37 weeks old: grilling, piano playing, park swinging, and Mi Patio

Eloise has spent the last week enjoying the sun and warmth of Arizona. Saturday her aunts Teresa and Jill and her cousins Emily, Drew, Cory, Mateja, and Aidan all came over to grill and hang out. Eloise went down for a 2 hour nap soon after they arrived and I didn't get any pictures of them with Eloise before they had to leave. Boo! Only Teresa and Emily were left when Eloise woke up. The photo above was taken by Emily on the patio just after Eloise woke up from her nap. A couple more pictures from the day:

The youngest and oldest cousins

Grandma

Aunt Teresa

Grandma has a player piano and one day she let Eloise play it. Perfect timing because she is really into banging these days. Grandma says we should have dressed her in a recital dress.

On Sunday we met up with Jill, Mateja, and Aidan at a nearby park to spend some time together. Eloise loved watching her cousins on the playground equipment. At one point Mateja got in the bucket swing next to Eloise and she couldn't take her eyes off of her.

Someone is a little big for these swings

I don't feel like smiling

Yesterday was my birthday and we went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants for dinner, Mi Patio. It has become a regular spot for my family over the years. Eloise made the rounds being held. She has a healthy dose of stranger anxiety so her time in others' arms is always limited, aside from Grandma. And Krin, who is apparently a baby whisperer.

Eloise loves Mateja

With Aunt Jill

With Krin the baby whisperer

With the birthday girl

And performing her latest trick, chin chewing

36 weeks old: third flight and Toby the dog

Dad's about to eat my belly

Eloise took her third flight on Sunday, to Arizona, and it was the easiest so far. It was just Eloise and me and we were lucky enough to have a whole row to ourselves. I was able to change Eloise's diapers across the seats instead of in the tiny bathroom, which was especially handy when she had a blowout outfit-changer. She was happy almost the entire flight just playing with her toys across the seats, climbing on me, and going for a couple strolls up and down the aisle. 

Eloise has been reacquainting herself with Grandma Zuber since we arrived and fell in love at first sight with Toby, her dog. She cannot get enough of Toby. She crawls after him from room to room, reaches out to touch him when he walks by, and unfortunately grabs his fur. When Eloise eats in the highchair he hangs out below hoping for food and she hangs over the edge looking down at him. He has been very patient with her but I can't say the love is returned yet.

I heart Toby

Eloise is enjoying the sun in Arizona. We have gone for short walks every day and made use of baby sunscreen, hats, and shades.

Too cool

Before we left for Arizona, Eloise and I attended our mama/baby play group for the first time in a few weeks. Every baby was crawling! She enjoyed seeing her baby friends again. A few photos:

With Metta, the other July 4th baby

Playing with Mateo's DJ turntable and Cora on her way to join

It's okay if Mom picks up another crying baby

Cheese!

35 weeks old: 8 months old, working hard, and pneumonia

Eloise turned 8 months old this week. Since she started crawling she has gotten a lot busier! Her days are filled with exploring and tiny grunts of effort. Everything is so interesting and she works hard to make her way over to something and use all her senses to take it in. The maraca she's holding in the picture below - she'll hold it out and look at it, turn it over in her hands, shake it, and then put it in her mouth. 

Ever since she could scoot she has been especially interested in the bag of recycling in the kitchen. Now that she's able to get herself more upright she tries to take that sucker down daily. 

Tiny dumpster diver

Eloise has been battling a bout of pneumonia this week. It came on fast with a wet cough starting last Tuesday and we took her to the doctor the next day because she developed a fever, difficulty breathing, loss of appetite, and general malaise. A chest X-ray revealed pneumonia. She's finishing up a 10-day course of penicillin, which has been no fun to administer, but she is feeling much better. She just started eating solids again yesterday. Poor thing has been sick nonstop since starting daycare in January.

Another challenge this week was that Eloise took a tumble and bonked her head on Monday. It left a red mark on her forehead. I put Eloise on our bed while I pulled out a box of clothes from under the bed. I had the box open and was looking down into it when suddenly Eloise appeared in the clothes. She had crawled right over the edge and fell into the box! Mom fail. Thank goodness she fell into clothes and not onto the hardwood floor. It was so scary! The red mark was gone the next day but I still feel like the worst mom in the world. Eloise cried for less than a minute and then did a happy dance a couple hours later:

Irish Jig?

Eloise has been working hard at climbing and pulling herself up more since standing in her crib last week, although she's not very steady at all yet.

 Climbing Mount Mommy

Grunt, grunt

I like to pull myself up and bang the top with my hand

Eloise does the cutest thing when she needs a break while crawling. She'll roll over onto her side and rest for a second. It looks like she's striking a pose.

Gimme a second

Okay, here I come!

Hi Mommy!

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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