Eleanor's Dream Shower

Grandma's friend Cady holds Eleanor (wearing her new hat from the Hultmans)

My wonderful Cousin Holly and my Aunts Marilynn and Chris threw Eleanor a lovely baby shower on Sunday. We had so many friends and relatives meet Eleanor for the first time. Holly served beautiful chicken salads in cut pineapples, Aunt Marilynn created elegant fruit salads that were held in my late Grandma Rochelle's dessert dishes, and Aunt Chris served pretty pale amber Arnold Palmer drinks.

Michelle came all the way from South Minneapolis!

The shower crew: Aunt Chris, Cousin Holly, Great Aunt Arlie, Auntie Molly, Eleanor and me, Aunt Marilynn

Aunt Marilynn dishes fruit

Me, Eleanor, Auntie Molly, Cousin Holly, Grandma, Cousin Alex, Cousin Tom

Cousin Alex helped open the wonderful gifts!

Ardelle and Marlene

The Crafters at lunch

What a lovely table!

Eleanor takes a nap

Jan, Lindsay and Carol

Eleanor and Molly relax after a long day

Picture of the Day

Auntie Molly and Eleanor in the dressing room at Macys

Auntie Molly is Here!

Auntie Molly reads from Eleanor's new Contemporary Art book

Eleanor's Auntie Molly arrived from London on Thursday evening. We all assembled at the airport to meet her and Eleanor presented her with a balloon and a big pink sign that welcomed her home. Molly came with all sorts of fabulous Auntie gifts for Eleanor and would certainly have spoiled her rotten already if she weren't so naturally sweet.

Eleanor studies a Catherine Opie print

Eleanor also met her Great, Great Aunt Arlie and her cousin Holly as well as her cousins Dylan and Alex at Cafe Latte in St. Paul. She'll see them all again on Sunday when Holly hosts a shower for Eleanor at their home in Newport.

Dylan, Great, Great Aunt Arlie and Alex meet Eleanor

The center of attention

Roll out those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer!

The whole cheese

"Oh gag, who invited the paparazzi?"

Eleanor enjoyed her week at Upper Eau Claire Lake with Grandma, Grandpa and mom!

"Life is good!"

"Grandma is my personal umbrella handler"

"I love nature walks with Grandma"

"Little baby, big chair"

Tummy Time in Eleanor's lumberjack outfit

I also wanted to say that there is a new baby in the blogging-world! Luke Gerard was born on the 22nd to my very good friends Nickie and Joe! Congratulations to them all... See little Luke's blog at: lukegerard.blogspot.com. He's a little doll!

New Momma Nickie and her sweet baby Luke

At the Lake

Grandma and Eleanor look at the lake

Grandpa and Eleanor hang loose

We've had a wonderful, sun-filled week at the lake so far. Boats are starting up along the shore for Memorial Day joy rides and the downtown Hayward stores are hopping!

Grandma has had Eleanor in her arms constantly and has been bringing her on mini nature walks. Grandpa has been planting in his garden and has learned Eleanor's 'reset' when she becomes crabby. I am so happy to introduce Eleanor to our family cabin. She is the 5th generation of our family to enjoy the lake.

On the dock

Eleanor takes a sink bath

Lounging in her lounger

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Night Fever

Oh, oh oh oh staying asleep, staying asleep!

Eleanor is back to waking at both 11:30 p.m. and at 3:30 a.m. She's done this the past three nights and I'm a little dismayed and hope that this setback in her sleep progress is only temporary. She had been sleeping from 9 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. and I miss that big chunk of sleep! I'm thinking that the time change and the continued new surroundings have put her out of her schedule. Any advice?!

On a happier note, One of my best, oldest friends came for a visit yesterday afternoon! Michelle and her husband Tom came by for an hour to meet Eleanor. I've known Michelle since we were 5 years old. We were great roller skate buddies back in Ham Lake and I feel lucky to be able to continue being her friend. In our younger years we were obsessive about our cabbage patch dolls, and it was exciting to introduce her to my new real life little doll.

Eleanor was charmed by Michelle and Tom's relaxed and warm personalities and stayed up for over an hour and a half to be with them.


Michelle and Tom meet Eleanor


My mom is a big reader and encouraged reading in my sister and me when we were young. She's keeping the tradition alive with Eleanor and reads to her several times a day. Her efforts are paying off, because as you can see, Eleanor actually looks at the pages as they're turned. She's still working on her attention span (:


Grandma and Eleanor

Tomorrow we leave for our family cabin in Hayward, WI. Eleanor will enjoy plenty of sun, nature walks, water watching and relaxation. We'll be there until next Tuesday, and I don't know if I'll get the chance to update the blog, so here are a few parting shots of Eleanor enjoying her awake time in Minneapolis.

See you later!

Let the Sun Shine

Eleanor's first pair of shades

It's sunny and warm here in Minneapolis. Today Eleanor and I went with Grandpa to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Eleanor was in her Baby Bjorn the whole time and enjoyed looking at the Modernists' work, especially those paintings with red and major value contrasts. She also saw her first Sargent and Murakami, but was asleep by the time we got to my favorites (the 19th century figurative works). We'll be sure to bring Eleanor to lots of museums. My parents brought me to the MIA when I was young constantly, and I'll always blame/thank them for sending me toward a career in the arts.

We also spent some time stocking up on some vitamin D on the back deck. The jury is still out on whether or not Eleanor inherited my fair skin, so we've been keeping her covered.

Eleanor and mom squint in the sun

I also wanted to include a sweet video of Grandma and Eleanor chatting. As I've said before, she's a talker (just like her daddy)!