Lily's Pad: Dear Eleanor,

Dear Eleanor,

Happy half birthday sweetie!!! I can't believe half of our first year is already gone! It makes me so sad how fast you and your sister are growing up! But it also makes me proud, and a little bit relieved that we've survived thus far! :)

In my last letter to you girls, you were just barely starting to roll. Now you are rolling all over the place!! Not only are you rolling over from your front to your back, you are now going from your back to your front!! You figured that out on June 4th! I was so proud...you've been trying to figure out how to roll that way for a couple months now! Now every time I put you on your back, you roll to your tummy immediately! Every time I leave you on the floor, I come back to you in a different position! You are also break dancing all around the floor too, turning yourself around in circles! You've been doing that for a few months though, so it's not new...but it seems to have picked up this month! You are not creeping yet, but I think you are very close. I've caught you a few times this week trying to get up to your knees! You also stretch out your legs and get up on your toes in a plank like position for a few seconds. I think this next month I'll be seeing you get a lot more mobile! You've also gotten a lot sturdier at sitting up unassisted! I still need to be there next to you to catch you when you wobble, but you're getting better at it!

We've continued down the path of solid foods this month, trying a few new things! Your first real food after cereal was apple sauce! At first you didn't seem to care for it, but after your first meal of apples was finished, you loved them! Now that is a staple food in the house. You and your sister gobble up your food when apple sauce is mixed in! I think it may be your favorite so far! You've also tried bananas, peaches, carrots and sweet potato. With each new food I give you, you make a funny face the first few bites, as if you are saying "What in the world is this Mommy?". But after those first few bites, you always seem to love the food! You are a good eater now! Messy, but good! You are a little better than your sister about being patient while waiting for your turn with the spoon, but you still get a little upset sometimes when I need to give Violet a few spoonfuls, making you wait!

As for your other food, you are still getting breast fed with supplements of formula. Since starting the solids though, both breast feeding and bottle feeding have been a little messed up! We've dropped a bottle, so now you are only getting 3 bottles of 5 oz a day...and usually you don't even finish that! As for breast feeding, you nurse a few times a day. It's been hard having a low supply, but I'm so glad I stuck with it. We are now getting all the great bonding benefits of breast feeding! I love our quite one on one time together when I'm feeding you! For the last couple of months you've been reach up and touching my face, or grabbing my nose while nursing! I love this stage of the nursing relationship, and I'm so glad we were able to get to this point! I'm hopeful we'll be able to continue nursing for a long while now!

You've become a lot more vocal this month! You've been shrieking and "talking" a lot! You like to talk to your sisters, making a lot of coo like sounds. You also when you are mad babble "Mum mum mum". Lily use to do the same thing! You also discovered how to make a raspberry sound by pressing your lips together and blowing. Very cute! I wonder if I'll see some real babbling from you sometime this month! I'm excited to see what you say next!! (As I write this I can hear you in the other room talking away! Lots of vowel sounds, Ahh, EEE, AHOOO, YEA! Very cute!)

You and your sisters are the most ticklish little monkey's I've ever seen! You love getting tickled on the belly, and just shriek with joy! You're laugh is just so infectious too!

Over the last 6 months you've developed a few nicknames. Of course there is Ella, which is what we call you most of the time. I've also been calling you Ellie a lot lately. Those two names have lead to Ella Bella and Ellie Bellie! Other nicknames are Ellaphant, Ellagater, Ellabellerina, and the usually monkey, princess and squishy. I love that you have so many nicknames!!

You continue to adore both of your sisters. I hope this keeps up for a very long time! You love when I put you and Violet on the floor facing each other! You talk, and play, and touch each other faces!! (Or maybe sometimes it's yell, fight and scratch each others faces! ) You do fight over toys, usually Sophie the giraffe, which is both of your favorite toys. You, being the "dominant" twin, usually win! I hope someday you'll learn to let your little sister have a turn!

As always, we are so proud of you Ella! It's amazing to me to look back over the last 6 months, and see all you've learned in that short time! It's flown by so fast already! I can't believe you are already sitting up and getting ready to creep...to me it seems like we should still be trying to get you to hold your head up! I look forward to seeing how much you'll learn in this next month!! Maybe we'll see a tooth make an appearance, or maybe you'll start creeping or even crawling? We love you so much Ellie Bellie!

-Love
Mommy