Playa

Today, we didn't have anything going on--no excursions, no plans. We had a day to ourselves, which was a nice way to come down from the hectic traveling and 3:00 a.m. wake-up call that was yesterday.

We woke up with Nora around 7:00 a.m., and played for a little while my mom slept in. Nora was already ready for a nap by about 8:30, so we put her down for one and we all lounged around, waiting for her to wake up.

Our condo hotel, Porto Playa Condo Hotel, is affiliated with the Indigo Beach Club. As a result, we have free breakfast at Indigo Beach every morning, so once Nora was awake again, we walked there (a few blocks away) to check it out for the first time.

It was so nice to be able to eat with our toes in the sand. Paradise, I tell you.

The breakfast includes buffet items like toast, fresh fruit, sweet breads, cereal, etc. Then, you can also get eggs, quesadillas, hash browns, bacon, beans, etc. to order. Good stuff.

We asked for a high chair for Nora, and they brought one for us. It was hilarious, though, because it was super high up! She was essentially sitting above us when we were seated, too. It looked like she was perched on a throne.

Looks like a milk mustache, but it was actually yogurt with some fruit cocktail mixed in. :) She gobbled down the first little bowl that I got for her, so I went to get her a refill. As I walked back to the table, I could see that she had turned around to watch me go, and her little eyes were peeking up over the back of the chair!

After breakfast, we walked the couple of blocks back up to 5th Avenue, which is where the majority of the shops and restaurants are. We walked around for a little bit, checking out some of the shopping.

Nora helped Daddy select some tequila!

It didn't take long until we were all sweating and hot as hell, so we went back to the condo to hang out by the pool.

Nora sported her bikini and shades. She seemed to fit right in.

Although she enjoyed the pool (it was so refreshing!), she was tired again, so we went inside to put her down for her afternoon nap. While she slept, my mom, Michael, and I headed up to our private rooftop patio and relaxed in the sun.

After a little while, it suddenly began to pour, so we took cover and ran back inside. We settled in again on our covered balcony to watch the storm.

Soon, Nora was up, so we brought her out with us and fed her on the balcony, then she played with my mom.

We were invited to Kelly and Murray's rehearsal dinner, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get ready. Nora was first--she needed a bath! Since the condo didn't have any bathtubs, we settled for the kitchen sink. :)

We were all ready with some time to spare, so we ended up heading back to last night's restaurant for more fabulous margaritas. Our waitress from last night, who absolutely adored Nora, remembered us, and continued to dote on our girl.

Once again, Nora was a big fan of the margarita straws.

The rehearsal dinner was great; we were honored to be included. It was fun to get to know some of the other wedding guests and hang out with all of the other family members in town for the nuptials. Once again, we had Nora up way past her bedtime. Poor kid.

Tomorrow, we have a big group excursion planned--the Tulum ruins and Xel-ha park!

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High Fives

As I mentioned in the previous post, my mom taught Nora how to give "high fives" at dinner. It was so cute, because it was like it immediately clicked in her head. Plus, she was getting plenty of praise for doing it, which made her want to do it over and over.

Here is a little video clip:

It was especially cute since today was my mom's birthday! Quality time with her little Nora on her birthday, and she taught her something new, to boot.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

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Margaritaville

After the "poo incident," we got through the hustle and bustle of the airport. Once we had our bags and were through customs, we stepped outside to be greeted with oppressive humidity. It felt like someone sucked the air right out of my lungs.

Of course, as soon as we were out there, we were bombarded with taxi drivers trying to get us to ride with them. We already had a driver arranged through our condo, so we walked along the crowd, looking for the sign he told us he'd have. Unfortunately, we didn't see him during our first pass-through, so we had to turn around and go back the other way--making us even MORE attractive to the other drivers, since we probably looked confused.

