little-rose

Mommy & Me

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 05:16:18 +0100

As a mom I spend most of my time behind the camera trying to capture those memorable moments I'll forget if undocumented. This picture is special to me because I have only a couple pictures of just us and it captures cuddle time I love to have with her. Forever in my mind is the image of her asleep in my arms before I lay her down at night but I also love to hold her while I'm sitting or lying down. She swats at my face in love and grabs at whatever she can reach. My favorite is eye contact with her because although she's just 8 months old, her eyes express so much emotion.

Little Cupcake

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 05:06:25 +0100

She is now 8 months old. Hard to believe because I feel like I just brought her home. And yet, we can't imagine life without her. It's a sweet spot to be in with a child when you've developed the bond of relationship and knowing each other.

Tashy is developing quickly and loves exploring. She can climb stairs, stand up, sit down and even walk gingerly along furniture. This amazes me since her brother was still just sitting at her age. She even likes to wrestle with him. Just tonight we caught the two of them like little bear cubs rolling around. She climbs on him, then rolls onto his face and wriggles around until they're both giggling. Then he puts himself at her mercy repeatedly because he loves his little playmate.

She's also started feeding herself, which Jeff thinks is just so cute. It is cute. She likes to make a clicking noise with her tongue and have you respond in kind. She has the sweetest personality and people are always commenting on how happy she is and what a joy to be around. Recently I started telling Jeff about naptime because she's generally a quiet baby, however when Alex is sleeping she turns into a noisy baby. It's very sweet to hear but funny because she squawks and squeals. Our latest theory is that it's because her brother is usually so talkative that this is her time to share what she's thinking with us.

Tash loves to be engaged by others and will respond fiercely with smiles, a turbo crawl or cute baby noises. The rest of this post is a ton of baby pictures. Consider this your fair warning.

The Melter

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:07:43 +0100

Natasha is passing the baby milestones quickly these last few weeks. She sits, climbs, crawls on all fours and even likes to try standing. She's my little wanderer and I always have to be aware of my surroundings because there's a chance she could be underfoot. She enjoys having free reign of the downstairs, although she does get frustrated under chairs when she can't find her way out. The other day I found Alex "feeding" her cereal as she was under his chair. He would drop one piece at a time to the floor. Thankfully, I saw this happen before she was able to grab any but I could see why he tried using her as his little roomba. She frequently reminds me of how dirty the floors are when I pick her up and see the dust on her clothes.

The first time Alex learned to sit up on his own was in his crib at 3 am. We lowered the crib. The first time Natasha learned to climb up on her knees was in her crib at 3 am. I came in to find her hands on the rail and her little head bobbing around above it looking at me and smiling in the darkness like, "look what I can do, Mom!" Now that the crib is lowered, it's not as alarming but rather adorable to watch her move around the crib and pull herself up on her knees.

She's still adept at getting herself to sleep without much help from us. I place her in the crib with her favorite pacifier and she rolls over and goes to sleep. Sometimes she rolls around and talks to herself first. My favorite time is at night when I get to cuddle her. While eating she uses her hand to play with my hair, my face or my fingers. She lets me know when she's done eating. That's my cue to get her pacifier. After taking it, she turns her head to nuzzle me. I could sit there holding her little warm body like that for hours.

Tasha is very focused and intent on people and generally gets a response. People always comment on her eyes, which are beautiful, but I think they're so noticeable because she stares and studies. We call her the melter because, Jeff jokes that with one look from her, he melts. We also refer to "the spice" when she pierces us with those gorgeous blue eyes, for those of you sci-fi lovers.

One night last week I was getting the kids ready for bed and after the bath we went to Alex's room to read some books. Natasha crawled around for a while banging on things and playing with books. Eventually she tired out and I brought her onto his bed. She loves to roll around on his bed and blanket while we read. She made her way to the pillows at the head of the bed and rolled onto her back with her pacifier. This lasted for an entire reading of a book. She just laid there so calm and peaceful. No whining or fussing. Just relaxing on his pillows, sucking on her pacifier and looking around. I scooped her up, snuggled her and laid her in her crib. Sure enough, she rolled over and went right to sleep. It was sweet to see her so at rest in our presence without a care other than the current comfort of the pillows and her pacifier.

Tash also sat in a park swing for the first time over the weekend. She loved it and was looking all around while smiling.

She continues to be in the 97% for her height at 28 inches long and weighs 20 lbs.

We took the kids to a local harvest festival over the weekend and dressed her up as a little cow.

