34 weeks old: crawling and standing!!!

Big news this week: Eloise is crawling! One night she just put it all together and took off. Here is a video of the new crawler:

The very next day after she crawled for the first time, she pulled herself up to standing for the first time, too! I put her in her crib while I put laundry away, and when I turned around....

Time to drop the mattress

What?

I scheduled Eloise's 9 month check up through the app and it gave me a few options for the appointment reason. It's never too early, I guess!

Ummmm....

And finally, some randoms from the week.

Modeling pants that Mama made

More pants by Mama - these are good for my daily yoga practice

33 weeks old: Aunt Kate, swinging, and some videos

First time in the shopping cart yesterday

Aunt Kate came for a visit last weekend and met Eloise for the first time. They were fast friends. Eloise enjoyed watching her make faces, getting lots of snuggles and smooches, and being able to grab and gum her face to her heart's content.  

The day Kate arrived was sunny and dry so we walked up to Irving Park where Eloise had her first experience in a bucket swing. She loved it! I watch this video over and over:

Squeee!

It looks like the days of Eloise hanging out in the bouncy seat while I take a shower are officially over. A moment of silence for the loss, please.

This belt is no match for me

Every week brings new foods to try, and this week a new favorite emerged: mangos. She could eat them all day long, just like her daddy.

Very. Excited. For mangos.

I tried my hand at sewing a sleep sack for Eloise, this one is made from a waffle fabric. It wasn't very hard so I think I'll make a couple more. It cost less than half the price of buying one ($12 vs $27). More importantly, the process from finding the pattern to selecting the materials to measuring, cutting, pinning, and sewing.... all done with mountains of love.

Let's call it a Love Sack

And finally, Eloise is *so close* to crawling and I keep grabbing the camera thinking it's The Big Moment. It's so interesting that crawling is a natural development, no teaching involved at all.

32 weeks old: snow and restaurant firsts

Daddy's little peanut

The exersaucer is the new bouncy seat in the kitchen. 

This week Portland got several inches of snow and school even closed for a couple days. Eloise doesn't have any snow gear but we did go for a couple walks and looked at the snow through the window. Eloise really didn't react to it at all.

Snow? Whatever, I'm into this window latch

Several businesses around us remained open through "snowpocolypse" and we enjoyed breakfast at Milo's City Cafe more than once. We tried putting Eloise in one of their high chairs for the first time at a restaurant and she did great! It was nice to eat with both hands.

Eloise has had her first really nasty diaper rash so she has been getting daily baths, which she really loves. She loves to play with her rubber ducky and splash in the water.

This week I made homemade yogurt from a recipe in the Super Baby Food book. Eloise likes it plain but I also gave it to her with pear puree and a drop of vanilla extract mixed in.

Yogurt

And finally, Eloise still enjoys mirror time.

31 weeks old: 7 months, plank position, pirate crawling, and a straw cup

Eloise turned 7 months old yesterday without much fanfare. She enjoys dance parties to oldies music,  bath toys, her Eloise puzzle, fruit purees, working on crawling, pulling her socks off, and licking the carpet.

Eloise is working hard on getting more mobile. She frequently gets up on her hands and knees and rocks but hasn't figured out the crawling motion yet. She also gets up on her hands and toes in a plank position, which is quite impressive.

Now what?

Plank position. Or maybe yoga downward facing dog?

The other day one of the other mamas in our play group said Eloise reminds her of a pirate when she army crawls. I agree!

The Pirate

And finally, Eloise has her first straw cup. I put some water in it and tried to show her how to drink from it but so far she mostly chews on the straw, although she did suck water halfway up a couple times.

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