Eloise at 18 Months

 

WEIGHT: 22 pounds
HEIGHT: 30 inches

LOVES:
 - Reading books
 - Milk
 - Fruit (especially berries and citrus)
 - Stuffed animals
 - Climbing on everything
 - Music and dancing
 - Talking on the phone
 - "Little Baby Bums" on Netflix
 - Sensory bin activities
 - Ball pits
 - Playgrounds and parks
 - Pools and baths
 - Yogurt
 - Playing hide-and-seek
 - Hikes
 - Animals
 - Disney music
 - Peek-a-boo
 - Pushing strollers, carts, etc.
 - Sweeping

DISLIKES:
 - Vegetables
 - Not being understood
 - Not getting what she wants when she wants it
 - Nursery

NEW SKILLS:
 - Says (hi, mama, dada, hot, uh oh, wow, no), ball, help, nose, banana, baby, tree, cheese, car, Mochi (her stuffed panda), feet, shoes, knock knock, excuse me, hat, airplane, bath, panda, crocodile, elephant, eyes, hands, and probably a handful of others I've forgotten about :)
 - Signs (more, milk, hot, cold, cheese, book, all done), water, tree, car, hat, airplane
 - Added many more animal sounds to her repertoire
 - Can locate many body parts on herself and others and dolls/stuffed animals (nostril makes me laugh the most)
 - "Folds" her arms to pray
 - Climbs unto chairs and tables
 - Feeds herself most foods

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Now has 11 teeth, 3 of which are molars. She got a LOT of teeth in the last few months!
 - Still wears a size three diaper during the day and size four at night, and is mostly in size 12 to 18 months clothes size, with a few random things larger or smaller in size.
 - Her hair hanging in her face actually bothers her these days, and she often tries to pull it out of the way with minimal success.
 - Has discovered that she can do more with her legs and feet than just walk around, and now does all sorts of funny shuffling, stomping, and dance-like movements all the time.
 - Throws hilarious and ridiculous tantrums over little things. Where do kids learn to throw tantrums?! She will throw herself on the ground, stamp her feet, clench her hands, yell, everything!
 - We've tried nursery (church daycare) only a couple times, and so far she is terrified. Hopefully this improves! Fingers crossed.
 - Has a little bit of stranger danger, and is a total and complete mama's girl.

Eloise is just more fun every day, which I know I will be saying probably the rest of my life! Except maybe through the terrible twos and threes...? Who knows, haha. But Lou is learning so many new things all the time, whether it's new words, actions, goofy things that make us smile, etc. I genuinely enjoy spending time with her during the day. I loved being with her as a baby, of course. But now I actually have fun and laugh too! It is wonderful! Her personality is really starting to shine through. She is curious and determined and loves to smile and laugh. She is soooo high energy and never stops moving. I sure miss those baby cuddles sometimes, but this is more fun.

I'll try to write a bit more next time I update on Eloise. But since I wrote the majority of this before Lou was 18 months old and now is 21 months, I can't remember exactly what she was like a few months ago, haha. But I hope this update is good enough for my records :)

First Trimester with Baby #2

WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!! We can't wait to add another sweet little babe to our family :)

I have been pretty bad at blogging in the last year-ish, so I know I won't be tracking this pregnancy month to month like I did with my first pregnancy with Eloise, but I hope to track each trimester! I love having this record, and I have already looked back at my other pregnancy blog posts to remember what to look forward to. So, here is a short record!

The due date of our baby is December 9th, 2019 (Lou's was December 1st, 2017--so close together). 

Once again, we realized I was pregnant fairly early on and I had already been feeling a little bit nauseas on and off the week or so before finding out, so I was suspicious. Like with Eloise, I was feeling constantly nauseas within 6 weeks. But unlike last time, I am also EXHAUSTED. I was tired with my first pregnancy, but this is so much more! I literally will fall asleep while reading Eloise books. I will fall asleep laying on the floor when a bout of sickness hits and Lou plays around me. I'm so tired all the time, which is not a great combo with the nausea. Silver lining though, the nausea hasn't been quite as bad this time around. Constant from 6 weeks to about 15 weeks, but only throwing up about 3 to 6 ish times a week, whereas with Lou, is was that many times a day at the beginning. Such an improvement.

