Baby & Kid

Quack Quack: Make Way for Ducklings Parade- Mother’s Day 2015

May 11, 2015

Along one of the paths in Boston’s Public Garden, there is a Make Way for Ducklings Statue in honor of the children’s classic by the same name. When Robert McCloskey was studying in Boston in the 1930’s he would often sit in the Public Garden. That inspired him to write and illustrate the book about 10 years later. It won awards at the time and has been popular ever since.

The statue was installed in the 1987 in honor of the book. Families and kids love visiting it so much that the 9 bronze statues never have to be polished from kids petting and sitting on the ducks. Throughout the year the ducks are decorated with things like scarves in the winter, jerseys for champion sports teams, and hats for Mother’s Day!

In 1978 the first Duckling Parade was held on Mother’s Day. Since then large crowds gather to take part, and to watch, adorable little kids march through Boston Common and along part of the route that the ducks took into Boston Public Garden.

As we were unable to attend the parade last year, I was really looking forward to going this year for Mother’s Day. I was so excited to get a little outfit for Autumn as well. We didn’t want to get her a duck costume in case she hated it, or it was too hot, so I stuck with something she loves… tutus!! Loved it.

It was such a fun day together.

Even if Autumn rubbed her sunblock in her eyes and looked like she was crying for most of the day. Awww poor babe!

After we took photos at the statues we headed over to the area around the bandstand on The Common to check into registration, get a goodie bag, and play.

Awww, my loves.

There was one thing after another for her to explore and play with from balls to bouncy horses. She enjoyed how these were so many other kids around and so many things to play with. Even random picnic blankets to crawl on. ha!

However, Autumn did not enjoy getting to meet the big duck. She was okay in line and quite excited watching him meet the kids in front of us but when it was our turn she quickly decided he was scary and not to be trusted. ha!

Thankfully, the kind members of the Harvard Marching Band were a quick distraction to the horror of the big duck.

Right before the parade started we even got to meet Mayor Marty Walsh!

The parade was so much fun for those walking and those watching.

After the parade we headed out to lunch at Parish Cafe, one of our favorite spots in Boston. Autumn was on her best behavior allowing Price and I to enjoy our awesome Zuni Rolls (I swear the best sandwiches in Boston). Plus, I had delicious blood orange mimosas. Win!!

We enjoyed our walk back to the car through the Public Garden and Boston Common as well.

Mother’s Day was really wonderful this year.

It was so much fun for us all. We enjoyed the time doing the activities and participating in the parade together. So much to do, so much to tire you out!

I am thankful to be Autumn’s Mom. She has brought so much joy to my life. I am constantly in awe of her intelligence, charm, sweet personality, and fierce stance on things she wants. The last 17 months have been amazing. I’ve enjoyed watching her grow so much and I know that the best is yet to come.

Dear Autumn @ 17 Months

April 23, 2015

April 2015

Dear Autumn,

I love that you are happiest when you are outside. You point for your coat or vest so we will put it on you and then you walk over to the door, grasp the handle and fight the lock to get out. You pitch quite the fit when you can’t go outside. But it’s so nice to see you happy when sitting on the back porch, walking along the pathway, or in the backpack while I walk the dog.

You’ve always enjoyed being outside but the love for it has intensified when the weather got nicer and you started walking. I think you love being outside, but also love the independence.

At the last Dr’s appointment you were not yet walking, which worried him a bit because of your ‘advanced age’. But we knew you fine, you just wanted to be sure of yourself before letting go of us. Once you became more confident you would take a few steps from the sofa to get a toy, but that quickly progress and now you breeze by us in the house. You are still nervous of falling outside though. I don’t mind, I love that you grasp my finger with such might. I hope you will never stop.

At least the Dr was pleased in your steady weight gain. You still have skinny chicken legs that I love to gobble up. You still have days in which you are really picky about eating, or just not hungry, but for the most part you eat really well. You love stealing my food, especially my guacamole.

You understand both English and Spanish and try to communicate in both languages the best you can. We are so happy that you are learning so much so quickly. It’s amazing when you grasp a new thing, like an animal noise or body part, with ease. My favorite is when we go on our walks and I ask you what noises the different animals make and you mimic my “ooh ohh ahh ahh” for the monkey with “aah ahh oooohhh”. The best!

Some of the best moments are when you walk up to me and grab my leg when I’m cooking and you give it a big squeeze while you rest your head on my thigh. You are the best cuddlier when you are in the rare mood to stay still. But for the most part you are on the go and will walk over with your arms stretched out wide, lean your body and head against me for a beat before pulling away to give me a smile as you go on to get a toy or love (pester) the dog.

