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Ellie got a new toy from Mommy yesterday: a Jumperoo. For those not familiar, it's basically a safer version of the bouncers people used to hang in doorways.. Thanks to Phish for the soundtrack to the video.
Several versions (all the same content) for you.
This one should be compatible with most systems.
The next one is good if you have the latest Windows Media Player.
The Chicago D's are proud to welcome Ellie's new cousin, Austin, into the world! He was born today and is 9 pounds 5 ounces and 21 and a quarter inches long. Congrats Mike, Jenn and Taylor! I'm sure he'll put pictures on the website soon!
Fun, unless of course they're demonic bunny hats!!! It's a vicious rabbit, with sharp pointy teeth!
Ellie has discovered her feet. Mainly, we suspect it is just another way for her to make it harder to change her diaper, but it is still kind of fun nonetheless. So here she is, fresh out of the bath, keeping us from getting her diaper back on.
Ellie is managing to sit up all by herself now! You do have to get her balanced a bit to start her off, but once you do, she stays up a good long while all on her own.
Been a while since we had a new picture of Ellie, so here's a nice one of her smiling (with an awesome bow on her head too!):
Or... how to make sure you child is ridiculed for the rest of their life. Check out the list from BabyCenter. Also, check out Gene Weingarten's fine article from the Washington Post, "Stop the Madisonness!"
Here's a quick rundown for you lazy folks: Madison is the #3 most popular baby girl name for 2003. Before the movie, "Splash" with Darryl Hannah and Tom Hanks, no one ever named their child Madison. Hannah's mermaid character was so named after looking up and seeing a street sign in New York City for Madison Avenue. That's what you're naming your kids after, people!!! A New York City street!!!
Here are some of the more egregious girls' names:
Kayla (28) is OK, but Makayla(29)?
Riley (30) and Bailey (59) last time I checked, were boy's names...
Destiny (60) and Trinity (61) naming your child after a Matrix character, nice.
Skylar (77) Mckenna (78) Kennedy (79) Peyton (80) Reagan (89) They all seem to be last names to me.
And finally, Brooklyn, the 95th most popular girl's name!
I have less of a beef with the boy's names. Many are traditional names, like Jacob and Isaac. Some of the weirder ones are Logan (18), Jayden (19), Brayden (46), Mason (54). It seems odd though that many of the names listed are what most would consider nicknames: Jack (14, short for Jackson-30 or sometimes John-33), Alex (40, short for Alexander-17), Jake (52, short for Jacob-1), Max (66-short for Maximilian or Maxwell), Sam (86, short for Samuel-41), Will (98, short for William-25) and Ben (100, short for Benjamin-23).
So, I hope Eleanor Grace appreciates her name when she grows up with Makayla and Jayden.
So, Lisa is pretty much sick of having Ellie sleep in our bedroom, so last night began the great crib experiment. Would Ellie be able to sleep in her crib on her own? The answer is, sort of.
Lisa managed to get her down in her crib after about 5 aborted attempts, at about midnight. When I got home from curling at about 12:30, Ellie was out like a light. She didn't wake up until about 4am, and then it may have only been because Lisa had to get up to use the bathroom. After that she slept about another 2 hours in the crib before Lisa had to get up and feed her, etc. So, not too bad for the first try. Hopefully this will be the first of many nights of more peaceful sleep for everyone.