Howe's Life: Eleanor is ONE!

Ella's party was wonderful. Auntie Nee took gorgeous pictures and the kids all seemed to enjoy themselves. It was nice and small since many people were still away for the holiday. Ella had no problem diving into her cake, she seemed to think the frosting was the best part. We got lucky with gorgeous weather so we could hang outside and use all of our fun backyard toys. Ella was gifted with books and it has been wonderful reading new stories at bedtime.

What about us mom?

Seriously mom, what about us?

Lizzie in the sand box and Ella practicing her strut

William . . . possibly eating sand

Paige on the run

Ella's cake!

Getting ready for cake. Getting a bib on is a two person effort!

Madi!

"Why are people singing?"

Cupcakes for Abby

Ella thinking about what side to work on next

Madi and Joss having cake and a chick chat

Big girls in the tent with the babies

Look at what I can do!

William showing us the terrible placement of our plant

Shopping

Mom time

How many girls can we fit in the car?

dancing

Madi helping Ella open her gifts

Bubbles!

Seriously, the coolest picture ever!

Eleanor's favorite part of presents is eating the tissue paper

Sisters!

Ella at one year old is:
HUGE! She is currently 23.8 pounds (91st percentile), 30 3/4 inches (92nd percentile and 3/4 inches taller than Madeline at age 1), and has an 18 1/4 inch head circumference (84%, smaller than Madi at age 1).
Ella loves to growl at animals and things (especially her Lion finger puppet book and dogs walking by) and lay on pillows (and dogs) like she is going to sleep at any moment . . . but of course she never does. Ella blows kisses now and tries to talk to us (she is saying more which sounds like mas, doggy, dada, trying for agua but it sounds like ag, and signing all done and more). She walks very well, inside and outside the house . . . but she thinks she is ready for stairs and jumping even though she isn't, this is a constant source of fear for Matt and I. The likelihood is that Ella will be in a cast before age 2 since she is such a daredevil. Ella loves to climb the slide, climb the stepstool, and climb up her chair onto the couch.
She is into everything! Ella tries to put her fingers in sockets, opens drawers and cabinets (occasionally closing her fingers in them), and climb up onto whatever surface is available to her. She pulls all of the plasticware and kids dishes out of the girls' cupboard in the kitchen and walks around sucking on the empty water bottles she finds there (this has led to a reorganization of many kitchen cabinets to allow Ella to access the cabinets she likes without getting into danger). Ella also loves to empty all of the girls clothes out of the bedroom drawers and leave me giant piles of clothes in their room. I am beginning to think she will be the one Howe in our house who is not OCD about organization!
Mealtime with Eleanor is a mess! She throws handfuls of food into her mouth and eats like a football player. Her lap is always full of stuff after a meal. If Ella is not in her high chair or if you sit too close to her, she tries to feed you whatever she is eating (she also feeds Lani a ton of food, darn dog). Ella eats everything except tortillas and quesadillas. This one is so odd to me, it makes me doubt if Ella is truly mine! If you have an item on your plate that she doesn't have, Ella will yell "ma" at you until you share with her. For this reason, I am sure her diet is not nearly as healthy as Madi's was at this age since Madeline is constantly eating macaroni, hot dogs, and animal crackers (which means Ella is eating the same things). Ella also is just starting to use a snack cup correctly, woohoo, this makes car rides so much nicer. It also means we can stop keeping boxes of graham crackers in each car!
Ella is still terrible at naps and staying asleep all night (though she is going to bed at night much easier). She loves to cuddle and I think when she is big enough to share a bed with Madeline, both girls will be much happier at night.
Matt and I are so lucky to have Eleanor. We survived out first year as a family of four humans and are climbing into an easier year. I am so looking forward to watching Eleanor grow and continue to learn over the next year. It is exciting having a good idea of what to look forward to this coming year. Ella is sweet, loud, and gets along very well with her sister. As long as we can keep her from damaging herself with a kamakaze activity, we will be ok! Even a year into this madness, I am constantly amazed at how much I can get done on very little sleep, how cute my girls are, and how full my heart is with love and pride for my family!