I can’t wait to enjoy this next month with you. We have my 2nd mother’s day to celebrate and I am looking to all of us going to the Make Way For Ducklings Parade for it. The weather should be getting nicer and nicer, so hopefully we will spend plenty of time outside. And I’m sure that you’ll love doing more and more craft projects like coloring and painting. Our fridge and my desk will be plastered with your creations soon enough!

I love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

How To Make Adorable and Affordable Mini Easter Baskets

March 30, 2015

I really love the daycare that Autumn goes to. The teachers and kids are the best. Plus, it’s about a minute’s walk from our house.

It’s an family daycare so it’s a nice small group of kids that love to be around each other. They play hard and love hard. When we bring Autumn the kids greet her loudly. And when she goes they say “BYE AUTUMN!!!!!”. Everything is loud and filled with the best kind of enthusiasm. I love it.

I also love baking up special treats for the kids. It’s fun to give them sweet treats every now and then. And if it’s something that is too rich or tart, like the Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake I recently made, I share with the 2 teachers there.

I have some super cute Easter cupcakes planned for this week but I wanted to give the kids little Easter baskets too.

My goal was so make something that was unisex, functional, tasty, healthy, fun, and affordable. Thankfully, I found everything I needed at a recent trip to Target. I needed to make 9 baskets for 3-4 year olds so I hit up their Dollar Spot section as it’s the bees knees.

I grabbed 5 packs of mini storage bins. I thought they were cute and functional as they could have a life after being an Easter basket. 2 for $1 (I could have put in some grass but I figured the parents would kill me when it got all over their cars on the way home!)

I saw card games that were age appropriate for the kids so I grabbed them. $1 each

Kids love crafts so I grabbed some pens for their baskets as well. 4 pens $1

And what’s a basket without some treats?!? So I moved on to the grocery section and found a box of yummy strawberry fruit rope. $2.99 for 10 treats.

As well, Rice Krispie treats are kid favorites. $4.19 for 16 treats.

Lastly, I filled some plastic eggs with some M&M’s to finish it off. $.89 for 12 eggs and $2.89 for the bag of M&M’s

Mini Easter Baskets-1
And that’s how I made 9 adorable Mini Easter Baskets for the kids at Autumn’s daycare for just $2.61 each. I only spent about $28 for everything and I have some extra goodies leftover to incorporate into the Easter Basket I’m making for Autumn. Woohoo!

Hop over to Target or your favorite stores to make some great Easter baskets for the kiddos in your life. xoxo

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What are your favorite things to include in Easter Baskets?

Dear Autumn @ 16 months

March 20, 2015

Dear Autumn,

It’s Thursday night and I am currently on a flight to Seattle to visit Aunt Emily. You are staying with Daddy and visiting G-ma, Uncle Chase, Aunt Heather, and your cousins. I am missing you already. This will be the longest that we have been apart. I know you are in excellent hands as your Dad is downright amazing, but it was hard for me to say good bye. I already can’t wait to see you Tuesday morning when you wake up with your wild bed head. Oh, that hair is out of control!

You are such a happy, smiley sweetheart. You have your moments when you get really frustrated at us but for the most part you are a happy girl who likes to be involved with things. While it can often be hard to juggle, you like to be in the kitchen with me. Your favorite activity is to crack eggs, so you really like it when I make quiche. You quickly whack your way through a dozen eggs. At the end you give me a big smile as you are proud of your completed task.

We are making slow progress on you walking, but I’ll take it. I basically bribe you to stand and take a few steps with stickers. You love your stickers! I have been finding them on my clothes and around the house recently. Seeing them on the sink when I brush my teeth at night just makes for a happy reminder of the great day you had.

You are working hard on communicating with us. You are taking to say names of classmates at daycare and you are a parrot trying to repeat after me when I say something. Your teacher gives us updates on how you can say ‘dos’ and ‘tres’. But you really let everyone know you can (loudly) say ‘Hola’. The newest thing is that you say ‘Ow!’ to just about everything from Kemper knocking into you to us giving you a hug. Everything is ‘Ow!!!’ Thankfully, you just as enthusiastically say ‘Yay!’ and ‘Wow!’

