What a big girl! And those feet still hold so much allure…

Dear Little Sugar,

Well, we have just one more month where you will officially still be a baby…can you believe that?! I can’t! I love you so much, little Lila Jane, and you are almost one year old.

You have been a busy little bee with all kinds of cuteness. In the last month you have started to use some signs that mommy taught you. You use the sign for “more” and “all done” and you even made the sign for “eat,” but only once. You used to just imitate me, but you’ve really started to use the signs in the right context. Mommy’s not going to go crazy with it though, I just want you to be able to communicate a little.

You’re adorable when you’re annoyed.

Speaking of communicating, you are showing us all just how sassy you are. Your temper personality is REALLY coming out now. You are one cool cucumber, a mellow yellow most of the time, but when you want something or you just don’t agree with the situation, you let us know! Your scary face (the one you started making a couple of months back at the piano) is SO funny. It’s very Incredible Hulk. This happens mostly when you’re eating and you really like something and Mommy is taking too long to get more for you. Anyway, it’s just one of the ways that you communicate.

Your sister was playing peek-a-boo with you! One day she will appreciate that someone looks at her that way!

For a little while, you would pucker your lips like you were concentrating…I just couldn’t stand how adorable it was! But you’ve moved on, ah well.

Sugarpie, your big sister, doesn’t get to push you around as much anymore either because you sure know how to make an impression when she takes your toy or tickles you when you’re not in the mood. Girl’s gotta stand up for herself!

Our family 🙂

You aren’t crawling yet, but you’ll get there…what’s the rush? You seem like you’re trying to pull up in your crib, but we haven’t gotten past wanting to action. In time!

You got your first hair cut this month too! You have a lot of hair, girfriend, and we cut bangs. I cannot tell you how much of love it!! And I bet you’re happy too, not to have all of that hair in your face.

Daddy has his first Father’s Day with TWO GIRLS. How lucky is he? When he hugs you and your sister, he has an arm load of love for sure.

Y’all were watching the rain. My girls love to play in the crib together!

The other day, I realized what color your eyes are. Mommy used to live on an island in Southern Italy called Ischia. The water was crystal clear, beautiful, and turquoise. But there was one little corner of the island that Mommy just loved called Cartaromana. There, the water was a little different. It was a deeper, darker green with a little blue, depending on the sun. On a hot summer day, all you could do was jump in and feel the cool green relief of that water. Magical! And your eyes are just that color. How special!!

Teeth!! You are working on two more.

Little Sugar, I love you and all of your chubby, soft, sweet, and delicious babyness. Please don’t grow up too fast. Here’s to our last month of being an infant!!

Love you forever and ever,

xoxo Mommy

Delicious! And you’re outgrowing Teddy!

Dear Little Sugar,

You are 8 months old! Well actually, you are 8 and a half months old. Mommy is very late AND missed your 7 month letter because you two girls keep me BUSY. Not to mention that we moved the day before your 7 month birthday, that was no easy task with two little stinkers! I am sorry.

So what’s new since your 6 month letter? Well…we live in Houston now, for starters. Sugarpie transitioned immediately, but you had a harder time. But now, there are so many fun things to do in our house and in our new city! You seem to be enjoying it.

In your seventh month, you started eating real food! It was a slow start, but man you are HUNGRY now. Your first taste was an avocado and a banana, self-fed, just like your sister. You didn’t care for the avocado at first, but now you love it. We also started sleep training. It was slow-going, but we’re getting there. What else, oh…you said “Daddy!” on February 18 and you say Mamma and Nanna all the time.

Month seven wasn’t spectacularly eventful but month eight has been full of good stuff. For example, you started sitting up, and really sitting up confidently on March 17. Also, you got your first tooth followed immediately by your second, they are SO cute!! I am not in a hurry for you to lose that gummy grin, so don’t rush those top teeth out, ok?

Clapping is your favorite new thing. The sound of your tiny hands patting together is the cutest thing ever invented. Ever.

Trying to get a hold of that there banana

So back to eating, you love it. You eat so much sometimes that I cut you off because I don’t want you to get a tummy ache! Your favorites are meatballs, yogurt, apples, beans and you ate so much chicken curry that I thought you would burst! You also like broccoli and cheese and pretty much anything that I put in front of you. Really. We’re trying work on not getting too constipated, but it still happens sometimes.

You have had 2 ear infections in the last two months. I hope you don’t take after Mommy! I had them a lot too, they hurt. Georgia still hasn’t had one.

We have a little red piano and I put you in front of it to play. You thought it was so cool that you got all excited! When you get excited about something, you stare straight ahead, open your eyes really wide, and you shake your head like you just can’t stand it! It’s about midway through this video:

You also have your very own crib now! You really seem to like all the space and you have discovered that you like to sleep on your tummy. When you sleep like that, you wake up with the craziest sleep hair! It’s the cutest.

