GG Jack Comes Home

Great Grandpa Jack is now all settled in and I dare say, really enjoying himself. And really, how could he not? With these little squirts always around...

And this little kitty crawling up into his lap to give him smiles and snuggles...

We got his room all set up to his liking...

Though frankly, all of his time has been spent downstairs in the family room in his swiveling chair.

When he's not in his chair watching El crawl around (and herding her away from the fireplace), he'll join me in the kitchen and sit with me while I cook. He also enjoys watching Eleanor eat her yummies. I don't blame him. She's pretty darn cute, especially when she cracks herself up.

Here the spoon inexplicably ended up stuck to her forehead. We're still trying to figure that one out.

All in all, things are going really well. We are so happy that GG Jack made the brave decision to leave sunny California and join us here where it is much, much colder.

Spokane was where he met my grandma 60+ years ago, and so he likes to say "Well, it seems I've come full-circle."

Changes

There have been lots of changes since I last posted. Most notably, Roma, Eleanor and I moved into our own place. El-bell is no longer in an officery, but in a proper room of her own. Hooray!

The house we moved into is beautiful and big-- so big in fact, that we invited my grandmother up from California to live with us. And you know what? She accepted! Grandma Ann, or rather, Nanny Annie as I have re-named her for the kids, has been a wonderful addition to the Romaniuk household. She and I are quite suited to be housemates. For one thing, we both love crime dramas and for another, she likes my cooking. Jackson and Eleanor have certainly enjoyed having their Nanny around & I can say with certainty, that she has loved their snuggles.

Nanny Annie brought up her cat Phoebe, who used to be my cat Phoebe & is in fact, the other Ukrainian cat with a passport who came back stateside with me after the Peace Corps. Klitchko and Phoebes are thus, reunited and I guess in a way, you could say that things have come full circle in their animal kingdom.

Now that Roma and I have moved out of Sarah and Steve's place, you might be wondering what happened to Burnsaniuk. Well, I assure you, Burnsaniuk lives on. We only moved five minutes away and I see Sarah and Jackson practically everyday.

Speaking of Eleanor, she's getting so big. She's now almost seven months old, 17 pounds chunky and 27 inches long. She's eating lots of different solid foods. Her favorites include squash, avacado and pears. She's army crawling all over the place and at times, she'll even get up on her knees and crawl properly. She's got lots of energy and continues to make us laugh and bring us joy beyond measure.

Here she is with Roma having fun at the pumpkin patch:

And here she is hanging out with her minnie doll:

And here she is with the kitty her great aunt drew & framed for her. How about that two-toothed grin?

El has had her challenges of course. She is still not sleeping through the night, though she's getting closer. She still is not a consistent napper, though things seem to be getting better bit by bit in that arena too. I took away her pacifier about three weeks ago and since then, there have been major sleep improvement.

The first night without the pacifier was the hardest. She put up an incredible fight and her dad wanted to cave. Heck, he would have caved if I hadn't been there saying: stay strong honey! This is for her own good! We are stronger than her in this situation, WE-WILL-WIN!

You know what? We did. Score one for mom & dad.

***

We've had lots of visitors since moving into our new place. Grandpa Mark came to play:

And Grandma Sheri came to play:

And my oldest friend Annie Parsons came to say hello:

AND... perhaps most exciting of all...

Great Grandpa Jack came up for a visit and enjoyed himself so much that he accepted our offer to move in with us too!!!!!

So... next week, Eleanor and I are going to fly down to California and help Great Grandpa Jack -- who has yet to receive his nickname... we'll see what comes to me :) -- pack up his room. Then, we're bringing him back up with us. Hooray! Why else live in a big house, if you can't pack if full of the people who are dearest to you?

And in case you think we are maxed out -- those who are dear to us but do not wish to relocate -- know that we'll still have a guest room to fill. So consider yourselves invited up for a visit :)

This Month in Review

Has it really been a month since I last posted? I guess it has.

