Eleanor:: 6 months!

Sweet Eleanor June has made it to her 1/2 birthday!

 We love this cutie full of smiles and funny faces. 

She is our happy little explorer. 

Stats:

Weight: 15 pounds 10.3 ounces (37th percentile)

Height: 25.59" (31st percentile)

She is in 6-12 month clothes & size 3/4 diapers

Growing, growing, growing!

Sisterhood:: For the most part, Zara's jealousy has subsided. Zara has started this cute thing where she talks for Eleanor & usually processes the dynamics of having a little sister & less attention from Mom by pretending Eleanor hurts her. She asks me to tell Eleanor to stop and answers for Eleanor in a high pitched voice. I think it is pretty cool.
Z also holds Eleanor and does not seem to understand what is uncomfortable for her. Siblings & boundaries, ha. But Eleanor has become part of everything and the more she interacts with Zara, the closer they are becoming.
I know Zara loves her so much because she is always concerned about where she is and what she is doing. & if I try to do something with Zara only, she wants to bring Eleanor along.

Food:: One big change for Eleanor this month was her sudden interest in food. Due to her desire for all of the food around her, we started her on solids. At daycare, they said she started banging her hands on the tables because she wants what the other kids are eating. She gets super excited when she sees food and throughout the month she has eaten more solids everyday. She is still only breast fed & about the same amount- maybe 35 ounces- per day.

Sleep: She does not sleep through the night. She wakes up 1-2 times per night. She sleeps in her bassinet until 2am and then I nurse her and sleep next to her. There have been a few times this month that I cheated and had a bottle ready so that I could get some sleep & it was nice. Throughout the day she takes little 20 minute naps & one nap that is a couple hours long. She always wants to be held when she is falling asleep and sometimes throughout her entire nap & you cannot get up or she will wake. I try my best to get her to sleep on her back which she does almost all the time  but she sure does love to roll on her side or belly.

LOVES:
Bath time! No matter what, she loves that water.

Being held. Always. Seriously do not set her down, haha.

Her sister. One day they were at daycare together & Eleanor was having a bad day. So they brought Zara over and she smiled and laughed :)

She has finally started to laugh and smile- mostly at Zara being silly.


OTHER THINGS::
She always rolls her wrists around. It is so cute.
E is doing better sitting up unsupported all the time.
Gets excited when Jonas comes home by staring at him and trying to talk to him & wanting him to pick her up.
She is always taking it all in- sometimes silently and sometimes practicing some sounds. & then she will grab anything and everything.

PLAY:: Eleanor is loving her toys more and more. She will sit on the floor or in her high chair and play for a long time. She especially loves her wooden stacking toy and her musical llama. It is a miracle & long overdue because I cannot do anything else holding her & this gives me some freedom.

Eleanor just wants to read her book::

Love you, sweet baby. 

half a year.

It has been six months since I gave birth to Eleanor. This second postpartum journey is far more difficult than the first. With Zara I had more energy, more time to focus on her and even a little time to make sure I was okay. Not that it wasn't hard to recover and begin a whole new life but there are new challenges that I did not expect. Having two little ones to care or has been tough- there is just a lot more going on in my life. & while I had postpartum anxiety with both girls, this time it is different and more intense. I am not out of the woods yet.
I want to exercise, have energy, fit into my clothes, see an end to horrendous back pain, gain the mental strength to be the mother I long to be & implement the things I have learned in books and articles but right now I just try to survive the exhausting days.
Of course, I will miss the mundane things that make the days so hard now: nursing/ pumping, organizing bottles for daycare, baby cries through the night, cuddling with both girls when they wake up, lifting car seats, changing diapers. I know one day I will trade it in for the worry of my two girls being out in the world without me. Goodness, this parenting thing.

I am sure every mom can relate to these::

Six months of Eleanor!

Eleanor June is six months old!

We couldn't get her to smile in these photos but had the best time trying. 

We have all loved these months with our sweet baby!

For fun, Zara at 6 months::

Valentine's Day 2020!

When I was little, when my mom would give me and my brother gifts for Valentine's Day it always made us feel so special. It is so fun to decorate the house and now give my two sweet girls their own gifts. I picked out a set of the cutest mermaids & Zara had her Frozen chocolate box. She also picked out flowers and a balloon with Jonas- they had a fun adventure at the store together. 

Our church also had a Valentine's dance and it was so fun. Zara danced and played for hours with her friends. 

I love my family, my forever Valentines!

2/2/2020.

A day with a cool date.
A day to leave the door open and play half on the porch & half inside the house.
A day to hold my babies & laugh with them too.
A day to make baked potatoes and take a family walk.
A day I am missing even as it fades away.