45 weeks!

We are battling illness still, though hopefully this is its final gasp until some better-feeling days and now in baby news...Hanna Lucy:

• Has become super clingy with me. She cries if her dad tries to take her and we both know this is normal/natural/whatever and Michael isn't taking it personal but, forgive me, it's kind of annoying...but also nice to have someone seem to think I'm just that great.
• TOOK THREE STEPS THIS MORNING! What I mean is that she moved one foot forward, then the other, and, thirdly, the other one again...so cute! She still knows that she can get places faster by crawling but this is great.
• Has been suffering cabin fever along with her parents. Today's snow day was great because I didn't have to wear business/teacher/casual but it also meant another whole day corralling the baby. She really wants to explore all she can and there's not much beyond her play area in our apartment that is safe for her to explore so it turns in to us telling her she can't do what/go where she wants which is not fun for anyone. We've taken to going up to the building's playroom which is awesome because she can crawl and cruise around to her heart's content and there's no dog food or heavy stuff ready to hurt her. This morning I took her to library story hour and now she's old enough to play with the toys that they have for after the stories/singing and that was a great half-hour. I honestly thing that the reason things have felt so difficult/tiresome recently is that I was home sick several days last week and then there was the weekend plus neither parent is feeling particularly energetic these days. Normally we're not stuck in the apartment for so many days/hours and we're all a bit more fresh so hopefully things will feel better. Today was actually great, even though right after I read the school-closure announcement this morning I felt dread at a whole day of entertaining a very mobile baby while still not feeling 100%. The funny thing? I really look forward to time with her {duh} but maybe it all boils down to being a sick parent inside for so long is not fun. End of a really long point.
• Is very hungry these days, probably because we kept her strictly on milk and thin oatmeal while she was recovering from her tummy bug.
• Infected many people with said tummy bug.
• Is now obsessed with looking out our window. We will hold her up to see the snow {which has happened four or five times so far...in her life here in this apartment} and we can also see down onto the train/metro tracks and a big swatch of the city where we live {we're on the 14th floor}. This gets tiring, though, because the window sill is several feet up from the floor and we obviously have to {patiently} hold her up there. In the past few days it's become the only other thing, seemingly, that she wants to do besides explore kitchen cabinets...
• I thought it would be nice to let her get into a cabinet with a few things {a pot, a pan, a big pasta serving spoon [the kind with the prongs]...} and I created a monster because she only wants to do that {besides be held up to the window} and there's just not enough kitchen space to fully empty the cabinets of all the other cookware {that's too heavy for her anyway} and  in order to give her free reign of the cabinet, not to mention even if there were void of all heavy things she would still be slamming her fingers because she doesn't know how to carefully open/shut the doors yet. Serious baby-proofing is imminent. 
• Signed "more" to me this morning. Then hasn't done it since.

Hey baby - let's stay healthy please?!?!? And, we love you TONS, even though you're tiring.
xoxo, natty ♥

A sweet memory!

It's pouring rain out and I just took out Guinness the dog for the evening.

A loathed task if there ever was one.

Just kidding I love you so much Guinness and all of the things we do together that involve picking up after you!!!!

I grabbed an older jacket I don't wear much at all except for skiing, apparently.

I found this receipt in the pocket from the last ski trip i chaperoned...yikes, I need to get back out there to maintain my perpetual-beginner level of ability!

Even though the thought of giving up most of my semester break weekends was tough, I always loved going on that trip and I miss those days.

Here's to a hopefully healthy weekend folks.

xoxo, natty

No voice.

Apart from a bit of a stomach thing gracing our home this week, I've snagged myself a sinus-infection/bronchitis duo that has taken my dulcet tones and mangled them beyond recognition. It's painful, actually, to cough and squeak out words. Baby was better so we took her to daycare today and I proceeded to sleep most of the day while thinking I was hearing her cry in the background. Thus is a curse of parenthood, amongst many I'm sure.

Hopefully I'll be able to get out some sound tomorrow because there's teaching that needs to be done. 

A pretty sky can help things along.

And hopefully that little one gets fully better because there's is nothing sadder or more worrisome than a sick baby.
xoxo, natty ♥

Gross.

xoxo, natty ♥

44 weeks!

After a wonderful weekend in Arizona, we are all dealing with some illness, which is Sad. So let’s think about good baby things!

