Our little girl is a year old! Eleanor enjoyed playing with her balloons and opening her cards and gifts. The night before, Mommy and Daddy made her a special chocolate cake. She took one handful of the cake and began to cry. Oh well, at some point the chocolate thing will catch on! See pix of our celebration here!

Eleanor's Growth: Eleanor is now 24lbs and 31" long! She is walking all over the place, which is such fun. She is mostly still babbling, but says "MaMa" and "DaDa" and "Ut-oh" quite clearly, and certainly understands much of what we say to her. She is fascinated with lights and balloons and more recently is demonstrating a definite fondness of music!

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We ventured to Holden Beach, North Carolina with some friends and their kids for our very first family vacation! We spent a week in a fabulous house right on the beach. The weather was perfect for Eleanor's first time in the ocean (though it took her a few days to get comfortable in the water). See pix of our vacation here!

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It's been such fun preparing for Eleanor's first Christmas! All the regular tasks of the season (that can easily become hurried and exhausting) were sparked with eagerness and new life this year. We celebrated Christmas at home in Austin on Christmas eve with our little girl. On Christmas day, we flew to Ohio to spend a week with Jim's family. We're so excited to introduce Eleanor to her aunts, uncles, cousins, and Great-Grandma Nugent!

Eleanor's Growth: This month we watched Eleanor grow from her birth weight of 7lbs/7oz and 20" long to 9lbs/14oz and almost 22" long! She is smiling and cooing more every day, has a mean grip, and it looks like she will soon be rolling over!

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November was a wonderful month for us, as we welcomed Eleanor into our lives. Judy's Mom (Journey) was here for Eleanor's arrival, and stayed for two weeks. Then Jim?s parents and brother came out for Thanksgiving, and we had a wonderful time just hanging out. We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner together, and with our friends Karin and Joe. Jim?s Mom stayed an extra week to help Judy adjust to being home with a new baby and to let her get some sleep, for which Judy is eternally grateful!

6 Weeks

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38 Weeks

Eleanor arrived with a splash on our one year wedding anniversary!! Mom and Eleanor are doing great. We are all having a great time getting to know each other. Eleanor's birth was a typical hospital (vaginal) delivery, with about an hour of "push time" before she arrived. As soon as she took her first breath, Eleanor's beautiful eyes were open and alert and searching. We immediately felt the "presence" of her sweet spirit. After being weighed, measured, and bathed, Eleanor was placed on Mom's belly where she was peacefully hummed to sleep.

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Judy's friends Lisa, Suzi, and Karin planned a wonderful baby shower for Judy this weekend. They were able to not only plan the shower from California, but were also able to keep the location of the event a secret from Judy. The shower was held at Kiera's teahouse, just outside of Austin, complete with a full tea service and some fun dress-up hats for all the attending girls to wear! Judy was so thrilled that the girls came to Austin, including Judy's mom Journey and friend Lennon. The six ladies spent a wonderful long weekend together doing baby shower things and just laughing and hanging out together. (See pictures from the shower and weekend here).

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Today we had our 20 week ultrasound. We looked away from the screen while the sonographer determined the baby's sex, printed out a picture, and sealed it in an envelope. Since it was also Jim's 40th birthday (Happy Birthday Jim!), we went out for a nice dinner. After ordering the meal, we opened the envelope together).

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Today we mailed official "baby announcements" to share the news with friends and family (just in time for Mother's Day!). See our announcement here (PDF | JPG). We also told our managers and colleagues at work and have begun confirming the details of Judy's maternity leave.

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Today we had our 12 week ultrasound and the baby is now 4 inches long and everything looks good. Baby has a strong heartbeat, all his/her fingers and toes, etc. Unfortunately he/she is still too small to see if he/she is a HE or a SHE. But, he/she was soooo active! It was amazing. We expected to see this calm little thing floating around in Judy's womb, and he/she was moving and twirling and spinning and we swear we saw him/her wave at us! Judy said to Jim, "The baby's got YOUR metabolism, that's for sure!" See ultrasound pix above.

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Today we had our first ultrasound, at only 6 weeks. Judy had been having some cramping, so the doctor wanted to take a look. Everything was fine, and we learned that there is only one baby in there (a relief, since twins run in Judy's family!). It was so amazing seeing this little two cm-long life with a tiny beating heart. Jim really enjoyed watching Judy, and her face lit up with wonder as she watched the screen.

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Today we found out that we are pregnant! Judy had an OB appointment already scheduled for February 22nd. When she arrived, she told the doctor that she was two days late. So the doctor sent her right up to the lab for a blood test. The morning of February 23rd, the doctor called to say "Congratulations!"

Judy struggled to find the perfect way to tell Jim the good news. Weeks earlier, she had already come up with an idea that would be a fun way to tell him (for some day, when they did finally get pregnant). But that plan involved being at home, and they were both flying to San Francisco tonite and wouldn't be back home before the flight! Judy finally opted for a card, which she presented to Jim when they got to SF. Naturally, Jim was shocked and thrilled!