After a few minutes of arguing with the dudes, we finally saw the sign and Carlos came to the rescue, and we loaded up and were on our way to Playa del Carmen. Over the last couple of weeks, we debated about whether we should rent a car or hire a driver. Although I don't think the drive was as complicated as some people made it seem, we don't regret hiring the driver. It was a lot easier to just get in and not worry about having to find our way.

We were soon dropped off at the front door of our condo hotel, and upon picking up keys, we let ourselves in. My mom, who arrived Tuesday, was out on an excursion with the group, so we made ourselves at home. We decided to take a walk down to Mega, the grocery store in Playa. We picked up some beer, chips, and salsa, and headed back to the condo to meet my mom.

Once we were all in the same place, my mom walked us over to my cousin's condo to meet up with her and her soon-to-be husband. Kelly decided to come to dinner with us, and we walked to a little Mexican place that had been recommended to us by several people (our taxi driver and Kelly included). The menu didn't have English translations, so Kelly helped us along, and our waitress answered a few questions as best she could. We ordered a variety of dishes to share, and everything was great. The highlight of the meal, however, was the margaritas. BEST.MARGARITAS.EVER.

Nora was so great at dinner. She was in the best mood, happily people watching and playing while we ate. We were all sweating our butts off, so I was especially impressed by her demeanor.

My mom taught her how to give high-fives, which was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

We took our time at dinner, so by the time we were done, it was pretty late and we were all exhausted after a looooong day of travel. We headed back to the condo to go to bed to rest up for our first full day in Playa.

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A Poo of Mass Proportions

After staying up until after midnight packing, we had to be up at 3:00 a.m. for our 6:00 a.m. flight. It was not pretty. In my opinion, 3:00 a.m. never is. Still, we learned our lesson from the dreaded missed-flight-incident of May 2011 and gave ourselves plenty of time.

The flight to Baltimore was super short, and we arrived without incident. We had a 3.5-hour layover, so we settled in for the long haul. After walking the (small) terminal a bit and spending some time playing with Nora on the floor, we were tired and it was time to relax. You know, as much as one can relax in an airport.

Michael took Nora for a stroll to lull her to sleep, and I stretched out across some chairs to rest my eyes. Apparently I kinda-sorta dozed off, and by the time Michael came back with a sleeping Nora, we both looked like this:

I'll tell you: It wasn't a bad way to spend a good chunk of a layover.

Anyway, the three hours passed like no big deal, and soon it was time to board our flight to Cancun. Still drowsy from the early-morning wake-up call, Nora promptly fell asleep shortly after take off, and proceeded to sleep the majority of the three-hour flight.

Uneventful, I say. It was nice.

But then things changed.

In short, things got... gross. (That's your warning right there. You can't say I didn't tell you.)

About 10 minutes before we landed, Nora started making her tell-tale "poop face." (Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time with babies and small children know exactly what I'm talking about.) Michael and I exchanged a few little laughs and I commented how it was perfect timing, because we were going to be off the plane shortly and could change her diaper at the airport. We have yet to change a diaper in an airplane bathroom, which is nice, because I still cannot picture how that would work logistically.

Nora was sitting on Michael's lap at the time, and he confirmed that he could feel movement in the diaper. Alrighty then.

A few minutes later, for reasons I am unsure of, Michael suspected that perhaps Nora's diaper wasn't doing its job. Its job being containing the poo, of course. So, he casually lifted her up off of his lap to take a peek AND OH MY GOD ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE.

Michael's lap was COVERED in shit. COVERED. We're not talking about a little leakage here. We are talking a 100% FAILURE on the part of the diaper.

Panic ensued. Because we were trapped. We had a guy sitting in the aisle seat next to us. The seat belt light was on and we were unable to get out of our seats due to the fact that we were, well, landing.

As Michael held Nora about six inches off of his lap, unsure what to do next, I did the only thing I could think of--I grabbed the case of baby wipes, thinking maybe I could "grab" the poo off of Michael's shorts. I tried that, and well... I'll just say that there was a whole lot of smearing going on. "Grabbing" was not working for this particular variety of poo.

