Eleanor Grace!

Snuggled with her pink bunny lovey from aunt Julie!

This never happens - all three of them quiet and asleep at the same time?!

This is after Day #2 of daycare...see details below...

Practicing sitting! She's getting so big!

Look at those shades! GranMum - this one's for you - I think she looks like you in this picture!

This also never happens - I laid her down to blow my nose and when I came back, she had fallen asleep! On her own!

Oh, Eleanor... My, oh my! For those of you who don't know, I went back to work on Tuesday, December 3. My Nana came down and kept Eleanor that first week of December, followed by my mom (Gigi) the second week, and her daddy the third week. Things went fairly well for all three of them. And then I had two weeks off from school! Wahoo! Well, that time flew by and before I knew it, it was Monday, January 6 - and it was Eleanor's first day of daycare. It could not have gone worse.

They called me several times to tell me that she kept refusing the bottle and was crying so much that every time they tried to feed her, she'd fight them so much she'd end up crying herself to sleep. One of the times they called, they even told me that they went and got Cohen from his classroom to try to come in and calm her down. (He told me after school that day that he went to her rescue - how sweet is he?!). Needless to say, by 2:00pm, she had still had nothing to eat since 7:30 that morning, so I had to leave my district mandated training to go and get her early. Tuesday wasn't ANY better. And after a LOT of discussions with Will and some serious soul searching, I went to Human Resources and put in my resignation for this school year.

On top of the torticollis and the plagiocephaly that we are currently dealing with, we believe Eleanor has a milk protein allergy, and because I'm nursing her, I've had to go dairy-free to get all dairy (including my beloved cheese) OUT of my system. This has been quite a challenge, that's for sure! All of that being said, though, Will and I decided that Eleanor needs her momma right now, so I'm out until August (and then we'll reevaluate our situation). I feel like I made the best decision for our family and I will cherish every moment I get to have with Eleanor at home (as well as the time we get to spend with big brother, too!).

Until then, anyone have any dairy-free recipes they want to share? I miss cheese! :(