Zucchini gets an F-!

So...she's not a big fan of zucchini. Can't blame her....she's got a sophisticated palate I guess. She likes flavor...and zucchini doesn't have much :) We also tried pears...and they are growing on her I guess. We'll keep trying :)

We had a great weekend visiting the grandparents on the E. shore. She got some more pool time and got lots and lots of squeezes and kisses :) This week we'll be trying some more foods...probably move onto some other fruits like bananas and peaches. I can't believe it's the last day of August already! This coming weekend we'll be heading down to NC to see Aunt Jenni & Uncle Tim and the cousins...and Grammie C will be flying in for a visit. Hopefully she'll get her first time at the beach and her first dip in the Atlantic Ocean before we head off to San Diego for 5 days. Here's a recent picture of her during bath time....she LOVES her bath!

Updates....

Here's a picture of her playing with Daddy outside yesterday while cheering on her "Aunt" Nicol at the Iron Girl Triathlon.

So we tried peas all of last week. They were a hit...and on Saturday we tried sweet potatoes for the first time. Another like! Whoohoo! No allergic reactions so far, which is good...so another couple days of sweet potatoes till we move onto something else. I have some frozen zucchini that I'll probably give her this week. Hopefully she likes that too :)

Other updates...tummy time. Well...we keep trying, that's all I have to say. She still hates it and cries during most of it. We did find that she will tolerate it better when she's laying on Daddy's tummy. She actually tried to scoot a little yesterday while having Daddy time. Silly girl!

We've eliminated the pacifier at bedtime and nap times all together this week. What a relief! We're back to sleeping through the night! Whoohoo!! She'll wake up once or twice a night and fuss for a little, but puts herself back to sleep. Exactly what we wanted her to learn. So we're still working on scheduled nap times...and they are working pretty good. The 9:00 nap is usually the hardest for her to fall asleep....even though she's tired, she likes to play in her crib awhile before falling asleep. Whatever works is my motto :)

5 months old...I can't believe it!

Seriously....I know I ask this every month...but where has the time gone? Last night I was looking at the videos we've made of her each month...and I can't believe how big she's gotten. When I see other newborn babies, I'm always shocked at how little they are....and think about her and if she was ever that small. Then I see pictures of her...and remember..yeh...she was that little once :)

She got to try peas last night for the first time. I think she liked 'em! Here's a picture of her....

One of those days.....

Ever had a day when you just wanted to bite the head of a lion?

Eleanor did.......I ♥ her so much!

Eleanor's new trick

So we've been feeding her rice cereal for over a week now...and she's not a big fan. We decided to go ahead and try the oatmeal...thinking she would probably like that better. We were right...she likes it a lot better, and actually opens her mouth for me :) She's also learned a new trick while we feed her. We've laughed so hard at it now, she knows to do it. Here's some video of her:

Day at the Park

We had a great time at the park today! We met up with our new friends, Christy (Mommy) and Aubrey (daughter). Aubrey is 3 days younger than Eleanor...and her mom & I became friends on Cafe Mom....another social networking site, but for moms. We got to check out some farm animals...some pigs, chickens, goats and a rooster, that I got a great shot of...

We walked all over the place and chit chatted away about all kinds of stuff. The cutest thing happened today as we were getting ready to leave. We got the girls out of their strollers and held them up to each other. Aubrey reached her little hand out...and Eleanor grabbed ahold of her hand...so they were holding hands! It was the sweetest thing...and totally made the mommy's laugh. Next time we'll be bringing the video cameras to capture those moments :)

Tummy time...

Eleanor's never liked tummy time. The only way we could get to her be on her tummy was to have her fall asleep on us when she was really little. We've tried doing mini sessions everyday...but they only last about 5 minutes because she starts screaming at me. Hence the reason why she has learned to roll the hard way first...from back to tummy. This week I am enforcing the hour tummy time rule. So here we are in day 2...and she's tolerating it...as long as she has her pacifier in her mouth. I figure as long as she's not upset, it's ok to do it as long as I can get her to do it. In the first few moments she'll hold herself up...but it's not long before she just kinda lays her head down. For a minute I thought she'd fall asleep today, but nope...she was just teasing me :)

Just like everything else we're trying new, this will eventually become part of her daily routine and she won't even realize it. I just feel bad that I've let it go this long. I'll keep you posted on how it's going :)

Making baby food

I can not express enough how excited I am to start making Eleanor's baby food. I experimented this past weekend with some zucchini. It turned out so great! It helps having the Babycook. It does all the work for you....and you only have to wash one thing instead of a big pot that you use to steam...and then either the blender or a food processor. It's all in one. Thanks Grammie C again for giving us this!! I can't wait for apple season when we can go crazy making applesauce!! Here's a picture of my zucchini, which I then froze in ice cube trays and have in a labeled freezer bag for when she can start on veggies :)

Trying New Things

That's our motto for the week. Today we tried out the nursery at church. I was a little hesitant...but M helped encourage me by asking me if we were taking her there. It was great. I missed having her right beside us in church, but got so much out of the message today. She did great in the nursery...took a little nap and got to snuggle with Miss Hollie in the rocker. We'll be taking her there from now on...and will hopefully get to volunteer our time in there as well :)

The other new thing that we're tackling now that we're back from vacation is sleeping in the big crib. She's doing awesome. We went cold turkey on the Miracle Blanket which has been hard cuz she LOVED that thing! But we're working through it...and each night gets a little easier. We're letting her fuss/cry a little at naptimes so she can figure out how to get herself to sleep on her own, and she's doing beautifully at that as well. I'm definitely not getting as much sleep as I did when we were swaddling...but she was so ready to be done with that. Like I said, we're working through it and each day is getting better. We've also started a nightly routine with her so she knows what to expect each night. We're doing the rice cereal before bed, then a bath, a book and then to bed. We'll keep you posted on how it's going :)