Nine.

It hurts my heart a little to write this. Eliza, our sweet baby, you are growing up too fast. Nine months is so close to twelve. But it is, unbelievably, even better than eight.

She crawls. She talks. She claps. She waves. She gives me kisses, hugs.

Eliza definitely has her Daddy's mouth, but this here is what my parents used to call my "orange slice" smile. You can see it here.







She eats e.very.thing I put in front of her with gusto. Aside from puzzle pieces, leaves, and carpet schmutz it's all MY cooking - which means she must have her daddy's adventurous and forgiving palate (my cooking is mediocre at best but he pretends it's delicious). The only small issue we have is that she feels entitled to anything I'm eating, but for now I happily indulge her in little bites, if she's willing to try it.


We also eat coffee tables.




Clapping: She started clapping right around her 8 month birthday. She's been waving for few months, but now she waves and claps to strangers in the grocery store, which is of course oh so charming to all the ladies and gents who approach her. She's a very happy and social little one, for the most part. Sometimes they'll even get a "hi" in conjunction with the wave. She also enjoys waving to people when their backs are turned, and they have no idea she's there (I find this hilarious).

She's ever so curious.

Pointing: At lights, ceiling fans, stuff in the nursery, characters in her books. Often accompanied by commentary in her own little language (though we think we are hearing "Dight" for light?). The funny thing about talking at this age is some days she really seems to be working on words and repeating the sounds she hears, and other days it's turned off completely and all we hear is jibberish.


Crawling: Literally overnight, we moved on from the worm. Now it's mostly a crawl, with a downward dog/plank mixed in here and there.








Teeth - we have 3 - her first top one just broke through, and we are cutting three more at once as we speak. They are driving us both crazy. Pobrecita.


This is what we look like when we are teething so much that we cry through our nap. Those days aren't fun for anyone involved.





Talking: Her language seems to be richer with every passing day. She talks to her toys, talks in her crib, just chatters all day. Even though she can go wherever she wants now, she is still pretty content to sit and jabber to her toys much of the time rather than get into things (which also just seems to be more of a "girly" baby attribute). I love it as we communicate so well. She said, "mama!" yesterday to me and it's different than it was when she said it at 6 months (over and over, then one day stopped and moved on to another sound). She says it when she's crawling to me, when I'm feeding her, and mostly when she's sad.




Daddy: This is when Dada came home. She lights up when Daddy comes through the door and waves him goodbye from her high chair in the morning. I have to say, that may be my very favorite thing.


Or maybe it's this: a few days ago, Eliza woke up in a particularly snuggly mood after her nap, so rather than rushing her into the living room to play, we sat in the glider and she just hugged me. And then she gave me multiple, sloppy baby kisses. Bounced on my lap giddily - a new thing she does - and then lunged in for more hugs. I kissed her cheeks, as I do hundreds of times per day. And she hugged me some more. More kisses, more bouncing. Ten minutes passed; it's increasingly rare that she will just sit and focus on mama, rather than reaching for a book, a toy, scanning the room for things of interest. There were some very dark days around 6 weeks that I wish I could have given my sleep-deprived self a hug, told her it was all going to be ok, and turned her around to watch a video of that moment. It is the purest high; the most wonderful part of my job. And it's not something you easily forget, like those early days are. It's one of those moments I'll carry with me to her wedding day.

Happy 9 months, precious little one. I remain so thankful for the wonderful blessing that is you.

Our funny Valentine

So I realize this post is a bit late, as apparently Valentine's Day was already 2 days ago. In related news, my dining room table has been sitting on the side porch, in DIY limbo, for a month as I waffle (this is very like me). I still (embarrassingly) have thank you's from Christmas half-done - this is very unlike me, though due to the wrist issue my signature is an illegible, pained scrawl, so I am going with that as my excuse. I'm pretty sure that's only half of it though. And - agggh - my baby is almost nine months old. Time is passing fast and I'm not keeping up on all fronts.

I realized at 9:30 on Feb. 13 that it was Valentine's Day the next day and hastily threw an outfit together for my baby's big first over-commercialized holiday. I thought briefly of finding a pattern and crocheting a heart to applique to her onesie. And then I was like, hey self, it's 9:30. I like sleep. So I stitched two pieces of felt together (15 minute project), slapped it on this handmedown onesie (thanks Avery!) and called it a night. The tutu ribbon skirt was a very sweet gift from the Rochester Millers.

She only wore this outfit for half the day due to her current belly-shimmying, drooling on everything stage.

