Choo Choo Train @ Griffith Park

Today was such a beautiful winter day, I decided that today we were going to appreciate the sun, the breeze and clear skies. I packed up Marley's stroller and walked 2 1/2 miles toward Griffith Park from our house. I bought 1 choo choo train ticket ....and me and Marls enjoyed 10 minute loop of fun to nowhere! And we loved it. Next time, we are going to check out the pony carousel. To no surprise he is big enough to ride on them. Just to test it out, I walked up to the pony's, Marley wanted to pet them, I let him and immediately sanitized his hands! Gosh they stink so bad. LOL We walked away and Marley barked at them in a high pitched "woo woo". He thinks all animals sound like dogs....he is so funny.

Marley Best 12 months 2 weeks weighing in at 25.3 pounds, measuring at 30 inches, big and off his growth charts...........living the life.

Milestone Alert!!!!!

Marley danced by himself today with no hands! He stood with his legs in a wide second position squat and just bounced up and down while clapping his hands. I was so proud of him (I caught about 3 seconds of it on camera) I bought him a pair of ME IN MIND soft shoes. Marley is very much a California baby. He likes to be barefooted. Anytime I try to put shoes on, he manages to kick them off! So far he doesn't mind these slip on shoes.

Yesterday, He answered the phone and said "Hi Dada" and almost made Ahmed cry, which made me chuckle a little bit.

He likes his new booster seat which has an activity sketch pad! Thank you Lane Family. :)

He says "up"....."down".

He lifts his arms to be picked up.

His favorite books : The very Hungry Caterpillar and Goodnight Gorilla

His favorite snack : Cheerios

He loves salmon, rice and spinach.......Yes, he is definitely my child

He has a savory palate more so than sweet

He waves goodbye and hi .......when he feels like.

He likes when I brush his 5 teeth, but hates when I change his diaper

Loves taking a bath , never wants to come out.

Lastly, he prefers to sleep in our Bed rather than his cozy crib?!!!!

Marley's 1st Valentine

For Valentines Day we made plans with our good friends the "Sparks Family". We were both going to spend the day at the zoo.....our entire family's and then have a brunch at our house. Unfortunately, the Sparks daughter; Olivia was feeling under the weather. So, Anthony stayed home to nurse her back to good health and Ahmed decided to stay home and chef up his tasty frittata and let the Mommies spend the afternoon with their son's.

The afternoon was such a beautiful day. Clear blue sky's, bright sun, and a snow exhibit featuring Black Bears, Tiger, Snow Leopard's and Chimpanzee's! I was so excited to take Marley to the Zoo for the first time. While we were walking from the parking lot to the front gates, I found myself getting very excited, because I realized its been a long time since I visited the Zoo! We met up with Anita and her sons Langston and Dash and headed on into the LA Zoo Gates. Marley's little eyes were big and bright checking out the motley crew of people walking around the park. Our first stop were the Sea Lions! Marley actually started bouncing up and down and pointing to them swimming! Ahhhh this made me so happy. I was worried that he was too young to appreciate what was going on, but he was well aware of everything. We visited the Flamingos, Mahkors, Black Bears, Chimpanzees, Red Apes, Tigers, and Giraffes. We had a ball watching the boys experience something new, enlightening and exciting. The energy in the park was light and fun, it was filled with young and old, skater boys and hipsters, a myriad of races, creeds and color. Everyone their enjoying the day with the person they love or have love for. Of course, my other Valentine prepared brunch for all of us to enjoy, to sum up the day in a song it was "A LOVELY DAY"- Bill Withers

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARLEY!!!!

Sunday, February 7, 2010 my Marley turned One years old! This was a huge milestone for Marley. This year has been such a great year for my heart and soul. This little being has filled my heart with love that I couldn't imagine. He makes me laugh and he makes me want to give him all the tools to be the best he could be. He is so alive. He is so fearless. He is the best of both of us. He loves to dance, play music and laugh. He is crawling at the speed of lightning and cruising amongst the furniture (nearly walking), He loves to cuddle with Mommy and walk around with Daddy. He loves story time before bed, Nick Jr. learning channel, and he loves his family and friends.

We celebrated Marley's Birthday with a Party in our home. We were so happy to have our good friends from Stomp NYC reunite. We have become such a close knit family and so fortunate to have shared some of the best times in our lives and also share with raising our children. We had our L.A & NY friends, old and new, all of whom have been great support to our family. It truly takes a village.

At our party we had a lot of children all of whom were recently welcomed into the world. We had Marley's band mates: Nainoa , Skender, Aubrey, Langston, Dashiell, Bodi, Luca and Crimson. And of course we had the lovely Sydney,Kendall, Olivia and EllaFaye.(Have you ever heard a list of beautiful names?) We also had an impromptu drum circle in which the Stomp men played with their sons. (This was not planned, but it was so perfect.) We had good food, juice and an amazing red velvet cake from LARK in Silverlake. The weather on Sunday turned out to be a sunny, clear skyed, 70'ish degree winter day. It was lovely. Marley had a blast and Ahmed an I were just so grateful for great things we have in life and the fact we kept Marley alive for a whole Year! Haha!

