Category Archives: Lark

Lark’s First Birthday Party

March 23, 2018

Let’s back it up a bit shall we?

Two days before the girls and I jetted off to California, we threw a party for Lark’s first birthday here in Amsterdam. We invited all of our local friends and were lucky enough to have my parents visiting as well, so we had a nice turnout of folks celebrating our little Larky-Lou.

I kept the party prep pretty simple (there’s only so much you can accomplish when you have two crazies running around), making a big a cheese board and green goddess dip with crudite. I put most of my effort into the dessert selection, making this Smitten Kitchen recipe into a two-tier cake, along with peanut butter brownies (after badgering a friend for the recipe, this one has become my go-to, replacing the caramel topping with creamy peanut butter instead). I also made a smash cake for Lark, turning the applesauce muffin recipe into a small cake + six cupcakes. I replaced the sugar with 1/4 cup of maple syrup and made a cream cheese frosting sweetened with maple syrup as well.We bough tulips for decor, both because Lark is our little Dutch baby and because they’re insanely cheap this time of year over here. And of course, what does a child’s birthday party need more than a solid selection of wine and beer? Our party drink tub is back in California, so we make do with a grocery crate (thanks, Albert Heijn!) lined with a plastic bag over here. We’re verrry classy.

All in all it turned out to be the perfect day for our little love. I can’t believe that she’s one already! (And that when Prim was the age Lark is now, I had already found out I was pregnant again. It seems completely nuts to me now.)

Lark’s party made me excited to celebrate Prim’s birthday in just under two months, and Prim has since become obsessed with asking everyone when their birthday is and informing them, “my birthday’s in May.” When people ask how old she is though, she usually answers, “Six,” and when people press her on it (because OBVIOUSLY SHE’S NOT SIX, GUYS) she tells them, “Three.”

Well, close enough, right?

Lark / Motherhood / Personal

Happy Birthday, Lark!

February 16, 2018

Dear Lark,

As of 8:56am this morning (Amsterdam time) you are officially a one year old.The morning you were born was so… uncomplicated. Labor was short (5 hours from first contraction to delivery) and three pushes later you came into the world and curled up on my chest and fell asleep.

I can’t believe it has been a whole year since that amazing day. An entire year of snuggles and trips and milk parties. 365 days of babywearing and first words and first foods. 52 weeks of kissing your cheeks and squeezing your chubby thighs. 12 months of nursing you all over Europe (including, most recently, inside both the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica during our trip to Rome). Your first year hasn’t been the most traditional, for sure. You took your first bike ride at 5 weeks and your first international flight at 3 months. You’ve been on 18 flights and traveled to cities in 9 different countries already, and you’ll have another 10 flights and 5 countries to add to that list well before you’re one and a half.The things that you love you reeeaaally LOVE. Luckily Mama and Daddy are definitely two of your top favorites, but I think Prim might be at the very tippy-top of your list. You two have been the sweetest little BFFs since day one. You love to snuggle and wouldn’t dream of sleeping without your special lamby (which you sleep with your face right on top of more often than not).I can’t imagine our family without you, and this past year has been the very best because you were a part of it. I love you so much, Larky-Lou. Happy birthday, baby girl. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for year two.

Love, Mama

Baby / Lark / Motherhood

Motherhood Update: Lark at 12 months

February 15, 2018

Posting this a day early since there is another post planned for tomorrow — the day Larky turns ONE!

Saying: Lark says Mama, Dada, all done, and “tweet tweet” now. She is clearly trying to communicate with gusto and spends much of the day shrieking at me (clearly annoyed that I don’t understand and cater to her every want and whim).

Eating: Lark is just coming off of the stomach bug that took down the whole house last week (apparently it’s normal for babies to have symptoms up to two weeks! Ugh.) so there’s been lots of bland white carbs happening lately. Taking that BRAT diet to a whole new level over here.

Sleeping: I recently transitioned Lark to one nap, which has been such a nice change. I have to admit that I hate the two nap schedule (it’s so hard to leave the house!) so as soon as it seemed like she was starting to transition, I took that and ran with it. It was definitely a bit of a struggle the first couple of weeks, but both girls are going down at the same time for one nap now and on the days it doesn’t fall apart it feels like winning the lottery.

Doing: Lark is chattering away right now and is clearly frustrated that she can’t communicate verbally yet. I remember this phase being particularly difficult with Prim as well (the 12-15 month span, in particular) because they can understand so much but communicate so little. I am trying to remember that this too shall pass (this is definitely one of the hardest ages for me, parenting-wise) and enjoy the sweet parts of this age, but some days are tougher than others.

Latest milestone: Lark is starting to choose books to read at bedtime and can recognize and make sounds for the the bird and fish in the Brown Bear book. It’s so fascinating to see how much they start to pick up as they near toddler-hood!

Favorite toys: Lark likes to take small blocks and stick them through whatever small hole is nearby. I find legos and wooden blocks stuffed into the baby carriage and the wooden refrigerator (which has a small hole in the back) every day, which makes the evening toy clean-up even more interesting.

Sweetest things: Lark is kind of attached to me at the hip these days. Prim went through this phase around 12 months as well — separation anxiety, stranger danger, and mama-attachment seems to all come together into a very clingy few months around age one, which while challenging, isn’t without it’s upside. I’m certainly getting lots of sweet Larky snuggles these days.