It was hopeless.

About 20 poopy baby wipes later (which I stuffed into the ever-handy barf bag located in the seat pocket), Michael was really no cleaner than he had been to start. But at least he didn't have semi-solid waste sitting on his shorts anymore. Just the aforementioned smears, which of course, smelled like... well... shit.

Meanwhile, we had landed, and were making our way to the gate. The guy next to us, God bless him, was in good spirits, despite his senses being assaulted. He kindly empathized, telling us that his daughter (who is now 17) had once crapped down the back of his neck as he carried her on his shoulders. That made us feel a little bit better, but we still felt sorry for the dude. He cracked a joke to Michael, saying "I hope you have another pair of shorts!"

Um, yeah. That's the thing. We did not have another pair of shorts. Not on us, anyway. Contrary to every other time we have traveled, we checked all of our baggage, except for a backpack. Because space in the backpack was limited, we had included an extra outfit for Nora, but had not packed extra clothes for ourselves. We broke our own rule, and it had come back to bite us in the ass.

You see, Michael was not going to be able to change his shorts until after we picked up our bags at baggage claim. If you have ever traveled internationally, you know that baggage claim is on the OTHER SIDE of immigration. This adventure was not going to be over anytime soon.

After I had "cleaned" the poop off of Michael's lap, there was still Nora to attend to. She still had poo oozing out the legs of her diaper, and needed a wardrobe change herself. To avoid exposing the people around us to further foul sights and smells, we sat tight as every.single.soul deplaned before us, despite the fact that we were seated pretty close to the front of the plane. Thankfully, Nora was cooperative as we held her perfectly still--Michael with her upper body, me with her legs.

In the meantime, I told Michael, "I'm sacrificing my Hooter Hider!" (a.k.a. nursing cover) and laid it across his lap so he'd have a clean surface on which to lay Nora. Once everyone was officially off the plane, we stripped Nora of her clothes and disgusting diaper, got the new one on her, and bolted as fast as we could.

In other words, we were the classy people entering the Cancun airport with our baby in nothing but a diaper.

Once in the airport, I threw Nora's extra outfit on her while Michael secured the Hooter Hider (I'm not being cute; that's what it's called!) to the front of him like an apron. The PINK, very girly Hooter Hider. We had to mask the poop somehow! So, Michael walked through the Cancun airport and through a looooong immigration line, looking like this:

At least we were laughing about it. Though, it should be noted that although the Hooter Hider did a good job at masking the sight of the poop, it could not mask the smell. Holy Lord.

We wound our way through the immigration line, every once in a while catching a fresh whiff of poo. It wasn't pretty, people.

In any case, I apologize to anyone and everyone who may have been in the Cancun airport immigration area around 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 29, 2011. No, someone had not stepped in dog shit. There was not a smelly bathroom nearby.

It was my husband. Because of my daughter.

Well played, travel gods. Well played.

(And lesson learned, by the way. You better believe we will have an extra pair of shorts in our backpack on the way home!)

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Needle in a Haystack

We put our place on the market on February 1st.

It's June 27th. We are still searching for a buyer for our home.

I honestly NEVER thought that it would be this hard. When our realtor filled out the contract agreement and put 8/1/11 as the expiration date for our listing, we laughed. We thought there was no way we would come even close to hitting that expiration date. We thought we'd sell in a couple of months, tops.

Well, here we are, just a little more than 30 days away from that expiration, and we haven't had a single showing in five weeks. We've had a few open houses and some traffic through, but we've had a lack of serious buyers. This is frustrating in any selling situation, but it's brutal for us, since you know, we're closing on our new house in August.

We really, really, really do not want to become landlords by renting this place out. Plus, at this point, things are so completely the opposite of how we thought they were going to go that we are nervous that we'd even be able to find a suitable tenant!

