Play Dates and Fun!

Thankfully our Cornell friends Tara, Shawn and their baby girl Madeline live a few blocks away. We've had a few playdates with them since we've been here. I've noticed that Lilly Anna definitely prefers one-on-one playdates and she has really warmed up to Tara!

Since we've been here, we've also met several new people. Our apartment was completely renovated, so everyone who lives here is new to the building. It's been fun meeting our neighbors and they are all so nice. One couple, Ruth and Gary, live on the top floor. They are our age, she is from England and he is from South Africa. They quickly invited us over for brunch one Sunday afternoon. It was so kind of them to have us over. Since they live on the top floor, they have a wonderful terrace off of their bedroom where we had brunch. They even had a blanket laid out for Lilly Anna to play on! Since our brunch, Lilly Anna and I have had lunch in the park with Ruth. I'm so grateful we've met them and enjoy their company!

We met another couple at church. They have a little girl a month younger than LA. We went to brunch with them one Saturday afternoon and Jill and I have since gotten together for several play dates. Jill even introduced me to another mom from Texas - Katie who's son is a month older than LA.

I've randomly met a few more moms in the park who have invited us to playgroups, so we've already kept busy with several playgroups a week. At this point, the playgroups have definitely been more enjoyable for me. Lilly Anna hasn't quite warmed up to our new friends. She's still observing everything and taking it all in. We have several groups already in place for the fall, so hopefully she'll become comfortable before too long.

When we're not busy meeting new moms and babies, we're usually in the one of the parks. We absolutely love living a block from Riverside Park. Our favorite playground is right when you walk into the park - so LA is on a swing in less than 3 minutes! We also enjoy going to the museums (thanks to Josh's company, we have FREE memberships to all of the museums in the city and the Central Park Zoo!), blowing bubbles and doing chalk art on our patio, and dancing to music in the living room!

So we're doing very well! I can't believe it - but I LOVE it here. I love our apartment, our neighborhood, Josh's quick commute (about 15 minutes), I love the city and having family close (my two cousins.) It's really been fun.


Lilly Anna crawled into Tara's lap. Madeline was a bit jealous, so she followed!

The girls swinging in Central Park.

Having music time!

Looks like they are really communicating with each other in this pic!

Pretty girls!


Family picture. Tara and Shawn introduced us to the Boat Basin on the Hudson River - fabulous place to go. You can take your food/drinks from the restaurant and picnic by the water.

Enjoying a nice summer afternoon.

Grammy's Visit! July 30-Aug 3

Lilly Anna LOVES her grandparents! Fortunately we get to see them quite often and try and Skype with each of them at least once a week. Nothing is better, though, than seeing them in person. My mom, a.k.a. Grammy, came to visit! It was so wonderful to have her here. We were pretty well moved in and had just purchased a twin sleeper sofa for to sleep on. My mom is super busy at work and between seeing us and my brother's family who live in Virginia, she doesn't have many spare vacation days. So it was wonderful she was able to take a couple of days off work to come up here and be with us!

We had a great time while she was here. We spent a lot of time in the neighborhood, went to the parks and to the Natural History Museum. We had a fun brunch one morning. Our friends Amy and Brandon were in town apartment hunting that Saturday afternoon, so we had drinks and appetizers at the Boat Basin! This place is great, not for the food, but for the patio seating next to the water! The margaritas are actually pretty good, too! Before we met Amy and Brandon, my mom and I went shopping in midtown and stumbled upon a street sale! It was so fun! We both bought matching sun hats. While she was here we left Josh and Lilly Anna home and had dessert at Cafe Lalo, which is just 2 blocks from our house and was where Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks tried to meet for the first time in the movie You've Got Mail. It's a really charming little place with over 100 delicious desserts!

My mom volunteered to watch Lilly Anna that Sunday evening so Josh and I could have a date. Since we had been eating out at restaurants so much that weekend, I was in the mood for something casual. You'll probably laugh when I tell you that we ended up taking the subway to midtown so we could eat fried chicken at Popeye's! What a romantic date, right?! It will actually be one of the dates I'll always remember! We arrived at Popeye's at 8:01pm only for the door to be locked! Yep, it had taken us at least 15 minutes to get down there and we had arrived 1 minute late! So I proceeded to beg the manager, through the glass door no less, to let us in. I guess my southern charm (really my desperateness) paid off! He let us in (and one other man who had actually beaten us there). We were so grateful...they must have thought we were the biggest freaks being so excited about fried chicken. Anyhow, we left there to find a place to eat our greasy meal. We ended up in the middle of Times Square and ate our dinner on one of the new tables the city just placed earlier this summer. It was honestly so much fun. We just sat and talked and people watched. We talked about how many people had probably sat on the same chairs we were sitting on that day, which actually made us a little sick to our stomachs to think about. It was a great date and we're so grateful my mom watched LA for us so we could get away! I just wish I had brought our camera!

