Jello Pool Party

This week' OTB was a Jello pool party.

As with the pasta party, Yarden quickly figured out that she was sitting in a pool of food and began to leisurely to eat her surroundings.

(* Not all of the OTB activities are food related, in fact only two out of about 30 have been - but they do make for ridiculous photos. If you are interested in seeing other activities, there are tons of OTB photos here.)

Happy Birthday to Joey Ramone, Malcolm X, and Yarden.

Dear Distant Future Yarden:

We know that you were secretly walking at daycare, but we appreciate that you waited to do it in front of us until all grandparents and your Uncle Liam arrived. It's probably for the best because it is entirely possible that you will be photographed every second of the next few days. I just hope Slightly Future Yarden doesn't get cold feet. I'm not glad that you learned how to hide things from me after that time I busted you holding your own bottle at daycare, but I am/was making fewer surprise visits for the last couple of weeks so maybe I'm partly to blame too.

Anyway, I hope that your (next) piano concert goes well. You've probably come a long way since "Itsty Bitsy Spider" and I'm very proud of you. And I hope that you've gotten that second black belt in karate, a second Golden Glove, had a nice weekend on the Moon, and that you're coming over this weekend to do laundry.

Love,

Dad

Happy Birthday Yarden

Today is the one year anniversary of the last day that Seamus and I spent in the labor room at Cedars Sinai.
Me hooked up to god knows how many monitors - drugged, scared & blogging.
Seamus crammed uncomfortably into a variety of hospital chairs - stone sober, scared & blogging.

For hours, then days, we waited knowing the ending, but not knowing whether we were minutes or hours from the magical moment we were waiting for.

At some point, whether pushed, pulled or forcibly extracted, Yarden was coming and in that instant two would become three. We were going to have a daughter. We were going to suddenly go from being a couple to a family. We were going to be Yarden's parents, meaning that kids would someday call the house and greet me as Yarden's mom. An not soon enough, Seamus and I were going to be handed a tiny, phenomenal, sleepy, cuddly thing to love & feed & financially support & teach & be legally reponsible for for at least 18 years.

No way of thinking about the impending, seismic change made it any less surreal.

It was an amazing time.

And then, in a blog entry appropriately entitled "AT LAST" on May 19th 2008:
Yarden Fenway Hurley was born at 1:57 PM via c-section.
She is gorgeous at 7 pounds and 21 inches.
Well it's one year later, and this beautiful thing:
has morphed into this beautiful thing:
And is weighing in at a whopping 20.6 pounds (40th percentile) and 30 inches (75th percentile)
Yarden's birthday started with an early 5 am wakeup and we were joined in bed by a demanding, heavy lidded nursey baby who seemed baffled by her hyper alert parents and ths strange birthday song they kept singing.

We tried to give her a "Birth-Quake", but she seemed disinterested.
I guess that was just a baby thing.
Now she's a toddler.

We spent some time in the backyard which is slowly becoming an "Outdoor Entertainment Space" thanks to Brent Green, fantastic neighbor & lansdcape architect extraordinaire. More on that later.

Then it was off to Dr. Shaheedy for her one year exam.
Her first exam:
Today's:
She still seemed suspicious of the doctor.
And with good reason.
But a bottle makes it mostly all better.
I briefly got Yarden to wear her birthday crown.
But mostly she wanted Mommy to hold it.

After that, she went to school.

What did she do at school?
I don't know.

I don't know because today, for the first time since she was born, nobody tracked what she ate, drank, peed & pooped.
Nobody even wrote down when she napped and for how long.
Because she is now a year old & the deal is, starting at one year, no more reports from school.
I miss them already.

Here is your moment of zen.



And two other AWESOME things that happened today, both of which esem like great tributes o Yarden' birthday.
The trees in our yard got planted and IndustryMamas, the group that my friend Lisa and I started to support moms working in the entertainment industry launched TODAY. We've been live for just a few hours and we already have 35 members.

Happy Birthday To Me - and what a birthday!

Seamus just left my office. He surprised me with champagne and a dozen roses.
I love my thoughtful husband.
We toasted in my open cubicle out of small plastic champagne glasses.

Ryann, my co-worker and baker extraordinaire, made an amazing chocolate torte and cupcakes.

Other than my slight buzz at work - or maybe including it - it's been an amazing day.

