Whoopie!

Last night, Didz had to work late, so Iny and I had a little girls' night with Auntie Allyson. We opened a belated birthday gift, had a sushi feast, and then, once the bug was in bed, we drank wine and baked Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. It was just the kind of evening I needed to give myself a bit of a mid-week re-boot after a long day alone with a cranky, teething baby.

Thank you, Allyson, for coming to keep us company, for the good long chat over a good glass of wine, for sushi and whoopies, and of course, for one of the most perfect gifts the bug has ever gotten...

Weekend Bits

Little Iny turned ONE on Friday, so we spent the entire weekend celebrating. Friday, we spent the day up in Malibu, eating fish tacos with our toes in the sand, and frolicking on the beach. Saturday we co-hosted a birthday party with Ina's buddy Max (they were born just a day apart) at a park with some friends. And Sunday, we spent the morning at the farmer's market, then bought some books at our favorite little children's book store and went home to chill out and eat left over cake. It was a great weekend with our darling girl and some of our favorite people.

 

She received her first pair of Chucks from Auntie Brigs and her boyfriend Felix... I think we can all agree that babies in Chucks are the cutest thing EVER.

We'll be sleeping off our birthday coma and continuing to unpack and settle in this week (last night we brought up a bunch of boxes we had stored in the garage when we first moved here). It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but we've almost unpacked all our our wedding gifts from over two years ago (all of which were in storage while we were in Belgium - feels like Christmas opening all these boxes!)... I can't wait to host a dinner party and finally put all these dishes and fancy platters to use!

Have a great week!

12 Months

Dear Didzette,

One year ago, your father held my hand as we walked down three flights of stairs and climbed into the back of a cab on Vlamingenstraat, our little street in Belgium, and we drove off to the hospital just as dawn was beginning to break. It's strange now, to think back to that day... it feels like a dream. I still remember holding you for the very first time.

So much has changed in this past year. I've changed - every day, more confident in my new role as your Mama, trying to quiet the voice in my head that tries to get me down saying: You have no idea what you're doing, you can't possibly raise a baby! This little voice will continue to pop up time and again as we continue to figure all this out, I'm sure... but now, a year in, I can stand up (somewhat) surefooted in my Mama shoes and hush the little voice: You're absolutely right. I have no idea what I'm doing. But I think I'm doing a damn fine job of raising this little bug. So beat it. 

I can't even begin to describe all the changes that we've witnessed in you - and now I feel like you're on a roll, change is happening so quickly... and time is really beginning to snowball faster and faster. You're not walking yet, but we're putting bets on your first steps happening any day now. The way your eyes light up when you watch the big kids playing at the park - you want to be there, climbing and running right there with them... It's like you're starting to associate yourself more with the kids, and you're getting ready to shed all the baby-ness. That part, the loss of the baby part, is what I'm having a hard time with. So on those mornings when you fall asleep on me, I don't rush to put you down in your crib for your nap. I hold you for a while, give you little kisses on top of your head, and try to memorize that perfect, tender feeling of holding my sweet little baby.

You understand so much, and your non-verbal communication is becoming more clear: you smile and laugh when everything's fine, you give smooches when you're feeling lovey, and you scream the most horrible ear-piercing scream when you really want something. We've learned to read you loud and clear. You're testing out boundaries, finding your voice... but ooooooh, buggy, you can be a challenging little thing. I know, you're learning, and you want to be doing things on your own and on your own terms. I love that you're curious and want to explore everything around you. Your brain is processing a million things a billion miles a minute, and I'm sure it can be confusing to hear NO! when you reach for something dangerous because you're just trying to figure it all out... but you do not like hearing "no"... in fact, you will routinely take my "no" and let me know what you think of it very, very loudly.

And sometimes you bite.

But most of the time, you just want to play, and dance, and go for walks, and crawl up and down the hallway over and over and over again. We have music on in the house constantly, because you love to shake your tush, and nine times out of ten when you're really upset, a little dance party shakes you out of your funk. So we dance. And giggle. And tickle. And roll around. You're so playful and funny and adorable. You're my favorite.

You're one. One whole year old. You're still my baby... but you're also becoming your own little person. And we love you. So so so much.

Happy Birthday!

xo,
Mama

Last Week + Weekend Bits

Last week my mom was still in town, still feeding us and spoiling us and helping out with Ina. My brother had a work trip down here, so we had a couple evenings with him, too. Ina loved all the attention, and hours of peek-a-boo, and constant action around the house.

The weekend seemed too quiet with everyone gone, but we struck a perfect balance between relaxing and recovering, and keeping busy. We finally got around to hanging some art on our walls, brought up our sofa (it had been in storage in the garage ever since we moved in), enjoyed the cooler weather with walks around the neighborhood, and invited some friends and their kids over for spaghetti and meatballs. It was pretty adorable seeing Ina try to keep up with the 4 year old boys - she was loving it. The boys were running up and down the hallway, and Iny was crawling as fast as her little limbs could carry her back and forth behind them, laughing the entire time. When everyone left and Ina was passed out, Didz looked at me and said, "She's turning into a real kid!"... which very nearly made me cry... but it's true. With her first birthday just a few days away, it's becoming even more real. She is totally growing up and turning into a little kid - more and more each day.

Have a wonderful week... and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to our friends and family up north!

Weekend Bits

This past weekend was non-stop fun... beginning with my parents coming to visit in the middle of last week. Didz and I got more alone time together than we've had all year, thanks to the worlds greatest babysitters - we even went out at night. To a bar. And had drinks. Like normal people. On a Thursday night!

I mean, we were still home and in bed by 10... but still! We went out!

We also went out for a birthday lunch to celebrate Didz's 30th on Friday. And then spent the rest of the weekend at LT Days - the annual Lithuanian Fair here in LA where we ate traditional Lithuanian food, drank a whole lot of Lithuanian beer, and bopped our heads to Lithuanian polka music.

I didn't take many pictures, unfortunately, but the few I do have say it all...

 Happy Birthday Didz:

Bug's first pigtails:

Getting increasingly harder to capture the ever-squirming buggy:

We spent the majority of the weekend in the beer garden at the festival, wondering which of the grandparents or which one of our friends had the baby:

All in all, it was a great weekend... a little bit tough getting out of bed this morning, but wonderful nonetheless. My dad flew home already, but we have Babs here for a few more days. Just long enough to convince her to move back here... :)