We've tried, lately, to do a lot of the things we did before Eleanor was born, so we don't feel like we're missing out. Like I said before, we've been blessed with a GOOD baby, and one of the benefits of that is that she's fine to stay out late (sometimes even as late as midnight) because she'll fall asleep out and about, so we're able to have fun with friends and be really flexible. We recently bought a backpack for El to go in while we hike, and we've already used it a couple of times, and we LOVE it. And, so does Eleanor! We're trying to take advantage of the nice weather, as well as the ease of only having one child. Tyler and I also get a babysitter a couple/few times a month so we can go to movies, which we love. It's usually easiest to get a sitter once she's already asleep...that's been what has worked for us lately :)
Anyway, here's a bit of an update, as of 9 months!
Sleeping: Eleanor is sleeping {typically} about 10-12 hours at night, and then will {again, typically} nap twice during the day for about an hour and a half each time. At night, she eats and falls asleep as we're feeding her, which makes it really easy to put her down. During the day, for naps, she goes down with her binky and her blanket, and will usually fall asleep within minutes (sometimes seconds). The last few days though, after we put her down, she'll move around in her crib for a few minutes, or grab onto the bars (to get up on her knees), and then fall asleep. She'll often fall asleep in the sitting position, with her head in between her legs. It's pretty funny to watch her in our camera.
Sitting/Rolling/Crawling: Eleanor is officially moving all over. She's not into everything yet, but she's definitely getting around. She is really good at going from laying to sitting, and sitting to laying, which then leads to scooting, and now crawling. She can crawl about just a little bit right now. She'll move her knee once or twice before sitting back up. Our entertainment center has doors that are always closed (with latches), but there are three small drawers at the bottom, and El has already become obsessed with them. She tries to open them while she keeps her other hand on the drawer as well (making it impossible to open!).
Eating: Eleanor still sits in her {wannabe} bumbo for eating, and I think she'll stay in it until we have to move. It's so nice that it can sit anywhere, and is really easy to clean. And, she likes it, so that's a bonus. El is eating pretty much anything we eat, and she sits really well in high chairs when we go to restaurants. She loves her baby food, and typically eats 2 jars of baby food, as well as cereal in the morning and at night (before bed). She loves the puffs, and other dissolvable baby food that we've bought for her. A few things she hasn't loved, but will still eat on occasion are pears (baby jar pears), bananas (any kind), and potatoes. We'll see if it lasts though...we love potatoes, so El's got to too! She also loves anything sweet (of course). We don't give her too many sweet things, but she gets a few bites of whatever I'm having :)
Stroller/Carseat: Eleanor still doesn't mind being in her carseat, but at times she doesn't love being by herself in the car. She's pretty fond of the stroller, as we go running together a lot. I think it's mostly that she loves being outside.
Talking/Smiling/Making Noise: El isn't a loud baby, but she has definitely come to love her voice. She'll say "mama," especially when she's upset, and will even say "dad" sometimes. It's pretty cute. She goes through waves though...there will be days when she doesn't stop talking, and others where she doesn't talk much at all. She's gotten pretty good at the chessy grin and will often smile at people while we're out and about. She's pretty ticklish, at times, on her lower back and thighs, and will laugh if we do it.
Teeth: Eleanor still only has two teeth (on the bottom), but she has been drooling ALL over the place lately, as well as chewing on her fingers a lot more than normal, so I wouldn't be surprised if we got another tooth (or a couple more) here soon. She's bitten me a few times while nursing, and it hurt! Not something I'd choose to experience again, but I think she does it when she's not actually hungry, or when she's telling me she's done.
Eleanor's gotten so good at giving kisses, and when I say, "can I have a kiss?" she'll open her mouth real wide, and go right in for a kiss. It's adorable. Sometimes we can get her to give us a kiss just by making a kissing sound.
To say that we love our Eleanor is such an understatement. I think about her constantly, I love being with her, and when she's asleep Tyler and I stay up looking at pictures of her, or talking about how cute she is. Being a mom turns you into mush, and makes you do/feel things you'd never thought possible.