• Hanna Lu enjoyed her biggest party ever this past weekend and went hard...with no chance of her sleeping like she normally does, we just let her go with it and she ended up dozing in the arms of a guest…and slept through until morning!
• Is battling her first stomach bug, pretty well at that. We’ve gotten her down to just milk and pedialyte and she seemed to be fine after Sunday, besides a few challenging diapers, but just tonight she yakked all over me sooooooo…we’re waiting to get the bug ourselves, to be honest, which makes this kind of a yucky week but hopefully it won’t last long.
• Ate a pickle spear at the party this weekend, which we thought caused the tummy issues, but we realized that wasn’t the case. She certainly loved that pickle.
• Is all over our apartment – we decided this week that we need to get serious about baby-proofing this place.

On the go!

• Is so much fun and we really hope she feels better soon.

What a hoot.

Apart from little one's tummy aches, we're still riding high after this weekend's surprises...and what else?

1. It's GORGEOUS here. In the 70s and so pleasant out. I've got a bit of a sinus thing going on but it doesn't matter because I can go outside and get a bit of warmth.

2. We had a SPECTACULAR time celebrating my wonderful in-laws; what a joy.

3. We also had a great time watching some good football this weekend, though we were disappointed to see the Packers throw it away.

4. Though flying is never fun {in my opinion...would it get better if I were more positive about it? I can't see how I could trick myself into that...} it does mean that we will sleep in our own bed tonight, never a bad thing.

5. We do NOT have a red-eye flight today. Hallelujah.

I hope you're enjoying your long weekend! 
xoxo, natty ♥

Ten months.

We're having a great time in Arizona for a short little trip to surprise Hanna's grandparents so let's also check out her stats...

How old: ten months {we’re almost at being able to just use numbers!}

Weight: nearing 20 pounds or so.

Likes:

• Baby food…spinach and potato are a fave.
• Her milk, mixed with baby cereal, and spoon-fed to her.
• Guinness the dog and any other animal; she laughs at them.
• “Cruising” around {walking while holding on to anything and everything}, though she gets herself down to crawl when she decides she can’t walk.
• Poking at eyes; on her doll and her parents.
• Crawling all over our apartment and trying to get into things that would hurt her.
• Her family; Hanna Lu loved being with her grandparents and the rest of her family members over break and it was very sad leaving.

Dislikes:

Being sick…someone seemed to have a bit of an upset tummy this morning and she was not a happy camper {neither are her parents}. Hopefully this passes quickly as in before we get on an airplane tomorrow afternoon.

Milestones:

We are sooooooo close to taking a step on our own but haven’t made it their yet…a few more airplane flights and her very first Christmas and New Year’s…and meeting lots of people and even going to her first holiday party.

Sleep and eat:

Sleep and eat are about the same as last month…she goes down between 6 and 7 {I’d like it to be more like between 5 and 6 but she’s still getting over our trip} and gives us ten to 12 hours. She had been waking up once and after getting back from traveling we decided to let her just fuss herself back to sleep and it had been great…but then we came to Arizona this weekend so we anticipate some re-adjustment but hopefully things will be good after another week or two.

Baby also tried her first taste of burger, albeit crumbled up, and she enjoyed it; this was spurred on by her low-ish iron count at her nine-month appointment.

Miscellaneous:

Baby is wearing size 3 disposable diapers but that doesn’t happen too often, she’s mostly in her cloth diapers which are on the shortest set of buttons with four sets left unbuttoned around the waist, if that makes sense.

Surprise number two!

And today we pulled off our second great surprise of the weekend; a party with 70-plus guests to celebrate Hanna's grandparents' semi-retirement. We asked them to spend the day with friends {not sketchy at all} and be home by six. Michael's dad wouldn't open the door last night so instead of coming right in tonight, he rang the doorbell trying to play the same trick on Michael. After several rings Michael gave in and opened the door but he still got the last word, so to speak, considering the many people eagerly waiting to shout "surprise" in the house.

What a wonderful night it was and my husband, along with his brother, and their aunt and uncle did a stupendous job planning and executing it all; way to go!!!! And happy semi-retirement to my in-laws, they certainly deserve some extra time to themselves!
xoxo, natty ♥

Hello!!

Tonight we pulled off a feat; we surprised Michael's parents in Arizona. We're here for the weekend, tired after travel, but so happy to spend some days together!
xoxo, natty ♥

Squirming.

As seen in yesterday's picture, our little one is such a busy-body and wouldn't even stay facing forward and strapped-into a shopping cart. I even tried to make it tighter.

We were at Target, which is a good place to be, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who has that opinion. We were running errands which I don't like to do after school since the afternoons {heck, the days} are so rushed anyway but sometimes that just has to happen. I choose this Target that's a bit further out rather than the one that's directly on our way home because it's less crowded and there's a Babies-R-Us right next to it and I can get the jars of baby food that the little one likes {& are cheaper than the pouches}. We keep meaning to make our own but life/busy days.

