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I am doing a good job catching up with the photo posts and soon you’ll see more current ones and more meaningful posts.I have Father’s day, 4th of July, Lexi’s first boat trip and an overnight trip to Orlando left to blog about and then I’ll be all up to date and hopefully start posting more current photos, as well as more parenting related stuff. It’s much easier to edit photos, put them into a collage and post them, than write about more serious things, so I am trying to get the backlog of photography out of the way.

I don’t have much to say for this post. It’s a simple photo dump from our first playground trip. Alexis loved the swing and would probably do it until she passed out. Unfortunately, with the current Florida weather we can’t be going to the playground too often. It gets too hot by about 8 am. But starting October, when she’s 8 months old and the weather is cool, I suspect we’ll have daily trips there. I am already seeing how bored she gets at home, even though I try to provide a stimulating environment. But she’s the happiest when we go places. So i predict a lot of walks and fun trips outside of home as soon as the weather gets cooler. Right now we’re trying to plan at least one outing somewhere fun once a week: the beach, the playground, children’s museum, the mall, the pool, Disney, etc.

{swing cover by Infantino}

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Just a few pictures from a semi-recent outing about a month back. This was the first time Alexis successfully spent 4 hours outside and fell asleep on the way home. It was nice to feel almost normal, going out to grab a smoothie and a sandwich. It’s also amazing to see how much she’s changed in just one month and a half.

Playing with her Lifefactory  teether while we wait for hubby to come out of Publix. It was too cold inside so we had to leave.

Waiting for food! And Alexis’ first time in a high chair! It was truly a day of firsts. I don’t know why but I was so proud of seeing her sit in a high chair ( High chair cover by Infantino). I guess because it was impossible to take her anywhere prior to 5 months, these first outings were really special to me. I finally felt normal, being out and about with a baby. I also can’t wait till we can share our meals with Lexi soon, after she becomes comfortable eating and handling foods.

I am not exactly sure why but I absolutely love breastfeeding outside of home. I think a lot of things go into that feeling: being able to provide food for Alexis without much hassle at her first request, the convenience of it, just the act of breastfeeding which I always found so wonderful, and a big part of me really wants to do my part in making breastfeeding in public a normal thing, one that isn’t frowned upon, or that is almost never seen. I want public breastfeeding (with or without a cover) to become a thing people don’t blink an eye at. And the more we all can throw our own inhibitions aside and proudly ( or shyly at first) feed our babies without caring about what other people think, the more those “other people” will accept it. How can one be ok with breastfeeding, if one has never seen it done and if breasts have always been a part of one’s sexuality and nothing more.

{off my soapbox for now}

I keep attempting family self-portraits once in a while but I haven’t really been good at them. Instead of relaxing and just taking my time setting it up, I am always worried that Alexis is tired and I am wasting time taking photos. I need to chill out a bit and do what I did before Lexi was here. I am going to resume taking themed selfies with Alexis soon. As soon as I feel like I can take the time to set the photo up properly, I’ll start participating in photo memes with Alexis. And I need to remind myself  to do a family photoshoot one of these weekends.

Sorry for the lame photos today, I am trying to queue up as many posts as possible, because I will be busy these coming up months with friends visiting,a trip to Disney and a few other things on the horizon.

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Around 2.5 months, when life with Lexi started getting easier and she could tolerate being out for a short periods of time, we started taking the time out of our day to go to the pool. These trips were mostly for me, to be honest. I needed to get out of the house and the closest thing, without getting Lexi into a car seat, was our community clubhouse and pool. Alexis has never been the kind of baby that would just tag along wherever I go. So at first I kept it short. We’d leave right after she woke up and spend no more than an hour, at most. I wouldn’t be able to even get in the water. It was just to go somewhere, to get out of the house. One of these outings, my mom stayed with Alexis in the shade and Andrew and I went swimming, just the two of us. It was AMAZING! It was the first time we did something as a couple again, and we had so much fun for that half an hour we played around in water. We laughed till our bellies hurt, and splashed and jumped and just hugged and talked. We won’t get another chance to do that until my mom comes back in January.