We love our little daughter. We're thankful she's feeling better as she battled several different bacterial and viral infections the last few weeks. She's such a gift and truly an amazing child. She will continue to be a tremendous blessing to those fortunate to be in her life.

A little tenderness

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 04:51:48 +0100

My little sweetness is a sitter.

Tash likes sitting and playing with toys but sometimes gets frustrated because she doesn't always understand that she can move into a crawling position from there. Soon enough she will be able to get to a sitting position all by herself.

She's very explorative with her crawling and will go find things to bang and make funny noises. Today it was the vertical blinds she kept swatting. Then she crawled to the garbage can and banged on that. Then pulled the hand towel down from the fridge and started throwing that around while she talked to me. I think she enjoys her freedom. Yesterday she charged Jeff as soon as she saw him come home from work. She expresses her love by trying to climb on you. The endearing thing she's just started is rocking back and forth on her hands and knees and scrunching up her nose while she smiles and breathes in and out quickly because she's so excited to see you. She's very free with who receives her love in this way. And she continues to tenderly grab our faces as a sign of affection.

The two kids together are laughable and heart-warming to watch. She laughs all the time from what he does and he loves to be around her. Before naps I'll lay her next to him in his big bed and she swats at the books while we read. And she likes to roll around and swat at him and his blanket.

I bought a baby food cooker and have served her all kinds of goodies that can't be store bought. So far she's eaten and enjoyed cauliflower, avocado, broccoli, zucchini, yams, carrots, banana, apple and prunes. It's been fun to be creative in this way. Without this cooker I think she'd be eating organic jarred baby food. Alex likes to eat the leftovers too!

Sprout

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 14:19:06 +0100

Our littlest one is not only cutting teeth but she is crawling. Well, she doesn't crawl in the standard sense but the idea is she can get around on her belly. This is cute to watch but I'm quickly remembering all the floor cleaning I did during the 3 weeks Alex crawled. While my boy would sit and reach for toys until he was about 9 1/2 months old, the result was he took off and crawled for only 3 weeks before he started walking. I have a feeling Natasha's clothes, and consequently her knees, will give out before she starts to walk since she's only just turned 6 months old and is already much more mobile than he was at this age. The positive to this is she is very content to play with toys on the floor or in her bed simply because she can get them all.

She hasn't really complained about her teeth and that's incredible to me because of how painful it looks. Today I noticed a third tooth in her gums making its way down. I'm thankful this process happens when we're babies because I'm sure we'd all be struggling not to complain about our teeth "cutting" while we're at work or the grocery store. "How's your day going, Bob?" "Ah, I'm cutting two teeth right now and I just can't focus because my mouth is so sore and my head's pounding. And, of course, I forgot my painkillers today"...blah, blah, blah. :) I digress.

Overall, she's a very pleasant and responsive baby. She loves to smile at you and will grab Jeff's face when he picks her up after a long day at work. I think it's her way of saying, "I love you." She makes us feel so special because she gets ridiculously excited when she sees us after naps or coming into the room, or if we just make eye contact. She totally adores Alex and will coo and give him the biggest smiles when he interacts with her. He's wonderful with her and loves to feed her, hold her, hug her, bring her toys. All the while being very gentle and kind towards her. They are developing their own relationship, which is so important to us as parents.

My favorite time with her is when I'm putting her down for a nap. Sometimes she plays with a few toys in her crib if she's not quite tired enough. Inevitably, she tires out and after removing the toys, I give her a little lovey to hold while she sucks on her pacifier. She rolls around with it, holds it up to look at it, uses it to whack at her mobile and watch the butterflies fly around above her or just cuddles it on her side until her eyelids get droopy and the sucking slows until it fades entirely. It's a beautiful sight to behold. Truly.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:45:08 +0100

Little Natasha loves to roll over almost before she's put on her back. When I try to swaddle her, sometimes I have to hold her down. The other day she managed to roll over to her belly while swaddled. I'm sure it won't be long before she goes to bed without being swaddled. Today she rolled herself over and over until she wasn't "protected" anymore by blankets or rugs. She's definitely turning out to be a baby who needs to be strapped in before I walk away. Alex rarely rolled and was always where I left him.

The other thing she loves to do is turn around in a complete circle while on her back. I'm not sure how it's done but I will lay her down and later she has flipped completely around so her feet are where her head used to be.

