Dear Lila: You’re Nine Months Old!

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Dear Lila AKA Bitty, Bug, Buggy and Boo Boo,

Yesterday you turned nine months old, and I have to say I love you at this age so much. You are able to be more independent with your crawling and climbing, but also still need your mommy and daddy a lot. I have a feeling your development is about to take off, so for now I am relishing your last “pre-mobile” months.

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Here’s what you’re up to right now…

You are working really hard at your crawling and pulling up on stuff. The other day at Gymboree, you crawled up a pretty steep slide inch by inch grunting as you went along. You made it to the top and looked so pleased with yourself. It makes me laugh though because when you are climbing, you dig your two big toes in for leverage and don’t use any other part of your foot. You must have strong toes!

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Speaking of Gymboree, I’m pretty sure it’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you because as soon as we walk in you start flapping your arms and squealing with glee. Throughout the class you are crawling all over the place, interacting with the other kids and of course, chewing on everything you can get your hands on.

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You really enjoy eating, but want to do everything yourself. No being fed by mommy or daddy! I’m not surprised as you’ve always been an independent one. We started doing Baby Led Weaning with you, which allows you to feed yourself chunks of soft food vs being spoon-fed purees.

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We also got you your own little table to eat at so you have more freedom. I wasn’t sure how this would work out, but so far it’s going great and you’ll sit at your table and eat and eat and eat for 20 minutes or more. When you’re all done, you simply push your table away. Your favorite foods right now include any meats, cheese and blueberries.

Here you are eating outside on our deck, which I fashioned into your own little play space.

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You’re really into your books lately. Especially “10 Little Ladybugs” and “Pat the Bunny.” You will crawl over to your books, pull one out and play with it on the floor for 45 minutes or more. When your dad or I read to you in your chair, it’s one of the few times you’ll sit still long enough for a snuggle or two.

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Daddy and I pretty much live to hear your giggles and will do anything we can do get a belly laugh out of you. This weekend we played a game of “human fooseball” and gave you some belly blows, both of which cracked you up.

While we have to work a little to get a laugh out of you, you make us laugh all the time. The other day I took you to a playdate and there was a power wheels tractor there. It’s meant for a much older kid, but after you kept crawling over to it, I decided to let you sit in it.

Well, you had another idea altogether. You stood up, lifted your bottom off the seat, grabbed the handle bars and pressed the button to drive the tractor forward! Me and all the other moms were laughing so hard at you because the whole time you had a completely stoic, serious face on, like you meant business. I wish I had a picture or video of that moment.

Everyone comments on how pretty your eyes are. They are a deep, bright blue. Almost the color of blue jeans. Since you’re getting close to a year, I’m hoping those baby blues stick around and don’t change. You are going to break some hearts with those eyes I suspect.

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Lila, you bring so much joy and happiness to our lives. One flash of your smile will make my whole day. I feel so lucky to get to spend my time with you. There’s truly no place else I’d rather be.

Love you to pieces,

Mommy

 

Liz’s List: Stitch Fix Personal Styling

Posted in Liz's List by

Although I have lost most of my baby weight (dang you last five lbs!), it still seems like my clothes just don’t look right any more. They’re either too tight, too short or out of fashion. I have a new state of mind and needed some new clothes to go with it.

Enter Stitch Fix. Stitch Fix is a personal stylist of sorts that is done through the internet. You fill out an in-depth personal style questionnaire, tell them your size and what your clothing needs are – business casual, formal, casual, and even can send them a Pinterest board showing your personal style.

Then one of the Stitch Fix stylists picks out five “fixes” specifically for you. They can include tops, dresses, pants, skirts and accessories. You try on the clothes and keep whichever you like. The rest you ship pack in a pre-packaged envelope. Then you fill out a quick survey about your fixes – what you liked and didn’t like and why – so your stylist can continue to refine their picks to fit your style.

The best part is that all this is just $20/mo and that $20 goes toward the purchase of whatever you keep. You can set the price range of the items too. Most of the things I’ve kept have been around $40. Here are some of the things I’ve gotten in my first two fixes:

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I kept the blue zig zag top, blue necklace, black maxi and orange geometric tank, and I have been wearing them non-stop. It feels great to finally have some clothes that A) I feel great in and B) fit my style perfectly. It also is pretty awesome that I didn’t have to haul Lila out to the mall to pick any of these out myself.

