Girls weekend

The first weekend in March, most of my college friends were able to come into town to have a girls weekend. One of our group is expecting a baby in a couple months and she is not a big fan of showers, so we did a fun group activity and some gifts to celebrate her and the baby instead of a traditional shower. We decided on Wine and Design - a place where you bring your own food and drinks and get to paint. It was so much fun :) Obviously the wine portion of the evening was a bit more downplayed for some of us due to pregnancy and breastfeeding, but the atmosphere was wonderful.

As it always is, it was so refreshing to have a weekend together with all the girls. Even though it was coooold outside, we spent time in Colonial Williamsburg and on campus hanging out.

And obviously, the most important woman of the weekend: Maggie! We can't wait to meet your little one in less than two short months!

February wrap-up

This month is always a short one and I'm finding I have less and less time to post the older Eleanor gets and the more of my attention she demands. On top of that, she has recently been sick which has made her a bit needier and also cuts into my "get things done" time. Despite all that we've done lots this month though most of it has been mundane.

We've done lots of laundry folding.

Eleanor's new favorite thing is to spend her time on the kitchen counter in the bumbo (our friends gave this to us a couple weeks ago and it's been wonderful) watching us cook or do dishes. One time she knocked over the knife block when I wasn't paying close enough attention, and another time she got at the paper towels. She is industrious.

We've tried lots of new foods, including carrots and broccoli.

Eleanor and Hannah started baby book club and had their first meeting this past month.

We got a care package from our friends in Germany that included a bear and songs for Eleanor, as well as chocolate for Chris and me.

Eleanor tried on a bonnet to be cute and Williamsburg-like :)

We've gone to the park to swing whenever it's nice out.

Eleanor went to her first friend's birthday party.

Chris fixed the headlight on our car by essentially taking multiple pieces of the engine out to replace the bulb, only to realize afterwards that the bulb wasn't a problem and we only had to replace a fuse...bummer.

Eleanor has done lots of sitting and playing in her crib and room.

She has also gone on some dates with several of our friends who have helped us out for a couple hours watching her while Chris and I were both working. Recently she got to go on a picnic outside the Wren Building. A HUGE thank you to all our friends who help out when we need a little extra help!

She also got to go on a double dad date with our neighbors while I was working one day - I was bummed to miss out on this one but Ashley sent me lots of cute pictures like this one:

Besides that, Chris had the annual Lord Botetourt auction for work and started a new job (!!), still at W&M but doing less weekend/night work - which was getting increasingly hard to juggle between both our schedules. February blew threw quickly, and despite the snow we had this week, we are eager for spring. Eleanor's winter coat won't fit much longer and she is as tired of wearing it as I am of putting her in it :)

Eleanor is dedicated

In mid February, Eleanor got dedicated at the Chapel. Some of her grandparents, aunts, and uncles came down to celebrate with us and it was a wonderful day! Eleanor wore her first dress and was absolutely adorable.

We brought all our family up on stage to introduce Eleanor to everybody and she behaved fairly well. There were two babies being dedicated that Sunday. Eleanor grabbed the pastor's face while he prayed for her (something she does to everyone these days), but the other baby actually spat up on his suit - so she wins for behavior.

After the service, we invited all our friends and family over for barbeque from Pierce's. It was a pretty full house for awhile, but it was wonderful because there were so many people here that cared about Eleanor, including some of her baby friends from the neighborhood. She even got her first pair of kicks from Uncle Robert and Auntie Joanna.

She was very spoiled - got to take her afternoon nap with her grandparents and Auntie Erika instead of in her crib.

It was a short visit with family but I was so thankful everyone was able to come down (even my mom who wasn't feeling well that weekend made it)! Thank you to all our family and friends who made the day so special for E. Of course she has no idea now, but she's got some wonderful people looking out for her!

Six months

Eleanor is now six months old! At her six month appointment she weighed 16 pounds, 8 ounces (63rd percentile), was 26.6 inches long (82nd percentile and almost 40% of the way to my adult height), and her head circumference was 16.5 inches (35th percentile). She is growing very proportionally and now that she's six months old, we are going to get a little more serious about starting real food. So far we've tried carrots, broccoli, green beans, lentils, and peas. We have started sitting down for dinner as a family on the nights that I'm not working and Eleanor seems to love eating with us, though she is not that adept at actually eating yet.

Eleanor loves to sit and we now only use the boppy for safety while she's sitting rather than support (if her ball rolls away she likes to dive after it with no regard for the floor). Her drooling has slowed down because this past month she cut her first two teeth! It seems that her bedtime is getting earlier the older she gets as she gets more tired from all her activity. She is usually in her crib by about 7 most nights now and up around 7 in the morning. She regressed with her sleep habits over the last month while she was teething and sick with respiratory issues prior to that, but we are now back to feeding only once at night, which we hope to cut out after she gets the hang of eating food a little better. She is consistently sleeping in her crib now that she isn't sick or teething with a visit to our room only once to eat each night.

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

Another check up

On Friday Eleanor had her 6 month doctor's appointment. Half of me can't believe she's been with us half a year already, and the other half of me feels like it's unbelievable that she's never not been with us.

I'll post some pictures of her at 6 months old as soon as I can take them and post her stats, too. It helps me remember to have them written down :) Recently I looked at pictures of myself at 6 months old and am realizing that she looks less like me than I thought! She is far cuter than I was at this age. My hair was thicker, but hers is longer than mine was. Her face is a lot more rounded, whereas mine was more oval. Perhaps if I am able to get a scanned picture of myself and Chris at 6 months, I'll post them all for comparison - but that's a tall task so I'm not sure if it will happen. For now, just enjoy this cutie:

Also, she took her 6 month shots like a big girl - some tears because of the needles and the shock of it all, but afterwards there seemed not to be any residual pain or fussiness like there was the two days after her 4 month shots. Much better this time around - thank goodness for that!

Babies and basketball

Sadly for us, the basketball season is starting to come to a close. I probably mention this every year, but college basketball is really the only thing that gets me out of the house on a regular basis during the cold winter months after the holidays. January and February (particularly around here because snow is rare) are just dreary. Everything is dead and gray outside so we spend most of our days inside where it's warm in front of the fireplace or drinking hot chocolate. Once or twice a week, basketball games force us out to campus and provide some excitement for us - plus Eleanor loves them, as well as all the attention she gets from her slightly older game friends. Here are some pictures from the game this past week.

One particular friend likes to give Eleanor kisses on her cheek before he goes off to flirt with the ladies his own age. We'll be watching out for that one in the future ;)

Another one of her older friends let her borrow their pom pom (it had an elastic that went around her wrist) and she was completely fascinated for at least 20 minutes.

There was also a diaper derby (essentially a baby crawling race) at halftime. Babies had to be between 6 and 12 months old, and sadly, Eleanor just missed the cut. Her friend Hannah was in the race though so it was still very fun to watch :) Maybe in some future year we'll have an appropriately aged participant!

Anyway, I'm hoping after the season ends in a couple weeks (or hopefully not for another month..??) that the weather will just suddenly get nice so we'll be able to spend more time on the back porch, which we've completely avoided these last three months or so. Even if it does though, it's sad to say goodbye to this season every year!

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day this year, Eleanor and I both dressed in pink :)

Like most years, we didn't do too much - Chris was at work most of the day, but we kept up our brinner tradition of french toast. I'm not sure why, but we never make french toast except on Valentine's Day. Every year I'm reminded of how delicious it is, so I'm not sure why we relegate it to one day a year.

As always, it was delicious, and we had a great day otherwise playing with blocks and going to the park to swing. Of course this year was a little extra special because we had a new valentine to love on. :)