Taking pictures of Lyla today... and begging her to smile for me as she busily played with her doll. Finally I said, "Lyla, PLEASE... it makes me so happy when you smile nicely. Don't you want to make Mommy happy??" She paused for a moment, then shook her head decisively and said, "No. Make Mommy sad."

Grrr... that's what I get for asking, I guess.

Date Night

So Chadd and I took advantage of our trusty babysitter and my momentary lift in morning sickness, and went to dinner and a movie tonight. When we got back home, my mom told us that three different times over the course of the evening, Lyla asked her curiously, "Where Mommy go? Where Daddy go? Lyla come too?"

Awwwwwwww. And the only thing better than knowing your toddler misses you when you're away, is coming home after a lovely evening to find her tucked into her crib, happy and loved and warm and well-fed. Makes for a pretty good night all around. :)

Side-note: 4 more days until the "big" ultrasound! Lyla has already cast her guess as to the baby's sex... she was helping me test out names the other day, and immediately latched onto Noah (our boy name, the only one we know for sure). She asked where he was, then suggested "Baby Noah come out now? Come upstairs, sleep with Lyla in crib? Have paci too?" Then she gently cradled an imaginary baby in her arms and carefully offered him her paci (did I mention she's REALLY big on pretending, these days?) Which means we need to pick a girl name quickly, to balance out the Baby Noah love! But either way, we're glad she's getting excited about her new role. I can't wait to see my sweet little girl as a proud big sister.

How To Make Golf Less Boring, by Lyla

I'm going to assume there's some sort of significant golf event going on, since there've been a lot of lovely green lawns and low-talking announcers and carefully-timed soft claps coming from our TV as of late. Lyla will occasionally glance up to yell "get in the hole!" or inquire "what's his name?" when somebody interesting appears on the screen.

Yesterday Tiger Woods was being interviewed, and Lyla looked over at the TV and asked in her playful voice, "who's that funny guy?" I said, "you know who he is... what's his name?" She paused for a moment, then told me, "ummmmm... Lion!"

It's a very special person who can make me laugh that hard about something golf-related. And as for Tiger, he got off pretty easy, I think... many people would have come up with a less noble animal to substitute for his name, these days. Although my friend Niki suggested on Facebook that perhaps "Lyin" was what Lyla actually meant. ;)

Waiting, impatiently...

I am impatient. By nature. Which means it's not my fault... I just can't help myself. Lately, I've been fighting to suppress the most intolerable impatience ever... waiting to find out if this new little baby is a girl or a boy. And we've got two more lonnnnnng weeks to go. Sigh.

But the upside is: last pregnancy, I went into my 20 week ultrasound really hoping for a little girl, and I'll never forget catapulting myself upright on the table and clapping my hands with excitement in the exam room, giddy with joy. This time, I waver between thinking PINK (it's just so much fun being a girl mommy, and I'd really love for Lyla to have a sister) and envisioning BLUE (it'd be fun to experience something different). So assuming we see a happy, healthy baby on that ultrasound screen, regardless of "parts"... I'll be 100% genuinely thrilled either way.

I just can't wait for that "giddy on the table" moment!

The mind of a toddler...

Lyla loves to pretend. Some days she's a kitty-cat, sometimes a doggy (who will only answer to Neko, Connor's Boston Terrier's name), other times a butterfly. The other day she was a birdie. I said, "Oh hi, Birdie! What are you doing?" as she "flew" around the house, and she happily explained, "I'm birdie! I sit in a nest and eat some eggs!"

Hmmmm... didn't even touch that one. For now, I'm thinking we won't complicate her 22-month-old sensibilities by explaining that some eggs are for eating, while others actually grow into new birdies. She has plenty of time in the future to figure out the circle of life... in the meantime, she can happily imagine her little birdie friends just chillin' in their nests enjoying an omelet in the mornings. ;)

Wise Words from Lyla:

I was getting Lyla up from a nap the other day, but she wanted to stay in her crib so she could have her pacifier for a while longer (the pacis stay in there for naps and night-time). She politely handed one to me as a peace offering, and I said, "No pacis for Mommy. I'm a big girl!" She looked at me contemplatively for a moment, then removed her own paci from her mouth to tell me very seriously, "Big girls need pacis, too, Mama."

She's right. I took the paci. :)

Sun and Sand and Seashells, Oh My!

Since the beach may be my most favorite STLFT (something to look forward to), this seems like an appropriate place to start my blog. Lyla and I have been here for just over two glorious weeks, and I'm mostly just writing this post to avoid packing for home. We started out in Millsboro with Chadd's parents, where John and Gabie came to visit with their little ones, so the guys could play some golf. Then we headed down to Rehoboth for our traditional birthday beach trip. Which means I am, officially, 31 (gasp)! It's been a great visit, despite the neverending morning sickness keeping me from all my favorite restaurants. And having to substitute cranberry juice for wine at all our happy hours. And not really rocking the bikini quite like I used to. And having to pee every 35 seconds. That's not so festive.

But as Chadd noted, Lyla definitely inherited the "beach gene" from my mom, grandmother, and I, and nothing could make me happier. She is totally in her element playing in the sand and splashing in the waves and people-watching on the boardwalk, and naps like a champ afterward. Chadd and PopPop came down for long weekends, and Uncle MikeMike and his friend Connell were here for a visit, too. We even got to have some playdates with Lyla's BFF, Emma. All in all, it's been a pretty awesome start to my 31st year.