To Answer "That" Question

For those of you who are wondering, curious, or just plain nosey :-) yes Seth and I are now officially "trying" for baby #2. You will be notified as soon as it's official.

NO we are not yet pregnant...and to be perfectly honest I'm NOT at all looking forward to being pregnant again. If I had the means I would certainly opt to hire a surrogate. Ugh...I'm so not kidding.

Gramma Dee

Today I captured a rare photograph of Lexi with Gramma Dee, Lexi's beloved caregiver on Tuesday's, Wednesday's and Thursday's. Dee is not a fan of photos and most times will not allow me to snap a shot of her...but today I snuck one in without her knowing. It's a special shot too! I'm so glad I got it!

Lexi was doing what she loves most...picking flowers and she wanted Dee to smell it.

Then she just plopped down in the middle of the sidewalk and inspected her flowers more closely.

Hmmm....is that a bug in there????

My Top Ten Favorite Things

My friend Rebecca just posted a "Top Ten Favorites Things" on her blog and in her post she asked her friends to do the same. I thought it was a cute idea so of course I will participate.

Below are my top 10 favorite things, in no particular order (family and friends are assumed of course!):

1. Sleep - I've always loved my sleep and thank goodness my child does too....she'll sleep until 10am if you let her...how did I get so lucky???

2. Popcicles and Olberman - Seth and I recently implemented a new evening pasttime. Each night after we put Lexi down we crawl into bed where we each enjoy an all fruit Dryer's popcicle (him, lime / me, strawberry) while watching Keith Olberman to catch up on today's political events....boy are we cool....NOT!!!

3. Shopping - this goes without saying...although I must say...I pretty much only shop sales.

4. Gardening - I absolutely love watching things grow. Even more I love driving up to my house each day greeted by color in the yard. I wish I had more time (and money) for landscaping and can hardly wait to get down and dirty in the the back yard....someday.

5. My Orange Honda Element - this was one of the best purchases I've ever made. Not only is it adorable, but it's incredibly practical and fun to drive. I only wish that cool green color was out when I bought my Element. I soooo would have purchased that one....but I do LOVE orange as well.

6. An authentic hot pastrami sandwich - Growing up Jewish in LA I grew accustomed to delicious, authentic pastrami sandwhiches. That was one of the things I missed most when I moved to the NW....there were NO good Jewish deli's. Well, the other day I FINALLY found one! There's a new deli downtown called Kenny and Zuke's. It's on SW Stark and 11th and there I had (and I'm not exaggerating) the absolute BEST hot pastrami sandwhich I have ever had in my life! You don't know how excited that makes me! :-)

7. My Nikon D50 Digital SLR - I can now never go back to a point n shoot...the delay drives me CRAZY. (Thank you SOOOO much Bill for the camera and accessories. You don't know just how appreciative I am!)

8. Reading - Again, I wish I had more time...but I do seem to fit a fair amount of reading in during my commuting to and from work. I just finished "Water for Elephants" and absolutely LOVED it!!! I would HIGHLY recommend reading it.

9. Eucerin Calming Creme - I have extremely dry skin and have tried every lotion on the market (including prescriptions). I'm the type of person who MUST lube up after each shower. Recently I found Eucerin Calming creme and it works fabulously well. I SWEAR by it and would never go without it again. I should buy stock in Eucerin, I really should.

10. Constant Learning - I've always been a person who craves knowledge and this drive has only gotten stronger as I've gotten older. I find myself becoming an information junkie. If I'm not reading CNN.com or surfing the web, I'm listening to NPR or watching CNBC. I just can't get enough. It can be burdensome at times. A few weeks ago when IndyMac went down I actually felt like I was overdosing on information and had to cut myself off from news for a few days because all the bad news was really stressing me out. I'm crazy, I know. :-)

So there you go....didn't that make for interesting reading? Perhaps not....but hey that's who I am...Sam I am. Much too much Doctor Suess for this Obama Mama. :-)

Do feel free to send me your top 10's as well. I'd love to know them!

