Eleanor 7 Months

Eleanor is 7 months old… and doesn’t fit on her milestone blanket AT ALL anymore.

This little chub is 25 pounds, and let me assure you, my back KILLS by the end of the day from all the picking her up and carrying her around!

She likes ALL FOOD. Even the green beans and broccoli she cringes at and pretends not to like at first, she ends up gobbling it up. She loves to feed herself and hates being fed! She’ll grab the spoon every time and then chuck it on the floor after she realizes food isn’t coming out of it. We go through dozens of spoons a day. Her favorites are sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pears, apples, bananas, and cheerios and puffs. She gets so excited about cheerios that she flaps her arms up and down like an ecstatic little fat penguin when she sees me bringing them over to her tray. She also eyes what we’re eating at dinner at night very enviously… she’ll track the food from the plate, to the fork to our mouths and seems to say, “Why am I not eating the same thing?!” We’ve been slowing letting her try small chunks of our meals and I have yet to find anything she refuses to eat. She’ll be totally done with purees in another month or so because she just loves finger foods so much.

Eleanor still takes 2 1.5-2 hour naps a day and a little 45 minute nap in the late afternoon. She’s still in that awkward in-between stage where she REALLY needs that third nap, but has a hard time going down. But she can’t quite make it through bedtime and dinner without it! If I could extend her second nap in the afternoon, that would probably eliminate the need to have that third catnap, but I have to go pick up the girls from school, and it KILLS me to have to wake up such a happy, slumbering baby from her sweet nap!

Consequently, she went through a month-long period of randomly waking up at 1, 2, 3, or 4 a.m. for a bottle. If we skip that last catnap and just deal with her being a cranky mess until bedtime, she’ll be so tired that she’ll sleep all the way until her normal wakeup time of 6. But skipping that last nap has not been sustainable, so we’ve experimented with having her take a super short 20 minute nap for her third nap, and that seemed to get her back to a normal wake-up schedule. Still, the month was rough since we had been so spoiled for months and months with an easy baby who slept all night.

7 month comparison with Samantha, Amelia, Meredith and Eleanor:

She’s finally starting to get more hair! I love finally being able to use our massive collection of baby bows.

Eleanor loves playing with her shoes and anything within her reach (hair, toys, food). She still crawls backwards and does a little twisty thing to maneuver herself around the floor, but still hasn’t figured out how to switch into forward gear.

Her favorites are bath time (she squeals and splashes to her heart’s content in the bath), walks, the swings, watching her sisters be crazy, and school drop-off/pick-up. She smiles at everyone and eats up all the attention, which she gets a lot of because she’s such a chub and so magnetic! People can’t resist talking to her and squeezing her ankles and chubby wrists.

Such a chunky monkey.

Meredith had the same exact little lips.

She has to take a taste of everything.

Loving life!

Lots of love,

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Eleanor 6 Months

Eleanor is 6 months old!

6 month comparison– look at that round face!

 

At six months, Eleanor can sit up mostly unassisted, although she tends to topple over the second she sees something interesting and loses her balance.

At her 6-month check up, Eleanor didn’t so much as flinch when she got her shots. I think her chubby thighs must provide a nice layer of insulation against the needle! At 21 pounds, she’s above the 100th percentile in weight and 99th for height. She wears size 18-24 month clothing! She doesn’t seem that huge to me until I see another baby her age… she usually looks like she could eat them for breakfast.

Eleanor is still a champion sleeper, although she started waking up earlier in the morning once we got back from Hawaii. She naps three times a day and sleeps from 7 p.m. to 5:30-6:30 a.m.

Eleanor loves her shiny shoes, singing, grabbing hair, walks, chewing on toys, and all kinds of foods! Her favorite are purees that come from pouches, especially sweet potato, butternut squash, carrots and pears. She usually grimaces and tries to spit out the homemade baby food I make her in the Instant Pot, despite experimenting with different combinations of fruits and veggies and textures. I think she just likes to feed herself! If I feed her with the spoon, she’ll spend the entire meal trying to grab it out of my hand and stick it in her own mouth. Then, as soon as my back is turned, she’ll throw it on the ground. We average 5 or 6 spoons per feeding and are often out of baby spoons by the end of the day if I don’t do the dishes.

Still no teeth!

Eleanor’s absolute favorite part of the day is bath time. She flaps those fat little arms and tries to swim if we put her on her back, or splashes and giggles when she’s sitting up. Her second favorite part of the day is school drop-off and pick-up. She eats up all the attention she gets from her little perch in the Ergo carrier and gives her best coos and smiles to the teachers and other kids. No one can resist pinching her legs and cheeks.

