Competition for the Elf.

Fine dining.

Last night we put Michael on a plane back to the east coast. I then ate my sorrow.

And today we trekked to the coast again to eat at Duarte's Tavern.

Not quite figuring out how to draw/scribble but loving the experience nonetheless.

It'll be good for my waistline to get back to a more normal diet but it sure won't be as delicious as our days on vacation. It's been so nice to be "home" and visit all these favorite places and restaurants, as well as spend time with family and friends, obviously. Little babe is handling the crazy days pretty well though we miss her papa and it will be nice to get us all back on a normal schedule.

Viola.

We took the baby to the San Francisco Zoo today. My dad took me here a lot growing up so it was really special for him to take his granddaughter for the first time.

And she loved it! Hanna Lu just this past week started to show some major interest in animals, giggling and laughing and pointing {a new skill!} whenever she sees Zee Zee or one of the cats. She started off with the Giraffes and loved everything she could get her eyes on.

 

She napped a bit and we met this ferret, Viola, while she slept. We capped off the visit with a merry-go-round ride which wasn't a hit with our baby and proclaimed it a very successful and happy visit. Thanks Grandpa and Lola for taking baby Hanna to the zoo! This was a truly marvelous Monday!

Coffee drinker.

This is Zee Zee.

 

I got caught off guard this morning when I was lounging and enjoying baby's morning nap. May we all be so quick to take advantage of life's opportunities, even if you shouldn't really be drinking caffeine because it's not good for dogs.

Beauty.

Today we drove to Half Moon Bay to check out the coast for a bit.

Though a bit breezy, it was actually quite warm once we sat down and let the sun do its job.

Hanna Lu didn't like the sand at first {she cried} but it could've been that she's just been whipped around the country and done much more in the past week than ever in such a short span that she's just a bit done with it all.

 

The baby warmed up to it all pretty quickly and especially enjoyed peeking around at everyone when we went out to eat afterwards; oysters and clam chowder for grown-ups and buttered bread for baby.

What a beautiful state that we up and left; hopefully we'll call it our home again one day soon.

Woah.

After yesterday's travel, the craziness of the holiday, and a poor little infant's confused routing, we all feel like this:

 

But we are grateful for our trips and looking forward to some coastal and zoo time while in the Bay Area. Good Boxing Day to you!

¡Feliz Navidad!

We traveled bright and early this morning from Arizona to California.

 

And we are loving our very comfortable holiday; Merry Christmas!

Hello Santa!

40 weeks.

What a wonderful few days we’ve been having here in Arizona…so what else is happening??

Face FILTHY from her dinner earlier.

• Hanna Lu had her first Christmas; we celebrated early here since we’re flying to California on the holiday. This baby thoroughly enjoyed the unwrapping at the beginning but after she ripped off a piece of two of paper, she got too excited and distracted to go any further. Nonetheless, she has loved her new toys and has played with them each day since.
• Has met some new Arizona friends and has been a very good sport about the few late nights we’ve subjected her to.
• Will celebrate her first actual Christmas Eve tomorrow night with her father’s side of the family; this includes cheeseburgers and potato chips, though her menu might be a bit different.
• Flew for the whatever-th time and did quite well considering it all but was very squirmy and had a hard time falling asleep {& staying asleep} but she was truly a good baby, as she always is.
• Has let us know that she prefers to drink anything out of a cup; apparently our baby has always just wanted to be treated as an adult?!?!
• Wore a part dress for the first time, last night and today with Santa; trés cute!
• Wore shoes for the first time last night and then again today {with her fancy clothes}; she was so confused!
• Started clapping this past Saturday; “yea!!!!”…and just tonight we got her to clap when we sing “If you’re happy and you know it…”; she waits until the end to clap.
• Met Santa this afternoon and though she didn’t cry, she didn’t smile.
• LOVES this jumpy thing our Arizona friends let us borrow while we’re here and it’s very funny to watch her go up and down.

Fun in the sun.

Today I ran for the first time in over a month.