And, just like that, it's almost the weekend again, funny how that always happens. Have a good one folks!
xoxo, natty ♥

Doing what she shouldn't do.

43 weeks!

Another cold week brings baby to 43 weeks old! And...

• Is being hilarious, giggling and making goofy sounds, and mimicking things we do.
• Has stopped with her tricks; clapping, drum playing, and showing us how big she is. Maybe she's on to bigger and better abilities.
• Is standing on her own but has yet to take a step, though she looks like she's thinking about it and then decides to just sit and crawl to wherever she'd like to go...clever baby!
• Has had her first...

         pony tail!!!

• Likes her food, though she realized how to spit it out which is messy and not fun.
• Tried ground beef for the first time tonight; I had to teach her how to eat it instead of just playing with it and hiding it under her legs {?} in her high chair but then it was a hit. This is good for her iron need.
• Enjoys the kids' playroom in our building but maybe not as much as her parents do since it's a place where there aren't any bookshelves for her to climb, dog food to eat, or any of the other hazards that our home present to her.
• Loves trying to poke and scratch our eyes so it's good she has her doll on which to practice these skills.
• Doesn't like her multi-vitamin/iron drops...I don't blame her because that stuff is GROSS.
• Loves throwing things down on the floor. We don't so we don't pick it up more than once for her.
• Likes to "drive" her stroller...

         though her aim isn't that great and she points us towards the wall. {I'm   
         holding her, obviously}.

• Likes her bath and tries each night to stand up in the water. We gently tell her that "we don't stand in our bath".
• Really likes her stacking cups and will crawl around with one in/on each hand, making a clomping sound as she moves through our apartment.
• Loves Guinness the dog still.
• Makes the sound "ddddeh" for many things, including the dog.
• Possible has her first word? I show her a picture of my grandmother's dog Ze Ze and Hanna Lu makes a "zeeeee" type of sound; she knows what she's doing!? She laughs at the dog first of course because she adores animals.
• Will not lay on her back as you can see from Michael holding her down in this week's picture; she wants to roll over onto her hands and knees instantly.
• Is amazing and we love this baby!

Two hours.

It's cold and rainy out today but that's OK because...

1. Thanks to said weather we had a two-hour delay this morning; I certainly do love me a bit of extra sleep!

2. Maybe more delays tomorrow? 

3. Baby is being hilarious; always fun!

4. Parks and Rec comes back this week!

5. I'm loving the slippers my dad gave us for Christmas; it's like walking on pillows and they're so cozy...thanks Dad!!!

Happy Monday y'all.
xoxo, natty ♥

Brunch is for jerks.

We met some family for brunch this morning; the meal began with cinnamon donuts and that's not a bad thing at all!

Have a good Sunday folks!
xoxo, natty ♥

Football.

Today we enjoyed some football on TV and major jun-fooding; what a Saturday. Tomorrow is to be a busy day with family and getting ready for the week so here we go!
xoxo, natty ♥

My kinda night.

As is the norm, tonight was spent at home.

This weekend we will watch some Patriots' football and probably eat a lot. 

And try to stay warm; brrrrrr!

An easy read.

I started my new "book" on Tuesday's snow day and am over half-way; I recommend it if you at all like Amy Poehler.

And the weekend is just about here on a breath of FRIGID air. It's seriously cold and dry here, but beautiful and sunny and the days are getting a bit lighter each day now.

Here's to Thursday.

Yesterday.

42 weeks!

I skipped last week's update {thank you inertia} so this is quite a list for our little girl considering just how much she has been up to {a lot!}...

***And my poor old computer is having trouble communicating with our camera so today's fun pictures are locked somewhere in limbo; hopefully I'll get them up soon!***




***Edited to add pictures!***

• Can do tricks! Will: "clap your hands"

         , "play the drums", "give a kiss" {open-mouthed}, and show you "how big is        
         Hanna Lu?" 

         {"So big!}. 

         This is amazing to us; in the span of a week or so she started to follow these     
         commands and we're trying to teach her a few new ones.

• Weighed in at a bit over 19 pounds and 27 inches long today, placing her in the 60-something percentile for height/weight. I'm guessing both her father and I are a bit lower than that.
• Baby happily celebrated her first Christmas with both families; we had the holiday a bit early in Arizona and flew to California Christmas morning to finish off the day with family there. 

Upside-down squirrel and drool on her father's leg; our first Christmas as a family of three.

