Mother's Day

Eleanor and I went to the lake early in the week to spend some time with my mom and do some shopping. The trip started out great! Eleanor took her first nap of the day in the car and was very happy when we arrived. She seemed a little confused as to where we were. It was a gorgeous, warm day. We had lunch at Vista Grande, and Eleanor had a great appetite - important since we're trying to get her to gain back some of the weight she lost during her stint with rotavirus. After lunch we headed over to the outlet mall, parked, and walked (shopped) the entire mall. Eleanor was a great little shopper, but she missed her second nap. This caught up with us later that night.

Eleanor was a little fussy, so I gave her an empty water bottle and a Mum Mum wrapper. Being that these aren't toys, she was perfectly happy. I noticed that it was way past her bedtime, so I scooped her up, sat her in the living room so I could gather her bedtime necessities, and took the wrapper and bottle away from her. Big mistake. She was so tired and immediately had a meltdown. On my way back to pick her up, I noticed that she was holding her breath. I yelled, BREATHE!" Then she fell over and her eyes rolled back into her head. I started yelling that something was wrong with her. At that moment my mom scooped her up and blew into her face, which immediately brought her back. Completely frightening. Needless to say, I hope it never ever happens again.

Eleanor and I were home in Columbia on the actual Mother's Day. Brian had a lot of work, but we were able to go to Sophia's for brunch. So nice. If we're in Columbia on Mother's Day next year, we are definitely going back to Sophia's. We planned on going to Cracker Barrel, but the "front porch" was packed, and I'm glad. It was a great first Mother's Day!

not worth it.

So I'm sitting here at my garage sale thinking that this really was not worth the effort. I hardly have anything to sell, and I'm not really sure why anyone would want our old stuff. We'll see. At least it's not raining like it was supposed to. I might end up closing up shop early. I probably won't be doing another garage sale until my kid(s) are grown and I need to get rid of kid stuff. That seems to be what people want anyway. Maybe I should put Eleanor in some ragged close so people will feel sorry for us and buy our junk...I mean great stuff.

Eleanor is still sleeping, but I imagine she'll be joining me out here soon. I wish I would was still sleeping, too :o). Luckily she is over her sickness. I know it's a part of life, but I hope she doesn't get sick again for a long time.

Eleanor is not really working on any new skills right now. She is crawling all over the place and pulling up on anything she can get her hands on. She did stand on her own for a few seconds twice now, but I am not sure she really realized what she was doing. I, along with her doctor, parents-as-teachers educator, my parents, and Brian, this she will definitely we walking by her first birthday. Only two months to go! I cannot believe she is so close to the big birthday! I swore that I wouldn't do too much for her first birthday, but it's so hard to resist. The two themes in the running are cupcakes or ladybugs. I'm giving myself a few weeks to decide, but then I think I'll order some stuff so I'm not rushing to get everything together at the last minute. It's difficult to make definite plans right now because we'll be living in an apartment in St. Charles. I cannot wait until we're there and swimming everyday! My new swimsuits came last week, and Eleanor has plenty to get her through the summer. I just know we're all going to hate to leave in August.

Sick times in the Schierding house

On Wednesday Eleanor got sick for the first time ever. I was thrilled that we made it through winter without even and hint of a cold. Oh well. I guess it had to happen sometime. She caught a stomach bug, and although she was her normal happy self, she would not eat a bite of food. That was the first thing that worried me, but I just thought she was finally teething. Nope. Stomach bug. Yesterday she was better, but today she was very fussy and again wouldn't eat. I woke up with the bug at 2:30 am and am finally feeling better. I hope we can both get it out of our systems by tomorrow, and I really hope Brian doesn't get it.

Since she was her delightful self yesterday, I took her in the front yard to play. I can only hope that she's always this happy every time she gets sick.

It's been too long.

I cannot believe that I let my blog get away from me. Actually, I can. I have a 9 month old. I love that Eleanor will now follow me around the house as I'm doing things. She occasionally wanders into another room, but she usually likes to be with her mommy.

Over the past two days, Eleanor has been really into pulling up and standing. Sometimes she forgets that she is a standing novice and lets go with one or both hands. She will also take a few wobbly steps, so I don't think it will be too long before we enter the cruising phase.

We have been extra busy over the past few weekends. Last weekend Brian and I hosted a baby shower for our dear friends Paul and Sarah to help them welcome little Lila, who should be making her appearance mid-June. We can't wait to meet her! The shower was at Cyrano's in Webster Groves. We enjoyed some fresh fruit and cheese plates, but the grilled banana bread and roasted red pepper hummus were by far the best appetizers. After a few games we opened presents and had dessert. I ordered key lime pie, and Brian had an enormous eclair sundae. They were good, but the bite of Sarah's bread pudding was the BEST! I have to go back for my own bread pudding sometime. Eleanor was a trooper. She was a little fussy at times, but who can blame her? She was either in a high chair or on someone's lap for the entire 3 hours.

After the shower we headed straight to Melissa's 40th birthday party. I cannot believe that my sister is 40! We had some good pork steaks and visited with family. Eleanor loved watching all the kids run around outside. She would have liked to play with her cousin Jack, but he was too busy to pay attention to Eleanor. Needless to say, all three of us were exhausted after a long day of parties.

That didn't stop us from visiting with Ben and Saskia the next morning, though. We headed over to the Schatz's house for some playtime with Ben and Saskia. Eleanor was able to show off her clapping, waving, and crawling skills. Playing with Ben and Sas was lot different than it is when we ichat. I was able to get some great pictures of the three of them. They look like an adorable little family. The visit was fun, but too short, and we miss them already. :(

This past weekend was Caroline's first birthday and Easter. Another big and exhausting weekend. It's unreal that it has already been a year since we first met adorable little Caroline. She had a huge princess party complete with a castle bounce house and Easter egg hunt. Eleanor was in a great mood and loved meeting many new friends.