How long until I stop making excuses and just get at it?
The great weather helped me along a bit today, as did the lack of work and willing hands to watch our baby.
Here's to more miles.
xoxo, natty ♥

Feliz Navidad.

Due to travel dates, we celebrated Christmas {& my mother-in-law's birthday!} with our Arizona family today.

Maybe more to come later but for now it was a very fun day and Hanna Lucy Lu is an extremely loved girl {as is her birthday girl grandmother}.
xoxo, natty ♥

Some dough.

We're loving Arizona...family, the space, the lack of traffic, and the temperate weather!!! For lunch today we went to an Italian restaurant I've heard so much about for eight years but never visited.

They give kids a ball of pizza dough to play with and our little one was thrilled. We kept her pacifier in so that she wouldn't eat the stuff. Roasted brussels sprouts, pizza, and salad made for a great meal together and Hanna even tried her very first pizza - a new favorite.
xoxo, natty ♥

We're on the ground {& out of the air}!

Oh gosh golly we are here and we are tired; hey Arizona!!!!

I’m so excited for our vacation and the holidays and family and some sleep later tonight and we are grateful for a safe flight {& a baby who wasn’t too fussy/squirmy/impossible}…hasta mañana.

Nine months.

There’s a lot coming up in the next two weeks so let’s see how the past month went…

How old: nine months

Weight: pushing 19 pounds.

Likes:

·      Her cereal with milk…rice or oatmeal cereal does the trick.

·      Guinness the dog; he makes her laugh just by walking around the apartment.

·      Standing up, pulling herself up, and getting into EVERYTHING…she is really into this {everything}.

·      New people and situations…she is really aware and into her environment.

·      Other small humans; Hanna Lu loves other babies and kids.

·      Music; she gives a little “dance” {kind of a wiggle front to back} when she hears a tune.

·      Plain yogurt; yum!

·      Her daycare provider; this is a wonderful thing because it means that someone loving is watching our child each day.

Dislikes:

·      Her milk. This will never change, will it?

·      Laying down on her back if we’re trying to do something {productive}; change her diaper, get her dressed, take a weekly picture…

Milestones:

·      Not much new this month except for a few seconds of hands-free standing…yikes!

Sleep and eat:

·      Bedtime is around 6 PM and wake-up is around 6-AM. We have maybe one wake-up around 2 AM and I’m thinking that this is now just a really bad habit that we’ll plan on breaking upon return of this month’s travels.

·      Child does not love her milk; see above. Somehow her daycare provider gets her to drink it so we only have to slog through two weekend days a week of trying to get the baby to drink her milk. Hanna Lu does, however, like her baby food and her cereal. She has also tried new this month: cheese and little “Cutie” orange slices – both big hits!

·      Hanna has about three meals a day with as much milk fit in as possible.

·      She also naps several times a day for about an hour to an hour and a half each time.

·      Baby sleeps best in her little nook of a room; pitch black with her sound machine app set on “Rain”.

Miscellaneous:

·      Wearing mostly 9 month sized clothing.

·      Wears size 3 diapers if not wearing her cloth diapers…she wears the cloth duds 99% of the time and does disposable only if we’re in the process of traveling. Even though they take up prime suitcase real estate we’re planning on taking the cloth diapers with us on our visits this month.

·      She is HILARIOUS to us and we’re so excited for our family to see her since it’s been a while and she has changed so much.

Doggies go to the doctor too.

39 weeks!

This week is a busy one so let's see what's going on...

• Had cheese for the first time; loves it! Hanna Lu had a bit of quesadilla one day and then just some plain old cheese several times after that and she's a happy camper with it.

• Also is loving on plain yogurt...we tried some a couple of months ago that didn't go over well but in the past few weeks she is all about it.

• Wants nothing more than to crawl around or pull herself up to standing...this child is not interested in sitting still.

• Loves her bath and is getting better at not standing up in the tub.

• Thinks that Guinness the dog is hilarious, still. He will come sprinting up to her and lick her face, run away, and repeat and even this doesn't bother her.

