Issues

Now that Eleanor is over 3 weeks old, it's high time she start developing some problems, right? Right now, all we've got are: sleeping issues and eating issues. Oh wait, that's half of what she does. Sounds like a girl with a lot of troubles then.

Don't get me wrong, Eleanor is still a very healthy baby. I am just having to suddenly work a lot harder to keep her that way. We have an appointment tomorrow with her pediatrician to talk about possible "silent reflux," as diagnosed by the nurse/lactation consultant at the Breastfeeding Center of Washington.

If she does have silent reflux, and if I am going to continue breastfeeding (or breast pumping every two hours as the case may be), and if we don't jump on the medication bandwagon right away, I will have to experiment with eliminating things from my diet, one by one, a few weeks at a time. The number one culprit: dairy. Yes, all dairy.

Tell me: exactly how does one live without cheese?

Pictures!

Sunbathing

Making Eleanor Proud

Ryan's blog for The Economist, Free Exchange, has been nominated for the National Magazine Award for Digital Media. Needless to say, Ellie and I are very proud.

I'm so glad that our daughter will grow up with the example that Ryan will provide; a parent that loves what he does (and is good at it). I couldn't care less what Eleanor decides to make a career of, just as long as she is happy doing it. That being said, it is always nice to have a doctor around for the casual diagnosis at dinner. That and a mechanic. Man would it be great to have a good car mechanic in the family.

Sleep!

Just when I think this whole baby thing is totally kicking my ass, Eleanor decides to wake up ONCE in the middle of the night for a quick meal, then falls right back to sleep. I think I got almost 7 hours of sleep last night; it was fitful "there's a baby in your bed" sleep, but it was sleep.

Concern

First Bath

Because Ellie is surely advanced in every way, her umbilical cord fell off quite early and we were able to give the little girl her first proper bath on Friday. Cuteness ensued.