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... :)

Weekend Bits

The past few weekends have been wonderful - visitors, brunch dates, dinners with friends. We've been having so much fun that I forget to pause and take photos. This past weekend was just as fun - and I even have a couple photos to prove it:

The amazing Apple Tart Cake that I made to take to dinner at our friends' house:

The gals at the Abbot Kinney Festival on Sunday:

Iny has officially entered into the dreaded "separation anxiety" phase, and doesn't let me leave her for a minute. She cries anytime I put her down, and though it's heartwarming to hear her call out "mama mama mama mama", it's hard having to hold her in my arms 12 hours a day. So between the teething, rocky sleep, and the separation anxiety, it's been an exhausting few days, which makes me that much more excited for the arrival of my parents later this week. Hopefully they've been lifting weights and can take over holding Ina all day long...

Have a wonderful week!

Ilgiausiu Metu!

Sending a big birthday smooch to my daddy today... 

Myliu!

11 Months

Dear Didzette,

I'm officially in denial about you growing up.

When people ask how old you are, I have a very hard time answering them and have actually considered knocking a few months off my reply - will they believe me if I say you're only 9 months old? I was comfortable with 9 months. Heck, even 10 was doable. But 11 months is just getting too close to 12 months... and there is NO WAY I have a
one year old. Just stay my little baby girl a little while longer, ok?

This past month has been good to us, though. Your routine is pretty well established, you take two naps a day and are generally pretty happy up until bedtime. You LOVE being outside, and we spend lots of time hanging out on the grass at the park on our big picnic blanket. You're a little rascal, though... like the time you secretly, stealthily, crawled over to another little baby's blanket and stole his toy when you thought nobody was looking. You used to stay put right beside us, content to just crawl on top of us and take in the sights and sounds around us, but now you've become a lot bolder in your exploration of the wider world beyond the picnic blanket. It's good. We encourage it. Just please don't go around stealing toys from other kids.

You give me the sweetest, slobberiest, open mouth kisses now when I ask for one. They're wet, and gross, but oh buggy they are my favorite thing in the whole world. You refuse to kiss your daddy, though. He asks for them daily, and you just laugh, push his face away with your hands and turn your head away. I secretly (and selfishly) like that you save them just for me... but you should give one up to your daddy once in a while so he would feel the love, too. Maybe you just don't like kissing his scruffy beard. I know, kissing beards is weird.

Even though you don't give him kisses, you are TOTALLY and undeniably your daddy's little girl. The moment he comes home from work you drop whatever it is you're doing and crawl over to the door as fast as you can to greet him. He swoops you up, flips you upside down, and kisses your fat belly. You laugh and wiggle and it makes my heart burst to see how you adore him. It's also becoming apparent that you totally have him wrapped around your little finger already. I can already tell he is such a sucker and will end up spoiling you rotten. You'll just look up at him with those big brown eyes and say, "Pleeeaaase Daddy??"and you'll get the puppy or the car or whatever it is you'll be asking for. Believe me, bug, I know how this works...

The house is a disaster, your toys are strewn across the living room floor. I'm constantly telling you to not to stick my dirty flip flops in your mouth, not to try to pull out the cords out of any and all electrical sockets, not to slam your little fingers in the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom drawers. You drive me crazy. I'm totally exhausted. I can't remember my life pre-bug... And yet, somehow, I can't imagine my life without you. I love you, and I love our perfect little family.

I know you can't stay 11 months forever, and you will inevitably turn a year old... and then two... and then three. Just keep being my sweet little bug, and I'll eventually come around to the fact that you're growing up right before my eyes.

I love you.
xo,
Mama

Weekend Bits

Last week we started settling into a new routine, getting used to Didz's new work schedule and the demands that come with it. I endured my first week as a stay at home mom without an extra set of hands around to help out or give me a five minute break. It was trying at times. There were tears. There was a pint of ice cream. There was a bottle (or two) of wine. There were long hours. And even longer days. I questioned my decision to put my career on hold to care for the baby. I worried I wasn't cut out for this motherhood thing after all. But as is the case with any transition, the new way of doing things eventually becomes routine. We're getting there... and already looking forward to Didz's retirement when we can spend our days together again.

But until then, we'll take advantage of our weekends together. Our favorite morning ritual, involving lattes, muffins, a beach blanket, some dolphins and an empty, quiet beach at 8am was definitely the highlight of this past weekend...

The other highlight (not pictured) involved a fabulous few hours free of mother/wife duties... and mani/pedis... and sangria... and my friend Mia. Thank you Didz, for giving me the afternoon off. Thank you Mia, for joining me in a little pampering and unwinding.

Here's to a new week... and smooth transitions... and new routines... and sangria. Lots and lots of sangria.

Weekend Bits

It was hard to mourn the end of summer this Labor Day Weekend when temperatures were higher than they've been all summer. We tried to stay cool as best we could, and spent the majority of the weekend outside (since our apartment was stifling). We took a trip to the pool with Iny's boyfriend Felix, ate a million blueberries while rocking out to a fun marimba band at the Farmer's Market, ate cupcakes with Sigi, and had a picnic on Monday at our favorite park on the bluffs overlooking the ocean. 

Here's a peek...

When we first got to LA in June, we weren't sure we'd be settling in for the long haul or if we'd be moving again, so we stacked the garage full of our boxes of stuff while we waited to see how our plans would unfold. I'm very happy to say we've decided to stick around for a while. We have some plans for our place, including ripping out the dingy carpet in the bedrooms, finally hanging some art on the walls and decorating the bug's room. Of course these things take time, but I'm very excited to get started on some of these projects. 

Happy September, friends! I think I'll go buy a notebook and sharpen some pencils to prepare for all the good things ahead...