Little Warrior's First Steps

One of the meanings of Eloise's name is "warrior," and this description has always been fitting. She is the only one of 3 embryos transferred that survived and thrived, and from day 1 has been a determined little lady with a LOUD voice ready to make her mark in this world.

At 11 months old said determined little lady has yet to move independently, though every.single.thing in her is focused on accomplishing that goal.

Last night however? Our little warrior completed a huge act of bravery. Allow me to set the scene.

Eloise had just had her evening bath & was sitting on her baby potty while I perched atop the regular toilet.

 

The scene

When she was done going potty, she reached up behind her wanting to pull up on the tub to stand. I assisted her (she has yet to pull to stand on her own) so she could hold onto the tub with both hands.

She then proceeded to cruise alongside the tub toward me and grabbed onto my knees. From there she reached out to the bathroom cabinets, grabbed the knobs, and continued to cruise right along.

When she got to the bathroom door frame she paused and peered into the hallway.

The view into the hallway....

At this point I could absolutely tell she was debating on whether or not to go further- and then all of a sudden she let go of the door frame and WENT FOR IT!

This shows the distance between the bathroom door frame and the hallway wall, which Eloise decided was no big deal

She toddled a few steps and lurched forward to catch herself on the far wall. Unfortunately she leaned a little too severely and ended up falling over, which she was none too pleased about.

But HOLY COW was I amazed at her bravery!

Several times in the last few weeks I've felt her wanting to let go of my hand as we walk around, and unlike her sister Iyla who was SO slow and cautious when she finally broke out walking at 13.5 months, Eloise is more gung-ho and just wants to GO and GO FAST, so I suspect she will have many a spill in her quest to walk.

I don't think it will be long now before our little warrior is off walking entirely on her own, ready to take on the big wide world before her.

Go Eloise, go!

I'm coming for you...

11 Months Old!

Sweet Eloise Jane, today you are 11 months old! I can't believe you will be ONE YEAR OLD next month. It's amazing to me how much growth goes on in the span of just one year.

Over the past week you have definitely been in a "growing period." You are examining things in new ways, clinging to us, and holy cow PROTESTING when we don't do exactly what you want us to do!

The tantrums have officially begun. and you will stiffen your entire body, throw your head back, and cry when you don't want to do something. This most often occurs when we try to sit or lay you down for things like clothing or diaper changes.

Your DETERMINATION has never been stronger, and right now everything in you is focused on wanting to practice walking ALL DAY EVERY DAY while holding onto one of our hands. You don't have much interest in walking with walker toys (only a human hand will do) and whoa be it if we try to take a break and sit you down! Cue the tantrums.

You have also been picking up language at an insane rate. Your new favorite word is "EYE-YA!"- which you yell out throughout the day when looking for your sister.

Here are your official 11 month updates!

How old? 11 months today!

 I caught a toothy grin! So insanely cute.

How big? We will measure you again next month- but for now, you are fitting into 18-24 month closing and are ready to move up into a size 5 diaper. I keep moving things Iyla has outgrown directly from her dresser to yours- you can fit into many 2-3 year old shirts & shorts! You wear a size 3 shoe, and have amassed quite a cute collection of walking gear:

The cutest is when you try to "help" me put them on you by holding a shoe up to your foot!

Sleep? You are a great sleeper! At the beginning of this month you were consistently taking 2 TWO hour naps during the day (roughly 9-11 and 2-4) and still sleeping almost 12 hours at night (7pm-7am). However during the past week when you've been in your "growing period," your morning nap is more like 1.5 hours, afternoon 45 minutes.

You have proven you sleep well anywhere there is a dark room and sound machine! We took you to Kansas and napped you at Uncle Chad's, Grandma and Grandpa's, and a hotel, and you slept great at each location. Such a difference from your big sister, who traditionally slept terribly on vacations (though thankfully does well now!)

Food? This past week has been a very unusual one for you. My voracious will-eat-anything girl has unexpectedly gone on a food strike! I never thought I'd see the day, and it's taken me completely by surprise. You are refusing many of your typical favorite foods, and have reverted to mostly wanting baby pouches, mum-mums, and yogurt baby bites. You are nursing on the same schedule, though drinking less at night right before bed. I don't think the strike is due to teething, as by all accounts no new teeth (that I can see) are coming in and you never did this with your first 6 teeth. For now we are just rolling with it, and I hope your voracious appetite returns soon!

Potty? You're doing awesome on your baby potty, even on our trip to Kansas! Almost every #2 is on there with the very rare exception.

Teeth? Two more this month! The teeth to each side of your front teeth have broken through, for a grand total of 6 teeth.

Teeth!

Words? 

You can say in correct context: Mama, Papa, Iyla (eye-ya), up, all done (ah dah), poop (a "p" sound for this), book (ba), bye bye (ba ba), pant when you see a picture of a dog, and sign "milk," "poop," "all done," and "more." You have started making a "ssss" sounds that sounds like "dis" - often accompanying your pointing at things. You also say "dat" when pointing- it's so cute!

You are awesome at doing motions TO THE BEAT to the songs The Wheels on the Bus and The Itsy Bitsy Spider, which of course lead us to believe you are a genius.

Singing "The Wheels on the Bus" always snaps you out of a fuss! So funny.

This month you've also starting clicking your tongue and blowing- which you love to do back and forth in a game with us.

Movement? Still NADA.

You will lean on your hands from a sitting position like you miiiight be thinking about crawling, but get REALLY MAD when put on your belly and show no interest in actually moving from a crawling position.

Psych! 

I'm not going anywhere Mama.

Walking however? YES PLEASE! You pretty much want us to help you walk around all day every day. You're getting really good at walking while only having one hand held, and are working so hard to get control of that little body.

