19 weeks old: check up, pterodactyl screams, and teething

Eloise had her four month check-up with her pediatrician on Friday. She is healthy! The vaccinations were no fun but she showed off for the doctor with some smiles and giggles and rolling over on the exam table. Dr. Luft said we could start supplementing her diet with oatmeal cereal anytime. I think we'll hold off another few weeks until she's closer to 6 months. Eloise is still longer and leaner than average but following the same growth curve. Her stats:

Height: 24.75" (59%)
Weight: 12 lb 11 oz (17%)
Head circumference: 16.25" (66%)

Dr. Luft mentioned that we should expect her to enter the "pterodactyl scream" phase any day, and as though Eloise took that as her cue, she began with the screams. They are sudden and blood-curdling screams, often for no apparent reason. When I took her to the grocery store earlier this week she was screaming over and over throughout the store. What are you going to do? Just keep shopping! A lady at the bakery goes, "That is awesome" with a big grin. Another lady by the eggs said, "She's practicing with her voice!" Thanks for the support, ladies.

Speaking of screams, Eloise LOVES to be tossed in the air. She lets out a little scream followed by giggles. It's so adorable. And interesting to note that the scream plus giggles is not a learned behavior.

 I like being tossed in the air

In other news, it seems Eloise has started teething. She is soaking two bibs per day with drool, is suddenly much more fussy, gnaws on everything in a desperate manner, and bites down pretty hard. She doesn't suck her pacifiers anymore, she chews them. We're trying things to soothe her like teething toys, a wet washcloth in the fridge, and rubbing her gums but she still cries. She doesn't sleep as well and seems kind of restless. I feel sorry for her! I hope it doesn't last long.

How does this little girl produce so much drool?

A few photos from the last week:

Dad's first round draft pick

Who's that cutie at the end of the table?

Just trying it out - I feel like a big girl!

E is for Eloise

18 weeks old: first Halloween and wedding

Eloise ended up having several occasions to wear a Halloween costume in the last week: music class, moms group, and a party on Saturday. Who knew? She wore her mouse costume to music class and the party and then a pumpkin outfit from Karen to moms group. Babies in costumes are just the cutest thing ever!

This is a little short on me but I make it work

While Eloise isn't old enough to enjoy Halloween candy, she did enjoy the wrappers from the candy we bought for trick-or-treaters. The wrappers are lightweight, small, brightly colored, and make a crinkly noise. Perfect!

I prefer Butterfingers and Reese's Buttercups over Snickers

The same day as the party we also went to Evan's friend's wedding, Eloise's first. She lasted through the church ceremony and cocktail hour before complete meltdown, about four hours in total. I call that success! Before the ceremony the priest instructed me to nurse in the confessional if needed, which I did - a little weird. I also changed her diaper in there.

Family photo courtesy of Aunt Julie

And finally, Eloise will have her 4 month check up tomorrow. She turned 4 months this week! I'm anxious to find out how much she has grown, but not looking forward to another round of vaccinations. 

17 weeks old: laughing!

Eloise looks so sweet when she is sleeping. She is so completely the joy of my life. Since the weather got chilly her little cheeks have gotten rosy following our walks outside. So cute. 

Another exciting first happened a few days ago. Eloise had her first belly laugh! Not just a "ha" or a "haha," but a true belly laugh over and over. It came unexpectedly from saying "Hiiiiii" in a sing-song voice so I kept doing it and she kept laughing. When I grabbed my phone to tape it, she suddenly stopped, but I did get a tiny bit of the end.

What a glorious sound!

And, just this morning, Eloise rolled from front to back for the first time! I had her on a blanket on the kitchen floor while I was making breakfast. I put her on her back and when I turned around she was on her tummy looking out the sliding glass doors. A minute later I heard a thump and turned around to see this:

I rolled off the blanket

16 weeks old: rolling!

Eloise hit a major milestone this week: she rolled over! She'd been getting close for a long time and then one day over she went all the way. Unfortunately she can't roll the other way yet so she gets stuck on her tummy. Hopefully that'll happen soon. No more swaddling for Eloise!

The big moment

Like many babies, Eloise is not a fan of tummy time. She'll only tolerate being on her tummy for a couple minutes before filing some complaints. I try to make it interesting by getting down in front of her, or putting toys in front of her, but the time she tolerates it the most is at our two play groups each week (music class and moms group) because she likes to look around at the other babies. So, I tried putting her in front of the full length mirror upstairs. Turns out one baby isn't as interesting as many babies, but it works so we'll keep doing it.

You look familiar... have we met?

Eloise attended her first race to support me last weekend, my first postpartum race. It was a costume race and she wore her cute little mouse costume again.