• Had her first adult dinner party this past weekend and rather enjoyed herself {& the snacks}...she slept a bit late the next morning too which was lovely, though not late enough in her parents' opinion.

• Will be traveling on a plane again this week...and then next...and then the week after that; to Arizona, to California, back to Arizona, back to Maryland.

• Still really likes her cereal; she has either an oatmeal or rice or a grain mix and it's usually made with milk  though sometimes we make it with water. She gets a bit impatient with baby food but will continue to eat cereal way after that.

• Has a bedtime routine that I realized I haven't recorded for posterity's sake...has "dinner" between five and six, a bath, jammies, one story, a bit of nursing, another story, and is in bed with the "rain" sound machine {an app on an old iphone we have} between 5:45 and six. She's waking once a night usually though me thinks that's just a bad habit and we'll try to break it once we return from all of our travels in January, what with all the time-zone changing that will be going on. Baby's usually up by 5:30 or 6:30 though on weekends if we give her a quick snack and put her back down she'll sleep until 7:30-ish sometimes. She's ready for a nap within two hours of waking up and on weekend days, when she's with us, she'll nap for one to two hours in the morning and then again in the early-mid afternoon. At daycare I'm not sure how things go but I do know that HL is well rested, full, and happy when I pick her up so I'm not asking any questions.

• Hanna loves her daycare provider...and this woman is such a loving presence that we love her too. She makes me laugh because in reaction to Hanna Lu's somewhat finicky eating, she is so determined to get milk and food into this baby and fatten her up. I don't have the heart to tell her that Hanna is just who she is but I don't discourage her nonetheless {she's just perfect in our eyes, obviously}.

• Is climbing...or at least trying to. If she had the traction and things were easier to climb, the baby would be going vertical...this does not bode well for us in terms of relaxing at home with our child ever.

• Will hilariously kick her legs if you hold her up in the air under her arms. We have started to do this any time we pick her up because it makes us laugh so much.

• Is pretty OK being with other and new people. She does show separation anxiety occasionally, usually if she has just woken up, but she is pretty affable otherwise...this may change soon since I think "stranger danger" might start kicking in around the nine month mark {later this week!} so we'll see.

• Loves "Cuties" {though I think right now the ones we're getting are called "Halos"?}...she kind of sucks them dry and leaves the pithy...seeds come in these things so we just need to check for that before letting her have them.

• Went to the pediatrician, unexpectedly, today for a bit of an icky eye {related to her cold from last week no doubt}...and she weighed in at almost 19 pounds and about 28 inches long/tall - she started out at almost ten pounds and 22 inches. While in the waiting room Hanna Lu was very intrigued by two young boys who were playing and tried to get down on the floor to play with them. They were both about five years old and as sweet as they were with the baby, saying "hi" to her and everything, I figured her style of play {thrashing her arms} wasn't what they would appreciate {they were quietly "driving" cars}. This wasn't the first, Hanna Lu is always very interested in kids and loves to mix it up with them. I think we can thank daycare for this, truly - it's great to see our baby be social.

• Is really goofy and so much fun...we're very excited to spend time with family so they can see what she's been like recently; wish us luck traveling!

Because I can't get enough of those legs.

Chipwiches!

It's the last working Monday of 2014...woah!!! And...

1. We're watching WWE Monday Night Raw...good trashy fun that I only discovered last week. No judgies.

2. I picked up some chipwiches while grocering today; yum.

3. My school had its annual student/faculty/staff Christmas assembly this afternoon which includes a reading of the Polar Express, an American Sign Language Christmas song medley, and an amazing full orchestra rendition of Sleigh Ride.

4. Today was my last day of teaching for 2014...though it was a review day, it still counts. Here's to making 2015 a good teaching year as well!!

5. We get to see family THIS WEEK! And next week too!! We are so lucky to be able to spend the time with them all.

We hope your day and week are decent enough and that you've got some holiday/family love coming your way soon.
xoxo, natty ♥

Not too slow Sunday.

So our baby handled her late night quite well, putting on a little show for our friends and then even sleeping in a bit this morning...what a flexible young thing!

