Yes Yes Ya'll...

Well, I realize that two nights is only two nights, and babies routinely do things that you want them to do for a short time only to break right back into the old practices. I'm not getting too excited over this, but... Eleanor slept through the night. Twice.


Can I get a what what? Can a get a yes yes ya'll?


Last weekend, we had to leave town suddenly and got back into Waco on Sunday at about 6:00 or 7:00 PM. Eleanor had been really fussy throughout the car ride (she usually sleeps the whole ride), so we thought we'd be in for a long night. She went to bed at about 8:00 or 9:00, and Nikki fed her again (without waking her up) at about 11:00 PM. We went to bed and before we knew it, it was 6:00. Since the last few weeks of Nikki's pregnancy were pretty rough on her, it had been at least 3 months since she had 7 hours of straight sleep. The next night (Monday night), she went to bed at 9:30, and Nikki tried to do the 11:30 feed in her sleep, but Eleanor was not interested. So we were sure she'd wake up at 2:00 or 3:00 AM, since her last meal was at 9:00. Low and behold, we woke up at 7:00 AM! Eleanor went like 10 hours between feeds! And slept full on from about 10:00 till 7:00. Very proud.


Nikki and I are fully aware that some babies will sleep through the night for a few days or even weeks, only to start waking up again for a time. We're just grateful for these two nights! Here are a few pictures to remind you how beautiful Eleanor is (as if you could forget)...

We got a new camera lens...

So with our Christmas money, we decided to buy a macro lens for our Nikkon camera, and it allows us to take super close-up shots. If you ever see close-up pictures of a flower or a bee or something, it was probably taken with a macro lens. Needless to say, Nikki has been going to town, takng endless pictures of Eleanor's face, eyes, hands, feet, mouth, you name it. Posted a few here, and a lot more are posted on the smugmug website, http://www.nikki-rhodes.smugmug.com/ If you want to see how impressive these pictures can be, click on one of them to see it in full size.

Eleanor is growing up so much already. She is starting to smile (though we don't yet have many great pictures of the smile, I'm sure some will be posted soon), and she coo's all the time. Her favorite time of the day is the morning, right after her first feed of the day, usually around 7:00 or 8:00. She has started making a lot more eye contact with us, instead of constantly gazing at the fan. (Seriously, if you put your face in between her and the fan, she squirmed around until she was back in view of the fan.) Her sleeping schedule is becoming a bit more reliable, and even though we are nowhere near a full night's sleep, she has gone 6 hours a couple of times.