She's walking!

4.25.14 (9.5 months)

Last weekend Sierra went to the UC Davis vs Sacramento State Men's Soccer game with her Dad. I was sitting on the bench with the guys, but as soon as I heard her little voice in the stands I whipped my head around to see her. After the game she said hi to all the players. Right afterward we all went to the rec pool and had swim time! Sunday Gus tried to give me some time to mountain bike, unfortunately my chain broke about 10 minutes into my climb so my ride ended up being much shorter than anticipated. Later on in the day we busted out the galvanized steel container and made it a tub/pool for Sierra.



Tuesday construction began on the 50 so it made my work commute longer meaning I had to be away from Boo longer too. Gus and Sierra made me a card and bought me flowers to make my week feel better though, so that made me smile.

Sierra is WALKING now! She first walked at the reading group at the library on Wednesday and has been doing it every day since then. It makes me so happy and once again reflective (as always). This video is from my non-smartphone as you can tell.

Otherwise, after work we played with Cheerios and proceeded to feed them to the dog. Sierra likes to share food with them, and they are definitely happy benefactors! 

Today Sierra and I went to the rowing regatta and the girls just loved seeing a baby around. They were able to play with her in between races. She loved being the center of their attention!

And there she goes...

April 18, 2014 (9 months +)

Sierra is a cruisin'! This week she took 2 unassisted consecutive steps at daycare. It's okay though because Gus and I saw her do the same thing that morning! It was funny though, when Kathy told me I teared up because the way she told me... she was so excited, as if it was the first time she ever did it. Maybe it's because now someone else has seen her besides Gus and I, it feels like "it's real now." She also has been saying "dog" at daycare which we hear from her quite a bit with Mr. Oso and Keta girl around all the time (our 2 large dogs).

We sure have been loving our bike trailer lately! Which means more time to ride for us too! We all try to get out on rides on the mornings I am home longer before work. Sierra enjoys it much more than our trial run now that we put a biker beanie on her and pad her seat thanks to Dah Dah (Gus has an engineer mind after all).

On Wednesday we had her 9 month well baby visit, which we biked to via Davis' wonderful bike paths! She is 22lb 2oz and 31inches long, and very healthy! Afterward we all biked over to story time at the library! Sierra loved seeing the other babies so much that she pulled her typical move (stole their toys and then bopped them on the heads with the very same toy). Well I actually was very observant of this as a possibility and was able to prevent most of the bops (except for her buddy Andrew, luckily his mom and I are friends and she laughed it off... which is more than Andrew can say). There were songs to sing and books to read and solid interactions that were had with other babes in her age range. It was awesome!

Unfortunately we had some type of allergy on Thursday, and her eyes swelled and teared up... she was inconsolable so I booked a doctor appointment for her and Gus to go to and I came home early from work. She ended up doing much better today, and seemed back to her normal self so we aren't too worried.

After work and in the mornings her new favorite thing is to push her "lawn mower-walker-toy" around the living room. Early in the week she would get so frustrated when it would get blocked from moving by obstacles that she would scream, but now (today) when she hits something she scoots the lawn mower around it... Simply hilarious! I wanted to get video of it, but it just never happened so here is my photo series.

She really hammed it up for me when I took out the camera! She even showed her teeth in these few pictures! You would never be able to tell that she used to get upset when she got stuck! Things move so fast with her.

 When she started readjusting the pusher today I was so impressed with her ingenuity! I told her how proud I was of her for figuring out how to maneuver the mower!

 She doesn't even mind when she misses a step and falls down, she just gets right back up. She loves this thing!

You know you're a parent when... your living room turns into the play area. You also told yourself that this would never happen. HA!

9 months

April 14, 2013

Our girl is actually 9 months old now. "9 months in 9 months out." I never knew that 9 months of your life would bring me, as a mother, so much joy. She said "Mon Mon" on her 9 month "birthday" (and I was so enthused!) I am so happy to be changed by her in this short amount of time!

