3 Months

Here we are at 3 months. I can't believe it. Well, sometimes I can. Sometimes I feel like it's been so much longer. I guess she has been in existence for a whole year now. She has been a part of me for 12 months.

This baby business is no joke. It is challenging. And rewarding. And tiring. And frustrating. And completely worth every single second. I must say, I'm totally digging it.

Now, for my random compilation of thoughts....

Eleanor has the biggest, most beautiful eyes. Spencer calls them Disney eyes. We still don't know what color they'll be. My guess is brown. 


When she smiles she has the two cutest dimples you've ever seen. 


Her hairline is maybe not so cute these days. But at least my hair is falling out too. We're together in that. 


She loves her mom and is slowly getting more and more comfortable with her dad. He does everything he can to make her smile. While she loves us both, I think her best friends in the world are the ceiling fan, our closet, and the window curtains. Those things can entertain her and make her smile more than anyone or anything else. 


She is most comfortable in the sling(more on that later. It deserves it's own post) and with her pacifier. She sometimes buckles down and gets the most intense look in her eyes while sucking on that thing. And sometimes she'll make it pop almost all the way out of her mouth, then suck it back in like 5 times in a row, really fast. And when she's sleeping and doesn't have it in her mouth, she will still make movements with her mouth as if she's sucking. Oh the things that entertain us! 


She tries really hard to talk to me. Especially when she's tired. And if I make the "coo" sound, she will always respond back. She'll lift her shoulders, scrunch her face, make a "coo"-ish sound back, and blow spit bubbles. I try to video these things, but once she sees the camera or phone, she'll just stare at it and stop responding to me.


She has a raspy voice. Probably from all the crying. But to be honest, I hope it sticks. It's super cute.


She loves to stand and be on her feet. If propped up against an activity center thingymabob, she can stand on her own for a while. She might be small, but she is strong. 


She doesn't eat for long amounts of time. Usually about 10 minutes tops. Just one side. After that she is just not interested anymore. As long as she is gaining weight, that's all I care about. At her 2 month appointment she was 10lb 10oz, 22.2 in. long.


She sleeps really well at night, but horrible during the day. I have to make her take naps. And if she sleeps in her crib, it'll only last about 30 minutes. Maybe up to 1 hour. If I take a nap with her or she sleeps in the sling, it will last longer. 


She is always happiest when she first wakes up. I have never been a morning person, but now I look forward to them. 


When she is sad, not angry, she has the cutest, most pathetic sad face I've ever seen. I haven't gotten a good picture of it yet, but hopefully I can get one soon. Her bottom lip just sticks out so far.


Her arms are still constantly moving, but it's finally getting to a point where it's on purpose. She is starting to reach for and grab things. And if she can, put them in her mouth.


She loves her room(and that makes me SO happy!). She could sit on her changing table for a long time and look at the curtains or hanging paper lanterns. She loves her crib bumper(first time I heard her laugh was when I walked in after she woke up and she was staring at it and laughing). And she loves her mobile. It just feels good that my efforts in decorating and crafting are paying off. 


She has had to deal with thrush, an umbilical hernia, and a giant knot on her leg from her shots. What a trooper. 


Someone once saw her and said "wow, look at those eye.....brows!". She got those from her dad. 


She is so interested in the world around her. She loves going to the grocery store and looking at all the colorful items. And when we take her for walks, she'll look from side to side and get excited when she hears a car drive by. 


Her eyes are always big and wide-eyed and alert.


She's been to the beach 2 or 3 times and seems to like it.


She enjoys looking at books and watching Baby Einstein videos. 


As a lady at church put it, "her cheeks are having a hard time with the idea of gravity", and I added that her neck does NOT. She has a pretty funny double chin these days.


If you blow in her face, she will gasp every.single.time. It is hilarious. 


When putting her to sleep, she likes to be rocked and either shushed or I will hum "I am a Child of God". 


I could kiss her a thousand times a day(and you better believe I do!).


She has literally made me the happiest I have ever been.

I just love this girl. So so much. 

Beach Baby

We are doing everything we can to make sure this girl is a fan of the beach. So far she seems to like it. Let's hope that lasts, or we'll be in for a long 2+ years.

My Little Cry Baby

The second day in the hospital, the nurses came to take Eleanor for her hearing test as well as other things. I was happy to let them take her so I could try to get some rest. While I was attempting to sleep, I heard a baby screaming. First thing I thought was "Aww, someone just had a baby", as if it were a coming out of the womb type scream. And then it hit me. That could be MY baby. And I just knew it was. Sure enough, the nurse came back, I asked how she did (meaning on the hearing test), and all the nurse said was, "Well, she screamed." Yep, that's my girl. A screamer from the very beginning. Even at our first appointment 2 days after we got home from the hospital, she immediately established a reputation with the pediatrician. The next time we came in, they heard her cry and said "Oh, I remember you!".

