Baby Cousin Sylas Has Arrived!

I guess the Larocca kids like to make a big entrance! Chris' sister Cara had her little boy, Sylas, a week early on Thursday. (Guess he took the cue from big cousin Ashley!) He is a super cute little guy and we can't wait for them to meet each other. Congrats to Cara & Weylin on their latest accomplishment!

Ashley is doing well - thanks Aunt Suzy for the note about Mylicon. That has helped somewhat, but I also think the deletion of milk was a big help too. I am trying to get used to Soy Milk, but so far I only like it in my lattes!



BIG PHOTOSHOOT COMING UP! Stay tuned for some super cute pics of Ashley. She is bigger now, so I can get her into some of her fabulous outfits.

Stop and Smell The Roses

Sorry that I haven't posted any pictures lately. I keep forgetting to put the camera on the charger. Not that you have missed much ... Ashley has started to get pretty fussy when she is awake. The poor thing has bad gas pains. It makes me so sad because there isn't much I can do for her. The pacifier helps a little bit because I think sucking on it is soothing to her. (Thank goodness my boobs can have a break too!) I have also stopped drinking milk to see if she has an allergy or intolerance to dairy. This seems weird since I drank COW-FULLS of milk and ate Hagaan-Daas into a record profit year while I was pregnant with her. But, we'll see if it helps.

The past few days, we have been walking around Balboa Island. Fresh air is one of the allowable outings of my prison sentence. It is pretty peaceful strolling along and looking at all the beautiful homes and boats and listening to the gentle lapping of waves on the shore. Its funny because I thought there would be a lot of moms and strollers cruising around, but oddly enough, its just me and the retired set. Its cute to see them walking hand in hand around the island or sitting on park benches watching the boats go by ... I sure hope Chris and I have such a lovely life to look forward to after Ashley has grown up.

What a great place we live - our lives have been so busy that its been hard to take advantage of our beautiful surroundings. It is nice to be able to slow down and just appreciate how lucky we are that we have so much to enjoy right at our fingertips.

I Hope This Doesn't Mean...

...my daughter is an aspiring plumber!

PRISON BREAK!

Today, Ashley and I ventured out for an hour to the Coffee Bean for visit with a friend from our ad agency. I kept her covered up (except for this picture) and we sat outside in a well-ventilated area. I can tell you that this single hour really did a lot for me and it was so good to catch up with my colleague. Ash was a perfect angel and was sacked out out for the entire visit. She really is such a good girl!

This weekend, Grammy & Grandpa Larocca will be up for a visit on Saturday and Gigi will be here on Sunday. I am hoping to sneak out for a quick mani/pedi and maybe a visit with my friend Ann. Some sushi would be good too! If I can accomplish one of those things, I will be very happy!

I Am The Muffin Man

I'll admit it ... last night was a little rough. Ashley seems to want to eat every hour. I feel like I am cow living on a dairy farm. I know she is underweight, so there is a reason that she is eating like a linebacker, but I found myself holding really still last night hoping that she would drift back to sleep without making me get up to feed her again. (FYI - That tactic does not work...)

So, my routine goes something like this: get up, change her diaper, feed her, burp her, wrap her back up and pray to high Heaven that she goes right back to sleep. This process takes about an hour - and all the while Chris is snoring. How does this man sleep so soundly?! I am almost offended. (I'm not ... at least one of us is getting some sleep!)

Exhausted at the 9am feeding, I tried to put her back in her bassinet, but she was NOT having it. So, I unwrapped her and plopped her into bed next to me. Wouldn't you know it? She slept like a log until 11:30.

After we got up, I decided to get out my pre-pregnancy jeans just to evaluate the situation. As I pulled the box off the top shelf in the closet where it had been collecting dust for 9 months, I asked myself why I felt it was necessary to force an early onset of depression? I pulled them up over my legs ... and then over my butt ... and then over my hips - and to my dismay, they zipped up and buttoned!

Holy Cow, the little Heifer had eaten so much that I fit into my old jeans again!!!!!! OK, let me be honest here ... I have a HUGE Muffin Top that rolls over the waistband, but I was in them and damn it if I wasn't going to celebrate. I packed up Ashley and we took off for In N Out Burger faster than you can say Combo #2 with no onions and a Coke!

Mother Nature has an interesting way of creating incentives, doesn't she? Eat up, little Piglet! Eat up!

Home Alone

Today was our first day completely alone. It was a lovely day - we slept in until 11am. (Meaning, we were up at 12am, 2:30am, 5am and 7am and THEN slept until 11.) It was very peaceful to just feed her and then snuggle a bit while she slept.




I checked in with work today and couldn't really get much from anyone. I know they are trying to respect my time at home with Ashley, but I DYING to know what is going on there! I am trying not to seem too nosey because I don't want them thinking that I am checking in because I don't think they can handle things on their own. The lucky thing for me is that I have 5 extremely capable people that work for me ...

Falling In Love...

...with your husband all over again is an amazing feeling.



Chris is so good with Ashley. He is a typical, over-protective father and wants to make sure everyone is supporting her head, holding her correctly and has clean hands before he can feel comfortable. He regularly announces how cute she is and claims that there has never been a cuter baby born in to this world. He always sighs and says, "I just love her so much..."

I'll post again today, but this picture of the two of them sleeping was just too cute to wait...