Dear Eleanor,
My little sweetheart – Eleanor, you are 1! Happy birthday! This is my first birthday letter to you. How much joy you have brought to our family in just one year. I hope that one day you will read my letter to you, and it will make you smile. So let’s learn about your first year!
After your birth, we spent the first week in bed together because you were so sleepy and didn’t want to feed much.
We got to know each other so well, and it wasn’t long before you were feeding voraciously and very frequently, just like a newborn should. Weeks turned to months, your personality shines through more every day, and we get to know you even better.
A is for apple
Your siblings started to call you “a” as in “a is for as apple” because that was the first sound you started to make.
Now the nickname has stuck. Jonah started to call you “A Lingster” – I have no idea where he gets these names from, but they make us laugh and I want to remember all these little details.
First words
Of course, you don’t just say “a”.
You also say “good night”, “gone”, and we’re quite sure you’re saying daddy. You’re such a clever little girl!
Sibling love
Your siblings love you massively! Jonah (8) dotes on you. He loves everything to do with you and thinks of you as his little twin sister with a 7 year age gap.
Cara (5) plays with you all the time, tries to feed you, and picks you up. She really does take her role as older sister very seriously, and makes sure you never get into any trouble. Lydia (2) is still figuring you out and can’t understand why you try to take her toys away!
Being raised in your village
I suffered quite a lot with my mental health while I was pregnant with you, but when you were a few months old I started venturing out to playgroups again for the first time in a long time. Meeting new friends at these playgroups has changed my life for the better. I love that since last October, you’ve been surrounded by my “village” – such lovely people outside of our family showing you love and care.
I know you’re going to miss Lydia when she goes to nursery in October, but we’ll get more one-to-one time together, which I’m really looking forward to.
It’s only right to mention your grandma’s and uncle too, they love you so much. You’re very attached to me right now but both your grandma’s and uncle Nick are the only people you’ll sit with aside from your dad!
Your hips
After the discovery of your “clicky hips” at hospital, you went into a hip harness at 2 weeks old until you were 10 weeks old. At first, it broke my heart to see you all strapped up in the Pavlik harness. With everything being so new, it felt even harder to adapt our feeding, changing, and bathing routines.
Fortunately, you took it in your stride emotionally and physically! Strong and brave girl. You took it so well and made great progress. Later, when your hips scanned good, we said goodbye to the harness. It was such a relief! We still have it in the drawer, if you want to see it.
Getting around
Despite your hips, you learned to crawl at 9-10 months and can get pretty much wherever you want, including up the stairs and into the (very messy) loft.
You can pull yourself to standing, too. So I’m sure we’ll see you take your first few magical steps some time soon.
You love ice lollies and ice cream
They’re your favourite things to eat. You love a cheeky mini milk after dinner. Unsurprisingly, your first birthday cake was in the shape of an ice lolly.
Ellie, I can’t wait to see you grow into a 2 year old in the next year, however please don’t grow too quickly. I want to hold on to the beautiful little baby girl that you are, just a little bit longer.
Love you so much,
Mummy xxx