We struggled to find a milk that wouldn’t upset your stomach or your bum for a bit. Cow’s milk upset your stomach so we moved on to Almond milk. Things were going well for about a week until you developed such a horrible, horrible diaper rash. I felt so bad for you. It broke my heart all over again at every diaper change. We moved on to a combination of goats milk and coconut milk. Thankfully things have been going well with that. Even if you make us broke with that $18 a gallon goats milk! But we’ll get anything for you!

Your personality is shining so brightly now. You test your limits by playing around with us, even biting us to get a rise out of us. Thankfully, you don’t do that often! You are adventurous, but cautious as you are timid to walk yet. I love to hear your ramblings in the mornings when you wake up. I know that in the coming months your ramblings will be more and more developed. So much fun.

I love each and every day with you my Autumn.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Autumn @ 15 months

February 27, 2015

February 2015

Dear Autumn-

Oh, what a month!!!

In the time from when you turned 14 months old to 15 months old you went on a cruise that brought us to Grand Cayman, Mexico, and Belize, took a flight, and had plenty of days home with us for the record snow fall that pounded Boston.

The cruise was amazing and tough at the same time. You did a good job of adjusting to the day to day stuff but the nights were rough for you. Well, for us too! You would wake repeatedly throughout the night so we would snuggle with you then and rush around to warm up a bottle or take early morning walks around the boat. But no worries, you made friends with just about everyone as you smiled and waved at everyone. The days at the beach were the best with you. It was so wonderful to see you enjoy the sun and sand so much. There was a photo Dad took of us in Grand Cayman that melts my heart. It was nap time so you snuggled on me in the beach chair and we took a nap together while a towel was drapped over us protecting you from the sun. It’s one of my favorite photos of us.

And then we came back to the harsh realities of a New England winter. Starting just after we got back, there was a storm every few days that just dumped snow on us. We even had a blizzard, maybe 2, I’m not sure about one of them. But it was great and hard on all of us. Poor Daddy was outside so much of the time shoveling and snow blowing the driveway, walkway, and sidewalk in front of the house. You have figured out how to climb up on the arm of the sofa to peer out the window to wave at Daddy. Love it! I missed so much work between office closures, daycare closures, getting in late so it was a constant game of catch up. But I really did enjoy our snow days together. It really made me enjoy our time together as we watched cartoons, baked banana bread, dancing around, and snuggled.

You went with dad to see the nutritionist and they think you are happy and healthy, but would like to see you gain more weight. We have had to up your calories so they suggested more cheese, peanut butter, and cream for you. What a delicious prescription! We are all quite jealous of your Dr’s orders to eat more Mac and Cheese.

You have not yet started to walk but are getting so much more comfortable walking around holding on to just one hand. I can see your balance improving bit by bit. You are just starting to stand for a few seconds on your own before plopping down on your butt. It’s quite exciting if you make it to when I count to 5!

One day we walked around the grocery store ‘roaring’ at each other. I’d ask what the Lion says you would roar right along with me. It was hilarious and quite sweet.

Talking is starting to come along too with you just starting to say ‘red’ and ‘blue’, although it sounds like ‘rah’ and ‘blah’ you definitely know the difference when I hold it up.

Now more than ever I have been giving you the chance to pick out your own clothes. I give you 3 options for tops and 3 options for bottoms and we put on what you pick. Some days the combination is questionable and other days it’s quite fashionable. I’m pretty sure that there are days that I should let you pick out my outfits.

The biggest thing I want to remember about you at this age is how you are starting to become much more affectionate.

You are an amazing little thing. A strong little girl who is happy, clever, and just down right beautiful. We love every bit of you.

Love,

Mom

Life with a Baby: Baby Favorites @ 11 months

January 31, 2015

So I’m a bit behind with my Baby Favorites posts as Autumn is now 14 months… how did that happen?!?!? But I’m catching up now. Well, that’s the story of my life. ha!!

As I usually remark, time flies! Especially when you’re having fun. And life with a baby is a lot of fun. Sure, it’s a lot of work without a lot of sleep, but damn, it’s so much fun. It’s the best to see them light up when they are playing or learning something new. I’m constantly amazed at how fast Autumn picks up new things. It’s one thing after another. I just love it so much!

Check out some of our family’s favorite things that Autumn used and enjoyed.

Baby Favorites @ 11 months

Natural Rubber High Grip Suction Cup Owl Bath Mat

As Autumn had become more and more confident about standing up in the tub while holding on the edge, she had really started to freak us out about her falling in the tub. Price ordered this bath mat and it has really put us at ease as it helps reduce how slippery the tub gets, reducing the chances of Autumn falling. Yes, we tell her to ‘sit that tiny tushy down!’ over and over but she still gets daring and stands up but at least this helps. Plus, it’s easy to remove so it doesn’t have to stick around for our showers.