My First Show

Oh my goodness........Last night Ahmed and I took Marley to his first theatre show..STOMP! Mind you the theatre only allows children who are at least 5yrs old. Well..... we pulled some strings.....lol. We got 3 tickets and we were escorted to our seats by our friend/company manager Kathy Crawford and the Pantages house manager. We reassured them that if Marley started to cry we would leave the house take him backstage. We sat in the wheel chair section just in case we had to dash out. We were seated with our good friends Fiona Mills and Anthony Johnson. (we had such a great time) We were all watching him, observing the show and cracking up watching him uncontrollably clap his hands, shake his head to the rhythm, laugh when it was completely quiet, cheer when the audience screamed and play the back of the chair like a drum. Our jaws were dropped n amazement....he is such a natural, he's gets it! Our friend Anthony thought he was way mature for his years, and Fiona kept on saying how Marls reminded her of her son Aubrey. It just boggles my mind how much he has learned and how fast he has grown. I wish we could take all the credit, but he just has "it" inside of him. He is talking (in his own gibberish), playing drums and strumming on his guitar..........he is so happy .....so happy. It will break my heart when has to be thrown into this cruel world. I don't want to be that mama that will have to hurt somebody if they do something to my "baby" but I will. lol Meanwhile, he makes my world perfect.

Also, I would like to give a shout out to whomever invented homeopathic teething tablets, teething biscuits, rice puff snacks, pampers for crawlers and god for the Milk I produce.....puts him to sleep every time. .....well almost every time.

Cooking for Baby!!!

When I first started to introduce baby food to Marley he really had no interest in my homemade sweet potatoes....I was kind of sad that he preferred Earths Best store bought baby food. I just think at the time he liked the more watery consistency. But now Marley has teeth, he is enjoying a thicker and chunkier consistency of food. He is so interested on what is on my plate, it is becoming a sport ...to eat!!!! I allow him to eat steamed white rice and soft beans off my plate, but once digested it's not so cute. If you know what I mean. Anyways, I refuse to give up and I decided to give homemade food another try. We bought this beautiful book in William Sonoma called "Cooking for Baby" . I learned a lot of great puree recipes for babies and toddlers and we also bought a freezing tray, so that we can premake the food and freeze for future use. It's really a brilliant and economical way to make baby food. I bought a whole bunch of veggies(Cauliflower, pumpkin, sweet potatoes & asparagus) from the farmers market today and had a field day. Steam & Process......a little butter in the Cauliflower, easy easy and enough for this whole week. Just freeze, pop out a cube, heat and eat. I am so excited....I hope he likes it!

The world of an 11 month old

On my way to visit my friend Dakota. I was driving in the car with Marley. I was broadcasting to him and changing the radio station when I heard the Stevie Wonder's version of Happy Birthday. I found myself bopping and singing, adding some vocal acrobatics....when I realized Marley is going to be 1 years old in a month! In that one instant my heart froze and I felt very emotional. I wanted to cry driving on Melrose Ave. Everyday, he is doing something new. He is vocalizing, pulling himself up, crawling at the speed of light, standing for 3seconds by himself and my favorite has to be his contagious laugh! I laugh with him and my eyes just tear because he makes me so happy.

Today, I feel compelled to document some of Marley's accomplishments this week. I suppose this is the beginning of a mothers braggadocios ways of embarrassing her child, but since he is oblivious to my actions I will take full advantage of this time. He can read this later. ;)

1. He says "hi" on the phone. (and its really cute and breathy, almost as if he is throwing his voice)

2. He imitates me! I made a really loud sigh and he had his hand under his chin, he sighed in a high pitch and his lips made a bubbly sound. so Cute.

3. When I show him his teddy bear "Corduroy" he says "yay" and bites his nose.

4. Today he said "Ap-pah" when I was trying to get him to say apple (Ahmed was my witness)

and he said "teet" when my girlfriend Dakota was trying to get him to say teeth. We both could not believe he was so determined to sound it out.

5. Marley is also really amazing with little dogs. He is a baby dog whisperer. It was so hilarious, he actually started barking at Dakota's little yorkies. Marley was so gentle and calm, except for the one time he almost poked little Dita's eye! Sorry Dakota. lol

6. We can play peek a boo for hours................ we have several variations. ;P

7. Lastly, If I have wrote this before I apologize. The mornings are just so priceless to me, waking up to a smile and hand clapping .......what a way to start your day. LOVE

Below is a little clip of Marley zoning out with his Uncle Delvin and Auntie Tiffany after we came back from the beach. Delvin was blocking his view and Marley didn't skip a beat and pulls his hand down. hahaha