A few snippets from last week.

Tuesday:

Here’s proof that Miss Leyba can sleep on her own — for about 20 minutes anyway!

Thursday:

Miss Leyba finally got to meet our friend Christana, who is going to start helping me with baby care one afternoon a week. I am hoping for several hours of catch up, organization, and cleaning time! I may even be able to squeeze in an art project or two. Does that sound overly ambitious or what?!

(One of my first projects will be cataloging our clothes in those boxes in the background so they can finally go to the Salvation Army.)

A pause between babbling with mama:

We have quiet the talker growing up over here. Miss Leyba loves to chat with us. After eating, sleeping and smiling, it is the thing to do.

Saturday:

We went to our favorite brunch spot with our friend Dan who was visiting from Boulder!

We were totally worried about the car trip with Miss Leyba (after a complete meltdown in the car a few weeks ago coming back from the chiropractor), but it ended up being a piece of cake. We fed her right before we left and miraculously she slept through the whole outing, waking up within one block of our house on the way home. It was such a nice treat… and the first sign that her growth spurt was over. After days of near constant breastfeeding, Miss Leyba spent two days sleeping and eating, with hardly any awake time. It seems she needed to recover as much as we did.

Sunday:

My sweeties both love all the extra weekend time together!

Over the last few days and most especially yesterday, once she “woke up,” we both noted a leap in her development. She’s seeing, focusing, and interacting with a wider range of things in her line of vision, she is chatting more, expressing a wider range of emotions on her face (her little unhappy face pulls so at our hearts!), and suddenly is interested in toys. (I quickly ordered some more online and updated our new toy wishlist here.) She is also getting much stronger and developing greater head control. It’s so exciting seeing her grow (literally) in front of our eyes.

We think she gained a pound or two this week as well. Both of our backs are hurting and that’s really monumental for me considering that my back didn’t hurt the entire pregnancy… Our little girl is getting big!

UPDATED: Our midwife weighted Miss Leyba at my final postpartum appointment this morning and she’s up to 12 lbs 6 oz! That’s my girl.

We’re back and cuter (and chunkier) than ever!

Look who discovered Daddy’s zipper this morning!

And from last week:

A photo of us girls that I totally forgot to post. Love those Under the Nile tops and Speesees outfits.

We’re in the middle of the 6 week growth spurt over here. We’ll be back online in a few days after we’ve survived the breastfeeding-every-hour-marathon.

Another shot for our reading together series.

She LOVES sleeping in the above position and frequently wiggles her way down until she’s lying this way! She also likes sleeping on her side with her head way back behind her (I’ll have to try to get a picture of that) and in the classic propped up on both hands position:

While she certainly is awake more now than when she first arrived, she still sleeps a good chunk of the day (and night). When she’s awake and over tired, she makes this little, quiet, high pitched sigh signaling “I’m just so tired, but I can’t fall asleep.” It’s so darling and cute that my heart melts every time I hear it. When she makes that sound I know that a couple of minutes walking around the room or suckling at my breast will put her fast asleep.

(Note that I’ve also started adding a few photos here and there to our flickr page.)

I wrote this before Miss Leyba was born and never got to post it. Since the New York times recently scooped my story, I figure I had better get it up here…

It’s now common knowledge that MSG (monosodium glutamate) is bad for us, yet it remains a common additive in processed foods.

Reactions to MSG vary from person to person, but the most common reactions include headaches, insomnia, skin rashes, depression, bags under the eyes and more. The more extreme reasons include seizures, reproductive disorders, etc. Sounds crappy, right?

Well, MSG is everywhere. The FDA does not require manufacturers to list MSG as an ingredient if it’s blended with a mixture of spices or food additives. (While technically MSG is only one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods, consumers frequently use the term MSG to mean all free glutamate. For this reason, FDA considers foods whose labels say “No MSG” or “No Added MSG” to be misleading if the food contains ingredients that are sources of free glutamates, such as hydrolyzed protein.) So you may be frequently ingesting MSG without realizing it. In fact, MSG is found in nearly every boxed, canned, or bagged food unless it is found at a health food store… and even at Whole Foods we have to read all the labels!

Here are some of its other hidden names:

The following compounds always include MSG: hydrolyzed protein (of any kind), textured protein, sodium or calcium caseinate, autolyzed yeast, or gelatin.

The following frequently contains MSG: yeast extract, malt extract, natural flavors/flavoring, malt flavoring, barley malt, bouillon, natural pork, beef or chicken flavoring, stock, broth, seasonings, carrageenan, maltodextrin, soy sauce and extract, whey protein/isolate/concentrate, soy protein/isolate/concentrate, pectin, anything protein fortified or enzyme modified.

It’s also commonly used as a preservative in vaccines (yet another reason not to get the flu shot!).

The only way to completely avoid MSG is to buy items without the above ingredients!

Here are several companies that produce healthy and safe alternatives to typical MSG-laced foods: Turtle Island Foods (tofurky franks and burgers), Health is Wealth (spinach, veggie and mexican munchees, vegetarian spring rolls, and pizza bagels are definitely MSG-free; website is vague about some of their other products).

Know of other processed products that are MSG free or common products that do contain MSG (like Doritos mentioned in the Times article)? Please share via the comments!

Check out the hint of a smile captured in this (blurry) photo. It’s the only photo we have that shows her smiling and here it’s more of a half smile than a real, full-blown one. Miss Leyba is smiling at her Daddy. It was a lot bigger just before and just after this shot was taken.

As soon as I break out the camera, she gets all serious. “What’s that shiny silver thing in my face, Mama?”

Hopefully I’ll get a photo that really captures her infectious smile soon. It’s so darling.

For the first time since Miss Leyba’s arrival, we headed out of the house and took a walk around the neighborhood as a family!

Miss Leyba, such the newborn, slept through the whole thing. (We fed and changed her diaper right before we left — the ultimate recipe for a happy, sleepy baby.)

Check out my styling new nursing top! It’s all part of my plan to be a cool mom…
(as apposed to a frumpy mom — I don’t want to be one of those!)

We’re such a happy family and have so much fun together! I was totally giddy being outside and walking around.

Check out that sunshine! What a glorious day. I love winter in California.

Now we’re home and I am royally pooped. Thankfully, with David around, all I need to do is feed our daughter and rest. I’m really excited though because tomorrow we may try taking a walk in the park!

Damn, this postpartum recovery is a pain in the ass.