After a bath last Thursday

I know you guys hate it when I post without adding pictures of Leah, so here are a couple I took of Leah after her bath on Thursday, February 5, 2009:


This is Leah blowing razberries at me...she's so goofy :)


Leah being a brat and not letting me put her diaper on

I finally resigned from my job!

It's official...I finally resigned and put in my notice at the end of January. My last day of work will be Wednesday, February 25, 2009.

Chris has been very busy with the business and it is just getting too hard for him to watch Leah and be productive during working hours so it was time for me to leave.

God is so awesome...I received a text message from Chris today at work about a new client, that Chris has been after for the last few years, finally decided to do some shooting with us (talk about timing). The awesome part is that not only do they want to, but they want to guarantee 4 shooting days a year! God is just such an awesome God and He ALWAYS provides...we just have to be patient and wait on His timing :D

Leah's doctor's appointment

So today was Leah's 6 month checkup and according to her pediatrician, she is doing awesome!

Leah is now 27.75" tall (2'3.75" - 95th percentile) and weights 17lb. 15oz (79th percentile).

Leah playing prior to her nap today.

It must be a good nap :) hehe

Leah is 6 months old

I can't believe that Leah turned 6 months on Monday, January 26, 2009 (Chinese New Year)!

Leah's two bottom teeth are coming in and she's getting so tall. Her next appointment is this coming Wednesday so we'll see what her doctor has to say. For those still wondering...No, I haven't started Leah on solids yet. I just bought her baby food freezer trays online, which should come on Monday. I'll probably start after her appointment on Wednesday.

Here are some pics I took this morning:


Leah's two teeth...do you see it?




























Leah being naughty...trying to pull the tablecloth














Leah being mischievous after I told her "no" on touching the tablecloth

Leah's first accident

Here's the story:

Chris took Leah to the office since he had to get a big project done and I was not able to switch my days at work for whatever reason. I text Chris in the morning and told him that he can make a little bed for Leah on the floor next to him with the cushions on the sofa at the office and to bring extra blankets to cover the cushions. The day goes by and I decided I would text Chris to see how things are going...so I text him and asked him if he made a little bed with the cushions, he said "yes" and that Leah is sound a sleep (I thought...that's wonderful!)

After work, I met Chris and Leah at the office....I noticed that there was only one cushion on the floor (NOTE: I said cushion"s"), but I didn't say anything since it seem to have worked out.

WELL.....then Chris gave me a look and spilled the beans :D HAHA

He said, "I was working along and Leah was sleeping, all of a sudden Leah starts crying so I turned around to look at her and she's face up on the floor crying...she must have rolled off the cushion and hit her head".

The good news is that Leah is okay and Chris is now putting down two cushions :)

Christmas pictures

Sorry, I've been slacking a bit! It's been so busy that I haven't had time
to sit down and update the blog. Since so many of you are asking about
updated pictures, here are a few:


Leah w/her cousin Lauren at Christmas after Leah
changed into comfy clothes.

Leah after her nap at Christmas :)

Leah with her grandpa at Christmas
(Chris' dad...if you couldn't already tell the resemblance).
Leah couldn't be bothered with more pictures, so she's watching TV :D LOL

Leah in her Christmas outfit

Leah and Grandma Lorri

Leah with her great-grandparents (Chris' mother side)

Leah with her great-uncle (Chris' mother's brother)

Leah with her great-great aunt and uncle,

We were actually able to catch a smile on camera when Leah got
her "First Bible" : )

Sleeping Beauty

Yesterday Leah was starting to get tired earlier than normal so I decided to get her ready for bed. I bathed her, we had some mommy & daughter time,  and I fed her.

Normally Leah will go to bed around 9:30-10:00 at night, but she was so tired that she fell asleep at 8:45. Usually she wakes around 6:00-6:30 in the morning to eat on days that I have to go to work, but since I didn't have to work the next day and she didn't wake to feed, I decided to let her sleep through and skip the feeding.........

