8 months

Dear Eleanor-

You are now 8 months old! I cannot believe how fast time is going!

You are now on the move. You army crawl around and even attempt to get on your hands and knees. You scoot all over the floor and before we know it, you'll be crawling and then walking!

Since I am off for the summer, we are enjoying our days together. We go to swimming class on Tuesdays, physical therapy on Wednesdays, and music class on Thursdays. You LOVE swimming and music class. You are such a fish!

You are now eating a ton too! You love the little puffs and pancakes! You eat fresh fruit that I make you along with yummy yogurt! You love to explore new foods, although the face you make the first time isn't always one of pleasure!

You are making lots of new sounds! You say "da-da" and "blah blah". You are pretty much babbling constantly when given the chance!

You have met Carter (Laura and Brady's little man), hung out with your cousin Brynn and Claire, and even played with your cousin Anthony.

You still like to cuddle with mommy in the morning, but you love to scoot around!

I cannot believe how fast you are growing up. I love you so much!

Love,
Mommy

7 months

Dear Eleanor-

Wow! You are 7 months old! I cannot believe it! You are growing up so fast! You are so alert and pay attention to your surroundings. You are super inquisitive and want to touch and see everything you encounter.

You are sitting up like a big girl on your own! You have started eating puffs at your highchair and are now eating food that is a little thicker and chunkier. I am starting to make more of your food for you such as berries, mango/cherry/pears, and some veggie combinations. You are quite a good eater!

You are talking and squealing more than ever! You like to blow raspberries and make silly sounds with your lips!

You have started swimming classes and music classes. I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with you this summer.

To be honest though, I'm not quite ready for you to grow up. I love the cuddle time with you, and that is becoming less and less.

I love you so much my sweet baby girl!

6 months

Dear Eleanor,

Wow! We took you for your 6th month check up and you are 17 lbs and 27.25 inches! You are growing up so fast!!!

Currently you are loving every moment of being a baby. Every  where we go, people always comment on 2 things: your beautiful blue eyes and your sweet smile. You are super friendly and cuddly.

You are sitting up with minimal help, and you love to pick things up with your feet. You are very curious about the world around you.

You still are eating about 30 oz of formula a day. You are eating two meals. You love spinach, peas, and pears, and you are a lean mean fruit eating machine! You are fascinated by your bib and like to put it in your mouth all the time!

The biggest change is that you now live in a new house! Mommy and daddy were SUPER SAD to leave our little house behind, but we hope that you learn to love this new home as we make lots of new memories in it!

We love reading to you and taking you out places!

I can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Love,
Mommy

5 months

Dear Eleanor-

You are now 5 months old! Where has the time gone? You are a mover and a shaker now! You just came back from your first trip to Florida! You were such a good baby on the plane. Everyone around us kept saying, "Wow! What a great baby!!" Mom and Dad were not quite ready for the amount of stuff we had to bring for you!! You slept okay in the portacrib, but wanted to party with your cousin Anthony at 6AM everyday! 

You tried solid food for the first time on March 31st. By the video we captured, rice cereal was like poison to you!! You screamed something terrible. While we were in Florida, we decided to try squash. You liked the squash and then we started pears. You and Anthony were funny, because as soon as one baby ate, the other one wanted to!!

You are making new discoveries everyday! You love books and get so excited when you see the pages. You have found your feel and love to grab your toes and put them in your mouth. You also are working on rolling from your tummy to your back. You tolerate tummy time a lot more and are even reaching to grab things to put in your mouth. 

You are such a happy baby. I love to walk in your room in the morning to hear you cooing and then have you look up at me with those blue eyes and give me the biggest smile. When I pick you up form daycare, you are always so happy to see mommy and again give me the biggest smile! 

You are growing so fast, and I am loving every minute of it. 

Until next month,

Love,

Mommy

4 months!

Dear Sweet Eleanor-

Wow! You are 4 months old! It seems like only yesterday that you were placed into my arms as a brand new baby.

A lot has changed in the last month! You have learned how to roll over from your tummy to your back. You don't like to be on your tummy for very long, but you tolerate it much longer that before! You hold your head up and are even kicking your legs as if you want to scoot along the floor.

You have found your laugh! Mommy and Daddy love making "chubby bunny" faces and hearing you start to giggle! You sometimes even snort! :)

You made it through your first few weeks of day care. I would say you did it without getting sick, but somehow you managed to get sick and Mommy and Daddy! Mommy ended up with Hand Foot and Mouth disease!

You don't know it yet, but mommy and daddy bought a new house! We will be moving in May. We are very sad to have to leave your first nursery and the home where we first brought you home, but we are excited about all the new possibilities that lie ahead in our new house! You even have a new bff named Rosalie that lives next door to us!

You continue to amaze me in ways that I cannot put into words. Your sweet smile that I see every morning makes me even more thankful for you everyday. You are such a blessing. I love you very much!

Love,
Mommy

First Day at Day Care

Time for Daddy to chime in. :) Today is Ellie's first day at daycare. It was very hard for me to drop her off today, but I know we have picked a good place that will help her grow and prosper. Candice and Marilyn were so nice and helped me through getting the courage to walk out the door. I know that this is good for her, that she will develop new interpersonal skills and build up a strong immune system, but I would hover over her every second if I could. I guess this is all part of learning to be a parent and to let go at times.

Okay, time to go call them and see how she is doing. ;)

Back to work mommy goes

When people tell you times speeds up when you have children, they are not lying. My 16 weeks of maternity leave is up...I say 16 because I had some none work days in there that didn't count against me!! :)

It's hard to believe my sweet little girl was placed into my arms that long ago...now my champion sleeper sleeps through the night for almost 11 hours. I have loved EVERY minute of being home with her. I loved her snuggles, her mini fits when she wanted to eat, changing poopy diapers, reading to her, playing on the floor, taking walks outside, packing her up to go to weight watchers, meeting her daddy for lunch, and just being with her.

I know my life has changed and my priorities are now shifted. I no longer am focused on my needs or the needs at work, but rather putting her first. I know she will be taken good care of at DayCare and with grammy and Pops...but it's an adjustment I'm not sure I'm ready to complete yet....

On the bright side, only 14 more weeks until school is out!

-B

Oh how times has flown!

3 month Letter

Dear Eleanor-

I cannot believe you are already 3 months! Mommy has been working so hard to keep up with you as you grow! My life has been forever changed by you in in and I cannot wait to see what lies ahead as you continue to blossom into the beautiful girl you have already started to become!

You are able to do so many things already! By now, you are sleeping through the night (since January!), eating every 3-4 hours 4-5 oz of food, cooing and giggling, smiling every time you hear mommy's voice or when you see daddy's face when he gets home from work, having conversations with mommy and daddy when we sit with you, watching the world around you, kicking and playing on your jungle play mat, holding your head up without much bobbling, sitting up when mommy or daddy holds you, and growing bigger by the minute!

You weighed 13 lbs and mommy will measure you to see how long you are! Your next doctor appointment is not for another month, so we will have to go on our own scale and measuring tape!

Mommy goes back to work in a week and a half. She is very sad that our time together is coming to a quick end, but I've been able to be a stay at home mom for 16 weeks! I've been able to cuddle you, hug you, feed, you, love you, play with you and rock you, sometimes all day!

You continue to amaze both your dad and I, and I cannot wait to write you another letter in a month to tell you all the wonderful new things you will be doing! :)

I love you Eleanor!

Love,
Mommy