I get to see this little face every single morning.

You love to lay back on my lap and let your head hang over my knees, upside down. It’s funny.

So I guess I’ll be writing your 9 month letter pretty soon! And I just can’t believe that your first birthday is right around the corner. I love you so much, sweet little Lila bear. You have stolen my heart! I can’t believe how lucky I am that I get to have a glass of fresh-squeezed Lila Jane every morning, and a big warm mug of hugs from your sister. Who could ask for more?

Love,

xoxo Mommy

It is just you.

Dear Little Sugar,

You are 5 months old! You are really interacting with the world more than ever now. Patience is your virtue as I continue to badger you with snuggles and kisses every second. I cannot help it, I love you too much.

The day before Thanksgiving, you rolled over for the first time! It was the fastest way out of Tummy Torture, and you figured it out. We’re still waiting for you to roll again, but it’ll happen! I learned not to worry too much about that stuff after seeing how well Sugarpie has turned out. (She hated Tummy Torture just as much as you do!)

That’s you and Nanna before Sugarpie’s party.

We had our first Thanksgiving with you and we had Sugarpie’s 2nd birthday party! You loved all of the attention and activity that her party offered. In fact, you have turned out to be quite a little mellow yellow, my love. You’re always happy being held and you have even learned the fine art of chillaxin’ all by your sweet self. You entertain yourself by chewing on your toes, or chewing on a blanket or something. In fact, you prefer blankets to rubbery chew toys! Go figure.

You grab at everything and gum it all. You like to get a satisfying handful of hair and see how loudly you can make your victim squeal and beg for release from your chubby little hand! Mwahahahha!

And those thighs, good lord they get yummier every day.

But Mommy digresses.

You like to wake Mommy up in the morning with your proud (VERY) high-pitched squeal. It’s a happy one though, you have a look of power on your little face as you can now command attention in a way other than crying.

She’s SO cool.

And we know how much you LOVE Sugarpie. Whenever you look at her my mind goes into a montage of you watching her with the Police song Every Little Thing She Does is Magic playing over.

Every life needs a soundtrack, right?

Gooey gooey, nice and chewy.

Little Sugar, every day you melt my heart into a big fat gooey mess. Between you and your sister, I’m just a puddle of goo all of the time. I am one lucky mommy to have you, your sister, and your Daddy! And you better believe that I know that every second of the day.

Love you forever and ever,

xoxo Mommy

You are outpacing teddy! This was the one shot I was able to without your toes in your mouth.

Dear Little Sugar,

Hi! You turned 4 months old on Friday! And you are such a little love muffin, let’s just get that out of the way. The world is opening up to you and you are EXCITED. You love to squeak and squeal and play with your voice when you’re hanging out in your activity gym. You kick your little legs and wave your little arms and get so happy.

Speaking of legs, my oh my yours are gettin’ good and chunky. They’re soft and squishy and way too delicious for words. I love to blow raspberries right on your thighs and you think it’s pretty funny.

Mommy is trying to learn how to play the ukelele and no matter how much I mess up, you smile and smile when you hear it. Thank you.

nom-nom-nom. nom-nom-nom-nom.

Now everything goes straight to your mouth. I think I might even see the faint hint of two little bottom teeth on the horizon, but please, keep that gummy smile a little longer! You like to look at your left hand, like you’re zooming in on your target, then you grab it with your right and pull it to your mouth to gobble it up. It’s SO cute!

Last weekend, Saturday November 16th to be exact, we were driving to a birthday party and you said “mama.” For real. Now I don’t believe for a second that you meant it, but the two syllables ma and ma came out of your mouth, back to back. I could hardly believe it! It was as clear as day and I know no one will believe me, but it’s true. Your Daddy and I often feel like you are trying to mimic what we say. Sometimes it sounds like you’re trying to say hi. I guess it won’t be long before we can hear what’s going on in that sweet little brunette head.

Your favorite toy right now is a taggy that your friend Zephyr’s mommy made for you before you were born. (You know her, she’s Mommy’s friend and she snuggles with you too. Her big sister Pearlie and Sugarpie are friends.) Your eyes get really big when you see it and you grab at it slowly then snap it to your mouth. It has lots of different textures and fun things to slobber on.

Taggy love Exhibit A. Unnecessary cuteness, Exhibit B.

You still don’t like tummy time and since your sister experienced no developmental delays due to my lack of will to make her squirm and scream face down on a blanket at your age, I guess you’ll eventually lift your head just fine too. I mean, you have great head control when sitting up and being toted around, so I’ll keep the torture to a minimum.