6:30 came and went. At 7:30, I wasn't too concerned. At 8:30, I had my ear against the monitor hoping to hear something but didn't, so I went to check on her to make sure everything was okay. By 9:30, I was in a LOT of pain (you moms know what I'm talking about when you skip a feeding or in this case two!) and was getting worried that she was hungry, but told myself not to wake her because if she was hungry she would wake herself...it wasn't until 11:00 o'clock that I FINALLY had to WAKE HER UP...she was still asleep! She might have slept all day for all I know, but being the concerned mom that I am, I felt that I had to wake her up so she can eat. Leah slept a whopping 13 hours straight! Can you believe it?

THEN....a whole hour and a half later she lets out a huge yawn while we were playing...I couldn't BELIEVE that she was tired already. Leah slept another 3 hours! What a sleepy head :)

I thought for sure that I would have a hard time putting her to bed tonight, but she was tired and went to bed at 9:00 PM. She must be growing! LOL

Leah, Cody, and Chris in front of our Christmas tree

Leah at work

I was at work today and I get this text message from Chris that reads "I'm helping daddy" with this picture :) hehe...isn't she so darn cute!

Leah's First Christmas Tree

After spending 20 minutes stuffing Leah into her snowsuit we were finally on our way to cut down our Christmas tree. Once we got there it was bitterly cold and over a foot of snow. It took us a good while to find our tree whereas years past it never took us long...it was probably because it was Leah's first tree and we had to find the perfect tree :).

We ended up going far from the beaten track and trekking through over a foot of fresh snow to find a decent tree and once we found it, poor Chris had to drag the tree all by himself since I was carry Leah (and Chris wanted to bring Cody, our dog). The farm has a nice petting zoo and a store with fudge, hot cider, and other yummy treats, but we didn't go in since Leah slept the WHOLE time!

Leah's all ready for her big day :)

Thank you Grandpa & Grandma Cindy for my snowsuit, it kept me nice and warm!

Chris took this picture of Leah while waiting for me in the car

This would've been a nice picture if Chris was patient and waited another second :) haha

Leah had her 4 month checkup today

Chris took this picture of Leah and me while

we were waiting for Leah's doctor to come in.

Leah had her 4 month checkup and another round of shots today. Leah weighed 16 lb. 2 oz. (88th percentile) and was 26.5" long (97th percentile). 

Her doctor was very happy with the way she is growing and said that we can introduce solids whenever, which brought up my question of starting Leah on Avocados instead of rice cereal....I know it sounds crazy to some but here's my reasoning.

Avocados have a ton of nutrients, great for normal growth and development of the central nervous system and brain, is sodium and cholesterol free, do not require cooking, and is easy to mash and very creamy. I can go on and on about why I think avocados are a good first food for babies, but I won't bore you (too late LOL). The good news is that Leah's doctor does not have a problem with me starting her on Avocados :)

Anyway, we probably won't start her on solids until 6 months since research has shown that a baby who is breastfed exclusively for the first 5-6 months have a reduced chance of obesity, but of course that will all depend on when Leah is ready for solids. I personally would like to wait until 6 months, but if Leah is ready before that then of course we will introduce solids earlier. 

Picture Day

We had our first family portrait today and I guess you could say that it was very obvious that it was our first.

Our appointment was at 12:15 PM and we were there for hours! They only took about 12 pictures, but we had to choose the layouts for each picture that we liked, how many we wanted, the designs, etc. It was mind numbing!

Anyway, we should be getting the pictures back in about 2 weeks so hopefully it didn't turn out too bad.

Leah's First Babysitter

Well it happened...Leah was away from us for a little over 6 hours on November 20, 2008.

Chris had a big project on Tuesday and Wednesday so I worked Monday, and planned to work, Thursday and Friday to make up for the two days, but then Chris had appointments/meetings on Thursday that came up...ugh! I would've called in to work to let my boss know I wasn't going to come in, but I had a lot to do since my boss was going to be gone for a week and I had to prepare for our employee benefit meetings.

So, Auntie Frankie to the rescue :) 

She watched Leah for us and did an excellent job!

