Happy Baby Pose

We had a busy weekend and between sleeping, partying, working out and eating, we were pretty exhausted and definitely will need coffee Monday morning. Between running errands, Bikram Yoga, getting a haircut and brunch with old friends, we found Lara reflecting on her diaper changing table.It's amazing what you can capture with an iPhone these days.

The Oscars were tonight and we had our friend Aisha over to root for Colin Firth & Christian Bale. Her homemade spinach Daal was welcomed and a couple boxes of Girl Scout cookies were a good end to a Sunday night. The Oscars were a blur as Lara was in a 4 month growth spurt and fiendish for milk. Oh Milkaholic Lara.

President's Day Weekend

This weekend is quickly slipping away. It was raining cats and dogs pretty much all day Friday and Saturday, that a sunny Sunday was what we needed. We all had cabin fever and were happy to make the trek down to the OC for a family birthday party at the Dove Canyon Golf Club. Lara donned a white party dress, appropriate for the semi-formal dress code. There was delicious food & dessert too pretty to eat.

Date Night

We had our first date night tonight. It's hard to believe that it's been more than three months since we've been out alone together. We made all the preparations & our lovely landlord and friend, Karen, enthusiastically agreed to babysit for Lara at her apartment. It was girl's night for Karen and her daughter and Lara came prepared by packing her pj's. We left Lara not knowing what to expect since it was the first time she was left with someone other then her parents or her daycare lady.

Ahmar scored some tickets to a special screening of The Fighter at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica with a special Q&A with the director and Amy Adams. We thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it was interesting learning about the back stories of the characters and bits a pieces of the production process.

After the movie, we decided to take out some delicious hamburgers from R&D Kitchen and head home to pick up the little tyke. Karen raved about what a great baby she was and how she barely cried. We found Lara all snuggled up in her fuzzy blanket on the couch snoozing away. Daddy carried Lara back to the apartment and put her to bed. In the process of emptying her diaper bag we found a note:

'Lara was a complete joy! She likes to wiggle, loves her bottle.
Oh she likes Enya music. She's welcome anytime' -Karen

Date night was a success!

Lara & Sophie the Giraffe

Lara is starting to make new friends and interact. Yesterday we caught a tender moment with her and Sophie the Giraffe.

Neither can really communicate, Lara mostly makes bubbles, smiles and gurgles and the other squeaks and squawks. It appears they have a secret language.

Thumb-e-Lara

Lara has had a week of firsts..capturing these moments tend to be tricky. We think she might have made her first giggle, but giggling was rudely interrupted by a case of the hiccups. Last night we were able to capture Lara successfully making her thumb into her mouth. She's mastered putting her fist in her mouth and has been self soothing with her hands for quite some time. This picture is an example of pure dedication and weeks of practice.

Yogi

There has been a whole lot of yoga going on in the Masood household. Ahmar has been habitually getting his hot yoga on at Hot8Yoga for a few weeks & now Lara wants a piece of the action. Her form is a bit rudimentary but she's showing promise. If you live in Santa Monica it's hard not to catch the yoga buzz, with a yoga studio on every corner you're bound to turn into a granola loving yogi.

Daycare Happenings...

Lara is really adjusting well to her daycare. Mom and Day rush to pick her up and they never know how they will find the munchkin. Sometimes, she's on a swing, sometimes in the lap of her nanny, or in a bouncer. Sometimes she's even hiding behind her toys.

Lara's 1st Valentine

Valentine's Day was extra special this year. Lara chose her Dad as her Valentine and bought a cute and fuzzy card for him with a heart shaped peppermint pattie. She smiled as dad came home with chocolate, flowers (a combination of roses and star-gazer lillies, flowers from their wedding), and a card. All three of us enjoyed the chocolate and headed over to our favorite chinese restaurant, Little Hong Cafe for some Mandarin Chicken. Lara took a nap and her parents helped themselves to the egg rolls- you snooze you lose.

BiCoastalism

Lara had a great weekend with a visitor from DC, her lovely Aunt Parwana. We spent another lovely dinner at Cobras&Matadors with Parwana, Aisha and James and some lovely time on Main Street in Santa Monica. Pictures courtesy of Parwana.

Lara & The Food Revolution

Lara decided to check out Jamie Oliver & The Food Revolution. She didn't have much to contribute since she is Team Milk and is months away from solids....so for now she says "no comment."

Lara and her little prayer

Not much to say about this picture, it really speaks for itself. Not sure what she is praying for, but I bet it's a four letter word starting with M and ending with K, rhyming with silk.

Lara takes a swig from the bottle

Lara enjoying some quality time with pops. This baby loves her milk...

Lara is on Youtube

Lara had made her debut on YouTube. We've wanted to make it easier for family and friends to watch our little animated munchkin. Feel free to watch and comment or if you are her grandparents, watch them on a continuous loop!

Lara reflects on Daycare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmHVEhvprdA

Lara upset on Aging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNiCw10gHNo&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Lara Standing Tall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdQK72XEc6E&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Lara on a Grassy Knoll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ioVgbNPJ5M

Back to Work

So the day has finally come, Lara is off to Daycare full-time and mom is back to work. Mom & Dad both went to Daycare this morning to wish Lara well. Lara was none the wiser and half smiled as we walked off to our cars for the morning commute. Even with a slight cold & cough, she seemed content with her bottled milk, blankets, burp blanket, plenty of wipes and diapers. Mommy checked in at noon with the Daycare provider & Lara was totally fine. We have a couple hours left until we pick up the munchkin, but this is how we found her last time.....

