Nine Months

I remember when I was pregnant telling GK that we had to get a video monitor so we could keep an eye on the baby at all times. Little did I know that she would be pretty much glued to one of us these past 9 months. But we recently dug it out of storage, charged the battery and set it up, fully out of T's reach. Baby spy-cam in effect. Let me tell you, 9-months has been a bit of a game changer......

Sleeping soundly in the guest bed one minute...

Up ready to take on the world the next. But don't let this adorably innocent face fool you. Because all she wants to do is......

STAND! Stand in her Pack & Play.

Stand in her corral.

Stand at G-Ro and Grand-P's house.

And get in the way of GK trying to put together her crib.

After ditching the baby bassinet about 3 months ago we let T nap on our bed because she still wasn't very mobile. At around 7 1/2 months she started army crawling which quickly turned into crawling on her knees, then standing up, followed by cruising. I was reluctant but I knew it was time to get a crib. Luckily one of our friends had a crib that was in perfect shape because his son slept in it a total of two times. Hoping the crib is not cursed, we happily accepted it. 

GK bravely decided to assemble the crib while I was at work one day. Luckily there was a window of opportunity when T decided to take a nap. I received a text from GK informing me that it took him 4 hours to put the crib together, T's crying for his attention was driving him crazy, and the house was a complete disaster.

But T now has a crib. In my stupid attempt to show T that the crib is not a scary place, I climbed in with her the first night. When I tried to get out, the bottom collapsed. GK quickly fixed it & advised me to stay out. T is pretty good about taking her naps in it and will also start out her evening in the crib but she spends the majority of her sleep with me in the guest bed.

When they're not destroying the house, GK and T have been exploring parks in Berkeley. They went to the Rose Garden.

Where they had an all American photo shoot with an incredibly outdated flip-phone.

Then it was across to the cement slide that Berkeley has surprisingly not been sued over as it sends kids down steep terrain at ridiculously high speeds.

After T watched the kids slide down on cardboard, GK took her for a ride down with her in the Pikkolo carrier. Call me conservative but this would not have been allowed had I been present. I was totally unsympathetic when he told me that he burned a hole in the back pocket of his pants from going down the slide. 

GK & T continued to explore the parks in Berkeley in interesting attire this past month. Here she is wearing a pair of jeans over footie pajamas because-in GK's words-she has built in socks. OAN-T loves the baby swing, makes her squeal with delight! 

A bit apprehensive with the rocking horse at Totland.

G-Ro celebrated a very special birthday party where T was an absolute hit. 

GK & T started out our busy Labor Day weekend by the riding the Steam Train at Tilden Park (where we took Elsie this same time last year).

Then a quick visit to say hello to the goats at Little Farm.

We also joined some pretty cool people for Off the Grid Karaoke at Lake Merritt on a gorgeously hot day.

GK entertained the crowd with Sarah Smile-changing Sarah to Tala:)

After an amazing engagement party on Saturday night for Soumya & Vivek and then a lovely wedding in SF on Sunday evening-we were all in need of a rest day. We spent Sunday in Concord (after spending the night there) doing laundry, watching episodes of Beverly Hills 90210, and just relaxing. Grand-P kept T entertained and we later took her for a dip on the back deck.

Skinny dipping is only allowed after you've pooped twice.

And there you have it, T has been in the world just as long as she was in my belly.

Eight Months

T celebrated the Fourth of July (and turning 8-months old) in style wearing a dress that is reminiscent of a square dancer. G-Ro made T's hat and matching boots! Unfortunately I got a little mixed up and we missed the parade in Concord. We made the best of the day by playing in Todos Santos Park, having a beer at a nearby brewery, and a relaxing dinner in Concord.

Grand-P requested that T visit the following week with her cowgirl hat and boots for a photo shoot with him. As you can see, T was happy to oblige.

T was starting to become much more mobile towards the end of 7-months, she would squirm and move herself around by grabbing onto our clothing, the couch, etc. This quickly turned into an army crawl and grabbing whatever she could get her hands on and putting whatever it was she picked up, into her mouth. I quickly turned to amazon.com for a solution and found the rainbow gate pictured above. We've actually moved it around so T has much more space to explore while staying safe. 

In the spirit of safety, we tested out a crib at IKEA while shopping one day but T wasn't feeling it. Dr. Sears would be proud.

GK & T continue to welcome visitors and selfies whenever possible. Pictured above are Trish & Dave who brought T a Psycho-Kitty fan onesie. Rock n' Roll.

But T would much rather listen to music of the vaudeville variety right now. Here she is at the Tuesday evening Farmer's Market in Berkeley. Note T's new stroller, a much appreciated gift from Uncle Ronald & Aunt Mariefe. T loves facing outward and looks super tiny and cute in it. Sadly-I have yet to take her for an actual run in it.

I do give her a little roll at the laundromat though to her delight.

July 11th marked by last day working for Solano County after 10 years. While I was on maternity leave I re-evaluated my career. Luckily, Alameda County was hiring and I was offered a position after being back to work for only about 2 months. While it's pretty much a demotion (from supervisor to Social Worker), I'll be closer to home, there are options for an alternative work schedule, and there are more opportunities for growth (and $) in Alameda County. T came to my going away party in Fairfield. Pictured above with my dear friend Noel (celebrating a promotion) who started working for Solano County shortly after I did.

I was able to take a week off before starting at Alameda County. We decided to take a road trip to Clear Lake to celebrate GK's birthday since he landed a gig on his birthday weekend. We planned out the driving perfectly so T napped until we stopped for lunch in Calistoga. After lunch and playing at a park, T napped the rest of the ride to Clear Lake. 