Pre-race

Heading to the car

We tried putting Eloise in the exersaucer this weekend, too. She's not quite big enough to touch the bottom so we put it away for later, but she did enjoy the toys.

Exersaucer

And finally, I read the manual for our stroller and figured out that Eloise doesn't need to be in the carseat anymore. We went for our first walk without the carseat attachment to music class this week and it was a success. It's such a big stroller and has a weight limit of 70 lbs so it'll fit her for a while. When we were coming home a lady said, "Oh, that's a baby! She's so small!" And I said, "She does look small in this big thing, doesn't she?" And she added, "I thought to myself, 'How cute, she's pushing around a little doll'" to which I replied, "How strange!"

My little doll

15 weeks: pumpkin patch, foot grabbing, and more talking

First time facing out

Eloise is facing out in the front carrier as of this week. She started protesting facing in and so one day I stopped and turned her around. She rejoiced kicking her legs, flapping her arms, and cooing with glee. I guess now that she can take in all the noises and sights around her she wants to see what's going on.

Evan had Columbus Day off so we made a trip to the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island. She slept for about 30 minutes on the way there and then another 20 minutes or so in the parking lot before we woke her up. For this reason she was groggy and not at all smiley, and asleep in my arms by the time we left.

Believe it or not this was the best shot

Watching the sheep

My pumpkins

Looking for pumpkins

Found some!

Family photo. Two of us are smiling.

In other news, Eloise went from watching her feet to grabbing things to now grabbing her feet. She does the yoga pose, Happy Baby. Guess that's where it comes from! 

And finally, Eloise is doing a lot more "talking" and cooing; I was able to grab a couple videos:

Talking to the bouncy seat animals

She always wakes up happy in the morning!

14 weeks: talking, singing, and mouthing

Eloise is interacting with the world more and more every day. In the past week or so she has suddenly become vocal as a way to interact! When people are talking around her she starts "talking" along, and when people are singing she "sings" along, too. It's the most adorable thing. She looks you right in the eye and makes her noises and sometimes you can see her focusing hard. She moves her mouth in different shapes (like us?) and makes a few different noises. One is "nnnn-gah!" And then a bunch of vowel sounds "oooooo!" "aaaahhhh!" and "ooohhhhh!" And occasionally a "bbbbbbbaaaa!" with spit bubbles. This morning I heard her talking as she played with the animals on her bouncy seat while I was in the shower. The lion plays songs if you pull it, so maybe she was singing?

This one plays songs!

Speaking of pulling, I can't believe how quickly she has been developing her grabbing and pulling hand-eye coordination! With this new skill things are starting to go in her mouth. Although much of the time she can't achieve it, or they'll get to her mouth for a second and then drop, I can see her working hard to make it happen.

Get... in... my... mouth

We still do daily tummy time with Eloise but she's not a fan. At home she'll get annoyed and cranky after a minute or two, even when I try to entertain her with a toy. The best tummy time happens at music class and at our moms group. Both places we sit on the floor in a circle and she loves to look around at all the other babies from her tummy. Generally, though, she prefers to sit up supported and look around. So we've been starting to introduce the bebePOD, seen in the above and below photos.

13 weeks old: swatting, first fire, and first beer festival

The world is coming alive for Eloise and it's so exciting to see! We're seeing less of the blank stare and more reactions in her face to things she sees. All those things dangling from the bouncy seats and the play mat, patterns on fabric, toys... there's just so much to grab her interest now. And, she's reaching out to grab and swat at them! Friends David, Michelle, and Nathan came by last week and brought Eloise a purse and she reached out and grabbed it. The other day in the kitchen Eloise was in her bouncy seat hitting the dangly things. I watched her for a while to see if it was just the usual flailing arms that happened to hit something. But no, she was focusing intently on those dangly things and reaching out to swat at them! I quickly grabbed the phone to get some video:

Last weekend we took Eloise to Evan's family's home in Black Butte Ranch for the first time. It's about a three hour drive from Portland and she slept the whole way. Once again, not true for the way home, but it went better than the drive home from Salem. Evan made a fire in the fireplace the first night and Eloise got to enjoy her very first fire. She seemed to like watching the flames. And then lost interest after a minute or two. I think she'll learn to enjoy laying in front of a fire.

First fire

That weekend we also took Eloise to her first beer festival. A rite of passage for any Oregonian. Not surprisingly, we saw several other babies at the festival. 

Fresh Hop Festival - Sisters, OR

In other news, Eloise graduated out of the sling in the big blue tub this week. There are three settings from infant to toddler and she's now in the middle position. 

Whoa, this is new!