Lexi's Lexicon at 16 Months

Seth and I were brainstorming today about how many words Lexi is saying now. Lately she's seems to be picking up several words a week. Since I am terrible about keeping a baby book I thought I would just post them on the blog. Not only will our blog serve to keep people informed, but it will also serve to memorialize Lexi's milestones.

(Disclaimer: We totally understand if most readers do not find these type of posts interesting. Please feel free to ignore them if you wish. These posts will serve mostly as reference guides for Seth and I.)

Lexi's list of words as of 7/28/08:

Penny P
Apple "Ah-pull"
Airplane "Eh-pane"
Home "Uh-om"
Uh oh
This "Dis"
That "Dat"
Yes
Pool
Ball
Bubble "Ba-bull"
Move "Moo"
Hat "Hut"
Mama
Dada
Nana
Bop
Barney "Bah-ni"
Dee
May May
Juice "Jis"
Pee Pee
Icky "Eee-key"
Cheese "Chis"
No
Mine
Hi
Bye bye
Up
Down "Dow"
Dog
Sneeze "Snees"
Balloon "Ba-woon"
Big
Duck "Dut"
Truck "Tut"
Please "Peese"
All done
Butterfly "Ba-wer-fy"
Mommy
Daddy
Help "Hep"
Ka ka
Night Night "Ny Ny"
Whoa
Hot "Hut"
Cold "Co"
More "Mo"
Noodle
Bath "Baf"
Cookie
Baba
Peach "Peet"
Open
Light "ot"
Two "Tee-oo"
I
In
Baby
Tank top "Tae tup"
Nice
Egg
Go
Eitan

Total Words (that we can think of) = 62

Monthly Gathering....at Jill's House

Recently "our group" decided to initiate monthly gatherings at alternating houses to help keep everyone better connected. Clearly our group dynamic has changed over the past 2 years. We've transitioned nearly overnight from Smirnoff to Gerber and now with all the little ones controlling our lives (and with the general hustle and bustle of the capitalistic world we live in) keeping in touch is progressively more difficult.

Yesterday was our second monthly gathering and this time it was at Jill's house. Jill has an awesome backyard and the idea was to hang out, eat, chat, etc. Seth and I were very much looking forward to spending a warm summer night outdoors catching up with our friends and watching the little ones play. We tried to plan ahead by giving Lexi and long nap right before the gathering. Naively we believed that would ensure her having a good mood during the event. Boy were we wrong!

Yesterday brought forth yet another parental lesson (well, I guess it's a recurring parental lesson) and that is.....I cannot control everything. I admit it...I'm a bit of a control freak, planner type of person and I must often remind myself that despite how much I plan I can never ensure my toddler's mood. I also must admit....that I was irritated with Lexi at times yesterday for not cooperating. I wanted her to be happy and cute and good...and at times she was none of those things. But I guess the most important lesson I learned yesterday is I MUST NOT expect my toddler to stay up past her bedtime and still be well behaved because she is only 16 months old and when she's tired she has no other way of telling me than through her behavior. That adorable little being really is making me a better person....one difficult situation at a time.

Non-Meltdown Lexi:

Jill and Trista having special moments with our sweetie:

This is how Lexi shows you the number "two". She puts up both her pointer fingers and proudly announces "teeeoooo".
And just plain cute shots:

Kissed by the Sun

I took these photos of Lexi today and loved the way her face looked kissed by the sun. Just had to share....

Nite Nite

For the past week Lexi has been voluntarily walking herself up the stairs to go "nite nite". We've simply been asking her to please get her froggy so we can go nite nite and she grabs him and starts heading up the stairs. It's absolutely precious. Here are some photos of her heading to bed tonight. Tonight when she got in her crib she grabbed froggy, hugged him, blew us a kiss and went straight to sleep.