So, we sit here, shaking in our boots every single day. Just wishing, hoping, praying, WILLING a buyer to come along. It would be such a huge relief to find one. An enormous weight off our shoulders if we could come across that needle in the haystack.

I keep thinking that surely at some point, things will HAVE to fall into place, right? The power of positive thinking. Have faith. Things work out the way they should. Isn't that what everyone always says?

To try to help things along, we've been doing everything in our power to encourage a sale. We've lowered the price (twice). And now, this past weekend, we moved a bunch of stuff out of the house. We took pictures off the walls. We cleared things out of closets and rooms to make them feel less cramped--especially since we are literally busting at the seams in this place. (Hey, that's why we're moving!)

After we did all that, we went around and took new pictures. We were never happy with the ones that our realtor took on that cold winter's day back in February, with her little point-and-shoot camera. So, we went around and "staged" each room the best we could and took nice shots with our DSLR. They've been updated in the system, and I am crossing my fingers and praying that they are enough to convince someone to schedule an appointment to see this place. And that the visit is enough to make them want to buy it.

Now we continue to wait. As we have waited for nearly five months now.

Every day, hoping we will get that call. It only takes one.

It only takes one.

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Finger Foods

Last Monday, we took Nora in for her nine-month well-baby doctor's visit. I always look forward to these appointments (especially now that they're three months apart, which seems like forever!) because it gives me the opportunity to ask 10 million questions. It also reassures us that we're not total screw-ups as parents, so that's nice.

Oh, but before I say more--Nora is now 16 lbs., 4 oz. and 26.75 inches long. That's approximately the 7th percentile for weight, and 18th percentile for height. Still technically a peanut, although she certainly seems huge to us!

Anyway, at the appointment, we spent a lot of time talking about eating habits and what the next three months will look like. Nora's a great eater. She gobbles everything up like a champ, and does not seem to be a picky eater--at least not at this stage of her life. She pretty much eats whatever we give her.

Lately, though, she's been grabbing the spoon when we try to shovel in her purees. It's like she'd rather take the puree off the spoon and feed it to herself. You can imagine how well THAT goes (HUGE MESS). Our pediatrician said that this is a sign that she's done with purees and ready to strictly feed herself now.

Whoa.

We had been giving her teeny pieces of some real foods--banana, watermelon, peas, green beans, cheese shreds, breads, and of course, puffs. She'd been doing well, but I wasn't expecting to be completely done with purees just yet. And, well, to be fair, we're not. I still have a bunch of frozen puree cubes left in the freezer, so we're at least going to continue until those are gone. Plus, sometimes it's still EASIER to feed her purees because we've become quite efficient at it over the last three months. Letting her feed herself is a whole different ballgame!

But now that Nora has been "cleared" to eat anything, it's been fun to do a little experimenting the last week or so. We've started giving her pieces of whatever we're having. I still cut everything up into miniscule pieces because I'm paranoid like that (the girl still doesn't have any teeth!), but she's handled it all well. She didn't seem to be TOO big a fan of our slow-cooked mexican chicken dish (too spicy?) but she DEVOURED dinner tonight.

Peas, green beans, leftover pasta with meat sauce, chicken french, a little sausage... girlfriend was eating it up faster than I could lay it down. This was her first meal during which we didn't give her ANY purees.

My baby is growing up so fast!

Now, we are officially entering the wonderful world of finger foods. We'll continue to give her things that we're eating, but I wouldn't mind having some other things in the rotation for her. Anyone out there have any advice/suggestions for good (nutritious!) things for her to eat?

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Creepin'

Nora has developed a new skill.

How long do we have before this "creeping" becomes all-out crawling?

I'm guessing not long. Gone are the days when we could put her in one spot and count on her to--more or less--stay there.

We better get to that baby proofing.

