MD Baby Tour!

A couple weekends ago while Andrew was away at a conference the kids and I headed down to MD for a baby tour of sorts. Not of my babies- everyone else's! Unfortunately I forgot my camera most days but oh well. Things kicked off on Saturday when I went over to Larisa's in Baltimore to visit her and her new adorable baby Maija (oh and her hubby Ryan too!) We weren't able to stay long, but I was able to get in a few snuggles and visit with them a bit. Larisa sent me this picture of us girls from the visit, so cute!

After I left there I headed over (just a few streets away) to a baby shower for my college roommate Kelly. It was a surprise (and such a fun one!) Kelly looked so great and is due any day now with her little girl. Leyla came with me (Connor stayed at home with my Mom). I got to see Christie and Annie too, as well as to meet Christie's awesome new boyfriend! Leyla was such a rockstar, hanging with me for the 5+ hours we were at the shower. Sadly, no pics!

Sunday Kim, Stacy and Jessica came over to visit with my kids for a bit and then we (minus the kids) headed out for a super fun outdoor lunch in downtown Annapolis. It was a beautiful day and it was Jessica's first post-baby outing. Needless to say, many a bloody mary and orange crush were consumed! I always say this, but I always have the BEST time with these girls. I so appreciate them always making the effort to see me when I come down to MD. Can't wait to do it again soon!

Monday the kids and I went over to Jessica's to visit with her new (also adorable!) baby Landon and her 1 year old Carter (yes that's right). Connor, Leyla and Carter had so much fun playing together (Landon mostly slept). Stacy was working from home that day so she stopped by too. Another really fun day!

Lastly on Tuesday, we went over to see Jackie and her new baby Natalie. She's the cutest, tiniest thing imaginable!! I know she was (and Connor too!) but I just can't remember Leyla ever being that small! Jackie looks amazing and it was just so fun to visit with them. I finally remembered my camera.



The kids horsing around at Jackie's.

Yes Connor is dragging Leyla around like a caveman but she was giggling like crazy I swear.

My Mom was SO helpful in watching the kids for me so I could run some errands or whatnot while we were there, THANK YOU MOM!! They really love going to Grandma's! Funny- we would let Connor stay up with my Mom just a little to watch the first few songs or dances of her two favorite shows American Idol and Dancing with the Stars (Connor loves singing and dancing). When we were leaving Connor says to her "Grandma I'm going to miss watching American Stars with you!!" HA. Other pics from my Mom's:


Leyla's face in this picture is identical to one of Andrew's baby pictures.

Gerry and Leyla:

My little ham in the bathtub:

An indoor playgym we found near my Mom's house. We took Connor there twice.

I told Connor that if he was a good boy on the drive back to CT I'd take him to the playground when we got home. He was SO GOOD in the car (not just being good himself, but whenever Leyla started to get fussy he'd hand her a toy or make funny faces at her to get her to laugh. The result was that Leyla didn't cry at all on the way home! So I decided to stop somewhere in NJ for them to play instead. The only playground I knew of was in Montclair, where Ashley lives. And she and baby Claire came and met us there! Thank you Ash, that was really so much fun.
A few playground pics:
Leyla loves the swing.

And Connor loves sliding down the "fireman pole."

Rock wall! Not surprising but Connor is a ridiculously good climber. Leyla wants to be.

All in all, a super jam packed but really fun couple of days. Can't wait to head back down to MD in June for a Tokyo friend reunion at Faith's in Baltimore and Father's Day- woohoo!!

Lazy Sunday

Love lazy Sundays with no real plans, just to hang out together. The little things that made today so great:

Church. And when everyone started singing Connor began to belt out his favorite song, "Faithfully" by Journey (of which he knows every word). We had already moved to the "cry room" since Leyla is going through a part human/part bird phase with her babbling/shrieking so it was ok. We told him he just had to whisper it ;)

Picnic lunch at the playground afterwards (during which we just barely caught Connor pants down trying to pee in the middle of the picnic area. He doesn't have accidents in his pants but will occasionally try to pee outside at inappropriate places. Yesterday in the backyard during our BBQ is another example of this. We are working on it.)

