Look what I found at the pumpkin patch

Milestones

Eleanor met several big milestones in the last few days. On Sunday, she laughed out loud for the first time while I was washing her neck during her bath - she was SO cute! Then the next morning she "squealed in delight" when I came in her room to get her up. It was so sweet! Yesterday she finally managed to suck on her thumb after a month of chewing on her fist (see below), and today she rolled over from her stomach to her back for the first time. I'm not sure that it was intentional, but she did it! I think her next big thing will be grabbing a toy on purpose - I can tell that she's starting to think about it.

(Her shirt says "Favorite things: daddy, hugs, kisses".)

A birthday tradition

My sister gave me this card for my 14th birthday...

...and one month later, I gave it back to her! This card has now been going back and forth for 14 years, or half of my lifetime as she so nicely pointed out to me. :) I have the easy job, because she has to keep up with it for 11 months of the year.

One day I can see there being an article about us in the Life section of a local newspaper. Of course, I had another idea the other day. This is a Hallmark card, so maybe Hallmark could make a commercial using us! Of course, I'm not sure what message that would send for them since my sister and I have saved a lot of money on cards for each other over the years!

Pierced ears!

Eleanor got her ears pierced on Saturday! The experience wasn't too bad. She cried for a minute, but I think it was mainly because I had to hold her head still and she didn't like that one bit. She was MUCH more unhappy when she got her shots.

She has tiny white gold studs. Well, they looked tiny on the display shelf, but they do look kind of big on her! They're the smallest ones they had though, and I know she will grow into them soon.

I know some people think we're crazy for doing this - some people don't even try to hide their expression of horror. But we did it for two reasons. One, when I was 6 and I got my ears pierced, I didn't take very good care of them. I would mess with them all the time and I didn't follow the care instructions. I remember my ears always being red and hurting. With a baby, I will take care of them - she doesn't even know that she has ears yet! And two, I have always thought that baby girls look so cute with pierced ears. I really think it's a really a cultural thing, and I grew up in Peru where they pierce all baby girls' ears before they even leave the hospital. It just looks so cute! Plus, maybe people will stop thinking she's a boy. Of course, I have had people ask even when she's wearing a pink onesie and bright pink pants, so who knows...

3 months

Happy "Monthday", Eleanor!

More fall birthday fun

It was Hunter's birthday the other day, so Eleanor and I made him his traditional pumpkin pie. Every year I make him a pumpkin pie from scratch (including the crust!) and every year he eats the entire thing because I don't like it. I just have to take his word for it that it's good. Who knows, maybe next year Hunter will get a little help from Eleanor. She blew spit bubbles while I worked on the pie. That's her latest talent!

I had to include a close up of her little Halloween outfit. I haven't had to buy her any clothes since she got so many as gifts, but I couldn't resist!

Eleanor and Penny matched! They both weigh about the same amount now. This is the most Penny has ever really tolerated Eleanor's presence.

For Hunter's actual birthday, we went to Epcot for the day since Disney is letting everyone go to the parks for free on their birthday in 2009. It was quite chilly with temperatures in the 50's! We bundled Eleanor up to keep her warm.

We enjoyed the International Food & Wine festival and tried lots of great food from all over the world. The mushroom soup from Vienna - which sounds kind of lame when it comes to international cuisine - was delicious and I was surprised that it ended up being my favorite thing. I really want to find the recipe. Anyway, Eleanor did a great job and we stayed until around 5:30. That's when she let us know - loudly - that she had had enough and was done for the day! We were pretty tired too and I think we were both relieved to not stay for the fireworks.

Little Miracle

That's what her shirt says!

And yes, it is warm enough in Florida to wear this outfit in October. We had highs around 90 all last week.