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Three Years

On the day we were married, we had dreams of our future together and the family we would build. Just three years later, it feels like an eternity has passed, yet it also feels like only the blink of an eye. I'm not sure how that's possible, but it is what it is.

Today, we have the beginnings of the family we had hoped for. We have a little girl who is so much more amazing than we ever could have known. There is so much love within these (less than) 1,000 square feet that we need to move to a bigger house. (OK, so the move might have more to do with outrageous amounts of stuff that babies/kids need, but... love sounds more romantic, so let's go with that.)

Life is good. Cheers to three years, and to many more...

I swear to you - I will always be there for you
There's nothing I won't do
I promise you - all my life I will live for you
We will make it through
Forever - we will be
Together - you and me
Oh and when I hold you - nothing can compare
With all of my heart - you know I'll always be -
right there
I believe in us - nothing else could ever mean so much
You're the one I trust
Our time has come - we're not two people
Now we are one
Yeah you're second to none
Forever - we will be
Together - a family
The more I get to know you - nothing can compare
With all of my heart - you know I'll always be -
right there

"I'll Always Be Right There" - Bryan Adams

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D-A-D

Nora's first Father's Day gift was...

...this.

I came across this idea online when doing Google searches for photo gifts, and figured it was perfect. Especially since Michael is in need of some photos to grace his desk at work.

Hopefully we'll be able to update it year after year as part of his gift. New D-A-D pictures will become a family tradition!

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Nora's Daddy's Day

We, of course, celebrated Michael's first Father's Day today.

Nora's first gift was letting him (us!) sleep in. Once we were up, though, she was ready to give him the present she had worked so hard on. (Well, with a little help from Mommy. But more on that gift tomorrow.)

She was very excited about the hot pink wrapping paper.

After her morning nap, she got dressed in a special shirt just for Daddy. And then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner.

After we ate, Nora was happy to pose for lots of pics with Daddy. She was sure to ask him to model the hat she made for him at daycare on Friday--isn't it pretty? It has her handprints all over it.

I always knew Michael would be a great father, but it's wonderful to see him in action every day. I am so grateful that Nora has him in her life, and can't wait to see how the father-daughter relationship continues to blossom between them. You know, before she disowns us during the teenage years.

Michael--Thank you for everything you do for Nora (and me). I'm so glad to have you as a partner in this whole parenthood gig! Happy Father's Day!

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Joy Riding

My brother and his wife had a birthday party for their son, Hunter, on Saturday. It was a few weeks late (he turned two in May), but it was a perfect day to be outside for a barbecue, so it worked out. And hey, he's two--he didn't know the difference!

At the party, Nora had fun playing with some of Hunter's toys--including a little push car that she LOVED. I think she would've sat in it forever if we had let her.

How is it that they know exactly how to put their hands on the wheel? :)

I think *someone* is going to need one of these for her birthday. Or sooner.

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Big Girl

Over the weekend, we transitioned Nora to her "big girl" car seat.

For the last several weeks, it has become increasingly difficult to lug her infant seat around. Although her pediatrician originally estimated that Nora would hit 17 lbs. around 12 months, I think she's probably already 16+ lbs. now, so apparently she has been doing some catching up lately! We'll find out for sure at her 9-month appointment on Monday.

Regardless, she's big enough now that she likes to be out of the seat when we're out running errands. So, we've been removing her from the car seat and leaving it in the car for a while now, which gets complicated when you only have one car seat and two bases. To resolve this, we decided to take the plunge and buy one of her convertible car seats now.

Doesn't she look like such a big girl now? :( Funny how that happens, even though she technically appears smaller relative to the size of the seat!

I posted a while ago asking for recommendations, and after doing some more research and taking Nora to the store to actually place her in the seats, we decided to go with the Britax Marathon 70. We were originally considering the Roundabout, but felt that the Marathon was a bit more padded and "safe" looking. Plus, we really like that the shoulder straps are adjustable without needing to re-thread them.

