today leah fell asleep at the breakfast table.
that was a first.
usually food is plenty interesting ... definitely interesting enough to keep her awake.
but i guess staying awake until 11pm and waking up at 4am to run laps in your crib can make a girl pretty tired. (definitely made ME tired.)
i have to admit, it was kind of funny.
miss leah has great hair.
people often think i curl it every day. i don't. usually when she takes a bath all i need to do is comb through it, comb her bangs and give her a decent part and she's good to go. if only we were all so lucky. she obviously didn't get her mother's kind of curl. very unattractive if not attended to.
this is what her hair looks like if we send her to bed with it wet. SO curly. then i can comb through it when she wakes up and she has nice, beautiful, big curls for the rest of the day.
lately her curls have been a bit unkempt, though. kind of uneven, albeit still cute. so today i decided to straighten her hair.
i have to admit, i love it. i did it about a year ago, but it looks much better with her hair long. i might do it more often. you know, change things up a bit. just shows how thick and shiny her hair really is.
love you leah.
and if you're wondering: No. Backyardigans is not on at our house 24/7. I may or may not be lying about that. It makes her happy...not much else does.
saturday we decided to venture down to monterey for the day. we enjoyed walking along cannery row, eating at louie linguini's {where i courageously tried my first mussel}. then we rode along 17 mile drive. so beautiful. 
again, leah was a champ. and even fell asleep in the stroller and car {when not being entertained by the backyardigans on her grandma's portable dvd player...a definite luxury}.
we finished the day with a rousing game of "let's wrap leah in bubble wrap" 
and ryan's parents babysat while we enjoyed dinner and bowling with the harmans.
another great day.
laytons left on sunday afternoon and will definitely be missed. i think we all {especially leah} enjoyed the constant attention they gave to leah.
the laytons came to visit for the long weekend. we sure packed in the fun. on friday we decided to head up to the city and experience the exploratorium. i think ryan and lamar had the most fun. they were like little kids in a candy store. personally, i though the sound exhibit was the best. we all had a lot of fun and leah was a pure angel.
picture one: the proud grandparents with the happy-to-be-spoiled-and-attended-to granddaughter.
picture two: we all took turns torturing leah. she loved it.
pictures three/four: chit-chatting with ryan from across the room.
picture five: big leah. little daddy.
picture six: listening to the noise that is the exploratorium.
picture seven: ryan looking extra sexy.
picture eight: you can't tell, but i'm rocking out to gold digger.
after the exploratorium, we ventured out to the streets on the wharf. yummy crab sandwiches and clam chowder in sourdough bowls. mmmm. lynnette was thrilled to find her favorite candy. ryan and i had never heard of it, but were pleasantly surprised. mmmmm again. i was also able to fulfill my lifelong dream of pretending to be dj tanner. i fully understand she looked way cooler than me due to her oversized pants and suspenders. 
leah decided enough was enough around 3:00. she was SO good all day.
shortly after this picture was taken (again, so sexy ryan), we were passed on the sidewalk by about 10 men dressed as if they just walked out of "sherlock holmes." meaning they looked like they were IN the movie. it was incredible. they were smoking pipes and everything. it's probably one of my top ten life regrets that i didn't follow them to get a picture. but i panicked. it was amazing. 
all in all, a great day.
um, actually. you're not invited.
and come to think of it, the party is over now, but it was a gooooood one.
it lasted almost all day long. and i was the only attendee {with an occasional guest appearance by leah, but she wasn't in a 'poor me' mood, so she was kindly asked to leave}.
first off, i slept in so i didn't go on my run. sarah got up and went to the trail. no maren. but i didn't just sleep in. get this: i had a dream that she texted me and said she couldn't make it this morning. a dream! "sorry to bail" the text said. so i turned my phone down. she never texted. it really was a dream.
but it seemed so real. real enough that i didn't get up to run.
when i woke up, i wanted to exercise, but ryan had to be at work at a certain time, so i didn't have time. i showered and got ready...and got leah ready...while ryan exercised. i know, unfair, right? no help from him this morning {which, granted, is unusual}, but i did all the extras and didn't have time to exercise so he could be on time for work. and then he goes and exercises!! i was a bit peeved. i didn't talk to him the entire way to work.
or for the rest of the day.
speaking of driving to work. we only have one car. that stinks. but that's a whole different story. it just added to my pity party.
then one of our tenants didn't pay rent. so we have to evict him. only i've never been through the eviction process before and i don't know what to do...but i'm expected to know. so i spent the remainder of the morning just feeling plain dumb.
i don't like feeling dumb.
then i did four loads of laundry. leah didn't say thank you. ryan didn't notice until i told him.
you're welcome.
by this time it was 1:30 and i realized i hadn't even eaten breakfast. if you know me and breakfast, you know that we're great friends. really, truly, the best kind of friends you've ever seen. we really get along. and maren and the day don't get along well when breakfast hasn't been sighted in the first hour or so.
i love breakfast.
then i was just peeved i had to eat lunch without having breakfast first.
then i looked in the sink and it was FULL to the brim of dishes. so many dishes.
but leah woke up right then...after a swell 45 minute nap. so i made dinner {in the crockpot}, took her to her playdate, taught piano for 3 hours, picked her up, picked ryan up and ate a rushed dinner {tasted great, though}...which brings us to now.
and you know what? pity party is over.
sometimes all a girl needs is a good, long pout.
now i'm off to bunco. :) wish me luck!
we held our third annual new year's eve party thursday night.
i think a good time was had by all.
yummy food. fantastic attendees. candy bars. streamers. noisemakers. scones. word games. white elephants. ugly sweaters. kissing. and a sleeping leah throughout it all.
as the clock struck midnight, ryan screamed {amidst lots of happy sounds} "screw you 2009!" we may have strong feelings toward the year 2009. give us a break. we were pretty happy to ring in 2010.
