Sylvie's newest friend

Mary brought this horse up with her for Sylvie, and it was a huge hit. We decided to come up with a name on the spot and you'll see that our creative juices were really flowing. Meet Sylvie's new buddy, White Horse.

4 adults and that was the best name we could come up with. We rule!

Sunday night wind down

Sylvie had so much fun visiting with Mimi and Amanda, I don't think I've ever seen her so excited and happy to have people around. It bordered on lunacy, with her running and screaming and giggling and showing off non stop. Really, she didn't stop. She wore us all out, and herself too! She slept like a log each night they were here and took very long and solid naps, thankfully. So we were all a little worn out by the time Sunday rolled around, and when John left to take Mary and Amanda to the airport Sylvie lounged in front of the tv and caught up on some Sesame Street while I cleaned up the house. After a few minutes I peeked in on her and found her trying to set up her play house:



We had such a fun visit, can't wait to see you guys in 3 more weeks for the wedding!!!!!!!!!

Amanda's Bridal Shower

Today Mary and I threw a bridal shower for Amanda at the beautiful home of a good family friend. It was a great party, lots of good food, fun games, and a beautiful beaming bride to be. I took over 500 photos during the party, here are a few of my favorites.

Here is the gorgeous bride in her signature pose. One of my favorite things about Amanda is how often she finds herself in a fit of giggles. I can think of a few times this weekend that I really almost peed myself laughing with her. I mean, it might be the whole I-have-given-birth-so-I-now-have-no-continence thing, but I like to think it's just Amanda's great wit!

Toilet paper brides,

retro plastic brides (that doll was Mary's bridal doll as a little girl),


delicious chocolate cake,

kissable candy lips,

well behaved and insanely cute doggies AND toddlers,


and later on that evening, MORE delicious cake!!


It was a fantastic day. Hope you had fun with your Jersey girls, Amanda!

1am Birthday Party

So Mary and Amanda arrived right around 12:30am on Saturday, and about half an hour later I decided to wake the baby up for a little birthday celebration. Because this is what responsible and smart moms do. They wake their 2 year olds up in the middle of the night for singing and chocolate cake. I couldn't help myself, I was so excited for Sylvie to see Mary and Amanda, and I knew she'd be relatively okay with the interruption. She was groggy at first but then suddenly woke right up and was ready to party. We got out the cake and a candle and sang the birthday song, and then Mary showed Sylvie the best way to eat some cake, with her fingers!


Sylvie loved it! And of course kept eating as much cake as she could get in her mouth. At 1am.

So here's the part where Mommy learned her lesson. Sometime around 1:30am John decided he was too tired to stay up anymore, and retired to bed. A few minutes later Mary and Amanda decided they needed to get to bed, having just been through the exhaustion of a plane ride, a very long car ride from the airport, and just the hassles and exhaustion of traveling. Which left me with a sugary and excited bouncy baby girl. I have to say, she was a real angel and went into her bed without a peep. I was sleeping in her room anyway (small apartment, 4 adults, I was on an air mattress in her room), so she ended up crawling into bed with me. She tossed and turned for the next TWO HOURS, but very quietly, so as not to disturb our guests of course. She's nothing if not polite! We finally fell asleep around 4am, and slept pretty well for the next few hours. Sylvie woke up happy and wide eyed at 8:30am, and proceeded to climb all over me and play in her room for 2 hours while the rest of us snoozed. I finally got up around 10:30am, because by this point Sylvie was dumping every piece of clothing she owned out of her dresser right onto my head, while saying "lake up mommy, lake up!"

I totally deserved it.

Happy Birthday Mimi!

John's mom Mary (that's Mimi to Sylvie) and his sister Amanda are on their way here now, I hear their plane just landed and John is waiting for them at arrivals. They'll be staying with us for the weekend and Saturday is Amanda's bridal shower! Sylvie is so excited and asked about them all day today, and I know they're chomping at the bit to see her. John and I both took off work tomorrow and we have a lot of catching up to do. It's going to be such a fun weekend!

And to top it all off, today is Mimi's birthday! Sylvie didn't get to wish her a happy birthday today, but I have no doubt that she'll make up for it tomorrow. I just know that she's going to sing the Happy Birthday song as many times as possible tomorrow, not only to showcase her undying love and affection for her Mimi but of course because with the happy birthday song comes birthday cake. She's a clever one, that Sylvie.

Here are two of my favorite pictures of Mary and Sylvie, from the day of her birth and soon thereafter. Happy birthday Mary! We love you and can't wait to see you and celebrate! Now hurry up and get here already...

Winding down

Sylvie wound down before bedtime tonight with some of her favorite puzzles. The one on her lap in these pictures is actually a fishing puzzle: the pieces have magnets on them (instead of pegs or handles) and she then uses a fishing pole with a magnet to pick up the pieces. She loves this puzzle, and honestly so do we. It's addicting!


