Leila visits Golden Gate Park

post by Brace

A day at the new Academy of Science and
the 1914 Herschell-Spillman Carousel at the Children's Playground

Leila turned 3 on November 11

posted by Brace


Henry, Anna and Leila color. Leila Henry and Ben play Legos.


Geen Leila and Anna chase bubbles.


Present time.


Ben Eli, Henry Leila and Anna sing Happy Birthday.
Leila got a bit too close to the candle's flame.

An afternoon at Caulfield Ct

posted by Brace

One of Eli's most favoite play things when is comes over is 

the mylar balloon.  We think he likes the color and rustling sound. 

Just moments before, Eli was "talking" up a storm.  Couldn't
get him to talk with the camera on.  He sure can drool a lot.  

Bathed and de-drooled, Eli waits to be dressed.  Leila probably planted 

two dozen kisses on Eli today.  Eli is lucky to have such a loving big sister. 

short but sweet (and cute!)

Despite my desire to take advantage of my only kid-free computer time for the day, my body is begging me to crawl under the covers and go to sleep. So once again, I leave you with a very short post: just two pics to satisfy your curiosity!


Leila learns how to play catch at Golden Gate Park.















Eli gets a grip on his trusty Lamaze cube.

ribbit ribbit

Well, since it's nearly 1:00 am and I need to work at 6:30 in the morning, I only have time for this one pic. I just wanted to get a new one of the kiddies up since it has been so long. Eli loves his fluffy frog towel, and Leila loves her red marker (all over her face!).

Fun times

posted by Brace



Leila goes to Carolynn's Montessori Day Care three times a week. She loves it there. Max is one of the two child-friendly dogs.

Leila and Mommy are having a good time together.

Eli's in his own world .




It was the opening day at the new California Adademy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Two cars, two GGB tolls, two tanks of gas, a struggle to find two parking places, and we finally made it,



... only to find out that a limited number of tickets were given away hours earlier.



Leila and Eli didn't mind, though. We all enjoyed the sunny San Francisco day. The picnic on the grass was really quite nice.



Leila got to run around and play football with Mark. One toss went astray.


We'll have to go back another time.

Who's That Baby?!

People always say that babies love to look at other baby faces. Well when Eli discovered his own face in the mirror, he fell in love! He loves to look in the mirror and, without fail, always cracks a big, gummy smile. I love seeing that toothless grin! Whenever I come home after a day at work, Eli greets me with an amazing, wonderful smile that makes me melt. :)

As you can see, Eli has definitely been a very healthy baby--no problem putting on those pounds. My newest nickname for him is Chub-a-Bub and Bubby; now Leila goes around saying "Hi Chub!" Haha, poor Eli! I could just kiss those chubby cheeks all day!

Leila Does Loud

I only have time for a quick little post, so I'm just putting up this video today. Leila first learned the days of the week at school, then she started working on the months of the year. We did some hardcore practice at home with those tricky months, and now she has got it down! I showed this video to Leila yesterday, and she was sooo excited to see it, shouting along with herself in unison!

An afternoon in Tomales

posted by Brace

The 100 degree heat wave passed. It was twenty degrees cooler today, so we decided to take a short field trip to the town of Tomales. It is a little town just 15 miles west of Petaluma. Not much there. A sandwich shop, a bakery, a general store, an art gallery, and of course, a post office. Ryan, Leila, and Eli joined us. We got away so Mark could study uninterrupted. Ryan is back to work now, so Mark had the two little ones all day.


We went to the sandwich shop. Leila has had ice cream before, and she knew about about ice cream cones, but until today, she never eaten an ice cream cone. She chose raspberry. She quietly worked on it with earnest. Then we told her that the cone can be eaten as well. What a revelation! It appeared that she liked the cone better the ice cream, itself. She declined the last bit of ice cream, but kept on eating the cone.


There was also a tiny park with a couple of picnic tables. Leila spotted the throne. She climbed in and out of it at least a half dozen times. Fox always at her side. She can find joy in the simplest of things. She melts me with her beautiful smile.


