Dear sweetie,

You are such a happy girl. You spend your days smiling, chatting, and laughing with me. We have so much fun together.

This month you:

• Always have your fingers in your mouth (your hands are perpetually soggy!).
• Greet Daddy with a huge smile when he gets home from work at lunchtime. (Yep, he still works from home every afternoon; you love it! How lucky are we?!)
• Love love love bath time. And now get really upset when bath time is over.
  
• Enjoy trips around the lake at the park out in the stroller.
• Love watching older kids, especially when they crawl or eat.
• Smile at strangers–especially ladies–and then shyly burrow your head into Mama or Dad (whoever is carrying you).
• Find the concept of Mama using the potty, brushing her teeth, and putting in her contacts truly fascinating (and frequently funny).
• Wear mostly 9 and 12 month sized clothes and already weigh more than your mama did when she was one year old. We are so glad you are so healthy (and haven’t gotten sick yet!).
  
• Roll over from your back to your tummy at every opportunity. Even when you’re exhausted and don’t really want to be there.
• Play with your feet, especially when they are barefoot. Evidently your toes are so delicious.
• Have so many new friends. It’s been a very social month for us.
  
• Talk to us. (We love it!) You talk and talk and talk all day long, but only to us, not to anyone else yet. After a very quiet play date or yoga class or trip to Whole Foods (when you are just absorbing everything around you and completely silent), you then babble nonstop to Daddy and I telling us all about it.
• Really discovered how to giggle. It’s a frequent sound around here nowadays and it warms our hearts.
• Have tried so very hard to crawl.
  
  

Our days together consist of us reading, singing, playing with blocks or books or feet or toys, going for a walk (usually with Daddy), having tummy time, practicing sitting up, kissing and hugging and holding each other tight, napping, smiling, and chatting. We also love to tickle you and make you smile. You’ve just recently discovered the joy of sitting on Daddy’s shoulders. I think if it were up to you, you’d be up there all the time.

We love that in the morning when you wake up, you look over at Daddy and me and smile. We feel so glad that you start your day happy and glad to see us, because we both love you so tremendously and are so happy to be with you. You are our sweet, sweet girl and you’re growing up so fast.

Love, Mama

We have so much fun together.

Giggles from Carrie on Vimeo.

(Evidently my hair is quite delicious.)

Nowadays, she always has her fingers in her mouth. We have yet to discern any hand favoritism! Keep you posted.

Remember the Mom and Baby Group I was part of while I was pregnant?! (How cool were they about inviting and welcoming me?!) Well, this past week I hosted a mini-reunion. It was the first time I had seen LeAnn and Julia since December and we had such a great time! Their babes are growing up so fast and I loved introducing Miss Leyba to them. It was wonderful reconnecting.

I can’t wait to see you guys again soon!
(I won’t be at yoga tomorrow, but maybe next Tuesday (6/3). See you there?)
xoxo

Sorry for the blog break. Here’s what we’ve been doing this week:

Yep, that’s us breastfeeding in the car at the Whole Foods parking lot.

Miss Leyba is going through a growth spurt! She’s gone from eating every four hours or so during the day to eating every hour. She seems to be heading back to her normal schedule today so the spurt is probably over! I could say something flippant like, “Hallelujah,” but truthfully I’ve really enjoyed it. We’ve had so much extra cuddling time together; it’s been a blast.

Finally, here’s an up close shot of Miss Leyba’s “ladybug friend” who she loves grabbing (and putting in her mouth) in the car. This is the little guy who has made our car ride trips ever so much more pleasant.

This shot is supposed to convey her point of view when she sees him. He’s mighty big to a 3 month old. I think he looks pretty cute and friendly. She’s just crazy about him.

Here’s our girl hanging with Daddy this afternoon. I think she’s put on a pound or more this week. Look at those cheeks! (and all that drool!) She’s getting really long too and starting to grow out of her clothes. I have a whole stack to pack up and store away for the next baby. Time to break out the 9 and 12 month clothes for Miss Leyba!

We’re back in the midst of teething drama… Poor babe. We’re trying to come up with a bunch of outings to do this weekend so we can distract Miss Leyba from the pain. So much for a chill long weekend! The good news is that I have help during this time because David is off. Let’s hope this tooth comes in quickly!

Miss Leyba and I attended two mama and baby yoga classes last week. I am so enjoying rediscovering my practice and completely adore the social aspect. I’ve already met and renewed friendships with a number of awesome moms with babies Miss Leyba’s age (some of whom I attended prenatal yoga classes with).


Miss Leyba adores seeing (and smiling at) other babies and I think watching the bigger babies crawl reinvigorated her interest in trying herself (a nearly nonstop activity all week; the other day she even tried to crawl in her sleep and woke herself up!).

Look, Miss Leyba is going to be a natural yogi:

The girl loves playing with her feet! Happy baby pose (one of my favorites) is EASY for this little one. And, yes, her foot is resting ON HER SHOULDER! I wish I had that kind of flexibility.

A barbecue with friends is the perfect way to end the weekend.

The food was awesome, we loved seeing our friends, and we met a ton of interesting and fun new people. (These photos were from before the 30 or so other guests arrived… when I was too busy schmoozing and eating to take any pictures.)

We are SO enjoying being out and about. Finally, the title of our blog fits us again.

And, yes, Miss Leyba is wearing the worlds cutest halter dress EVER. And I swear these were the only two moments all afternoon that she slept. The girl is now very into catnaps and resisting going to sleep. She doesn’t want to miss anything! Not that I blame her. We’re all about having play dates, outings, and other diverting activities over here. (Hence the lack of regular updates… Sorry about that!) What she doesn’t realize is that most of those fun goings ons tend to stop when she’s sleeping because mom and dad need a breather. Please, honey, take your naps! All the exciting stuff is centered around you!

We’ve had a big couple of weeks.

Here’s a quick lowdown:

• Miss Leyba has discovered her feet! She loves playing with them and today realized just how tasty baby toes can be. Now she knows why I am constantly trying to eat them. So delicious!
• Car rides have become easy. Miss Leyba plays with her hanging stuffed ladybug toy and puts her fingers through her knit blanket and voila! She’s content. We frequently talk to each other the whole trip too, though sometimes our conversations consist solely of us blowing raspberries back and forth from the front and back seats.
• Suddenly she appears to tolerate most foods in my diet! I can’t go overboard, but small quantities of the offenders (diary, soy, corn, etc.) appear to be okay.
• I’m exercising every day now and am feeling so good. On most days Miss Leyba and I now nap together… I’m too tired to make it through the day without one nowadays.
• We’ve started taking excursions just the two of us — to Mama & Baby yoga and to the library. It is so fun to go out. We both get a bit stir-crazy hanging at home.
• Miss Leyba is really getting good at sitting up with minimal support and rolling from her back to her tummy and back again.
• Today she scooted her way across our entire bed on her tummy using her legs to propel her. The girl will be crawling soon. It’s truly terrifying.
• Mother’s Day ROCKS! We went on a picnic and visited two (!) farmer’s markets, enjoyed tasty vegetarian fare at a potluck, and spent the day with some of our favorite California mamas and kids (only some of which are pictured below):

Thank you to David and our daughter for an AWESOME weekend! I am one lucky mama.