If you are interested in trying Stitch Fix yourself, I’d appreciate it if you’d use this link so I can get a $25 referral credit. :) Let me know if you have any questions about how it all works!

Quietly Observing

Posted in Kids, Lila, Liz's Life by

When I first had Lila, I felt pressure to be actively engaged with her when she was awake. I’d talk to her. Sing to her. Move her body. But it all felt forced and unnatural. And it was exhausting us both.

A few months in I was researching parenting styles and came across RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers). I read up a bit and instantly really liked the approach. I’ll write about it more another time, but basically the jist is respecting your baby as a whole person who is capable on their own.

One of the main elements of RIE is to provide your baby with opportunities to play independently without much interference or guidance from mom or dad. They say the best thing you can do is to observe your child in play. Provide a loving presence, but don’t direct a la “the circle block goes in this hole not that one” etc.

Well this has turned out to be one of my favorite things to do with Lila. And it’s removed all the pressure I felt to be “always on.”

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The morning is usually when she does her best independent play. I will set her on the floor with some simple toys and she will go to town for a good hour or so. I will make myself a latte and sit quietly with my back leaning against the couch watching her.

Every now and then she’ll look up at me and I’ll give her a smile, but I’m careful not to “show” her how to play with something or talk to her too much. I don’t want to break her concentration on what she’s doing. Because after all – play is how babies learn.

This morning she crawled over to her basket of books and got one out. This book had a hole through the pages that she was enthralled with. For a 45 mins she flipped that book around. Opened and shut pages. Put her fist through the hole. Banged the whole book on the floor. And of course, chewed on the edges.

The joy that she got from discovering one book was awesome. And it was so rewarding to just watch her explore her world while sipping my coffee. I feel like in those moments I get a window into her world and her budding personality.

This form of parenting might come off as lazy to some. Especially in a world of mandarin classes for two-year-olds. But I subscribe to the notion that parenting should be enjoyable. Not something that leaves us exhausted and constantly worrying if we’re doing enough. And there are few things I enjoy more than having a slow morning watching my girl absorbed in her play.

When It Rains, It Pours and Sometimes You Also Get Hit By Hail

Posted in Lila, Liz's Life by

There’s only one word to describe the past week …. rough.

It started on last Friday night. Lila woke up at 2 am crying, which she never does. I got her out of bed and gave her some milk. She calmed down and went back to sleep. But not even 30 minutes later she was crying again for me.

The crying continued the rest of the night and none of us got much sleep. The rest of the weekend, she continued to be fussy, lethargic and flatout miserable. I felt awful for her, but thought it was just teething as she was drooling and her cheeks were red.

On Monday Luke flew out to Mexico for a week, so I decided that instead of being home alone, I’d drive us to San Francisco to visit my sister’s family. It was risky given how fussy Lila had been acting, but I decided to take my chances with her in the car for 3.5 hours.

Well yeah … that 3.5 hours turned into SIX because the Bay Bridge was out. We were stuck in this for 1.5 hours and Lila was screaming for all it.

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I was in the middle lane in six lanes of traffic, so there was no way I could even get off to tend to Lila. At one point I rolled the windows down to get her some fresh air and her screaming caused a woman in a convertible next to me to stare in disbelief.

When Lila woke up the next morning in San Francisco she had a red rash on her face and stomach. I thought at first maybe it was the detergent my sister uses or possibly a new food we tried the night before for dinner. But throughout the day her condition worsened – the rash spread to her whole body, she was crying a lot and pulling at her hair.

I decided to take her to urgent care around 5pm. The doctor told me she had a virus (didn’t say what it was called) and that the rash was a symptom. She prescribed some baby Claritin and Tylenol. Once Lila took the medicine she got much better and just wanted to sleep.

I felt awful for not realizing she wasn’t teething or having a reaction to food, but was in fact sick. Here I am dragging on a six hour car ride when she felt awful. I gave her lots of snuggles and told her how sorry I was that I didn’t realize she was feeling so bad. She has perked up since and seems to be on the mend.

I thought things were going to be looking up until yesterday my credit card number was stolen off a receipt I threw away at Walgreens (while buying Lila medicine) and the bandit was charging up a storm. Thankfully Amex restricted the charges and cancelled my card.

Then to cap off this hellish week, this morning I got a parking ticket.

Ugh.

Here’s hoping I got all my bad-luck karma out of the way this week.