My favorite part of the day happens almost every time I walk away and then return. She gives me the hugest smile and starts flapping her arms and kicking her legs. Yesterday when Jeff came home, he greeted me while I was feeding her and then walked away to get settled. Natasha immediately started crying! It was the first time we saw her realize that she'd been ignored. He didn't even realize what happened until I brought her to him and she stopped crying. Today he made a point to greet her and she was so pleased! It was adorable to see her love for Daddy.

She's got skills

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:38:59 +0100

Natasha's new skill is learning to put her pacifier in her mouth. I remember Alex figuring it out around this time. She doesn't seem to get as frustrated but is more curious about this little thing. She is also more content to just play in the jumperoo and look at things. She slowly tries to grab the hanging toucan and tree frog from above. And she certainly hands out smiles to anyone who will engage her. Today at church they told us she was such a smiley baby. She's so darling who loves to coo and make you feel special by responding to you, even if you aren't looking.

Last night I caught her staring at Alex for a good 5 minutes. She was in the jumperoo and he was eating dinner. She just stood there, amazed by him. He wasn't doing anything special. In fact, he didn't even notice her. It will be fun to see how they interact as she ages.

This morning I had the thought that one time, not too long from now, I will lay her on her back, and then she will flip over and crawl away from where I put her. She doesn't stay on her back now. It's so cute. But since Alex never did this, it's new territory for me. I have to be sure she's in a safe place to roll around if I walk away. Alex was the type to lay there until you picked him up. To sit there and reach for toys until eventually that reaching turned into crawling. She will probably crawl in the more standard way of rolling over, having some tummy time until she sees something she wants and crawls toward it. Fun stuff to experience a baby but have it feel as if she's your first. This also makes my first baby special in his own way.

Little Halo

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:06:27 +0100

Her Daddy loves that she has, what he lovingly calls, "the halo." He refers to the section of hair that is missing like a ring around her head. The rest of her hair is reddish and curly. Jeff loves that they have the same hair color. She has a similar demeanor as her dad. And her chunky little legs are so edible. I have to move the chunk around when bathing her to make sure she's clean. She's so friendly and Jeff says, "she's a responder" because it doesn't take much to get a smile from her. She loves it when people engage her and will coo at you until you walk away. She's such a sweet girl. God blessed me with how easy it generally is to put her to sleep for naps. Sometimes she just needs to be swaddled and given a pacifier to fall asleep. Tash is also an explorer. She loves to grab and touch my face when I'm close enough. The other night she reached out to me while in someone else's arms for the first time. It melted my heart. She's my little gem.

Fawn

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:06:35 +0100

Today was the 4 month check up for little Tash. The nurses ooed and awed over her: "Oh, it's the beautiful baby!" Then the doctor claimed she was the new favorite baby because she pleasantly smiled and laughed while he poked and prodded and examined her. Amazing. She's kind of a perfect little baby. Although, I wouldn't say no to 12 straight hours of sleep from her.

Apparently, she's tall. 90th percentile in height. If she weren't in the 95th percentile for weight, she'd be a twig. I love the rolls and kissable, munchable cheeks. I relished the time alone with her to just observe her. She's such a dear, mellow child. I loved watching the pacifier move consistently with her sucking as she calmed herself almost to sleep until I jolted her out of her peace to keep her awake for the impending exam. And she hardly complained!

Toe-sucker

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:06:42 +0100

She's going in for her 4 month check up tomorrow. I can't believe it's been 4 months since she's joined our family. Since I've been pregnant. She is a vastly different baby than her older brother. She goes right to sleep instead of needing to be cuddled forever. On one side, it's wonderful because she's very accommodating to whatever is going on at the time. But admittedly, I sometimes miss the cuddling Alex so desperately desired. Honestly, I can't say that I prefer one behavior over the other because they each have their benefits.

I believe that she will crawl before he did. Call it mother's intuition but the way she moves is unlike anything I've seen Alex do as a baby. And she is so cute. This is obvious. She's a baby. And a baby girl. Alex was adorable, but I'm learning that there are just different types of cute. She looks at you whereas Alex looked around. So she draws you in with her eyes and then smiles and as Jeff says to her, "I'll give you anything you want!" That's what it does to your heart. Not that you'd act on it...but Jeff used to joke with Alex that he'd give him his retirement if Alex asked for it because he was so cute. Speaking of Jeff, he's taken baby talk to a new lovable level with her! The flower has Daddy wrapped around her little fingers. The way he spoke to Alex was technically baby talk but it involved more gutteral noises as opposed to the high pitched squeals I hear now.

I love my Tasha Rose.