A Day In The Park

As it always does the last few days of deployment, time has sloooowed down.  Less than a week before Daddy is home, but the days take forever.  To help pass the time, we have been going to the park.  Leyton LOVES the swings.  I also celebrated my first Mother's Day as a Mommy.  Leyton and Daddy got me some beautiful flowers but the real gift is my baby girl - who makes me smile and laugh everyday.

So focused!

She kept her tongue stuck out the whole time.

She just sat on the slide for the picture.  We'll have to wait until we have more help to actually slide -someone to catch her and someone to let her go.

She spends a lot of time rolling around on the bed, preparing for crawling.

     CHEESE

Out of Africa

Yep, It's official....I am back in the USA! The last few weeks were pretty good... I stayed busy at my team site turning over my jobs and tying up all the loose ends. I headed to Monrovia on 26 April and started my check out process. The check out went pretty smoothly. Leaving the teamsite was very strange.. I was happy to be out of there but I am going to miss that place and the people I have lived with for the past 9 months. I really did have a good time out there and enjoyed most of the experience. The new group of Americans, our replacements, came into Liberia on 29 Apr. So I was running them around and getting them checked in since I didn't have anything to do. The last week in Monrovia was okay. I had A/C, hot water for showers and better food choices. However, I was ready to get on that plane to get home. My flights were fine... it was a quick 2 hour flight to Ghana followed by a 2 hour layover. Then a lengthy 12.5 hour flight from Ghana to Atlanta. The landing in Atlanta was accompanied by claps from the passengers... everyone was happy to be in the USA, especially me. In ATL, I found me some cinnabons and bought a coffee. It was delicious! We only had a few hours in ATL and it was back on the plane to DC. The folks drove my car from VA to meet me at the airport. They are going to be assisting me with the driving from the east to the west coast. They were at the airport with some of the USMOG staff. It was official... I was home. After we all got checked into our accommodations, we were cut loose from USMOG for the day. I introduced mom and dad to the DC metro and we rode into the district to see some of the sights and enjoy the sunny-but-not-insanely-hot-and--humid weather of DC. My first meal back in the USA was a salad. These next days will be filled with checking out and making our way across the USA. The real prize is waiting for me in Coronado, CA, and that day can not get here soon enough. Here are some photos from my last few weeks:

This is my room and bed that I left in Gbarnga. The two fans blowing directly on me was not enough to keep the sweat from visiting me each night.

Saw this camel out walking one day. It belongs to the agricultural research center.

One of my last patrols was to the Guinea border. This river is what separated Guinea from Liberia. They are able to drive across now, but it is not possible during the rainy season.

Another visitor to my room in Gbarnga.

Checking out their well

This was my security at my house. (L-R: Annie-security and Housekeeper, Joe, Me, and Peter)

This is in Monrovia. The freeport is on the right. The beaches do look very inviting

Streets of Monrovia.

On the plane in Monrovia. It was so awesome to see that Delta tail sitting on the tarmac because we knew it was taking us home. It started to rain as we were boarding... maybe a sign that Liberia will miss us????

Yeah, I was pretty excited to be on that plane.

Good bye Airport!

Good bye Liberia.... thanks for the wonderful 9 month experience!

Mom and dad trying to figure out the metro

The President returning from NY.

The helo at the White House dropping of the President.

Lincoln Memorial looking towards the mall

The 'rents by the capital

Korean War Memorial

Daddy's in the States and 6 month check-up

Hot off the Press:  DADDY IS HOME!  Sort of, he is in the country anyway.  He made it safely into DC this morning.  Many of you will be seeing him before I do, so be sure to give him a big hug and kiss for us!

Also, Leyton had her 6 month check-up today.  She weighed in a 15 pounds and 7 ounces and at 27 and 3/4 inches!  That puts her in the 45th percentile for weight and the 97th percentile for height!  Woah baby!  Now, before you go saying how she is taking after her Daddy, recall that Mommy was a giant of a kid.  I was the tallest girl in my class and taller than most boys until the 6th grade.  That's when I stopped growing and everyone else caught up.  But no matter where she got it from, she is a tall kiddo.  The doctor said she looked very healthy and for us to keep doing what we do.  So here is what we do:We fold laundry

Such a helper!

Ahh.  Poppy and BB sent us a box of goodies.  THANKS!!  She LOVES this food testers.  I put a cube of her frozen carrots in there and she went to town.  She even cried when I took it away (to put more food in there).  So that is a big hit!

I've got to get used to the mess.  Besides the occasional diaper explosion, she hasn't been a messy kid.  I can count on one hand the number of times she has spit up.  

Oh well.... the days of clean onesies is GONE.

I love my new doll!

And my new bathing suit!  Can't wait to try it out!  Thanks Poppy and BB!

Teeth!

That's right!  Milestones right and left this month.  My little overachiever has, not one, but TWO little teeth popping up.  Along with cutting teeth, Leyton also had a cold this week - so as you can imagine, she was loovely.  She was kind enough to share her cold with Mommy as well.  I used to rarely get sick - generally twice a year.  This is my third cold in 6 months!  Babies are just adorable little petrie dishes of germs.

