For the Record: Happy Baby

For the Record:  We have a very happy 8-month-old baby.  She smiles all the time.  Really.  After we got over the reflux, thanks to a daily does of Prevacid, Leah has been in the best mood, laughing and smiling.  Lately, she's picked up the unfortunate habit of whining when she gets bored or tired, which is taking a toll on my mental health, but aside from that, she is generally just a pleasant little person.  

Her daycare teachers said that a lot of the parents who come in to drop off or pick up their children say something about Leah. They remark on how bubbly, giggly, and happy she always is.  Sometimes I'll come in to pick her up and she will be happily playing by herself with a toy and doesn't pay any attention to the kid having a coniption fit on the floor next to her.  I account her high tolerance for noise (i.e. the plane rides to and from Hawaii) to all the socialization she's received from daycare.

Her teachers also call her the Gerber baby because they think she looks like the picture on Gerber baby food.  I just think she's absolutely, positively, the cutest baby I've ever laid eyes on.

Speaking of daycare, today when I dropped her off, one of the older boys was having his 1st birthday party.  He was at the table eating cupcakes with a couple other babies.  I know for a fact that one of the babies was already a year old, but I don't think the other little girl eating a cupcake had turned 1 yet.  This made me worried that they might feed Leah a cupcake before her 1st birthday party.  My plan was to completely shield her from all processed sugar, milk, and eggs before she turns 1 and I was counting on her 1st birthday party as her first taste of cake.  I know it's not the end of the world if she's had a taste of cake at school, but I'm annoyed that I even have to worry about someone sneaking my kid sugar without checking with me first!

In all actuality, it's highly unlikely that they've fed Leah anything other than her baby food that I send along with a spoon.  She doesn't even have teeth yet (although I've seen two little ones just popping up along her bottom gums!!!) and I've never sent food that she can grab herself.  So it would be a big jump in logic for her teachers to think that cake is appropriate for her.  I'll have to say something to them this afternoon to make sure we're on the same page.  I just thought it was common knowledge that you don't feed kids sweets before age 1.  But I guess not.  Maybe that's why she's always so happy at daycare .... 

"Leah, are you happy because your teachers have been sneaking you cupcakes?"

"Or are you happy because you're naked today!"

"I'll never tell you, mommy!"

While Daddy was Away

BA was in San Diego last week for training.  My friend Kristen came over to spend the week with us.  Not only was she a big help with entertaining Leah, but it was just nice to have the company.  Leah even cooperated with us so we could have two movie nights this week.  Unfortunately for Kristen, the building fire alarm went off at 3 a.m. and I had to rush Leah into her bedroom, where the alarm is much quieter and wouldn't hurt Leah's ears, and she and Leah hung out in the dark while I walked the outdoor cooridoors to see if there was any smoke.  Damn drunks pulling the alarm!

Thanks Kristen for staying with us!

But we survived and Leah tried out a couple new things.  We've introduced her to a sippy cup.  She still hasn't figured out how to drink from it, but it sure is fun to chew on!

She's cutting her first tooth!  I can finally feel the sharp edges pushing through.  This means there is some serious teething tears at night, but nothing a little Tylenol and mommy cuddles can't solve. 

And she spent a lot of time with Mommy :)

Hawaii Part Five - Aloha!

This is the last of our Hawaii posts.  At the end of this post, I will have published fifty pictures from this vacation!  I won't do that to you again - mostly because we won't be able to afford to take such a nice trip for a while, and also because you are probably tired of hearing about our vacation.  I know I bombarded you with photos this week but we just took so many and I didn't want to leave anything out.  On our last night, we attempted one last time to get a family photo.  You can see how well that went ...

Someone is not being a team player!

All tuckered out.

Leah got in some last minute play-time with Nana.

And our FINAL attempt at a family photo.  After all our failed attempts before BA and I didn't have high hopes.  I didn't bother to dry my hair and he didn't shave, but lo and behold, Leah decided to cooperate.  Rascal.

Since she'd been sick most of the week, we were prepared for a rough flight.  But in typical Peanut-style, she surprised us and was the best behaved baby on the plane.  She got lots of compliments on her St. Paddy's Day style. 

The welcoming committee as our fellow passengers boarded

Cheeks for miles

When we landed in L.A. it was 50 degrees and raining!  Say what?!?!   No matter.  We'll always remember the warmth we found in Hawaii.

Aloha!

