So here they are, Leina and her cousin Sammy. Sammy seems to be enjoying hanging out with his cousin but Leina seems a bit, well, concerned.

“Um, mom? I’m getting a little squished here. Can you tell Sammy I need a little room please?”

How cute are these kids?!?!

The trip to San Diego was wild.

Traffic was a bear and reminded me why I left here in the first place. Leina did great in her car seat for the first two and a half hours but after that, she’d had enough and wanted O-U-T. She let her desire known in a nice loud cry while we sat in bumper to bumper traffic. Amazingly enough, once we got to Dan & Suzy and she was released from her carseat confinement, she was perfectly happy. Overwhelmed, but happy.

Suzy’s house was abuzz with activity. Sammy nursing, little Daniel running around playing, Dan following behind, and my parents unpacking. Leina spent that first evening sitting in my lap, wide eyed, and gazing around. You could tell she was pretty startled by her new surroundings. In Portland, a crazy day is when the chases the cat under the table. Leina had no idea this much activity was even possible. When she started to get cranky, we packed her up and headed over to Grandma Wall’s house where Leina and I would be staying for the weekend. Poor girl, she had just absorbed Suzy’s house and then wham-o, she was somewhere new. I must say (with no little amount of pride) that she took it like a pro. So long as she could see me, she was fine. She went right to sleep in her playpen and slept like a champ. I suppose all the excitement helped of course.

The next morning, after her first nap, we loaded her up and headed back to Dan & Suzy and this is where the fun began. There were babies everywhere! Suzy has a three bedroom house and at one point, there was a kid sleeping in each room. My poor dad kept opening doors only to find the room occupied by a passed out baby. He finally gave up and went to hang out in the kitchen where he knew he’d be safe.

Daniel was only mildly interested in Leina. He showed her a few toys but lets face it, at this point Leina is a bit of a blob. Her only real tricks are smiling and drooling which aren’t too exciting to a two year old. Sammy was also unfazed by the arrival of his cousin. But then, Sammy had even less tricks up his three week old sleeve than Leina. It was Uncle Dan and Auntie Suzy who had the best time with the baby girl. They admired her chunk-a-chunk-a thighs, ooohed over her ability to put things in her mouth and delighted in making her smile. By now, Leina was pretty well adjusted to the chaos and I found she liked to just lie on her back in the middle of the room and watch everything. So she kicked and cooed on her back while we all walked over and around her.

And then something amazing happened. Granny Walls was playing with Leina on the sofa and suddenly, Leina laughed! We all ran over and sure enough, she did it again. Five times in a row she let out a real laugh! Granny Walls had no idea what she was doing that was so funny but Leina loved it. Of course, once I broke out the video camera to document the laugh, she stopped. I haven’t been able to provoke another giggle fest but I’m on a mission. Suzy was right when she said once they laugh, you don’t want them to ever stop.

The best part of the visit was when we got Sammy and Leina together on the mat side by side on their backs. Leina is flailing away with her arms and bashing Sammy in the face. Everytime an arm hit him, Sammy begans to try and suck it. They had us in stitches. We even dressed them up in Chrirstmas outfits and sat them side by side for pictures. Well, “sat” isn’t exactly the best description. Leina was propped up and (you guessed it) flailing her arms while little Sam sort of slumped on top of her. I can’t describe it but I did get a picture which I will post as soon as Kevin uploads it for me.

Oh yes, and Kevin? How is he taking our absence? Well, when I finally reached him, I found out he had just finished a pizza and was heading out to catch a movie with Kat & Josh so he couldn’t talk for long. He did confess that he’s letting Artie sleep on my spot on the bed so at least he has someone to snuggle with.

I’m so glad I decided to take a trip down here with Leina. To see Sammy and hang with my family is simply marvelous. Of couse, all this wonderful sunshine is pretty nice too!

Yes, we made it safe and sound. Our departure was doubtful though. Believe it or not but after we boarded the plane in Portland, it began to snow! Big, fluffy flakes that were actually sticking. Now, in some parts of the country this would have been no big deal but little ‘ol Portland only gets one or two snow days a year. Of course, it would occur when Leina and I are sitting in an airplane waiting to take off. Luckily, they managed to de-ice us and we lifted off only 30 minutes late.

And my sweet baby girl? She slept the whole time. I didn’t realize it but our seat was located right over the wing so the loud rumbling of the airplane motor plus the jostling of turbulence put her out like a light. She was a great little traveller.

We left snowy Portland and arrived in the land of sun. It was around 80 degrees when we pulled in with sunshine and blue skies. I decided to take Leina outside this morning to let her enjoy the flowers and sun. As we sat on the front patio, this guy walked up to our house. He was handing out fliers advertising house painting.