Here is a terrible picture of her teeth.

And these two pictures are just cute :-) 

 Along with the new fangs, Leyton has already mastered sitting up.  She can sit up as long as she likes -I've witnessed at least 15 minutes.  She can raise both hands and go after toys to the side and still not fall over.  All in a week!  That's not to say she doesn't fall over.  She gets bored or mad and over she goes.  

I also FINALLY finished her nursery!  There is good reason for the books to tell you to finish it prior to the baby being born.  It's not like you can hammer stuff into the walls while they are napping.  But it is finally done.  It's the ONLY room that is done, but that is okay.  The rest will likely have to wait until Daddy gets home (in about two weeks!) and I have back-up. 

Growth chart and hamper, looking into the 'secret passage' that connects to the guest room.

I have all her clothes and changing stuff here in the 'secret 'passage.'  This is handy for when she has messy diapers, everything is in arms reach, because Lord knows she doesn't stay in place anymore.

This is the view from my room, which connects directly to hers.  I put the bookshelves and crib together all by myself :-)

View from the secret passage.  She also has a closet, which is currently full of her daddy's junk.  Hopefully when he gets home, he will get rid of most of this, so she can have her closet back and fill it up with important things, like TOYS.  Today I found a cute curtain to cover it up though - with trees and squirrels - to hide the junk for now.

Grammy thought her how to drink from a glass months ago.  She loves this by the way.  She especially likes the water dispenser on the frig.  She likes all glasses and water bottles, but real glass is her favorite.  I was photoing this, and discovered that you can see her teeth!

There they are!  If she doesn't chip them off on the glass first!

We also tried big girl food again this week - carrots.  I don't think she ate much -if any.  We go to the doctor this week for her 6 month check up, and if she says it's okay, I will just wait until Daddy and the Grandparents are here so they can teach her how to eat.  Gramma has taught both her kids, plus two kids that she nannied, so if she can't do it, we are in trouble!  In the meantime, Leyton loves chewing on whole raw carrots.  And speaking of Daddy, he leaves Africa on Wednesday and gets into DC on Thursday around noon (by way of ATL).  Pray that everything goes smoothly and that he gets here to Cali quickly and safely.  Not sure exactly when he will get here, but we are hoping for around the 15th or 16th.  Will keep you posted!

What's New!?

Whenever I talk to Ryan, he always asks what we are doing that day.  And each day I reply that we are doing nothing new, just same old, same old.  And yet, with a baby, no two days are ever the same.  Leyton is constantly changing things up on me... keeping Mommy on her toes.  So here is what's new for this week!

Here she is eating avocado (and I use the term 'eating' very loosely).

And carrots.  We tried eating big girl food for about 5 days.  And each bite, she spit it out.  So instead of wasting food and both of our time, I decided to hold off on the big food for at least a week.  She clearly has not lost the tongue-thrust reflex.  She loves the spoon, loves to open up and put the food in her mouth, but then out comes the tongue and the food.  So all of my homemade food went in the freezer (or on her bib, as you can see).

This week Leyton also learned how to sit up.  She still needs to put a hand down for support most of the time, and she only sits until she sees a toy she wants to go after.  

And she turned 6 months old!  

The sign lasted for one picture

She also had her first Easter.  Before the Easter Bunny came, UPS came with some goods from the grandparents!  Thanks Gramma and Grandpa!

Thanks Grammy and Papa (Mommy ate the jelly beans :-)

We now officially have the same color eyes.  Before, hers were bright, bright blue.  Now they are bluish-green with light brown in the middle -exactly like Mommy's.

Babies in sunglasses never gets old.  She also slept from 7:45 til 6:15 on Friday night.  My joy was short-lived however.  I came in her room and found her on her tummy in the bed, and could smell right away that something was up.

This is NOT what she had in mind for the first thing in the morning (normally she eats and goes back to bed for another hour or so).  I had to clean her up, wrap her in a towel, feed her, and then stick her in a bath... all before 7am and before my coffee.. ugh.

Ahhh... all better!

This is from her Easter photo shoot.  I was secretly hoping she would hate the girly dress... nope... LOVED it.  Oh dear.

Such a ham for the camera

Another shoot...

This one didn't go as well.

We had lunch at the Howard's for Easter, which was lovely.  On our way out, we discovered that the Easter Bunny left a few track outside our house and our neighbor's houses.

At the Howard's she got to play in a real tent (not a fake one that Mommy makes out of her play gym and a blanket).

"We have GOT to me one of these!"

Unfortunately, we have no room for a tent.  But we DO have room for this growth chart.  This is Leyton's Easter present.  Not as yummy as a chocolate bunny, but way more practical.  We move way to much to mark up the walls, so this way we can keep track of our big girl as she gets even bigger.  I can't believe she is already six months old.  She is less and less of a baby every day, but watching her grow and learn new things is the best.  I can't be sad that she is growing up, because this is only still the beginning.  There is Oh so much more coming! 

 Just wait, Mommy, more coming!