Alexis LOVED looking at the water. We didn’t have her get in the pool, since it’s not recommended till 6 months of age, but we would sit on the edge of the pool for a few minutes when the sun goes behind the clouds and look at the water in awe. I cannot wait for my water baby to be old enough to splash around.

{FYI: There are two reasons that I know of why little babies shouldn’t swim in public pools, chlorinated pools or natural bodies of water (like ocean or lake). One is that their skin is VERY absorbent for the first 6 months of life. Much more absorbent than an adult’s skin. Which means any chemicals (chlorine) will be readily absorbed into their bloodstream ( that is the only the reason for why we went with organic clothing for the first 6 months of her life). The second reason applies to public pools and oceans/lakes- there’re a ton of e.coli bacteria found each season in oceans, and lakes can be even worse with all kind of flesh eating bacteria and Naegleria Fowleri ( that sci-fi sounding bug that lives in lakes and enters through your nose and eats your brain- I KNOW RIGHT?)
Now, granted, the flesh eating bacteria and the brain bug can harm an adult just as easily, but infants are more susceptible to e.coli and other more benign every day bacteria that an adult might fight off. In addition to that, there’s always the issue of overheating and sun exposure. Most sunblocks also state that they should be used starting at 6 months of age ( most likely for the first reason I outlined above). So it just makes sense to keep the little ones out of the water and in the shade for half a year, before they get stronger.

Additional Info from Megan from The Memoirs of Megan: Babies before 6 months of age have a harder time regulating their body temperature. To place them even in “warm pools” of 88-90 degrees (which most public pools are kept between 82-86 unless states that it is a warm water “therapy pool”) is lowering their core body temperature by over 8 degrees. That’s huge for an infant! Around 6 months of age is when scientifically, infants can control their own body temperature better.
Also, they have proper head control. Yes, my daughter was able to hold her head up unassisted at 2 months, however, some babies cannot, so 6 months is the typical age that the ARC and YMCA wait until.
But like E said, the biggest reason is that public pools are DIRTY (wanna know what’s worse? Hot tubs) Public pools use chlorine (bleach) to “Clean” the water, and muriatic acid to keep the pH (acidity level) in check. Even salt water pools must use muriatic acid. With your infant’s skin being so absorbent, it’s just not recommended. e coli and cripto can kill an adult, why risk it with a newborn? }

Now that Alexis is nearing her 6 months birthday, I am getting more and more excited about introducing her to the cool water of the pool and warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. She grew out of all of her swimsuits pretty much before I was able to try them on her, so I am shopping for new ones, but I cannot find anything as cute as these adorable Lourdes one pieces. There are some cute bikinis, but I think at this age, I might as well just have her wear a swim diaper. Once she can walk, we’ll see if we can find some cute bikinis.

Now mama (that’s me) herself is completely out of bikinis that fit her chest unless she wants to look like a pornstar ( which she doesn’t). I just ordered 4 new bikinis (FINALLY!) and cannot wait for the them to come some time next week. I am excited and scared at the same time, because in the past I could rely on everything fitting me exactly like the model on the pictures, now it’s a bit different (hopefully not for long) with me having to try and picture what it’s going to look like on me. We’ll see, we’ll see….

I have more pool photos coming up from our recent pool playdate and Father’s Day.

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When I was a naive pregnant girl, I dreamed of the time when I would put my newborn in a sling and go to events in a beautiful dress with my baby peacefully sleeping next to my chest and only waking up to breastfeed {what? celebrities do it!}  In the back of my mind, I knew that chances were  good that I wouldn’t get the kind of baby that just sleeps anywhere you take her, but I was dreaming of the best case scenario- what else did I have to do? When Alexis came along, of course, she was the compelete opposite of a baby who would EVER fall asleep or do anything except on her own terms. And that is fine, I like me a strong baby. However, that meant that we had to learn, adjust, figure out ways of how to lead our life while “bowing down to the princess” and most importantly just WAIT for her to grow a little bit.

I am sure some of you have been in this situation: a great evening adult event (kids are allowed) that you really really really want to go to, a 3-6 months old baby that goes to sleep at 7-8pm, no babysitter or not willing or don’t want to use a babysitter yet. What are the parents to do? Skip it? Go and hope the best?

