Hi friends. It's been three months! I hope I haven't scared anyone by my absence in blogging lately. The good news is that I've been away simply because we have been so busy with the move... and busy enjoying each other! We are finally 6 weeks into our new home in Texas, and loving it. Sugar Land is BEAUTIFUL. I am in love with our new (big!) house and our lovely, safe neighborhood. Downtown Sugar Land has amazing shopping and too many wonderful places to eat for us to even keep up with. Every weekend, we aim to try something new, and it has been lots of fun so far! We are back to our weekend roadtrips and mini-adventures, too, having visited Kemah Boardwalk in the Bay Area last weekend, Rice University the weekend before that, the Palladium and the Natural Science Museum too.
Moving to a new place was quite the transition for Evie, which had a big impact on the rest of us as well. This actually surprised me because of all of us, I expected her to be the least phased and the most resilient. She usually makes friends so easily and loves a new adventure. Over the course of about the first 4-6 weeks, I had to learn to ease off of my expectations for her and allow her to adapt on her own time... allow her to miss her family and friends back home, and that meant allowing her to cry lots of tears over them to me and Daddy. She had a very hard time adjusting to a new school and new friends (and to a daily routine again after staying home with Mommy for almost a month in between the move!). But I am so happy to report that she is finally loving her new school, new teachers and new friends. Every day, she has stories to share with me about what she pretended with her new friends at school (usually "princesses" or "family"), or what Michael-John's sister's name is, or how Taylor's mom has moles on her skin like I do, or how Evie's skin is a different color from Layla's and Addision's, but even though they are different "in so many ways, they are still the same." (Thank you, Daniel Tiger!) She has been learning to spell and write her name, and her artwork is becoming really good for an almost four-year-old! She loves to draw her family and friends, and we finally have identifiable faces and body parts and features. She always draws me with huge eyelashes, which makes me smile. So cute! She is very much into dancing and performing lately, and I love to watch her do little shows for Daddy and I. We are starting her in soccer this Fall, and when we see how much time that takes up, we will find a way to also fit in some dance classes. This little girl is a natural performer for sure!
Eleanor is doing wonderfully. She is 9 months old and already standing on her own. I can't get used to walking into a room and seeing her standing freely for a good 20 seconds before she grabs back on to something or lowers herself back to seated position. At school, they say she pulls up and holds on to the wall and walks all the way around the classroom, and loves to stand up and peek out the windows at the action on the playground. She began sleeping through the night again at 8 months old.... yes, it was a long four months of her sleep regression, but it's over and we made it through, and we are all getting wonderful sleep once again! She typically goes to sleep around 8 pm and sleeps until 6 or 7 the next morning. I think she finally started sleeping through the night due to a combination of a busy routine at daycare, eating more solids, and finally being settled in our new home instead of living from place to place for 3 or 4 weeks in between (we were back and forth between Gammy's, Meme's and the beach before moving to Texas).
Eleanor sleeps in her crib in the room with Conan. Yes, sadly, Conan and I sleep in separate rooms, but his snoring keeps me awake and Mommy needs her rest! Until he gets surgery to correct his deviated septum, I'm afraid that is how it will be! However, Lele sleeps well through his snoring, and her being in the room with him allows me to get a good interruption-free rest (she seems to wake up more in the night when Mommy is in the room with her). In the mornings, Eleanor wakes Conan up with her babbling "Dada!" peeking over the crib at him, and then he will bring her to my bed with a bottle. Most mornings, she will fall back asleep with me for a catnap after her bottle. There is truly nothing sweeter than these morning cuddles and watching her sweet baby belly rise and fall with her deep breaths.... and the little tiny pouty fat cheeks of her baby face as she rests.... I look forward to this time every morning! When she wakes up for the day, Mommy gets her and sister ready for school. Most days this feels like a marathon, packing breakfasts and lunches and extra clothes, brushing hair and putting on dresses, washing little faces and brushing teeth.... but I do love starting my day with my two sweethearts. Sometimes I bring them in my bathroom with me while I wash my face and dress for the day, and I'll turn on music so they can dance (and Eleanor can "bounce"). I have two sliding closet doors that are actually full-length mirrors, and the girls love to watch themselves. They'll dance and kiss their reflections, and Evie will curtsey to herself, and Eleanor will pat the baby in the mirror. Precious moments :)
Eleanor is a great eater, and her teachers at school are so tickled by what she will put away at lunch! One of her teachers is a sweet, older Filipino lady who calls her "Eleanora." I love hearing her daily reports: "Eleanora eat MUCH today for lunch! She eat three meatball and potato salads. Yummy yummy!" "Eleanora try to crawl in her cubby, but she no can get herself out! She like to stand up all day at the window!" She really loves Eleanor, and most days she has to give her a little squeeze before she can let her go home with me. "She so squishy!" she says.
