Catching Up

Photos from top to bottom: Lexi at 7 months, 1 year, and 15 months

Last fall (2010), I started this blog about Lexi with hopes of posting regularly to chronicle her growth and keep her far away family and friends up to date. Thus far, I have failed miserably at writing posts and I feel guilty about it. I have been taking and cataloging pictures and videos all along, but have not yet managed to post many of them here with witty descriptions. It has now been eleven and a half months since I started working full time for the University of Maryland (in their Office of Sustainability). The transition from stay-at-home mom to full-time working mom was not an easy one for me, even though I have wonderful family support to make things go smoothly. Lexi (at 10 months old) handled the transition beautifully and absolutely loves spending a few days a week with her "Mima" (grandma). For me, working full time has been much harder emotionally than I ever thought it could be before I had a child. For the first few months, I was exhausted all the time, in part because it took Lexi a long time to sleep through the nigh t consistently. Basically, I gave up for awhile on blogging and any other extraneous activity that would push my bedtime later and then we just got locked into a family routine wherein I hadn't carved out time for luxurious blogging. I told myself that it was fine because at least I was still managing to take lots of photos and videos, and to keep them organized by age and milestone, so that someday when I got a better handle on balancing everything I would be able to post them. Well, now that it is 2012 and I am deep in the balancing routine, I am taking back my blog! I will work simultaneously on adding a few posts about 2011 (posted by back date) to bring things current, as well as recent posts to kick off a new pattern regularly writing about funny things that Lexi does and things that interest her in the day to day.

Autumn in Vermont

Lexi took her second trip ever to Vermont. The last time she was there was this summer in late July and early August. Vermont sure has changed a lot in the last 2 1/2 months! Now it is chilly, the leaves are all gold, orange and yellow, apples are abundant for eating, and everyplace is decorated with pumpkins. Lexi has also grown up quite a bit since her first trip to VT. She is much more adept at grabbing things now, she eats solid food (including applesauce), and she can sit up unassisted. She is also noticeably bigger as many of our friends pointed out (she weighed about 14 pounds last time and now she weighs over 16 pounds).

In Vermont Lexi climbed her first mountain peak (climbed meaning she rattled her way up while attached to dad's chest in the Baby Bjorn that we borrowed from the Keatings). She was very excited when she reached the summit of Stowe Pinnacle and then it dawned on her that the climate was getting a bit windy and cold. In hat and mittens she was ready for a family photo. As soon as we climbed down she promptly decided that the best thing to do was to take a nap to recover from all the excitement. She slept peacefully for most of the descent and awoke in an excellent mood just a few minutes before we reached the car.

Above: (top right) Lexi in downtown Stowe before the hike; (bottom middle) DeLeons on the summit of The Pinnacle
Below: (left) Lexi at the end of her first mountainous hike; (right) Lexi at Shelburne Museum

Lexi's Summer Travels

Upon finding out that we were going to have a baby many people decided to give us advice. Much of this advice was very good, including some fine words of wisdom about the first six months from Bryan Keating: "Road trips!" We took this advice to heart and brought Lexi on her first road trip at six weeks of age (first to Tappahannock, Virginia which is about 2 hours away from our house and then to Charleston, Rhode Island which is about 9 hours away from our house). Since then she has also traveled to Rehobeth and Bethany Beaches in Delaware, Hampton Beach in New Hampshire, a few spots in Connecticut, Lake Champlain and Burlington in Vermont, Long Lake in Maine, Newburyport in Massachusetts, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and West Hollywood, California. At five months of age she has already been to eleven states!

Here are a few photos and stories of her summer adventures.

In early August she joined the party for her aunt Kate's birthday in Las Vegas. Her friends Maya (9 months) and Callie (2 years) were also there to celebrate and all three enjoyed hanging out in the cabana by the family friendly pool at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Since we were already so far west, Lexi and I decided to head to Los Angeles with Callie and her parents (Sasha and Kevin) for a few days of visiting. We had a great time exploring the neighborhood and soaking in the lovely California weather. Callie was always checking on Lexi and helping her out when toys were dropped or a pacifier was needed. Lexi decided that two year olds are wonderful to have around.






In mid-August we headed up to the beach house in Rhode Island where Patrick spent much of his summertime as a child. The house was built by Patrick's grandfather Brendan. We visited with cousins Adam, Molly, Ben, Matt and Jess. Lexi met Ada (daugther of Ben and Becky who is two months younger than Lexi), and Lucas and Julia (three year old son and one year old daughter of Matt and Jess). Lexi was particularly excited to show Ada how she plays on her mat and less excited about the stormy weather at Charleston Beach. During the drive up to Charleston Lexi's first teeth popped through! By the time we reached the beach house she had the nubs of two front bottom teeth and her mood was much improved from what it had been when we were packing for the trip.




After Rhode Island, Lexi and I continued on to New Hampshire and Maine to visit her Grammie and Grandaddy and spend some time with my Aunt Peggy in Uncle Wells at Long Lake where I spent much of my summertime as a child. Lexi was a bit scared of the lake itself, probably because the water is dark and she saw me swimming around in it which must have been very confusing for her. Her Grandaddy tried to dip her toe in the lake but at the moment her foot touched the water she began to screech. He quickly put her on his lap and patted her back to comfort her but she did not fully recover until she was certain that both she and I were safe from the lake's clutches. Her favorite parts of Maine were almost certainly watching Uncle Wells make funny faces at her and riding around on her Grandaddy's shoulders or in the crook of her Grammie's arm.