Eleanor: 7 Months!

Well....my "baby" is 7 months old today, and she is seeming less and less like a little baby.  I mean, she's still a baby of course, but don't tell her that! :)  She is all about being a big kid and she seriously loves to watch Bennett and try to do what he's doing!  We were in Michigan for the weekend, and Brad was holding both kids while he and Ben ate an ice cream cone.  Eleanor kept grabbing Ben's out of his hands and taking bites!  He would laugh and say, "I'm sharing with Eleanor," even though clearly he was not...she was just stealing it!

Speaking of food, Eleanor is doing much better with baby food, but it's not her favorite thing.  She will eat pureed food, baby cereal, puffs, yogurt...  but she LOVES to eat what we're eating if we let her.  When I'm holding her and eating something, she just stares at my food as I eat it and I can tell she's thinking, "That looks good.  Are you gonna share or what?!"  Unfortunately not much of what I eat is baby-with-only-two-teeth friendly....but I try to let her take nibbles or bites when I can.  She is doing a little better with a bottle too - kind of depends on her mood.  But we've left her with sitters a few times and she's done okay.  I have NO supply of frozen milk with her (Soooo unlike with Ben!) and so it's really a blessing that I'll be able to stay home this fall and continue nursing her.  Eleanor nurses about every 3-4 hours and once in the night.  Her reflux seems better but I'm nervous to take her off the medicine to see if it's gone, so we are just going to keep her on a little while longer.

Eleanor still has a pretty good schedule: naps from 8-9:30am and 12-2 usually....the nap at 4pm she usually still does but yesterday she completely skipped it and was happy until bedtime.  At night she goes down around 7-7:30pm and wakes up around 6am (ugh! So early lately!).  She still naps in the swing because I'm too afraid to risk a nap and put her in the crib...but she sleeps all night in her crib just fine.

Marquette babies!!!

Eleanor I feel like has started doing some new things lately.  She is trying to pull up on everything, but her little legs aren't super sturdy yet so she often falls over.  But she will just keep trying anyway! She also has been getting on all fours and kind of rocking a little before going down on her tummy...so no crawling yet but I think she's close.  She still rolls all over the place as her main means of getting around.  She isn't making any baba/dada sounds yet, but she squeals and giggles all the time.  A few times she's done "nanana" but not too often.  She's started blowing raspberries too, which is cute.  She laughs All.The.Time.  Her favorite things to laugh at are herself in the mirror, and Bennett throwing a tempter tantrum or crying.  She cracks up - it's hilarious!  She also giggles and gets really excited when Brad gets home from work.  She LOVES her daddy and laughs at him all the time.  She really loves being on his shoulders - she feels so big! :)

Something that I've really noticed has changed lately is that Eleanor is super content to just hang out. If I'm making dinner, I can put her on the kitchen floor with tupperware and she'll be happy for a decent amount of time (unless she's hungry or tired and then she is not having it!).  She still falls over occasionally, but she can catch herself now so her head doesn't hit the floor, which is nice.  Eleanor also plays happily in her high chair for awhile.  But if she's done, she will let you know.  When you make eye contact if she's not happy she will start screaming or crying, then stop to check and see if you're still watching her and going to rescue her. :)  Little attitude.

We don't go to the doctor until 9 months, but if I had to predict...I think Eleanor is about 15 pounds.  She's wearing pretty much all 6 month clothes now, and still size 2 diapers.  Seriously no baby shoes fit her.  Her feet are small and narrow and it seems like baby shoes are all so wide!  I mean, I get that because Bennett had super chubby feet but surely some babies must have skinny feet?!  I finally had to just buy her a pair of size Newborn carter's sandals...since they're sandals it's okay that they're borderline short...the width is perfect.  She must get it from my sister, who has size 6 feet!

We are loving this new stage of baby and can't wait to see how much more Eleanor changes in the coming months!  Each stage is so fun! :)