And here she is right before bedtime, snuggling up with her pal Ernie. I worked late tonight and then had a few errands to run, so I didn't get to tuck her into bed. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've missed tucking her in. I might have to sneak in there a little later and steal a kiss.

Tuesday Night is Guest Blogger Night : March Madness!

Sylvie had a great day today. She started her first day of her second semester of school. Last week was her Spring Break so all the kids returned to class today refreshed and ready to learn.
It was pretty mild out today (we're getting more and more of these types of days) so Sylvie, Kacey, Nicole and her friend Brianna (who turned 10 yrs old today!) were outside playing when I arrived at Kacey's work to pick up the little one. Here she is in the sandbox and climbing like the monkey she is on the jungle gym.


Being that we are in the midst of March Madness, we took out some basketballs and shot around a little bit. Double click on the photo below to enlarge (as you can always do on every photo). You will more clearly see Sylvie making a break towards the hoop for a layup (though it was a blatant traveling foul).

A couple cute ones of Syl walking up to the hoop and taking a shot. I was impressed with her instant enthusiasm for basketball (she calls it 'baseball'... as she does with all sports (that's my girl!)) even though we have never had her play before. I love her face in the second shot. Actually, I love her expression in the first pic, too!


This was pretty much as close as Sylvie's shots got to scoring 2 points....still, not bad for a 26 month old! At this rate, in 16 years, she'll be getting a free ride to any school of her choice. My baby's got mad skills.

Initiated!

Tonight the three of us sat down to dinner and all ate a delicious bowl of chili. Which may not seem like a big deal to anyone, but it's been 2 years in the working over here! We are a chili family. We eat chili multiple times a week, it is our specialty. And up until tonight Sylvie hasn't been a devoted fan. She liked the beans, and would eat an entire bowl of them if they were fished out of the rest of the chili and sprinkled with a little cheese. But then we'd have to make her another side dish, like a spinach pancake, yogurt, mac and cheese, etc. Tonight we forgot to make an extra Sylvie-safe meal, so we forged ahead. We set out 3 bowls, served up some rice, chili and cheese in each one, and all sat down to eat. And she loved it, and gobbled it up!! Hooray!!

Happy Easter!

Sylvie's gardening themed Easter basket, which contains a spiffy bug house and loads of little plastic bugs. This was a gift from Grandma Kathy, and it was hugely, wildly successful. Who knew she'd love little bugs so much??


Later on this afternoon we took a ride over to visit Grandma Winnie, where Sylvie discovered some hidden Easter eggs.



She was running around the yard collecting them as fast as she can, and she really got out of breath. She was so excited to bring the basket full of eggs into the house, and could hardly believe her eyes when we opened them and found m&ms and goldfish crackers inside. She was so happy she even shared them with the rest of us! What a sweetie pie.

Hurry up Spring!

It was a weird weather day today, slightly chilly but with periodic bursts of really warm sun. We took advantage of it by spending time outside and getting our yard ready for Spring. All three of us are just dying for the warming weather, to eat dinner outside, with the birds and squirrels running around, a sprinkler to run through, and of course, the sand box set up! Sylvie is obsessed with digging and getting face down in the dirt:



Next time I'll try to remember to dress her in some scrubby clothes. I hate being the mom obsessed with keeping my kid clean, when she's literally doing a face plant in a pile of dirt. Hello losing battle!

Our little yardstick

Sylvie walked up to her growth chart tonight and we noticed that her standing height right now is exactly 36 inches. Which conveniently makes her a nice portable measuring device!

We seem to have a new routine around here on Friday nights: pizza!! As you can guess, Sylvie loves this new tradition.



And here she is making her new favorite face. She does this when she's singing and wants to work the silly factor.

Cute video from tonight to come is now up!

The Easter Bunny came early

This beautiful sweet little package arrived on our doorstep today for Sylvie:

As anyone who knows me can probably guess, I was totally giddy over the quaint and perfect presentation, while Sylvie was much more excited about what she found inside:

Delicious egg-shaped sugar cookies! (Of which her father has already consumed half.)

Thanks so much to Trish and Jon for sending such a sweet gift. Sylvie loves it!

Saving it for a sunny day

It was pretty rainy and dreary today, and I resorted to opening our new package of Moon Sand in order to keep Sylvie occupied. She loved it, and had so much fun making shapes and animals and just feeling the texture of the sand in her hands. But as I had been warned, it was messy. So very messy. This shirt went right into the wash this afternoon.





For now the moon sand has been packed away. We'll save it for the next sunny day and make it a nice fun OUTDOOR activity.