Letter to Miss Leyba: Month Five

Hi sweetie,

You’ve had such a big month. It has been a whirlwind June of physical developments: standing, sitting, rolling over, and crawling. You chat nonstop to Dad and I and have just recently started talking to other people too. You smile at everyone and love being out and about. Your hands are constantly in your mouth and you love sucking on your toes (sometimes both big toes at once). You are so much fun. We love you so much!

Month Five
Month Five
Month Five

It’s amazing that you are five months old! Keep growing healthy and strong. We are here loving and supporting you.

Love, Mama

Well, hello there.

Wow, has it really been almost four weeks since I last updated?! Where has June gone?!

Here’s what we’ve been up to.

We went on vacation to New Mexico (first flights for Miss Leyba — she traveled beautifully!):
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico

We saw family and friends:
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico

We practiced standing:
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico

and breastfeeding in public:
Trip to New Mexico

We celebrated Father’s Day and Grandma’s birthday:
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico

and the arrival of our daughter with a gigantic tea party:
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico
Trip to New Mexico

We also had massages, ate lots of gelato, took baths over at Gram Gram’s house, and hung out at Grandma and Grandpa’s store:
Trip to New Mexico

It was a great trip.

What we haven’t been doing:

Spending time online.

Right now I am feeling like every moment spent on the phone, answering email, or puttering online is a moment away from my daughter, so I apologize for basically dropping off the planet. My priorities keep shifting more and more towards family and things like updating this website are falling by the wayside. While I will continue to try to update here, for regular updates follow along to my thread on Twitter (also available through my Facebook profile). And I’ll try to get back to you soon. Thank you for your wonderful messages!

I forgot to mention…

Dear daughter,

Here are some things I forgot to mention last week.

You love to grab hair, noses, eyebrows, mouths, clothing. You are very into sticking your fingers in our mouths.

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You are constantly sticking out your tongue! It’s adorable.

You’ve found your voice. Oh, you love to shout! You are amazingly loud. Lots of shrieking going on over at our house. You are so proud of yourself and we are proud of you too.

You love Shrek. When it’s late and you’re very over tired and your gums are hurting and you’re completely inconsolable, we’ll turn on a children’s movie. So far Shrek is the only one you’ve been interested in (though you seem somewhat interested in ballet, as well as the documentary Coral Reef Adventure). Dad and I aren’t thrilled about the movie choice (and we’re getting awfully tired of it), but we’re glad it distracts you enough to stop the hysterical crying and get you to sleep. Everything in moderation.

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Your new activity: climb across, over and down us. You just love to wiggle and look around. You move towards and reach for your toys now too. Touching, banging books and turning pages is especially fun and fascinating to you.

You love it when we hold you facing outward. So much to see! We need to break out the Moby Wrap and try tying you in so you face outwards. I think it will be a big hit.

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You like seeing all the mamas and babies at our yoga class. On Tuesday you spent most of the class on your tummy (or wanting me to hold you) watching everyone and everything. You were captivated. We’ll have to keep going for the social time (since Mama is now starting her running training and thinking about taking an Ashtanga yoga class rather than the more slow paced Iyengar)…

More soon!

Love, Mama

Letter to Miss Leyba: Month Four

Dear sweetie,

You are such a happy girl. You spend your days smiling, chatting, and laughing with me. We have so much fun together.

This month you:

  • Always have your fingers in your mouth (your hands are perpetually soggy!).
  • Greet Daddy with a huge smile when he gets home from work at lunchtime. (Yep, he still works from home every afternoon; you love it! How lucky are we?!)
  • Love love love bath time. And now get really upset when bath time is over.
    Letter
  • Enjoy trips around the lake at the park out in the stroller.
  • Love watching older kids, especially when they crawl or eat.
  • Smile at strangers–especially ladies–and then shyly burrow your head into Mama or Dad (whoever is carrying you).
  • Find the concept of Mama using the potty, brushing her teeth, and putting in her contacts truly fascinating (and frequently funny).
  • Wear mostly 9 and 12 month sized clothes and already weigh more than your mama did when she was one year old. We are so glad you are so healthy (and haven’t gotten sick yet!).
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  • Roll over from your back to your tummy at every opportunity. Even when you’re exhausted and don’t really want to be there.
  • Play with your feet, especially when they are barefoot. Evidently your toes are so delicious.
  • Have so many new friends. It’s been a very social month for us.
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  • Talk to us. (We love it!) You talk and talk and talk all day long, but only to us, not to anyone else yet. After a very quiet play date or yoga class or trip to Whole Foods (when you are just absorbing everything around you and completely silent), you then babble nonstop to Daddy and I telling us all about it.
  • Really discovered how to giggle. It’s a frequent sound around here nowadays and it warms our hearts.
  • Have tried so very hard to crawl.
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Our days together consist of us reading, singing, playing with blocks or books or feet or toys, going for a walk (usually with Daddy), having tummy time, practicing sitting up, kissing and hugging and holding each other tight, napping, smiling, and chatting. We also love to tickle you and make you smile. You’ve just recently discovered the joy of sitting on Daddy’s shoulders. I think if it were up to you, you’d be up there all the time.

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We love that in the morning when you wake up, you look over at Daddy and me and smile. We feel so glad that you start your day happy and glad to see us, because we both love you so tremendously and are so happy to be with you. You are our sweet, sweet girl and you’re growing up so fast.

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Love, Mama