LGA

no, not laguardia airport....LOLA GRACE ANONYMOUS. I am seriously addicted to my daughter. I am working...i use the term "working" veryloosely. very part time....but the other day i left the house at 10:30 am, and didn't come back  till after she was alseep. I MISSED HER! she is such a sweet little baby. I am soaking up all of the baby love I can get....i know come 7, 8 , 9 years old, she will want nothing to do with me...**sigh**

I love just sitting with her, talking to her, letting her bite my  nose (which she hasn't grown out of). am i spoiling her? I always used to frown upon spoiled kids, NOW i know how easy it is to spoil them...I just want to hug and kiss her all the time and make her happy....mostly putting things in her mouth makes her happy these days...

lola has many interests...

one of them is rap. 

seriously, this song always makes her laugh...wait till she grows up and sees what she found so funny...the black eyed peas...

my goal for halloween....

my one and only goal for Halloween was to have Lola in a baby costume that noone else would be in....

I WIN.

I will never...

I will never:

-have straight hair without the use of a CHI

-NOT get parking tickets

-be as good of a blogger as my cousin amy

-have cute feet (fred flintstones are here to stay)

-think "everybody loves raymond" is funny

-like cilantro

i WILL however,

be the coolest mom who takes her baby to drag shows...

sisterly love.

So, since Lola has been born, my first born...pearl, has IGNORED the presence of baby #2. Not hating on her, or anything mean, just not even acknowledging her existence. I think she sniffed her once, and then wondered when she was leaving our home. Sadly, for my canine daughter, the human daughter is here to stay (for now....don't get comfy LOLA)...but the other day while enjoying a lovely afternoon in world wide plaza i was sitting on a low wall with the stroller in front of me, baby in stroller and pearl on my lap...when out of the blue and totally unprovoked Pearl walked across my legs and into the stroller and plopped her adorable self next to Lola. I waited to see lola's reaction, she lifted up her arm and put it on top of pearls back. I was in HEAVEN! my two girls together...living in harmony! I LOVED it. I loved it so much I strolled them both home together...and they broke out in song...."sisterssssss, sistersssss, there were never such devoted sisters".

what? they could have sung...

photo proof of the happy occasion

I know it's just gas but...

...seeing a baby sleep, specifically, my baby, is the sweetest thing. I can watch her sleep forever. She is so amazingly peaceful...but when she smiles in her sleep. I just melt. I know it's gas, or some facial twitch, but I really like to pretend she is dreaming of something and it made her smile....I don't know...a land full of nipples or something she can readily relate to...I have no idea, but it's still fun to wonder what her little mind is capable of imagining. Mostly poop, I know...I don't have delusions of grandeur thinking she is some baby genius, but she did say "hi" the other day...that's all I'm sayin. sooooo...my baby is smarter than your baby...sooooo.....

can you even stand this picture? she has defiantly found her smile and her giggle (and her drool). We are enjoying it now before she hates us for ruining her life...I give it 11 years or so....

lola the jet setter....

Lola has had a handful of firsts...no real BIG firsts...except her first plane ride! Yup. Mommy and baby sans daddy, flew a whopping 6 hours to california and 5 hours back. (love tail winds). ANd as luck would have it, she was amazing both legs. Nothing a little walk up and down the aisle or a boob in her mouth couldn't fix.  She really does have the making of a true jet setter!

so ...while in california. she got to hang out with lots of new friends. Not all of which I have pictures of. SORRY! there is time everyone, she'll be around. 

Everyone keeps asking me what kind of baby she is...My mom says, "she's perfect". so there is your answer. I have a perfect baby. weird. my definition of perfect is toooootally different. 

Her first bath with Nonna...

and her first baby sausage with Nonna...

first time in footie PJ's

I warned you, these weren't BIG firsts....just firsts. 

her first time hanging out with someone who had the same amount of hair as her

(p.s. she looks like a boy in this picture)

Her first cheeky smile to the camera

(not really, but I had to add this picture)

So I am going to stop calling this a blog and call it a PLOG because all I do is post pictures. It's too hot to type. Did I mention we moved to Africa apparently? We did. 

6 weeks?

On one hand i feel like she was born yesterday, but then again, I feel like Lola has been here forever. It's amazing watching her eyes everyday find out more things about the world.  As her eyesight improves I see her SEE more and more. it's so fun. Our favorite past time of late is so fun...it's called watch the baby. we watch the baby sleep. we watch the baby watch us. we watch the baby try and poop. (don't laugh, it's super hard work). And with everything I have had a camera in hand. I am OK with the camera but I promised myself I would document as much of her young life as I could for her sake and for her kids and their kids and their kids. 

our second baby...not so much...

my favorite picture to date....

six week photo shoot

sunday mornings

So the weather in new york as of late be described in one word. CRAP. it's pouring. it's humid. It might as well be snowing. so, sunday mornings are spent in bed, watching movies/tv and making lola videos. sue us. She's too cute NOT to video it. 

once upon a time...

about a month ago...

people asked how I was doing....NOW?

