Snapshots of the Past Month

I had lots of ideas for posts in my head.  They floated away sometime during the past three hours of trying to get Kaylee to sleep.  Love my kid, but, jeez... she's stubborn!  She told me it was bed time.  Then as soon as we were snuggling up for her bottle and rocking to sleep - her eyes popped open, and she would not settle down.  For two hours.  We finally gave up and let her play for awhile and tried again later.

It's my own fault.  Every time she got bored of the apartment today, we went out for a walk (as usual).  But then she'd fall asleep while we walked.  We'd get back to the apartment, and she'd complain she was bored.  I couldn't seem to keep her awake and entertained.  Finally, we both gave up, and took a long late afternoon nap that ended at bedtime (this is where it became my fault).

But, she's sleeping now.  Thank goodness.  And I'm not headed to bed quite yet, since OVO is performing on The Tonight Show tonight and I want to see it.  This gives me time to post!  Yay!  However, if you glance back at that first line, you'll see that I can't remember what I was going to tell you.  So, you get photos with brief descriptions of our adventures.

Quick aside - these are all photos taken with the little pocket point-n-shoot Panasonic Lumix TS3 that Dylan got me for Christmas.  His goal was I'd take more and better pictures than I would with my cell, without having to carry around my SLR.  Don't tell him, but he was right.  I kinda love having it.  It fits perfectly in the pocket of the diaper bag (or even the back pocket of my jeans), is easier to use to take one-handed pictures of Kaylee and I together when we're out, and takes decent shots (especially outdoor - I dislike flashes in general, so most of the indoor shots don't impress me).

New Toy!  I needed to give her a place to stand and play, work on gross motor skills, and not be held!  It's a bit intense and overwhelming to look at, but she loves it!  She's also getting very good at focusing on just one of the many toys at a time, and moving on to a new one when she's bored.  It was a great gift from a friend to help us make the apartment more fun to play in.

Her first solid food!  We were at Chipotle to grab some lunch and were entranced by the intensity with which she stared at the guacamole.  Dylan put some a chip and she licked it right off.  Don't worry -- the Chipotle guac doesn't have any tomatoes in it or anything.  Basically just mashed up avocado.  She loved it, and now she tries to eat everything we're eating.  We've picked up some baby foods, spoons, and a bowl for her.  We just haven't quite made the leap to feeding her regularly yet.

Having Sunday brunch at The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Jon coming to town, bringing us the car, and visiting before he headed home.

Walking along the Venice Canals.  Gorgeous place to walk. This was taken just after a pelican glided by.

At the LA Zoo.  She watched the zebra for awhile.  My attempts to get a picture of her (she was riding in the Baby Bjorn) with an animal were pretty bad, and distracted her from the animals.  :-/

She loved the people-watching of the zoo, and it totally wore her out.  As we left, I picked up a membership so we can go back a few more times while we're in town.  It was a great way to spend a few hours.

So, all those other stroller pics?  Those were in the carseat-carrying stroller we got as a hand-me-down.  It served us well for the past 5 months, but with all the walking we've been doing, it was time for something new.  I needed more maneuverability, she needed something she could grow into, we needed something that will pack up easily for travel.  Meet our new City Mini!  (I love the color) 

Testing out our new stroller along the canals.  Narrow sidewalks?  No problem!  Steep bridges?  This light stroller eats 'em up!  Tight corners, bumpy sidewalks, people and dogs to get around?  Handled!  Yay!! 4.2 miles on the new stroller in just one day (and it was a normal, nothin' special day).