Happy Father's Day!

One of my favorite photos of Lyla and Mark. She is about two weeks old here. It was three in the morning and Mark begged me not to take this picture. Now, we both love it. Happy Father's Day, Mark. We love you so so much.

Brennan & Ashley's Wedding

Brennan and Ashley's wedding marked our first weekend away from Lyla Grace. She stayed with my parents while we went to the wedding in Pennsylvania. We stayed at the Joseph Ambler Inn, which is this really adorable collection of old houses. Our room was awesome. We had a jacuzzi tub just feet from our bed. We jumped right in! At the rehearsal dinner, we had one of the most surreal experiences. When we met Brennan's brother, Brett, both Mark and I could not get over how much he resembled my friend Andrew, who I worked with at Simpson, but he now lives in LA. This is Brett (with his mom) All night we were telling everyone how much Brett looks like Andrew. Then, at the end of the night Mark was getting a drink at the bar and ran into Andrew and his wife Erica. They were in Pennsylvania for Andrew's brother's wedding. Mark brought them over to say hello. My jaw dropped. It was bizarre enough to randomly run into them in Pennsylvania. But to run into them after we had been talking about them all night was just crazy. Here we all are. Can you see the resemblance between Brett and Andrew? The wedding was beautiful. It was at an old mansion and the grounds were gorgeous. They got married outdoors under these huge trees and the speeches were given from a balcony with all the guests looking up. Barry was the best man and gave a really sweet speech about growing up with Brennan and Ashley's talent for making things more beautiful -- known as "Ashlification." Ashley and Brennan chose to have the DJ only play oldies at the reception. The one exception was C&C Music Factory's "Everybody Dance Now" We all got a little excited about it. Maybe it brought us back to our Bar Mitzvah days. There was a little break dancing, a little running man, a little cabbage patch kid :) It was fun. At the end of the night, Ashley and Brennan left through a field of sparklers. The sparklers were a little scary to me. Kevin, the firefighter, followed his natural instinct and put as many of them out as possible. It was a great weekend but I was happy to get home to my little Lyla Bell on Monday.

Off to the Beach

For years, I have wanted to rent a summer house in Long Beach. I love living in the city, but in the summer I really, really, really miss being on the beach. So this summer, since I am on maternity leave, we decided this was the time to do it. We rented an apartment overlooking the ocean. It is amazing to sit on the terrace at night and listen to the waves crash. We already love taking Lyla for walks on the beach. Now we just need all this rain to stop so we actually have a beach day. The view from our apartment Our pool Enjoying the sunset

Trip to Maryland

Recently, we went to Maryland to visit Mark's family. His sister, Laurie, and her family hadn't gotten to meet Lyla Grace yet and we thought a trip to see them was long overdue. It's not a really long drive (about 5 hours) but it was Lyla's first road trip. She's a city baby so she's on the subway a lot more than she is in a car. But she did great! On the way down we only needed to stop once for a quick feed and change while Mark took a conference call on his fancy new bluetooth. On the way back we made two bathroom stops, neither of which was for Lyla. She slept most of the way and played with her mini piano when she was awake. Mark multitasked in the car. We arrived at Donna and Jack's house about 10 o'clock on Friday night and were greeted by two very excited grandparents. We were also greeted by some amazing lasagna, perfect after a long day. Lyla and I went to bed pretty early because we knew we had a big day ahead of us! On Saturday, I took advantage of the very-willing-to-watch-Lyla grandparents and went for a quick run. Even though I have been going to visit them for 10 years, I still don't know my way around the neighborhood so I stick to one road and run it back and forth. After I got back, we all went to see Kelly's soccer game. Lyla was dressed in the cute little dress Julia and Kelly got her for my baby shower. We got to the game a little late so Laurie and Julia were already there and came to greet us. I was taking Lyla out of the car and I heard Julia's voice behind me. I turned around and was truly stunned to see such a grown up beautiful young girl. I had seen her about 5 months ago and I couldn't get over how grown up she had gotten in that time. She is gorgeous. It was so much fun to watch Laurie, Julia, and Kelly meet Lyla for the first time. Laurie is so amazing with babies, Lyla took to her right away. Back at the house later that day, John and Nikki and their friend James came over and so did Sheila and Bob. We played pass the Lyla for awhile so everyone got to hold the little cutie. Kelly and Julia each took turns feeding her. They did great, but I think it was the longest feeding of her life. Lyla loved the attention so much she took about 2 hours to drink a single bottle :) Lyla loved her cousins so much. Kelly made her laugh like crazy. So funny. All the ladies Pooped at the end of the day We left on Sunday morning and missed everyone immediately. We'll see them again this summer at Bethany Beach!

Memorial Day Weekend

We were excited to kick off the unofficial start of summer in Long Beach. The weather over the weekend wasn't great so all the cousins hung out inside. Lyla got to know her new cousin Christopher a little bit better while Nicolas continued to confuse his brother with his cousin. Monday of Memorial Day was beautiful and we started the day with a kettlebell class on the beach! No pictures since Mark and I were both hot and sweaty and struggling through the workout. We felt it in our legs for days. After the class we planned to take Lyla to the beach for the very first time. She was dressed in her Juicy beach coverup and sunglasses! Ultimately, we decided it was a little too windy to take Lyla Bell to the beach. I think she was disappointed. Instead we relaxed by the pool and had our first barbeque of the season. Lyla seemed to enjoy it. We are so excited for a great summer!

I'm a Little Worried...

I think Lyla is starting to hang out with the wrong crowd :)

Welcome Christopher Dean!

It wasn't long before Lyla Grace lost her status as the baby of the family. Christopher Dean was born on May 16. He weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces. It is so cute to see all of the cousins together. They now come in small, medium and large. I truly can't remember when Lyla was as small as Christopher and it was only three months ago. Nicolas has been so great with the two babies, even if he tends to confuse them. He often calls Christopher Lyla Grace. Sometimes if you hold Christopher and ask him who it is, he will say Christopher and then if you ask him again in the same breath he will say Lyla Grace. We're working on it.

From Christopher Dean

Kissin' Cousins

Nicolas took a little while to warm up to Lyla Grace. He never disliked her, he more or less ignored her for awhile. Eventually, he came around and now he loves her and I would even say he has a little crush on her. He kisses her, hugs her, tries to hold her, gives her toys, gives her her pacifier (her "flower" as he calls it). In response, she smiles and coos whenever he gets close. Nic calls her "Wywa Gwace." Always Wywa Gwace and never just Wywa. One day, he was "helping" me push her stroller and I told him she was a lucky girl to have such a great cousin like Nicolas. Since then, she has been crowned "Wucky Wywa" or "Wucky Girl". He is such a sweet, lovable and very funny little boy. He never wanted to stay in the crib at my parents' house, but now that Lyla Grace uses the crib he loves sitting in it. Here they are watching the stars project on to the ceiling from the mobile. So cute. Now we just have to get to understand that Lyla Grace and his new baby brother Christopher are two different babies :-) More to come on that...