Lele is ONE!!

Last week,  Eleanor turned ONE!! My goodness, it happened so much faster with Lele than it did with Evie. We literally turned around, and we were celebrating her first birthday!!

We were a little sad at first about having to celebrate her first birthday away from family and friends here in Texas, but it turned out to be PERFECT!! We were lucky to have our wonderful close friends Sean, Nicole and Brian in town for the weekend, and they helped us put together a beautiful party for Miss Lele!! We were also blessed that all of our family and close friends sent gifts to Eleanor in the mail, so baby girl racked up with some really cool and really thoughtful presents from the people who love her most. :)

We had a little bit of a kink in our plans when Evie woke up with a stomach bug the morning of Lele's party :( Mommy had planned on taking Evie to the store to pick out decorations and a cake for her little sister that morning, so that Ev could have a special role in the party planning and setup. Needless to say, those plans changed! I could not take her anywhere. :( Enter our wonderful friends! Conan, Brian, Nicole and Sean went to the store and picked out an amazing cake, banners, balloons, tablecloth and wrapping paper with an Elephant-slash-Sea-Creature theme -- haha!! They picked out as much YELLOW as they could find, which was my hope for her first birthday theme. They did GREAT! They put everything together, and Conan used some of my fall mums and Eleanor's stuffed animals to create a cute centerpiece for the birthday table.

The guys prepared an amazing meal of grilled salmon, veggies and quinoa for us, and we finished up with coffee and cake. Eleanor unwrapped her presents (with LOTS of help from big sister, of course, because "she doesn't know what she's doing mommy!!!!! says Ev). She also dug into her cake and confirmed that she LOVED it: "MMMMMMMMMMM!" ;) Let me back up and say that we did have her first birthday cake on the actual night of her birthday, with just Mommy, Daddy and Ev. I'd planned on just waiting until her party Saturday, but Ev informed me that you HAVE TO HAVE CAKE ON YOUR ACTUAL BIRTHDAY, MOMMY! And since she was so persistent... we did! And I'm glad we did! I have a sweet little video of just the 3 of us -- me, Conan and Ev -- singing Happy Birthday to our baby girl and her digging those sweet baby hands into her miniature cake! It was adorable!

At her birthday party, Eleanor wore an adorable yellow gingham party hat with a 1 on it.... for a moment, and then she cried because she didn't want to wear it, cried because she wanted her cake, and cried because she wanted her presents! Haha! It's my party and I'll cry if I want to! When she had everything she wanted.... she had a ball!

Her gifts included a Tickle Me Elmo, blocks and shape sorters (which she is SO GOOD AT, it's crazy--she really loves to build things and put objects into a container--SMART!). She received a Peek a Boo Bear from Mr. Brian wrapped in a Cracker Barrell bag -- haha! Inside joke for us. She received a 3 Little Pigs puppet set from Miss Nicole and Mr. Sean which she AND Evelyn adore! The puppet shows Evie can put on are hysterical!

She received lots of stuffed animals, a doggy from Aunt B and Uncle Jay that teaches her colors and shapes and even her NAME! Wow! Clothes from her grandmothers, a princess fairy tutu and wings from Meme, a singing picnic basket and Texas bear from Mrs. Kathy, Mr. Richie and Lorelei, a toy remote control (Conan said Jesus sent it -- "Thank you Jesus!" we won't have to look for our remotes anymore ;) and just so many other wonderful things. We are so blessed with generous and sweet friends and family!

At one year old, Eleanor is absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen. I guess everyone says that about their babies, but she is a DOLL and I wish I could just freeze her in time right now with her soft pale blonde hair, big blinky blue eyes, fat baby cankles, little outie belly button, crooked little toofies, and that wide smile that is TO DIE FOR!! Gosh, I love that sweet girl!!!