Luckily, the Easter bunny found Eleanor at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They were at the lake, so Brian, Eleanor and I found the eggs he left in the living room. Eleanor had a lot of fun things in her basket. She got three books, an adorable stuffed caterpillar, some chick and duck toys, bubbles, a beach towel, and a big stuffed bunny with a pink bow. Wow! Of course none of those things were interesting at all, because there was grass in her basket. She loved pulling it out and making a mess all over Grandma's living room. After we checked out Eleanor's Easter goods, it was off to the Stecker's house for breakfast. Eleanor was delighted when her cousin Lauren blew bubbles for her in the basement. I'm pretty sure that Lauren had just as much fun as Eleanor ;). Our Easter celebrations didn't end there. After chowing down on biscuits and gravy, sausage, and hash browns, we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Schierding's for lunch. I think Caroline was still exhausted from her birthday party, but Eleanor was in a great mood. She had a great time playing with Brian's little cousins, and even ate ham for the first time. After such a busy weekend, it was no surprise at all that Eleanor slept all the way back to Columbia.

She's on the move!

Eleanor started crawling on Sunday at my mom's house. I would not say that she has mastered it yet, but she's able to get around now. Over the past few days she has kind of slacked off. She is more interested in the fact that she can sit herself up. I am just as happy about that as I am about her crawling. Brian and I love to watch her crawl over to her piano all by herself now. Eleanor will play a note or two and then applaud for herself, and she expects us to applaud every time, too.

We also had a visit from Grandma, Aunt Cathy, Tyler, and Abby on Friday. I had to wake Eleanor from her nap so that she could visit with them. She was so happy to wake up and see everyone in her room. Right away she wanted Abby to hold her. Eleanor would not let go of Abby, and she just kept smiling. She loves her cousins! It was so cute!

I've been a bad blogger...

Why is it that I always remember to write something just as I'm settling into bed. I'm just going to list random thoughts and updates so that I'll feel caught up.

* I cannot believe that people are interested in reading my blog. It scares me that people read what I write. I struggled with this so much in school.

* Eleanor does a great job getting up on her hands and knees. If only she could figure out that she needs to move her arms and how to do it!

* Brian's dad finally came home from the hospital/Florida. He seems to be doing well, we're happy!

* Sometimes I worry that Eleanor does not "talk" enough. She is very quiet, but I suppose Brian and I are, too.

* I feel like I will never get the house clean and organized. I need to have a garage sale. Brian and I have too much junk.

* I'm going to try and get some pictures and videos up soon. 24 hours are not enough.

8 months old

I cannot believe that Eleanor is 8 months old today! Every single mom that I talk to says that time flies when you have a baby, and of course they are all right. Eleanor is working on crawling right now. She's mastered clapping, which is so cute! Her babbling has ceased for the time being, which is both odd and sad. I liked hearing "dadadada" all the time. I suppose she's just too busy in her attempt to become mobile.

It's been a while since I have written, but since then Brian's dad was in a very serious accident. Luckily, he is doing very well. He has another surgery on Monday, so he will be in our thoughts as always. I wish that we could visit. I know seeing Eleanor would really cheer him up. He is in FL, though, and making the trip just is not possible right now. I think we'll probably visit a lot when he makes it back to St. Louis.

Last night Brian and I managed to get a babysitter so we could go to the law school's Barrister Ball. It was fun. I was not as worried about Eleanor as I thought I would be, but I think that's just because we did not leave the house until she was in bed. It made me wish we could go out more. However, until she starts taking a bottle, we will be staying in for a while. We are just lucky that she is such a good baby; we have no problem taking her places with us.

We've created a monster...

Or at least it sounds like it. Eleanor has been growling nonstop for days now. I'm pretty sure she keeps doing it because Brian and I always act like we're scared. She is also "mean" to her Care Bear. She gives it her own little Care Bear stare / growl. The sound she makes is so inhuman; it's very hard to believe that it's coming from a little girl. Honestly, I hope she outgrows it soon.

Eleanor also started babbling today, which was a nice switch from growling. We were playing in her room and she started saying "da da da da." Very cute!

I sometime feel a little overwhelmed in terms of what Eleanor is learning everyday. I feel like there are so many things that I should be doing for and with her right now, and I'm afraid I'm going to forget about something. I'm sure that it's just me overreacting / over-thinking things. I hope Eleanor is not a worrier like her mom.

Another great day!

I never thought that we would be able to enjoy an entire day outside in early February. Our day began with a walk on the MKT trail with some other moms and babies. I have never been on that trail, but after today I know I'll be going back. It was beautiful. I loved the huge rocks and trees that lined the trail.
From there, we headed over to Flatbranch for lunch with daddy. We managed to beat the crowd and got a great table outside. Eleanor gummed on celery sticks while we enjoyed our lunch. After lunch, we dropped Brian off at school and headed home to take a nap.
In the afternoon, we decided to celebrate Brian's recent summer employment with a trip to Sparky's. Brian and I both got raspberry lime sorbet - yum! Then, we headed over to Stephen's Park. We finally got to take Eleanor down the slide. She liked it, but not as much as she likes the swings. We finished this beautiful day by grilling some pork chops and zucchini for dinner - yum again.
It truly was a great family day!

Free smiles

Finally, Eleanor is beginning to smile at strangers. I'm so excited! It's wonderful to have a baby who doesn't look so unhappy all the time when we're in public. She has always had plenty of smiles for her mommy and daddy, but others have always had to work for even a little grin.

Another huge development in the past few days has been Eleanor's sense of humor. It seems that everything Brian and I do or say is absolutely hilarious. It's the best.