The last month has been full of fun times. Burnsaniuk flew down to California for some Mahaffey family fun in the sun. We spent a week living the good life in Palm Springs. We soaked up the heat, hit the pools & played at the water park.

Not that they were short on it, but Eleanor & Jackson enjoyed lots of cousie time:

Eleanor tried cereal for the first time. She wasn't so sure what she thought of it, though she enjoyed the process of making a mess with the spoon.

We got to celebrate my dad's birthday with him, which was fun. My mom took us out to dinner & because my dad is the last person on earth who would want to be part of a restaurant birthday scene, she made sure he had one :)

When we got back from Palm Springs, Burnsaniuk went camping to celebrate Sarah's 30th birthday. To make it extra special, Roma and I surprised her with the most embarrassing balloon we could possibly find.

The best part of the embarrassing balloon? Jackson was obsessed with it. He spent 80 percent of his time flaunting it as he ran around the campsite with it tied to his pants.

In addition to an embarrassing balloon, I unintentionally baked the world's ugliest cake. It wasn't so ugly before it traveled, I swear...

El was a trooper. She played in her exersaucer...

And hung out with Jackson in the kiddie-tent:

Roma got to fish...

And El-Bell and I got to hang out with Sarah & Jackie...

Oh, and Sarah & Steve unintentionally dress liked twins...

That made the trip extra awesome.

In Ellie news, we went to the doctor yesterday for our (somewhat late) four month check-up. She is now 15 lbs, 12 oz (74th percentile) & 26.5 inches long (96th percentile). She's got two bottom teeth poking through & giving her a bit a grief; but other than that, she's doing great & continuing to bring so much joy to our days.

Elsy-belsy-boos & Wacky-Jacky

Elsy-belsy-boos & Wacky-Jacky are buds.

Eleanor is just growing by leaps and bounds, I swear. This week she rolled over for the first time. We were hanging out on the floor you know, just chilling and doing some tummy-time when all the sudden, she tipped to the side and over she rolled. She had big 'ole saucer-surprise eyes and for a moment wasn't sure if she should cry. But then I swooped in and showered her with praise and she was all smiles.

She likes sitting up more and more in both her bumbo and the exersaucer. She gets tired really fast in both because it's a lot of work for her little body. As most with things, she loves it loves it ... until she doesn't :)

She's started grabbing and pulling on things that dangle. (Hair & earings beware!) The first time she pulled the butterfly off of her "activity arch" (yes, that's what it's called) she squeeled with delight.

It wasn't all fun and games this week though. She did go on a 24 hour nursing strike wherein she flat out refused the boob. Let me tell you, not only did the boob feel rejected; but the boob was super depressed at the thought that Els might never nurse again... Silly boob. So sensitive and dramatic.

Here are some fun pictures of Eleanor in the exersaucer:

It used to be Jackson's and he still thinks it's pretty cool. I'm all for putting him in it because A) in confines him for a brief period of time, and B) it's just hilarious.

Couple of Thoughts & Some Pics

Just a couple of thoughts:

Sarah and I are taking a boot camp class at the YMCA during July. It started today and it kicked my butt. I may not be able to lift my baby...

We spent Sunday and Monday with Steve's family out at his parent's lake cabin. It was lovely, though a little nuts what with a 10-year-old, a seven-year-old, two five-year-olds, a two-year-old, a one-year-old and my little Eleanor-cakes. (There were also seven adults and four dogs to boot...)

When we got back from the lake last night, I walked into the house to find that I had somehow, someway, not closed the freezer all the way. The only major casualty was my entire stock of frozen breast-milk. I'm not going to lie, it was quite a loss.