Well, after a successful 4th of July party with Alexis (along with a few other events none of which were late night ones), I feel more confident in her ability to handle outings and parties. But at the same time, there is a lot of things we, as parents need to do, to ensure a smooth event.

Andrew and I are of the mind that there is no need to deprive a baby of anything, or make it uncomfortable for her/him if you can avoid it. So all our outings are mostly focused on making sure Alexis is good and happy and trying to prevent any meltdowns. I also don’t believe in segregating baby-less friends and friends with babies, nor in getting a non-family babysitter until Alexis can walk. So that leaves us attending parties (even late night ones) with Lexi in tow. And the first such party, after Alexis became more manageable outside of home, happened to be the 4th of July party. It was a great opportunity for us to experience what it is like, as well as see if it’s even feasible to bring Lexi along to social events. It was a true success! We kept her out a bit longer than I was comfortable with, but our friends wouldn’t let us go since we hadn’t seen them much in the last year. So we ended up leaving the house at 7pm for the party and getting back home at 12 am. I will write all about the amazing event with lots of colorful beautiful photos in a few days, but for now I’d like to address the act of taking a baby to such events.

{Our second adult outing happened last weekend, when we took Alexis on a boat. She was up from 7:30am till 12pm, when she fell asleep in her carseat. It was also a success and I am now getting more and more confident and her ability to handle being out and about}

We’ve only done this a few times and we still have a lot to learn and thing, as usual, will be changing at the speed of light (hopefully for the better), but here are a few things I learned from our first LATE night “party” with Alexis. (most of these will probably be obvious to everyone with older kids}

• Make sure your baby naps well and long all throughout the day. {If that means rocking him/her multiple times back to sleep to get that magic 1.5-2 hours nap, then do it. While I believe having a baby nap well doesn’t ensure that they can stay up better or longer towards the end of the day, it will at least ensure that they are not LACKING day time sleep and are too fussy because of that.}
• Pack everything you’ll need hours before you have to leave. {It’s better to pack the night before or that morning, so that you could just grab the baby and go right as she wakes up.}
• Plan a nap 1-1.5 hrs before you have to leave and attempt to make it last 1-1.5hrs. {A baby’s sleep cycle lasts about 40 minutes, but according to E. Pantley, in order for them to truly rest and receive ALL the benefits of a nap, it has to last somewhere around 1.5 hours.}
• Try to be ready to run out of the door the second your baby is up. {Easier said than done, I know! In fact, in our case, even though we tried SO HARD to follow this rule, we still only managed to get out of the house an hour after she woke up.}

The reason for the few last ones is because later at night babies are on a short fuse and get tired faster. If you can concentrate on not wasting that valuable awake time on running around the house packing things or getting ready,you’ll have more luck. If your baby falls asleep easily in the car and everywhere else, then you don’t even need to read this, since your outings probably resemble this: out and awake, tired and asleep- rinse and repeat}