At 1, she has now been walking for several months! She began walking right as she turned 10 months old, and she has taken OFF! She's so fast! She is known to snatch Evie's breakfast in the morning, or her juice, and TAKE OFF running across the house with it, to Evie's despair! Meme bought her first pair of Stride Rites at Target, and since she's gotten them, she has never slowed down! I have the hardest time taking pictures of her because Lele is never still!

When she WANTS to be still, she wants to be in her "safe place" holding on to Mommy like a koala bear and resting her little head on her special spot on my chest. She is the LOVIEST baby, and she things she belongs on Mommy's hip or chest at all times (when she's not walking!). I love seeing her walk to me and throw those tiny hands up in the air ("Get me!"). She is a little spoiled in this department, as she does this to her favorite teacher Miss Kay at school, and Miss Kay literally holds her most of the day! Teacher's pet :) Miss Kay loves her and calls her "Sunshine." Miss Maria, her other teacher, who is Hispanic, calls her, "Eleanora," which I LOVE.

She says lots of words now: the first of course was Dada, followed by Mama, Ball (Bawwww), Duddles (Duh-doo), Evie (AVA), mouse (MOW), HIIIII and BYE BYE!

She also knows that when one of us doesn't give her what she wants, she calls on the other to get her way! Haha! If I tell her no to something, she puts on her superfrown and calls for DADA! !!!! So funny.

She is now down with formula, but she is SO attached to her "Baba" -- her bottle. She literally walks around the house all morning with her Baba, not even necessarily drinking it, just wanting the comfort of holding it in her mouth. She also falls asleep with it, which is a huge no-no (I know), so I have to do something about that soon... but Lord I will miss seeing my sweet girl tromping around the house with her Baba hanging from her mouth. And singing, "Lele Baba, Lele Baba, where are YOU?" when we can't find it. She's so cute!

Lele is the best little eater.... she literally eats ANYTHING you put on her plate, from brussel sprouts to peas to kiwi to steak to curry.... I mean, you name it! She eats it! And she enjoys her food... she'll say "MMMMMMMMMMM!" with a huge grin when she really likes something.

Another thing I love about her at this age is those POUTY BABY LIPS. Oh my word.... Pops calls them her Mick Jagger Lips when she sticks them out in a full pout. If I tell her no, she just pouts those lips out... so sassy and cute! She will also shake her little finger "no" at me if I tell her no-no! You cannot help but laugh at the mischievousness.

She also blows kisses, waves hi, and says MUAH if I say "Give Kiss!" She even plays peek a boo... if I say, "Where's Eleanor?" she will put her little hand over her face, or a blanket over her face, and pull it down and say BAH!!! (Boo)

We get a kick out of her dancing to her Kitty Kat piano. She knows exactly which button to push to turn the songs on, and she dances in slow motion -- up and down and side to side with this ridiculous grin on her face. We say she looks like a character in "It's a Small World" at Disney World because the resemblance in how they move is uncanny. Haha!

At age one, Lele also LOVES Duddles. Duh-doo is her newfound best friend, and Lele has to go see her first thing every morning. She crawls on to Duddles' doggie bed with her and smiles and pat-pat-pats the doggie. She will say, "Wuh wuh!" to Duddles and feed her snacks (then take a little bite for herself, then give Duddles some more). I think Duddles is in hog heaven the way these girls love on her.

She loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders, she loves to chill in her Baby "LazyBoy" (the Minnie Mouse chair) with one fat baby leg hiked up while she drinks her Baba. She LOVES her Meme and I think she thinks Mom is her second mommy, so we call her "Meme Mama" because that baby wants her Meme ALL the TIME when we are together. When we stay at Mom's house, Lele is always looking for her!

There's really so much I can say about our sweet, sweet Eleanor. She is so beautiful and has such a sweet demeanor. She is so even-keeled and chill, and she has the greatest sense of humor. This baby literally laughs at everything -- from awkward silences, to mommy's silly facial expressions, to jokes that we adults tell between each other and she cracks up like she actually gets it! I love my Eleanor to the moon and back, and I cannot imagine our lives without her! Happy, happy birthday sweet baby girl!