Naomi's Weekend

Naomi had a very busy weekend full of get-togethers with her baby friends.  Here's the rundown:

Friday night:  One of the moms in my mom's group hosted a girls night at her house.  Instead of staying at home with the babies, the husbands decided they'd get together for a beer with the babies at a local bar.  They had a great time and even found a new use for the cupholders in the stroller - beer!  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the boys out with the babies but here are a couple of the moms:

Saturday night: Josh and I went to see Coldplay and Naomi stayed Kristen and Dom (one of my friends from my mom's group) and her twin boys, Conner and Noah.  Kristen's mom was in town so they had a third set of hands to help out.  Naomi had quite an eventful evening dining at A Cote (one of the nicest restaurants in town), running errands at Trader Joe's, and playing with the boys before going to bed.  Here are a few pictures of Naomi's evening as well as ours at the concert.

Sunday night: Sunday evening we went over to Amanda and Greg's house to bbq.  We met Amanda and Greg at a lactation support group we went to at our hospital.  After running into them in our neighborhood and discovering they lived just a short walk away, we decided we should get together.  Their baby, Eva, is just a couple of days younger than Naomi.  Naomi fell asleep at their place and we didn't want to wake her by putting her in the stroller so we ended up walking her home and using the stroller to carry all our stuff.



And one last picture just because her face in this one cracks me up:

A very serious boogie

Weekend photos

Naomi holding onto her "lovey"

 Milk Drunk

 Crib fun

Play time with Ana!

Hanging out outside...

...so I can hang our diapers on the new line Josh put up

Who's Who in the Kaplan Family

Here are photos of Naomi alongside those of her parents as babies.  Can you decide who she looks more like?  Can you decide which baby picture belongs to which parent???  (Thank you, washed-out low-resolution film from the 20th century!)

Dance Party

Naomi has recently discovered that she has arms and legs and can move them herself!  Here's a video of her getting down with her farmyard friends in her activity gym (please ignore my silly baby voice!).  There are a few pictures as well for good measure.

Other news in the world of Naomi is that she's starting to really enjoy cuddling with us.  I can't get enough of it and think I appreciate those moments even more because for a while she didn't really want to be held at all and was happiest just lying on her back (doctor thought it had to do with tummy troubles).  Her crying has definitely decreased signifantly over the past few weeks and she is more and more fun every day!

Big success!

This morning, Naomi and I took a walk to the local coffee shop and bakery.  She sat in her stroller and (with the help of a little white noise blasting out of my cell phone and lots of toys from distraction) didn't have a major meltdown.  While this may seem like no big deal, for a baby who has decided she HATES her car seat and will scream her head off until you take her out, it was no small accomplishment!  I think we may have turned over a new leaf and am hoping for many walks in our future.  Here's a picture of us arriving at home as well as a few random photos from the last few days.

Reading "Go Dog Go" 

Cuddle time!

All dressed up for an outing to Toast on Sunday (our local wine bar).  We met up with Kristen (friend from my mom's group) and her husband and while we were there, ran into my friends Courtney and Caron.  Josh took Naomi home and I stayed and had a glass of wine with them - what a treat!



Sleepy face

Naomi and her new toy

Saturday Visitors

We had a fun day today catching up with old friends visiting from out of town.  First, Tamra and Ron came by for brunch (and Naomi napped like a champion so we actually got to sit down and enjoy a meal at the table just like old times!).  I met Tamra at UofM and we both interned at PepsiCo.  They used to live in San Francisco but moved to Brooklyn a couple of years ago. 

Later in the afternoon Josh's friend Vijay came by for a visit.  Josh and Vijay met in New York; Vijay is now in Nashville for a professor position at Vanderbilt Law School. 

Here are a few pictures from our day:

  

Mom's Group

I joined a mom's group in my neighborhood a couple of months ago and it's been great getting to know other moms with babies the same age as Naomi.  The women have already been a great source of support and a few of us without family in the area are even talking about doing a babysitting swap to enable us to get out on a date now and then with our husbands! 

While our group meetings have officially ended, we still get together twice a week to get out of the house and give us a chance to connect.  On Mondays, we typically walk in the Piedmont Cemetary (sounds creepy, but it's really beautiful and nice to walk someplace with no cars) and on Thursdays, we meet at a bakery.  Here are a couple of pictures from our excursion:

Naomi's Day

Just like most days, Naomi had a little time in her jumper...

...and a little tummy time (Wenley joined in as well):

Today she also practiced sucking her thumb...



...And she had a baby friend come and visit!  This is Grayson, a friend and co-worker's son who is about a month older than Naomi.  These two will eventually be in day care together so they'll get to know each other pretty well.  He's a pretty handsome little guy so I wouldn't be surprised if she develops a crush at some point!

Daddy Daughter Moments

Before Josh goes off to work, we like to have "family time" which basically consists of cuddling Naomi and enjoying lots of smiles from what is typically her happiest part of the day.  Here's a picture of Josh and Naomi cuddling before he goes off to work:

Josh and Naomi have special bonding time over two things in particular: bath time and the bottle.  Josh always gives Naomi her bath and she LOVES it!  This bath picture is from Milwaukee - there was no bath-tub so we improvised with a sponge bath. 

Josh also gives Naomi a bottle every few days to get her used to it for when I go back to work.  She was screaming every time he tried but we switched the bottle type and she seems to be doing much better now.  She might even be a little too relaxed!

Someone called Naomi handsome yesterday, so Josh decided to put her in a dress this morning.

And finally, here's a picture of Josh teaching Naomi to fly:

Tummy Time!

New skills

Naomi is practicing holding onto things...

...and putting them in her mouth.  Yum!