The whole two weeks of travel were very exciting for her but perhaps a bit overwhelming. Her sleep wasn't great while "abroad" and the nights were hard for us considering what a great sleeper we had worked to teach her to be. The past few nights at home have also been kind of rough but we let her figure it out on her own tonight so we'll see how things go through morning.

• Our baby now points and points at everything; up until a few days ago it was just her hand but we now have finger action.
• She visited the San Francisco Zoo with her grandpa Jeff {my dad} {a favorite place of ours when I was a kiddo} and LOVED it. There was a lot of pointing and making sounds in reaction to the animals. She didn't care for the merry-go-round, though, so that's something we can work on.
• Hanna Lu also went back to the beach with Grandpa Jeff and was really apprehensive, especially about the sand...I put some in my hand to let her feel it and she warmed up to the texture.
• Spent lots of quality time with her Abuelita in California as well as her grandparents in Arizona; thank you to all of her grandparents and family who happily spent time with baby Lu...she loved it all!
• Was interested in opening her presents but really only until she ripped off a tiny bit of paper - which was good enough for her.
• Met Santa for the first time and was OK with the whole experience...photographic evidence forthcoming {see above complaint}...she even made the "nice list" in the long North-Pole-let's-see-how-many-chances-there-are-to-get-your-money experience that the mall offers.
• Did OK in all of the flying we did; four flights total including a red-eye just this past Saturday night.
• Began some teething which was confirmed at her nine-month well-baby check today; this explains some, ahem, behavior, that we'd been experiencing and I had chalked up to being out of her routine. 
• Wants to walk; is cruising up a storm and loves standing up.Loves her new baby doll but mostly because she can poke at the eyes as much as she'd like to, something we discourage because it hurts and is destructive but this is just a doll so it's OK and not creepy that our daughter loves poking eyes...right? I won't let her be alone with dolly until she's older for fear she rips out the eyelids or eyelashes and attempts to ingest them but it's adorable how cute she is with the doll, eye poking aside, because she'll give her kisses.
• Got her very own chair and is really appreciating sitting in it as well as climbing on it. 

Notice the finger in the eye.

         Thank you so much Grandma and Zaide for my fun chair!!!

• Is a wee low on iron, as told to us today during her check-up. This isn't something I like to hear, I don't want to worry about anything being amiss or as it shouldn't but her doctor wasn't alarmed and prescribed us some iron and told us to cut out the yogurt since dairy can inhibit iron absorption.
• Is not into drinking her milk, as she has always been, but it was tough because we were in charge of her every day over break {as opposed to our saint of a daycare provider} so I figured out the best way for her to continue getting the milk she needs is to spoon-feed our child her milk, usually mixed with some oatmeal. Talk about tedium but it truly was the only way to get in the milk that she needs. Who in the world ever would've thought we would have this problem and that this would be the most frustrating part of parenthood. It's seriously discouraging and that the baby's a bit anemic just adds to that discouragement.
• Is making a ton of funny new sounds, lots of goofy babbling, which is adorable.
• Will also mimic us if we make her "latte-machine" sounds.
• Does this funny thing with her hands; she opens and closes her fists and it looks almost like some type of sign-language; I wonder what it means?
• Is growing and changing every day and we just love this kid; we're so grateful for the time together over break!

xoxo, natty ♥

Let's read!

Hello Monday...what's new and good?

1. I had retreat at work today. This was a TRULY MARVELOUS way to begin work after vacation.

2. It was a lovely retreat as well and a nice bit of time for quiet and reflection, something I sorely need.

3. I got this email today! Now for some free time to get to reading...

 

4. Snow is on the forecast for tomorrow which could maybe mean some time for reading said book, if only baby naps...

5. That baby...though she's been tough since she's dealing with jet-lag and teething she's still such a light and joy, we love her so so much.

Hope you're well and peaceful wherever you are Reader.

Back!

We returned home early this morning after an uneventful red-eye flight. I'm definitely grateful to be on the ground!

 

Baby Hanna was super happy to find a brand new chair with her name on it and just her size; thank you Grandma and Zaide for this wonderful gift!

We rested all day and are trying to get into the mood of a work week. Ha!

Woodland creatures.

Hanna Lu had a great day with her grandparents today. Mom got some time to herself too.

 

We're getting on a plane very late tonight; wish us good and safe travels!

Another leg of the journey.

Baby and I traversed to Arizona today for a 36 hour layover before heading home to Maryland. We already miss our California family dearly but are looking forward to our next visit.

She eschews Skymall for more high brow in-air reading.

It's really nice to have this time after a short flight to hang out before a longer flight LATE tomorrow night. And, going from Arizona to the east coast versus California to the east coast makes a pleasant difference. Have a great weekend folks!