At the Beach

We went to the beach with Baby Girl. She really wanted Dad's camera.

Baby in Stripes

Janer and Lydia have matching dresses! Too bad they live across the country from one another...

Sweet Afternoon

Quilt top beginnings

Off to bind my quilt.

I just got home from such a lovely afternoon. I got together with a group of moms of a list serve I'm part of. I've never met any of them, we just are all moms in the Baltimore area with similar attachment parenting ideas. Today we all got together for a sewing circle (well, most of them were knitting or crocheting, I was the only one sewing) where we ate really delicious food, and told our birth stories. It was therapy for my soul.

Addendum: Emma asked a good question. More information on attachment parenting can be found here. I can't say that I follow or agree with all the attachment parenting styles, but I think for me it's just a way of parenting that makes sense. I nurse Lydia. I wear her a few hours a day. Some people co-sleep. For most people in Baltimore, it's not the norm. For a lot of my blog readers, it's probably is more the norm.

First swim

Swimming at the Bushells. :) pretty fun times.

Sometimes we take naps together.

I've trained her to have the same arm position as I do. She always will reach out and touch me. She's pretty cute like that.

Summer

Last night was one of the most enjoyable nights we have had in a very long time (baby or no baby).

Friends had come over to meet Baby Girl, and stayed until about 6:30. Andrew came home about 6, and when our friends left he looked at me and asked what was for dinner. I hadn't started anything. Baby Girl needed to nurse. And we were both starved. We decided it was best to feed baby girl just go out for pizza.

And what a great time we had. We went up to Charles Village (where Hopkins Campus is) had pizza outside, went for a walk, stopped for a little outdoor concert/movie, and even played a a little ping-poing in the park. (Here is the trailer for the movie. I dare you to watch it and see if you can figure out what is going on. The actual summary is here.)

I'll admit, sometimes it's hard living where we do. We love our little house. And we really do love our funny neighbors. But it's not very walkable. And we rarely go for a walk and stumble upon something that we want to stay and be a part of. And that was really nice last night.

Cutie

My blog is now all about Lydia. I realize this. And I've accepted it. Here are a few more pictures of our little lady.

Exciting.

Can you tell I'm excited to be out of the house?

Doughnut Day

We are always up for celebrating a good holiday. Yesterday we celebrated Doughnut day. Nothing says date night like a trip to Dunkin' Doughnuts with a screaming baby! (We are such cruel parents, making her sit in her carseat.)

Baby Lydia goes to Washington.

Andrew had a meeting with a Senator. Lydia and I decided to come a long to get out of the house. Lydia did a great job going down, and then pretty much lost it. Poor girl. I think she screamed for 45 minutes of the ride home. Baby girl just doesn't like the car.

About half way home Andrew said things like, "Maybe we aren't going to Portland in two weeks."

Summer Baby

Cute Little Face

Church Attempt

There is about a one hour window each day where we might be able to leave the house. This hour falls between 11 and 2. Don't even think about trying to get anywhere before 11. And don't plan on being gone for more than an hour. I am setting myself up to fail if I even think about attempting either of these two things.

This lesson was learned the hard way. I needed to go to ward conference about 30 minutes away on Sunday. Meetings started at 7 am, and I had warned people the chances of me getting to that meeting were slim. But I was going to try and get to the 8 am meeting. Church started at 9 am, and then I was going to help teach the youth at 11:15 am.

Saturday night Andrew offered to come with me, and help with Lydia. I said I thought we'd be okay. I didn't have to do all that much at the meetings, I just needed to be there.

On Sunday morning about 9:30 I texted Andrew that I had changed my mind, we needed him to come. It wasn't the meetings themselves that were problematic, we had to first get out of the house! We were a full three hours late to my meetings, and Lydia BARELY made it through the youth lesson as she hung out with Dad in the hall.

Now that I've accepted this, we've had several successful outings. They are just short. Things like looking up the library book we want at home, and reserving it, so that we can just walk in and out of the library. There is no wandering, dawdling, or pondering. We mean business over here.

Animal Prints

Aunt Carolee gave Lydia some totally adorable onsies that are perfect for our hot, humid days. :)

Growing

I think Lydia is preparing to grow a fierce amount.

Yesterday she wanted to eat EVERY 1.5 hours. No joke. She could not be consoled as she ate at her hands and rooted at Dads arm. She was fussy all evening, and finally cried herself to sleep at 10 pm.

I quickly went to bed, fearing this schedule we had been on all day would continue into the night.

I woke up at 3 am, and thought, "Did she stop breathing?! Why has she slept for this long?" I checked, still breathing. Then I thought, "Awesome, this is the most sleep I've gotten in weeks. I'm going back to sleep until she needs to eat."

I woke again at 5, and thought, "She NEEDS to eat! Whether she wants to or not I NEED her to eat. It's been SEVEN hours."

Finally, at 5:30 she woke up on her own to eat. For about 15 minutes.

Went to sleep again, ate at 8:30, 12:30, and 2:30. BUT HAS BEEN ASLEEP BESIDES EATING. I don't even need to nap because she slept so much last night!

I think this means she growing?

Sweet Girl

Lydia Goes to Church

Fort McHenry

I go for a lot of walks already. But I think our time spent on walks is about to dramatically increase.

Here is our latest walk at Fort McHenry.

Baby Girl Likes to Eat

We went in for our two week check up today: she's gained an ounce a day. Baby Girl likes to eat!

Meeting the Neighbors

Andrew introduced Lydia to the neighborhood kids yesterday.

My two favorite comments:

"Awe, she looks just like your wife!" (Read: She's white!)
"Does she have a mohawk? I really like her mohawk!"