First and Last Dinner Date

The last time Ray and I went on a date just the two of us was sometime last fall. So at the end of March we finally managed to book a babysitter and head out for dinner on a Saturday night. But it was a week after I found out I was pregnant! So no wine for me :( We still had some delicious pizza and dessert at the restaurant bar (I love sitting at the bar now, whenever we are alone. It's something we can't do with a child.) Anyway, since there are so few pictures of me in front of the lens these days, and because I looked much nicer than I usually do, I snapped a picture before we went out.

And the first bump picture, almost 6 weeks.

A Second

Well hello there

early morning- VERY unexpected- positive!

I am pregnant again! And my due date? The exact same day as Lyla was. 365 days in the year, but we thought we'd do it the same again. :) What are those odds??!!

Sleeping in Strange Places

Lately our naptime schedule has been varying day by day (grumble). I fear the slow and torturous march to no nap has begun, but I will try to hold on to what is left for as long as I can. She can still nap for 90 minutes to 2 hours, but then the next day fight it tooth and nail and not sleep at all. And when she does sleep, end up in some peculiar places.

Exhibit A

After playing in her room and reading books for almost an hour, she falls asleep in the chair in her room.

Exhibit B

Here we have a recent common example in which she falls asleep at nap time and wakes very disturbed after 35 minutes or so. I go get her and lay down on the chaise couch with her and she falls asleep again on the chest for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour (depending if I remembered to go to the bathroom before or not)

Exhibit C

Here we are visiting my parents in Atlanta so it's a little different, but on this day she fell asleep next to her bed, wedged between it and a desk. 

During our visit she napped 3 out of the 4 days. On the no-nap day she had a massive meltdown at bedtime that took 45 minutes to resolve before passing clean out. This is why I've never understood parents that easily and frequently skip naps for the social schedule. I'd rather brush my teeth with gravel than voluntarily set up that situation!

Dancing with Balloons

Early Morning Xylophone

Baked Strawberry Oatmeal

I made this recipe last weekend for breakfast and it was AMAZING, we all loved it. I used the full vanilla bean instead of half, soy milk, and coconut oil instead of butter and it was really delicious. 

I attempted lightening up the dish for a weekday and it was a little boring, so I'll stick to making it as is for a more special occasion. Thinking of doubling the recipe for Christmas time with the family!

Lemos Farm

This week we went to Lemos Farm with Finn, Lauren, and Steve. Lemos Farm is located on 92 on the way to Half Moon Bay. They have goats, pony rides, a hay ride, train, bounce houses, a jungle gym, and pumpkins at this time of year. We had great weather and a nice time with our friends.

I'll be honest, we didn't do much of anything there. Lyla didn't want anything to do with the goats, the hay ride, or the train (scared of them right now). She had interest in the bounce house but I couldn't go with her and I knew that'd end in an elbow in the face and tears. She enjoyed watching Finn ride a pony and she played a little on the jungle gym, but the biggest event for her was chasing this cat around for a while.

Lyla and Finn

Chocolate Pie

 My book club had a purely social evening last night, and I brought dessert. It's me of course; given the choice why would I bring anything else? 

I decided to make something I've wanted to try for a while. Ever since I pinned this chocolate pie recipe I've wanted to try making the crust with my chocolate tofu pudding. The hazelnuts sounded just right for the chocolate filling and the tofu would keep it from being too heavy. This was my first time making a pie crust of this kind and it turned out really well~

The end result: I think everyone liked it! It was luscious and deeply chocolatey, but it was not heavy which is a side effect of the traditional chocolate pie. I served it without adornment, but some whipped cream would be good if there are men around next time.

My baking partner popped in and out

A blur!

Deep Dish Apple Pie

My brother John and his girlfriend are coming for tea today, so I made Cook's Illustrated's deep dish apple pie. It calls for 5 pounds of apples, cooked on the stovetop for a while first to soften. Total labor is more than a regular pie, but the extra apples are delicious.

Curls

I took this picture of Lyla's hair at the park this week. I was trying to capture how the sun has lightened the tips of her hair this summer. It's light gold in some places and very pretty. Unfortunately the camera didn't quite do it justice, but it's close.

Vignettes

Lyla eating ice cream, I remember this day in March. I think it was a Friday, and I was letting her have a little treat. I put some chocolate and vanilla on either side of the container, and I remember how excellent her spoon skills were, I hadn't seen her handle a utensil that well. She really enjoyed that ice cream too, taking her time to eat almost all of what I gave her.

On Easter morning we gave Lyla the teaset my parents gave her and had a nice time watching her play with the cups and teapot. 3 out of 4 spoons are now missing, they are somewhere in the house and we'll probably find them when we move. :) She looked so pretty in her dress too, very cute. 

This afternoon she asked for the apple she saw on the counter. I was surprised but I handed it to her and  it was amazing to watch her take bites of it like a little girl.

This bike has a seat that flips over the top to sit on, but you're not supposed to sit on the inside. This didn't stop Lyla from repeating trying to sit there- and getting stuck and yelling for help to get out. Ha! She still does this once and while when we bring the bike out.

In April I took Lyla to meet my dad's parents and my godparents, my dad's brother and his wife. They live in Scottsdale, Arizona and I wanted to get there before it got too hot. As it was, it was in the high 90s/low 100s already! It was a really nice weekend trip. I was a little worried how Lyla would behave, but she was wonderful with Grandma and Grandpa and did pretty well considering some disturbed sleep. We did have a crazy episode with a broken crib on the second night, but now it's just a funny story. I learned that Lyla loves phyllo, picking around the spinach in the spanakopita to get it.