Long afternoon naps for all (Connor 3 hours, Leyla 2, me 1.) Andrew went for a cigar out on the patio instead.

Still thinking/talking about how much fun we had with our friends yesterday!

Amazing weather (yesterday too- mid 70's and sunny!)

Practicing writing his letters with Connor in chalk out on the driveway.

Andrew's 4 day weekend (he took off on Friday too!)

Fresh margaritas on the patio, listening to Andrew's new outdoor speakers (we anticipate these being our favorite purchase of the year)

Plenty of yummy leftovers from yesterday for dinner.

My kids were so dirty (dirt, grass, chalk, food (Leyla) getting into the bath tonight. I always feel like I did a great Mom job on a summer day like today when they are that dirty. It tells me they really played the heck out of the day! Added bonus- they're usually asleep before I even leave their room, as was the case with both tonight, ha.

Connor insisting on wearing his Bruce Springsteen tshirt to bed. LOVE!

Plans to rent a movie tonight once Andrew is done with his conference call. We haven't done that in awhile!

Some pictures from today...

Little Girl this morning. She's now got SIX chompers- 2 on bottom and 4 on top!

Cheeeeeeeeeeeese!

Our roses are about to fully bloom. They're already so pretty and we can't believe how much they've grown since last year. Our first gardening endeavor is still going strong!


Everything about this picture says Life Is Good!







My Boos.

Love my little family ;) Happy Sunday!

Memorial Day BBQ

It's been way too long since I've done a blog post! We've had a really busy and really fun couple weeks (minus the week where Connor, Leyla and I were all really sick at the same time- that was NOT so fun). Lots of fun pictures to share. I'm going to work backwards.

We were supposed to go out of town this weekend but at the last minute decided to stay home instead. Turns out most of our friends had the same plan, so we threw together an impromptu, totally last minute BBQ and everyone came! Andrew grilled up the yummiest fajitas, made his (now famous?) guac and served up about 300+ fresh margaritas. The kids all had SO much fun playing together and I loved getting to spend some quality time with friends. A perfect way to spend the day!!

Leyla and Sadie.

Connor showed James how much fun it is to roll down the hill! (Connor and James had SO much fun playing together- it was so cute).

Tracey and Annie and the girls.

Playing in the yard.

Kid shot. I love Leyla's little hand on Connor's leg.

Connor, Leyla, Landon, James, Sadie and Maeve. Obviously biased but this crowd makes some really cute kids ;)

The girls!

The (little) girls!

Princess Angel-face ;)


Yesterday was Shann's birthday so we had cupcakes. Happy Birthday Shann!

All done!

Cigars for the guys.

And of course no visit to the Eichs is complete without tractor rides for the kiddies ;) Andrew and Sadie.

PS- Leyla took her first unassisted walking steps while everyone was there to watch- she's such a show off! She's just over 8 months old now- go Leyla!

Day at the Zoo

There's pretty much only one friend that would agree to join me on a completely last minute, totally spontaneous field trip- and that's why she's My Sweet Ashley ;)

And so today, we met in the Bronx (Ashley coming from NJ) and went to the Bronx Zoo. It was a perfect gorgeous spring day- not too hot- just right for strolling around the zoo.

Warning: I made zero attempt to control Connor's insane hair this morning. Haircut on the agenda for this week.

Claire and Leyla: Ladies who lunch.

Ash and Claire.

Me and Miss L.

Our favorite animals of the day: the baby prairie dogs! I heart baby animals. So freaking cute.

My boy loves to feed the goats!


Two hungry goats? No problem!

That was SO fun! (he said)

I thought the kids would totally crash in the car on the way home. Instead, they spent most of the car ride making each other laugh hysterically, which in turn of course made me laugh. Love days like this!