LeapFrog Lil’ Phone Pal Phone

Autumn thinks everything is a phone. Everything. It’s quite silly and funny to have her talking to a piece of paper or a pen. We got her this play phone so we could swap out whatever she is talking to for this. She presses the big button and listens to the mousy voice say ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ or sing to her and smiles with excitement. Super cute, and no fear of paper cuts!

Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Dave Matthews Band

My sister gifted this to us when Autumn was first born as we are all big Dave Matthews Band fans. It’s always been a big hit but even more so lately as Autumn has ‘moved on’ from her Sleep Sheep. We now use music to help her get relaxed by it at bed time. I turn it on after we get into her room post tub so it’s playing on shuffle while she gets in her PJ’s, brace, and gets cozy with her BFF owl. It’s nice to have this playing as I love DMB and it reminds me of the concerts I’ve been to.

Fisher-Price Little People Animal Rescue Ride On

Autumn loves this thing. Loves it. I swear she could sit on it this all day. Or push it around. Or be pushed around on it. She can’t yet climb on it herself but she certainly lets you know that she wants to go on it, and the sooner the better. We zip around the living room and kitchen and she loves it. I make tire screeching noises we turn and she cracks up. It’s the best being a baby!

Barnyard Bath

Bath time is a big deal in our house as it winds down every day. It the time when Autumn (sorta) sits still and relaxes. She plays around with her floating bath toys but her newest favorite thing are bath books. Once I dump out all the tub stuff she grabs a few things and hands me the bath books so I can read to her while she plays. And most often I end up reading the books like 5+ times in a row. ha!

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Check out more Baby Favorites:

@ 9 months @ 10 months

@ 7 months @ 8 months

@ 5 months @ 6 months

@ 3 months @ 4 months

@ 1 month @ 2 months

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I’ll do a favorites post every month/stage as Autumn grows, changes, and develops.

What are some of your favorite things for 11 month olds?

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Post contains affiliate links

Dear Autumn @ 14 months

January 29, 2015

January 2014

Dear Autumn-

You are the best Loverbugs of all the Loverbugs there ever were.

Yep, you currently have 4 nicknames… Chicken, Chicken Nugget, Doops, and Loverbug. But hey that could change in a month and you might have 6. They just work.

You so want to walk and want the independence but need our help still so you are dependent on grasping onto our fingers for support. I guess that will be like anything in life until you learn how to do it. But the most important part is that we will always be here to catch you when you fall.

Your love for Owl is the best. You greet him (let’s say it’s a him) with the fiercest hugs and squeezes every night. Most often, you grip owl with yout right arm and then tuck him under your body as your brace pops your teeny tiny tushy up in the air as you plop on your stomach when we put you in your crib at night. And in the morning we tuck him in under a blanket to be cozy all day before we head downstairs. Your affection for him is the best.

You are so kind to Owl but rather rough to Kemper. That dog loves you so much so he puts up with your wacks without so much as a blink. He will just get up when he has had enough of you poking or pulling on him. But, please do try to tone down the hitting of him in the face because being ‘gentle!!!!!’ is the nicest.

You are still so very tiny but full of might. You let us know when you are having a blast with something or quite aggravated by your loud squeals of delight or yells of frustration. I see my short temper in you so at least I can relate quite well when you are struggling to figure something out or fit something in somewhere. Don’t worry, you’ll get it. Or at least break it. Ha!

We will be switching you to milk this upcoming month. I’m proud that I’ve pumped for you all this time but I feel that I need my body back soon. I’ve done my best to provide for you all this time and I think it has worked out well. My initial goal was for a year so I’m happy to have extended past that to bring you to about 15 months.

There will always been changes that we will figure out as we go along, just remember that this is all new to us too and that we love you. Now will you still hitting Kemper in the face. I’m serious!

Love,

Mommy

PS. You were NOT happy to take this month’s photos. ha!!

Dear Autumn @ 13 months

December 23, 2014

December 2014

Dear Autumn,

Oh, my cutie little vampire. I just love your toothy smile. It melts my heart.