You LOVE being on your changing table. The moment I take off your diaper, your little feet shoot right up to your mouth. I understand, Mommy can confirm the tastiness of those little tootsies, I want to nibble them too! (And I do.)

Sugarpie is by far, the most entertaining thing in your world. All she has to do is bounce around like the toddler she is and you just dissolve into fits of giggles. She shook her head over and over the other day and you just couldn’t contain your laughter. It is the sweetest music I’ve ever heard! If you keep that up, she’s going to start paying more attention to you.

I know I say this every month, but I just fall more in love with you every day! And that’s a LOT. You and your big sister are the most important, beautiful, best part of our lives and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the children we’ve been blessed with. You are sweet, delicious, effervescent sunshine and I am so glad that you are mine 🙂

Love,

xoxo Mommy

Now you’re bigger than Teddy! And that hair…I had just washed it so it was really fluffy.

Dear Little Sugar,

You, my little sweet muffin, were 3 months old yesterday and I am already feeling nostalgic about when you were a newborn. You’ve managed to lose that newborn look in the last month and you’re growing SO fast! Mommy tries so hard to hang onto every second of your sweet baby-ness because you will likely not have a little sibling. When you wake up around 8:30, I come to you and as soon as I say “Good morning, sunshine,” you give Mommy a huge gummy grin while turning your head to the side, just like that, every morning. I drink in your generous smiles and then I lay you on the bed to let you get all of your many stretchies out. You have a lot of them and it takes about 10 minutes for you to empty your plump little body of all of every single one. I’m so lucky that I get savor these moments. So lucky!

And did I mention your toots? You’re full of those too! Morning smiles, morning stretches, morning toots. I love it all.

You’ve been checking off those milestones too. In your “activity gym” the other day you worked so hard to grab the little bird’s wing, and you did it! You had to bat at it for a while and all that concentration gave you lots of spit bubbles that collected at your pursed lips. It was way too cute.

You melt Mommy’s heart. Just look at you!

When you were 10 weeks old, you had a growth spurt. Mommy woke and…you were a real baby, not just a fragile little newborn 🙂 During this time, we went to Orange (where Mommy grew up) for the first time. Georgia had the time of her life playing with her cousins while you let everyone hold you and say how cute you are. We’ll meet your California family too, won’t be long!

Laughing has become pretty common, it’s the best sound. Your sister Sugarpie was shaking some pink mardi gras beads on Monday and you thought it was the funniest thing! I hope that’s a hint of things to come. I hope that, over the years, you and Sugarpie have more smiles together than you can count. That was just the first.

Last month I mentioned how talkative you are. This month you’ve added more sounds: aaah-ooo! Guhhhh! And you’ve even added a newer, higher-pitched squeal to your cry when you really mean business. You pull out your whole repertoire when I talk to you on your changing table. As for crying, you have a few different ones. You have one for when you are hurt or really hungry, and one when you are sleepy and trying to drift off. This one is really cute because it’s more like intermittent protesting than crying. Your sister pretty much had one flavor of crying. This is just one way that you two are different.

Yes Lila Jane, those are your toes! And you can play with them WHENEVER YOU LIKE. How cool is that?

Not only have you discovered your cute little tootsies, but you also have started to bring your hands together. That may not be the most exciting milestone, but it’s an important one. You like to clench your fists and stare at them too. Is that the baby version of comtemplating one’s navel?

Lila Jane, I love you so much. You and your big sister have brought so much joy in richness into our lives. Being a mommy is the best, because you and Sugarpie are the best.

I love you forever and ever,

xoxo Mommy

You’re growing so fast! And you kinda have hair like Keith Richards.

Dear Little Sugar,

(Mommy’s computer isn’t happy and she hasn’t been able to upload photos ’til now. Sorry your letter is late!)

2 months already! It has flown by, yet seems a lifetime away (and for you it is). You have really started to let your smiles out into the world and it is a brighter place because of them. You make so many sounds and even almost squeal once in a while! Nanna even said that you chuckled. She always gets the first ones 😉

Who could ask for two sweeter girls? Mommy feels so lucky!

I think your vision is improving because you smiled at me in the kitchen all the way from your swing. It’s not that far, but at least 11 or so feet. Speaking of your eyes, they are just so pretty! You have long eyelashes and your irises are deep blue with a little brown stripe on the side of the left one. Unique! Will you have blue eyes like Mommy or beautiful big brown ones like your sister? Time will tell…

On the day of your 2 month birthday (Sunday September 22nd), Sugarpie, your big sister, decided to pay attention to you almost for the first time. Daddy and I were mezmerized! She wanted to be in on the photo shoot too.

She came over to your blanket where you were squirming and squiggling (as you do very well) and put a postal stamp on your arm, then she put it on hers, then yours, and so on. Daddy and I joked that maybe she wanted to mail you away, but she was really just sharing. It was beautiful!

