In "awe" of my daughter!!

It's 11:26 am in Kostanai,on Saturday morning, and my daughter is in her playpen, sleepin in just her diaper and her pink elephant. I was getting her out of her jammies, and she just was a tad fussy, so I thought perhaps a nap was a good idea. I put her in her playpen, in just her diaper (the horror!!) and she played for about 30 minutes while I grabbed some lunch and cleaned up the kitchen. I kept checking on her, not letting her see me, just to watch her. I think she got more gorgeous overnight.








She has been incredible! She took a bath last night, and was awesome. I expected tears and a very possible freak out episode, but she was fine. I put lil it of "tan water" in the tub, and set her in it. I gave her a cuple cups to play with, and washed her with a wash cloth and washed her hair. She was a super trooper. I put her on the bed and gave her a baby massage with Johnson's baby lotion. I love that smell! She was all smiles and giggles. I love her lil chubby body-so cute!! After a big cup of warm milk with bread in it, and a trip to the potty (where we read books), she went to bed about 9:30 last night and slept until 8:15 this morning. She sat up, and kinda looked around, then got abig smile on her face, like, 'oh yeah, I'm with my mommy..COOL!' I am getting MORE sleep since Leeza is here than I was before she was here! I went to bed later AND woke up earlier pre-Leeza. Last night I was in bed by 10:30, and slept in an extra hour and 15 minutes! Leeza is good for me!!!Upon waking, I put her on the potty and she did her business. The girl is practically potty trained. I give huge KUDOS to the Dolphin baby house-she is so easy going and happy! I haven't changed a poopy diaper yet!

Not sure what to do with your child while you take a shower? Put em on the potty-with some books, cups, and let em go to town! I put her on the potty after milk and bread last night before bed and we read books while she did her business. I think the potty was the best 700 tenge I've spent. I thought I'd try it, since I know she is used to it, but I did not expect it to be this easy!








When I compare Leeza to Sean at this age, I am even in more awe of the baby house. Sean didn't want to sleep in his crib, or poop in the potty. I could never do "Baby Wise"....I am lousy at the 'cry it out' method. Sean was also a real laid back baby, but the sleepin in his own crib and the potty training things were challenging for us.

Leeza is happy, content, and easy going. I am having so much fun with her! I did not expect it to be this easy with her. The challenge is finding things she likes to eat. If I could only feed her cookies,and crackers, it would not be an issue. She did eat over half her "porridge" for breakfast, and she ate 2 yogurts for lunch yesterday. She would not eat the soup I made (well, that I poured into a bowl and heated up in the microwave) for dinner, so I fed her half an apple. Before bed, she did drink a big coffee mug full of warm milk with bread in it. I tried to feed her the milk and cookies yesterday at her normal "milk cookie snack time" from the baby house, but she wasn't interested. She does like apples, because, of course, Apples are from Kazakhstan. She must have read the book. She seems all about wanting to make a new schedule with her momma. She won't eat cheerios (she just throws them) or scrambled eggs, or hardboiled eggs. She likes these crackers that I found some that taste like Ritz, but buttier.
She is RATHER FRUSTRATING to feed. :)

Tatiana is coming over at 1:00 to go to the market with me and we're going to get potatoes and some stuff to make "meat cutlets". She liked that at the baby house, so we'll try that.

I fed her a few bites of yogurt as a snack after breakfast, and she liked it, but you can tell the texture "weirds her out". I am not the baby house chef, and she is acutely aware of that. :) However, there is a new cook in town, and we both have to adjust to mommy's cooking.

However, Sean was never a big eater and his pediatrician told me over and over that he'd never seen a kid starve. I know Leeza won't starve either, but I just want to make sure I get her some protein in her diet.

She is really amazing and I am having the time of my life.I am really enjoying our "girl time", and I love having her all to myself right now. However, I can't wait for Joe and Sean to see her too! I can't wait for everyone to meet this charming little blue eyed pixie. She is so enchanting!

Yesterday evening, I put her in the ergo and we walked around and went to Central park, and then to Gros to get more yogurt. We were out over an hour. She was a trooper, even in the stupid snowsuit that she had to wear while I was too warm for a jacket. :) She was loving looking all around,and then took a power nap too. God bless that Ergo-it's a lifesaver. I am not even going to have Joe bring a stroller-I don't think we'll need it since she is so used to the ergo and there will be 2 of to help with feeding, etc.

I am so proud of her, and I can't get enough of my sweet angel baby.
God is SO good-and Leeza Grace is my daughter. It feels perfect. :)