It was such an awesome weekend! We're looking forward to seeing my mom again soon - in just a few weeks in Charlottesville, VA for the TCU vs. UVA football game on September 12! But before then, we get to see Josh's parents over Labor Day!

Our matching hats. Lilly Anna loved them!

She especially got a kick out of my mom's!


Lilly Anna is a girly girl. She LOVES necklaces and purses, especially my purse. Grammy bought her the adorable pink purse in the picture. She really likes her new purse, as you can see from the video below!


LA is so much fun during meal time. She'll wink and put her head on her shoulder. Unfortunately this picture didn't quite capture Lilly Anna in action (you can see that my mom is still entertained!)


Such a cute picture of LA and her Grammy! You can tell how much she loves her, huh?

I LOVE this picture because it's the last picture we took before my mom had to leave. I was about to put LA to bed and she had been especially cranky that afternoon because she had skipped her afternoon nap. She was cranky with everyone, except Grammy! When we were saying our goodbyes, I started crying, which of course made my mom start crying. And LA just did all of her tricks - she winked, giggled, put her head to the side, clapped, I mean she did it all! It was the perfect send off for my mom!




Thanks, Grammy, for visiting us! We can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

9 Months!

We celebrated Lilly Anna's 9 month birthday on July 21! It's hard to believe that our baby girl is already 9 months old! Her ninth month was very busy. We moved to New York City and took a quick trip to the beach in Maine. Lilly Anna finally got a tooth, too!

I know I say it each month, but she keeps getting more and more fun! These are just a few things she's up to these days: Lilly Anna loves to dance - we have to be careful because she'll bounce so hard she'll knock herself over! She initiates peek-a-boo and claps her hands on command (most of the time). She goes crazy when she sees dogs - she'll flap her hands and squeal! It's so adorable! She's mastered climbing up the two steps from our living room to our kitchen and has adopted the Bjorn as her lovie. She loves to kiss her stuffed animals. Unfortunately Josh and I witnessed her kissing her friend Jack's picture! Yes, you heard it...she's already kissing boys! His birthday invitation has his picture on it and she loves looking at it. Well the other day we saw her smiling and then she bent down and KISSED it! We're in trouble!

Her 9 month stats:
19 lbs 6 oz
30.5 inches - so she's still long and lean!

Happy Birthday, Josh!

Josh is finally the BIG 3-0! The Reynolds family tradition is to have sausage egg casserole the morning of the birthday. So, Josh had a delicious breakfast. Then that evening my wonderful cousins, Anna and Laura, volunteered to watch LA so Josh and I could go out and celebrate. We had a wonderful steak dinner at the Porter House. It was a great evening and so much fun for us to have a night out.

The celebration continued Saturday when we had some people over to celebrate. It was the perfect day - we sat out on our patio and had a wonderful time with friends. We had just bought a baby pool for Lilly Anna, so she was thrilled to share it for the first time with her friend Ella.

Josh worked hard on his birthday, he successfully hung blinds in Lilly Anna's room. What a great dad!

Josh reading Lilly Anna's birthday gift to him - the booked entitled I Love My Daddy Because...


Lilly Anna cracking up at her friend Ella. Ella and her parents, Lauren and Ben, used to be our next door neighbors in Ithaca. We miss seeing them often!

With our little girls

The guys with their sweet little girls

Laura and Anna after successfully feeding Lilly Anna dinner!

Meet Martine, Lilly Anna's crush. She's got good taste - tall, dark and handsome. Martine was visiting my cousins that weekend and came to the party. Lilly Anna was seriously smitten. She couldn't stop giggling and laughing...we're in serious TROUBLE!

Yes, that's LA in her b-day suit...with Eric and Ezra Fish!

The babies in the pool

Move to NYC

Have I ever said how wonderful Josh's mom is?! Since she's a high school math tutor she was able to come up and help us pack and move to NYC. We would have never been able to have moved had it not been for her help! Lilly Anna was busy getting into everything (thanks to the fact that she learned how to crawl 3 weeks before the move!) Grandmommy was not only our "nanny", but cook, maid and professional box packer! Let me tell you, she was not here on vacation - we really put her to work! Thank you, Grandmommy, for helping us during this exciting time!

OK, so we had a little fun!
Our last brunch at the Carriage House. And last family picture in Ithaca.

I think LA thought the boxes were new toys. She ended up with 60 of them!

And then wound up in one!

On the Cornell Campus-to-Campus bus to NYC- which is super nice!

Strolling in the city. I believe we were close to Josh's office, which is in Times Square - lucky him:)

Lilly Anna having McDonalds' Soft Serve for the first time! She LOVED it! (see video below!)