Since it was about a million degrees in Clear Lake and there's not much to do up there-I booked us a little cottage that had a swimming pool. T ditched her cloth diaper for a disposable Dora swim diaper. I slathered her in sunscreen, pulled a long sleeved swim top over her head, put her little sunnies and a hat on her.

T loved the pool but I think she liked cuddling after the swim more.

We also had the opportunity to go camping for one night at China Camp near San Rafael. This was supposed to be a Bradley Group meet up but unfortuntely people couldn't make it so GK called Ash who was more than willing to come. T spent the majority of the time in one of her carriers looking up at the trees. We relaxed, had a delicious vegan dinner, and took short walks around the campsite. 

Blair Witch Baby. I think T loved her first camping trip-especially the opportunity to crawl all over the tent. She got to sleep in between her parents who immediately responded to her every need and howl so as not to wake the entire campground. What more could a baby ask for. Me? I needed about 25 more pillows to support my back and neck while breastfeeding T throughout the night. After we packed up to return home the following day, GK and I both took naps to recover from just one night of camping,

GK's actual birthday! We started the day with a homemade breakfast, took GK to pick out a pair of biking shoes, and then had lunch at Moxie. Here's T loving the high chair and beer garden. GK was also able to take his bike for a spin. That night we went out for a fancy Moroccan dinner in Temescal with Aunt Sonia.

Dining al fresco in style.

GK and I often talk about what T will be like when she gets older. We wonder if she'll love running or gravitate more towards martial arts. Will she sing? Will she be any good at it? Will she be a neat freak or will she be a daydreamer? Will she *gasp* want to eat meat? Sometimes GK hugs her and tells her not to grow up, just be a baby a little longer. I'm starting to realize that there are some milestones we're reaching that we may never revisit. Like-we'll never need to burp her again. We'll never need to do tummy-time again. No more swaddling. It makes me a little sad. But now she smiles. Constantly. She laughs. Her eyes light up when we've been away from her for a few hours and we walk into the room. When she's tired or needing more attention she cries and reaches for me. It's been pretty awesome and it's only getting better.

Seven Months

It's summer time in the Bay Area and.....

I still ain't got no teeth people!

But that doesn't get in the way of eating. T's first meal of solids-pureed carrots. Very appropriate since I craved carrots throughout my pregnancy and they were the centerpieces at my baby shower. T is a bit cautious.

She prefers her feet to solids some days. 

We've actually been pretty fortunate with the introduction of solids. G-Ro loves making T her purees and T loves gobbling them up. It took her a few weeks to get the hang of taking the food in and swallowing but she's now a little pro. Her favorites include bananas and avocado which get her dancing like this:

Gagnam syle!!!

We were blessed when a great little micro-brewery opened up in our hood. We went opening weekend with T and thought we hit the jackpot-a bar that welcomes babies and that serves popcorn drizzled with truffle oil! But no-some buzzkill informed them that babies aren't allowed in bars and the second time we went T was officially kicked out of her first bar.

But we were very welcome at the first annual Vegan Food Festical in Oakland that was luckily held on a beautifully sunny day. We were not so lucky with the food-how does a food festival run out of food? We ended up walking to lunch at Rudy's Can't Fail that day. Here's T proudly sporting her, 'Bacon Had a Mom,' pictured with one of her favorite vegans-Lisa.

GK's first Father's Day! Unfortunately we didn't get pictures during the day. The night prior we went to  a wedding while T kicked it with G-Ro & Grand-Pappy in Concord. Since we got back late from the wedding, we spent the night in Concord and made brunch on Sunday morning. However-we had a pancake fail so in some ways I'm glad there's no proof of that. Afterward GK was rewarded with a surprise 1 hour and 15 minute Thai massage in Okland while T and I shopped at Trader Joe's and walked around Lake Merritt. I made up for the brunch disaster with a delicious pasta dinner.

A few weekends later I redeemed myself with flaxseed blueberry pancakes. See T in her little high chair? She loves it and joins us at most meals-sometimes eating solids, sometimes playing.

The weather has been consistently awesome in June so we've done our best to make the most of it every weekend. Here we are pictured above at the Berkeley Botanical Gardens searching for the "Queen of the Andes," that blossoms only once in its lifetime, rarely in captivity. The plant we saw was 25 years old which is actally considered young to bloom. T loved the Botanical Gardens. Since we barely covered even half the terrain we'll definitely be back.  

With all this warm weather T loves cooling off in her new rubber ducky tub.

GK occasionally has used it to contain T while he tries to get chores done in the kitchen. While I applaud his creativity....

I'll never send him on a vague shopping trip again. I asked that he be on the lookout for cloth diaper covers since is finally outgrowing her newborn sized ones and this is what I come home to.

T is now big enugh for her Exersaucer that was a baby shower gift from her cousins Alexander and Andrew. A friend referred to the Exersaucer as a Neglect-O-Matic. We all love the Neglect-O-Matic. Anything that allows me to get the dishes done while T squeals with delight is welcome in my home.

T still loves her carriers but she has sadly outgrown her Baby K'Tan (pictured above). I'm a bit sentimental about the K'Tan since it was the first carrier I put her in-initially she hated it and cried whenever I put her in it and I feared that I had one of those babies who would refuse to be carried in a sling and thought we wouldn't be able to show our faces on the streets of Berkeley. But we gave it a break and when I re-introduced it a few weeks later she loved it and for months she was carried in it daily. T is just growing so fast and as much as I carry her I need more back support so I have packed away the Baby K'Tan to pass on to a friend who is expecting a baby any day now. I like the Piccolo and the Ergo carriers we have but there was just something about the K'Tan-maybe it was how close the material held her against me or the fact that I was the only one who could wear it. But it all comes down to this-T's growing up.