High Tea

One of my favorite holiday traditions is high tea at the Peninsula hotel - and this year my whole family was in town to do it together.

 

As a kid, I remember getting all gussied up for holiday tradition down in the city - our favorite being the Christmas Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances.....and I want Leo to have special events like that to look forward to every season too.  

And selfishly, is there anything better than endless tea, cold champagne and towers of divine goodies??

 

Leo is on a pretty pretectable schedule now, so I timed out our day so that we would take a solid nap while we were there, so for the first hour and a half I just let him sleep while we enjoyed ourselves.

 

 

And because we are all Leo obsessed, once we were finished, we had to wake up to have him soak it in and partake in a legit photoshoot.

   

We pushed him just a little too long, so I ended up having to feed him in some random hallway, but after he ate, he was back to his happy self. We all went to my house after tea, played games and made a big dinner before getting to sleep early in preparation for Christmas Eve

Leo - Month 3

::: 1 month recap ::: 2 month recap :::

Weight:  11lbs 10oz (3%) and 24.5inches (46%)

Clothes: I still have so much fun picking out your outfit everyday. I don't think your daddy ever gets a chance to pick out your clothes because I think about your outfit the night before and basically chase your dad in your room in the morning. I had to pack up all of your newborn clothes and you are almost out of 0-3 clothes too and moving onto 3 month and 3-6 months.

Sleep:  You are a great sleeper and have pretty much been sleeping through the night all month. You still sleep in your rock and play, but you sleep in your room. Your last bottle is at 7:30 and you sleep until 5:30amish. I typically put you back down unless you sleep until 6:30 or 7, but by 7am you are normally awake and ready to get out of bed to play with your daddy.

Schedule: I'm not following a strict schedule but we follow a routine of eat, activity, sleep. Right now your activity time lasts about 60-90 minutes and then you start to fuss and are ready to take a nap. This schedule lands you close to Moms on Call, which is what I followed in the beginning, and lends to 5-6 feedings a day and 2 long naps and 2 short ones.

Health: We are so thankful for your perfect health

Crying: You fuss when you are tired and I'm starting to find that you will fuss when you are bored with an activity...which is typically about 20 minutes of whatever we are doing.

 

Feeding:  You are eating 5-6 times a day and have moved to a 6oz bottle! I'm having to pump at least twice a day to keep up with you, but its worth it because it allows your dad to give you a bottle every night, and gives me the freedom to have babysitters feed you too!

Likes:  This month you've really started to actually like tummy time, you like screaming and being a silly boy, you LOVE your bath, you really love your Octotunes toy, and you have just loved the baby class we go to on Wednesdays.

Dislikes: You don't like to be tired or hungry, but your a pretty easy cookie to make happy again.

Milestones:  You've been a rolling machine! I bet you've rolled about 25 or 30 times since you learned how to 2 weeks ago. You'll have days where you will roll 5 or 6 times, and then other days were you wont roll at all. You're also grabbing and holding onto items really well, "talking" up a storm, sitting in your bumbo very well, and putting lots of weight on your legs too. 

Places You’ve Gone:  I'm starting to lose track at this point.....we don't seem to ever stop moving kiddo.

Visitors: Coco and Papa and your Aunt Hannah, Gar Gar, and Aunt Nellie have been in LA since the middle of December and are staying for another few weeks too. They are all obsessed with you and get into actual fights about who gets to push your stroller, or burp you or change your diaper.

Postpartum:  This is by far the first full month that I feel 100% back to myself. I seem to have my anxiety somewhat controlled and have truly just enjoyed being a mom this month without the terrifying feelings that I was having towards the end of my pregnancy and right when you came home. It feels really, really good to feel good. 

Roscoe: You've started to really notice Roscoe this month and even think he's funny when he barks. Everyone is very impressed with how good Roscoe is around you, which makes us very proud.

Christmas Recap

I thought I loved holidays....but now with a baby....my heart could barely take it. Christmas Eve started early for Joel and my dad so they could get in line at Santa Monica seafood to load up on live Lobster for dinner that night. They were 40th in line by 7:15am but got what they came for so we were happy as could be.

While they were gone I prepped the breakfast casseroles for Christmas day so that I didn't have to think about getting them done, and once Joel got home, we tagged team to get ready and we were at my parents condo a little after noon to start the day of celebrations! 

 

We spent most of the day at their house dancing, drinking good champagne, playing games and just enjoying being together. Leo has brought such an extra layer of joy to our family and we all seriously just sit and watch him and trade off kissing him like crazy people.  

 

 My cousins Erin and Danny joined us for dinner and we sat down for dinner right around 6pm. 

 

Joel killed it again and made 9 perfectly cooked lobsters  not an easy feat...especially considering we are in a rental with only 2 pots big enough to cook these massive things.

