Last weekend

Last weekend, Katherine's mom (who had been in Grand Rapids since Will had been born) went home to Marion, IN and took Lyla with her. When she asked if Katherine and Iwanted her to take Lyla for the weekend, we were conflicted and had mixed feelings. Katherine's never been away from Lyla for multiple days, while I have had to be away for days at time before for work. So we both didn't want her to go because we knew we'd miss her. On the other hand, Katherine was still recovering and the idea of taking care of Katherine, Will and Lyla was daunting. So in the end, we decided to let our little bird fly and spent Thursday through Monday just me, Katherine and Will.

While we did miss Lyla a lot (I mean A LOT!), it was a relief to have some low-energy, quiet time. In fact, one day at lunch Will was sleeping and I said to Katherine, "The lack of noise is almost deafening. What did we used to do before Lyla?" Her answer: talk to each other... seems vaguely familiar.

The weather was somewhat nice a few of the days so we did get outside for a short walk up to the corner and back. Here we are at the apex of our walk:
Here's Katherine and Will getting ready.

Here's Will in the awesome hoodie that Mandy loaned us (Ian sure is a stylish kiddo).

Another shot of cute Will.

And here's our first thought as to what Will could wear if we took him outside. Unfortunately it was bigger than we needed. Which is too bad because he sure is cute in it. It reminds me of another cute kid I know...

Outfit change

Nothing spectacular here other than we changed him out of the newborn jumpers and put him in a long-sleeved, blue onesie and immediately all of us (Katherine, her mom, and I) remarked at how handsome he looked in dark blue... just like his dad... which is me.

Anyway, here are some candid photos of my squirmy boy. Enjoy!

Daddy's little helper

Folding laundry:



She's so cute!

Where's Waldo?

More awesomeness.

Lyla has a great personality. Which is pretty amazing; for one, Katherine and I feel so blessed that Lyla is such a terrific kid, well tempered and almost always full of joy. For two, she's hilarious, like how she fake laughs whenever we're laughing at something. She just does all these great things, like playing peek-a-boo behind the coffee table.

Anyway, we were sitting around this morning and we completely filled up our camera's memory card in like 10 minutes just trying to get pictures and videos of her being a little goofball. First, riding the rocking dog (like a rocking horse but it's a dog):

And then wearing a paper bag as a hat:

And from Wednesday, helping mom put laundry away:

Also For Grandpa:

So Lyla just happened to be wearing her "That's It, I'm Calling Grandpa" tee-shirt and was surfing the web two nights ago and (as usual) was reading the latest about her cousins on her Aunt Faith's blog.From where she was sitting it was hard to read what Emily and Allison's shirts read so she asked Daddy to help her take a closer look.
"Wha???" she thought, "They're also wearing 'That's It, I'm Calling Grandpa' tee-shirts!"
"Dad, sit me up next to the computer monitor and take a picture." she said.
Then Lyla saw something sitting on the desk next to her. What could it be?
It's a fan that Mommy got at Aunt Jess and Uncle Mark's wedding! Hurray!!!
"Look at me, Grandpa! I'm fancy!! I love you!!!"

Spring was here.

Spring is here!! Or was here, it's rather confusing because it got nice out. Then over the course of like three days everything in Grand Rapids bloomed. Then it got hot out (granted it was hot on my San Diego temperature scale... so like mid-80's. It's going to take some readjusting when the 90+ degree whether gets here).

But then, out of the blue (or gray, rather) Fall decided that it wanted a piece of the action. Temperatures dropped to the 50's, then the 40's, then the 30's. Rain fell. Snow threatened. Until we finally succumbed and turned the heat back on in our house. Fortunately, I think it's temporary. And soon we'll be back outside enjoying the verdant beauty of Grand Rapids. I'm sure you all remember what the outside looked like in February. This is the view out our front door now. Beautiful.

One benefit of the nice weather (while we had it) was that we got to spend a lot of time outside. It seemed like Lyla and Katherine were taking walks outside everyday. Their number one "going for walks" buddies are our new neighbors (Mandy and their one-year-old Ian). But Katherine has managed to invite practically everyone she knows to go on a walk with her. Part of the reason is that we got passes for the season to Meijer Gardens. Instead of getting the second pass in my name, we got a general guest pass so Katherine can invite anyone she wants. I think if you average it out, she's gone every other day for the past two weeks.

Here are Katherine and Lyla standing in front of some tulips in the Gaslight Village.

Here's Lyla laying out at a nearby park.

Here's Lyla all tuckered out after a long day of getting pushed around in the stroller. Rough life that kid has.

So as you can see the nice weather has been fantastic and after being cooped up all winter, we've fully embraced spending time outdoors. It's also been nice just to be able to explore our community. The first 4 or so months of Lyla's life were pretty much spent in our apartment. So we're really grateful to get out and explore with her.

But, like I mentioned, it's gotten cold again. Hopefully it won't last too long. We hadn't packed away winter stuff yet, so it hasn't been too hard for Katherine and I to go back to putting on jackets and long sleeves.