We installed the Marathon in my car on Saturday morning, and Michael is keeping the infant seat in his car for now. Assuming we continue liking the Marathon as much as we do now, we'll buy a second one for Michael's car soon.

In other news, Nora seemed to be THISCLOSE to clapping her hands tonight. I was applauding her for something she did, and she got all excited and was moving her arms, and appeared to be trying to put her hands together while doing it. I almost died from the cuteness.

*sniff, sniff* Our girl is growing so fast.

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Outtakes

In case anyone is ever under the impression that Nora's monthly photo shoots are easy to do, I figured I'd set the record straight by posting some of the outtakes from her 9-month "session."

Oh, and before anyone tells me what terrible parents we are for letting our girl nearly take a nosedive off of the chair (multiple times!)--Michael was RIGHT there the whole time. No worries.

Now that she is CONSTANTLY.MOVING, this was the hardest one yet. I'll consider it a major accomplishment if we get the next three months of photos done, because WOW.

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Shaved Asparagus Pizza

I am not very adventurous with my pizza. I tend to like to stick to the basics--tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, turkey pepperoni, onions. I just love "regular" pizza so much that I don't often mess with it.

But, every once in a while, a pizza concept comes along that makes me veer off course for a bit. When I suck it up and try something new, I've rarely been disappointed. When I saw this shaved asparagus pizza, I bookmarked it for later consideration. And when we were in need of an easy meal for dinner last weekend, this fit the bill.

I really like asparagus, but I am picky when it comes to cheeses. Luckily, this pizza uses good ol' mozzarella as a base, and flavor is added with little dollops of a spreadable garlic and herb cheese, which I can handle just fine. Combine those two cheeses with asparagus and you've got yourself the full ingredient list. It's THAT easy, assuming you have some pizza dough lying around. :)

This is a perfect summer pizza. Add this one to the list of things to make on an evening when it's cool enough to turn on the oven!

Shaved Asparagus Pizza
(Source: Annie's Eats)

Ingredients:
- 1 recipe your favorite pizza dough
- olive oil, for brushing
- 8 oz. asparagus spears
- 4 oz. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
- 3 oz. spreadable garlic herb cheese (we used Boursin)
- kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Roll out the pizza dough into a 12-14 inch round. Lightly brush the surface of the dough with olive oil.

2. Cut the tough woody stems off the ends of the asparagus spears. Use a vegetable peeler to shave the spears into ribbons. (It will seem like a lot of asparagus, but use more ribbons than you think you need because it will cook down in the oven.)

3. Place the sliced mozzarella over the pizza dough in an even layer. Pile the asparagus shavings over the top of the mozzarella. Dot the surface of the pizza with the garlic herb cheese. Season with kosher salt and pepper.

4. Bake until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the crust is lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before slicing and serving.

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Nine Months Old

Dear Nora,

By leaps and bounds. That is how much you have changed this month. I look back at the last few weeks and I can’t believe how many new things you have picked up in that time. You've now been outside the womb as long as you were in. It's pretty amazing to think about!

You babble a lot these days, and you’ve just recently started with the consonant sounds. You started with ba-ba-ba, and now you have moved to da-da. That’s a thrill for Daddy, even though you don’t seem to be using that sound to refer to him in any way. And I’ll admit that I’ve been working overtime trying to teach you ma-ma. (I can’t help myself.) You’ve also made some wa-wa sounds. I can’t wait to see how much more your language develops in the coming weeks.

You are so smart. You continue to figure out how your toys work, and you manipulate them purposefully. We plop you down with a few toys and you go to town with them. I remember the days when I was so anxious and excited to see you learn how to play, and well, you know how now.