Phyllis was feeling pretty good despite the fact that it was only about 48 hours after having rotator cuff surgery. Eli was a great today. He is absorbing his environment more and more each day. He flashes us quick smiles when we play with him. He can put a death grip on anything placed in front of him.

snuggle up snuggle bunny

I have no idea where I got that from, but I always say it to Leila when I put her to sleep. I love how Leila's hand is cradling Eli's head. She really loves him, it's so sweet to see. He's three months old now and she still likes to shower him with kisses!

Proud Mama, Sleepy Dada

We have a picture of Leila when she was about two months old in the same pose-eyes wide open and fists up like a little fighter. I took advantage of the opportunity and snapped about 12 photos while Eli and I were sitting here...proud mama that I am, and all.

Leila the Builder. Leila helped remove the nails from this board. When she doesn't get to use the real hammer, she pulls out her plastic red hammer and goes about banging on the side of the piano. Not sure why it's always the piano that takes the beating (good thing it was only a freebie on Craigslist!).








Eli's very first bottle feed somehow required three people to get the job done. Leila was really enthusiastic at first, but soon got bored. In keeping with his mellow personality, Eli took to the bottle really easily, which is a good thing since I soon have to go back to work (eek!).

I couldn't believe that Mark actually fell asleep during the Euro 2008 Spain/Italy quarter finals! Apparently Eli wasn't too interested either. I decided to risk the chance of him slipping from Mark's sleepy arms in order to get this funny picture (luckily for my motherly conscience, Eli didn't tumble to the floor).

Tummy time! Eli probably wonders why we insist on face-planting him on his blankies. Haha, poor guy! He may be too young to master crawling, sitting-up, or walking, but he can definitely rock the good neck control. That's our boy! hehe.









Leila put on her little apron and got to work with the Eureka Mini Boss. "Want to hoover!" She loves to help out around the house, hoovering and cooking (making rice, cracking eggs and "stiring it all together" are her favorite kitchen activites). Funny she wants to help with our chores, but she never wants to pick up her own toys!

"Hug Eli!" as Leila says. She loves to take her turn cuddling him. She has a set routine now: first she holds him lying in her lap, then she gives him a kiss, then she hugs him like this. He doesn't look so tiny when she's holding him. I love these pictures!

A Belly Button and a Nose-Kiss

Big sister, little man, and a belly button. Sometimes when I'm sitting on the bed feeding Eli and Leila is snuggled up next to me, I'm blown away by the fact that these two little-people are my two children. Mark and I can't believe we already have two kids...now if only my brother and my friends would catch up! haha.





We took Leila to the Italian street painting festival in San Rafael where tons of local artists spent two days covering the streets with amazing chalk murals. Leila really wanted to do "painting", so we forked out 12 bucks (gasp!) for her own two by two foot square. (At least she got to keep the box of pastels, that kind of justifies the outrageous price, right?!) Once she sat down she didn't quite know what to do with her blank canvas.



Here we are kneeling on the painfully hot asphalt. Mark and I helped Leila fill in her 576 square inches of street space with zig-zags, swirls and all that good stuff. She was surprisingly timid at first, but got bolder after we started to help.








The finished product. You can see Mark's attempt at Maisy Mouse, Leila's most beloved kids' character.











Helen Putnam Park on Father's Day. We started off by going up a huge, steep hill and Leila climbed it all by herself. Mark was the lucky one who got to carry her for the last half of the hike when she was too tired to walk. I love how tiny Leila looks out there on the trail. You can just barely see Mark and Ryan in the distance.





Killing time drinking bad tea at the airport. Ryan's last photos with Leila and Eli turned out really nice. Leila loved the airport, which she saw as one big jungle gym with its multiple escalators, moving walkways, and elevators. We tried to restrain her by trapping her in the corner of the booth seat. Eventually she found her way out by climbing under the table!