• I am a big believer in being prepared. I don’t always know WHAT to be prepared for or with and learn by mistakes, but if there is a chance I will need something, I go for it. So for me it’s essential to bring any favorite toy or item imaginable with us when it comes to late night outings because I NEVER know when Alexis is going to have a problem and/or what will cheer her up. So my advice is bring everything you can think of, at least for the first few outings while you’re just trying to figure out what works for your baby. For any other trip that happens during the day, it’s a bit more manageable without a multitute of things, but for the first late night trips, you just don’t know how the baby will react to being up past their bedtime.
• Try to recreate your bedtime routine when you are away. I brought her naptime books. A few times that we were out, it really helped to read her (back then from memory) naptime books before putting her to sleep. Again, that’s for babies who resist napping/sleeping outside of home.
• If a baby is interested and stimulated (not OVER stimulated), she can go for many more hours being awake and happy than she would at home in a boring familiar environment. I can now rely on Alexis being ok for about 3-4 hours when we are out, without a meltdown. She would be tired, but if she’s seeing things she’s interested in and people she is interested in, she will stay awake without so much as a peep. That being said all babies are different and other babies might get too overwhelmed by the stimulation when they are tired. Do test your baby’s temperament when opportunity presents, so that way you’ll know your baby’s threshold.
• Speaking of thresholds,they are constantly changing. Remember the failed Easter trip 2 months ago? Alexis would react very differently to it now.
• Do plan where you’ll be changing the baby and if there is a quiet place for you two to retreat to, if need be.
• BRING A CARRIER. While Alexis enjoys being in our arms more, being in a carrier once she was really tired, kept people away from her and not overstimulating.
• Don’t wait for her to cry to get a clue. Once she starts getting fussy despite the attention and new sights and sounds, it’s time to go or to put her to sleep there. She won’t fuss if she’s interested in what’s going on, despite of tiredness. Fussiness is probably a sign that she’s beyond the point of no return {or bored}. Retreat!
• Make sure that she is comfortable otherwise. That she is not too hot, not too cold, that her clothes aren’t irritating, feed her on demand (OBVIOUSLY!). This is the time to make sure your baby is completely comfortable, because if she is bothered by anything ( a scratchy tag, temperature, hunger) she will also be more likely to break down.
• Finally, and I consider this probably one of the most important points: invest in a comfortable cool car seat. I cannot tell you the difference it made having her in a better carseat. The fact that she WILL fall asleep in it, if the car is running and she is sufficiently tired means that we can go to a party and leave for home expecting her to sleep in the car. I realize most people don’t have the same problem of babies not sleeping in their carseat, but it was a real thing for us before we switched to a cool roomy convertible one. She would have horrible meltdowns in her old carseat if she was tired.  At the end of  4th of July party she wouldn’t fall asleep no matter what I did: rocked her in a rocking chair in a quiet dark room, nursed her, sang to her. But when we were ready to go home, I got her drowsy with some nursing and rocking and then put her into the car seat and she was out the whole ride back. Marvelous!

Another tip that I will be using next time:

If your baby is wearing an extra special outfit, buy two and pack the other one to go. If she doesn’t end up needing it, you can always return it, but if the first one is ruined, you at least have a backup that is just as nice.

We are going to test this out once again when we go to Orlando for my MIL’s wedding reception which starts at 6pm and I am hoping for a similarly successful event.

What do/did you do to make your evening trips and events with a small baby successful?

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Here is what you’re about to see:

• her first crawl-like move
• lots of playing
•  attempting to grab kitty’s tail and laughing her butt off
• hilarious peekaboo
• talking to grandma over skype
• stealing mommy’s drink
• first swing ride
• and more more more

The video is pretty long and was not made for the blog but for us, so if you sit through the whole 10 minutes, I’d be surprised. I did leave the funniest thing for the ending.

{all music is by Disney}

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Last two weeks on Instagram and cell phone photos

1. Idiot parents
2. New car seat and first time asleep in the car without a meltdown. WIN!
3.  Peace out
4. A little outing to get some food
5. Same as above
6. Hanging out at whole foods waiting for daddy to come out because it was too cold inside
7. Pretty in pink on Instagram Elena-edition
8. Pretty in pink Lexi-edition
9. Pretty ladies handing out at home in our Moby wrap

1. sitting up like a big girl
2. chewing on tiny love
3. playing on her own while mommy cooks ( a first!)
4. trying on newly received bikinis from VS
5. trying on newly received swimsuit for Lexi, which was just not big enough for her to grow into. Adorable nonetheless
6. CRAWLING!!!!! No, not completely, just trying…
7. Playing with feet in the morning
8. Taking 30 minutes to myself to relax and read a book
9. break interrupted by this cutie. It’s ok, I didn’t want to rest anyways

1. Playing on her mat again
2. Hanging out on the front porch swing- she loves doing that
3. Blowing bubbles on the front porch
4. Attempting to crawl
5. Trying out our new parasol for Mutsy ( love it!)
6. Completely dehydrated as evidenced by my strangely flat belly
7. No bake cake (YUMMY)
8. Helping daddy build the new Finn&Emma gym
9. Playing with the gym

1. She prefers playing sitting up rather than on her back
2. trying to catch the wooden teether
3. in-camera snapshots of Lexi’s first playground trip
4. Morning walks, hurrying home since it was really really hot
5. All dressed up and pretty
6. Big freaking boobs – still can’t get used to them
7. Going over to a friend’s house and shopping, looking like someone died
8. Being beyond adorable in her carseat
9. Lexi’s reaction to me singing “the Mermaid” song

4th of July spoilers:

1. What was supposed to be Lexi’s outfit
2. Getting read and running late
3. In the car, hair is already falling
4. left: her 4th of july outfit, right: what she ended up wearing after a diaper blowout
5. Taking a break from the party and trying to nurse Lexi to sleep
6. same as above
7. No luck, she’s too hyped
8. My two loveys
9. Late night party girls- we got home at 12am, thankfully she fell asleep in the car (thank you, new carseat!)

