Flashback Friday: A Set of Elie and Daddy

This morning as I was re explaining to my oldest (because I have to remind her in one way or another, at least 10 times a day) how shes the "Big Sister", I started thinking back to the days of when she was just, "the baby".

Christopher and I had no idea how to be parents. We had just moved away from our friends and family, from the pacific northwest, to a place in Texas that we didn't even know existed, to embark on his military career. We had a newborn. What do you even do with a newborn?

We were starting from scratch. We hadn't a clue in the world as to what ingredients to use, or how to combine them.

So like I said in the beginning of this post, today I was looking at my almost-4-year-old, being completely nostalgic about days gone by, trying to remember how it all started, just for the sake of remembering. Right now, both kids are upstairs in their beds, I've got complete silence throughout the house (Christopher works the swing shift now), and all the mom-freedom in the world (confined to the house, that is). I came to the computer, in search of older pictures, taken with our very first digital camera (a Walmart purchased Samsung, that matched our cell phones at the time), from Eleanore's baby days. I was overwhelmed with emotion (big surprise there) when I stopped to look through some of them.

When Elie was a baby, we didn't have the internet. I didn't blog. There was no social networking for us.

It was just us- Me and Christopher, living in an apartment, with our daughter.

So for the next couple of weeks, every Friday, rather than digging through the huggies diaper box that I keep to hold all of my old film photographs in- I'm going to be posting sets of pictures that are held on the computer, from Eleanore's baby days. The pictures that never made it to the big screen.

Starting with these ones...










Eleanore was 4 or 5 months old in those pictures. We were living in our first apartment complex (Timber Ridge) here in Abilene. Our first two bedroom place.

For the first time since meeting each other, we had cable tv. For the first time, we could afford to go out and buy groceries (the kind that you can actually make meals out of), we no longer had to rely on whatever my parents could pass our way when we drove out to their farm on the weekends to do our laundry (I swear they must have picked up extra things for us here and there, knowing we survived strictly on ramen).

I don't remember where that bug toy came from, but there was a string on its back that you pulled, and the bug's antennas would light up, and the whole thing would vibrate. She loved it. I'm pretty sure these pictures are the first time we presented it to her.

And this might be something silly to notice, but things have just changed so much since having our first baby- ...look at her cute little matching socks. They even have purple bows on them. Purple bows! Its rare, these days, that we find a matching pair of socks anywhere in our household. Especially the cute ones.

And look at her wrists! Look at the rolls!

Oh and in case you're wondering what I looked like, back then, in the winter of 2006, since you've seen both Eleanore and Christopher...



Turns out I took a "ooh lah lah- look at me" style picture, in between shots that I snapped of the hubs and baby. And I'm not going to lie, I'm totally embarrassed by the face that I'm making, I was obviously trying to look sexy, and now that I'm looking back at it- ...Lord *hangs head in hilarious shame*.

But, I had to share it with you guys anyways. It wouldn't be funny if I didn't.

*note to self: don't make stupid kissy/duck face in any pictures, ever again.

I can't wait to find another set of vintage Eleanore pictures to post next week.

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Grab an old photo, write a little bit about it, and link up! We love love love to invade your personal polaroid history, so don't be shy, and expect a lot of comments starting with "awwwwww". Unless its a sad post, and then... well those might start with "awww" too. I swear, last week I cried at half of your flashbacks!! Anyways- don't forget to either text link back to this post, or grab one of our buttons from down below.

(never a) Wordless Wednesday: Pretty In Pink

(So by now you've probably noticed that my attempt at participating in the weekly meme, "Wordless Wednesday", had turned out to be a failure. Every Wednesday when it comes time to post, it ends up being quite the opposite. It appears that I end up having even more to say on hump day, than I do any other day of the week.)

(See I save my very best set of pictures for Wednesdays, and you know I can't just let them go unspoken for. Out of this, has evolved never a Wordless Wednesday.)

(So thats the explanation of that.)



(Something doesn't look quite right here, does it? Its almost as if... Miss Eleanore might be in need of a little bit of color, splashed into those blank fingers and toes?)



(Well that idea must have just tickled her, says the fit of blurry giggles.)



(Ok ok, now that all the sillys are out- lets get this show on the road.)

(Wait... what are we doing again?)

(Oh right. "Painting-my-nails-just-like-I-do-with-the-pretend-nail-polish-thats-in-my-dress-up-eeeeeeeee!!!!!!" says Eleanore.)



(When I was at Target over the weekend, I went in search of the most perfect fingernail polish they had. Not for me, but just for the little Miss. See, sometimes I forget what being a girl is all about. Its easy to do, when my hands are constantly submerged in bread dough and diapers, at separate times of course, but- one of the key ingredients to feeling pretty, when you're almost 4 years old, that is, has got to be having pretty painted fingernails. Shame on me for having forgotten that.)

(So I went up and down the aisles, cringing at the $6 bottles of color that I knew would most likely dry up and find their way into the garbage by this time next year. Just as I was about to give in and buy one, my hand literally hovering over the cart with it- I spotted a display of Hello Kitty cosmetics.)

(YES! Oh my gosh, yes! Thank you, yes.)

(... and yes.)

(I don't know Eleanore even knows who Hello Kitty is- who is she, by the way- but she loves her, and this would be perfect. The package contained 5 mini nail polishes, all in bright colors. She'd love love love it.)

(I put back the bottle of $6 trendy "radish", and into the cart went the $4.99 assortment of Hello Kitty colors.)



(As Eleanore sat there anxiously on her bed, leaning over the edge looking down at the mysterious bottles of paint that I had lined up on top of her drawer, Kitty came in for a visit.)

(Oh okay, Kitty. Theres always time for a little pet pet.)

("Bomber, Mommy is going to paint my fingernails now, so you have to go away, because you're a cat and you can't play, okay?" she says in her adult I'm-about-to-do-something-very-important, voice.)



(She was a little nervous, at first. Shes not the type of girl that likes to get dirty. Even something as simple as picking up a piece of pizza or a sandwich, disgusts her- she can't stand the feeling of anything on her skin.)



(I let her pick her color, and she chose "red".)

(I pulled the drawer out, since it seemed to be the perfect place for her to rest her feet, explained to her that she wouldn't feel a thing, but to hold very still- and then began dipping and painting.)



(And would you look at that! Within minutes, she had the pain free pretty pink tootsies of a princess.)

(Yes Miss Elie, you can still walk with your feet, the paint won't impair that, I promise. See- touch it, its all dry.)

(Now... lets do your fingers too.)



(Again, with the nervousness. Would it hurt? Would it feel differently on her fingers than it did on her toes? But, but, but...)

(But she held still like a big girl, and she let me do it.)



(She kept her fingers very stiff, at first. If she wiggled them too much, they might break, right?)



(And thats what the cat has to say about that.)

(Eventually, things started returning to normal. The feeling came back to her fingertips, and her toes touched the ground once again. I promised her, that the carpet wouldn't erase it, nor would the wind.)



(And that, my friends, is one happy little girl.)