I've had many aversions again, mostly towards meat and veggies. For the first couple months, I basically lived off of cereal with milk and bagels with cream cheese and fresh fruit. Poor Eloise and Dustan also ate rather poorly this month, thanks to all my aversions to food and lack of cooking. But we've all survived, haha.

I started showing a bump (read: chubbiness) much earlier this time around as well, which I was expecting but not really wanting haha. Though during this first trimester, it hasn't ever really looked like an actual baby bump, especially to those who don't know. So I decided to just hide the chub and wait until it was round enough to show off.

We used the pictures above to announce my pregnancy to the world. The pictures below are the ones we used to announce to our families beforehand. We sent them these pictures and the message, "Find the difference!" We thought we were so funny, reusing the same picture from when we announced our pregnancy with Eloise because their due dates are in the same month.

Though I'm a little terrified at the prospect of having an infant around the house again, we can't wait to meet our baby!

Springtime in Seattle

We spent last Christmas in 2018 with my family in Washington, but I hadn't been back home in a few months. Sunny (my mom--her grandma name is awesome) had been down to visit for about a week while she attended the nearby Gourd Festival in February, which was so fun. So of course once the end of April rolled around, it was time for Eloise and I to go visit again! Here are just a few pictures from when my mom visited Tucson in February:

First, my mom and I met up at the Gourd Festival in Casa Grande and I took a couple classes and made these gourds! The geometric one is painted, the flower one is wood burned and painted.

My mom stayed an extra week after the festival and since it was her first time in Tucson, we did a few touristy activities! We drove through downtown, went out to eat for Mexican and Sonoran dogs and visited a cool plant store. One of the first things we where we took pictures was did was go to Gates Pass for sunset.

We went to the Desert Museum, which is kind of like a mix between zoo (with all animals native to this area) and a botanical garden. We loved looking at all the cactus varieties!

We also walked around Sweetwater Natural Preserve. It was so fun to have my mom visit!

Slightly unfortunately, I was in full first trimester/morning sickness mode by the time Lou and I flew into Seattle in April, and stayed that way for the whole trip. Fortunately, I had some good days and we were able to get out and have fun! Unfortunately again, Lou caught some nasty stomach bug and spent a day puking and being sad and successfully passed it on to multiple family members. Fortunately, the stomach bug seemed to only be terrible for a day or so. All in all, a bit of a sick filled trip interspersed with some fun activities!

One of the first things we did while we were there was go to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival! I was so glad I was able to come down before the tulips were done blooming. I think they only lasted about another week after we went. The trip was actually a bit of a struggle, because Lou was sooo grumpy. I thought she just had a slight cold, but as you now know, she was actually sick with something legit. But even with the grumpy girl, it was a fun little day trip with my mom and bestie Kayla and her two girls.

That night, all the sickness hit. Soon, everyone in the family (thankfully Kayla escaped it) was sick, some of them even worse than my pregnancy sickness! Lou was puking more than she ever has, and could barely keep any liquid down and she was cuddling with me. All abnormal signs. She got lots of snuggles and pedialyte and sleep over the next couple days and was soon back to her normal self. It was pretty bad for my mom and brother too, and the rest had slightly more mild symptoms. Somehow, Eloise always seems to get sick when we travel and this time she passed it on.

Thankfully, all the sickness seemed to have passed over the next few days before my old roommate Summer flew in! Kayla came over and spent the night with her girls as well. All three freshman roommates were together again! That night we ate a yummy dinner with my family and stayed up way too late chatting (like 2 or 3 am late). I haven't stayed up that late in ages.

The next day we made the trek into Seattle and did all the wonderful, touristy things! First, we hit up Pike Place and walked around the shops. We bought some kumquats and grapes from the farmer's market and some of my favorite pastries from Pirosky Pirosky. We found a nice place to sit in the sunshine overlooking the Sound and ate our snacks while Lou ran around like crazy.

Us girls also had to recreate a photo that we took when we were freshman. We laugh every time because one of us is always in leggings with no back pocket to put a hand in haha.