Walking walking everywhere!

You have started lifting your right leg when we get to a step, and can lift that little leg HIGH! We practice going up the steps in this manner.

Favorite things?

*The play kitchen! Opening up every cabinet and rearranging the contents.

Practicing standing/cruising at our play kitchen. 

This is one of the rare places you'll actually sit for awhile, opening and emptying every.single.cabinet.

*Having us help you walk around all day every day! You love cruising the backyard and walking on top of rocks. You also love practicing stepping UP.

*Iyla's giant stuffed horse and teddy bear. You squeal in delight at these and often try to carry the horse around with us when we walk.

 Surrounded by your toys- including your favorite horse & teddy bear

*Going for rides in the walker wagon, or pushing Iyla in the wagon.

*You continue to love being outside, and playing with anything water related. Here are some cute shots of you and Iyla when we were setting up our swimming pool:

Post splash pad babies. 

We are so lucky to live within blocks of TWO public pools and a splash pad!

Least favorite things?

*Diaper and clothing changes. You have an instant tantrum when we try to lie you down! You have developed a game where when we lay you down on our bed you'll roll and roll and roll over and over and over again across the bed as we try to pin you down for a diaper or clothes. It's cute but makes it so difficult to get you dressed!

Here are a few more photos from your past month, starting with a couple from Father's Day with your sweet Papa:

 

This one was TOO good not to zoom in on! Ha.

We love you so much sweet Eloise Jane! Happy 11 months to you.

Kansas 2017

Iyla had her last day of school on Thursday, June 1st:

Here's comparing her with the very FIRST day last August! She's definitely grown a lot this year in every way- especially socially:

Last day Popsicle!

Then on Friday June 2nd we awoke early, packed up, and hopped on a plane to Kansas! We would be celebrating the girls' Great Grandma's 90th birthday (at a surprise party!), Grandma's 70th, and cousin Maggie's 5th.

Iyla- as expected- was totally content to watch a movie on her iPad. She didn't even want to look out the windows!

Eloise did as well as could be expected. I'd scheduled the first flight during her morning nap, HOPING she would sleep. She was definitely LOUD and fussy as she tried to fall asleep, and I quickly discovered that I had to literally turn my back to her to get her to self-soothe and fall asleep (in her mind I was RIGHT THERE so why wasn't I PLAYING WITH HER?)

She did finally fall asleep (in an extremely slumped over fashion that had me constantly checking her breathing) for all of 30 minutes, when the flight attendant's loudspeaker announcement awoke her.

When we arrived to Kansas, Iyla was on cloud nine! She kept exclaiming "We're in KANSAS!" to anyone and everyone we passed.

Then it was: "we're on a BUS!"

We got our rental car, installed car seats, and made our way out to Olathe to stay with BC's brother Chad and family. We took over cousin Jake's bedroom, where Eloise slept in the walk-in-closet. : )

True to form, Iyla was SO EXCITED and FULL ON the first day, playing and playing with cousin Nick:

Meanwhile Julie and I snuck out for an early girls' happy hour catch up:

The next day was Great Grandma's surprise party, where we'd be meeting up with the rest of the family. Iyla and Eloise looked adorable in their matching yellow dresses!

The eyelashes on this kid never cease to amaze me

That evening all of the family returned to Uncle Chad's house for a BBQ to celebrate Grandma's birthday. This was now night #2, and our little introverted 4 year old was beginning to show signs of wear. Around 8pm that night she told me she needed a little quiet time, and as I laid her down on a basement couch she told me: "I'm OK being alone Mama." Sweet girl.

On Sunday morning (day 3) we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for a birthday brunch for cousin Maggie:

Eloise made sure to sample the local Kansas leaves in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard:

This was the first time in years that all 7 of the Lambert siblings were together, so they took the opportunity to recreate an infamous family portrait.

Original:

2017 take:

Sunday night Grandma came to watch the little kids while the big "kids" went out for a Sibling Dinner on the town:

Come Monday we took off for Phase 2 of our trip and headed to a hotel in the Plaza:

I took the girls swimming in the hotel pool before we headed out to a family dinner - complete with Margarita flights!

We had a 2 room hotel suite, so Eloise had a the living room to herself while Iyla happily curled up in a floor bed in the bedroom with us:

On Tuesday morning (day 5) BC took Iyla to Kaleidoscope World, a place he loved to visit as a child:

While big sister was away, Eloise lost no time taking over and tasting all of Iyla's forbidden toys:

That afternoon a friend of mine from high school - whom I haven't seen in 23 years and who now lives in Kansas - stopped by our hotel to say hello:

We then went out to another family dinner, complete with a stop for the obligatory last night of vacation ice cream:

On Wednesday (our last day) BC took Iyla out for a morning adventure to the aquarium before we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's to spend a little more time with family before our evening flight:

That evening (while already at the airport) we learned that our 6:10 flight was delayed and not taking off until 7:45- NOT good news from a bedtime/sleeping perspective!

On the flight I had the girls on each side of me, and around 8:30 Iyla passed out with her head in my lap. Now Eloise? She was kicking and chatting and playing and just partying it up until 9:30 when she FINALLY nodded off. We landed at 10pm, and Eloise promptly woke right back up. Iyla, however, was SO tired, disoriented, and sad. I had to carry her throughout the airport, and she took any and every opportunity to snooze again:

When we got home at 11, Iyla went right to bed. Eloise was still WIDE AWAKE and happy- so I nursed her again around 11:15 and put her to bed. She's a little party girl, that one!

We had a great trip and loved getting back to our Midwestern stomping grounds (the cooler air! The soft green grass!) and catching up with so much family.

Now: on to summertime in Austin! We are looking forward to a relaxed (albeit hot) summer season together.