Rice cereal anyone?

Dear Friends,

Twas' the night before my first Christmas, and mom & dad decided to start me on solid food. Let the wild rumpus begin! As you can see, I still have a lot to learn about this eating thing but so far, so fun.

xoxo,

Rosalie

Poop on Michigan

Six Month Stats

• Length: 25 1/4 inches (25th precentile)
• Weight: 15 lbs (25th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 16 inches (1oth percentile)

Rosalie has been growing like gangbusters. She jumped from the 10th percentile at 4 months to the 25th at her 6 month appointment, which we had today. The doctor said she was very strong and healthy. And, he was very impressed with her sitting abilities.

Stay tuned for our adventures in solids starting later this week.

A New Toy

Happy (last night of) Hannukah!

Sorry Aunt Amy, I still love you!

Dear Aunt Amy,

This picture is up at my daycare center in SF to remind me of all the people who love me. It is very cute, except---OH NO---they left out my favorite aunt! Is it ok if mommy and daddy post to the blog anyway? Hopefully they can have a second blog post once they get it fixed! Don't worry, even though you are not in the picture, I still love you very much.

-Rosalie

Vertical

Rosalie's First Handprint

As a holiday present, our lovely daycare providers at Easter Seals took handprints of all the kids. Next stop, Mann's Chinese Theater and the Walk of Fame.

Can't Blame a Girl for Trying

Who thinks Rosie is ready for solids?

Cousin Time

Cousins Rosalie and Benjamin hanging out at our friends Tim and Lauren's baby shower. Benjamin is quickly catching up in size, but Rosie still has him beat in the alertness category.

Slight Resemblance

Does Rosie look like the monkey?  Or does the monkey look like Rosie?

Back to the Daily Grind

Hanging with all the Jellyfish

Chillin' on the ride home

New Tricks

What to Expect The First Year says that during the 5th month of life, babies seem to develop new skills daily. This has certainly been the case with Rosie. She has been displaying more adeptness with almost all of her senses and body parts--especially grabbing, putting things in her mouth, babbling and, as you can see in this video, using her legs to stand and jump (with adult support and supervision).

Giving Thanks

November has been a very busy month. I went back to work and took my first business trip back-to-back. Jon was a super-daddy and took excellent care of Rosie while I was away (despite the stroller incident, which wasn't his fault and was resolved after three days and multiple phone calls with the airline.)

The prize at the end of the month was spending a week and a half with all four grandparents (and Uncle Ned) over an extended Thanksgiving holiday break. We started our grand tour of the grandparents with a short stop in Houston where Rosie got to take her first trip to Pappasito's as well as meet just a few of her relatives. We then made our way to Columbus for continued food, friends and family.

Miss Rosalie was a super star baby--putting up with time changes, a cough/cold, many hours on airplanes and being passed around by a cast of adoring fans. She kept smiling and laughing the whole time (She waited to have a total system meltdown until we arrived home last night).

Now that we are back home safely, we are able to reflect on how thankful we truly are to have had time with our family and friends.

Click here to see many, many pictures from our trip.

Every day, everywhere, Mommies are napping

Another football accessory

Grandma J,

Thank you for my newest football accessory. Not only is it soft and
snuggly, it's also good for defeating those pesky Wolverines from that
state up north.

XOXX,

Rosalie

"Daddy, why am I in a wheelchair?"

Dear Daddy,

The flight from SF to Houston was great. Thank you for letting me
sleep peacefully on your lap. And those bottles you gave me during
takeoff and landing, Mommy would have been proud! But seriously,
what's up with the wheelchair you put me in when We landed? When I
travelled with Mommy, she didn't lose my stroller. Oh, it's the
airlines fault you say. There's always an excuse with you silly Daddy.
Well, I guess the .5 mile wheelchair ride from the gate to baggage
claim was pretty fun and I'm sure my city mini stroller will turn up
eventually. And hey, if this is the worse thing that happened to me in
the entire week that you've been taking care of me alone, we should
consider ourselves lucky.

XOXO,

Rosalie

Our Little Jellyfish

Rosalie started daycare earlier this month. She is in the Jellyfish Room with 6 other infants. This is a poster they put up in the room to introduce her to the other kids and parents at the center. (Click on the image to see the text better.)

Rosie seems to be handling the transition pretty well. The strange exception is that she is drinking about twice as much milk as she does at home. So, either she is "drinking her feelings" or she thinks daycare is a vacation cruise with an all-you-can-eat-buffet. The women who care for her are incredibly kind and doting and are helping all of us work through our issues.

Ros(i)e Bowl Bound

All,

Excellent job by all who cheered on the Bucks live at the 'Shoe, and those who watched remotely from their couches.  As you can see, Rosalie was giving it her all.  Ros(i)e Bowl here we come!

GO BUCKEYES!!!

-Jon, Marcee, Rosalie

After a long hard week of daycare...

...I couldn't even wait to get out of my carrier to take a nap.

Roro mania is sweeping the artworld!