Also I want to let you guys know about this awesome service I found recently that takes your Instagram photos and turns them adorable mementos with just a click of a button. With so little time to do picture books and baby books (which I’m still planning on doing), this is a great way to just take 1 minute to turn some of your best Instargram photos into posters, picture books, mini books and stickers. I am absolutely IN LOVE with all that they offer. It’s super easy to do and the best part is it’s CHEAP!

You simply connect it with you account and pick which pics you want to include or hit select all and two weeks later you will have a mini book, strickers or a poster in your mailbox.

Check mine out.

This is a minibook. Each has 50 photos and you get 2 books in one order for $12

I have one for myself and gave on to my mom to remember the first months of Alexis’ life.

The stickers are so much fun and I can imagine can be used with kids as a reward system. What kid doesn’t love looking at their own pictures?

I  put half of them on my laptop and that way each day I get to see my little baby on my wrist pad.

And finally my favorite product is the poster. I totally meant to give it to my mom to take with her to Russia, but we both completely forgot, so now I am trying to decide where to hang it. {any ideas?}

You can enter this quick and simple giveaway for a chance to win 1 poster, a minibook and stickers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was NOT compensated for this post. Printstagr.am let me create the products to try. All opinions are my own.

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I am trying to catch up with all the photos posts that I’ve planned, so I am hoping once they are all done, I will be more current on things and events. The way Alexis naps, cooking and cleaning have to go by wayside, as I try to get at least 10-20 minutes of blogging during each nap. Sometimes I luck out, sometimes I can’t even get that. That’s life.

So for a few days/weeks you’ll see older photos and posts from when Alexis was 2.5 months and on.

Here we go:

We live relatively close to the beach, about 15-20 minutes to the closest public beach, or more to some other fun ones. Right now, when Alexis is small, beach trips are limited due to many factors. Up until now we couldn’t really take her anywhere without a major meltdown in the car seat. We got a new convertible car seat and another one coming for 2 week trial review, so we’ll see how she does then, but I am very hopeful. Another reason is this is Florida, which means 8 am and it’s too hot to go anywhere with a small baby. So when we can do baby sunscreen at 6 months and swim in the ocean is when I can expect to go back to weekly beach trips. Lexi is like mama, she LOVES water, so I am excited to see how she reacts to the ocean. The key will be to make sure she is comfortable in the heat. My plan is to get a beach tent plus 2 strong battery operated fans plus baby sunscreen plus early mornings and a lot of nursing sessions to keep her hydrated. I am crossing my fingers that will work.

Anyways, our first trip was selfish. We really really wanted to go to the beach, even if just for a few minutes and a few photos and the sunset. Thankfully, Alexis was doing just fine that day and handled the car well and I actually managed to get her to sleep sometime during the walk to the beach. Looking at these pictures, she was soooo little… It’s only been 2 months and she’s a different baby.

The day we went was unfortunate: very windy and kind of chilly, so I held Alexis close and shielded her from the wind and the sun. We spread a blanket on the sand and sat shoulder to shoulder, relaxing for the first time since the birth of our daughter. It was nice to not be so focused on things and just lay back on my husband’s chest with our 2.5 months old baby girl in my arms. It’s a shame there isn’t a picture of the both of us, but I am still trying to get the hang of doing self-portraits while juggling a baby. Eventually, I’ll go back to being able to include our whole family into the picture, not just one of us + Alexis.

She eventually woke up and I nursed her leaning against my hubby’s back. It was getting colder so we pulled out her adorable terry hoodie from My O Baby that she only manage to wear once.

