9 months

my how time flies!

i can't believe we have a 9 month old!

and it just keeps getting better and better...

eleanor facts:

she weighs 16 lb 4 oz. (20%)

she is 27 inches long. (45%)

she has been sleeping through the night for a little over a month now, 7:30pm to 7:30am... i truly thought this day would never come for us but oh how it did and it's AMAZING.

she is eating baby oatmeal, fruits and veggies for most meals but is transitioning to "big people" food.

she loves cheese, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, grilled chicken and green beans.

she is nursing 5 times a day.

she LOVES to babble and says dada to almost everyone and everything.

blake & i are convinced she has said Buuu Dee to buddy a couple times... ;o)

she still has no teeth & still isn't too interested in crawling which is completely ok with me considering we have done ZERO baby proofing.

she has a new face she makes...she squints her eyes and scrunches her nose with a giant smile...i really need to capture that in a picture because it is the cutest!

blake headed off to colorado with his brother and it was so sweet to see him say goodbye to eleanor. he even teared up (which he pretended was for me) but i know fully that it was because of our sweet girl. she definitely has him wrapped around her lil finger!

santa baby

here are some fun moments with eleanor over the last few weeks taken on my iphone.
so thankful to have a decent camera on my phone for times when i don't have my 'big' camera with me!


eleanor enjoying a mum mum in daddy's lap.

my sleeping beauty after waking up from a nap.

trying to escape from the highchair. i suppose it's time to start using the straps.

grandma's scarf wrapped around her head on a cold night out in c-town.

kickin back in the grocery cart while momma shops.

enjoying a morning walk with rett carreker, bentley long & lyla durrett.

a little skeptical of santa's furry face...i would be too!

E news

here is a run down on the latest & greatest with eleanor:

she is 8 months old now.

she sits up really well.

she is not interested in crawling yet.

she loves to sing along with the music on her exersaucer & toys.

her favorite word is "dadadada dadada".

she smiles every time she sees buddy enter the room, or move, or yawn, or scratch...apparently he is really funny.

she loves looking at family pictures. they make her laugh.

she still has zero teeth & i am definitely ok with that!

she is finally enjoying baby food much more these days and she shakes her head "no" when she doesn't want anymore.

she loves mum mums & also water especially from a glass or a water bottle.

she takes a morning nap & an afternoon nap.

she nurses 5 times during the day.

oh and MOST IMPORTANTLY...she started sleeping through the night 1 week ago, 7pm - 4:30am, nurses and goes back down until 7:30am. once my body adjusts, i will drop that last feeding. before that, she was waking up 2-3 times per night. to be honest, it was just easier to feed her & put her right back down so i never let her cry it out. somehow, it took me 8 months to come to that decision that i was ready to let her CIO. she did so for 1.5 hours, most of that in blake's arms and has slept 10 hours straight every since. i seriously thought this day would never come for me!

we are headed on a road trip next week to georgia for the holidays.

buddy & eleanor will be with us.

we are visiting my grandparents for a few days in woodville & cherry log & then will be in savannah for a few days.

we have so much to be thankful for this season! what a blessed year we have had!

happy thanksgiving to all!!

8 months

miss eleanor had her first big cold this week.

she was a tough one getting to smile in this pic.

blake & i danced around, made every noise possible, sang, etc & all we got was a half smile with the eyebrows raised.

oh well...still a cutie!

7 months

Viva Las Vegas

a couple weeks ago we took our first trip AWAY from eleanor for two nights & joined the longs in Vegas for Danielle's 28th birthday.
it was definitely hard to leave Eleanor but i knew she was in good hands between my parents & blake's parents.
what an AMAZING time we had with the Longs.
the boys certainly took us by surprise more than once.
we had a limo waiting for us at the airport where we met the boys.
we then headed to our room at the Palazzo (the new tower at the Venetian).
of course our regular room that we thought we had was actually a 2,000 square foot suite on the 45th floor overlooking the strip.
it even had an eliptical in it.
we also enjoyed shopping, dinner at Olives at the Bellagio & front row seats to the Cirque De'Soleil show "Mystere".

the trip was such a blast...one i will never forget.
danielle, i hope you had as much fun i did.
parents- thanks for watching our sweet eleanor. i am so thanksful & glad she didn't go on another bottle strike while i was gone. i am also glad she likes to sleep longer at night for you both!
and boys- thanks for all your planning and fun surprises!

love you!

view from out dinner table at Olives.

ananya turns 1

i had the priveledge to take some pictures for the wonderful Stockers, this time for their daughter Ananya.
she turned ONE on October 3rd & had a precious party to celebrate!
Ananya looked absolutely adorable & definitely enjoyed her smash cake!
it was so hard to choose from all the cute pics but here are some of my faves!

Take a look!

Thanks again Sheetal & Andrew for allowing me to be a part of Ananya's special day!

face paint rocks

i had the priveledge to photograph a FUN five year olds birthday party.
it was full of bounce houses, slushies, face painting and more.
the face painter was absolutely amazing...these took her between 3-5 minutes each.
check out some of these fun faces!