Lev's Third Birthday Party

We had to fit in a birthday party with our favorite peeps at the Tot Lot in Playa Vista for Lev before the baby came. The party was on 4/15/2012 and the baby is scheduled for 4/18/2012.  Nico and Nora, Riley and Sophia, Indie and Bea, and little Uma came out to celebrate.

Party prep.

That bubble machine was a huge hit. Lev was literally jumping off the floor in excitement.

Drink and fruit break after the bubbles.

 Nora is ready to be a big sister.

 Cupcakes for all.

And lots of new toys to play with after the party. Yay.

The Baby Is Almost Here

S pretty soon (1 week!) we will have a new addition to the family, and blog. Baby Girl is on her way. Here are the belly shots.

24 weeks

28 weeks

32 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks

39 weeks - last belly shot of the bunch. No more after this point people.

And here is what she looks like..

Crazy, right?

Passover/Easter 2012

We had a very busy holiday.

It started with a Seder for all the Two Families at Temple Akiba on Monday. The kids sang a few songs for us , but Lev gets self conscious and zones out to his happy place or stares at his fingers when the spotlight is on.

That Friday we drove down to San Diego to have Pesach with Shany, Alon, Ella, Maya, and Sara and Shelly, Joe, Michaela, and Liam who were visiting from NY for the week. There were 9 kids under 10 at the Seder which made for a boisterous family gathering. Rivka sent over half of the meal with Shelly which was hysterical and well appreciated too. The food and the company was so yummy.

The following night were lucky enough to be invited to Pam and Frank;s for a second Seder. It was very chill and relaxed. And with the Petriglianos cooking, you can safely assume the food was out of this world.

 Randi lead the Seder

Nico, Lev, and Zoey did great on their own - watching TV and making music.

 Graydon and Mia wished they could be part of the action but were happy to observe for now.

Let's not forget Easter Sunday. Although we didn't do much, we had to make a mini egg hunt for Lev outside.He's just too good an egg seeker for us to deprive him of the joy of finding those camouflaged eggs and then the thrill of discovering what's inside.

San Francisco

We took our last family vacation at 32 weeks pregnant (Feb 18-25) to San Francisco where we rented an apartment near Duboce Park at the Lower Haight/Hayes Valley area of the city. We walked and walked and walked every day which was a nice change from our usual routine and then vegged out at home in the afternoon where Lev was obsessed with viewing Rio on HBO every day, twice a day, before heading out again for dinner. We really explored each neighborhood as well as visit with our friends Randi and Maz, the Gurmans, and take a day trip to Muir Woods and Mill Valley. On the way down we stopped at Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, made our way down Route 1, stopped at San Louis Obispo for dinner, and managed to earn a speeding ticket near Santa Barbara. The trip was a long time in the making and I'm glad we finally did it.

View of Alcatraz Island.

Lev loved the novelty of taking public transportation - BART, trolleys, buses, and trams.

 We visited Michelle at work at the Exploritorium and then walked around the Palace of Fine Arts.

We also walked through Golden Gate Park a few times to play at Coret Playground. This is outside the Flower Conservatory.

 Inside the Flower Conservatory, Lev was impressed with the Playland exhibit.

Lev was not into getting photographed at Muir Woods but his outfit was too cute to resist snapping a paparazzi shot.

 We all  loved Mill Valley.

We had too many breakfasts of Cafe Au Lait, fresh baguette, and Nutella at Cafe del Sole near our apartment.

 The requisite trolley ride.

The maze at Duboce park made us all smile.