a catch up of Eleanor

I finally got a couple of posts done and on my blog that I had started but never finished. They are a little out of order, but I have decided not to worry about that for now. And I found a bunch of pictures that I wanted to put on here and didn't so I figured I would just stick them here.

A little update on Eleanor. That girl is getting so big. She is 3 1/2 months now. She is so smiley. She loves to watch Grant which I think is so adorable. She is still a pretty happy easy going baby. She is becoming more interested in toys and especially likes to kick things with her feet. She seems to just be beginning to notice when I leave the room and isn't always too sure how she feels about it. She has found her thumb and thinks its pretty great. She also loves to just have her fists in her mouth. She is not consistently sleeping through the night but if she does get it up it's only once. Hopefully, we will get her to sleep through the night every night sometime soon.

I sure love this girl!

Redrock Relay 2010

Chris got to run the Redrock Relay with my family this year. I was so jealous but not quite up to running it myself. Next year though, I am committed to be ready. And so excited to run it!

Grant, Eleanor and I went down to cheer them on. We stayed at my Grandma and Grandpa Thorley's house and had a good time visiting with them and being around for different parts of the race.

The Redrock is 186 miles that a team of 12 runners completes. It started in Brian Head and finished just outside of Zion National Park. Typically, each person runs 3 different legs of it. My dad, sister Emily, Aunt Lynne, Uncle Paul, Uncle Rod, Uncle Steve, Uncle Mark, Cousin Dave, Cousin Scott, Cousin Brittany, Cousin Dane and Chris all ran it. Uncle Matt and Cousin Kate helped with the driving and pacing. It was awesome to see how united they were and how much they helped cheer and encourage each other along. I loved being able to be involved even just a little and like I said before, can't wait to be on the team next year!

One of the race vehicles

Eleanor waiting at the park where the finish line was.

Chris finishing his last leg of the race. It was really, really hot but he did awesome!

Grant and my dad waiting for Chris to come around the corner.

Another of the race vehicles. Good thing we have these big vans in the family.

And here is a video of Grant dancing. We were at the finish line waiting for the last team member to come in so the whole team could run in and cross the finish line together. Grant was dancing to the music that was playing. He will hardly pass up the chance to dance to a little music.

The Birthday Boy

Grant turned 3 last month and we had so much fun celebrating it. We headed down to Orem and it worked out great to have both my family and Chris's there to celebrate it. That morning we went up to Sundance to see if they were still doing ski lift rides and to see the leaves. The lift was already closed for the season but Grant had a blast running around with his cousins and using his little camera to take pictures. We went to BYU and ate at the Cougareat for lunch and then walked around the Bookstore. Later that evening we had everyone over for an "Orange" birthday party. Every time I would ask Grant what he wanted for his birthday he would say, "orange cake, orange balloons, and orange presents." So that's what we did. Thanks to everyone that helped him have such a great birthday!

We sure love you Grant and are glad you are a part of our family!

Halloween

Grant wanted to be Mario for Halloween this year. The mustache was huge and glued his mouth shut. It was pretty funny to hear him try to talk with it on.

Chris made his Mario costume the Halloween he and I were engaged. I was Princess Peach but unfortunately that costume didn't fit me for this Halloween. He had thought about converting his into Luigi but ran out of time. I think they look pretty good as Big and Little Mario.

Eleanor was a leopard.

She also was this darling skeleton. So cute!

The Super Marios!

Eleanor Eva Barlow

We blessed Eleanor over Labor Day weekend. My brother Matt went into the MTC that following week and we wanted to have him there for the blessing. Sam and Michelle blessed Lily that weekend as well and it was wonderful to share this special time with them and all of our family.



This is the dress that I and my two sisters wore when we were blessed. My Grandma Bunker made it right before my baby blessing. It is simple and beautiful and I loved having the opportunity to use it for Eleanor.



Lily and Eleanor in their blessing dresses.



The Dads.



The Moms.



Sunday dinner group babies: John, Eleanor, Lily, Elle.



Sam & Michelle blessed Lily in Jeff and Suz's home later Sunday night. This was the first Sunday that we had all of the new babies together. We put them on the couch for a picture and it was so funny to see the big crowd gather to admire them. Though I can't blame them. All the babies are pretty darn cute.

1 month already?

I can't believe that a month has gone by already. It seems like time has passed by in long days and fast weeks. Things are slowly falling into place. Having 2 kids is tricky. Having a newborn baby and an almost 3 yr old is tricky. I've been trying to be patient with myself and with them, constantly reminding myself that it won't always be like this. Not that things are bad.....just tricky. I am amazed though at how much love feels my heart for these 2 little ones and their wonderful Dad. I'm grateful that that feeling of love can just continue to expand and grow.

I know I should write a little more to fill in the details but by the sound of things naptime is rapidly coming to an end. Here are a bunch of pictures (I apologize for the quality on some of them) from the past few weeks.

Our little family at Dane and Brittany's wedding reception.

Eleanor taking a nap with Aunt Caroline. My mom, Caroline and Stone stayed with us for about a week after Eleanor was born. They were all so much help. Oh how I wish they lived closer!

