and may need to try to do more of during February), but I am getting plenty of laundry, dishes, and work done.

Checking out the playmat

 Eleanor won't be going to the doctor again until mid-February, so I don't have her current stats, but she feels like she is getting bigger.  I am going to have to go through her clothes already to take out some of the newborn things she is already growing out of.  Of course I feel like she has gotten huge . . .  and then Matt hold her and I realize how teeny tiny she really is.  Eleanor loves to be swaddled, worn in the wrap, and generally wrapped up like a burrito at all times.  She takes great comfort in the swaddle, which is so interesting to us after having Madi hate it so much.  I have eaten plenty of meals now with a napkin balanced over her head so that she doesn't get crumbs or noodles on her face while she is in the wrap.  I am trying to take as much time as possible to enjoy the cuddles on days when Ella only wants to be held, since I know that this time will end and we won't have another baby in the future to cuddle again.

Ella's preferred way to nap (if not actually on a living being)

After lunch smiles

Ella is much more alert now.  She is awake for an hour or so out of every three.  Occasionally she will be awake two hours and then she is super cranky.  She likes to look at the blinds, the lights in the bathroom, windows, and the star on her playmat.  She has adorable smiles and laughs sometimes in her sleep.  I often wonder what she is dreaming about that makes her so happy, I am going to guess it is a never ending bottle and a cozy blanket.  Sadly, Eleanor seems to hate the carseat.  She won't sleep in the car or the stroller for longer than 20 minutes.  I hate the sound of her crying in the car.  Probably because there is nothing I can do for her while I am driving!  I have taken to bringing the wrap with me when I go on walks because I can't make it longer than a mile without Eleanor waking up pissed off.  I keep telling myself that walking 2 miles when I have to carry a bowling ball on my chest for the second mile is equal to the five miles I used to get to walk with Madeline.  Why doesn't this child understand that she is supposed to sleep in all moving vehicles?!?!

First bath = pissed

I am so proud of what a good big sister Madeline has been!  I am hoping that she will continue to feel included and not upset if Mama needs to hold her sister.  Right now she keeps telling us to pick up Ella and not let her cry, so we haven't had to worry about jealousy yet.  I have been putting Madeline to bed at night and going to gymnastics with her on Saturdays, this helps me to have some alone time with her.  Madeline also had her first weekend at Grandma T's since her sister showed up.  It was great for her to have some special time with Grandma and for Matt and I to have an easy weekend at home!  Madi also has gotten her very own toddler size backpack to carry her items that used to go in the diaper bag.  She loves her ruff-ruff backpack and I am loving not having to haul her coloring book, extra clothes and snacks around with me everywhere!
Auntie Nee came down this month for breakfast and she took some fabulous pictures of the girls!  I love when we get to spend more time together than the quick lunch and run and Madeline loved having someone take her picture for a lengthy period of time!  Here are some (okay a bunch) of my favorites:

It's 2014!!!

We celebrated New Years at the Sullivan house.  Thanks to the newborn and two pregnant ladies, we decided to celebrate the East Coast New Year so we could all be home and in bed at a normal time!  There is sadness that comes with realizing how old we truly are now.  We all left for home around the same time we would have started getting ready to go out in our twenties!  That thought was depressing, but we washed it away with champagne and chocolate cake . . . so no harm done.

Chasing the dogs at the Sullivan house

Snuggly

Matt and I decided that it would be a great idea to take the girls to the zoo on New Years Day.  After all, everyone would be home in bed and it was our last day with Madeline on winter break before she went back to school.  The Kelly family decided to meet up with us since Madi and Brennan love to run the zoo together!  Every parent in San Diego must have had the exact same idea as us . . . the zoo was FULL of strollers and crazy kids.  Good times!  Around the polar bear exhibit, I realized that I should not have gone out for such an adventure yet . . . I hobbled the rest of the way to the car with serious abdominal pain.  I should have believed my doctor that my uterus/abdomen would hurt so much more the second time around.

Madi loves that she can just climb in and out of her new stroller

The stroller gang

Hamming it up with Brennan

"Take our picture while we run Mom!"

 Madeline went back to school on the 2nd, which has made life during the week much easier for me.  I am obviously cheating as a mom by sending my oldest to school while I am home on maternity leave, but it is so nice to have the time to concentrate on Eleanor without feeling like I am not doing enough to entertain Madeline.  Matt and I took the opportunity to go to Costco (apparently with all of San Diego again, what is wrong with out timing), relax at home, and look at our adorable newborn.  We all went to the auto show with Grandma T and GrandKarl.  Again, I overdid it and was very glad when Ella was hungry and I had to sit down and feed her.  Madeline was a wild thing once she got comfortable at the auto show and my mom had no problem letting her be crazy in the cars and run around like a loon.  I think that they both would have had more fun if I wasn't in the way with all of my mom rules :)
Eleanor has already attended two Sunday football parties, thanks to the Chargers doing good work at the end of the season.  Madi loves giving high fives and knuckles when we do well and was very disappointed when there wasn't much cheering on our second Sunday of the playoffs.  Along with football, Ella has sat through conference calls (three so far) and went to a CREEC meeting with me.  Luckily she slept through my entire meeting and has either slept or eaten her way through my conference calls.  Jameson has actually been the most difficult during my working times, he likes to lay on the laptop and growls his way through my calls.
Madeline is still infatuated with her sister.  She wants to pick out Eleanor's clothes every morning, she asks Ella which clothes she should wear herself or snacks she should have or breakfast items she should eat (and makes up responses from her sister too).  She also picks out both of their pajamas each night, of course she prefers if they match, and then she asks us to take their picture!  Here are some selected images from the "take our picture" series :)

Madi was not happy last week to be going to school without Eleanor and acted out by regressing back into biting her friends instead of using words at school.  Thanks to this, she is now spending Wednesdays at home with Ella and I in the hopes that this will help her break up the week and not feel so angry about being without her sister.  I am seeing lots of coffee and wine in my future Wednesdays!

I'm not tired really

Saturday mornings

Jameson needs some love too