My First Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was great! Greg and Cecily suprised me with cards and presents including a new camera (a little one I can fit in my pocket) and a massage at the Sonoma Mission Inn.

We visited with both of my new mom friends. We saw Baby Luna, Sierra and Bill's baby who was only a week and 1/2 old. She definitely looks like a little Bill! Very cute and so tiny. Cecily had to be reminded to be gentle with her. Luca and Noelle got to play together as well.

Then we went to brunch with Scott, Cara and baby Addison who is 2 months old now. Afterwards Cara and I had massages. First one for me since before I was pregnant! Very relaxing way to spend my special day. : )

Then we had a family dinner and Cecily got to play with her cousins. A fun day for all!

Cecily and new baby Luna

Visiting with Sierra and the new baby

Family Photo at Brunch at the Sonoma Lodge

Its Grandma's Day too! Nana and Lauren with Cecily

7 months old

7 months old already. Hard to believe. She weighs about 18 pounds now, and is abt 25 1/2 inches long.

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She is very active lately, trying to pull herself up on things. She can pull onto her knees. We are going to have to lower the crib and figure out what to do with our coffee table. She has not started crawling yet, but somehow seems to migrate a little bit from one spot to another, just by scooting I guess.
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No teeth yet, and I am a bit suprised. I keep expecting them any day...
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She has moved on to her "Big Girl" carseat and uses only the regular seat part of her stroller (instead of the baby car seat attached).
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She is very in to her toys lately and seems to have grown tired of some of the things that used to entertain her so much. Her swing has been moved down to the basement and the jumperoo seems to frustrate her more than anything. She really doesnt like being confined to one spot, but hasnt figured out how to get where she wants to go yet.
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She is just an absolute joy in our lives, even when she throws her tantrums which has intensified in the last month. Everyday she is learning, experiencing, drinking life in. It is thrilling to watch.

Bathing Beauty

Cecily's great auntie's Jennifer and Shelly gave Ceci her first bathing suit, and matching hat, shades, skirt and tank top. Not to mention a pool to go with it! We had lots of fun on Saturday taking pictures of our bathing beauty as she splashed around.

We had snacks and wine with Jennifer and Shelly and Shelly's boyfriend Mike while Cecily happily played with her toys in the pool and Luca and Sophie frolicked in the sunshine (or Luca frolicked and Sophie stalked the squirrels)

...in the very merry month of May...

Its been awhile since I have posted but we have been so busy! Greg took some time off after tax busy season ended and spent some quality time with Cecily (and worked on the house with his Dad) I have been quite busy with work and time is just flying by! I cant believe its May already!
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Cecily has been doing great, with the exception of her nighttime routine, which basically involves refusing to sleep anywhere but in our bed. Each night the last month seems to have been progressively worse, with the length of time she would sleep alone in her crib or pack'n'play shorter and shorter. The last few nights she wont stay in there one minute. We are contemplating letting her start crying a little before we rescue her but we have just been too darn tired to do it yet. Of course we are prolonging the inevitable and probably just making it worse. Truthfully I somewhat enjoy her sleeping with us but she must go back to being an independent sleeper! I was spolied for the first 5 months with a baby that slept through the night.
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Her food "repertoire" is getting bigger and she is actually starting to ingest some of it rather than using it as a facial mask. Her favorites are apples and green peas.
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As the weather has been fantastic we have taken lots of walks in the park with her and Luca. She likes to watch Luca chase the ball and laughs.
She has made some babbling noises that sound alot like "Mama" but they are mostly when she is sad and starts to whimper as in "Mhmhmhm" But its getting there.

Family Visit

Cecily and I flew to L.A. last week and visited my family. It was wonderful for her to spend time with her Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Brian. And the Corgies, esp. Rascal. He was obsessed with her and slept in our room a couple of nights so he could keep an eye on her.

6 months old

Wow- I can't believe our baby girl is six months old! In some ways it seems like time has raced by and at the same time I can't remember what it really felt like pre-Cecily. She has changed us and completed us.



On Sunday at DayOne (a great baby store and resource center in the City) I weighed her with her clothes on and she weighed nearly 18 pounds! Im not sure this is due to much of the solid food introductions we have done however, as most of it ends up being spread around rather than consumed. So far we have tried rice cereal (her least favorite), banana, apples, peaches, peas, and sweet potatoes.



She is teething ferociously, I can feel the tooth right there at her gumline on the top. It should be coming through soon.



She is sitting all the time now, and has made the very first attempts at the crawling. All she does is push with her hands when she is on her tummy and scoot backwards a bit.



She loves music and singing. And BrainCandy (a baby DVD series which is also on OnDemand) but we try not to let her watch TV. She lights up immediately when anyone starts singing the song: "I want BrainCandy....to be in my world..." Its a bit scary how much it grabs her attention. I think it will be a challenge to keep her away from the television! Just like her daddy...She also loves books, looking at them and tasting them.

Visiting with Addison

On Easter our friends Cara and Scott finally got to bring their newborn baby girl Addison home after a stressful month in the hospital (Addi was born about 7 weeks early). Everyone is so happy to have her home. Cecily met her tiny new friend and was quite curious. It is fun to think of all the great times ahead for our two little girls.

Cecily's First Easter

It was lots of fun dressing Ceci up in her pretty Easter dress and visiting with her cousins. The whole Easter Egg hunt/waiting for the Easter Bunny is of course not quite her cup of tea yet (she was more interested in tasting the plastic eggs, and the basket...) but she loves being around other children now.

Family Photos (the Biaginis, Hagels, and Griffiths )

B.W.A (Baby With Attitude)

Cecily has been showing off more and more of her personality lately. She knows she's the boss of us. She seems to realize that she is the most special baby in the whole universe (maybe bc I whisper this in her ear all the time?) She has started shaking her head from side to side (as if she is saying "NO") and squeals with laughter when I do the same. I have let her have a few more "tastes" including apples on Saturday and then peaches today (homemade- cooked, pureed and then mixed with a little breast milk...mmmmm) She has been very very drooly and is definitely teething.

Yummy Apples

Baby with a bow

Chewing on the 'gummy guppy' teething toy

Laughing Baby

Sittin' Pretty

We noticed last week that Cecily is able to sit on her own now! She loves to sit and play with her toys. Of course she starts to topple after a little while, so I dont go too far away.

She is getting very fiesty lately, and protests when things aren't going her way. She is also pretty rough with me, especially when I get home from work in the evenings. She grabs me, clawing at me and pulling my hair and rubs her mouth all over my face. I am pretty sure these are her "kisses". Hopefully they get more gentle over time. Despite the pain, I love them just the same.

Nights have become a bit rocky. I had this dream baby who started sleeping through the night before she was two months old. Now things are starting to change. More nights than not, she has woken up once, sometimes twice, sometimes-gasp-even three times. Usually all she needs is some rocking and singing to go back to sleep, but I am afraid I am getting myself into a sticky situation.

I was deciding to wait until 6 months to introduce any solid food, but I cheated a little and gave her a bit of pureed banana the other night. She kept eyeing me as I was eating so I gave in. She seemed curious but made a bad face. Im not sure how much she actually ingested, but after this event there were no poopy diapers for three days! Not sure if it was related, but I think her next encounter with solids will be the recommended rice cereal instead of more banana.