Beyond Finger Food

Lilia fed herself with a spoon today. We’ve been giving her a spoon of her own during meal times for awhile now to keep her from grabbing the loaded one and making a mess, but that has appeased her less and less lately. I noticed she had been getting her empty spoon to her mouth quite a bit so gave her a shot with the full one and she did it!

Journaling Lilia

I suck at journals. I’ve never been able to keep one up for more than a few weeks at a time. Even when they were assigned for school I would procrastinate like mad and write the whole thing the day before it was due.  My first memory of learning (and loving!) the “copy and paste” feature was in high school when I needed to turn in a journal for the entire semester. I just kept re-wording the same dozen or so entries over and over, and presto, all done. Let’s just say it was less than cathartic.

Now every little event in Lilia’s daily life inspires me to write. Obviously I have mommy-itis where everything about my kid is important, but beyond that, it’s so much easier for me to find value in every aspect of her life than my own.

A funny thing is starting to happen though. Something about blogging for Lilia has been making it so much easier for me to talk about me.

I kept thinking this blog would be a neat gift for Lilia when she was older, the ultimate baby book if you will. But like everything else about being her mommy, the thing I thought I was doing for her turns out to be yet another gift for me.

Teeny tiny tooth tip

The teeniest sliver of a tooth broke through today. Lilia’s bottom right incisor is peeking up through her pink gums and checking to see if it’s safe for the rest of her baby teeth to come in.

Even more exciting than her teeny tiny tooth is the return of my sweet baby girl. After several days of her being a restless, cranky pill, she was back to her normal happy, playful, bouncy self.  Best of all, she has gone to bed easily the last two nights. What a difference that makes in my night! I know we’ve got over 20 more to go, but it’s a relief to recognize my baby again and not to be trapped in a haze of perma-fuss.

I also have to give it up for these homeopathic teething tablets. They really seem to provide relief and if they are connected with Lilia going down for naps and bedtime without a fight, they are as good as gold. I wish I’d started them sooner.

Little bruiser

With increased mobility from crawling and cruising comes increased crashes, falls, scrapes and bruises.

While Mommy was at work for half a day today, Lilia managed to bonk her head at least 5 times, pull a speaker down on her head, and nearly pull a chair down on herself. Daddy saved her from the last one which then of course became a fun game. She actually scraped off some skin and drew some blood with the speaker crash, and has several little scrapes and red marks from all the head banging. Poor pumpkin.

Adam’s worried she’s going to need a helmet soon if she doesn’t get a little more coordinated or learn to have a little more fear.

The girl gets around

Lilia decided that crawling might be a slightly more effective way of getting around then cruising, rolling and scooching but she’s still unconvinced that it should be her primary mode of transit. While the crawl is cute and fun, it’s still a bit uncoordinated and so far only seems to happen when we aren’t looking or, as captured above, for a blueberry.

Truth be told, my new favorite move is actually an old move of hers, but in reverse. She’s recently learned she doesn’t need our help sitting up, but her method is a bit unconventional…

I constantly feel like time is speeding by way too fast as far as Lilia’s development goes, but she really has taken it slow in some cases. We thought she was on the verge of teeth and crawling ages ago, but the crawling is still in its infancy (pun totally intended…) and she is still 100% tooth free. I guess she is still a baby afterall!

Memories of a belly

I know two soon to be mama’s about to pop, and they, like most 8 1/2 month pregnant ladies can’t wait to have their babies. I can’t relate. It may sound strange, but Lilia was 10 days late, and while I was excited to meet my baby, I was one of the only people not overly anxious for her arrival. The only reason I started doing some of the natural tricks to bring on labor was because my doctor wanted to induce me and I wanted a natural birth.

I guess Lilia and I both just needed a bit more time to be ready. I nested up until the last moments, and I was keenly aware that those were the last days that I could sleep whenever I wanted and for as long as I wanted, uninterrupted. It was the last time my baby would be fed, safe and warm with no effort on my part. I mean as far as babies go, the ones still in the uterus are pretty low maintenance.