Then we headed over to the Nielsen bakery (a Nielson family favorite) and picked up some more pastries and cake to enjoy. On the way home, we made a quick stop at Kerry Park that has incredible views of the Seattle skyline.

That night, we had a homemade pizza night. Unfortunately, I was feeling so yucky that I didn't really enjoy the pizza until the next day. But man, my mom makes some dang good pizza! And Summer had to leave super early the next morning, so we stayed up slightly less late the second night haha. It was so fun to be able to chat with girls for hours about the most random stuff, it had been so long!

The rest of the week was fairly low key. Lou and I really enjoyed just spending time with family. We went out to eat, did some shopping, and visited my Grandma's grave. The weather stayed beautiful the entire time, which is crazy for Seattle in April! All in all, it was a wonderful visit to Washington!

Eloise at 15 Months

WEIGHT: 21 pounds
HEIGHT: 30 inches

LOVES:
 - Reading books
 - Her panda pillow pet, Mochi
 - Animals (real life, pictures, plushies, etc.)
 - Giving kisses
 - Playing at the park
 - Running around in large open spaces
 - "Stomp Like an Elephant"
 - When Dustan gets home from work
 - Fruit (especially berries and citrus)
 - Stuffed animals
 - Playing her xylophone
 - Being chased
 - Milk
 - "Ring Around the Rosie"
 - Running around with blankets over her head
 - Going hiking
 - Pools and hot tubs and baths
 - Adult water bottles
 - "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
 - "High Hopes" by Panic! At the Disco

DISLIKES:
 - Vegetables
 - Waking up from her second nap
 - Bananas
 - Being sick
 - Spending too much time confined (high chairs, crib, car seat, etc.)

NEW SKILLS:
 - Signs more, milk, hot, cold, cheese, book, and all done
 - Says hi, mama, dada, hot, uh oh, wow, and no
 - Can repeat about eight animal sounds when asked
 - Can locate a few body parts (nose, mouth, belly, and feet usually)
 - Blows kisses
 - Spins in circles
 - Stomps one foot
 - Walks up and down small steps
 - Does actions with some songs

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Still takes two naps each day, which I'm grateful for! Especially since both of them are under two hours and rarely longer than an hour and a half. I'm hoping that when she eventually does go down to one nap, it will at least last a little longer!
 - Hasn't popped any more teeth yet, just the same six she has had for many months!
 - Her hair is so long that is hangs down into her mouth when it isn't held back somehow, though of course she constantly pulls out most bows, clips, and ties.
 - Had the saddest double ear infection over Christmas break :(
 - Wears size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 overnight, and fits into clothes from sizes 9-12 months and 12-18 months.
 - Constantly mimics sounds and actions these days and picks up new things so quickly!
 - Throws her hands up in the air and shakes her booty when a song comes on

Current Schedule:

8:00 am - Wake up, breakfast
10:00 am - 3 oz milk/snack
10:30 am - Nap
12:30 pm - Lunch
3:00 pm - 3 oz milk/snack
3:15 pm - Nap
6:00 pm - Dinner
7:30 pm - 5 oz milk, bedtime routine, down for the night

Her ugly faces phase over Christmas break, haha

Oh man, this girl just gets more active and crazy each month! She's a pro at walking these days, and can get going pretty quick. For some reason, she seems to think that if she puts her arms out behind her when she "runs" (read "fast walk" haha), that it will make her go quicker. I just worry she'll face plant that way, haha. Lou loves to climb, but thankfully hasn't figured out how to get up on the couch or chairs yet, and I'm not going to show her how! She is just a bundle of energy and craziness.

As of right now, Lou doesn't talk a whole lot, just a handful of simple words. She understands a lot more, and seems to be more advanced physically instead. So, we've been focusing more on sign language instead, and she is getting some signing down quick!

As she gets older, Eloise is getting more a more affectionate. She'll give quick little snuggles and lots of kisses. Anything that slightly resembles a person or animal will get a kiss often, like pictures in her books, stuffed animals, mirror reflections, etc. I love it! And I love her!