Big Bear Lake

Lara & Family took a little drive to Big Bear Lake for a snowboard weekend with some lovely friends. Plenty of time was spent eating, snowboarding, and snuggling in blankets in our lovely lodge. The house that we rented for the weekend was quite the party house with 6+ bedrooms & bathrooms a huge kitchen and family/living room space. Lara insisted on hanging out on the mountain, despite being too young to partake in any snow activities. It was a perfect opportunity for Lara to wear her new fuzzy hat and mittens & snow sweater ensemble. Mommy spent some quality time with other mommy friends and had some hot apple cider while Daddy made some runs down the mountain. We all made sure not to miss the opportunity to take some pictures on the lake, the views were breathtaking. Our ride home was pretty eventful as we stopped for some delicious homemade Jalapeno Beef Jerky and a 25lb bag of the sweetest navel oranges. All in all a good time had by all!

Lara visits Dad at Work

Lara has been begging to come visit Dad at work while Mommy has been on maternity leave. She made quite an impression on Daddy's coworkers and was in a smiley, gurgling mood. She even joined Dad for a Chipotle lunch and while he ate, this little burrito enjoyed a cat nap in her car seat.

Lara's First Workout

Lara decided that it was time to pump those baby muscles and with a new workout outfit in her closet, she begged her parents to go for an evening jog. Here is Lara all ready to break a sweat. Mommy and Daddy ran along with Lara along Ocean Avenue, she had the best view of her parents running in stride with other night runners. She was quite amused at our faces & her cute face was quite the motivation.

John & Lara

Lara is trying to make the best of her mother's maternity leave and decided to spend the afternoon at the Grammy Museum to check out the John Lennon exhibit. Lara, her mother, and Auntie Aisha had a great time looking at precious memorabilia, video and sound clips of the late legend, and slapping the bass.

Lara Queen of the Jungle

Lara attended her first Jungle Themed Baby Shower today. She decided to be Queen of the Jungle which consisted of a cat onesie (courtesy of Mona Khala), some tiger pants and of course a big, shiny crown.

Lara in Overalls

Not much to say, but a baby in overalls. Can anything be any cuter?

Venice Going Away

Lara and family headed over to Gjelina in Abbot Kinney to give a proper going away to our dear friend Nathan, who will be traveling to Jordan for a Microfinance fellowship. Lara grabbed a great table and we sat and laughed over amazing gnocci, pomodoro & gruyere pizza, and the grand finale: Salted Butterscotch Pot de Crème rated one of the Top 5 desserts of the Year according to GQ magazine. Jameela, Aisha, Nathan, Lara and parents were all there to enjoy the feast. Lara was the only one to contain her drool, since she has not developed her taste for solids.

West Side Adventures: Farmer's Market

Wednesday mornings in Santa Monica on the 3rd Street Promenade only mean one thing, a Farmer's Market full of fresh produce and beautiful flowers. Lara donned one of her sunhats and enjoyed the sunny stroll. We picked out some fresh vegetables, yummy clementines, and some South African flowers.

So long NYC, Hello Los Angeles

After a traditional brunch experience at Turkish Kitchen in NYC, Lara and I left NJ for our Virgin America Flight out of JFK. Her grandparents & Khala's shared a bittersweet goodbye as we entered our terminal. We had to take two cars to the airport to accommodate everyone and Lara and her bulky car seat. We arrived at the terminal with less than hour to spare and we scrambled to gather all of Lara's suitcases, car seat/accessories, booster seat, blankets, snuggle nest..etc. Lara's Naano accompanied us to the gate navigating ourselves down elevators and hallways to the security line. We utilized 8 bins and Lara, her mom, and Naano hustled to the gate.

We boarded the plane onto our Virgin America Flight, less than 6 hours until Lara gets to see her pops! Lara took it easy and fell asleep right as the plane took off. She listened to some in flight entertainment and anxiously awaited the reunion with her pops :)

Lara's High Tea

Lara's east coast tour was coming to an end and there is no proper send off than a high tea with her grandparents and friends. Lara's east coast family spent time making sure there were plenty of scrumptious snacks and finger foods ranging from shami kabobs, fried fish, Sommer Khala's infamous spinach dip, dhai bala, channa masala, fruit salad, chocolate cake and a tower of ferrero rochers! All of Lara's favorite aunties from the East Coast made an appearance to meet the adorable bicoastal baby. Lara wore her new white dress and tried her best to keep it clean, she almost suceeded but in the last hour needed to make a costume change. Her Long Island aunties stayed till way after 4am and Lara was quite the party animal & was reigned Queen of the All Nighters.

Midwest Tour

Lara and her mother grabbed a flight at LGA on Christmas evening to meet up with Daddy in Indianapolis for her introduction to her grandparents and phuppo. Daddy met us at the gate and we walked towards the baggage claim where Grandpa Hamid welcomed his first and only grandchild with open arms. We awaited Basma Phuppo's arrival from DC and once she arrived we all jumped into the car and headed home to join Grandma.

We were welcomed with delicious cupcakes and a beautiful cake to celebrate the birth of Lara. The week in Indiana was chock-full of desserts, dinners, and football. We celebrated Grandma's birthday dinner at the Cheesecake Factory & Lara took a seat at the booth with the family. There was a lot of of football on TV and Lara was able to show off her Colt's onesie in support of her pop's favorite team and cheer along.

As the Indiana trip winded down, Lara had a monumental milestone: Lara was given a head shave by her Grandpa. Hair today, gone tomorrow! Good thing Lara is a hat person and NYE was celebrated in all it's glamour with a party hat, lei and noisemakers! Happy New Years everybody :)