Oh, the sorrow

I'm not at liberty, at the moment, to say what's going on... more tomorrow.

-ED

TMI?

OK. This post, just like the one before it, probably falls under the heading of "too much information." However, it falls squarely within the "mission statement" of this blog so I don't feel too bad about posting it.

We thought we had a break through Saturday night, but that was followed by three more days of "inactivity" paired with a generally upset baby. So last night we resorted to, after consulting with Dr. Betsy's office, a suppository. The thing did it's magic in less than five minutes - pretty cool, all things considered.

Ellie seems to be in better spirits today, and I hope it's a more lasting solution to our little problem. Especially since Ellie has big plans for this weekend; but, that is for another post....

-ED

Backed up

Ellie has been trying different solids over the last few weeks... cereal, avocado, banana, sweet potato and now... prunes. It's not that we wanted to progress to prunes... we HAD to. In any event, as you can tell from the picture, they aren't her favorite. That's ok, I wouldn't eat them either if it weren't absolutely necessary. The good news: I think we can probably move on to another solid now.

-ED

Giving thanks

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thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthank....

5M

We had to try

New parents, it seems, get bombarded with offers for this product or that service and so on and so forth. Not much of it, in my opinion, is tempting. However, one item in particular did arouse my curiosity - a photo session. I don't know why, but I just wanted to see how "professional" photos might differ from ours. So today we took Ellie to one of the local establishments for just such an experiment.

The place seemed nice enough. I especially liked that they had what appeared to be 42" screens for customers to view, and ultimately select, the photos they wanted. Our photographer seemed pleasant enough and competent; and, we really did get some nice photos of Ellie in a multitude of poses, backgrounds and outfits. But the devil, as they say, is in the details - in this case, it's the price. To get a decent number of poses printed is going to set you back an inordinate amount of money; especially once you consider that you may not even give out all of the photos, and the poses you don't select are lost forever.

Anyhow, EM and I left with the "el-cheapo" package along with the knowledge and confidence that we can - from time to time - take photos just as well as the pros; the only difference being their superior lighting. When you factor that in along with the cost savings of doing it yourself, it seems to be a no-brainer. I'm not saying we won't go this route again; but, it will be very seldom that we do. So, without further delay, here is the final result:

-ED

For the record...

...we've moved on to bananas. She seems to be more receptive to this fruit than the other one.

-ED

Laughter...

...is such a sweet sound, especially when it comes from a baby. This video is a snapshot of a 10 minute laugh fest. Ellie was watching us eat dinner when she decided that Daddy was funny. Daddy may say that she was laughing because State beat Carolina!

-EM

Go State!

Last night, Ellie and I watched our first State-Carolina game together (it was actually a noon game, but I recorded it while I did some yard work). She's gotta be a good luck charm because while we were watching together, the Wolfpack surged to a big lead. Then when she went to bed the lead evaporated. Fortunately, the better team did prevail in what was a nerve-wracking, heart-stopping finish.

BTW, thanks to Becky, Jonathan and Payton for the pretty wolfpack dress. Oh, and one last thing:

We're the red and white from State,

and we know we are the best.

Hands behind our back,

we can take on all the rest.

GO TO HELL Carolina!

Devils and Deacs stand in line.

The red and white from NC State.

Go State!

-ED

What do you think?

Last night Ellie tried her second solid food. I think the jury is still out on whether she'll like this one - we'll try it a few more times over the next few days. Anyhow, would anyone (other than Nanny, Grandpa or EM) like to take a guess as to what her second solid is? As a reminder, her first was rice cereal.

-ED

Resemblance

We're not sure who Ellie looks like. I guess, mostly, she looks like EM. But there are definitely instances where she favors me. Some people aren't sure either, while others claim she's the perfect blend and still others claim she clearly favors EM or myself. Judge for yourself:

Me (w/ Grammy) at 4mo

EM at 2mo

Splitting the difference... Ellie at 3mo

-ED

Perhaps one day...

...Ellie will forgive me for this.

This is about two and a half minutes of video that EM shot the other night while I was at work. The high marks, if you will, are at roughly thirty seconds and sixty seconds.

The first moment speaks for itself. The moment is followed by EM referring to our baby girl as "El-boo." That is a variation on our nickname for her - boo. Sometimes she's Ellie-boo, other times she's El-boo, but most of the time she's just plain boo or boo-boo.

The second moment actually consists of two items: 1. Ellie grabbing her toy, and 2. Spunky whining, ever so faintly, in the background. I guess the Spunky thing really isn't a moment; but, in case you can actually hear the noise he makes, I thought I should at least explain what it is you are hearing.

Note to Ellie: Everyone, and I do mean everyone, has an embarrassing story or picture or video in their past. And, more often than not, that embarrassing item or moment does end up being shared with others. So please, please don't be upset with daddy. I love you!

-ED