The Rectordays

Where has the time gone? I absolutely cannot believe that Eleanor is one month old today... this past month has been, no doubt, the fastest, most amazing month of my life to date. I am so overwhelmingly humbled by God's gracious gift of Eleanor to BJ and I... we are just amazed everyday with how much we love our little lady and how quickly she is growing. I have already been through my tears, even though I love watching her grow, I just really didn't know it would fly by so quickly. I feel like I blinked and all of the sudden she is a month old - it is days like today where I wish time could slow down for just a minute!! Eleanor you had a WONDERFUL first month of life filled with so many memories, I just hope I can adequately recount the FUN and JOY you brought your daddy and I: *Staying in the hospital 4 nights with you was so fun.... everyone encouraged me over and again to let the nursery keep you during the nights so that daddy and I could get some sleep... foolishness! I w

The morning after we brought Eleanor home, my mom and I gave her a bath... a first for this Momma! I have huge counters in our kitchen, and a HUGE kitchen sink (that will eventually be used as a little tub for her), so we set up shop and prepared to sponge bathe our little Eleanor! Girlfriend doesn't know what is coming yet... so she quietly sat serene... Cue warm water, soap and a washcloth and Eleanor decided she was NOT too sure about this so-called-bath! There are some REALLY funny pictures of her screaming her head off... but let's just say that I want my daughter to speak to me when she is older, so for modesty's sake... imagine this picture with Eleanor's mouth open, screaming her little lungs out :).... Drying off before receiving her first body massage... Eleanor has it made... every time she starts to cry when I am putting lotion on her, I let her know that people pay big bucks to get a great massage, so she should enjoy it! All done... clean and warm!! And al

After 5 wonderful (but by the end, LONG) days in the hospital, it was time to bring our sweet Eleanor home! What an amazing experience it was to have the first few days of her life at Presbyterian... the nurses were amazing, the new room they put me in was wonderful, and Eleanor was able to meet so many of our close family and friends (we made everyone that came to visit her take a picture with her, but I figure I shouldn't broadcast everyone's faces on our blog... so they are just for her baby book!). Our time in the hospital was so wonderful, in fact, that I can't wait to be back with another baby someday... it was just a perfect experience (even in light of a C-section!). Most of all, I think I enjoyed this more than anything.... Leaving our beloved hospital suite... it honestly was feeling quite a bit like our new home, so it was time.... and still having Eleanor as our child was a bit surreal, so we were anxious to get her to our house so that she became part of our wo

When BJ and I found out that we were pregnant, we immediately started thinking about names (call it the planner in me). We knew from the beginning that we were going to not find out whether or not we would be having a girl or a boy, so we wanted to have solid options to either gender. It took all of about 3 days to come up with the name we would use if we had a little boy... if we were blessed with a daughter (YAY WE WERE!) we had a little more of a difficult time. We had two names that we absolutely loved... we knew both names quickly, as well, but decided that we would wait to see our little girl's face before we made the final decision. Well, July 31 came, our little lady arrived, and once we looked at her we immediately knew... that we had no idea. How do you even decide on the name your little girl will carry for the rest of her life within a moment of viewing her? BJ and I both agreed not to rush the decision and well, our little lady remained nameless for the first few hours

On July 31, 2010, BJ and I's lives were changed forever. We were given the most amazing, surreal gift that we still are attempting to truly understand. We are so incredibly humbled by our perfectly healthy, beautiful little girl that God has blessed us with the opportunity and responsibility of raising in our home. Eleanor Michael, you are a precious gift - the greatest blessing aside of our salvation, and each other, that we have come to know. We promise to love you all of your days, to encourage you to be the best little lady that you can be, to discipline you towards righteousness and be your biggest fans. You have changed our lives forever already in ways that our beyond imagination - our hearts may explode with love for you - and we are just getting to know you.... here are just a few pictures of our first few days with you in the hospital... Momma holding Eleanor for the first time.... Eleanor receiving her first bath in the hospital and the nurses checking her vitals... Th