I was also a weirdo in that I was the most comfortable in my last 2 months of pregnancy as the first 7 plus months were a blur of nausea and vommitting. Unlike my skinny girlfriends having babies (you know who you are) I was used to being on the heavy side and didn’t feel all that weighed down by my belly.

Being a mommy is all that I hoped for and more, but I am glad I was able to enjoy those last few months of relative freedom before Lilia made her grand entrance. I hope the soon to be mama’s in my life find some joy in their last few weeks. They are about to go “on duty” and never be “off duty” again.

Lucky Lilia

Lilia was our good luck charm yesterday. We started our day by heading to the Marina for a little mommy-maintenance. We went to Benefit only to find that Suzy, the only woman I trust my brows to, was all booked up, but after one little snuggle with Lilia she told me to come back during her lunch hour and she’d squeeze me in.

Score 1 for cute baby luck.

Next we headed to the Blue Barn for sandwiches. Cute place, delicious food, but packed to the gills with only one long lunch table and 4 teeny tiny tables for seating. We ordered our food to go thinking there’s no way we’re sitting down, and somehow I needed to feed Lilia too. Moments after ordering a cute girl comes up to me and says, we’re leaving, come take our table. Hallelujah!

Score 2 for cute baby luck.

Our final task was to face the SFMTA for a temporary neighborhood parking pass so Sarah didn’t have to continue moving her car every TWO HOURS. It was crowded and there was a super agro guy going off on one of the clerks. Lilia was just playing on the floor, talking up a storm when a clerk waved us over and asked if we had a number. We did. She said lets get the baby out of here and took us before about 20 other people. Unbelievable.

Score 3 for cute baby luck.

Oh yeah, and she even seemed to bring good luck parking as we pulled into spots everywhere we went without so much as a circle around the block! We thought it might be the luck of the Irish in her leprechaun green dress!

Sarah asked if she could borrow Lilia next time she needed to go to the DMV. Maybe we should rent her out.

Neurosmith Nirvana

Lilia discovered the best toy ever at Baby W’s house last night. It seriously rocked her world. It’s a music cube that plays all of Lilia’s favorite songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round, Five Little Monkeys and If You’re Happy and You Know It. It also plays two that were pretty new to her like Pop Goes the Weasel and Old MacDonald.

What is so very cool about the cube is that it’s the right height for her to hold herself up on to stand and each side of the cube has amazing ways to interact with each tune. Seriously. The weasel REALLY pops, and the Wheels on the Bus REALLY DO go round and round! There are even tags for the rain pouring down the waterspout, I kid you not. I could have spent hours playing with that toy. There are even lyrics to the songs printed for Moms and Dads new to the sing-a-long set.

*Note-This is not a paid advertisement, but if the makers of the Neurosmith Together Tunes Cube would like to thank me for my bordering on neuro-tic praise, feel free to send us a cube, Lilia and I would really appreciate it. And if they don’t, keep your fingers crossed for us that Santa will!

Welcome Home Sarah!

Sarah is home from her 4.5 year stint in the Midwest. Hoooray! San Francisco has welcomed her back in a big way and we’re so glad to have her staying with us while she gets settled. Lilia is already quite smitten with her. Big shock. Another person to pay attention to her and tell her she’s cute.

I’m in heaven as Sarah has missed cooking during her long journey home and will be getting into the kitchen to earn her keep shortly. Maybe we can squeeze a little babysitting out of her from time to time too.

Self service baby

We’ve been blessed by a fairly non-urpy baby. She likes to eat and drink and she rarely loses much of what she puts in. From the very beginning all we really ever needed to do to burp her was just sit her up, maybe give her a pat or two.

As she got older she started pulling off in the middle of nursing and would sit herself up. At first I would lay her back down to continue her feeding but after a few pull offs I would assume she was done. Then one day she pulled herself off, sat herself up and burped. She then leaned right back and continued nursing. Now I know when she sits up, she’s not necessarily finished, she just needed to burp herself. She’s so self sufficient.