Eloise at 1 Month

Little Eloise is already 1 month old & is more of a delight every day. What a wonderful first month it has been! We have had all the grandparents here on & off this month which has been fabulous. Eloise has not been shorted on snuggles, rocking, kisses etc. by anyone, especially big sister. She seems so big compared to when we brought her home from the hospital although 8&1/2 pounds is still not very big. I am guessing that is about how much she weighs now following her two week weight of 7lbs 10oz. She is living up to her nickname of "Mellow Elo" as she has proven to be an easy peasy girl so far as long as you keep her tummy full of milk!

After a couple trips to the Lactation Consultant to work through little bit having a high palette, we are successfully & painlessly (most of the time) breastfeeding. She is eating right around every 3 hours during the day, doing a 4.5 stretch then 3.5 & 2 at night. She has had 3-4 bottles so far without any trouble. In fact, she drinks about 3 ounces in 10 minutes! She is a super efficient eater while nursing too. One lovely thing is that she goes to sleep easily. For a couple weeks, we were putting her in her cradle either asleep or drowsy but now most of the time, I am laying her down awake & she will fall asleep on her own with little to no crying. Some of this is due to the fact that I can't immediately respond to every single cry when I am taking care of two kids (and two dogs). I think it is working to the benefit of the family for her to go down so easily!

She has started smiling at us....

So update on the interaction between the Valentine sisters. Good & improving although I think she cringes sometimes when she hears Charlotte screaming "BAY-BE!" It's like Eloise is thinking "Oh no! Where is she, I can hear her but can't move my head fast enough to dodge her non gentle pats!" Big Sis went through a 2 week spell where she was hitting Lil Sis on the head while I was nursing. I would try to catch her hand before it made contact but that little girl was SO fast. Needless to say, I would agree the the tailbone must be connected to the brain because after some non gentle pats on the backside, the hitting has ceased. 99 % of the time she loves her, loves being around her, loves holding her, loves tickling her, loves saying shhh shhh shhh, loves rocking the cradle (like a crazy person) and loves to say "B-Eh-wheese" about 3 million times in a row. Eloise has actually been pretty content being held by Charlotte lately. They are absolutely precious together. At this point, we are thinking that she has no clue what Charlotte looks like since this is usually her view.

She is staying awake for about an hour at a time including her feeding & is content to look around. She is starting to make eye contact when you are talking to her. I usually don't lay her on the counter top to look around, the picture was taken just before bath time : ) Me & the little oneShe is getting better at holding her head up but is still pretty loosey goosey. She is not a big fan of tummy time but we are working at it!

Daddy & Elo hanging out in the office. Snuggles & work go hand in hand when you work from home!

She really enjoys being bathed (when Charlotte is not my assistant). Here are her clean little tootsies.

We are settling into life as a family of four! Here we are on our first trip to the park. I think Elo is smiling a bit...must be thinking about how much fun it will be to run & play with Char when she gets bigger.

Happy one month Eloise Hope! We love you so much already & can't wait to see you keep growing & changing. Just don't do it too fast ; )