When I had gone to the kitchen to get the girls their milk, both Lilli & Corinne were on opposite sides of the couch watching their morning movie, and Eleanor was playing on her floor mat. This is how I found them when I returned:

Lilli has a habit of moving Eleanor to where “she is more comfy, mommy!” Thankfully, and amazingly, my five and a half year old knows how to carefully handle Eleanor..as if she herself were a little momma.  She even has insisted that she learn how to change a diaper. If Eleanor weren’t so squirmy when getting her diaper changed, I bet Lilli would have that down…and cloth diapers aren’t the easiest thing to change in comparison to disposables, anyway!

I thank God that I am able to teach my girls how to be keepers of their home & family.

Here are a few pictures of our ever so happy Eleanor! Our #3 is rolling, reaching, jibber jabbering, and having a blast with her two older sisters! Eleanor is sleeping between 7-10 hours in between feedings at night and takes a couple naps during the day. We’ll see what this next month brings…enjoy!

By the way, a BIG thank you to our good family friend, Mr. Schrock for making Eleanor her crib…it is beautiful! (I will post more pictures of the crib at a later time)

Eleanor’s Christmas gift. If I were a 5 month old, I’d want one too

God is just so good! This past weekend was just awesome for the Clarke family…and I just praise God for it!

It all started on Friday when Eleanor had her 4 month check up. Even though we had to drive about an hour and a half to our doctor’s, Eleanor had to get 3 shots, & Lilli & I got flu shots (Corinne was over my good friend, Rachel’s, house playing with her future husband, Ethan), I was thankful for all of it! There are millions of people who have no medical insurance & millions more who die due to the inability to receive life saving vaccinations (Click here to see how you can help change the life of a child in poverty). It turns out that *little* Eleanor weighs 15 lbs, 7 oz - 85th percentile - and is 26 inches tall - 95th percentile (I wasn’t shocked by this, since all my girls have been in the higher percentiles, although proportionate). To treat ourselves for being so brave, Lilli & I ended up having a McD’s hot fudge sundae (off the dollar menu - woo hoo!) on the way home. That evening, we had dinner over our other good friends, Mandi & Sean’s, house, which is about a half hour west of us…we saw so many deer! I really enjoyed catching up with our friends & especially loved when Mandi showed me what she included in her Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes….she’s so creative! Meanwhile, the girls (yes, they have three girls, also) had fun dressing up and running all over the place!

Saturday was a lazy day spent putzing around However, that evening Ethan spent the night at our house while his mom & dad celebrated their 27th & 30th birthdays together - Happy Birthday Rachel & Nathan!

Sunday always comes too soon, but I was excited to get to church to catch up with more familiar faces. Pastor Mike was really rockin’ out and it was fun watching Eleanor take it all in! I was so encouraged to hear that Sandi, who is in charge of outreach ministry, started the Meals on Wheels and served 75 hot meals to people in our community last week! Wow! That evening I served up the usual “Sunday Spaghetti” and we all put our feet up & relaxed - the girls watched a Little Einsteins movie & Michael & I worked on that “exciting news,” which should be allowed to be revealed within the next few days.

To top it off, I was the winner of TWO giveaways:

* The Chocolistas‘ “Name that Dessert” - my name “Raspberry Snuggles” won me Chocolate and Roses Cupcake Gift Tags from Elegant Snobbery & Special Dark Chocolate Petit-Four Candy Piece Scrabble Pendant from ImJewelee (Thank you to everyone who voted!)
* Christian Women Online CD giveaway - Fransesca Battistelli, “My Paper Heart”

Next weekend should be fun too since we’re changing our assisted living visit from Wednesday to Saturday. This way, Michael can join us AND I have an extra pair of hands to help me with my oh-so-lovely-but-oh-so-all-over-the-place-two-year-old, Corinne.

Here are some pictures of Eleanor at 4 months:

“Tummy Time” has turned into trying-to-roll-over-time.

Happy “Ewon” (thank you, Corinne!)

Biker Baby…it’s just in the genes…

“I love my Poppa!”

Clarke Family Cirque du Soleil!

“So my heart will sing to you. I can’t keep silent.
Lord, my God, I will give you thanks forever.”
~Psalm 30:12

How did a quarter of a year already fly by?! They say, “Time flies when you’re having fun” and I guess we’ve been having tons of it!

Eleanor has made some great strides…my favorite being that she started sleeping through the night about 2 weeks ago. She goes to bed around 9pm, wakes up at 5am to eat, and then goes back to bed until about 8am. However, the past two nights she has woken up around 3 am to eat, but I’m blaming that on a growth spurt.

Eleanor LOVES talking with her big sisters - as soon as she starts fussing, Lilli will start talking to her and they seem to have a pretty in depth conversation…lol. Corinne tries to get in the conversation, but only seems to say (over and over again…), “How cuuuuuute!”

Eleanor has also started laughing…especially when I sing to her. Hmmm…should I take a hint?!

Eleanor’s favorite thing to do is take a bath. As soon as she hears the water, her eyes get really big and she just listens. She is quite content, well, until it’s time to get out…lol. I could spend hours in a hot bath, so I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Eleanor’s least favorite thing to do is tummy time. It doesn’t last long because she will turn her big ‘ole head to the side and roll over. Smarty pants…
We’ll see what this next month brings!

Woo Hoo! It’s Friday! I really don’t have anything to post, other than the fact that I am so excited to spend the weekend with my crazy nutty family!

What Eleanor did while I went to get a diaper from the dryer...look closely...lol

Corinne in her new knitted longies.