Up until a few weeks back, you would rarely bear weight on your legs and feet. If we tried to stand you up in our laps, a table, or the floor, your knees would buckle and you’d make it clear that all you really wanted to do was sit down. It never concerned me until you hit eight months old, and then I started to worry a bit. Sure enough, though—right when I began to worry, you decided that you were ready to do it. Now, you’ll hang on to your crib ledge or the couch and stand there all by yourself (with us closely spotting you, of course). I think this is a skill that you’ll continue to perfect this month.

Although you don’t seem anywhere near walking, you do seem to be pretty close to crawling. You are getting around quite well these days, although I couldn’t pinpoint any one method of doing so. You scooch, you roll, you try to crawl and end up moving backwards. You have suddenly become an expert and rotating yourself 360 degrees—both in a sitting position and lying down (on belly or back).

You reach for things you want--like REALLY reach. You stretch as far as you possible can. You grab magnets off of the refrigerator when I carry you past it. You reach toward the floor when you want to be put down.

Another new skill? Feeding yourself. You’re eating small pieces of food now, not just purees. Right around eight months, you suddenly started loving puffs. Prior to that, you always made faces when we tried them with you, and spit them out a lot of times. Now, you gobble them up like it is your job. You love grabbing handfuls with your tiny hands and shoving them into your wide-open mouth.

You’re also eating small chunks of soft fruit—bananas, for instance. We tried watermelon with you over Memorial Day weekend, but so far you seemed to not care for the consistency. We will try again. You’re also feeding yourself cheddar cheese shreds and love those. Last week, I gave you tiny pieces of a pumpkin muffin and you loved that, too. We’ve also introduced you to yogurt, which you eat with no problem. I’m glad you like it, because I don’t and have always wished that I did. We will continue to try new foods with you in the coming weeks—even though you STILL don’t have any teeth!

Nine months down with the breastfeeding; three months ‘til goal! I have no problems continuing to nurse you, but I am admittedly SO READY to get rid of the pump. I am looking forward to the day when I can pack that thing away. Well, at least that’s how I feel now. We’ll see what happens when the end is really here. I can’t believe how close we’re getting.

A cool milestone this month: Baby’s First Passport. We took you to apply for it about four weeks ago, and it came in the mail the other day. I gotta say: There is nothing cuter than seeing your full name and picture on a U.S. Passport. Before your 10-month birthday, you will make your first trip out of the country—I’ll be sure to tell you about that later!

Today, we installed your first “big girl” car seat in my car. It’s getting really hard for me to lug you around in the infant seat, so we decided to make the switch. It was sad for me to pull your infant seat base out of my car, though. I remember installing it when I was pregnant, and it seems like it couldn’t possibly have been nine or ten months ago. You’re growing so quickly! We’ll be purchasing another convertible car seat for Daddy’s car very soon, and ditching the infant seat altogether. So sad!

We haven’t had your nine-month well-baby doctor’s visit yet, so I’m not sure what your stats are—but I’m guessing you’re probably a little under 16 pounds? We’ll find out in about a week or so. I’m really curious to see how long you are.

You pretty much never let me rock you to sleep anymore. You don’t even really snuggle on my shoulder or anything anymore, either. That’s probably the thing I miss most, to be honest. But I know how lucky we are that you go into your crib wide awake and go to sleep on your own. I do hope that the “no snuggle” thing is just a phase, though. I always loved how you would rest your head on my shoulder while we rocked for a few minutes before bed.

You are such a happy baby. You're content to sit and watch the world around you. You smile with your tongue sticking out between your gums; it is the cutest thing I have ever seen.

We bought a house a couple of weeks ago! We’re moving in August. We can’t wait to give you the bigger bedroom, more play space, and backyard that we’ve been wanting for you. It’s all for you, my little angel. We hope that it will be the house that you will grow up in.

Every day is a joy. When I look at you, I am still often struck by the feeling, “I can’t believe she is ours.” You’re amazing, and I thank God every day for the precious gift that is your life.

All my love,
Mommy
(You know, the one who keeps saying “MA-MA. MA-MA” to you. Throw me a bone, here!)

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