  

We paired them with a mushroom and truffle raviolli and asaparagus and ate like kings on Christmas Eve.

My sisters have been so amazing and every night stick Leo in the ergo carrier so Joel and I can eat with both hands (a true luxury these days). Them being here has seriously been such a vacation for US!  

 

We exchanged our Christmas Eve gifts (pajamas) and Joel and I left early to get Leo tucked in before Santa made his first grand appearnce at our house. 

Joel and I sat on the couch that night with a glass of wine and just listened to Christmas music and looked at the tree thankful beyond words for our biggest gift this year. 

 

Christmas morning the three (four, including Roscoe) opened up our family christmas presents, had coffee and cinnamon rolls, and then made it to church before my family joined us for brunch. 

 

We were all spoiled rotten....especially Mr. Leo.....

 

Our Christmas Card

And what a year it has been. We wish nothing but joy, good health, and happiness to you and your family. 

Five on Friday

Whoa.....has this week exhausted anyone else? Now I truly understand how the holidays really do get stressful. With every nap, I've tried to run a million errands, wrap gifts, get the house ready for guests, blah blah blah......so no big surprise.....I landed myself with a cold.

Between all of that though, my mom was here this week which was such a blast. She's actually the only reason I got anything done, but we've been running around like wild banchies moving her into the condo my parents rented and fitting in lots and lots of Coco and Leo time before the rest of my family gets in.

::: 1 ::: 

This summer my parents decided to rent a condo in LA for the holidays and thru January, and I went on the hunt to find a good spot for them. They wanted to be in a condo building with amenities, and I feel like we struck gold. The apartment is in Marnia Del Rey, about 20 minutes from my house, and is super updated and clean and beautiful. It's been so fun to hang there during the day, and I know it will be even more fun when my sisters and dad get into town.

::: 2 :::

I was so excited to have my mom join us for our weekly baby sensory class because Leo is so dang cute in the class. I was a little bummed because our teacher was out and the sub kind of sucked, but my mom and Leo still had a blast and all of the nannies showered Leo with tons of praise which made for a very proud Grandma (and mom!).

::: 3 :::

 

Wednesday night, Joel was nice enough to let my mom and I sneak away for a martinis and dinner at Masto's. We had such a fun time just gabbing and we actually managed to not talk about the baby the entire time!

 

::: 4 ::: 

It's actually been really cold in LA lately so I've needed to pick up a few warm items for Leo. I thought I could get away with these darling booties, but omg they suck. I think they stay on his feet for 10 seconds. Do you have a warm shoe/sock/boot option that actually stays on? Is the Ugg boot worth it? What about those snap booties? Let me know if you have wisdom to share. 

 

  ::: 5 ::: 

Have the happiest weekend ever! 

Weekend Report

So, I may have to coin this weekend as #bestweekendever

Friday morning, my cousins landed in from Chicago so Leo and I picked them up from their hotel and the four of us headed to lunch at Shutters. I brought Leo up to the lobby to nurse after lunch, and then we hung out and enjoyed the festiveness of Shutters. They had carolers, hot coco and cookies, and a really cute train that Leo seemed into.

 

We left my cousins around 3, stopped at home to walk the dog, and then picked up Joel from his office early so that three of us could go to The Grove for an early dinner and some Christmas shopping.

I asked for a booth off to the side of the restaurant so I could nurse the baby, and it worked out perfectly because after I fed the baby, he hung out happily while we ate dinner and let us enjoy a beer before it was time for us to hit the road



 
 

We chose to go to The Grove for our shopping because they do it up big around Christmas time. They had music, lights, fake snow, Santa....the whole bit.


 
We were home by 7:15 to give Leo a bath, but we had a great time. Friday night felt like Christmas Eve to me because my mom got into town Saturday morning!

Her flight was delayed a bit, so we were able to have a long breakfast with all of my cousins and then me, Dre, and Brianna, were able to leave the boys for a minute so we could get our nails done which was an awesome treat.

 
 As soon as my mom landed, we put her straight to work. We had tickets to a Maria Sharipova charity tennis event so my mom stayed with Leo and we escaped.

 
The first match we watched was Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish



After their match, we broke for (lots) of champagne, and then sat back down to watch Sharipova play.
 


We left pretty shortly after but Chelsea Handler and Will Arnett played a mixed doubles game with Sharipova and Roddick and then later stayed to do a comedy bit. 

We left early to go be with my mom, ordered pizzas and just enjoyed being together.

 

On Sunday, after one last breakfast with my cousins, we went for a long walk, hit up the grocery store, made dinner and hung out at home watching Leo roll around all day and just laugh and smile at his Coco. 
 
 

The rest of my family starts arriving at the end of this week so it's going to be a pretty amazing few weeks.