Good morning!

Here's where I'm at this morning:)

You may look at this pile of dishes and think, "Crap. That looks terrible."  What I see is 45 minutes when I don't have to think about anything but Ryan Gosling;)

I love Monday mornings - Andrew's only day off - especially when we don't have anything scheduled and the girls are in good moods.  This morning we built a fort, played with puzzles and ate cold pancakes (leftover from yesterday) that were surprisingly good cold - or maybe that's me simply trying to justify feeding them to Lua;)

This one.  So much a different baby than was her sister.  I've been working on my birth story and hope to post it soon! 

Maternity leave: OVER!

Here we are! We're back:). I took the summer off to figure out how the heck to push a baby out and raise said baby alongside a three year old in NYC....

And - it's been a struggle. Bigger than I ever thought. More on that later;)

I want to shout out to all the mamas in my life who manage to make it look so easy.  Know that I stalk you all on Facebook and am baffled and amazed at all of you and what beautiful lives and children you all have:)

So glad to be back!

Family and Friends.

Happy Mother's Day!  As Andrew and I get even closer to becoming 2nd time parents, we find ourselves lamenting over the fact that our own mamas are so far away.  There is a new breed of mother appreciation born with your first child and it only grows (and grows and grows!).

The month of April was a full one for us - first with a very first trip to NYC for Andrew's mom!  She was able to stay for two whole weeks and we were so happy that she was able to make the trip:)

We had one day between the day Andrew's mom left and the day Lua and I left for Nebraska, during which Lua had the misfortune of eating some bad food :(  We weren't sure we'd be able to get on the plane (what with the puking and all), but thanks to liquid-tight tupperware, we made it!  Lua was actually feeling about 90% by the time we landed and stayed stupidly happy for the entire trip:)

We also had the amazing fortune to hang out with my dear, lovely mama-friend Laura and her two girls:)  Laura and I were roommates in college and to this day, she is one of the few people who I know loves me for me and isn't afraid to tell me what's what when I need to hear it.  Friends like this happen very rarely and I am so lucky that we have kept in touch to see and support each other through motherhood!

I'll say it again, Laura, I wish we were closer than an entire country apart :(  Your gals are beautiful (sorry I didn't get any good shots of Genevieve!).

And then it was back to Aurora for more family and fun at the zoo, where Lu got to ride her first horse!!!

Hope you all enjoyed your April as much as we did!