Lyla’s Valentine

Lyla and Liam enjoyed their first real Valentine’s Day together with a celebration for just the two of them this evening. Lyla was excited about Liam’s arrival – he’s actually become known as “Iam” around here as Lyla talks about him ALL the time. Here she is waiting for him:

They enjoyed playing together before their Valentine’s dinner:

Valentine’s Table: Note my first attempt at heart-shaped cupcakes:

Dinner together:

Opening Valentine’s gifts:

Playing together – we’re not sure how Liam ended up “shirtless”. Lyla insisted on wearing his bib:

Happy Valentine’s Day! One of the most special ever for all of us! We love you Liam! (Lyla is obviously not into this particular photo):

Lyla + Liam

Today, we were happy that Liam came over to visit while Aunt Ang ran a few errands in preparation for Liam’s new cousin, Sam, to arrive home. We all had a marvelous time playing with Liam, especially Lyla. She is so happy that he is officially up and around – they really are great playmates.

Liam’s “creepy crab crawl”:

An early Valentine’s kiss for Liam:

Dancing together – incidentally, we LOVE Liam’s dance moves. Pictures just can’t possibly do them justice:

Up and around together:

Belly laughs at Liam:

Liam is a very special friend to Lyla. We feel so blessed by him, and we love watching him grow!

Hanging Out with Liam

Tonight, Lyla shared some of her new birthday toys with Liam. They always have such a good time playing together – Lyla brought several of her toys to Liam so that he could check them out. We can’t believe how much they’re starting to look the same age!

After the babies went to bed, Aunt Ang and I played a friendly game of Scrabble – she killed me! I’m looking forward to a rematch.

Boo at the Zoo

We had a great evening at Boo at the Zoo this year. Lyla the Ladybug was amazed when we first arrived – she kept looking around, smiling in wonder at all the kids around her. We were able to collect candy with our good friends Rand, Liam and Lily. Everything about the evening was absolutely perfect, especially being with our friends. It was one of the many times this year when I’ve experienced just as much amazement as Lyla – being a mommy and daddy is so much fun!

We are already looking forward to next year.

I’m going to have a hard time choosing pics for this post, so there might be more than a few:

Lyla’s favorite way to “ride” with Daddy:

Daddy said that Lyla walked right over to this hay maze and was intent on walking all the way through. People kept asking Lance how old she is because they all say she looks too little to walk.

Lyla loves Lily:

She is soooo beautiful:

We ended the night with a ride on the haunted carousel. I think Lyla was way too tired to enjoy it.

And, no night would be complete without pics with our favorite sea otter:

Sunday Night = Lyla's First Baseball Game!

Thanks to Uncle Scottie and Aunt Ang, Lyla unexpectedly got to attend the Riverbats game tonight with Liam. She loved the game and, in classic fashion, made herself stay awake through the entire evening so that she didn't miss a thing. She was particuarly interested in the game, the clapping, Lily's beautiful curls (see pic) and of, of course, Liam.

Needless to say, she slept all the way home and slept in this morning until 9:30, a new record!

Here are pics:

Somebody REFUSED to let go of Daddy's water bottle after the game!

Lyla's New Friends

Lyla was excited to meet two new friends last week....she may have been a little too excited, actually. We're learning that she thinks everyone should be able to play, smile, and do a raspberry or two, no matter how small they are.

First, she met her new cousin, Blaire Grace. She is evidently very anxious to begin their friendship and can't understand why her new friend is so sleepy:

For more pictures of Lyla's first meeting with Blaire (and a firsthand account of what she was thinking during these photos), check out Blaire's blog.

And, next, she met her new friend Liam. She's been waiting for Liam for many months. She insisted on hanging out with him on New Year's Eve, even when he was still in his Mom's belly:


















After checking Liam out, she was ready to start playing. Unfortunately, Liam still needs a little time to adjust to the world and isn't quite ready for a playdate with Lyla Quinn. The meeting ultimately resulted in a crying jag from Liam, and he had to be comforted by his Mom.

We are all very excited about Lyla's new buddies. It won't be long until 5 months of difference in age will be nothing at all!

Visit from Aunt Ang

We had a great visit with Aunt Angela the last few days. We did a lot of baby stuff, preparing for Lancina's arrival. Among other things, we visited Starbucks several times and checked out various baby stores in Cincy.

Angela is 18 weeks pregnant today - just 19 weeks behind Lancina. We are very excited about her next (gender discovery!) ultrasound - coming up in just a little over a week.

We put together the pack and play, which was a wonderful gift from Aunt Ari and Aunt Crystal. We're going to keep it downstairs so that we have a place for Lancina to sleep during the day.

Lance was very impressed with the pack and play and also a little relieved that Aunt Ang helped put it together as it was not a simple process! I was grateful she was there to educate me on the whole thing and had to stop her several times while putting it together to ask about the purpose of various attachments. I'm still not convinced that we are capable of taking it down and putting it back up without her supervision, but we'll see...this baby gear thing is really complicated for those of us who have had limited hands-on baby exposure for the last 35 years.

Wonder what that means about whether or not we'll be able to figure out the actual baby.

Uncle Scottie also stayed the night on Friday - he was in town working. I think he got a little jealous of all the pregnancy talk and decided to be pregnant himself.

I am feeling good overall - still tired, but very excited. Lancina is as active as ever - she had the hiccups today, and has been kicking around.

She celebrated reaching 37 weeks yesterday by one of her most acrobatic, active days ever. It was even a bit of a challenge to eat because I was so distracted by kneecaps and feet. I think maybe she's getting excited about coming out here.

20 days and counting...