Yep, they are definitely family!

Wild hair after a nursing!

I thought this was such a sweet picture! Lilly Anna is helping Grandmommy put her toy together.



So my voice is annoying, but this video sure is cute!

Last Days in Ithaca

As many of you know, Josh and I love Ithaca summers! We were actually pretty bummed we had to move in the middle of the summer. There's nothing better than temperatures in the mid-80s and beautiful sunny days! With everyone leaving Ithaca at the same time, there was a lot going on. We enjoyed BBQs with our friends and the Farmer's Market up until the end! Ithaca...we miss you and all of our dear friends!
Lilly Anna just loves her little friend Ella

Lilly Anna thinks Mr. Mark is so funny! She misses him and Ms. Rachel

LA can't wait to visit Miss Anna and Mr. Chris in California someday! Maybe in the winter?!

LA showing Ella her favorite flash cards!

The last playdate with our birth class friends Azalea (mom Draya) and Ainsley (mom Andi). We miss y'all. The girls had been together since before birth!
Nancy and Draya with the girls. Aren't they so cute?!

It's a good thing Mr. Brandon and Ms. Amy are moving close by! LA loves playing with them!

Amy makes her so happy!

The Joshes with their little ladies at the Farmer's Market. (Josh is married to Andi and the dad of Ainsley!)

8 Months!

Lilly Anna turned 8 months on June 21! She had a busy, but fun-filled 8th month. Her daddy graduated from Cornell, so she received non-stop attention from her grandparents for almost a week. We then took a 2-week trip to Texas. She started crawling and pulling up. Her little personality keeps coming out more and more. She has the most amazingly sweet temperament and the most infectious smile. We love our little girl (a.k.a. "Jinger") so much!

8-month pics can be viewed here

Texas Trip June 2-16

We went home to Texas for a couple of weeks in June. Had fun spending time with family and friends. A few highlights - we got to attend our niece's 3rd birthday party, took Lilly Anna to the zoo, I co-hosted my sweet friend Mary Marshall's baby shower. We went to an awesome fish fry in honor of Mary Marshall's 30th birthday and spent our first night away! Josh surprised me with a night at the W Hotel while Grandmommy (Josh's mom) was kind enough to keep Lilly Anna for us - THANK YOU!

While we were home Lilly Anna started CRAWLING and my family got to see it - including my great-aunt who came to visit just to meet LA!

It was a great trip and we are so grateful that we had the time to go home! We also appreciated all the FREE babysitting:)

Here are some of the pictures from the trip (a bit out of order!)

Lilly Anna's funny face with her Great-Grandma (whom she's named after)Mary Marshall opening one of her presents. She's due any day now with a baby GIRL - Harper Elisabeth!
My dear friend Kelli. She just had a baby GIRL named Everleigh. Kelli and I were college roommates!


Lilly Anna, Aunt Ashley and Drew!

Lilly Anna and her sweet Uncle Brad

LA and Drew had a thing going - they were really understanding each other!

I thought this was a funny pic because the babies are always fighting for space in Granddaddy's lap!
Grandmommy and her youngest little ballerina!
Cuddle time with Pops and Nonni (my dad and stepmother)
My dear friend Emily and her adorable 15-month old son Travis. We were in "Grandmommy's Garden" Josh's mom had the mural painted in the kids' playroom right before we came into town. Isn't it beautiful?
Aunt Melanie came from Arkansas to visit (Josh's aunt)
My great-aunt Marilyn came from West Texas to visit and meet LA
My second cousin Greg. LA LOVED him! Can't you tell?

My reaction to the *SURPRISE* night away! It was amazing and so sweet of Josh (& his mom) to plan a special night away!
Grandmommy is so fun with the kiddos!
I thought this picture was so funny of Travis and Lilly Anna!
Our lunch date with Grammy!

Lilly Anna rollin' in the Hummer - our rental car (for a few days)

Josh and Lilly Anna with Marshall and his son Peyton and Reid and Travis. Lilly Anna was invited to Peyton's 2nd Birthday party! The guys all went to high school together and are still great friends.
The ladies with their babies - Emily and Travis and Meredith and Peyton. Meredith is having a baby GIRL in the fall!
With Aunt Heather and Halle
Dinner pool side!
Josh and Lilly Anna with Uncle Chad and Cason
Family pic from the Fort Worth Zoo.

The cousins! Halle and Lilly Anna. Isn't this pic so adorable?!

One of our dates -Lunch at Joe T's. Ahhh...I could go for one of their killer margaritas right now!
"Uncle" Travis. Josh and Travis were roommates and played football at Austin College

"Yummm - Grammy sure knows how to make me happy!"
Posing in front of the kangaroos (Josh's college mascot)
Fun times at the zoo!




This was literally her first "crawl" Now she just crawls over everything!