Lilli using her towels like "a big girl."

A good morning message from my hubby :)

And since I hardly post pictures of myself...why not. (Next time I should wait for the steam leave...lol.)

Eight weeks! Tomorrow, that is, but we’ll be on a mini vacation and I wanted to get this posted….now.
Eleanor had her two month old check up this week and did quite well. I was so surprised when she weighed in at 12 lbs 1.5 oz.! What a little porker! She is in the 90-something percentile for both weight and height, so she’s quite proportional. Eleanor was not to thrilled with the THREE shots she had to get - she was so mad she screamed for the whole hour and a half ride home, but conked out as soon as we got there.

Corinne also had her physical (hey, living an hour and a half from the nearest HMO, I get everyone who needs a visit within similar timeframe done at the same time). She also had a shot. She didn’t scream though - only a few tears, a long snuggle from Poppa, and she was over it. She’s was eager, however, when asked by the doctor, to show off how smart she is: she could “jump,” point to different body parts, and say specific words. Corinne is also in the 90-something percentile for both weight and height.

All in all, it was a looong, but productive doctor’s visit. I’m so thankful that my girls are able to receive vaccinations. So many others around the world are not so lucky. (You can read about Jimma University pharmacy student, Endalkachew Fekadu’s, battle with TB here)

Here are a couple pictures of Eleanor at 8 weeks old. I couldn’t make up my mind which picture to use - I love her little Hanna moccasins, as well as her Robeez! She just looks so dang cute!

And I don’t know how I left this picture out from her 6 week birthday:

I love her little smile!

How did the past six weeks just fly by? One minute I’m pregnant, and the next, I have a month and a half year old!

During these past six weeks, Eleanor has done wonderfully! She is my most well behaved child (okay, I know - she is ONLY a baby), but compared to my other two at this age, she is an ANGEL! Both Lilli and Corinne were little party animals during the night, but Eleanor knows the difference between night and day. She is asleep by 10, wakes up two to three times a night for a feeding, and then goes right back to sleep! Woo hoo!

Eleanor loves to be snuggled; in fact, she is most content listening to music (especially Yanni), while swaddled in her plush purple blanket. Hmmm…come to think of it, she is most like me. Speaking of which, did I mention she has high arches on her feet?! She may be my little dancer after all But I suppose six weeks is a little too early to tell. We’ll see what this next few weeks brings

Three kids, two parents…needless to say, Michael and I are outnumbered. And I don’t even have time to post this blog, so I’m just going to give a rundown of Eleanor’s first week of life outside the womb…

* We were discharged from the hospital 24 hours after Eleanor was born (woo hoo!) only to be admitted again on Tuesday evening because she had severe jaundice…which is bad…really bad. With a level of 21.7, Eleanor was in danger of possibly losing her eye-sight, hearing, and having brain damage.

* SO- at 9pm, we hauled rear to the hospital, where they had a “bed” waiting for Eleanor. Her “bed” was actually a phototherapy bed (it had blue lights all around that broke down the bilirubin in her skin). Honestly, it looked like a mini tanning bed…she even had to wear little baby goggles, which of course she did NOT like whatsoever.

Eleanor's Tanning Session

* I stayed with her that first night…cried…cried…and cried some more (which looking back, could have been attributed to my hormones going nutty since I had only given birth about 4 days earlier). Eleanor fussed the entire night, which made my worries worsen and of course kept me awake at her side.

* Thankfully, we were blessed with awesome roommates: Hebah and her daughter, who was only 2.5 months old and has DiGeorge Syndrome. At 10 days old, her daughter had open heart surgery and will continue to need surgery to accommodate her growing heart. Here I was so worried about my daughter having jaundice, and I was being comforted by a woman who’s daughter has spent the majority of her life in a hospital bed (talk about putting things into perspective).

* Michael switched places with me on Wednesday, Grandma Jo came to lend a helping hand, and I was finally able to get some sleep…at 10pm. Adrenaline really has a way of keeping you on your toes in distressing situations. Oh- and Eleanor was so used to the bed by then, that Michael had to actually wake her in order to feed her…figures…lol.

* Thursday, Eleanor’s biliruben levels finally dropped to 12 and we were able to take her home. I was excited, but at the same time sad to say “see you later” to Heba & Gigi. I am so thankful to have met a strong, young mother. I have NEVER met someone with such a positive attitude and outlook. Heba is such an encouragement and I look forward to frequently catching up with her over email.

* Since we returned home, Eleanor has been “sunbathing” in front of our window and eating like a little piggy - both good things in a jaundiced baby. We have an appointment on Monday to make sure her levels did not rise…I will be saying my prayers.

* And last but not in the bit least, a BIG THANK YOU to Debbie and her daughter, Rachel, for watching Lilli & Corinne on such short notice. Debbie rushed to our home as soon as I got off the phone with her and, as soon as she walked through the door, prayed over Eleanor. Also, a BIG THANK YOU to Rachel, Nathan, and their boys (our future sons-in-law…lol) for taking care of Lilli & Corinne while Michael and I did the switch off. They are all such blessings and I value their friendships immensly!

Eleanor Louise Clarke was born yesterday evening (is it bad that I don’t have any idea what time it was?).  The delivery was quite an ordeal;  they prepped and started to move her to the OR twice and in the end that’s where we finally finished things up (Naturally; without a C-Section or suction).  Isn’t the 3rd child supposed to come right out?

Brittany and Eleanor are recovering well at the INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital and I’ll be taking Lilli & Corinne to see them soon.