I love those blue eyes and that little crooked smile. It melts my heart like nothing else can.

~Best friends~

Eleanor is trying SO hard to say the word puppy. She loves Jake and Tucker so much.

p.s. I did not arrange baby girl or the puppies for these pictures- it's all natural.

Love this sunflower. This was my attempt at 9 month photos. Every time my cousin sends beautiful, professional pictures of her gorgeous little girl, I freak out because we don't have any of those and I then make Eleanor sit through a photo shoot with me. I don't think I will ever think I have taken enough good pictures of her. The moments are so fleeting.

Our little Baylor bear gets in the mood for some college football. (RG3 for Heisman!!!)

Thanks, Pops, for this adorable game day dress. We love it.

I am so happy with Eleanor's day care experience thus far.

Her teachers took pictures of our budding artist last week.

Naked painting looks like so much fun!!

Is Eleanor really 9 months old?? I just can't believe it. Life moves so fast...

We have been very busy, as evidenced by my lack of blog posts! But here are a few highlights:

Eleanor started day care 3 weeks ago. She goes from 7:30-noon and spends her morning painting (we have a budding artist on our hands!), snacking, napping, playing, and generally just charming all the staff. They love her, we love them, and as far as I can tell- she loves day care. There are 6 kids in her class with 2 teachers- so I feel great about that ratio. I get lots of work done in the morning which is great because I am defending my dissertation (i.e., finishing my PhD) in December- yikes!! :)

Eleanor loves to look at books and turn the pages herself as I read to her. I tried to upload a video of this but it appeared to be too large a file...

We have a mover and a shaker! She has been crawling for a few weeks now and definitely has it figured out. Eleanor had been "mobile" for quite some time, but she is officially crawling now according to my stringent definition. And oh, the places she can go. I think we need to get moving on all that baby-proofing...

She has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom. She loves using them to snack on cheerios, cooked carrots, black beans, etc. And her appetite is growing due to the energy expenditure of crawling. She loves to eat!

And I looked in the mirror yesterday and nearly lost it when I realized how much she has grown. She is looking more and more like a little girl and less and less like a baby. It breaks my heart.

Her 9 month visit to the pediatrician was yesterday. She is a perfectly happy healthy girl and weighed about 18 lbs. (10-25%) and was 27.5 inches long (50%), with a 75% head circumference.

I might need an intervention. I buy knit baby hats. And we now have 6 for this season. It is already cool here, and she looks so stinkin' cute in them. But seriously, 6? 

I just saw an online sale and may purchase # 7 today. Don't judge me.

Two nights ago we attended a Detroit Tigers game. During the game, Eleanor and I rode on a carousel that has tigers instead of carousel horses. Too cute!

Snacking on cheerios this morning as part of breakfast.

Enjoying Mexican food for my 29th birthday 2 weeks ago.