The week went by in the typical blurry sort of way... work, too little sleep, and too little exercise. That is until we got a BURLEY HONEY BEE BIKE TRAILER! As a part of my birthday gift from a few family members I was able to purchase the bike trailer I had dreamed of for Sierra. We took a "dry run" with her on Friday to make sure that everything would be okay for Picnic Day on Saturday. She doesn't exactly like to wear her cute helmet, but she'll get used to it.

Saturday after work Grammy and Auntie came over for dinner and to spend time with Sierra before she went to sleep. On Saturday morning Sierra, Gus, and I woke up early to get ready for our trip to the UC Davis campus and Farmers' Market to see our friends. Sierra was able to interact with multiple babies. Her old boyfriend was in town (they were visiting from Illinios) and we met 2 other babies too. She crawled all over the place and found our coffee cup to entertain herself with. Her baby friend who is the same age as her has all of the same teeth and likes to walk around with his parents help too.

Lyn and Grammy met up with us and we spent some time at the green together and then later in the day we all watched the sheep and the herding dogs.

We biked home after that so Sierra could get her lifting in. She was telling Gus and me to lift more weight in this picture.

Sierra sure is confident. She is taking small steps forward more often. Usually only one but it sure is going to happen soon. We had dinner with Grammy and Lyn (they brought over some awesome food to grill up and a delicious dessert). Sierra got a few drumming lessons.

Sierra got a package from Nana this weekend and I felt it necessary to try them out immediately. She looks so cute! Grammy babysat for us while we went on a hike with our good friends Julia, Chris, and their dog Taj. All of our dogs got along very well (we were relieved to find out), and we all had a great time.

April Showers!

April 4, 2014 (approaching 9 months)

The rest of the weekend at Grammie's and Grandpa's went well. We spent some really great quality time with everyone. It's great to watch them both interact with Sierra as grandparents. Anne made a big old brekky on my birthday morning. Gus walked with Sierra while I mountain biked with the dogs (man they have some nice bikes) shortly after breakfast. They were so happy to be running after a bike again, carefree and blissful! There were a bunch of nice wild flowers blossoming too.

My dad sent me a picture from when I was about 2 living in Hamden, CT. I can still remember those glass door knobs and the way my mom hung her purses on the handles. I can see little bits of this little girl in that little girl.

Sierra and I were able to have some good quality time over the break. Gus took some great pictures of us on the swing outside. I was in one of those perfect momma and baby moments when he came outside and saw us. I am just ever so aware of how quickly the time flies with her. How much a small life can change in such a short period of time and how much it can change me. Her personality is so much an essential part of my being now. Even at work I feel my mom-ness. I think back to the bracelet my friend Amy let me borrow for when I went into labor, it said "You were born to do this." I often find myself feeling that exact sentiment when I am with her.

She even took a step (more like a stand up on her own without assitance, wobble, then stumble towards me, and fall over) on two different occasions, but hasn't done it again since. It all takes time; so I am happy she is gutsy enough to go for it at all. Her language is more directed now and I can tell that she recognizes more words. Some of the sign language we use with her is actually sticking (all done is one that she tries to use when she is done eating). Unfortunately her teeth are still bugging her and she is fighting off a bit of a nasal/sinus cold. She also has been much more clingy (wanting to be held more often) to Momma and Papa lately, which is supposedly pretty common at this age. We have had a few pretty rough nights (as Gus says, WILD CARD) this week with her, but she is getting back to her schedule tonight. PHEW!

We are looking forward to not traveling much of anywhere this weekend. Sierra ended up having some big crying fits both to and fro our 3.5 hour drive last weekend. She was happy to spend time with her grandparents and great grandma though, so it was worth it.

It has been raining most of the week here and we are welcoming it! I love the rain (especially in a drought), and it's fun to take Sierra for walks after it has rained the smell of the air and the light in the sky is calming. I keep thinking of the saying, April showers bring May flowers. Here we are in April.