Hawaii Part Four - Peanut's Post: Hanging Out with Nana and Papa

Okay, so you know we went to Hawaii last week.  I wasn't a huge fan of the hotel pool, too crowded, and I don't know if you know this, but kids pee in there, so ... Anyway, I preferred to spend my leisure time hanging out with the big people.

My Nana and I worked on clapping.

"Put down the camera, daddy-man, and no one gets hurt."

And she bought me a new ball.  It's supposed to be used as a pool toy, but you know how I feel about public pools.  So we played catch in the condo instead.

Papa and I liked to have long conversations.  He's an expert at the markets right now and he told me all his secrets.  Too bad for mom and dad, because I swore I wouldn't tell a soul what I know. 

Sometimes Papa would take me for a walk, and we'd talk then too.

And of course I cherished the time spent in the steam shower with mom and dad. They weren't quite as excited as I was about the idea of hanging out in a steamy bathroom at 3 p.m. or 3 a.m. but I thought it was great fun.  Way better than the pool!

"I wonder if this is what the steam room at the spa is like?"

Hawaii Part Three - Aaron Family Adventures in Hawaii

On our second day of vacation, we took a drive up to the North Shore of Oahu to see if we could find any big waves.  There wasn't much action in the water, but the beach was beautiful.  After we struck out on the North Shore, we drove to the Polynesian Cultural Center to learn about Hawaiian culture.

The North Shore of Oahu.

It looked like the sand was made up of tiny broken shells

Leah with her Nana and Papa Aaron

Boat Parade at the Polynesian Cultural Center

While at the Polynesian Cultural Center we took several attempts at a family photo.

Hum, not quite, Leah ...

Not this either ...

There we go.

What a rascal!

On the last day of our trip, Leah was feeling better and her Nana and Papa offered to babysit so BA and I could hike Diamond Head.  We had a great time, the weather was beautiful, and the hike was the perfect amount of exercise for us.

What a view!

Overlooking the crater - and the hundreds of stairs to the top

Hawaii Part Two - Pool Time

The first full day in Hawaii we decided to introduce Leah to the Pacific Ocean.  The place where we stayed had a private lagoon, where the water was really calm and clear and the sand was clean.  It was almost like swimming in a swimming pool and the water would have been perfect if it wasn't so darn cold! 

We began the process of lathering up.  With such a white baby, I took the idea of sunscreen very seriously.  This meant that we sometimes spent more time putting sunscreen on Leah, than Leah spent in the water. 

First we tried the ocean.  

Chubby Baby!

Dip the toes in

It's cold!

Below are two video clips of Leah's first swim in the Ocean.  It was really windy our entire trip so the noises you hear are wind, not thunder.







She wasn't completely convinced, so we ditched the ocean and hit the pool.  The pools were heated just a little which made the water temperature perfect.

There's a smile

Wait, just kidding, back to frowning.

She didn't last long in the pool either and was quickly back on dry land for the afternoon.  

We did try swimming another day and it went a little better, although she still wasn't sure that this was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

As of 8 months, Leah prefers to be on land.

Hawaii Part One - Getting There

I want to apologize in advance for making this my own personal photo album.  But hey, it's my blog, so I guess I can do whatever I want.  Plus this is how I'm chronicling Leah's first year of life.  So beware of many many pictures to come.  

We left for Hawaii around 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.  BA and I had been up until 2 a.m. the night before packing.  And then Leah did her usual 5:30 a.m. wake-up call, but this time, we had to get up anyway.  Leah was a champ on the flight.  She mostly played on our laps, smiled at the people sitting behind us, walked the aisles with Dad, ate, and took naps.  We bought her a seat, partly because it's safer, and partly because we needed the space.  We were on the plane almost six hours (!!!) but she barely cried at all, mostly due to the fact that she could nap in her own car seat.  The minute we saw an eye-rub, we'd plop her down, pull the sun-shade, and she'd be out like a light.  I'm convinced she actually slept better on the plane than she did at the condo in Hawaii.  Just goes to show that she prefers jet engine ambient noise, not the rainforest, to fall asleep to. 

Making friends on the flight.

Yay, we've arrived on Oahu.

The long flight was worth it, because we arrived to this ... 

Ko Olina Marriott Beach Club

This past week, Leah has started to have this look ... where she's thinking about something her tongue hangs out a little. It's an inherited trait.  Her mom does it, her mom's dad does it, and her mom's grandmother did it.  It's pretty cute, if you ask me. 

Her hair also went wild in Hawaii because of all the humidity.  You will see many curly-hair pictures in the days to come.   Just notice the difference in this picture, versus the one right above on the plane. 



Gotta have my shades.