Christmas 2011

Using her new science kit for experiments with Daddy.

Milo watching in anticipation. His eyes never leave Elsa is she is in the room!

Favorite present of the year...a pink sleeping bag. She has already asked if we can go camping soon about five times!

Opening presents.

Ice skating for the first time. It happened to be "Hanukkah on Ice" in Silver Spring so we also watched them light a gigantic menorah right in the middle of the rink....hilarious!

Elsa is Three!

Elsa is three! She spent the day doing some of her favorite things; a hike in the woods with her Daddy and puppy, a swim at the indoor pool and finished up the day reading to her brother in her new beanbag chair (thanks Nana!). Its nearly impossible to believe how much she has changed lately.

She can count to 13 in spanish and english, she can play make believe/pretend like the best of them, she runs faster than 6 year olds, she is very nurturing and loving to her friends and especially to Milo. She loves broccoli, mango and meatballs. She has a silly sense of humor and loves to make people laugh. She likes to help mommy bake and he helps daddy make smoothies and coffee nearly every morning. She has one chore, and that is to feed Dalasi every morning and before dinner at night.

We love you Elsa!!!

Cookies!

Sickies and Smiles

Milo has had a rough few weeks, pneumonia and RSV. Despite the crummies and all of his medications he finally began really smiling at us this week!

Elsa's 3rd Birthday Party

We had Elsa's birthday party a week before her actual birthday (one of the drawbacks of having a Christmas eve birthday). I asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she said...PINK! Well, she got pink...pink cupcakes, pink cake, pink poofs, pink plates, pink dress, pink juice, pink pretzels and a homemade pink pinata.

Milo's First Hike

Milo slept through his first official hike, very similar to his sisters first hike!

Milo is Three Months

What a difference a month makes! This month was a pretty big one for Milo. For starters, he is finally going longer than 2 hours between feedings - I think he knew he was wearing his poor momma down! Clearly, by the size of his cheeks, triple chin and rolly polly rolls, he is still getting plenty to eat.

His personality is starting to show more and he is much more engaging. He is pretty chill - unless he wants to eat and then he lets you know with a really loud cry and a pouty lip curl. He just started smiling and cooing. He looks and reacts to Elsa way more than mom and dad. If she is in the room, you can see him trying to figure out where she is at - and he smiled at her first.

This month he had his first vaccinations, which he took like a champ. He also had his first cold. One of his pastimes is pulling mommy and Elsa's hair - really hard!

Mommy, sadly, went back to work, so he spent his first full week with Clara. Not surprisingly, he adores her as much as the rest of us do. Elsa was happy to have her brother with her all day and help Clara take care of him.

He is such a sweet little bug - we can hardly remember our life without him!

Holiday card outakes

We tried to get a nice family photo with 2 smiling parents, 2 smiling kids, and one happy pup. Well, when your card arrives in the mail you will see we were unsuccessful. Errol and I could not agree on a photo and after 2 tries we threw in the towel!

Anyways, here are a few photos that were not deemed photocard worthy, but are plenty fine for the blog.

UVA - Charlottseville

Racing Daddy on the Quad at UVA.

Daredevils. Elsa couldn't get enough of this and only stopped when Daddy's arm were about to give out!

Pondering if this East Coast institution is worthy of her intellect (well, her 15 year from now intellect).

Milo was there too and he really got into the swing of college life..naps!

Milo is Two Months Old

Typical Zoo Visit

We go to the National Zoo nearly every month to say hello to the gorilla's - and also try and fit in a quick peak at the other animals if Elsa lets us. Elsa is always super excited in the car on they way there and "calls the zookeeper" to let her know we are on our way so the gorilla's are outside.
YEAH! The gorillas were outside. We spend the majority of our time with the gorilla's like this!

So much excitement! She normally tells her baby all about the gorillas and falls asleep on the way home.

And when I say this is a typical visit, what I really mean is this is what happens EVERY time we go!

On having a Sept. 11 baby

To be honest, I was shocked at the reactions we received (and still get) that Milo was born on 9/11. All of them fairly negative to be honest. That is why I was especially moved when Errol wrote the letter below as his Director's letter for ELP's September newsletter. Since he never blogs, I thought I'd share this on his behalf so Milo and Elsa see it when they look at this years from now.

Dear Friends, Fellows and Community,

I am continually amazed by the power of stories - the way they shape our memories and help to create our future. Each of us has a story about 9/11 - where we were, how we felt and how our lives have changed because of it. Unfortunately, the thought of September 11 congers up memories of anxiety, fear and uncertainty - it's not that we want those feelings, but the stories we hear and share about that fateful day cause them.

September 11 has a new meaning for me and one I want to share with you. I don't expect it will change your feelings as that day rolls around next year, and each year after, but I am hopeful it will allow you to pause and think that days on the calendar, and our memories of those past are what we make of them.

September 11 now holds the feelings of love, of joy, of hope and possibility - it is the day my son decided to make a dramatic entrance to the world at 2:28am on September 11, 2011.

Though my memories of where I was, and how I felt on 9/11/01 will never change, I will look forward to that day each and every year of my life - not to mourn the loss of life, but celebrate its arrival.

Errol Mazursky

Executive Director and Proud Dad

Storytime with mommy

Good thing we have a big chair!

Who taught her this?

Sorry for the nudie picture but we thought it was too funny not to share. A typical Sunday morning has Elsa taking our coffee cup into the kitchen for us. This particular day she decided she needed to use the potty on the way there and Errol just happened to have a camera handy - if only she had a newspaper handy!

Many faces of Milo

All pictures taken within about a minute - now that his eyes are sometimes open he is quite expressive!

Halloween 2011

Elsa and her banana. This is actually her second gorilla costume...because you know you can never have too many gorilla costumes to play with!

Elsa enjoying cupcakes from our neighbor.

Julian the Orangutan and Elsa the Gorilla

Gorilla and Daddy

Zookeeper, Zookeepers wife, Gorilla and Banana. If you read books to kids we won't need to explain...for others, we are from the book Good Night, Gorilla.

Our new family of four pumpkins. Dalasi got one too, but it was painted this year and didn't show up since it wasn't lit with a candle.

Although we didn't quite go as far out as we did last year, I think we showed pretty well for being sleep deprived and having a newborn. We are already planning for next year though. We WILL beat the Johnson/Leck family one of these years. (Cuz its a competition ya know;))

Moby

Elsa loves to help out with Milo -but she loves her baby even more. With a new baby in the house she is learning lots of new things about how to take care of her baby - like baby wraps. She tried the baby bjorn but was more partial to the Moby!

Now that is love....

Most people would be totally grossed out by this and possibly even try to stop the dog from licking your infant smack dab on his face while his mouth was probably open....not Errol, he makes sure he gets a photo of it. Dalasi has been so good with Milo's arrival that I guess we can let this one pass - he loves Milo just as much as we do!

Fall Party 2011

We decided to go ahead and have our fall party again this year and it just happened to fall on Milo's actual due date. It was a beautiful fall day and although we didn't document it very well, everyone had a great time painting pumpkins, drinking cider, eating apple pie and pumpkin cupcakes...and of course meeting Milo!