And then the fuss train arrived and Andrew strapped her into our Nordic carrier (btw, I just noticed that it’s on sale for only $79  and this is my favorite carrier, so I wanted to point that out in case someone is looking)  walking around singing to her while I took pictures of the beach and people around.

There was some prayer group at the beach or something along those lines, raising hands in the air and chanting. It’s amazing how the beach changes with seasons and times of day. During season, the beaches are crowded with tourists, and at sunset the locals come out, summertime comes and you won’t see a soul on some of the beaches, those are my favorite times to go.

Finally, the sun went down and we rushed home. For the next week, we’d remember how nice it was to get out and go to the beach and feel normal again. It only gets better from here on out.

A month or two later, we took another trip to the beach, however by the time we got in the car and got there, the clouds gathered and the wind picked up indicating the inevitable Florida shower, so we had to quickly pack back up and go home. It was just as I closed the car door that the rain starting pounding on the windshield.

I feel so blessed to live near the beach. I cannot even begin to imagine the fun times to be had when Alexis is big enough to swim and play in the water. We got a sneak peak of what it’s like to have a “beach daughter” with Gabby (and another one here) and are looking forward to repeating it with Lexi.

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One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t journal my life in NYC as a model. (There isn’t much else I regret) What an awesome blog would that have made!

I just don’t know why I didn’t, but the thought didn’t even cross my mind, even though I had a blog back then, that I put on hold while modeling.

Not only did I not write about it, but I failed to take any pictures that weren’t with my cell. I guess when your job is to be photographed, the last thing you want is more photography. So I would snap quick pics with my cell when I was bored and that was that. But how much fun would it have been to write a blog about the fabulous underbelly of modeling?

But instead I have hundreds of low quality iPhone shots from castings, shows, shoots and life  ( well plus a bunch of unrealistic shots from my portfolio that would say nothing about what being a model is like).

I guess it would have been strange walking into castings with a professional camera or dragging this heavy bohemeth with me to shoots, dinners, award shows and clubs.

I still, to this day, have certain designers or casting directors call me (via assistants, of course) to be in a show or promoters texting about a club opening or some event they are inviting me to. I haven’t been in the business since 2009 and have let them know I’m no longer in NYC. But I guess connections are everything, aren’t they? I remember I always thought it was strange how some casting directors thought you were THE SHIT and others thought you were “Meh!” How opinions differ. And how much luck is involved in making it as a model or not. I would have really liked to have stuck with it long enough to see but I started way too late and soon it was time for us to think about kids. Right before I left NYC for good (at that time I didn’t know I was not going to come back. I was only going home for the holidays, but ended up deciding to stay), I was sent to a casting for American Eagle’s new line Aerie. See, the way things work is you go to anywhere from 1 to 10 castings a day and if you’re good, you might get one or two that day (depending on the size of the job). If these are big castings (like campaigns), then you can go for months without getting any big ones (because the competition is fierce). But it’s all about making sure you have steady work and if you’re new to the scene, like I was, it’s also about making connections and building your book.

JOBS:

1. fashion show prep

2. bridal shoot in Miami

3. same bridal shoot. I just LOVED that dress

4. After a show in our model’s apartment

5. a bridal show

6.another fashion show (after hair/make up)

7. showroom

8. some shoot

9. going home after a shoot (people on the subway probably thought I was crazy with that make up, but i had no time to remove it since i was already running late to a casting)

So the Aerie campaign casting went well but I didn’t even give it second thought, because chances were that someone else with a kick-ass book would get the job. That was until I got a callback and then after that a hold (a callback is when they want to see you again after having narrowed down their choice to fewer girls and a hold is an actual hold put on a certain day making sure the model is available for them for the day of the shoot while they are trying to decide between 2-3 girls). This was huge -to be put on hold by American Eagle. It was between me and another girl. I had to delay my flight home but didn’t end up getting the campaign. They picked the other girl because I was “just too European looking for AMERICAN Eagle”. Totally understandable. And damn my Russian genes! (ok not really)

Just random in mirror shots of outfits I wore.