You are growing up so quickly right before our very eyes. We still get so amazed with how quickly you pick up on something new. You are trying to talk more and more. You answer ‘yeah’ to most things. It’s ‘yeah, yeah yeah’ all day long. Unless you don’t want something because you most definitely let us know with some vigorous head shaking. It’s cute but won’t you please eat your dinner! Please!! At least you try to say ‘gracias’ when you get something. You politely say ‘gras-as’ and it’s incredibility cute.

You’re still so tiny, so you have to go to the nutritionist to get things checked out next month but we aren’t worried as you are a great eater. You are just tiny and active. You just burn off all that cheese you eat!

The newest thing that you are trying is standing up on your own. You only attempt it when on the sofa so that it’s a soft fall. Sometimes you fall forward and bounce your face on the cushion and crack up. And when you fall back on your bum you quickly pull yourself back up to try again. Over and over again you try. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon enough and be brave enough to take on the challenge on the harder floor.

Some of my favorite times with you is when you just get out of the bathtub. You love to be dried off with the blow drier so I use that on you. But the best part is that you cuddle up on my lap and lean on me as are getting dried off. I love how you relax against me after a busy bath of splashing around.

Similarly, I love when I hold you before bed in the glider and take in your sweet baby shampoo smell. I savor that time as I get to gently sneak in kisses all over your head and forehead as you cuddle with your owl.

In just a few days we get to celebrate your second Christmas. You’re first Christmas was a blurr when you were just 6 weeks old. Now you will really get to enjoy it as we have some great presents for you to open. It will be so much fun to watch you rip into the wrapping paper. I just can’t wait!!

Every day is new with you. I can’t wait for each new day and new thing you learn and do.

I love you.

Love,

Mom

Autumn’s First Birthday

November 26, 2014

Our little sweet Bean turned 1 just two weeks ago… how has it already been that fast?!?

We had a wonderful time with friends and family as we celebrated at home the weekend before her birthday.

141117_weekend recap_08

It meant so much to us that our families came up to visit and celebrate, with my mom and dad traveling from Florida, my brother and sister from CT, and Price’s family from central NY and NH.

Oh, this melts me.

Our farm theme party had cupcakes that were decorated like apples, a veggie patch (crudite platter), muddy tracor wheels (chocolate dipped Oreos), haybales (rice krispie treats), chicken feed (popcorn), Ham and Cheese Sliders, cheese and crackers on our piggy cutting board that Price’s dad made, and chili to serve on top of corn bread muffins. We decorated with a custom made poster, some bales of hay, and burlap banners. Plus, I cut out some barnyard animals from the cricut, placed them on the bookcase that morning, and forgot to put up. Story of my life. ha!

As much as Autumn enjoyed all the action she still needed her afternoon nap so we then sang to her and cut the cake for everyone to enjoy. An hour later, she woke up happy & refreshed to tear into her wonderful, generious presents.

I really wish we had more pictures, we were just having a blast that I kept putting down the camera and enjoying it all instead of snapping pics. I always struggle with getting the right amount of pictures with everyone and being a part of the action.

Then on her actual birthday, I brought a cake with her to daycare to share with all her little buddies there. I made a golden yellow cake with a pink buttercream frosting. I heard a full (loud) report from the kids when I went to pick her up that they loved it. And got to see a little video of them singing ‘Happy Birthday to You’ in english and spanish over and over again. She was all bouncy and clapped along. She just loved being in the spotlight that day.

And just because we wanted some pictures of Autumn with some cake, I went to a local cupcake shop down the road from my office and got her a carrot cake cupcake.

We set her up with that cupcake, and her cute little birthday hat that she recieved as a gift, but she since she had just inhaled more than an avocado for dinner she wasn’t too interested in anything besides the frosting. Which worked out fine as Price and I then split it. ha!

We had such a fun time celebrating her birthday. Autumn loved the extra attention from her family, friends, and daycare buddies. Oh, the singing, she couldn’t get enough of the singing. Oh little kids, they kill me!

Dear Autumn @ 12 months

November 19, 2014

November 2014

Dear Autumn-

As every month, nay, as every day passes I am constantly pinching myself that you have been brightening up our lives for how ever long it has been at that point.

We couldn’t believe that you were arriving a week earlier than scheduled. Oh, sure, we always knew they could have moved up my C-section or even that I would go into labor before the 25th, but we had that day circled so that’s what it was going to be! Wrong!

