Eleanor 2 Months

August 26, 2018 by

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,

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Eleanor 1 Month Old

July 18, 2018 by

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,

 

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She’s a Toddler!

March 20, 2017 by

Meredith had been zooming around on her hands and knees, or cruising from furniture to furniture for months, without seeming too care much about taking the plunge and walking solo. I had been begging her to start walking since virtually every pair of her leggings had holes in them (even with her trusty “hazmat suit” on) and her hands and knees had been rubbed raw from all that crawling!

Like most milestones, Meredith was on her own time table and finally decided to take her first steps on February 15, a few weeks after her 1st birthday and, coincidentally, the same day we accepted an offer on our house (an emotional day all around!) After a few weeks in escrow, the deal with our original buyers fell through and our house is now back on the market, so it’s been back to my job as full-time maid, but at least some things are still moving forward– like Meredith’s walking! She’s practically running around this place and is absolutely terrifying trying to walk down the stairs!

Samantha, (and then, Amelia a week later), started walking a few weeks ahead of Meredith, which I find funny considering Meredith has two examples/motivations around her at all times. Looking back at what was going on around the time the twins started walking, Meredith has been up to the same shenanigans, having a harder time going down for naps and bedtime, and crying randomly at night. She loves to practice her new skills in her sleep and it’s been keeping her up. At least I can take comfort in looking back to this milestone with the twins that an end is in sight and hopefully it’s just temporary.

The twins were just as excited as we were when Meredith started walking and have been encouraging her along the way. There is a class of toddlers in their preschool that the girls always point to and say, “When Meredith starts walking, she will be a toddler, like them!” So when Meredith took her first steps, the twins exclaimed, excitedly, “MOMMY, SHE’S A TODDLER NOW!!!” Whenever we refer to “Baby Meredith” now, the girls correct us: “NO, she’s TODDLER Meredith!”

Meredith’s first steps 2/15/17:

Let it go!

The first few weeks of walking, Meredith felt like she had entered a new, exciting world of possibilities!

She loves to go down the tube and the slide by herself (she will go down the big slides at the bigger parks as well).

Meredith has the best of both worlds… she loves to toddle around and then gets a free ride home.

Meredith practicing her new skills (gotta love that zombie toddler walk):

Our baby is officially a toddler!
Lots of love,

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Meredith’s 12 Month Photos

February 27, 2017 by

Thanks to Aunt Sarah for taking some of my all-time favorite photos of Meredith for her one year birthday shoot! I just want to freeze Meredith in time right here in this moment forever and ever:

From Meredith’s surprise entry into the world 3 weeks ahead of schedule (and the crazy birth that caused the doctor to exclaim she had never seen worse tearing… thanks, Meredith!), to her learning to eat, sleep, smile, giggle, roll, sit up, eat solids, crawl, stand, and cruise, it’s been quite the year! I’ve blocked out memories of the traumatic parts of her birth mostly because she has such a sweet and fun loving spirit that it’s hard to believe she ever gave me a rough time! I would do it over again for her.

At her 12 month check-up, our ped’s first comment was, “You are obviously starving her.” Weighing in at 27 pounds and standing tall at 32.5 inches, she’s literally off the charts at over the 98th percentile in height and weight. Not surprising considering I’ve never seen a baby eat so much food! She puts the twins to shame (and that’s saying something considering their typical breakfast is two bowls of oatmeal, toast, eggs, and a green smoothie… and then an hour later, they are usually complaining of hunger and begging for a snack).

Meredith was NOT happy about posing with these letters and kept throwing them in protest. By letter E, she was completely fed up, as you can see from that glaring grump face.

Yes, I’m a stinker.

Everything is a grand adventure for Meredith and I feel like I need to take some life advice from her! She’s a social butterfly, interacting and engaging with everyone she meets, can figure out how to do things in a snap (she imitates putting on clothes, putting caps on water bottles, and brushing her teeth, just like her sisters), and is highly inquisitive, energetic, feisty and playful. She loves to play peekaboo with us by hiding behind the mirrored sliding door of our closet and popping out with a grin, anticipating our gushing reaction. We fall for it every time.

I will never forget seeing her for the first time and noticing the delicate little curl on the corners of her lips. It’s still the same and I just adore that little mouth!

One of Meredith’s favorite parts of our routine is when the kids at preschool pickup/dropoff flock to Meredith for hugs and games of peekaboo. She eats it up and is never one to disappoint her audience. One of the teachers calls her “her little Pebbles” from the Flintstones because her signature ‘do is usually straight up with a bow. After hugs and kisses goodbye to her sisters, wrangling her back in her carseat is a full body workout for me… she twists and flails and goes limp; ANYTHING to escape and join her sisters at school! They are her best playmates and she misses them terribly when they’re gone.

Samantha and Amelia are smitten with their little sis and their teachers tell me the twins are constantly recounting stories of Meredith’s latest escapades during their sharing time. Lately, Meredith has figured out it’s hilarious to knock down, tear up, stomp on, and pretty much destroy anything the twins are building, playing or working on. Occassionally, as in the case of their beloved art projects they bring home from school that Meredith will swipe and rip in half at an opportune moment, tears are shed, but most of the time, the twins deal with Meredith’s shenanigans with sister sweetness, saying, “That’s ok, Meredith. You didn’t know any better.”  Meredith couldn’t ask for more loving big sisters.

Standing tall and proud.

Love those ocean blue eyes.

Picnic in the park with teddy.

The amount of helium in the balloons we brought for the shoot was insane, so we decided to tie one around Meredith’s waist to see if she would levitate. She was not amused with our experiment.

Per my union contract, I was done 15 minutes ago.

That’s it. I’m out.

We tried to get some letter pics on the swings, but Meredith knew what we were up to and quickly tossed them.

So free spirited.

Grump face.

Wild ONE.

Come and get me!

Before Meredith was born, we weren’t sure how our hearts could possibly grow big enough to fit one more into the mix, but now it’s hard to imagine what life was like without her. She’s made our hearts burst and we just LOVE this girl!

Lots of love,

 

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