1. Getting ready for Halloween
2. Going to a party (BCBG dress)
3. not sure what that photo was lol
4. dressing room
5. this is how skinny i was. and that’s how skinny you HAD to be to model seriously (in NYC). I was not the skinniest girl by far. Yet strangely enough I was healthy, ate healthy, excersised. A bit of an akward pose too.
6. Trying on a gown for some award show I was going that evening
7. at the gym (boo, I want my abs back)
8. going to a party. I think this was for Britney Spear’s birthday at Tenjune and she never showed to her own bday party, but there were stilt walkers (it was during the circus album)
9. going to a casting
10. going to a casting
11. going to a casting
12. going somewhere (apparently)
13. this one is funny to me, because I look soooooo tired. I rememeber clearly it was the morning after some really late party night
14. going to a party
15. going to a casting
16. My christmas dress

I did have fun though. Oh how much fun I had! Would I let my daughter model? There’s nothing I won’t support Alexis in doing but, like hell, she will go there alone until she’s 18, only if I can travel there with her. That’s even if that is something she wants to do.

I’d love to do a regular Flashback Friday post, but I gotta be realistic. I have almost no time and a million more relevant posts that I want to write, so this type of post will have to be a spur of the moment kind of thing, like this time.

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I am way behind on posting photos and blogging about things, because I get 10-20 minutes every nap to blog which is not even close to enough time to write a post, let alone prepare photos for it.

I read somewhere recently that the best gift you can give a mom blogger is 2 hours of uninterrupted time to blog. This couldn’t be more true and that’s the luxury I don’t have even when I ignore dishes, cooking and cleaning.

About 2  months ago, we went to visit some of our friends and introduce them to Lexi. We hadn’t seen them for a long time prior to that, so we were all looking forward to the visit.

As expected, when we arrived they were already 3-4 drinks into the “party” and were having fun with their other friends preparing for a fishing trip they were taking off on that evening. Alexis was sleeping ( exhausted after a huge meltdown in a car) , so my mom volunteered to stay with her while we went in.

When my baby girl was up, my mom brought her out, all sleepy and disoriented and the whole gang just started “oohing and ahhhhing” and I am sure scared her a bit. So I picked her up and J. walked up to her to say hello. She kept looking at me, like “Is this ok?” and then he takes her in her arms and she just breaks down in tears (broke my heart). She wouldn’t calm down for a while regardless of what I did and I felt so bad.

J kept repeating “My sons never cried. I’d put them on my shoulders and we’d go places”

Yeah probably not at 2.5 months, J, not at 2 and a half months.

So I kept her away from “loud voices” and “beard” while Andrew and I took turns walking around with her

Honestly, that was my first experience with someone getting into her face and next time I’ll know to just shut it down or warn the “new person” to take it slow and smile at her from some distance before taking her into their arms. By the end of the evening, our pouty and quiet Lexi warmed up slightly to both men and actually smiled at them with a very tentative smile.

But what I really appreciated is that one of them stayed back the whole time, watching, being careful, not scaring Alexis. By the end of the evening, he gently walked up to her, gently smiled at her and she just lit up.

We’re going back there for a nice 4th of July party that J holds every year and this time I am guarding my Lexi until I see she’s totally fine with all the people. These 2 months might have made a difference because she absolutely loved Leeka who visited on Father’s Day and spent most of the time being carried and kissed by her. I’ll post pics in a week or so, but she had so much fun with her and a smile never left her face.

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As expected we’ve been given a good share of guesses from friends,family and strangers alike as to who they think Alexis looks like. To us, she looks like her own person. We talked about it today and  she looks like either one of us, which is absolutely amazing! Her features are so distinct. I am so curious and excited to see how her baby features transform into kid features. If we had to choose, we both tend to think she now looks more like me as a baby, while before she looked more like Andrew as a baby. It’s really hard to say because Andrew doesn’t have many baby pictures. Most people who choose to express their opinion on the matter say she looks like daddy.

So I thought I would post our baby pictures so that you could compare and see if you notice any resemblance between Alexis and I or Alexis and Andrew.

Below are pictures of me at 2 years of age and 6 months of age.

Here is Andrew as a baby (not sure of age) and as a small kid (also no age)

On a related but unrelated topic, while looking for these photos I bumped into the project I did a few years back where I recreated my childhood photos. Those are fun, I need to do more. And I will certainly do these type of photos with Alexis as she grows.