30 weeks old: first donation, new game, and more food

This week Eloise and I dropped off some formula and other infant feeding supplies we don't use to a great nonprofit, Northwest Children's Outreach, to be distributed to babies who could use it. Eloise's first charitable donation. She is holding the donation receipt in this picture. I hope Eloise picks up the same value of community service that my parents instilled in me.

In other news, we've discovered a fun game:

Where's Eloise?

As Eloise closes in on 7 months she's working on expanding her palate. She just started eating purees twice a day now and her skill is really improving at getting food down the hatch. She tried a new food (figs) and a new combo (roasted pears and bananas) this week. Both got excited pants between spoonfuls.

Reconstituted dried figs in boiling water

Pureed figs

I'm not sure about this

Some weird lip sucking - texture issues?

I like figs!

Oven roasted pears and bananas

The puree

Yippee!!

Eloise had her second play date last weekend with Mayden, the 16-month-old daughter of Evan's friends Ricky and Amber. Last time Eloise was just a couple weeks old, so this time was a lot different. They could play together!

Mayden and Eloise

And finally, a few random photos of fun with Dad:

Giggle fit!

29 weeks old: play date at our house

Eloise had her second swim lesson this week. She got to debut her other swimsuit. A fun time was had at the lesson this week, too.

Eloise also had friends over for the first time on Friday. Okay, okay, it wasn't her idea but she did have fun. As she saw each baby friend arrive she smiled and flapped her arms with delight. Ten babies and 10 moms in total. We made the boys try on the girls' hair bows, baby Graham grooved to the music (Elizabeth Mitchell), and Eloise showed off her fast army crawl skills.

Clockwise from top: Eloise, Graham, Theo, Amalee, Mateo, Viv, Adelaide, Zoe, Metta, and Cora 

Speaking of fast army crawling, Eloise is really honing her skills and making her way over to things I never thought about before. Like electric cords and the decorative heat duct in the kitchen that could easily get her fingers stuck. And, she's starting to protest being in the bouncy seats almost every time. I'm going to have to figure out another plan for taking a shower very soon!

28 weeks old: baby graduation, swim lessons, and the letter B

Eloise graduated from our new moms group last Friday. This is her with the other July 4th baby, Metta. A group of us with babies 6-8 months bonded and formed a community outside of the group, so we decided to all graduate together. We got together and had a craft play date to make all of our babies graduation caps. Lots of tears were shed as the mothers reflected on learnings from the first six months and expressed gratitude for our "tribe." They really are a great group of women and I'm just lucky I happened to join that group at the right time. We have a play date scheduled this week at our house during the same time the group met to keep it going. Here are some adorable photos from the graduation:

Eloise, Amalee, and Adelaide

Graham, Eloise, Amalee, Adelaide, Theo, and Viv

Moms and babies

Hurrah!!

A couple days after graduation, Eloise had her first swim lesson at the Matt Dishman indoor pool near our house. She's in the Angelfish class for babies 6-18 months to "work on water adjustment and safety skills." She loved it! There were lots of smiles and squeals of delight. We sang some songs lifted our babies in and out of the water, worked on "reach and grab" skills with a floating toy on their bellies, a little time floating on their backs, poured water on their heads, and then ended the class with a couple turns down the water slide (just at the bottom). Here are some adorable photos of Eloise during her lesson, courtesy of Evan:

Just got in the water

All smiles!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!

Future water ballerina?

This week Eloise added a new consonant to her vocabulary: the letter B. I was making breakfast when i first heard it and was able to capture the moment ion video:

27 weeks old: First day at daycare, yogurt, and saying "ga"

Eloise had 6 month photos taken at the mall this week. She wouldn't smile for anything. The above photo is the closest she got to a smile. It was interesting to compare her 6 month photos to her newborn photos. Our little girl is growing up!

At 8 days old and at 6 months old

Eloise had her first day at daycare this week. It was a Very Big Deal for all of us. I cried at drop-off but was fine once I got busy at work. When I picked her up 5 1/2 hours later she was swatting at a hanging toy on the floor. She turned to glance at me briefly when I said her name and then went back to swatting the toy. I was apparently chopped liver. Today there were no tears at drop off and when I picked her up she was asleep in the arms of one of her caretakers. She'd had two naps and three bottles. Things seem to be going well so far. Although I will say, I swear she smells like crayons when I pick her up. 

Dropping off at daycare, day #1

Eloise tried a new food this week, yogurt. After getting past the bite of the tanginess, she seemed to like it.

My aunt Jill loves me and I love yogurt

Another development this week is the addition of a consonant to Eloise's vocabulary! The letter G. Woot woot! She repeats "Ga… ga…." over and over. Here's a very dark video of her saying it once and me saying it 500 times:

And finally, I keep forgetting to post this class photo from the second to last day at Music Together. We're second from the left and all you can see is the top of Eloise's head and an arm. Mom fail.

26 weeks old: halfway to a year, Elmo, and a belly laugh

It's hard to believe, but Eloise is already halfway to a year old today. These first six months of her life have sure flown by. Not much new has happened developmentally this week but we did have some fun times. In the photo above Eloise is eating her first combo food, sweet potato and pear puree. She said thumbs up. I think the sweet potato toned down some of the tartness of the pear. When I made that pear puree I didn't use super duper ripe pears so it may be a little too tart for her taste.

My mom got Eloise a Big Hugs Elmo for Christmas. It's a little old for her and I thought she might be a little afraid of a big talking doll, but Elmo didn't scare her one bit. Here are a couple videos of her first meeting with Big Hugs Elmo where she took him down by the eyeballs and made him beg for mercy:

Give Elmo a great big hug

That's too tight! Be gentle please!

Even though Eloise can laugh, she rarely gives more than a little giggle and squeal, so we really appreciate when she belly laughs over and over. And we never know what's going to make her laugh like that! It's like a surprise gift.