It's been a little more difficult for us to dress Lyla because it seems like in the past month, the warm weather came and we no longer needed to dress Lyla in a onesie, a jumper, and an outer-layer. But over that period of time she's grown like an inch or two longer. So she doesn't fit into a lot of the jumpers we have. And we don't have that many long-sleeve onesies that are in the 3 to 6 month size. Fortunately, we have enough to get by; but if the weather stays cold, Lyla's not going to be exhibiting too much variety in her outfits.

I wanted to show this one that she wore on Saturday. It was a gift from her cousin (not sure if either Emily or Allison wore it because you don't really need long sleeves all that much in Texas and Georgia). Anyway, it's girl camouflage. Girly because it has a pink ribbon on the shoulder and says "Cutie" in pink on the front; yet practical... for when you take your baby hunting... which I can't imagine we'll do. But after all, this is Michigan. Anything can happen.

Who wears short shorts? and eats bananas? and is super cute?

Ah, summer. Technically it's spring but the 70+ degree weather has us thinking otherwise. We made summer preparations in order to go to Meijer Sculpture Gardens this weekend, namely Katherine and I wore sunscreen and Lyla wore shorts. I must say, baby-short: utterly pointless, totally cute. -->

Lyla has had quite a week. Many many milestones for the little girl including, well, first time wearing shorts, the first time rolling over (back to front and then back) by herself, the first time stepping on grass, and the first time eating solid food.

Katherine had noticed that Lyla had been eyeing her food lately and had read that that's one of the signs that babies are ready to try solid food. I pointed out that Lyla eyed everything as if she wanted to eat it (a point I demonstrated by holding a credit card in Lyla's reach only to have her grab it and put it in her mouth). Undeterred (or determined to make sure it's real food that Lyla puts in her mouth), Katherine mushed up some banana and fed it to Lyla. Lyla loved it. She even cried when Katherine stopped feeding her.

So on Friday we fed her again (this time with daddy present). Lyla wasn't as excited but she sure did enjoy it. And with two people it was easier to catch it on film:

So, yeah, Lyla's totally cute.

Last week wrap-up: CUTE OUTFITS!!!

Lyla has continued to grow and as a result, does not fit into most of her NB and 0-3 mo. clothes anymore. Fortunately, we had received a couple 3-6 mo. things that are super cute. Exhibit A (photo on left) cute pink with white flower jumper that wraps across the front and snaps down the side. The result: a kimono-esque look that is equally appropriate on the go and in the crib. Super cute!!!

Exhibit B (photo on the right) a two piece onesie/overalls combination from the Classic Winnie the Pooh line. The pink onesie has ruffled lace along the neck line and sleeves. And the purple overalls are a nice soft, material for all-day comfort.

Wow, I think Katherine's been making watch too much Project Runway!

The outfit on the right was a gift from Lyla's aunt Julie. The first time Lyla wore it, someone peed on it before we had a chance to take a picture of her in it. So this time we made sure to snap a bunch of pictures as soon as she got dressed. (side note: Lyla is becoming quite adept at standing, as long as she is supported for stability purposes).

Final picture: Lyla sitting upright on the couch in the Winnie the Pooh outfit, along with her first teddy bear (also a classic
pooh product).

This one's for Drew

Lyla asked me to dedicate this post on her behalf. Lyla's friend Andrew was born on June 15, 2007 at 4:58pm with diaphragmatic hernia. After many months of surgical procedures, he passed away on November 19, 2007 (Lyla's due date). Though the two never met on the outside, they did spend a fair amount of time close to each other while in their respective wombs and grew to be close friends. They have a lot in common (great parents, fascination with Dinosaurs, etc.) and will always be friends. Lyla still likes to look at pictures of Drew that Drew's dad posted online and to gaze jealously at Drew's beautiful eye lashes.

Drew was gracious enough to give Lyla some of his baby clothes and Lyla wanted to show all the readers of The Rings of Grand Rapids what great taste in onesies Drew had. She insisted on wearing the white headband so people wouldn't confuse her for a boy. And Lyla's mom picked up the awesome grey sweatpants for her at Target because, well, it's winter here.

We love you Drew!

Playing dress-up

After bathtime last Friday night, Lyla decided to put on a pretty dress. Lyla's grandmother had gotten her a dress to wear when we took her home from the hospital. But at the time, packing up everything we had at the hospital took a long time and it was so cold out that we skipped putting on the dress. So, one week later, we finally got to see Lyla in her pretty dress.

I didn't know that there was a market for ironic baby clothes, but those pithy tee-shirts are all the rage these days, so why wouldn't young hipsters want their children to reflect their apathetic worldviews. It is a nice picture, right? Well, that was one of, oh I don't know, a bazillion shots that it took to get one when she wasn't howling (she's not a fan of bathtime yet). Take a look:


After a lot of crying and impromptu attempts to sooth Lyla, Kevin discovered two new methods: 1. Lyla seemed to like it when I lay gently across her; and 2. well, see for yourselves:

(<-) Almost have it!

Got it! (->)