Cousins and Best Friends, Lily and Eleanor. These two are only 2 weeks apart.

All the grandchildren. Doesn't Grant look huge?

Grant has been able to spend time playing with cousins, watching TV, tagging along with us to different events, watching TV and oh probably some more watching of TV. (He was the life of the party at the wedding reception. He put on quite the show during the dancing. The picture below doesn't do it justice.)

Eleanor Barlow Part II

Here is the latest installment of pictures of Eleanor at the hospital with an update at the end. Enjoy!

Mom and baby are doing great. The doctor did a great job on the delivery and the nurses have been great also. The tests for Eleanor have all come up well. Jenny is doing better each hour and even got up, showered, and got ready without assistance this morning. Look forward to her upcoming blog: "Tips on how to make giving birth look easy".

You can see from the pictures that Eleanor has a big round head and chubby cheeks. She has dark hair with a bit of a curl to it. Grant got to come visit her yesterday; he said "hi baby Eleanor" and then he was mostly distracted with the other people and gadgets in the room. He really enjoyed the present that "Eleanor" got him: a kids digital camera. He took at least 30 pictures while he was here and already learned to navigate the 5 buttons on the camera. We'll have to post some of his photos later. Thanks so much for all the well wishes.

Eleanor Barlow

Eleanor Barlow

Born at 1:10pm on 8/7/10

9 lbs; 22 in

More Pictures to come; stay tuned.

JULY

This picture is from my cousin's wedding about a month ago. I am not really the biggest fan of myself in this one but Grant and Chris more than make up for it. Look at those smiles!

Well, today is my last day to be pregnant for awhile. I go in tomorrow to be induced. I had forgotten how miserable you feel at the end and I am glad to have this part behind me for awhile.

I wanted to do a little catch up on this last month before the focus changes tomorrow. I don't have all the pictures I would like to accompany this post but it will just have to do I guess.

The month of July was quite a bit less busy for us, well especially for me, but it still went by really fast.

We had Chris's 10 year HS reunion that I actually really enjoyed going to. Chris went to school with really nice friendly people and it was fun to meet and visit with them.

The 4th of July festivities were alot of fun as usual. I didn't quite enjoy all of it nearly as much as I usually do but I assume that had a little something to do with the fact that I was about 8 months pregnant. :) Chris got to go in and watch the Stadium of Fire show this year with his sister and nieces. Grant and I hung out with my family at our usual picnicing spot. Chris sponsored the annual Gary's to Grandma's 5K race and we enjoyed breakfast, the Layton parade, and barbequing with the Barlows.

Other fun activities this month were more swimming for Grant and I at Surf N Swim and Cherry Hill. Running through the sprinklers with cousins. A trip to the zoo for Grant with the Barlow family and then a Bees baseball game for all of us. A campout at Grandma and Grandpa Barlows house that yes, just involved Chris and Grant and not myself. Maybe I'll try that next summer. Visits with friends. And a little relaxing.

The biggest event for us recently was that the basement here at Julie's house was finished enough to get us moved down there. There are a few little things to finish but for the most part it is all done and so nice. There are 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a little kitchenette area, a living room and a storage room. It is so comfortable and nice to have a little more space. Julie has been a miracle worker in getting it ready and us moved before the baby came. I'll have to get some pictures up once things are a little more settled.

Grant and I on one of our swimming excursions.




Grant with his cousins.




Grant dancing to the music at the Bees baseball game. He was doing some beatboxing too.



Grant loves being the center of attention.





Grant with his cousins. He always loves to do what the big boys are doing.

Summer Games and Cabin Weekend

Here are some pictures from the relay race my dad and his brothers ran at the Summer Games in Cedar City. They ran the 4x400. They have been training for this for a long time now and all did amazing. They all ran faster than they were expecting and without injury too. :) It was really fun to watch them and made me want to try this some time in the future. I have always wondered if I would have liked to do Track in high school.

My dad and uncles with their medals after their race. They came in first for their age group. Way to go! Although, they were the only team in their age group. :) They all did really well and ran faster than they expected and even felt pretty good afterwards.

My dad finishing his lap and getting ready for the hand off.

Discussing how it went.

This is part of the group that was there to cheer on the runners.

After the race Chris, Grant and I headed up to the cabin for the weekend. I figured it was my best shot at getting up there this summer with the baby being due in August. It was so pretty up there and we had such a good time. We got to see Annie and her family and then have my parents and the Reynders come up for part of it as well.

My Marlboro Man. :)

Grant called him "Cowboy Daddy."

The first night we were there we put Grant to bed on a spot on the floor. A couple hours later when Chris and I came to bed we found him like this. Sleeping like he was so proud of himself for taking my comfy spot on the bed. It was pretty funny. And I sure don't blame him for choosing our bed over the bed I had made for him on the floor.

Grant loved spending time on this swing. Isn't he a cutie?

Grant also loved jumping on the trampoline. I was proud of myself for actually managing to get a picture of him when he was in the air. Thanks to Uncle Matt and many others that spent time with him out on the trampoline.

Taking a little break. Comfy huh? I would have picked the bed with all the pillows like Grant. :)

Throwing rocks and chasing frogs into the Frog Pond always makes for a good time.