Her "crawl" is this hilarious worm, which she is now very adept at and involves a lot of belly dragging. It looks kind of hard (compared to crawling, a more fluid motion), but she gets around great now, so more power to her I suppose. Like her mother, it appears she prefers to make things a lot harder than they really need to be.

Here's E. and her Valentine. I'm sad to report it's a little one-sided these days. With our little lady in a climb up everything, hair pulling stage, it seems the bloom has fallen off the rose somewhat for our resident ginger. Cue the Adele.

Georgia apparently only has eyes for Gigi. See my expert applique work above? You can tell I invested a lot of time in baby's first Valentine's day.

We had a park playdate later, and I was a little sad, since she had already ruined this outfit I'd so lovingly hand-sewn for her. But then I remembered that her parents went to Vegas and all they brought her was this awesome Beatles LOVE onesie.

I stuck the heart on her butt because I was so pleased with my handiwork.

We met a few of E's crew there, Avery and Blake.

"Mommmeeeeee!!!" Avery was picking weeds flowers and then bringing them over to show us. Her big brother Harrison was running a gravel car wash over on the other side of the park.

Eliza and Blake immediately got down to their favorite pastimes:

Synchronized chewing

Mama snuggling

Secret telling (these two are very chatty together)

And of course, mama sassing: a time-honored tradition of 9- and 10-month olds the world over. (Note Blake's crocheted heart onesie and cardi - both gifts from her grandma. Damn. Maybe someday E's daughter will reap the benefits of my hobbyholicism too).

I had a pretty great Valentine's myself - was surprised that morning with coffee, a pot of hydrangeas and yet another very big and unexpected gift from my dear husband - my Wacom tablet! I'd been wanting it forever but couldn't bear to buy it for myself. Love that man. Now I just have to figure out how to use it...

Lots of love to you, my loves!! XO

recharge

Well, Vegas, I get you. I get your crazy game.

Our trip to Sin City was a pretty short one, but we took full advantage of our time there. Returning home Saturday evening, I required a full Sunday recharge from my jam-packed two days of gambling, champagne guzzling, luxurious hotel suite lounging, and spa-ing (ahem, pretty much a full day of spa-ing. And a 45 minute bubble bath while watching television). Oh, and wining and dining with the fam, of course! A rough life we lead; thank you, a million times over, Daddy Jack and Cita for this delightfully indulgent trip.

We hadn't been away together since, well, our trip to Fredericksburg last spring, where we bought our little babe to be this Luckenbach tshirt. I had a vision of her in this outfit then: little bow (I unapologetically love me some little bows), diaper, Luckenbach t-shirt pulled over a round, perfect little tummy. I picked a blue one because I was banking on blue eyes. Just had that feeling. And here she is, my friends.

Jackpot.

It's a funny thing, though. Somewhere around midday Friday, as I settled into round two of the pore-vaporizing steam sauna, I realized it was the longest stretch I'd been alone in...well, 8.5 months. I spent some quality time with myself as we rounded the bend on bedrest. But since then, it's been me and E. E and me. All the livelong day. And I realized something else, sitting there alone in the dark, steamy mist: I didn't quite know what to do with myself.

This trip knocked us out of the perfect, delicate orbit that I am proud to say we have finally achieved. It was a little bit disorienting, as you fall into a second-nature routine that feels normal, but in reality, is a bit of a grind. No matter what, you're up at 6:30 caring for your little human, 7 days a week. And you're doing it (happily, for the most part) until the sun goes down, 7 days a week. Removed from it, I felt naked, suddenly realizing how wholly my badge of "stay at home" mom had come to envelop and define me. How we had fallen lock-step into parenthood, the routine. We needed this trip. And by the time we returned, a little worse for the wear, I had embraced my old self - and the freedom that came with her - and I'd be lying if I told you a piece of me wasn't sad to leave her behind in Vegas.

But this? Oh this scrumptious little miss was so good to come home to. The 6:30 wake-up call that next morning, maybe not so much. But we have coffee for that.

And the question I keep getting - how did she do? Well, she didn't really seem to know we were gone. It may be that she sees enough of her Gigi (and her Gigi and John are so very sweet to her) that us being gone didn't really faze her. Either we're doing something right, or she's just a wonderful, content little baby in spite of us. Either way, I'm so glad the stars aligned just right for us to make the trip happen - a little time away is good for the soul.

And, as you can see, my tech-savvy husband managed to get my camera working again (a process that, in my defense, was neither intuitive nor easy) so hopefully posts will resume as usual. Happy February, loves. XO