Marlo's First Halloween

Yes we can, Y'all.

Marlo and me as Rosie the Riveter:  Marlo thinks strong women are no laughing matter.  

Happy Halloween!  Tonight we're going to a neighborhood block party and Marlo and I are entering the costume contest.  As always, I'm looking forward to seeing all the cute littles in their costumes!

Good morning, soccer baby

At tumetime, I learned that Marlo loves playing with shiny soccer balls.  She gets so excited at the spinning ball and reflections.  In fact, this morning she rolled from her back to her tummy two times in a row in order to get the soccer ball and she'd only ever done that one time before, probably two months ago!  I figured she needed incentive, but it's been tricky figuring out what would do the trick!  Her papa was the soccer captain in high school; he's so proud.  I can't wait for the day (if Marlo wants to play) when he gets to coach her little soccer team!

P.S.  Check out this amazing baby quilt that my foreverfriend from AmeriCorps, Emily, made us!  Marlo loves looking at and feeling the different fabrics.  The letters are hand-stamped and one of square reads, "OHM."  E-Boss knows me so well.  :D

5 Months: Miss Marlo

(I'm late posting, but these pictures are from her 5 month birthday a few weeks ago, September 29th.)

Five months, she's such a big girl now!  At five months, Marlo absolutely loves songs and dancing.    I try to take her to Baby Rhyme Time a few times a week at the local libraries because she loves it so much.  It's also nice to see the different libraries around the city.  So far, the best one has been at the main library.  The man who led it was so animated and he taught me that Marlo's fascinated by scarves blowing in the wind.

Yesterday at Duboce Park, I took out a scarf and let it blow in the wind while Marlo was lying on a blanket on the grass.  It was the greatest thing; she just started laughing and smiling so big while she watched the polka dots flap in the wind.  She laughs a lot, usually me or Eric when we're being silly and singing, trying to make her laugh.  But this was different.  It was really an amazing moment to see her experiencing such joy through simple things in the world.

On this note, other things that babe is into right now:  peek-a-boo; Whitney Houston's, "How will I know?"  That songs gets her to smile so big!; her feet!  She just discovered these a few weeks ago and when I walk into the room, I often find her studying her feet (or hands); the cats!  She's much more aware of Blue and Bell and gets so excited when she pets them.  She grabs clumps of their hair and luckily, they are patient with her.  We are trying to teach her to be gentle and have added it's sign to the ones we use daily.  It's funny that the sign for gentle is stroking the back of your hand with your other hand--just like petting a kitty; and rolling over!  She's gotten pretty good at rolling from her tummy to her back.  If one side doesn't work for whatever reason, she'll try the other until mission accomplished. As for rolling from her back to her tummy, I know she can do it, but it's been more than a month since I've seen it!  Sneaky girl.

Another thing that's new is teething.  Poor sweetie's been a little more fussy lately and needing to constantly chew on things.  She's been waking up much more frequently at night to nurse.  I'm fine with it and want to sooth her as best as I can.  However, I also worry that I'm getting her so accustomed to nursing that she won't learn how to sleep on her own.  How do I balance that with taking into account that she's teething?  She's still so young and it doesn't feel right to let her "cry it out."  Although, I don't know if it ever feels right for parents--most I've talked to about it really struggle with it, but they do it because they need to.  Her 6 month check up at the pediatrician is in a few weeks so my plan is to wait it out and ask then.

I think I saw this quote somewhere recently, but I hope there's some truth to it:  "Behind every great kid is a mom who's sure she's screwing it up."

Happy baby pose

It's so sweet that she's doing this now.  Having discovered her feet, she tries to put them in her mouth.  But it's a no go.  Poor baby.  Her papa and I gifted her tight hamstrings!  When the time comes, I can teach her how to do modified downward dog for those tight hammies by bending her knees.  For now, I'll take all her happy babies and hope they never stop.

Babysitters Club 90s overalls

I picked up these sweet, 90s Express floral overalls in the Mission last week.  They were in front of a vintage store in a trunk where everything was $5.  I hemmed and hawed, going back and forth about whether or not to get them.  They're bad, but in a good way.  I walked away and then went back after realizing that I could basically spend that much on a cup of coffee.  Now, the soft rayon and loose, forgiving style make it my new favorite thing to throw on.   Good thing I don't own a scrunchie because that would just be over the top, although this outfit is pretty much there anyway.  

Flying lessons

Marlo absolutely loves flying.  She cracks up when we do this so I love it.  Plus, i think all the rocking is good strengthening for my core. :)

Also, check out baby MJ's Jock Jams/Space Jams outfit from her auntie.  Baby jocks are the best kind.

4 Months: Miss Marlo

I'm a bit late in this post because we've just had a fun-filled, busy stretch of traveling with loads of folks meeting Marlo for the first time.  In the past two weeks, we've been "bamping" (camping with babies!), flown to San Diego, and flown to Austin.  All of this travel and exposure to new people has worked wonders for Marlo's stranger danger.  On our trips, she was so much more comfortable around others and it was a big relief for me.  I also learned to wait to have people hold her until she's been around them for a good hour or two.  This paid off and by the end of Austin, we could hand her off to folks within just a few minutes.  She was even cracking up with new folks when before I'd only seen her laugh hard with me or Eric.  And that laugh is what I live for! 

At four months, sweetie is so engaged with the world around her.  She's figuring out how her body works--occasionally rolling and this week she discovered her feet!  She tries to put her pacifier in her mouth using all fingers and putting it in backwards.  She's digging tummy time more and can be on her belly for longer periods of time now.  She likes to pet the kitties by grasping their fur and is just into exploring different textures in general.  She'll scratch her crib sheets, diaper bag, and anything else that has a different feel.  And baby girl just keeps growing and getting bigger and bigger!  She's so long now that her little feet push against the diaper bag when we go for walks in her stroller.  It seems like she's going to outgrow her carseat pretty soon when I thought it would last us least a year.  She's bigger than babes that are twice as old!  People are always shocked when I tell them how old she is.

I swear her pediatrician told us she's as healthy as can be and to just keep feeding her on demand for now.  I'm so grateful, but sometimes I second guess when I see that she's bigger than babies who are walking!   If I can just learn to stop comparing, I think parenting will a whole lot smoother--I need a mantra to repeat to myself every time I'm tempted to compare my baby or myself to others.  :)  I think her doctor's words will do for now, "She's perfect."