Day 202: Storytime

Michal loves reading books with Daddy!

Day 201: Scouting Expedition

We are mere weeks away from a special occasion, so we took some time this afternoon to scout out a potential location for the shindig.  It's a lovely park and playground not too far from our home, tucked away from one of the busy main roads in the area.  We're hoping this quiet and shady spot proves to remain that way on a Sunday morning in August so we can celebrate the best year of our lives.

Michal gave her stamp of approval to the playground equipment - 

doesn't she look like such a big girl!?

 Checking out some of the play areas.

Enjoying the swings with Daddy.  I think he might be a tad too big for his swing. 

She still doesn't quite get the point of the slide - 

you're not supposed to stand on it, silly girl!

Day 200: The Great Watery Expanse

Today marks 200 days since beginning this project.  While I did not doubt my ability to stay on top of all the photos and posts, it does seem appropriate to acknowledge the nice round number that is today.  So, hello, 200, and thanks to everyone who has come along for the ride.


Today we removed the baby tub, and Michal took her bath in the great watery expanse of the bathtub.  She has not really needed the baby tub for a long while, but I do not have any good reason for why we have continued to use it.  It just seemed like a good time to give her the room she really needs, especially so she could play with all of her toys!  She had a grand time, playing with the new scoops and chewing on duckies and soccer balls.

Post bath we hung out in her room for some naked butt time - a nightly ritual.  She is newly entranced with a wooden puzzle we received as a gift, so she spent much of the time moving around her room, playing with the various pieces.


I've had many comments lately about her curly hair, and I have maintained that it has been the humidity that has encouraged the curls.  After her bath, though, it just curled right up. Who knows - sometimes it's straighter, sometimes curlier.  I guess time will tell how it ends up.

Holy curly haired, smirky faced baby, Batman.

Josh returned home this evening, so Michal had her last bottle with him.  She was so excited to see him, waving and wiggling her legs all about.  She is such a daddy's girl!

Day 199: Red, White, and Cute All Over

We had a great day today.  Michal took two decent naps and was a great help at work.  More than anything else, she was super cute.  I got lots of baby hugs and cuddles, and I cannot wait until I get baby kisses, too.  

I still cannot decide what color her eyes are.  

Someone today said they are somewhere between grey and hazel. 

Practicing standing and cruising among the chairs in my office. 

I couldn't tell you why she was SO happy, but I LOVE when I get this smile.

Day 198: Adieu

Today, Michal and I said goodbye to Josh as we packed up the car and headed back down to Maryland.  He is staying in New Jersey another two days to finish up this portion of his project.  It was a really nice weekend "away," and I know we are both looking forward to when he comes home on Tuesday.  


I took a slightly different route home, driving down through the middle of New Jersey, through Princeton (early start on the college tours?), and headed into Michal's tenth state - Pennsylvania.  Then on down past Philadelphia and back into Maryland.  After a quick stop at Josh's mother's house to pick up the Bailey Dog, we were on the homestretch.  Michal is a great traveler, singing to me from the back seat of the car.  After a long day on the road, it is good to be home!

Day 197: Eleven Months

There is an eleven month old living in our house.  How did THAT happen?

There were a couple of cute photos of her standing, but this was one of the few that I was able to capture of her sitting.  She kept wanting to move!

While I managed to remember her month stickers and white onesie, I forgot to grab the monkey with whom she normally poses for her month photo.  I have included him every  month as a sort of point of reference for her growth.  I guess you'll just have to pretend he is in these pictures.  If I was more talented, maybe I would photo shop him in.  But I won't go there.  

We did stop by FAO Schwartz when we were in the city yesterday, and while we were not tempted to pick up a second monkey (we considered starting a tradition of one new toy when we go to NYC - that was a short lived idea), we WERE tempted to take a picture of her next to the GIANT version of that monkey.  And then tell you all that she had shrunk.  Or the monkey had blown up.  It would have been hilarious.  I promise.

A few things about Michal at 11 months:

We are starting to see pieces of ourselves in her personality - she seems to have inherited Josh's love of solving puzzles and my unfortunate desire for perfection to do things well.

We are not sure where she gets her extrovert tendencies.  She has not met a person she doesn't LOVE.  She waves to EVERYONE and says hi (and occasionally bye).

Michal has figured out how to crawl.  Fortunately (for us), she uses this skill judiciously.

Michal likes to cruise.  She especially likes to cruise around the inside of her crib as she cries hysterically at night.

New nighttime problem - Michal starts to get rather upset when she goes to sleep in her crib.  We are hoping she moves through this phase quickly.

Michal is still incredibly laid back and chill (see exception right above this)

Michal LOVES tofu, meatballs, avocado, and watermelon.  

She especially loves to wear her watermelon as a badge of honor.

Michal has eight teeth.  Eight!

She is a giant baby.  While we do not have an official measurement, she seems to be 30.5"  (95th percentile) and about 21 lbs (75th percentile).

Michal is brilliant.  Obviously.

One fortunate part of our trip to NJ was the chance to see some friends.  While we had hoped to meet up with a friend in the city yesterday and missed the opportunity to get together with another today, we DID manage to head over to visit with our friends, Amy, Rich, and Lillian.  I've known Amy through my online mom's group for a long, long while now, so it was really great getting the chance to play and dine with them.  Lilly is about 3 weeks older than Michal, but they seemed to have a good time playing with each other.

 Here is Lilly showing Michal how to use the slide.  Michal, like much of the evening, preferred to observe for a while before taking part in the activity.

 Hi, smiley girl!

Lilly was a super awesome hostess and showed Michal how to work all parts of this awesome toy.  Here they are, checking the mail. 

It took much coaxing to get Michal to crawl through the door of the house.  It's obvious, though, that she has now decided that this toy is AMAZING.  It is definitely going on the birthday wishlist! 

Much later (it was practically a baby non-sleep over!), we headed inside.  Lilly let Michal play with one of her walkers.  Michal looked a bit like a little old lady, slowly pushing the toy away.  She really liked it, though, and especially liked watching Lilly zooming around the room.

The bittersweet part, of course, was that when we left, we knew it would be a long while until we could spend time with our friends.  For now, we get to stay in touch from afar.  We hope to see them again soon!

Day 196: New York State of Mind

Today we loaded up the car and headed north.  Josh had a work trip in northern New Jersey, so we joined him for the weekend.  At first it looked like he was going to have to go into the office today, but the project got pushed back a day, so we headed into Manhattan instead.  It is officially the furthest north Michal has journeyed, and New York marks the ninth state she has visited.  Pretty well-traveled baby! 

Here is Michal and her daddy in Times Square.

At Rockefeller Center.

And at Newark's Penn Station - it was her first train ride and BOY did she love it.  

Lots of people with whom to chat and wave.  

I love the look on her face here.  It is totally one of photo-exhaustion.  

I didn't even take that many today!