Eight months

At eight months old, Eleanor is finally feeling heavy to me. I think she's probably somewhere around 18.5 pounds, but we won't find out anything accurate until her 9 month appointment next month. She still has only two teeth and no signs of any more yet. I would officially consider her in the mobile category now - she can't crawl forward, but she learned how to reverse army crawl on her belly, and between that and rolling and spinning, I have to keep my eyes open...she's not always where I left her last anymore. She obviously can't get very far without crawling, but she can get places. I would guess she'll learn to crawl here soon because her frustration is very apparent when she watches other kids go places and she can't figure out how to join them.

She mastered the pincer grasp that she was working on last month, but still sometimes forgets to let go of the food when it's in her mouth and ends up pulling it back out and getting a bit frustrated. She still does not use or like her sippy cup, but we're working on that one. Eleanor is eating new foods every day, so much so that I really don't keep track of the things she tries anymore. She does love bananas, as well as the foods she loved last month. She naps twice a day pretty much always now, ranging from somewhere between 45 minutes and 2.5 hours at a time. She's also slept through the night (11-12 hours) a couple of times, but usually still eats around 5:30 AM because I feed her then before I go to work three days a week. We now spend most of our days outside as long as it's not raining, which works out better for both of us (there is only so much stimulation you can get out of building block towers). It was a long winter for Williamsburg this year and we are pleased not to be cooped up inside all day.

As a side note, taking pictures of this girl is getting far more difficult! She likes to pick up and roll around with the bear and as you can see below, the chair is getting dangerous. She likes to launch herself forward (I think she feels this is the first step toward crawling)...

Eleanor at one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven months.

Erika visits!

Lucky little Eleanor has been having several of her aunts visit her these last two weeks! Erika came down right before Easter to shower some love on this girl and hang out. It was kind of cold weather-wise, but nice. She gave Eleanor her bath, read her books to put her to sleep, and watched her for the afternoon while Chris and I were at work (and I heard put up a pretty good fight...sorry!). It was awesome for me to be able to hang out on my day off with another adult and in general just to catch up with family! We haven't been up to visit recently due to my work schedule, so Erika caught me up on what's going on with everyone up in northern VA while also getting to spend some time with her niece. 

(Stole this last picture of Erika's instagram feed - those bunny ears were sent down from her grandparents for Easter. She actually kept them on for awhile...what a cutie :) )

Thanks for coming to visit Auntie Erika!!

Easter

Happy Easter!

Last weekend we took Eleanor to her very first Easter egg hunt! She found a couple eggs...and by found, I mean we would see one, sit her down in front of it, and then she would pick it up and wave it around. She definitely had fun though - it was entertaining for at least half an hour which is a success with a not quite 8 month old. It was sunny, warm, and an overall great day to be outside.

She loved just sitting in the soft grass and waving her pail and the eggs around.

Her favorite activity by far was taking her full Easter pail and dumping all her eggs out into the grass. 

And after she figured out that the eggs opened, it was a pretty tough decision between which she wanted to play with: the plastic egg or the candy.

Definitely a great introduction into what's to come in a couple years when she is actually excited about looking for eggs.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.

John 3:16-17

Lauren visits!

My sister came down last weekend to visit for THE WHOLE WEEKEND! It was glorious. We hung out on the back porch eating bruschetta on Friday night while Chris was at the annual basketball banquet, and then Saturday we spent the entire day outside. We went to the farmer's market in the morning where I bought some tomato plants and basil, and then we headed home to do some planting. We put poor Lauren to work in the backyard the entire time she was here...planting, raking, bagging leaves from last fall (we actually completely ignored the yard since last August because I was super pregnant and then Eleanor was a newborn and then it was winter...essentially there is a whole lot of stuff to do and we aren't really sure where to start). Since I only have every other weekend off and it tends to rain on a few of those, and our family likes to see us on a couple others, we haven't had any time to get to the yard yet until last weekend and hence Lauren got put to work. It was a great weekend to be outside!

I planted my tomatoes in an Earthbox - a gift I got for Christmas last year. I'm hoping the weather doesn't freeze them out since I guess we planted early (who knows these things??). I think I assumed everything you needed came with the kit, and it doesn't, so needless to say we had to take 3 separate trips to the store to get these things planted. It was an all day affair. Lauren and Eleanor (big and little Elle Jay!) had a great time together, especially when Lauren let her play in her water cup. Playing with water is basically Eleanor's favorite thing right now - I think she just really doesn't get how it works yet so it's fascinating still.

