Happy Birthay Lyla!!!

Happy Birthday Lyla!!

 

 

I can't believe our little Lyla turned one. She is such a sweet and joyful little girl, it has been such a blessing this last year to have her as apart of our family. We are all so grateful for her, so it is fitting that her birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year. Her actual birthday was quite busy. My whole family was in New York and so Lyla spent the morning strapped to me as we headed for the Macys Thanksgiving parade.

 

After the parade we all headed to a cabin in the Poconos. Lyla was able to spend some fun time with her cousins.

 

 

 

 

 

Later that weekend we celebrated Lyla's birthday with a little party.

 

Lyla seemed to enjoy her cake, but I'm not sure if she actually made it past the frosting.

 

Olivia has been patiently waiting the past couple months to give Lyla her birthday present. A couple months ago Olivia selected one of her books that she thought Lyla would enjoy and cut, taped and wrapped the gift herself. She has been so excited to give it to her.

 

Happy birthday Lyla! We love you!

 

Halloween

Little Bo Peep and her little lost sheep...

 

                  

 

Election

 My girls have been really excited about the election. The day before the election Olivia told me,"Mom if Mitt Romney wins we'll be happy. If Mitt Romney doesn't win, don't be sad, no crying, be calm. You can follow my example."

The next day Olivia told me, Mom if Mitt Romney doesn't win you still need to be happy. I asked her, if Romney doesn't win why should I be happy? Olivia responded, Because you have two great little girls!

10 months

At 10 months Lyla is such a fun gal!

 

Lyla loves to scoot around our neighborhood on the tricycle and ring the bell as she goes.  

 

Lyla has ridiculously long hair.

Summer

 It seems like winter is just around the corner, but I wanted to look back at some of the fun we enjoyed in what seemed to be a very very brief summer.

Both girls loved the beach out on Long Island.

We sure are happy that our building has an indoor swimming pool.Olivia and Lyla love to play in the pool, I know we will be using this a lot during the winter too.

 

 

The city always has so many fun outings to offer,but the carousel at Bryant Park has always been one of Olivia's very favorite...Lyla is still trying to decide if she likes it.

We had a lot of fun playing in the city with visiting cousins!

 

 








The place we spent most of our time this summer was the new sprayground that opened across the street from our building. It is such a fun way for the girls to stay cool on those hot summer days.

 

Hurricane Sandy

 

We sure are grateful that we are all safe from the hurricane. Our neighborhood took a hit though, and we are sad to have lost the girls' favorite playground.

9 months

9 months has come and gone for Lyla, but I wanted to remember a few things that she loved at this age.

Lyla loves to help re-organize shelves, closets and pretty much anywhere she can be of help, she is very fast at throwing everything on the floor.

 

Lyla finally decided she would join the crawling club, I honestly thought she would skip crawling and go right to walking, but she found a good enough incentive to give crawling a try. We were playing together on the floor, Lyla saw an Elmo doll on the other side of the rug and so she hopped onto her hands and knees and crawled over and got the doll...she has been crawling ever since.

 

 

Lyla is a good eater, she seems happy to eat most food you give her. She definitely prefers veggies and proteins over fruits... her two favorite are avacados and asparagus.

4 years old

Olivia's birthday was a few months ago, but I wanted to record some things about Olivia as I look back on this last year. 

1. Olivia has such a tender heart, she is such a compassionate and thoughtful girl. Whenever she gets a yummy treat, even if its a tiny treat and even if she is super excited about it...she always reserves a piece to give mom and dad. It may be a super tiny piece, but she always thinks to share it with us.

Olivia always  wants to help people, animals and even characters in her books that she sees as feeling sad or in need. Earlier this year we visited a dairy farm, while we were watching the cows being milked one of the cows slipped and fell down. A few hours later Olivia came up to me and said "Mom I want to get a bouquet of flowers and give it to that cow that fell to help cheer him up."

 

2. Olivia is a deep thinker. Daydreaming, thinking, pondering...whatever it is, Olivia loves to do it and she does it often. Once when I came out of the bedroom from putting Lyla to sleep I asked Olivia what game she would like to play with me. She told me that she couldn't play a game right now because she was daydreaming. 

2. When I think back to this last year I really feel like the worst thing you could ever do to Olivia was ask her to wear pants. Olivia HATES pants and shorts for that matter, Olivia is definitely a dress and skirt girl.

3. Olivia has definitely become a daddy's girl, she absolutely adores him.  Olivia does not want her dad to have to deal with anything gross, dirty sad or bad in anyway...and the best things are reserved for him. The other day Olivia informed me that the toilet was broken, I told her dad would be able to fix it. Well, she did not want her dad to deal with such a gross matter and wanted me to do it instead. I explained to Olivia that dad would be home very soon and he is really good at fixing toilets and so we were just going to wait for him. A few minuets later I heard her in the bathroom, when I went over to the bathroom I saw that she had found the plunger and was pushing it back and forth in toilet. When I asked her what she was doing she explained she was fixing the toilet because she didn't want her dad to.

4. Olivia is a very responsible little girl. She loves rules...she's good at following them and she's especially good at reminding others about the rules. Once when Olivia was sick Matt told her "why don't we get you some ice cream to help you feel better." Olivia responded, "Dad, I shouldn't have any ice cream when I am sick. I should only have healthy foods like broccoli and salmon...that will help me feel better."