Twelve Months

Eleanor Rose is one year old! We have watched our sweet, chubby newborn grow into a fun, spunky almost-toddler right before our eyes. This year has been the most difficult, rewarding, sleep-deprived, and joy-filled that we have ever experienced, and we wouldn’t change it for the world.

Eleanor’s twelfth month was a great one. Auntie Charity and cousin Elijah came to visit and we all spent a couple of days in Minnesota visiting family that we don’t see nearly enough. It was the first time all but one of our siblings were together at once! Grandpa flew in from Montana, and Aunt Cody even flew in from Alaska! Eleanor had a blast, even though she didn’t always want to be held by anyone other than us. She’s just a little shy. ;)

Don't worry Gramps, she still loves you!

Good little road trippers.

Jeffery-union

Babies

We came back to Ames to celebrate Eleanor’s big day. She had a little play date with her Baby Time friends, and enjoyed a delicious (but healthy!) smash cake. We were hoping she’d get a little crazy and really smash the cake, but hey, she’s just not a messy eater.

Ladies always wear pearls

Nom nom!

Eleanor is doing and learning so much every day. She can sign milk, drink, more, eat and is working on signing all done. She waves to us when we leave or come home, and waves to her good friend Nemo every morning. She's (mostly) gentle with Nemo, and he's very tolerant of her and lays down right in front of her for petting. She cries when one of us leaves, but she cries harder when the cat leaves the room or goes to his basket that she can't reach! She loves to mimic us, and she'll sing along when I sing to her. We're working on our harmonies. She points at everything while saying 'dis' or 'dat'. We're not quite sure if she's telling us what she sees or if she's asking what things are. 

Signing

Pointing

She is sooo close to walking on her own! She has taken a step here or there, but usually likes to keep a hand on a wall or furniture to walk with. Plus, she's a speed crawler, so why bother trying to walk when you can crawl in hyper speed? She loves to zoom around the living room with her walker.

Zoomin'

Her 12 month appointment went well, aside from having to get 4 shots and a traumatic finger prick. She is still 95th percentile for height at 31 in, and she's 75th for weight at 23 lbs.

Here are a few more pictures from this month, and Eleanor's one year video!

Auntie love

Sharing is caring.

Snuggles

First zoo trip!

Playing with cousin Elijah

Mom's attempt at a braid.

How do I bust you outta here?

Her first kiss - from her cousin. Whoops!

Eleven Months

Our big girl is eleven months old! Just one more month until she's no longer a "baby", but let's be honest, she'll always be my baby!

She's waving, she's clapping, she's crawling faster than we can chase her, and she has recently started walking a little while holding onto furniture. Basically, Eleanor is growing up and it's exciting and terrifying at the same time! She kind of prances when she crawls - it's adorable. She holds her arms out wide when we ask how big she is. She'll hand us whatever she's playing with if we ask for it, and she'll even go "fetch" a ball or toy, as Kevin lovingly refers to it. I haven't caught it on video yet, but she dances when I sing to her or play music! It's more like a bob/bounce sort of thing, but we love it. She "talks" all the time, and though we don't think she's officially said her first word yet, she says dada a lot, might have said cat once when she was chasing Nemo, kind of says a "yay" type sound while clapping, and she might have said hi once or twice while waving. She has definitely hit the separation anxiety phase, but she's also been more cuddly so we can't complain about that. 

She quacks me up.

We celebrated Kevin's first Father's Day this month! Eleanor gave him a photo coffee mug, and we celebrated with raspberry pancakes and mimosas.

Nom nom!

Eleanor and I had some professional photos taken this month by the same photographer who took her newborn photos. I love them, and here are a few of our favorites.

Where'd your mouth go?

Love those little piggies!

Other fun activities this month include a visit to the Iowa Arboretum, and celebrating Eleanor's first Independence Day by going to the parade downtown.

Higher, Dad!

We're very excited for this coming month - Auntie Charity and cousin Elijah are coming to visit and they will be here for Eleanor's first birthday! We're also having a bit of a family reunion in Minneapolis with our Dad and half siblings, nieces and nephews, our grand niece and nephew, and cousins! We can't wait!

Can't wait to see you guys!

Here are a few more of our favorite pictures from this month, and Eleanor's eleven month video!

Hangin' at the pool.

Too many peas!

Mmm, Indian food!

Supposedly she looks like me in this picture!

There's a baby in this mirror!

Playing with her new walker.

You will be mine.

Playing at the library.

Mom, my sock!

Sweet potato sillies

Stylin'

Ten Months

Eleanor is ten months old! How did that happen?

This was a month of milestones for Eleanor. Within just a few days, she started sitting on her own, sitting up on her own, standing, pulling up and crawling! She became super mobile pretty much overnight and we realized we probably should have baby proofed our place a while ago. With a couple of gates, some foam padding, some rearranging and a couple DIY fabric projects, we now have a baby proofed living room that she can freely roam. 

It might be time to baby proof...

You're safe, for now, Nemo.

Finding Nemo

Eleanor loves to go on walks and run errands with us, and to meet her friends for play dates and baby time at the library. She loves to climb all over us and wrestle with us on the floor, and she loves to terrorize the cat. She seems so much happier now that she can get wherever she wants to go. She basically wants to play with anything that she shouldn't have - bonus points if it's valuable! Eleanor is full of energy and always on the move, except when she's sleeping. Her sleep has been improving the last week or so. She's been sleeping more 3 to 3 1/2 hour chunks instead of 2 - we hope it's a new trend!

Ooh is that a camera?!

Can't quite reach!

She is still our little toothless wonder, but that doesn't stop her from gumming new foods such as chicken, pasta, crash hot potatoes, egg and chicken fajitas (sans tortilla). We've added more seasonings to her food, like a little chili powder, cumin, and paprika to the fajitas and cinnamon to steamed apples, etc. She loves it! There's only one food that she hasn't eaten - cucumber. It actually upset her for some reason! We've only tried it once though, so we'll give it another shot pretty soon.

Potatoes!

You're killin' me, man!

This month we celebrated my first Mother's Day, which was splendid. Kevin made french toast with mimosas, and we had a little Downton Abbey marathon. As a Mother's Day gift, we upgraded our carrier since Eleanor was busting out of the old one.

There is no escape.

We had some fun adventures this month, including visiting Colo, Iowa, going to Reiman Gardens to see the butterflies (awake, this time!), watching live music at the chocolate shop, and going to the farmer's market and the Art Walk downtown.

At the diner in Colo, IA

Where's my chocolate, Mama?

Family selfie at Reiman Gardens

Here are some more pictures from this past month, and Eleanor's ten month video!

So tasty!

Help me up, Dad!

Daddy's first day teaching!

Opening her package from Grandma and Grandpa

Little lady

Sweet pea

Can you spot the butterfly?

Loungin'

I call this one 'Early Morning Cat Hunt'

Little drummer girl