Eleanor is a BIG girl. She is taller than Evie was at this age, and just as "squishy" if not more ;-) When I see her standing up next to Ev, I cannot believe how big she is already! Evie sometimes tries to pick her up and haul her across the room, and it's both funny and scary at the same time. Eleanor is a tough little thing (she kind of has to be with big sister!) and can hold her own. Sometimes I call her my little dumptruck because she will bulldoze over her big sister to get to a toy she wants -- or literallly crawl right over here to get to Mama.
Speaking of Mama, that may not have been her first word ("Dada"...of course) but it is certainly her favorite! She is a Mommy's girl for sure. If I walk in the room, she has her radar on me and will say, "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma!" until I come and get her. Or she will crawl over to me (she's fast!) and hold her little hands in the air for me to pick her up. If she hears my voice in another room, she will cry out for me, "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma!" Sometimes when I have on my cozy bathrobe, I will tuck her inside it with me, and I call this her "safe place." ("Let's put you back in your safe place.") And she loves that! When I pick her up from daycare, she is so excited that she laughs when she sees me. And on special days that I am wearing makeup, she will just gaze and my eyes with the biggest smile like she thinks I am the most beautiful person in the world! I love that she loves me so much, and that I am so important to her. It really is the best feeling in the world.
I am expecting her to start walking early. Ev walked for the first time on her first birthday, but I don't think it will take that long for Eleanor. Evie started crawling at 9 months, and Eleanor beat her by about a month. I think it will be any day now. I wonder if Eleanor is doing things earlier simply because she is trying harder to mirror her big sister.
Eleanor may actually be more of a handful at this age than her sister was! We cannot keep her away from the fireplace, and if we tell her "No NO!" she will smile mischievously and continue crawling toward it. We literally cannot leave her for 5 seconds unattended or she's in the trash can, the dog's water bowl, stuck under the dining room table, eating her sister's paint set or chalk, trying to stick a tiny finger in a socket, or .... her favorite.... eating one of Daddy's shoes. Yuck!
In addition to Mama, she says "Dada" and "Baba" (for bottle). She claps her hands when we cheer "Yay!" and she waves "Bye Bye" by putting her little hand in front of her mouth with her palm facing outward, and opening and closing her fist. She belly laughs when her sister or mommy play "Bee-Boo!" with her (our version of peek a boo), and she belly laughs when you whisper a secret in her ear or kiss her neck. She loves to grab my face and give me a big, open-mouthed "kiss" on my cheek or chin, and more than anything, she loves to play with that little tongue of hers! She is literally always sticking it out and moving it back and forth to make silly noises. She clicks her tongue to call Daisy the dog, and she clicks her tongue to call Mommy and Daddy! Haha!
Lately, everyone tells me that she looks just like her Daddy, and Evie looks just like me. Both of my girls are drop dead gorgeous! Eleanor's hair is lighter than Evie's was at this age. She doesn't have as much hair as Evie did, but we can finally pull up enough to give her a little water spout pony tail on top of her head! Eleanor's eyes have settled into a darker blue than Ev's. The color is just beautiful. Evie thinks it's "purple." :)
My two little sweethearts really are my whole world. I haven't made new friends in Sugar Land yet, and I know that will come.... but right now my little girlies are more than enough for me! They will never know until they are mothers themselves how full they make my life, and how they are my everything. Seeing them together, whether it's riding in the grocery buggy side by side... taking a bath together.... wrestling on the living room rug.... or napping in my bed with me on a Sunday afternoon.... there really is nothing more beautiful in life. A few days ago, Eleanor said "Sissy" for the first time (just once so far), and my heart nearly burst. She absolutely lights up when Evie comes into the room, and I feel so lucky to know they have each other, and I get to watch their relationship grow over the years.
It's a wonderful feeling to come completely out of postpartum depression and know that everything is not just OK -- it's absolutely wonderful. And just like before with Evie, I find myself thinking I could do this again for #3.... of course whether that happens or not remains to be seen in the next couple of years (not anytime soon!) But as I watch Eleanor at 9 months old -- one of my FAVORITE ages -- with her baby babble and sweet cuddles and her amazing personality blossoming.... I can't help but think this could not possibly be my last baby? We shall see :-) She is such a blessing. Both of my girls are. I love them so much!
The lesson once again is that God will never give us more than we can handle. And He rewards us ten-fold for our perseverance.
XO,
Ames
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