I know babies cry a lot. I know and accept that. But when one day Spencer asked if she had any moments of no crying when she was awake and not eating, I began to question if she had colic or something else that was wrong. I felt like we were always actively trying to soothe her when she was awake. And luckily she could be soothed, but it wasn't always easy. I decided to try some different things to see if anything would help. Not only because we hated hearing her cry so much, but because I knew she had to be in pain or uncomfortable all the time.

I bought gas drops and gripe water. Neither really seemed to do anything magical. They sometimes helped her go to sleep, so I guess that was good. But she still seemed to have gas issues.


We took her to the chiropractor. While I didn't really notice a difference in her crying, she did sleep 7 hours straight for the first time after she got adjusted. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.


I made a better effort to burp her after every feeding. And to make sure a burp came out every time.  Even if it took 15+ minutes. This actually made a big difference. It took a lot of extra time, but it definitely had a positive effect on her crying.

Then I had one of those moments. I have had a few of them before, and while they are rare, they are amazing. I was doing some research online and found a website where a lady was describing her baby. It was as if she knew me and Eleanor and was describing our exact situation. Fussy, gassy(and she even described her gas. I think she explained it as what you might hear in a comedy. I once explained E's as belonging to a middle aged overweight man who just drank a few beers. Doesn't matter what end it comes out), green poop, and crazy spraying milk(TMI?). The more I read the more I knew this was the problem, and I was excited for the solution! The diagnosis was hyperactive letdown. Pretty much just means my milk was coming out really fast, and she couldn't quite keep up. Because of this, she was swallowing a lot of air. It also meant she was getting full on the watery milk and wasn't getting enough of the hind milk (hence the green poop). Anyways, I made a few changes to how I nursed her, and her crying got even better.

There were literally times when I have thought that she was just a more serious/intense baby than others. I would see other babies around ages 6mo-1 year and see how calm they were. I had to tell myself that E would NOT be a cry baby her whole life, even though it felt like she would. I knew it would get better, but I just wanted to know WHEN. I got really annoyed when one of my apps on my phone told me she definitely should be able to laugh out loud by now, but she hadn't (I've now heard her laugh twice). I sometimes hate reading all those expectations.

I didn't intentionally mean to write all of these details, but then I figured maybe someone else might benefit from it.

Now that she is a little bit older and her digestive system is more mature, she is becoming such a sweet little baby. It seems she is always an angel when we go in public(thank goodness). But I just wanted to remember the times of screaming and crying and feeling completely helpless.

And lastly, I feel that every mother should know this information. I just saw it a few days ago, and E is almost 3 months, but already I have heard her use these specific cries, and it is such good information!
http://ww.asseenontvvideo.com/512022/Dunstan-Baby-Language-as-seen-on-Oprah.html 
   

Eleanor's First Christmas - 2011

This Christmas was so much fun celebrating with sweet baby Eleanor. She was quite a hit at church with her fancy Christmas dress (thanks, Denise!). We had lunch with some friends, then unfortunately Spencer had to work that night, so Eleanor and I finished the night off by watching some Christmas movies. Spencer surprised me with a surfboard. I feel like I haven't been surprised in a really long time, but this one totally got me. He left it in the garage so I saw it on our way out to church. Can't wait to finally, FINALLY learn and get good at surfing!

Herschel Walker Challenge 2012

I'm writing this post for 2 reasons. 1) To make sure this blog doesn't become an Eleanor shrine. 2) I heard that if you make your goals publicly known, you are more likely to actually do them.

Spencer started a Herschel Walker challenge on Facebook. The challenge is this:

• Herschel Walker maintains a rigorous workout at age 49. He performs 750-1500 pushups a day and 1500-2000 sit-ups a day. Our challenge was his first self-committed challenge when he was 10 years old. He committed to doing 100,000 pushups and sit-ups in a year. He now destroys that original goal. Being that most of us work 50+ hour desk jobs, raise kids, and have other athletic pursuits, we have decided to take the original challenge to heart. All are welcome to join. My friend, Brian and I came up with the challenge.
  
  The Challenge: 100,000 pushups and 100,000 sit-ups/crunches to be completed in 2012. Challenge can be accomplished in various ways. You can do 273 a day (extra day for leap year!); 1923 once a week, every week; or 100,000 in one day. Good luck with that.
  
  

I decided to join. I don't think I'll make it to 100,000, but I am going to work up to that number. So far I've done 1,000 in 15 days, so that's not bad, right? I am doing girl style push ups though. Given that I just had a baby and am literally starting from scratch with my abs, I think I'm excused, right?

If you want to join, go here and request an invite from Spencer.