Here are some pictures of Els from the weekend:

I sure love that girl :) And you know who else I love, love, love? This goofy guy:

Happenings

The Romaniuks have been pretty busy since I last blogged. Eleanor and I spent a lovely, lovely week down in California visiting family. The week flew by and I saw almost everyone I wanted to see so that was nice. When we got back, Roma, Ellie and I went over to western washington to visit our dear friends Matt & Darcy. I brought the camera but of course, failed to take a single picture. Lame. In the middle of all our travels, Els turned three months. She is squealing and gurgling with the best of them now. She's super close to rolling over. She is very independent and prefers to be on her back kicking or in her chair bouncing and looking around to being held and cuddled. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. She was named after a very independent woman :)

Here are some pictures from our trip down south...

Ellie was a good sport for this photo session. Here she is with grammy and grampy:

And Uncle Jason:

And Great Grandma Ann:

She loved meeting Great Grandpa Jack. She gave him lots of smiles. Here he is giving her a bottle:

We went for our first dip in the swimming pool. I was excited to see her in her cute suit. I think my expectations were a bit high. We were in the pool for all of 30 seconds. These pictures sum the experience up best :)

Perhaps she would have enjoyed herself more if she weren't blinded by the sun...

In other Eleanor news, she is now spending some supervised time in her bumbo:

And she is enjoying summer vacation with her cousin Jackson who is now home all day too. He's such a sweetie. He likes to give Eleanor kisses and sing her songs and read her books :)

Like I said earlier, Els is smiling a lot now and talking up a storm to herself, though the minute the camera comes out she gets all quiet and coy. I did manage to get a subdued smile out of her during bath time. The video isn't the best quality but it'll do. Enjoy :)

Eleanor's Birth Day

Here is the long awaited, much anticipated story of Eleanor's birth...

(Well, at least for Mrs. Molly Morris I know it is ;)

***

The contractions started at 3:30 AM on March 26th, shortly after Roma left for work. At first, I tried to sleep through them, but they wouldn't let me sleep. As I lay in bed contracting, I slowly got to thinking, you know, this might be the real deal. So I started timing the contractions and then did what any Millennial would do: I googled "true labor pains." You know, just to be sure.

The contractions were consistently between seven and five minutes a part. And, perhaps more telling, their intensity was growing. Around 4:15 AM I closed the computer, finally convince, and figured it was time to get my ladies up. I woke Sarah up first. She'd been been eagerly awaiting this wake up call for weeks. So much so in fact, that she'd practically been sleeping with one eye open. The poor girl was exhausted with expectation. It was only appropriate that I wake her up first. We got my mom up second and then I called Roma at work and told him it was time.

I remember two things vividly about getting out of the house:

Vivid Memory One: I grabbed a large fistful of pretzles & with slight panic, shoved them into my mouth thinking, when will I get to eat again??!! (You should also know that later, after I was admitted, I ordered broth and juice to tide me over. Would have probably also ordered a burger but the nurse said liquids only...)

Vivid Memory Two: My brother Jason, who like my mom, happened to be in town, told me to "have fun." In his defense, he was half asleep; but still, have fun? Have fun?!! Considering the mechanics of what was about to happen, who's pre-delivery send off is have fun??!!

***

I went from pretzel pounding and funny well-wishes to the car.

As we were pulling out of the driveway, my mom prayed. There was something about that prayer that suddenly made it all very real. I can't explain it more than that. You'd think that contractions would make it real, and they did-- in the physical sense of things. But that prayer, that prayer made it emotionally real. I remember blinking back tears and swallowing a lump in my throat and feeling an overwhelming sense of wonderment, thinking: Holy cow, I'm having this baby today. I'm meeting this baby today. Life is about to radically change. I hope I'm ready for this... I hope she's OK in there... I hope we live through this... (OK, I know, I have a bit of a flair for the dramatic.)

