Milestones – Page 3

Eleanor 3 Months

September 18, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

Four babies at 3 Months Old: Amelia, Samantha, Meredith and Eleanor.

Eleanor definitely takes after Meredith, with her own little twist. They have the same curved little lips which I just adore.

Eleanor is definitely our chubbiest baby! This girl packed on the pounds this month and grew quite a bit in length too. She’s hungry ALL the time and an excellent sleeper. By 8 weeks, she had dropped the middle of the night 1 a.m. feed, and by 3 months she was sleeping 8:30 p.m.-5:30 a.m. at night.

Meredith was always pretty interactive, but Eleanor takes the cake. She soaks up all the attention she can get when out in public and smiles and coos at everyone who stops to say hello. It can take an hour just to get in and out of school pick-up because everyone from the school director, to the teachers, to the kids and parents always stop to baby chat with her and squeeze those plump thighs. They are pretty irresistible.

Eleanor loves to laugh, giggle, go for stroller strides, swat at toys, grab hair, and take baths. She’s content during tummy time and has excellent neck control. She loves to say hi to her adoring public from the comfort of my Ergo carrier. She also thrives on excitement and chaos. The week that Jake and the twins were gone in Washington, she had a few of her fussiest days and nights on record… my theory is she was bored with just me!

Squeeze!

Love this baby.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Milestones Tagged With: Eleanor 3 months

Eleanor 2 Months

August 26, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

At Elle’s 2 month doctor’s appointment, the nurse couldn’t believe how much she had grown and re-checked her height and weight three times just to be sure! Eleanor was over the 100th percentile for weight and was in the 98th for height. Then, our pediatrician walked in and said, “She’s a Whitehead baby. Totally normal.” Eleanor is one huge baby, but not out of the norm for our family!

Height: 24 inches

Weight: 15 pounds

Photos by Sarah Arnoff.

At around 6 weeks, Eleanor started to drop the middle of the night feed (1 or 2 a.m.) and at 8 weeks, she started sleeping through the night 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. consistently. She’s a star baby.

Baby Elle is our most smiley/giggly baby at such an early age. She loves to be held, danced with, tickled, swung, and to go for stroller rides. Her favorite is when all her sisters make silly faces, dance, and sing to her– she cracks up like they are the most hilarious people in the world.

Elle must know that she is #4 and has to go with the flow– she’s pretty chill and unfussy, unless she’s tired or hungry (we have that in common).

Showing off her triple chin.

From left to right: Meredith, Eleanor, Amelia, Samantha, Meredith again.

A chunk like her sisters!

Eleanor and her varied expressions:

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Milestones, Year One Tagged With: 2 month stats, eleanor 2 months

Eleanor 1 Month Old

July 18, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

Eleanor at 1 month old!

Time flies when you are eating, sleeping and pooping all day!

Eleanor stilled liked to snooze during the day, and we’d have to wake her up to eat and get her used to a regular nighttime schedule. She would typically do a dream feed at 10 or 11 p.m, eat again at 1:30 or 2:30 a.m., and again early in the morning at 4:30 or 5:30 a.m. There were a handful of 4-hour stretches at night here or there, but most of the time she’d do 2.5 or 3 hours. Sleep improved for everyone when we moved her from the crib right next to our bed to her nursery in the retreat, which is still in our bedroom, but is its own room with barn doors that can close. Once she was in the nursery at 4 weeks, we weren’t waking up from every little noise and neither was she!

Eleanor has surprisingly good neck control. She’s so observant and loves to look around, especially outside.

She didn’t mind tummy time too much on her Boppy, but hated to be put down just on her stomach without support.

I want to see the world!

Where’s my swaddle? This girl loved being swaddled in her soft aden and anais blankets, especially when master swaddler Jake was doing the swaddling. All the girls still cuddle with these blankies at night and nap.

We couldn’t figure out who she looked like most– probably a mix of everyone. Amelia is the first pic, Samantha the second, and Meredith the third.

A Meredith look-alike, minus the hair?

Getting in alone time with Eleanor was difficult! There was always someone in line to hold her next! The twins were always very protective of her at preschool pick-up and at the park when swarms of kids would come to coo at her. “YOU CAN LOOK, BUT DON’T TOUCH!” instructed bodyguards Samantha and Amelia, arms crossed protectively in front of Eleanor’s car seat carrier.

Queen Eleanor welcomed well-wishers daily.

Eleanor and Lucero.

Kennedy and Sebastian with Eleanor.

Eleanor and Jodi.

Cousin Ben and Eleanor.

Cousin Zack and Eleanor.

Chillin like a baby villain.

Anytime Eleanor was fussy, we’d go for a walk and BOOM. Happy baby.

Nice to have great helpers!

Early morning snooze.

Hi, I’m new here.

Ready for my beauty shot.

I’m not sure I approve of whatever is on top of my head…

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Milestones, Year One Tagged With: 1 month old Eleanor, ben, jodi, kennedy, lucero, sebastian, sisters and eleanor, zack

Meredith’s 2nd Birthday Stats and Favorite Things

January 27, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

Meredith has been two basically since she was about 13 months old… once she could walk, run away, and communicate, etc., she wasn’t taking orders from anyone! Seriously, I thought I was the most stubborn person in the world, but I was wrong. Very wrong. Strong-willed doesn’t even begin to describe this girl!

Last time I was at Target with her, she threw such a tantrum over items I wouldn’t let her put in the cart that a very kind lady offered to push my cart to the parking lot for me while I carried her, kicking and screaming under one arm like a football to the car! We rarely go to the store anymore and instead try to get as many wiggles out as possible at the park or anywhere she can run wild and free. Being strapped down in her car seat, stroller, shopping cart is usually a recipe for power struggles. The upside is that she learns quickly and is very independent… from washing her hands and singing the ABCs to buckling her own seatbelt, to getting a snack, to putting on her clothes and shoes, she wants to do it all herself! She’s observed the twins turning on our Alexa device to play a song or a show and now tries to order Alexa around herself (“Lexa, play Daniel Tiger Naaaaaayhood”)!

She consistently makes the twins cry from her hair-pulling and wrestling antics and she is the master of her favorite game, hide-and-seek. She will snatch a prized item, such as my phone, wallet, my entire purse, or a Sharpie and will hide under our dining room table or drapes, throwing cards everywhere, trying to login to my phone, or going through every item in my purse like a little mouse! She’s sooooo quiet that it sometimes takes everyone in the house several minutes to find her. Sneaky girl!

She’s also bubbly, full of energy, constantly talking and singing and is the biggest cuddlebug. Even though we ALWAYS read exactly three books at naptime and bedtime, she still innocently asks for one more book and jumps off my lap to grab one, hoping I will give in just this once. What she is in stubbornness and sneakiness, she makes up for in friendliness. She’s better friends with some of the twins’ friends than they are! All of the kids at preschool love to play with her when we drop off or pick up the twins and she is definitely not shy with anyone… so different from the twins! She constantly makes us laugh and loves life!

Her prayers are always heartfelt and usually include some mention of “chicken, cookies, Sammy, and Sammy” (she can say Amelia, but for some reason, she usually calls both of the twins Sammy!) Amelia came up with the idea of throwing a little party on the day that she finally called her Amelia, and when she did say it, everyone was clapping and so excited. After our little impromptu dessert “party,” she continued to point to both twins and call them Sammy. We’re not sure if she’s doing it to bug us or if she really can’t tell that they are two different people or what! She also loves to look at family pictures or old photo albums, and usually points to the twins and says, “Meredith!” We don’t know what goes through that little toddler brain of hers, but she is funny!

We love you, Meredith!

A few of her favorite things…