You weighed 9 pounds and 12 ounces at your checkup and were a whole 22 inches long! Since then, you have definitely had a growth spurt. You had to get shots too, it broke Mommy’s heart and boy it made you mad! But it will protect you from some really bad germs.

My little muffin! You’re juicy and sweet like a Texas peach.

Speaking of mad, you have found your voice. And it is loud. You can really belt out a good scream! You don’t just cry willy-nilly though, you do that when you’re hungry mostly, or when you’re in your car seat. Hey, it gets lonely in there!

And you have even had tears, real tears already, which were shed in your car seat.

Your fave things to do now are watching your sister, nursing, hanging out in your rain forest chair, nursing, talking and cooing with Mommy (or anyone else who will look you in the eye and be silly), and nursing. Did I mention that already?

You are SO smiley. All it takes is a little eye contact and you are a happy girl. And as soon as you are on your changing table, you start smiling. Hey, we all like a little air where the sun doesn’t shine, right?

Who will you be, Lila Jane? I can’t wait to see. You have already won us over 🙂

Love you forever,

xoxo Momm

Dear Little Sugar,

Welcome to our family! I hope you like us, because we are undeniably smitten with you (yes, including your big sister Sugarpie, though she doesn’t know it yet). Your birth was quite a wild ride, but Mommy would do it again ten thousand times bring you into the world.

The look of relief on Daddy’s face when it was all over was priceless! He had never seen Mommy in such a state of crazy.

When I saw you in the doctors arms with all of that hair, I just fell in love! I snuggled you then put you to my breast where you knew exactly what to do. You nursed like a seasoned pro and never looked back. Daddy and I were amazed.

Since then, you’ve continued your daily quest to outdrink your peers. This makes Mommy so happy because it means you’re healthy and continue on a path of weight gain that is necessary for you to thrive. You prefer no place to Mommy’s nursies. In fact, it’s sometimes hard for others to soothe you when you get squirrely because only one thing will do. That’s ok, soon enough you’ll be off and running and preferring your Nanna and Paw Paw to Mommy anyway.

I love how little you are and everywhere we go people comment on what a head of hair you have! Mommy was born with the same amount of hair, so I guess in at least one way, you take after me 🙂

And guess what, Little Sugar?! You smiled for the first time when you were 3 weeks and 4 days old! Wow! It was a certified, wide-awake grin and I will never forget it. Since then you’ve blessed me with a few more, but I imagine that very soon my happy little girl will smile the days away.

You are really holding your head up well, but you get tired after a few minutes. You also cooed at Mommy! Wow! You like your changing table so much that you decided to tell me about it with a prefect little “a-goo!”

At 1 month (which was last Thursday, I’ve been busy) you weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and were 20 and 5/8 inches long. Even though you are growing perfectly, you’re still a peanut kinda like your sister. I love that about you!

(Speaking of your sister, she is starting to come around to see how wonderful you are. She’s been the lone object of our affection for 20 whole months and it’s hard to share. Little sisters just take some getting used to. She now blows you kisses and even gives you one on your head every day. She is pretty wonderful too, so you’ll learn from the best!)

In fact, there’s nothing I don’t love about you. Your tiny toes are delicious and your soft cheek and double chin need to be kissed at least every 30 seconds, and I try to fulfill that need daily. Your perfect little belly button that took over 3 weeks to emerge is itself, a reason to become a parent. Your soft hair and beautiful eyelashes make me swoon and your hairy back is a cute as it can be! Your eyes are a steely shade of blue right now, and your little hairy tushy is the tiniest ever!

What I am trying to say is that I adore you. You are gooey like a warm chocolate chip cookie. We are grateful that you chose us and we can’t wait to see who you become.

Love you forever and ever,

xoxo Mommy

6 lbs, 12 oz, 19 inches long AND a week overdue! Glad she could cook a little longer, she’s a little bitty one!

One week ago today at 7:23 pm we met our new baby girl, Lila Jane Parzen. I was induced and 7 hours later, we had our girl. It was a tough and very painful labor, but we made it. I’ll tell you all about it soon.

Things are going great (fingers crossed!) so far and nursing has been magically smooth. It’s such a difference from my last post-partum experience. I am definitely experiencing newborn bliss, with a side of exhaustion.

Sugarpie is is doing ok with the transition. We have had a few moments of charitable sweetness, but she really only acknowledges Lila with a high pitched “noooooo” for now. That’s ok, she’ll grow on her! Sugarpie is getting megadoses of Fun Daddy Time, so that helps! (Thanks, Hubs!)

I’ll be back with more details. For now, time to nurse…again.

From the small victories department…

I slept for 2 and a half hours straight this morning! Woo hoo!