I woke up snuggling with my two favorite people.
I got to work in time to go for a long walk and catch up with Nancy.
Instead of lunch, I indulged in a massage courtesy of Vivian (aka The Brooklyn Healer).
Rebekah - the other Supervising Producer, who I think is awesome & inspiring - wrote me the sweetest card ever.
I've got 36 Birthday Wishes on Facebook and another dozen on Geni and real e-mail.
And I can't think of a thing that I want/need for my birthday.

Yup, it's feeling like a great start to another year of life.

I've always liked the age of 36.
It's a sexy age. More than any year, it's an age that I've felt I needed to be ready for (down 20 pounds already - 36 deserves better than baby fat). Yet, somehow 36 comes with no pressure to achieve.

It's an age that I associate with Madonna at her height (ironically, in looking for a photo of the Material Girl at 36, I've discovered that she's 36 again!).

Things I'm looking forward to during my 36th year:

• Yarden's first steps and more words.
• Fitting back into my entire pre-pregnancy wardrobe.
• Our massive birthday bash over Memorial Day weekend (featuring appearances from Grammy & Da, Bubby & Grandpa and Uncle Liam).
  
• Landscaping a gorgeous "dinner-party-ready" backyard.
• Visiting Nancy in San Francisco.
• At least one more overnight getaway with my wonderful husband.
• More great gigs like this one.
  

More later, I've got to get back to work.

Aliyah

It's Rare That An Entry Isn't About Yarden

But I had to post this photo. This past weekend I went to my friend Lindsay's 25th birthday.
It was - as the photo suggests - a moustache party held (in public) at Edendale grill in Silver Lake.

How frighteningly do I look like my dad?
Not a poll, just an observation.

Passover and Easter Adventures

What a week!

Yarden celebrated her first and second Passover seder, followed closely by her first and second Easter egg hunt, then followed up by a visit from Cousin Jackson, Uncle Yosh and Auntie Feesh.

Could this week get any better?

Well yes! Because Grammy comes to town tomorrow.
Our heads are going to explode with joy!

Plus, my mind is already racing with all the exciting possibilities for Yarden's first birthday party.
It'll be held the Sunday over Memorial day weekend - but I get ahead of myself.

Here are some great photos from the last week.

OK - these first two aren't from the last 7 days, but the holiday prep started early
with a Hagaddah making session at the Synagogue.
Bubby was there too.

All that prep meant that Yarden was all ready to lead the services at Margie and David's seder. This happy photo with daddy was early in the evening - before her total meltdown (not pictured).
The brisket was AMAZING and the service was really lovely - as always.
Thanks M&D.Also before the meltdown, Yarden spent a lot of time delicious time
snuggling with Aunt Shelley on the couch.

Thursday night we had our friends Lisa & Andy and baby James over
for the much anticipated first annual "Baby Seder!"
The seder featured plush seder plates, a bag of plague props,
a picture book of the Moses story, four questions puppets and a lot of singing.
(Thanks to my folks for shipping the Jewish toy bonanza - faster than Amazon)

I'm very excited to turn this into a yearly tradition and expand in numbers and learning.
Hopefully this is something that Yarden and James will look forward to the way I still look forward to the seders. After the baby seder, it was time to go outsde for the grown up seder. I made my own Hagaddah for everyone and I have to say, I'm really proud. If knew how to link a PDF here , I would.

This is an awesome photo of James!
We tried putting the kids in a play area while we did the service, but they staged a riot.
On Saturday, my friend Jacqui (who REALLY knows how to throw a party) put together an Easter Egg hunt at her house. I brought eggs in my pocket so Yarden wouldn't have to compete, but I didn't have to worry.
She was a natural!

James guarding the tube. That's Jacqui introducing the kid's band Egg.


Check out that form at the keyboard!
Jacqui has good toys.
Sunday we went to Helga and Chris' and played with Sofie.
Sofie taught Yarden that it's ok to climb onto furniture.
Yarden, if you ever read this, it's not.
Yarden and the Eike/Wilson clan's newest dog, Bobby.
Yarden hearts dogs.
After that, we were off to the Soifer residence.
In looking at the pictures from Sunday night, I realize that I only took pictures of the kids!

Sorry - they are the cutest.Pure photo op. Or future blackmail material.

The cutest thing Jackson does in the bath is try to pour a cup of water over his head.
He misses a full 4 out of 5 times, and when he's successful - he looks shocked.

Or maybe the cutest thing is this...

If somehow this isn't enough for you, you must be a grandparent.
All the photos are up HERE