Concentration

My Two Loves

We decided to spend a few hours at a beach just up the hill from our house last Saturday. Rodeo Beach. It is a beautiful, black sand beach with cliffs on each side. We got very lucky that we had a sunny, warm day. So much for Lacy to look at: dogs running around freely; large and small, sea lions swimming right up to the shore, surfers catching large and small waves, birds picking their way among the washed up seaweed and wading through the tidal pools. It was a great day all and all and I got to capture my two favorite people on film.

Our Babbling Brook

In the past few months Ryan and I have been treated to a barrage of baby babbles while Lacy learns to communicate with us. In the past two weeks Lacy's vocabulary has turned from baby gibberish to actual words that make sense in any given situation. She is very willing to repeat words that we say. She is very vocal with her "Mama's" and "Dada's." Her latest words: flower, car, fish, wires (?), all done, no, bye bye, elmo, book, box, show, snack, and airplane.

Additionally, we have finally dropped the night time bottle which went much smoother than I had anticipated, so we are now officially bottle free! Life with a toddler definitely requires much less equipment, which I certainly appreciate considering the minimal square footage that we continue to deal with here in 'tinier house'.

I am continually amazed at how quickly she is able to learn and my most favorite new 'trick' is how willing she is to blow kisses. She blows me kisses continually throughout the day and has now taken to blowing kisses to Dada every morning as he heads out to work. Adorable. Could I love this child any more? I think not.

The Beginning Of The End?

After much deliberation, I made the final decision to become a stay at home mommy. Now, before I get ahead of myself, I don't have an exact date of when this will happen, but I do know that at the very latest it will be early next year with the earliest being August. With the precarious situation of all employees at S.M. I have asked managment to consider me when it comes time to make the tough choice of who stays and who goes. It was a hard decision. Harder than I had ever thought it would be given that I have been dying to spend more quality time with my little girl. I agonized over this decision for several months, but I believe, that this will truly make all of us very happy. A part of me wonders if I am doing the right thing? Will I miss my career? Will a part of me fade away? Will I miss that part of me? Will I be bored? Will we be OK financially? All questions I can't answer until I make that leap. Time will tell...wish us luck!

Plus, how could you not want to see this face every second of every day?

Yuck!

Last Friday we all decided to take advantage of the weekly jazz festival put on at the waterfront park in Sausalito. It is quite an interesting site to say the least, but we packed ourselves up and grabbed a few picnicky items from a local deli and found ourselves a quasi-private area to spread out our blanket and enjoy the tunes. Turns out we had set up camp amongst the local homeless artist population--lots of strange smells surrounded us--but Lacy enjoyed looking around and uncomfortably staring at certain individuals. Mom and Dad enjoyed some wine and some relaxation while Lacy snacked on ham, cheese and crackers. Lacy must have been feeling adventurous because without our insistence she picked up a fork and dug right into the potato salad Ryan and I had been sharing. She seemed to enjoy it until she got a rather vinegary bite--see below for the string of photos documenting Lacy's "icky" face.

My First Crush

Michael Jackson
RIP 1958-2009

15 Month Stats! 15 Months?

Can she really be 15 months old?  Where has the time gone?  Before I know it she will be 16 and dating.

Lacy's 15 month stats:

Height:  31"

Weight:  23lbs.

Our little girl is right in line at 50% on both height and weight.  She mustered through her shots like a trooper and was fine as her 'fishies' were in her hand.  Goldfish conquer all!  

Every day Lacy seems to learn something new and as a Mom it is the most amazing thing to watch.  I only wish I could say I learned something new and wonderfully different every day.  Today we learned all about yawning and now I can't stop Lacy from opening her mouth as wide as possible and wrinkling up her nose.  She is so proud of herself that she has learned this.  This has to be caught on camera--it is too cute for words.  

We also learned today about being gentle.  She hasn't quite mastered being soft with her touches.  Today when I was putting her down for a nap she was touching my face but almost seeming to hit it, so I had to show her to be 'gentle.'  I spent a few minutes showing her how to pet and touch faces.  Now she thinks it is a 'new' thing and when we snuggle she looks up at me and gently pets my face and head.  It makes me melt each and every time.  Have I mentioned how much I love her?