So there I sat dumbfounded saying ‘sure… today works…’ when my doctor told me that they wanted to move things up a week. But, maybe, I couldn’t fit in that day? The hospital would call me later to let me know if you were arriving that night or the morning of the 19th. La-la-la. So I headed back to work to just wait for the hospital to call. I didn’t want to miss out on working that day as I wanted to eek out every bit of maternity leave that I could. So there I am packing up my desk and tying up loose ends when the hospital called at lunch time to ask if I could be there in an hour. Umm, no! Well, there had been a misunderstanding as to who was calling me when related to fitting me in. Whoops.

Anyway, I run out of work (forgetting my coat!) and meet your Dad at the train to get a cab ride home. We threw stuff in a bag – see so unprepared. And left as fast as we could to arrive at the hospital. Surprisingly, we did make good time considering how crazy things had just been.

Thankfully, we breezed through the hospital check-in and head up to the delivery floor to start the process of getting paperwork filled out, IV’s in, getting undressed and in a gown. Oh, Dad had to get dressed up in scrubs too! Before we knew it they were ready for me to head to surgery. Oh boy!

It was scary to head into surgery on my own but I had to get all prepped before Dad could come in. In the end, it didn’t take to long (or so it seemed) to get my spinal and get all set up before he was right by my side. As things were about to begin I told him to talk to me so that I would be distracted from the surgery, like anything really could really distract me, but I just wanted something to kinda take my mind off the rapid firing that my brain was doing as I was trying to listen to your first cry.

And there it was at 4.59pm.

I felt the biggest relief to hear that. The most beautiful sound in the world.

And yet, I was still so utterly nervous. Not because you were born, that was amazing. But because of your omphalocele. The team of doctors that were waiting your arrival checked you out and basically said that it was no big deal. What?!?! That was such wonderful news. It was so hard to believe still. We had been prepped that there there was a chance that we wouldn’t get to hold you for a few days if the omphalocele was complex. But there you were, all wrapped up, getting handed over to us while they completely my surgery. I was so petrified to touch you, but it was the best feeling ever at the same time.

That feeling has never left. I’m usually afriad I’m screwing up along the way but seeing you grow and learn along the way really is the best feeling ever. You are beautiful but you are smart, funny, and charming. You are a flirt, waving to everyone at the grocery store. You love the attention. You are such a happy baby. And a fearless one. Half the stuff you try to climb over makes me so nervous. I know that once you are walking you will be off running. Until then you are a lightening fast crawler. I think you get all the engery from all the different foods you happily eat. At least you do a good job of burning it off since you are still so ‘danty’!

The past year has been amazing. I know that next year, and all the ones to follow, are going to be wonderful. You are such a lovely little girl. Our Bean. Our Autumn. Our Little Chicken. Our Doops. We love you so very much.

Love,

Mom

Happy Halloween

October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!!!

It’s Autumn’s first Halloween!!

oh, hun no…

Dear Autumn @ 11 months

October 21, 2014

October 2014

Dear Autumn-

Just last week you knocked our socks off by saying ‘yum’ when Dad offered you a piece of apple and then you stood all by yourself for a split second. It was such a mind blowing night. The enthusiastic ‘yum’ was just adorable but you really shocked us when you randomly let go of your grip on Dad. There was a lot of us going “did you just see that? She stood right? I can’t believe it. It was for a split second! She stood right?!?” So much fun.

You are super happy but super clingy now. Some days I don’t think I will get anything done as you are always crawling after me, climbing up me, or just being held. I’m reminding myself how these days are fleeting and to just relax and accept the slower pace of doing laundry, cleaning, or making dinner. It’s all worth it.

Understandably, you were really clingy during a recent cold. In fact you ended up with your first ear infection. So minor that you didn’t need any medication but still sad when we saw you pulling on your ears.

Our tiny Chicken is just as fast as can be. You crawl so fast that we need to be extra careful with closing and securing the baby gates. I stood right behind you as I let you crawl up the stairs and you made it up 3 steps with ease. Trouble! I know that once you are walking you will be record fast as you have such fine motor skills.

We visited Raleigh this past month to see if we could see ourselves living there. It was fun to imagine you running around some of the yards we saw. Oh man, I want us to have space for you to run & play. You did a great job on the flight down but we’re royally annoyed that you had to stay on our laps during the flight back. Such a rough flight! Let’s just hope you do better on our upcoming trip to Miami this weekend. You gotta see the world babe!

The way you laugh when you try to throw your cup full of water out of the tub is the best, even if the mess isnt. You sweet face looking up at us while you take a bottle is the best. And you puffy little cheeks and delicate lips set in stone while you sleep on me is the best.

We love you tons!

Love,

Mom