I swear we were blessed with the world's greatest kid. A few weeks back at Rachel's wedding, Seth was watching her dance and he looked at me and said "gosh, how could you have a better kid than her?". It was such a sweet moment that it brought tears to my eyes. We are so very lucky to have her in our lives.


So, the other day I was driving home and I noticed a garage sale a few streets from our house. I glanced at the goods for sale and couldn't help but see that there was a bunch of baby clothes. I stopped thinking to myself that I'd just look and in no way expected to hit the jackpot. Well, I hit the jackpot alright! There were so many adorable articles of clothing, all in Lexi's size and in near perfect condition. I bought two bag loads and the woman only charged me 50 cents per item. It was incredible! The dress Lexi has on in these photos is one of the great finds. I just adore her in brown and this dress is so darn cute on her. I must say....I'm warming up to the whole concept of garage sales these days, especially with the economy in the state that it's in. This whole banking fiasco has really gotten me spooked!

Our Future Business Woman

A few weeks ago Seth brought Lexi to my work on his daddy day for a visit. She took a natural liking to my desk. I just hope I'm able to inspire her to become something MUCH more interesting in her life than a banker. :-)

Rachel & Bryan's Wedding!!!

The long awaited day finally arrived! Rachel (Seth's sister) and Bryan tied the knot on Saturday, July 5th at six 'o clock in the evening. They had an intimate and moving ceremony outdoors under the chuppah on the University of Washington campus. The reception was in the nearby Mary Gates Hall and everything was beautiful. The weather cooperated, the energy was high and love and friendship filled the room and the entire day.

Below are some photos of Rachel and Bryan's first sight of each other shortly before the ceremony. They were both beaming and the moment brought tears to my eyes....but I'm a big sap and cry at everything. :-)

You didn't think you'd get away with out seeing some Lexi pics, did you? Heck no! Poor Lexi had a fever the day of the wedding and was not in the best spirits when we first arrived. But it didn't take long for the tylenol to kick in and she ended up entertaining everyone with her dance steps until well past 10 o'clock in the evening

Grumpy face Lexi with daddy waiting for family photos. I had to sneak in some shots of my own when I had the chance. (Thanks Bill! I LOVE my telephoto lens!!!)

Daddy and Lexi in the distance with the evening sun kissing their faces.

Mommy and Lexi looking at some baby ducks in the fountain. Good job daddy on the photo!

Of course froggy had to make a debut.A sweet family moment. Lexi is signing for "more" because I had to jump up and down to get her to smile in the shot. She obviously wanted me to keep jumping. You can kind of see the strain of me jumping in the veins popping out in my neck. :-)
Lexi and her fascination for dogs. While we were waiting to have the family group shots taken Lexi noticed a pair of dogs. She pointed them out and then immediately walked over to them to give them some nice pats on the head.
Lexi and grandpa Rick have really formed a tight bond over the past several weeks. She LOVES being with him and he happily carried, looked after and played with her before during and after the wedding. Thanks grandpa! It was really nice to have some breaks!And the PAR-TAY begings!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lexi made many friends and danced the night away with them. Watching her with them was absolutely adorable!!! Lexi watching as Rachel and Bryan are entertained by their guests...a fun Jewish tradition.Grandpa Rick took Lexi with him on his chair dance experience. She was high above all the other dancers and I'm told she was telling grandpa "all done, all done"...her way of saying GET ME DOWN FROM HERE! :-) I LOVE this photo! I think it's hilarious. Just click on any photo to make them bigger.

Another attempt to entertain Lexi Lu on mommy's shoulders.

And Lexi with the beautiful, blushing bride.....Mrs. Rachel Marenstein!!!

The Fourth of July!!!

We spent the 4th of July in Seattle at Bryan and Rachel's pre-wedding BBQ celebration. The weather was beautiful and people were great. We had a very nice time.

What's cuter than a baby eating watermelon on the fourth of July???

There were several other children there and Lexi throughly enjoyed playing with them. One of the other daddies brought these awesome rocket balloons and all the kids were fascinated with them.....including Lexi Lu.....