Another year and a couple of firsts

Well.. Happy birthday to me! 33. I think a few years ago that number would have scared me (getting up there!) and today it just feels like another day and I feel so lucky with all that I have in my life. I mean just look at this DAY!

Not a cloud in the sky - it's been gorgeous out. Low key celebration planned for tonight, strawberry shortcake and good champagne, rents coming over to say hello and Brian set the slow cooker this morning so I don't have to make dinner. Opera tickets for Friday.

We listed our apartment for sale last week. A staging company came and rearranged all our furniture and yes the space does look better and bigger. We had a good turn out for our first showing and a few more appointments lined up for this weekend, we shall see what happens. Since we had to get everyone out of the house (no easy feat) we decided to take Maya skiing!

We went to Mountain Creek in NJ and after a few tears she agreed (well... was strongly encouraged, well actually we just kind of threw her down the hill) she liked it! Went up and down the bunny hill a few times and liked the magic carpet and even made it on the chair lift twice with her dad - once with only one ski on :)

But she made it down the hill a couple of times and went thorough the motions which was what was important - knew she would like it once she didn't think it was so scary. Laila and I watched from the sidelines and videotaped (you can hear her babbling on the clip below). Needless to say everyone passed out in the car on the way home. We will definitely be making one more trip before the season is over. There's been virtually no snow this season but it's been perfect for beginner as it keeps the crowds away.

Little Laila is starting to rev up her crawling motor. I frequently find her on all four rocking back and forth and she's getting better at clearing longer distances backwards.

And yes sometimes she ends up under the furniture, with wild animals perched above her head. But such are the perils of crawling. She's a lot of fun these days, very smiley and curious and still her sister's biggest fan.

We're busy getting our summer plans together - we will most likely head to East Hampton for most of the summer and take advantage of some camps out there, including (and this one I'm super excited about) horse camp! Maya's going for a couple of weeks and will take a few lessons - buying half chaps for a 3-4 year old is a pretty amusing experience. But I would love to get into riding again, and getting her interested seems like a good excuse :)

Happy end of February everyone... onto Spring!

Laila and her bouncer

6 months old!

Little Laila became 6 months old this month - the speediest 6 months in my life that's for sure as I now find myself staring down the second half of her first year, knowing how much more active she will be, crawling and cruising are around the corner as is watching everything that she will try to put in her mouth and contemplating how to celebrate her 1st birthday.

How quickly we got here and how much of a baby she still is to me as we are still in the nascent stages it seems of figuring it all out. Sleeping - not quite yet sleeping through the night although we've made a lot of progress, naps more or less happen at the same time 3 times a day and eating - well we've
tried! But Laila is not really interested in anything we have offered so far, pursing her lips, turning her head and if we persist breaking down in tears! ummmmmmm this was not like our first experience. Eventually she will learn to eat, right?

But my little lady keeps me company all day and tolerates having her schedule interrupted as we drop off and pick up her big sister who she adores above all others - turning her head to look for her if she hears her and becoming all smiles when she approaches. So fun to watch.



I imagine the grabbing- for- whatever-toy-my- older- sister- has phase will be right around the corner too - and oh how much fun that will be!

Happy New Year

We had a wonderful holiday at home this year - Maya was really into it and in good spirits and much more able to handle all the overstimulation of a huge pile of presents to tear into. She even helped open her sister's gifts. We spent Christmas Eve at Tata and Abuela's house where Santa came early and then hosted the Arnabal group for lunch on Christmas day for present opening #2. We took her to see the Rockettes and both girls to the tree at Rockefeller, where we ran into the SantaCon crew (thousands of folks dressed as Santa and Elves).

Brian took the week off and we did a lot - including our first attempt at ice skating (she tolerated it, made it around the ring twice), a trip to the NYBG to see the Train Show (really cool!), a trip to Delaware to visit with Roshni and crew in their new home and an outing to the Please Touch museum in Philadelphia. The week ended with a trip to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. She's discovered shows and has demonstrated she can handle the 3 hours so we plan to take her to see a lot more. 

Please Touch museum in Philly.

Laila is doing great at 5 1/2 months and sitting up now. Eating is not particularly her cup of tea but she's staring at us while we eat so hopefully she'll catch on in the next month.

Picture of the girls in their new dresses New Year's Day.

New Year's Eve we watched Kathy Griffith beat up Anderson Cooper for a while and fell asleep around 11:30pm - so close! But alas sleep is better, and we hosted friends for New Years Day brunch. The weather in NY has been great - few days of bitter cold followed by 50 degree weather that allows us time in the playground. 

Wellesley Thanksgiving

The holidays have come charging in  - we spent Thanksgiving with the Breits in Wellesley, Grandma Bev got to meet her 9th (!) great-grandchild, and the best thing was seeing how the kids can really play together now. Maya shuttled between following Anna around and doing each other's hair and other girly things and then running through the house with Nathan, blankets over their heads yelling " the monsters are coming!" Guess you never know.

Cancun, Halloween and Back to Fall

After being totally immersed in Pumpkins and fall activities - we hit the beach! and went to Cancun for a week. Baby's first plane ride, Maya's first trip to Mexico (she stills says she wants to go back) and our first vacation with my parents for added child support.  We stayed at the Palace Moon Resort - a huge hotel with over 6000 rooms, several restaurants, golf course and of a course a spa (fundamental requirement). It was an easy lazy vacation with lots of pool time and beach time, great on site dining options and fun nightly shows. Maya loved the shows - she thought she was on broadway or Vegas - so we've determined we need to take her to see more shows in the city as she is totally enthralled and will sit still and watch the whole thing. 

After that it was back to fall activities - pumpkin carving parties, collecting leaves for school collages and of course Halloween. We all dressed up this year as the characters from Alice in Wonderland.

Our building Halloween Party:

The neighborhood trick or treat - there were like 500 families this year! This neighborhood is growing.

Luckily - the weather improved and held steady in the high sixties for a couple of weeks, allowing us to enjoy some sunny outdoor days before we head into hibernation. Everyone is doing well, albeit rather sleep deprived (sleep Laila! Sleep!), but baby is growing !almost 4 months!) and Maya is doing well at school. We're off on Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving in Wellesley with the Hennessey and Breit clans.

Octoberfest 2011

We made our annual pilgrimage to Hank's Pumpkintown in Water Mill, Long Island this weekend. Loads of pumpkins, apple picking, corn on the cob, tractor rides and a pony ride to boot (Maya loves ponies). Grandparents joined us and the weather worked out, even though it still felt like summer on Saturday - warm and humid. Fall please make your way to NY! Of course, we're headed right back to summer on Saturday when we fly to Cancun for the week.