Eleanor loves watching her sisters run around being crazy. She giggles and squeaks when they throw balls up and down or when they play peek-a-book with her.

Happy half birthday, Eleanor!

Lots of love,

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Eleanor 5 Months and Baby Blessing

5 Months old and delightful as ever!

Eleanor started solids at 5 months and couldn’t have been happier! She takes 2 long naps and 1 short nap a day and sleeps 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Amelia, Samantha, Meredith & Eleanor, 5 Months Old:

Eleanor never rolled over! She’s so content on her back or when we put her on her tummy for tummy time that she just doesn’t see the point of rolling over on her own. That, and she’s so chubby that it’s probably impossible! She’s working on sitting up on her own, but is still pretty wobbly.

Getting too big for her milestone blanket!

 

Eleanor is so interactive and loves to smile and coo at everyone she sees. From her perch in the Ergo carrier, she is obsessed with greeting her fans, especially at school drop-off and pick-up. Random strangers just can’t resist giving her legs a little squeeze or coming up to chat with her– she’s very magnetic!

 

Eleanor loves sweet potatoes, butternut squash and oatmeal!

 

Such a joyful baby!

We finally had Eleanor’s baby blessing on November 15! A few days shy of her 5 month birthday, she was the oldest of any of the other girls to get her baby blessing… I kept having to order dresses that didn’t end up fitting because our chubby baby kept growing out of them! 1 p.m. church is kind of nightmare for her since that’s right in the middle of her longest nap, so we finally decided to have her blessing at home on a weeknight when the Bishop was available.

It was very low key since it was just our family, but it was our favorite blessing ever because the girls listened and got to see the blessing up close! Ironically, even though Eleanor almost NEVER fusses, she was cranky during her blessing, even though it was just at home… argh. Who knows whether she would have been quieter during church, but oh well. Despite Meredith crawling around my lap and banging on the piano and Eleanor crying, Jake kept his cool and gave her a very thoughtful blessing. It was a  peaceful, intimate experience and everyone gave our little angel a little squeeze afterward, even though she was a little fuss bucket!

We finally timed it right so that Eleanor’s custom silk dress fit her before she grew out of it!

Eleanor’s blessing (complete with Meredith banging on the piano, me shushing and Eleanor crying!)

Lots of love,

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Eleanor 4 Months

Our sweet Elle turned 4 months and no longer fits on her milestone blanket that was supposed to last until she’s one. Oh well.

Amelia, Samantha, Meredith and Eleanor at 4 months:

 

Eleanor weighed in at 19 pounds at 4 months!! Yep, that’s in the 100th percentile. She’s definitely the chubbiest out of all the babies, with Meredith a distant second place at 17 pounds when she was 4 months. Elle also grew a ton in length, measuring 26.5 inches!

I have so many pictures of Elle smiling because she is just a delight. Meredith was also a pretty mellow, giggly baby, but Eleanor tops them all. The twins definitely still win for crankiest babies who either stared blankly at the camera or were screaming.

Eleanor takes 4 naps a day and sleeps 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. at night– A+!

As you can see, she loves to EAT, EAT, EAT and can even hold her own bottle. She wears 9-12 month clothing and I’m going through diapers so fast, I have no idea what size she is. Her legs are sooo chubby that she barely even felt her 4 month shots at the doctor and only gave one little squeak when poked. Thunder thighs for sure.

She rolled over from her stomach to her back once, but HATED it and never did it again. She has yet to roll over from back to stomach, but I mean, who can blame her? She’s such a roly poly I doubt she can physically do it on her own. She does love tummy time, though, and is really content on her back, whether sleeping or playing. All the others were tummy sleepers, but she is decidedly a back sleeper.

  

Eleanor loves to grab hair (especially mine or anyone within grabbing distance) and loves to swat and grab her toys. She has great hand eye coordination and loves to put toys in her mouth. She doesn’t take a pacifier or suck her thumb.

This girl has a zest for life! Her favorite things to do include going for walks, being carried in the Ergo, pick-up time at school where the paparazzi flocks to smile at her and pinch her ankles, peekaboo, and watching sisters run/jump/dance/throw balls. She is giggly, talkative, and all-around the pudgiest, sweetest, most delightful baby you ever did see. The twins tell me they would never trade her for a different baby– she’s THAT good.

Happy 4 Month Birthday, Elle!

Lots of love,

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