This was early May on a Sunday afternoon, getting some ice cream at a little shop in San Carlos. Lyla stood on the bench next to me and eat her frozen yogurt on the little wooden stick in tiny bites. It was earlier that day that the Shogans came to visit and Lyla met her first set of cousins.

I just happened to notice Lyla talking to herself in the mirror when we were in a dressing room at Target. I think she actually did press her lips to the mirror (a little eww) but it made a nice photo.

I have caught her holding onto one of the rails in her crib while sleeping a few times. I'm not sure how she manages to do it without waking up, or getting tangled! 

After some trial and error I figured out how to do pigtails on Lyla- they've got to be on the sides because the hair in front won't reach to the back. That being said, I do this rarely because she doesn't like having her hair 'done.'

I think this was late May that we went to tea at a little shop in Burlingame with my parents. Dad was working of course but he stopped in later to see us and do a little work before a meeting. Mom and Lyla and I enjoyed a small tea with sandwiches, scones, and cookies. It wasn't very good, but the company was excellent and it was fun to have Lyla there while we enjoyed one of our favorite customs. They had a nice shortbread cookie that Lyla liked. When we were done she roamed the shop a bit, becoming especially acquainted with a funny vent at the back that made some noise.

Over Memorial Day weekend we traveled to St. Louis for the wedding of one of Ray's cousins. It was really hot there, and the morning we went to the St. Louis Zoo was no exception. Zoos aren't my favorite place to begin with as you may know, but the heat was an extra layer to get through. The penguin habitat was heavily refrigerated and so a nice break, but the shock of going from hot to really really cold was most unpleasant. Shortly after this I could see Lyla losing steam and beginning to nod off. Sure enough, she fell asleep on me in the baby carrier and slept the entire trek back to the car.

 Here she is asleep in her carseat after said outing. It's one of the rare shots I have of her sleeping there; she NEVER sleeps in the car anymore.

This was just one random afternoon trying to think of something to do. This was pre-phone obsession so I was able to have the iPhone right next to us for a little while to take some self-portraits.

Merely documenting the amount of hair accessories she let me put in there.

Our friend Mari took this action shot with her super duper phone camera. I love the last two because that crazy-face smile is one she makes a lot. Squinty eyes, huge grin. That's my girl. ;)

iPhone-obsessed Lyla makes it difficult to take pictures, so I have a lot of almost great blurry shots.

Boots by Laurie Berkner Band is one of her favorite songs, so this day walking around in her diaper and red boots was terribly cute. These boots were mine, and Mom brought them one day for her. She really likes them and asks to put them on and tromp around the house every so often. B-O-O-T-S, boots!

Mom knitted her this cute yellow pinafore, although sadly even now it's still too big on my petite girl. But it matches her yellow bow perfectly and this outfit was really cute to wear to music class one day.

Here we are at Benihana at the end of July for Ray's birthday. It was his pick and we thought Lyla might enjoy the cooking show (I at least hoped that it wouldn't scare her, a real possibility). Turns out, not long after we arrived the table behind us filled with a dozen pre-teen girls having a birthday party. They were far more fascinating and Lyla watched them the whole time. She ate some rice and vegetables and played with chopsticks too. 

One Sunday I decided to make sugar cookies, and when they were done Ray enjoyed his fresh from the oven cookie on the doorstep, sharing little bits with a cookie-loving companion. You can see a bit of her great artwork of chalk in front of them. The ground and front of the house are covered until it rains.

This is one of my favorite pictures because I see the future in her face. She doesn't look like a baby at all, but a little girl. . . oh my please don't grow too fast!

The past few months have had many mornings of waking up at 4:30am, at which time I bring her in our bed, she nurses and we fall back to sleep for a little while. It has been (really) challenging (at times, others it is very nice), but I know one day I will look back on it and miss her curled up next to me in a little warm bundle. One morning when I got up at 6 I snapped this picture of her before waking her for the day. I think I have an almost identical shot of her in that spot just a few months old. I need to find that and do a side by side comparison.

Lyla has named Dad Beepop (what comes out of her mouth when she says Grandpop). Whether or not it's his name for life, it's a sweet one. We spent a really nice week in August at a beach house in New Jersey with my family. Lyla didn't love the beach this year (the surf is loud and scary and sand is 'yucky.' ha!) but she did enjoy going up and down the stairs in the house, watching Mom cook in the kitchen, racing back and forth on the balcony, watching Berenstein Bears on John's iPad, and eating lots and lots of snacks. 

And reading books and watching TV with Beepop. :)

This tutu bathing suit was a hand-me-down from Brooke Henrikson, a really really cute one. Lyla barely made it out to the beach, but I still attempted to get a picture of her in it. We're deep in our phone obsession phase so I didn't get a really great one.

This was just last week or so, during a few days that were chillier than it's been so we broke out some jeans. These are boot cut jeans from Gap, a gift from Aunt Donna. They crack me up, because they are probably more stylish than all my jeans. That's my old iPhone that I gifted to her but we only bring out for special occasions like travel. I think we were still in the weaning process here.

[I started writing this post with a long explanation of where I've been and private vs public online. Then I stopped myself- I'm not writing to a wide audience, I'm talking to my friends and family. So here's the thing- you get how hard it can be to find the time to do personal things with kids, and sometimes you have to pick and choose. I've been choosing another things, but I want to get back into this. This blog is private now because I don't want random people pulling up my blog and pictures of my kids. ]

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