Eleanor likes solid food...and her feet!

Feeding Eleanor has been a huge adventure. She gets partway through a meal and then puts her toes in her mouth. Makes for a very messy meal. We have started using the tray, but then she spreads food all over the tray like finger paints. Either way, feeding her is a great adventure! Of course, she always takes her foot out of her mouth when I try to get a photo!

New way to sleep?

Eleanor actually took a nap in her crib today! This has been something I've been trying to do for her afternoon naps for awhile, but she really prefers to sleep on my back in the Ergo baby carrier or in her Bob Stroller (she likes to fall asleep while moving). Anyway, when I went in to check on her after about a half an hour, here is what I found! Poor kid, I didn't wake her up taking the photos, but I did end up waking her up trying to move her because I didn't want her to wake up and realize her leg was stuck! She ended up sleeping on my back while I did some housework. The amazing thing is that she doesn't usually sleep on her belly at all! She sprawl out on her back.

6 Month Well Baby Visit

Eleanor's well baby visit was actually last week, but things have been pretty busy here so I haven't had time to blog. She was just over 27 inches long (90th percentile) and just over 17 pounds (75th percentile). Sorry I don't have the exact numbers. The nurse didn't write them down for me, and I forgot to ask! She's in the same range as usual. Still no teeth, although we are back to drooling lots, so who really knows. I'm in no rush for teeth to come in! She is able to get up on her hands and knees and rock a bit, so I don't think it will be too long before she is crawling.

Changes...

Eleanor has changed so much in the last week. We woke up one morning and she just looked different. She had gone from having the baby face to having an older baby face. With this change, she became more 'serious.' She doesn't smile as readily at strangers, and often has a serious look on her face. It's pretty funny. This past week she also started getting the hang of eating solid foods. She opens and closes her mouth at the right times and eats much more than the two or three bites she was eating before. She did seem to have a reaction to something she ate yesterday, but we didn't give her anything new. She had squash, avocado and rice cereal. Her cheeks turned really red though. We are going to try the three items on different days to see which it might be. I wonder if the reaction only showed up now because in the past she was only eating a tiny amount? I'm thinking it might be the avocado because she seemed to love the squash and rice cereal, but choked a bit and stuck her tongue out at the avocado. There is also a possibility that it is applesauce, which she had for the first time the day before.

We had Eleanor's 6 month photos on Wednesday. It was lots of fun. We had photos taken with all sorts of interesting hats. Of course, she decided to show off a little and start hitching (moving on her butt) across the floor. The floor at the photo place is nice and slippery, so it was easy for her to get around. She mostly made a big spiral on the floor. Now, she's getting good at sliding herself backwards on the hardwood at home. I guess it won't be long now!

Here's Eleanor showing that she's ready for the big cruise in January!


I got a slight smile out of her when she saw that food was coming.


Eleanor's very serious these days. This is after eating lots of yummy rice cereal!


Here she is moving across the kitchen floor. I'm amazed at how blue her eyes are these days!

6 Months Old!

I can't believe it's been 6 months! Eleanor is growing and changing so fast, it's really amazing. She still puts everything in her mouth, and still loves interaction with people - she really enjoys watching older children playing. She's a good natured baby and as long as there is someone nearby to talk to her or interact with her, she's happy.

Sleeping is still a bit difficult. She can sleep through the night, and has a few times, but she got a cold and that seemed to have messed up her sleep. We are working on that now. She's currently sleeping from 7pm until 1-2am, eating and then sleeping until 5:30 or 6am, which is when Andy usually gets up for work.