Not even a 1/2 hour later I get a text with this picture of Leah sound asleep (isn't she so cute). She slept 3 times in that 6 hour span...I guess you can say Leah was extremely comfortable with and at Auntie Frankie's. I bet it's because we see and go over there almost every week :D LOL.

Anyway, when Chris was done with his appointments, he went to pick up Leah and she was so happy to see daddy, but also very comfortable lying in her bed that Aunt Frankie made for her. Leah was just lying there content as can be :)

Thank you Frankie for watching Leah!

Back to work :(

Leah has been giggling, responding, and smiling a lot more lately. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. It seems like it was just yesterday when we found out that we were pregnant and finally expecting our first child. There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for this precious gift and it amazes me how much love I have for her. There are days where I just look at her and can't believe that she's actually ours...she truly is a gift from God. Now speaking frankly, It also amazes me that God provided us, women, an ability to feed our young and give them the nutrients they need to grow and be healthy. I sometimes look at Leah and am just amazed that she is growing so wonderfully with just the milk that is produced by my body and have no need for any solid foods or formula at this point in her life...thank you God!

Anyway, I headed back to work on November 3 and I have to admit that it was extremely difficult and that I almost didn't even make it. I was extremely emotional that morning while I was feeding Leah and the poor girl was trenched in my tears, but thankfully she went back to bed and didn't seem to be bothered by the wetness of her hair. For those of you that don't already know, Chris watches Leah while I work 3 days out of the week. He is doing an excellent job with her, but of course our prayer is that God will make a way for me to stay home and take care of Leah, while Chris focuses on our business. Our biggest challenge at this point is that health insurance cost so much that it's extremely difficult for self-employed individuals to purchase insurance at a reasonable price.

No more mohawk

These pictures were taken with my cell phone. Leah's hair has finally grown out so we had to say "bye bye" to the mohawk. I know everyone's upset about it, but you all knew it had to go away sooner or later :) 

I took this picture over the weekend. Leah is wearing her new PJ's from Auntie Frankie :)

Cheeze! Here's my new hairdo...do you like?

Mommy, I don't know what to do with all these toys!

Leah's 3 months old

I am so sorry that I haven't had time to update the blog. Leah's been doing awesome!

Her last doctor visit was the beginning of October when she got her first round of vaccinations. Leah weighed 12 lbs. 15 oz. and was 23" long. Her doctor said she's doing absolutely wonderful and that she looks beautiful and healthy.

Ever since I started a bedtime routine, Leah's been sleeping through the night. The longest she has slept so far is 8.5 hours and that's only because I got nervous and woke her up :) 

New Leah Pics

Big Yawn!!

With Great Grandpa

Awww

"I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way!"

Drying off after her first "real" bath

With "Snowy Bear" the same bear Michelle had when she was born....he's aged well!

More pics

Well as you can imagine things have gotten quite busy at the Grosso household lately. I've heard there's been a lot of people from both coasts requesting more pictures...so here I am while I SHOULD be sleeping I'm taking the time to honor your request....

Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of a newborn with their eyes open? Gotta say though...mighty cute isn't she?!  

Ahh back to the closed eyes....Leah getting burped after a feeding.

Ok admittedly not the most exciting picture...but you really haven't seen the back of her head yet ;). Plus do you know how hard it is to edit videos with just one hand? You can tell by the look on my face I am concentrating hard on making money to keep this baby in diapers.

Ok so at this point all she'll do is eat, sleep and poop. How many pictures of her sleeping can you stand? You certainly don't want to see the pooping, and no you can't see the feeding!  We'll get more pics up soon....

Pictures of Leah

Here is the first ever picture take of Leah Victoria Grosso. This is just two minutes after she was born.  Michelle had requested that the baby be placed right on her right after the was born, this picture was taken seconds after the cord was cut.

She looks so huge in this picture! This is where Leah got officially weighed.  You can see the "8lbs 9oz." on the readout.

 She definatley has mommy's lips!                                           

                                                                                      

"From such pain so much joy"