A Week of Bliss

I took the entire week of Thanksgiving off from work to spend time with my family!!  I ran into some issues that kept the week from being as I had envisioned - some family members got sick, I had to do some catch up work from home due to last week's computer crash, and other life stuff got thrown my way.

Even though the week didn't go as planned in my mind, it went exceedingly well!!

The weather was glorious for most of the week so I got a good bit of exercise in.  During our walks, Alessandra either seemed playful or slept in her stroller.

Here's Alessandra looking down while riding in her stroller.  She was wearing her penguin knit cap from grandma Gosewehr.

More stroller time - she sticks her lips out often - usually with suckling movements.  It looks like she's making a kissy face!

I got more cuddle time and naps in with Alessandra than I'm used to.  It was so nice to just have time to slow down and enjoy our moments together.  I'm so often in a rush to get things done - dishes, bath, pumping, work, etc. - it was so wonderful to just take in each moment without worrying about what I had to do next.

We took some selfies to send to Daddy while he was at work.

Instead of just the enrichment hour that I usually strive for with Alessandra, I spent multiple hours per day working on her skills.  We worked on everything from vocabulary in different languages, to sitting up, rolling front to back, rolling back to front, and even standing and taking steps with assistance. Alessandra is such a determined little lady so it is always fun to see how much she learns and how much she pushes herself during our skill sessions.  Sharing these sessions with Ryan over the weekend was an absolute joy.  I love how his face lights up when he sees her do new things. I love how Alessandra always looks for him and smiles at him upon seeing his face.

Alessandra is working on learning to crawl.

She didn't mind sitting while she played with her giraffe.

But then she seemed unsure about the whole thing.

Rolling around is a frequent occurrence these days.

Alessandra likes sitting and standing on Daddy's tummy.  She usually coos at him and they make faces at each other.

Alessandra wants to walk like the big kids.  She knows she has to put one foot in front of the other but isn't stable yet.

For months, Alessandra has been laying in her gym daily (thanks to our friends SarMar) but she recently decided she prefers sitting or standing at her gym.

As I said in a previous post, I really enjoy what I do for a living so I'm not about to be a stay at home mom - but I absolutely look forward to vacation and making time for the important people in my life.  Now that Alessandra has entered my life, I just wish every day had a couple more hours so I could spend more time with her.  So many things came up that tried to get in the way, but I needed this past week with her. She is my absolute joy & I feel so blessed to be her Mama. Although I would like to take all the credit for the amazing little lady that she is, so much of the pace at which Alessandra learns and the wonderful joy she is to be around is just because of her innate personality.  She is my wonderful little blessing & I try to cherish every moment with her.