Ba-ba-ba ball

Precious Cargo

Visited Josephine’s studio in Dumbo today for the Marie Walsh Sharpe Open Studios. Such an amazing space! Ellis was even nicely coordinated with one of her new paintings.

Picnic time

Looking forward to seeing how many parks we can visit this spring and summer with Ellis, our blanket, a few snacks and lots and lots of sunscreen!

A little sick

Poor Ellis was sick all morning. After twelve hours of sleep last night, she woke up very hungry and I was feeling just as eager to feed her. After some frantic nursing, she threw everything up. This was a first and I chalked it up to her feeding too quickly. Sadly, she got sick four more times this morning. Not sure if it was the lentils she ate last night or phlegm left over from her cold.

I guess we were spoiled for the first six months with Ellis because she was never sick. No fevers or colds, no vomiting or upset stomach. It seems that in the past few weeks the passive immunity she received from me via pregnancy and nursing has worn off. She’s now working on building up her own immune system.

I like to call mornings like these the “other firsts”. They are not as celebrated as the first time she rolled over or sat up, but they are still important milestones both for Ellis’s increasing immunity and our growth as parents. Thankfully, after an early afternoon nap, Ellis seemed more like her old self and we were able to leave the house and enjoy a delicious brunch with Sara and Ron in Greenpoint. I was very happy to catch up with them and even happier that we made it through brunch with Ellis in the same outfit!

Welcome to the world Clara!

Just a short week ago, Isabelle and Nick welcomed their beautiful daughter Clara Belle Robertson to the world. We are so happy for them and can’t wait to meet her in person. I showed Ellis some photos of Clara online and she also seemed pretty excited. While their 6.5 month age difference seems huge now, the two girls will be babbling, laughing and playing together in no time.

Aside from the exciting news of Clara’s arrival, our week was pretty low key. I enjoyed a delicious dinner out with Josephine and Peter at Anella and Erik and I met Sara for a picnic lunch in Union Square on a warm Spring afternoon. We even took Ellis out of daycare for the hour to join us. This is something we hope to do at least once a week now that the weather is a little nicer. Anything to make the week days feel a little more like the weekend.

Here are a few new pictures of Ellis and her developing personality. That pose on the couch cracked us up!

A few more Holland pics

Cedric, Ellis and Julian

For a brief moment we managed to get all three kids on the couch in Almere. Julian and Cedric are bundles of energy. Ellis seemed really fascinated with her older cousins.

Spring Break in Holland

Got back last night from our lovely family visit to the Netherlands. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone and to introduce Ellis to the rest of her Dutch relatives. We were all over the country, from Deventer to Voorburg, Amsterdam to Scheidam and Almere and then back to Deventer. We were especially excited to see the new houses from Amke, Marijke and Oma and to see all three grandkids together. Cedric and Julian have grown so much. Julian is walking and Cedric is riding a bike! Here are the first of many photos from our trip.