***

Once we got to the hospital, I was taken into the maternity ward for observation. They had me change into a gown and they strapped both a fetal heart monitor and a contraction monitor on me. I was 2 cm dialated, which was only a half centimeter more than I'd been dialated at my doctor's visit earlier in the week. The nurse said they would watch me for a couple hours to see if I continued to dialate and if it was indeed, necessary to admit me. When I was finally given the opportunity to walk around and "encourage things along," you best believe I was pacing those halls. The last thing I wanted was to be sent home with no baby.

All the pacing paid off. I was formally admitted to the hospital around 9 AM. I spent much of the morning breathing deeply through intensifying contractions and listening to Eleanor's little beating heart on the monitor. It's funny, for nearly ten months I'd just accepted that that little heart was beating strong inside of me. I'd never worried about it. But once the fetal heart monitor was strapped on me and I could hear her little heart, then suddenly I couldn't not worry.

I didn't really have a birth plan, however, around 5 cm -- and about seven hours into contractions -- I opted for an epidural. And lordy, lordy, I'm glad I did. It would be another four hours before the doctor came in and broke my water and Eleanor finally arrived. Even with the epidural, those four hours were painful and intense-- though not as painful or intense as they could have been.

The epidural was not without it's own drama of course. There was something about the sounds of a hole being drilled into my spine that made me super light-headed. I nearly fainted. I had to lie down...and then I farted, basically on the nurse who was trying to help me. It surprised us both I'm sure, but it didn't phase her. Seasoned vet that she was.

Once I was epiduraled up, I spend the next few hours watching March Madness on TV. Then, as I mentioned earlier, the doctor came in and broke my water. After that, it was game on.

The contractions intensified. Eleanor's heart rate started to drop whenever I the contractions came, which was frequently. The nurse had me rolling from one side to the other trying to keep Ellie's heart rate within the desired range. Turned out the ambilicle cord was wrapped around Ellie's neck. Had I known that, I can only imagine how panicked I would have been. As it was, I was super nervous.

Anyways, the doctor finally came in to check my dilation. I was at ten centimeters and it was time to go. Roma, my mom and Sarah stood on my left side, the nurse stood on my right. Roma was up near my head, swooping down to give me kisses and shove the oxygen mask "firmly" on my nose. (Bless his heart, I think he thought it needed a vacuum seal to work.)

I pushed for a total of ten minutes and then, there she was-- screaming and a bit purple. I cried. Roma cried. My mom and Sarah cried. It was just a beautiful moment.

As I held Eleanor, I was amazed by everything about her, but particularly by her long, skinny fingers with their perfect little nails. Those long fingers, those perfect nails, they reminded me of my late grandma Eleanor, Eleanor's namesake. (Here we are together in December 2004, just hanging out:)

My grandma has these long fingers and these perfect nails and I swear, my little Ellie-Els was born with her great-grandmother's hands. Maybe her hands will dance across the keys of a piano too someday, who knows? Ellie's hands have since plumped up as she's become a bit of a chunkster, but for me, they will always be her great-grandmother's hands.

Anyways, so goes the story of Eleanor's birth. She was born 6 lbs, 8 oz and 20 inches long. At her two month check-up, she weighed in at 12 lbs, 8 oz and was 24 inches long. She went from being in the 76th percentile for height to being in the 92nd percentile. Funny little anecdote there...

We were at the doctor's office and the nurse had just weighed and measured Eleanor. The nurse was sitting down at the computer while I was standing up next to the table where Ellie lay coo-ing at herself in the mirror. The nurse said:

"Wow, she's really grown. She shot up to the 92nd percentile for height."

"Yeah, well, we were kind of expecting that to happen eventually," I replied.

"Oh," said the nurse, "Is her dad really tall?"

"Uh... yeah, I mean, I suppose he's tall"

"Oh, but you're tall too I guess."

You guess? Do you run with a lot of 6+ women little nurse lady??

Too funny.

Anyways, here's my big girl today:

We will be down in California next week saying hello to our friends and family in San Jose. It'll be Eleanor's first trip to the Golden State & her daddy's first time away from her. I'm sure pictures and stories will follow :)