Favorite thing about this age: While Lark’s attempted communication with me seems to be largely based around insistent shrieking, seeing her trying to communicate with Prim through various sounds and gestures is so adorable. I love the relationship these girls have with each other and can only hope that they are always this close.

Baby / Lark / Motherhood

Motherhood Update: Lark at 11 months

January 16, 2018

Saying: Lark is continuing to babble more and more, and regularly shouts out nonsense words at me as though she’s saying, “Listen to me, woman! I have needs!” She seems to still know “all done” and “Dada,” but language at this age is so all over the place it’s hard to really be certain.

Eating: Lark still loves to eat and devours pretty much anything I make for her. She loves salmon with lentils (a staple in this house) and recently had Indian food, which she inhaled. The girl loves herself some curry spice, who can blame her? She is also very, very fond of what we call “cookies” in this house, which are really like less-sweet animal crackers. I try not to give Lark sugar, ever, (though KC introduced her to gelato in Italy while I wasn’t looking! Second kids, man. Haha.) but these cookies have only one gram per biscuit, so it’s a nice compromise on my part since the kids think they’re getting a treat but they actually only contain as much sugar as one serving of Cheerios.

Sleeping: Lark sleeps through the night like a champion still. I have no idea what I did to get this lucky (because Prim didn’t sleep like this until after 11 months, and I actually thought that wasn’t bad!) but it just goes to show that the whole good sleeper/bad sleeper thing might just be a whole lot more nature than nurture.

Doing: Lark is busy crawling, dancing, and getting into everything. She is at the stage where she loves to pull out all of the toys from inside the toy baskets and all the “groceries” from inside the wooden refrigerator. I don’t keep a lot of toys out for the kids (I have at least half of our toys stored in my closet at any given point and change things out periodically when I notice certain toys aren’t holding their interest anymore), but man, even with a minimal amount out for the girls to play with I still feel like I’m picking stuff up all the time. How do parents with tons of toys do it?? (Also, I have a serious love/hate relationship with Legos right now. I’m sure other parents know what I’m talking about.)

Latest milestone: Lark pulled up by herself for the first time on the last day of 2017 while we were in Rome. She isn’t pulling up and cruising all over the place like Prim was at this age, but she has figured out how to climb up onto things (the coffee table, into Prim’s bed) which Prim was not doing, so it’s been both exciting to watch and a little stressful for this poor mama’s heart (because my brain is always like, “she’s going to fall off onto her head for sure.”)

Favorite toys: Like I said earlier, she’s fascinated by objects that contain other toys these days, like the toy refrigerator. She loves pulling the magnetic doors open and pulling out all of the empty spice jars and containers.

Sweetest things: Lark is currently getting somewhere between 4 and 6 teeth (and Prim’s top molars are coming in too — we’re in full teething hell over here) so she’s been understandably extra crabby lately. While I don’t love the fussiness, all she wants is to be held and snuggled in the afternoons, which is so sweet. It makes cooking dinner quite challenging, but like everything with kids, it’s temporary, so I’m trying to take a deep breath and enjoy these little moments in between the trying ones.

Favorite thing about this age: Lark is getting very good at communicating what she wants now with her insistent babbling and body language. She will now crawl over to KC or me and lift her arms up to be picked up, which is one of my most favorite milestones of this age.

Baby / Lark / Motherhood

Motherhood Update: Lark at 10 months

December 18, 2017

^^ big shot in a big chair at Esplanade 1925 in Croatia ^^

Saying: Lark has been saying variations of “Mama” and “Dada” a lot, but I’m still not fully convinced that she’s using them correctly to refer to KC and I. “Dada” seems to be her favorite word these days, because of course.

^^ devouring a croissant at Velvet Cafe in Croatia ^^

Eating: Lark is a champion eater these days and regularly out-eats Prim at dinner time (ahh that 2 year old picky phase! It’s a joy.) Her favorite foods right now are truffled mushroom risotto (girl has good taste) and the Bavarian sausages we ate while in Berlin.

Sleeping: Lark is sleeping through the night consistently from 7:30pm to at least 7:30am. Having a full night’s sleep more nights than not has made this mama a whole new woman.

Doing: Lark is all over the place these days and is soclose to pulling up now. She will grab onto the edge of the coffee table and get up onto her knees and even place one foot on the floor, but she hasn’t managed to actually pull herself up yet.

Latest milestone: Lark has started dancing (it’s Christmas music non-stop over here) which is ridiculously adorable. She rocks back and forth on her hands and knees or will wiggle around while on her belly, usually while she watches Prim bop around the living room as she scream-sings her interpretation of the lyrics of whatever song is on.

Favorite toys: Lark is mostly interested in whatever toys Prim is playing with, which right now tends to be legos or cooking stuff.

Sweetest things: Unlike Prim who was a mama’s girl through and through at this age, Lark is a bit of a daddy’s girl. She looooves KC and gets so excited whenever he comes home from work. She starts yelling as soon as she sees him and will army crawl as fast as she can over to him and kick her arms and legs until he picks her up. Seeing how much she loves her daddy just makes my heart burst (and obviously makes me want to have approximately 400 more babies).

Favorite thing about this age: Lark has so much personality now! While I absolutely love the sleepy, cuddly newborn stage, seeing their personalities start to develop around 9/10 months is so sweet and exciting to watch. Lark is silly, sweet and giggly, and always has a big grin and shriek for whatever family member we’re FaceTiming with.