Eleanor is still nursing and has recently lengthened out her time between nursing during the day. She's now nursing 5-6 times a day and gets 2 small solid food meals. She will still nurse for comfort when she's in a strange situation or if there was a lot going on (like 8 children all trying to get her attention at once). So far, we have introduced Eleanor to Avocado, Sweet Potato, cooked pears, rice porridge and winter squash. I've been making all of our own baby food, which has been fun. The avocado was the least work (just open and mash) and the rice cereal was perhaps the most "work" but only because I had to grind the rice in the blender before cooking. It actually makes a rather sweet tasting cereal, and mixed with the cooked pears was something even I would eat for breakfast! Eleanor still doesn't eat that much at each sitting. She'll eat perhaps an ounce or two at most meals, but sometimes she'll surprise us and eat 3-4 oz instead! She still insists on helping feed herself, but is getting better at letting us spoon feed her and she only grabs the spoon when she's getting tired of eating solids.

Each day seems to bring new adventures. She can sometimes get up on her hands and knees during belly time, which is scaring both mom and dad. In fact, it scared dad enough, that he decided to install the hand railing in our living room (it looks really nice!). She can roll in any direction now, although she still doesn't do it regularly. If she's on the hardwood floor, she can push herself backwards a bit - but not very fast.

Eleanor has learned how to blow raspberries and does it fairly often. She'll even blow them on her arm while laying on her belly. The first time she was doing it, Andy and I got nervous because we thought she was really gassy. Then we noticed what she was doing and couldn't stop laughing!

The weather is finally improving in New Hampshire. I've been able to get out for lots of walks. I usually carry Eleanor in the Ergo Baby Carrier for walks, but she seems to like the stroller for walking during nap times. Either way, we are getting lots of fresh air and some vitamin D!

I had a hard time picking out photos to post this month. She's just so cute! I decided to share a lot of photos this month!

6 months old next to teddy.


6 months old in high chair.



Some of our favorite feeding photos.


I take up the whole bed!


Eleanor is turning into a real carnivore...


First she eats the teddy bear...


Then she eats the giraffe...


And then she wants to taste the camera...


Here are a few photos of Nora playing on the floor. She's taken to sticking her tongue out at us.


When I was trying to get the teddy photo the first time, I picked a bad time. She was tired.

She first gave daddy a thumbs up!


Then she gave us a big yawn...


Then she put her head down to go to sleep (well, mostly to rub her eyes, but she fell asleep less than five minutes later).

Eleanor's first food

Andy and I had been hoping to wait until 6 months to start solids. However, Eleanor seems ready. She has definitely been interested in food for a few weeks, and has recently been sleeping poorly (waking up every 2-3 hours to eat, when she used to be able to go all night). So, we decided to introduce 'solid' foods a few weeks early. It was a ton of fun feeding her, and Andy took about 40 photos of the process. As we expected, Eleanor insisted on helping to feed herself, so we had avocado everywhere after she ate. Yup, that's right, we went against the grain and started with avocado instead of rice cereal.

Here are some of the photos from our adventure.

Before getting any food. Here, Nora is 'talking' "Dadadada aaaaaaaaaaaaa"


The first spoonful...


Mmm...I like this stuff.


I can feed myself!


Smiling pretty with food all over!

Freedom!

I finally learned how to get Eleanor in th back carry in my Ergo baby carrier. She'll even sleep in it! This means I can put her on my back instead of front when she wants to be held, and actually still get stuff done around the house!

Now I just need more practice - right now its a bit awkward getting her in and out.

Happy Easter!

Playing

Eleanor is spending much more time playing these days. She loves to sit and explore everything around her. Here are some photos of her playing and exploring.

A few minutes later, she was eating her sock...


Viewing the world from a different perspective.


She loves to play with my water cup.


She even seems to know how to use a cup (except for the fact that she was chewing on the rim).



Yup, you guessed it. Her play gym is also worthy of a taste!


Here, she's talking to herself in the mirror. It was quite humorous. I didn't get a photo of it, but at one point she started licking the mirror.


Surrounded by toys...she can't decide which ones to play with!

A mother's view

Every day I carry Eleanor in my Ergo Baby Carrier. She seems very happy in it - much happier than in the stroller, although I'm hoping she'll come to like the stroller over the summer since at least one of us will overheat using the Ergo! Here's what I see when I look down when she's in the Ergo.

Just barely awake...

A few minutes later