Kissing, eskimo style! I love this picture of Leila and Mark mid-"nose kiss".












I actually managed to catch Leila with a natural, non-cheesy smile! I love this pic of her (of course, I think I say that about 90% of our photos!).

"It's a beautiful, sunny day!"

Last week we spent the day in San Francisco doing the touristy thing. We wanted to show Mark's brother around, so we tried to cram as many activities into one day as we could. With a baby and a toddler, two strollers, and a fully equipped diaper bag, a whole day in San Francisco turned out to be a pretty exhausting feat, but definitely worth it.

First stop was the Golden Gate bridge. We parked at the south end and walked across. Well, ok, so we didn't walk all the way across, maybe just a third of the way across. haha. The weather was so perfect--clear and sunny. We managed to get some good photos when we weren't busy dodging the wobbly tourists on their tandem bicycles.

Next we went to Union Square. We planned our lunch around soccer, eating at an Irish Pub so that the guys could watch the Euro 2008 game. Then we did some shopping. Leila, of course, wanted to walk instead of sit in her stroller. This wouldn't have been a problem if she didn't have this mad obsession with elevators, escalators and stairs. (She's a prime candidate for one of those child harnesses!) A visit to H&M, Baby Gap, and Urban Outfitters turned out to be a tiring game of chase-the-Leila. Luckily, when we got to the mall on Market, we somehow managed to divert Leila's eyes from the tantalizing escalators that spiral their way up through Nordstroms.

When Ryan split off to do some shopping, Mark and I discovered the ultimate parenting oasis: a "family lounge" in the mall. This lounge is decked out with sofas, colorful carpets, kids' toys, a big screen TV, private areas for nursing (with cushy chairs!), and best of all, a clean countertop with five baby changing stations, each with a sink and trashcan (much better than those plasticy changing tables that you pull down from the wall). Thank you to those brilliant Westfield shopping mall designers! The lounge was full of dads who were bonding over the fact that their wives had left them with the babies and had gone off on shopping sprees. hehe.

After our moment of reprieve, we took the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf. Even though we were down to one stroller (Eli was in his baby sling), and even though the adults outnumbered the kids 3 to 2, it was still a juggling act getting everybody (and everything) onto the cable car. Leila had a mini-breakdown because it was so crowded and she and Mark had to sit apart from Eli and I. Some kind strangers eventually moved and shuffled around so that we could all sit together. The ride was nice after that. Leila liked standing up and holding onto the pole as the cable car bounced around.

We did the usual at Fisherman's Wharf: walked to Pier 39, got some ice cream, saw the sea lions. Leila, Eli and I took a ride on the carousel (her first time!). By the end she was so tired we managed to get her to fall asleep in her stroller (she hasn't done that in over a year). We grabbed dinner at a very funky Indian food restaurant/bar/Irish pub. The set-up was definitely odd, but the food was great. Loved the spicy biriyani.

We rode the cable car back to Union Square, made another stop at the luxurious baby changing room, then got back to the car ten hours and 31 parking-dollars later (ouch!). On the way home we made one last stop at the vista point, on the north end of the bridge. The view of the city was beautiful since the sky was so clear. Ryan hopped out to get some photos; the rest of us, exhausted, admired the twinkling city lights from the car.

Our bundle-of-energy Leila managed to stay awake the entire way home. It was 10:30 when we got back and she wanted to play (sadly for her, nobody else did)!



Perfect blue skies.
As Leila would say,
"It's a beautiful, sunny day!"
(This is one of her current, favorite phrases.)














Wiggle worm Leila didn't want to hold still for the photo.












When Leila smiles for the camera she scrunches up her whole face.
It's hard to catch her with her eyes open!











Waiting in line for the cable car.

















Uncle Ryan and Leila post-ice cream.
She's a happy girl.
I love this picture.











A very tired Leila.
She napped when we were leaving.
Eli napped all day long in his sling.











Leila's first merry-go-round ride.













A view from the pier.