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!

12 weeks: first cold and music class

Today Eloise is 12 weeks old. The end of the "fourth trimester" as Harvey Karp calls it, the author of The Happiest Baby on the Block, which we love. I also have an article given to me by a friend called, "Tricks for Surviving the First 3 Months" that was on the refrigerator until today. Link here, it's on pages 30-31. For those two reasons 12 weeks really feels like a milestone.

Eloise is suffering from her first cold this week. It's so sad. Today is the fourth day. Yesterday I thought she was getting better because she woke up all smiles, but by the afternoon she was fussy and had a runny nose. We spent the afternoon cuddling and she slept on me a lot. She didn't want to be put down. At one point I just watched a booger move in her nose as she breathed. Evan likes to get pictures of Eloise texted to him while he is at work. I texted him this video instead:

In other news, we went to our first infant music class. A teacher from Music Together came to our moms group a couple weeks ago and Eloise loved it. There's a location walking distance from our house so we signed up. Eloise had fun and it totally wore her out. All the songs involve doing something with your baby, like bouncing them, shaking rattles, waving scarves, or getting up and dancing around. Everyone gets a CD of the songs to practice at home. We've already been doing The Itsy Bitsy Spider song that we learned with taps and rubs a couple weeks ago after diaper changes. Now as soon as we sing the first note she bursts into smiles.

Before class, after class

And for no particular reason, some random photos taken this week. We had dinner with some friends who also have kids and we were discussing professional photos and how we don't use our own camera enough. That inspired me to snap a few with the "good" camera, including the one at the beginning of this post.

11 weeks: crib napping, first trip, and feet

zzzzzzzzzzz.....

This week we have started letting Eloise take some of her naps in her crib. We want to get her used to it  in hopes it will make the transition from sleeping in a bassinet in our room to the crib in her room easier.  We have a video monitor in her room that connects to our wifi so we can watch her from an app on our iPhones and iPad. The very first time she napped in her crib we were both glued to our iPhones downstairs.

first nap in the crib!

In other news, Eloise took her first trip out of town last weekend to Salem to celebrate her Grandpa Harris' birthday and 40th anniversary of passing the bar exam. It was about an hour drive and she slept the whole way. The way back was another story. Eloise got to spend time with all of her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and even a second cousin on her dad's side of the family. While we were in Salem we also went to see Great Grandma Harris and had a nice visit. 

Great Grandma Harris, Eloise, Evan, Marin, Emily, and Nora

Why is my child the only one with devil eyes?

Great Grandma and Eloise

And finally, feet have come into view for Eloise. Those fascinating things at the end of her legs. I've caught her several times this past week studying her feet. I wonder if it has something to do with brightly colored socks. When she gets excited she kicks, which is exciting to watch, so she kicks some more... well you get the point.

Foot entertainment while mama cooks

And for no particular reason aside from I think my daughter is cute...

That face! 

10 weeks old: nail trim, books, and toys

We haven't reached Halloween yet, but Eloise's costume came in the mail this week and naturally I had to put it on her immediately. It was 60% off at a Labor Day sale. She is such a cute little mouse. More on the plans for that costume next month.

We had a couple firsts this week. First was Eloise's first nail trim. We have been scared to trim them for fear of cutting a finger since they're so so so tiny. She was scratching herself in the face more and we were feeling guilty about neglecting the nails. I waited until she was asleep, lined up the baby nail trimmer, and still couldn't do it. So I filed them instead. Much better.

Baby manicure

Next, after talking to Evan's mom, we started reading books to her. Evan read the very first book to her.  Later that day I read two more. I'm not sure she looked at the books at all but she did seem to enjoy hearing us talk and made noises. 

First book

Second book

Third book

I'd read that around two months babies will start to notice black and white or brightly colored toys. So ever since 8 weeks I have been holding things in front of her seeing if she'll be interested. Finally, this week she started noticing things! Naturally I picked up the camera to capture the moment. As with most new experiences she started off with a furrowed brow.

First toy to be noticed: a plastic penguin!

Finally, I've talked about the Friday afternoon new moms and babies group we go to before, but I snapped a picture last Friday of Eloise during the group. We all sit in a circle on the floor with name tents. 

Check out the neck strength!