"how's LOLA"...

"where's lola"

"I want pictures of LOLA"

LOLA, LOLA, LOLA...i mean...baby...you are stealing my thunder. 

She is so damn cute. I have so many stories to tell, but I will deliver what you all want....pictures.

*sigh*

a swaddled baby is a happy baby. She looks like a sausage. 

I love daddy daughter cuddle time. it's too cute. 

Cuddle time generally ends in sleeping time. 

Nipple confusion. 

always with her mouth open this one...

this picture was taken at 4am. no joke. I sleep with my camera. Don't judge. 

ONE MONTH OLD!

look at that FACE!!

grandmas and grandpas a plenty...

a baby is born and in they flock. Lola has so many grandmas and grandpas and auntes and gay uncles she doesn't know what to do with herself, other than sing Cher on a loop, in order to fit in with her new surroundings. 

This poor babes has had a camera in her face non stop for days. I swore to  myself i wouldn't be one of those moms that just sat around all day and waited for her child to make cute faces...suck it...i am!

how can you not take pictures of this adorable face?

chillaxin in her mosses basket. (no clue why they call it a mosses basket. I mean i guess mosses floated down the nile in one or something, but i tried that shiz is NOT water proof....do NOT send your baby down a river in one. doesn't work)

here is our first official family portrait. Fourth of July spent at my auntie gloria's house. 

it was so awesome that our families got to welcome Lola to the world together!

GRANNIES!

I love this picture..."no photos please". trying to escape the shutterbugs...

LOLA has had so many visitors and love from friends and family alike it's been so so fun seeing everyone. THe fun is just beginning. 

Oh, and she projectile pooped on her father. she's a keeper.

tales of a three day old..

I never thought the day would come! she's here! she's here!

LOLA GRACE CLIFTON decided to join this crazy world after 36 hours of labor (fashionably late) at 5:25 pm on June 26th, 2009. 

weighing in at 7 pound, 11 ounces...and measuring a WHOPPING 20.5 inches (english people don't know if you know our wacky metric system)

In true first baby form the camera's have been snapping paparazzi style...NON STOP, so we are in no shortage of pictures of our little nugget. 

Her hobbies so far include, sleeping, eating and pooping. so, we already have very high hopes for her. Here are some shots of her first days of life...thanks for the love, support, texts, phone calls, messages, it has been an overwhelming week, but we can't wait to talk to everyone and brag about our little lola!

First few minutes of birth...flipping the bird...clearly her fathers daughter!

Proud grandma ! Lola singing a high C...pretty good pitch. 

Morning we get to go home! has him wrapped around his little finger already...

Dad's first swaddle...

I mean....REALLY? really?

Grandma celebrating her first grandchild the Italian way...GO MOM!

another first. Her first rasberry...

*internal monologue...enough with the cameras!!!!"

sorry pregnancy....

Listen...pregnancy....ok....this is gonna be awkward. Yeah, it's just going to work out between me and you anymore. It's not you....it's me. I need to take some time off. Maybe we can try again in the future, but in the meantime...it's over. 

We did have some good times, right? I mean, the vomitting, nausea, scaticia, the general aches and pains, the getting fat, the huge boobs, the exhaustion, the crying and laughing fits, the tight skin...aaahhhh....I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it! But alas, it's better we go our separate ways. 

Please don't try and contact me for a while, it'll just be too hard. 

Your friend, 

Ellyn

I'm DUE TOMORROW!!!!! ya'll. I know she's not gonna com

e...but the fact is....40 weeks! i survived! this is 38.5 weeks at the doctor...all excited for my last ultra sound....

this is me when I found out a) i wasn't getting a cool picture and b) it lasted like 23 seconds...we were pretty bummed. 

so, I guess now, this will not be a pregnancy blog but an actual baby blog soon! crazy! i will try and take one more belly picture, as I have gotten bigger in just a week! COME ON BABY! let the good times rooooooll!!!!

my Demi moment...

A great friend of mine who is a photographer did my naked, belly fat lady shots for me the other day...

these are the ones I can show...nothing graphic, very Demi does Vanity Fair magazine. It was really fun. This is week 37 PEOPLE! PLEASE LET IT END SOON!

Pearl was at the shoot with me and got in the action too! her hair is soooo long!

So these are the only ones I feel are ok to show my PG audience...

Latest news? baby's head is down, she's on the launching pad, ready to go...ok...i'm ready, you're killing my insides baby girl...leeeesssss go!!!!!