Sunday we went to church in the morning and then Lauren headed back home. Thank you for coming Lauren!! Please come back and maybe we won't work you so hard next time ;)

Spring in the land of the colonists

The last few days in Williamsburg have been gorgeous and we have loved spending them outside. Even if most of that time has been spent doing yard work, it's still been wonderful. I'm so tired of bundling Eleanor up in 6 layers just to walk her around the neighborhood so she isn't cooped up inside all day, so I'm sure you can imagine how nice it is to just drop her in her stroller and go. She loves being outside because it's so stimulating for her - grass, wind, trees, noises. I hope we get lots of days like these in the coming months.

Yesterday we took Eleanor down to Colonial Williamsburg for a walk with a change of scenery and it was great. The last weekend I had off work it rained the entire time so this is really the first spring day we've been able to head down there together. The lambs are here (and are fairly big already!), and this year there is even a baby ox.

Much of the historic area (like our backyard) still looks as though it were fall due to leaves still covering the ground, but if you pay close attention you can see the leaves on the trees beginning to open up, and there are flowers everywhere.

Happy spring!

Guess the baby

So I've had a lot of people say that Eleanor looks like me (obviously - she was born with a full head of dark hair, just like I was), but the older she's getting, the more people say her facial features are starting to resemble Chris' more. I think we can all agree that her coloring will always be more similar to mine, but I figured it'd be fun to play a game of guess the baby! So here you go, the pictures are numbered, you can guess in the comments, and a week from now, I'll come back and edit this post with the correct answers.

1. 
2. 
3.
4.
5. 
6. 

What do you think? Do we all look the same or does Eleanor have certain features belonging to each of us? Also - grandmas, don't give the answers away!

Stephen W Tribute Post

Congratulations to Stephen W on his win in this, the most prestigious of all NCAA Tournament pools.  He is our sixth different winner in six years of the pool, so we are all about fair play here.  Thank you all for participating this year, and I look forward to another great year next year!  The final standings are down at the bottom.  Here are 10 things about Stephen that you need to know:

1.       In the 6 years of the pool, this is the lowest winning score we've ever had at 78, and also the first time that nobody earned any points from the final 4 or championship game.  But it is also the most participants we've ever had with 27.

      2.      Stephen and Liz got married during march madness 2013, so this is the blog’s anniversary present to Stephen.

      3.  He is a cycle boat enthusiast:

4.     The first time I met Stephen was during march madness games, after their rehearsal dinner.  Friends and family were all together, and he and I watched basketball.  It was a great bonding time.

5. The man respects Cool Runnings, and I respect that: 

6.     Stephen included a bonus pick of Illinois as the NIT Champion which made me laugh.  They lost in the 2^nd round.

7.   He rocks a solid Christmas sweater:

8.     Stephen actually wrapped up the title on Saturday night.  Out of the 4 possible outcomes from Saturday’s 2 games, Stephen could only win with 1 combination – both underdogs winning.  Unfortunately for Ashley H, that’s exactly what happened. 

9.     Stephen and Liz’s wedding had the best food I’ve ever had at a wedding – Salt Lick BBQ, and it was unlimited portions. 

10. I mustache you a question! 

2014 Final Standings

	Name	Round 1	Round 2	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Final 4	Champ	Total
1	Stephen W	24	18	20	16	0	0	78
2	Patty S	25	18	16	16	0	0	75
3	Ashley H	23	16	20	16	0	0	75
4	Stina C	25	20	20	8	0	0	73
5	Bill F	24	20	20	8	0	0	72
6	Katie S	24	16	16	16	0	0	72
7	Chalk	24	20	16	8	0	0	68
8	Paul D	26	20	12	8	0	0	66
9	Alex H	27	18	12	8	0	0	65
10	Paula D	25	20	12	8	0	0	65
11	Ryan J	23	18	16	8	0	0	65
12	Bob S	21	18	16	8	0	0	63
13	Rob S	26	20	8	8	0	0	62
14	Liz W	24	18	12	8	0	0	62
15	Jennie T	23	22	8	8	0	0	61
16	Chris S	24	24	12	0	0	0	60
17	Michele F	23	16	12	8	0	0	59
18	Jonathan G	27	16	8	0	0	0	51
19	Cassidy J	23	14	12	0	0	0	49
20	Ashleigh S	22	14	12	0	0	0	48
21	Eleanor S	17	10	12	8	0	0	47
22	Maggie E	23	12	8	0	0	0	43
23	Michael H	20	16	4	0	0	0	40
24	Erika G	21	10	8	0	0	0	39
25	Jessica S	19	8	4	8	0	0	39
26	Joanna K	20	14	4	0	0	0	38
27	Dave E	16	8	12	0	0	0	36