One of Uncle Matt's many digital renderings

La Petite Baleen

About a month ago, Rosie and I started taking "Baby and Me" swim classes at La Petite Baleen swim school. The class is 30 minutes, once a week and consists of many songs and games. It also includes submerging babies under water a few times per class. So far, Rosie has shown no fear in the water. This week, Jon was able to join us and I was able to take some footage of the class. Enjoy the videos...and the excessive camera mugging by Daddy Schwartz.

Introducing Barkley Harris Schwartz

Thank you Uncle Matthew and Uncle Peter for my new friend, Barkley Harris Schwartz. He's cute, snuggly and I especially love chewing on his ears. Thanks again for visiting me for Halloween and I can't wait to see you both soon. xoxox, Rosalie

P.S. I promise to send lots of text message updates from day care this week:)

Halloween

Like all good superstars, Rosalie had many outfit changes for Halloween. To get into the holdiay spirit, she first dressed up as a pumpkin.

She then progressed to her skeleton outfit (while doing her best stiff-like-bones impersonation).

Finally, for our Halloween party and trick-or-treating, she donned her fierce tiger costume.

It was a very exciting weekend. Uncles Matthew and Peter came up from LA. And, we had our playgroup over for a walk down Belvedere Street's famous kid's Halloween party. Click here for more pictures from the weekend.

Sunday in the Park with Mira

...and Bear & Willow. Doesn't it look like Mira and Rosie are gossiping and sharing intimate secrets?

One Step Closer to World Domination

Benjamin Jacob Shedroff

The extended Leff family celebrated the birth of Benjamin Jacob Shedroff with a bris and weekend of hanging out. Tracy and Marc were incredibly gracious hosts, allowing all of us to descend on their apartment for days 8-10 of Benjamin's life.

Here is a picture of the first cousins + partners + children. This weekend really made me feel like there is a new generation of family members. Hopefully, these second cousins will be as close as we are.

Rosalie and Benjamin got to spend some quality floor time together. It's funny that our little 10th percentile baby looks like such a giant compared to Benjamin. How far she has come since she had her first playdate with our friend Raiden. As Uncle Ned would say, Rosie has moved from being the iPod mini to being the iPod nano.

A Busy Day

Today was quite a busy day.

First, we did this:

Then, this:


And, as the Grand Finale:

Four Month Stats

• Weight: 12 lbs 1 oz (15th percentile)
• Length: 23 1/4 inches (10th percentile)
• Head circumference: 15 1/2 inches (10th percentile)

Rosie continues to grow and thrive. According to the pediatrician, only 10% of four month olds can rollover. So, Ms Rosalie is ahead of the curve on that front. Unfortunately, at this age there is still a high enough risk of SIDS that we can't let her sleep on her tummy (which she has decided she prefers). With the help of a sleep positioner and a good amount of crying, we were able to get her "back to sleep" tonight.

In related news, Rosie is officially mobile as she can now roll from back-to-front AND front-to-back. Video coming soon.

ST and Tammy's Wedding

We celebrated ST and Tammy's wedding this weekend in SF. Although the weather was cloudy and gray, the events could not have been more warm or full of love. And, there was lots and lots of good food--of course! I even had my first glass of wine in over a year. Here's a video of the guests singing the very happy happy couple down the aisle.





The wedding also brought a visit from Ms Ellen Winn of NYC. She and Rosie got lots of quality time together. They make a pretty cute pair, yes?

Showing my Feminine Side: Part II

Showing my Feminine Side: Part I

Grandpa Rosie

Too big for newborn pants, too small for 3-6 months.

From the Back to the Front, The Sequel

Beanie & Beanie Baby

Baby Blessing

Every year, Temple Emanu-el celebrates the birth of congregants' babies by holding a special shabbat service and dinner. Last night, Rosalie went up to the bema with 63 other babies to receive a blessing. May God bless you and keep you, as they say.....

Hangin' w/my pals BaBo and Ox

Coo

Rosie has begun vocalizing a lot more this week. They aren't so much "coo's" as they are a very throaty "cuh" that I can't really replicate. Sometimes, she'll just go on and on and on for minutes. Occasionally, she'll even laugh at what she's just said. At some point, the blabber dissolves into crying. It's almost like a preview for her teenage years.

Thanks to Lesley, Jay and Ruby for the adorable onesie.

3 Month Stats

We don't have another pediatrician appointment scheduled until Rosie is 4 months, but I wanted to know how much she weighed, so I took her to a parent center to use their baby scale. She put up 10 lbs 13 oz; as you can see, she--and we--are pretty psyched about that.

The LeVaughn Wedding

We're a little bit late with this blog post but "better late than never" as the saying goes.  Over Labor Day, we traveled to Carbondale, Colorado for Andrew Levin and Laura Vaughn's wedding "aka the LeVaughn's".  It was Rosie's first plane trip and as you can see she took it in stride. Frankly, she did better on the plane than her parents.  From sharing a house with old college friends to lunch at the base of Aspen mountain to the wedding & reception, the weekend was a smashing success all around.

Ringing in 5770

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and sweet new year.