As he approached, he asked me, “do you work here?”

Confused, I answered, “no, my parents live here.”

“Oh, well, here you go.” He said and handed me a flier.

As he walked away, I realized I must have looked like a nanny or maid as I sat on the porch with my blue eyed, golden brown hair daughter. I sure didn’t look like her mom. I’m surprised he didn’t ask me if I spoke english. I had forgotten that here in LA people often assume I’m Mexican due to my dark hair and eyes

Do I work here. Please!

Yes, that’s right, we’re off to Grandmother’s house! Leina and I are taking our first airplane trip down to LA to visit my parents with a trip down to SD to introduce Leina to her cousins Daniel and Sammy. I’m very excited and very nervous because I have no idea what Leina will do on an airplane. Kevin is going to join us later so I’ll be doing the flight solo. Thank goodness it’s just a short hop down to LA. I’m sure my darling daughter will rise to the occation.

Poor Kevin is so depressed tonight. All the toys have been packed, her closet houses mostly empty hangers – ever the bouncy chair that sits on the kitchen table is gone. Tonight, Kevin held and cuddled Leina way past her bedtime. He just didn’t want to let go. I think it’s going to be a very long two weeks for Kevin. He’s really going to miss his darling baby girl.

I tried to consol him by pointing out that he has Artie but he didn’t take much comfort in that fact. I have a feeling the pooch is in for some real spoiling while we are gone but he deserves it.

Wish me luck at the airport. Hopefully, it will be smooth sailing…

Kevin came home late the other night and brought McDonald’s for dinner. Leina was asleep for the night and after eating, he watched me sit at the table and fondly smell my hands.

“What in the world are you doing?” he asked as he watched my face break into a goofy grin.

“I’m smelling my hands”, I replied.

“I can see that,” he said, still confused. “Why?”

“Because they smell wonderful. They smell like Leina and french fries. It’s a perfect combination,” I replied with a sigh.

“So, basically, you want to roll our daughter around in a batch of McDonald french fries?” Kevin asked in disbelief.

“Yup. That’s about right.” Kevin just shook his head and began clearing the table leaving me to sit and sniff that magical combination for a few moments longer.

I sometimes find myself wondering if Leina really is my kid or if she was switched with another sometime at the hospital. I know she was wearing an ID bracelet and all but I still have my doubts.

You see, I love to sleep. In fact, I am the queen of sleep. In high school, I could fall asleep late Friday night and wake up Sunday morning if left undisturbed. Before Leina, everyone knew that my day didn’t start until “double digits” so no one ever bothered to try and reach me before 10am because I was zonked. My ideal routine was to go to sleep around midnight and get up around ten. This worked just fine until non-Mini Me showed up.

I’m telling you, this kid is the exact opposite. Her idea of sleep is to crash for the night around 6pm and get up around 6am. Bleck. Poor Kevin, who usually gets home around 6:30, doesn’t even get to see his baby girl. I’m bleary eyed and grumpy to get pulled out of bed around 5:30am by an awake baby. No matter what we do, we can’t seem to change her sleep clock. She goes down for the night whether I want it or not. A few times, I’ve woken her up when she’s gone down too early like around 5pm but mostly there isn’t much you can do.

I know the reason she’s on this wierd schedule is that she doesn’t nap. Still. Yes, how long have I been complaining about her napping? Months? And still she won’t take naps and when she does, they only last about 40 minutes. It drives me absolutely wild. I’ve given up trying to sooth her to sleep and am just letting her cry. She’s pretty consistant on this front. She’ll cry for somewhere between 30 to 45 minutes before falling asleep.

If she falls asleep.

When she wails for over and hour, I just go get her and start another “up” cycle. She’s usually exhausted and grumpy and will only stay up for about 20 minutes before she starts fussing so it’s back to the crib where she cries for an hour, then I go get her, and the cycle starts again. Is it any wonder that by 5pm she’s dropping from exhaustion? On a bad day, she’ll cry for about 5 hours total and get about 4 hours of sleep. Definately not a winning combo.

So I’m pretty sure she’s not really my kid or, if she is, she somehow didn’t get my sleep gene. I mean, how can she not love sleep? I just don’t get it. Everyone tells me that eventually she will figure out this nap thing but I don’t believe them. I’ve just set my mind to accept the fact that she’ll scream bloody murder for 30 minutes or more before every nap and this way I’m not quite so anxious when she does. Of course, it still breaks my heart.

Sigh. Sometimes, this mom things really sucks.