We're getting ready for the week and contemplating going to the Washington D.C. Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' {what a mouthful!} {free music and lights!} annual Festival of Lights, though it could certainly get tabled for another night this week since I have a day where I don't need to go into work {it's mid-terms and we always get one day where we don't need to proctor}. 

And, I'm mentally packing before I begin to actually pack for our big trip...we leave at the end of the week and are so excited to visit with family and loved ones!
xoxo, natty ♥

Who thought that was a good idea?

We have dinner plans with friends tonight and are going to keep our baby up late to socialize...this is big news around here when bedtime is usually six PM!

In other news, she and I went to the mall today to make some returns and who in the world made me think it was a reasonable plan to head in that direction this close to Christmas? It made me grateful for our family and the intangibles we have, and, honestly, for online shopping.

See ya on the flip side of a baby staying up late!
xoxo, natty ♥

Playing!

I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon {the doctor on a Friday afternoon...boo} so Michael and baby boo hung out in the waiting room.

She was very happy, needless to say.

Have a great weekend folks!!!
xoxo, natty ♥

Gears.

Today was Thursday and alluvasudden it's almost the weekend and another week has gone by. We need to get into some serious Navidad planning over here, gift-wise, and maybe even pack a bit before the buy-ness of next week takes over and we can't get off of that roller coaster. I also have a bit of arts & crafts with our baby I'd like to attempt in the next few days, but we'll see if that can happen.

Here's to the week, as quickly or slowly as it's going for you!
xoxo, natty ♥

TIs the season.

xoxo, natty ♥

38 weeks!

Someone seems to have another cold; boo. In positive news this week Miss Lu Lu...

She will NOT lay flat on her back for longer than two seconds.

• Is a SQUIRMER. Baby hardly sits/stays still and is very curious about everything.
• Has been giving us lots of "mama"s and "dada"s, but I'm not sure she realizes what she's saying.
• Is trying so hard to stand on her own; she stands up any chance she can get but can't do much without holding on though that changes a bit more each day. She cruises all over the place so as soon as she's strong enough and figures it out she'll be trying to put the two together; taking steps and not holding on to anything - yikes!
• Enjoyed watching soccer on TV with her dad this past weekend...we're trying hard to avoid screens for her but sometimes TV happens.
• She is very intrigued by our phones. Since we do facetime with our families she knows and loves the phone which is not something that makes me happy so we try to keep them out of her sight when not doing facetime.
• Will give slobbery open mouthed kisses if she's not too distracted by everything else around her. Ditto to "high-fives".
• Has had some crummy sleep due to this cold so hopefully things get better soon.
• One week and a half until our big trip...little bit has no idea what's in store for her!!!

xoxo, natty ♥

Contest.

Someone under the age of one was very off, sleep-wise, after my post last night and it made for a tired family this morning. Let's hope that tonight is better and in other more positive news...

1. Our school has a gingerbread building contest that I entered along with a coworker. We were the only teachers {ha!} but had a blast trash-talking the kiddos and creating something out of graham crackers, frosting, and candy. I doubt we'll win but it was good fun and the first gingerbread house {even though it was out of graham crackers} I had made in years - my best bud and I used to make gingerbread houses this time of year at the community center; there was a two-week class kids could do which was amazing. The first class was constructing the house with some nice solid frosting and after a week of curing, the second weekend session was spent decorating the houses with as much candy and supplies which was my friend's favorite part since she had a delightful sweet tooth.

I digress.

2. One more Monday is between me and our winter break!

3. I'm feeling hopeful about making some cookies this holiday season; last year I didn't make any.

4. My calves are super sore today after our 14 flights of down-stairs last night {read HERE} which can be construed as a positive in the sense that maybe it will motivate me to actually re-start my running career.

5. My sweet husband. What a dude. He took care of dinner tonight and has been doing so many dishes/dog care which is a huge burden off my working mother shoulders.

Good Monday for you today folks?!?
xoxo, natty ♥

Work and play.

