Newest Pics, July 21st

Today



I finally got a pic of her pigtails!

So I walked in the living room and she was sitting on this little table. Then I dashed to grab my camera and she stood up, so proud of herself! When I left the room for about 2 minutes, she was sitting on the couch watching tv. Our little daredevil makes us so proud! :)

Climbed into her toy box by herself, what fun! (Yes, that is a bulb syringe in her car, LOL!)

Eating blueberries

Eating black bean brownies, yum! (And, yes, they're actually made with black beans!)

Playing at Grandma's

"Hullooo! Come in muh house!"

playing in her house with Poppy's shop in the background

More pics from June

Our little climber!

Catching Up

So it's been almost 6 weeks since we've updated. We've been quite busy! We went on vacation with Clay's parents to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which was lovely. Eleanor and Clay and I were all sick over the course of a 3-week period, which wasn't so lovely (We had Coxsackie, aka hand-foot-mouth disease). Our A/C went kaput (completely), and we were welcomed at Clay's parents' house for the week until it was replaced. How very fortunate we were that they let us squat, with temps around 105! The one night we did stay at home, the night it went out, it was 80 degrees inside and Eleanor and I slept with ice packs in bed with us and fans blowing on us! How miserable it would have been to stay the whole week. I checked on the cats throughout the week and came by to let them out for fresh air; at times the house was 93 degrees inside!
On to the pictures! I'll have them with the oldest pics at the bottom, and the newest pics toward the top, since I have the blog set like that anyway. :)



Eleanor while we were on vacation. This is in the hot tub that was on the back deck. She LOVES water!

This Busy Week

This week seemed so long, since last week was only a 4-day workweek (for Clay).  On Tuesday, Eleanor and I went to Music in the Park in Fredericksburg.  A live band played and there were LOADS of mamas and kids.  I don't think I've ever seen so many strollers in my life!

On Tuesday, I noticed a little bit of a rash around Eleanor's forehead.  On Wednesday, it had spread behind her ears and neck.  Thursday morning, it had spread a little more, so I took her to the doctor.  Well, the doctor didn't know exactly what it was.  She generalized it as "one of those lovely summer viral rashes".  Okay.  Eleanor's strep test was negative, so the doctor said to just treat the symptoms.  Benedryl has really helped her rash clear up!

Wednesday, we went to playgroup, where we had dress-up day for the kids.  Eleanor was a bumblebee.  She fell trying to walk too fast to the other play room... making her a Stumblebee.  (And "umble" reminds me of Dumbledore from Harry Potter, so then I started calling her Stumble-Nor).

Eleanor and her friends.  It was hard for them to stay still for Kim to take a pic!

Montessori floor-bed

We are beginning a slow and gentle process of transitioning from a family bed to a separate "big girl" bed for Eleanor (starting with naptimes for a while).  This weekend I transformed her room into a big toddler room by moving out the never-used crib and moving the guest bed into her room sans the bed frame.

My Girl's Curls

Look at her beautiful strawberry-blonde curls! She is so pretty and Clay is so happy that she got his curly hair. We went to the neighborhood swimming pool today and Eleanor and I had a nice time. Today she got to go in the BIG pool for the first time! She is beginning to relax a little more in the water. It will come with time. They just changed our swimming pool to have a salt water pump, so it's very nice to not have chlorine burning your eyes and throat and nose.

I am astounded at how much she's developed in the last few weeks! She is beginning to talk way more! She says Da-da-dad and Uhma-ma, A-duck, A-book, A-cah (a car), and Stinky! My silly-sweet child. Her walking is getting much better, and sometimes she gets in a hurry now- a far cry from the cautious beginner she was not long ago. Today when I left her at Gramma and Poppy's so I could go to Weight Watchers, she was having the best time in her play house. She was cooking with her frying pans and spatula. She scraped the pan, then "ate" the spatula, then laughed to us about how she was playing. She grunted really big as she first took a good look around her house, looked up at all of us (Gramma, Poppy, and Mommy), gave us a cheesy grin and her deep belly laugh.

Oh, and another food she loves besides steak and chicken... she loves tuna!

14 Month Height and Weight

At the moment, Eleanor is trying to put her shoes on her feet.  And she just shut the bedroom door.  The TV in the living room must be distracting her from putting on her shoes.
Yesterday, our friend Cindy A. stopped by with her pooch Ollie (a little black pug).  Eleanor was a little hesitant.  "What a strange cat," she must have been thinking!

Eleanor yesterday in her high chair as I was cleaning house

Today, I had an appointment in Richmond, and I happened to be running a little early, so we stopped by Eleanor's pediatrician's office to get her height and weight checked.  She is 14 months and a few days and the last time we had her height/weight checked was at her 12 month appointment.

Here are her 12 month stats:  31" tall, 22 lb 2oz

And this is her today at 14 months: 32.5" tall, 24 lb 4oz

So she is currently in the 95th percentile for height (taller than 95% of others her age) and in the 75th percentile for weight.  We tried to get her to stand on the "big" scales for her weigh-in, but it was a little too wobbly for her still.  So we sat her on the baby scales and she was frantically moving the weights around like "Noooo!  I'm getting too large, don't look, I don't want you to know my weight!"  It was funny.

She is still happily and safely riding rear-facing in her carseat.  Trips have become easier than they were, say, 6 months ago.  Hopefully we'll have a smooth trip to Pigeon Forge on vacation soon.  Clay said it will be a warm-up for our big trips out to Arkansas later this year.

I can't believe how big this girl has gotten!

(And I tried to upload more pics, but for some reason the uploader isn't working for me at the moment.)

Also, we had extra time to kill today so I stopped by my doctor's office and weighed in since I've been losing weight.  I've lost 13 pounds since my last visit!!

Well, it's time to start making dinner.  We're having tacos, so I know Eleanor will be happy to have beef for dinner!

Happy Memorial Day!

We had a great Memorial Day!  As soon as we got to Gramma's house, Eleanor hung out beside the pool with Mommy, Gramma, and Aunt Missy.  Eleanor loved watching the boys as they jumped and splashed in the pool!

Leaning back cheesing

We had a delicious lunch.  Nothing beats good cook-out fare.  Clay's brother Rob and Eleanor's Poppy grilled steaks, and Gramma made homemade scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, and corn pudding.  Eleanor's favorite (surprise, surprise) was the steak.  She was eating it faster than I could tear into bites for her!  But we all know that steak is her favorite food. ;)

After we ate, Eleanor was SO ready to get in the kiddie pool!  Actually, when we first arrived, she crawled  lightning-speed at the kiddie pool and we had to restrain her from getting her clothes soaking wet (although that probably would have felt great).

"Hurry up, I'm going to the pool without you, Mama!"

She had a great time playing in the splash pool! 

A-duck!

Lately Eleanor has really been talking.  Not just duck or book, but a-duck!  and a-book!  I guess she got that from us saying, "This is a book!"

I leave you with this picture from the weekend.  Eleanor's Gramma and Poppy are fixing up Daddy's old club house into a little girl's playhouse!  Down with the Keep Out sign, up with the Welcome sign.  It's coming along beautifully, and Eleanor absolutely LOVES it.  She loves to play with her wooden playfood and walk around her house.  It's amazing watching her enjoy it so much.

Eleanor's Gramma said it would be okay if I painted the inside walls.  Any ideas for colors?  I want something fun, but not wild.