Michael and I took turns today watching our baby while the other one went and did work in one of our building's common spaces {me} or played soccer {not me}. Meanwhile, I did not step a foot outside into the grey day until the fire alarm went off a bit after the babe's bedtime earlier tonight. A walk down 14 flights of stairs and half an hour later, we were all back upstairs and ready for bed {baby} and some TV {parents}.

Here's to a great week!
xoxo, natty ♥

Taking care of business.

Today was so gross and rainy out but we ran around to get some provisions and then quickly retreated home to hibernate.

 

And we just finished addressing, licking, and stamping some seasonal correspondence. While watching college football and the movie Independence Day on TV? How I love seasonal confusion. 

Despite the load of work I have ahead of me in the next two weeks, I'm feeling quite merry and excited about the holiday which isn't the norm {thanks to the general nature of this time of the school year} so Happy Whatever to you tonight!!

xoxo, natty

Done!

So I wrapped up "The Goldfinch" - a good read, in my opinion. I enjoyed the story line and character development; I became attached to the people and can even picture them, which is something I actually love doing with books - picturing the actors and actresses I think would best portray them.

And I got through the first part of Peter Pan last night, until the kids made it to Never Neverland but then I was off to dreamland on the couch so I can't say much more about the show.

Do you have a decent weekend shaping up ahead of you Reader? Time for Christmas decorations and shopping? Or lots of grading like I have? Whatever it is, have a good one!!
xoxo, natty ♥

Almost finished!

I started reading "The Goldfinch" a few weeks ago, almost.

 

It's really good and riveting and I've been staying up late getting further and further into the book {& I'm definitely feeling it at work during the day} because I have a time limit on this thing since I have it checked out from the library as an ebook - which is my recent favorite way to read books. Except for the whole time limit thing. I don't have another good book lined up which is a positive thing since I have a ton of grading coming up in the next two weeks although I'm number 2,334,353 on the library ebook waiting list for Amy Poehler's book and I'm looking forward to that one. 

Also, are you watching Peter Pan tonight? I watched the first part of The Sound of Music last year but never finished it and since we don't have a DVR right now it's tonight or nothing so we'll see if we can make it up that late...even though I've been staying up the same amount reading but reading is a better excuse.

Target can curry.

37 weeks!

Hello December!!! After her first Thanksgiving let's see what's up for this baby.

Right before she whipped on to her hands and knees to crawl away.

• Is being a total GOOFBALL...especially if she's tired like she was tonight. She will not stay on her back or sitting if she wants to get to something. Today's pictures were a challenge.
• Is pulling herself up on everything and is even trying to stand up by herself without even holding on to anything.
• Is giving slobbery open mouthed kisses; so adorable!
• Will maybe do a high five if she's prompted.
• Still thinks that Guinness the dog is hilarious.
• Is determined when she wants something, like to climb up on our bookshelf. 
• Is a big fan of her baby food still, especially if it's mixed with oatmeal. I sure hope she gets into real food eventually but she's just so slow with it.
• Is sleeping pretty OK at night, waking once for a snack though I think it's time to phase that out.
• Needs to have a nine-month appointment...her mother needs to get onto scheduling this!
• Will "cruise" (walk while holding onto anything) after pulling herself up on things...this is adorable but this child is so mobile and into everything and we need to get some baby containment going on in our home to give Hanna's parents a bit of piece.
• Is babbling a ton and this week has been loving on shouting out "dadadadada...ah DAH ah DAH".

She was flipping over immediately after being placed on her back and Guinness was curious about all the movement.

xoxo, natty ♥

Warm day!

It's super nice out today! And in other news...
1. Funny baby...Hanna Lu has been ridiculous recently with her babbling and latte-machine sounds.

2. Getting our apartment together - we just got another set of shelves which is more storage and with a bit more straightening up, things are feeling great.

3. A great daycare provider - baby is just so happy with this lady and that makes us happy.

4. With the way time goes, our visit with families is rapidly approaching and will be here SO SOON...yippee for this!!!

5. Maybe snow again tomorrow morning? Let's actually hope not for our commute's sake.
xoxo, natty ♥