Eleven Months...already!

From this...

to this...

in 11 short months! It's pretty amazing. I'm not sure if this is really baby's 'first steps' since he is doing it with the help of his wagon...but it sure is cute. In typical first-time parent fashion, we are forcing everyone to watch video of Nate walking. He is really proud of himself. Happy 11 month birthday baby Nate!!

Techie Love

Happy Monday! I really really love our Dropcam aka the camera in our playroom/living room that I can watch from my computer or iphone. I'm not much of a tech geek, but how cool is it that I can watch little Nate play in real-time all day long?! Well, my employer might not think it's as cool as I do : )

Nate's hanging with my mom (Mimi) and sister (Auntie Courtney) today. So far he has had some pancakes, shopped in Berkeley, went out to lunch and done some playing. Tough life...

Nate and Daddy

Nate and daddy are hanging out today while Nate recovers from Croup. This is how Nate feels about the new gate in his playroom. Our sweet little baby is developing more and more of an attitude. I am not in the least bit surprised. Not one teeny tiny bit.

Scrufamuffin

It's time for my little baby scrufamuffin to get a haircut. His daddy is going to go crazy if I dig my heels any longer. I think Nate's scruffy hair looks precious, but hubby is traumatized by pictures of himself as a baby with long, curly hair. I will say that Nate's hair is nowhere near as long as his daddy's was!

I returned from Palm Springs this weekend (that's where I was, if you didn't guess!) to find a slightly under the weather little boy. By Sunday morning (2am to be exact), poor baby Nate was coughing something fierce. By Monday morning we found out we had a case of Croup on our hands. Luckily, Nate seems to be much better today. Poor guy.

Hubby and I (along with Bestie and her hubby) are going to see Dave Matthews Band tonight. I can NOT wait. The hot weather seems to have followed me home from Palm Springs. Even San Francisco is blissfully warm. What a perfect night for an outdoor concert. I am off to the Ferry Building (pretty much the best marketplace ever) for some French macaroons (pretty much the best cookies ever) to enjoy at the concert tonight. Try not to be too jealous! XOXO

Leaving on a jet plane...

So, San Francisco is a bit foggy right now. This is the view of the Transamerica building from my office...buried in clouds. The temp is 54 degrees..in AUGUST. Now, this isn't all that unusual for San Francisco in the summer, but it sure is dreary!


I am off to a sunnier locale. Somewhere where the high today is 111 degrees (no joke!) The good news is, it drops to a balmy 99 degrees by 9pm. The next couple days will be spent in the pool...hey, it could be worse. Any guesses where am I heading? I'll give you a hint...it's not Vegas.


Hubby is off to Tahoe and Baby Nate is having a slumber party with grandma and grandpa. Looking forward to a girls weekend and then a reunion with the hubby and baby dude on Sunday. Have a great weekend. XOXO.

Family Resemblance?

Since day one, I have been hearing that Nate looks just like his daddy. Last night I came across a picture of my youngest sister (who is now 21, I know, I'm old!) and I think she looks a bit like Nate?


Prince Nate:
Princess Caitlin:



I wish I had a better baby picture of baby sis, but I had to make due with pics stolen from Facebook. Please excuse our 80's gear in the family pic - I distinctly remember the Guess jeans I was wearing had zippers up the side.

So what do you think? Did Nate get some of the Davidson family genes?

The Pioneer Woman Rocks!

I made the Pioneer Woman's Mac and Cheese a couple of days ago and it was yuuuummmy. I consider myself a bit of a Mac and Cheese connoiseur, meaning I eat large quantities at all possible opportunities. I figured since I had mastered the recipe for Kraft Mac and Cheese, it might be time to move on and test my kitchen limits. The roux was a bit scary, but I went for it and it was actually pretty darn easy. The result - sinful, cheesy, two thumbs up. It even looked like the picture from Ree's website! Now how often does that happen?!

I'm back!

Ok, so I know my blog hiatus was long. Too long. I could give you all kinds of excuses, but what it boils down to is, I have been busy! With what you ask? Enjoying our sweet little boy!

Nate is already 10+ months (almost as long as my blog hiatus, coincidence?)! So let me take a moment to recap and gush about all things Nate. Nate has SIX teeth and eats almost everything - he even chowed down on spicy mexican rice and carnitas from Tacolicious earlier this week. He started crawling last weekend during his first camping trip, though he has been doing the army crawl for quite some time. He says ma ma and da da, though never on command. He gives the cutest kisses, on demand! He loves water, swimming and the bath. Any chance he gets, he races to the bathroom at top speed to pull himself up on the bathtub.

He has also started pulling himself up on the crib. Last night after he went to bed, I took a quick peek at the monitor to ensure that he was in fact sleeping. I was thoroughly confused to find the picture not of the crib, but of his room. And to make things even more confusing, the picture was moving. WHAT?! Next thing I know, Nate's giant face has filled up the screen. He had managed to stand up, grab the camera, and was peering right into the lens. So of course, we proceeded to run back to his room laughing hysterically. I can safely say that seeing his big eyes peering into the camera was the highlight of my night.

As you can see, we are in love. And boy is it fun. I am going to try to make some time to post so that ALL of my followers (Nate's aunties and grandmas) can stay in the loop on all of the cuteness.

Happy Friday! Maybe I'll even be back Monday.... Enjoy what will hopefully be a sunny summer weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby Nate is enjoying his first Thanksgiving at Mimi and Grandpa Jerry's in Hermosa Beach. He just got back from a long walk on the strand in the 75+ degree weather. He has been doing lots of smiling since he got to Southern California...hmm, I wonder if he is trying to tell us something?

Guess Who is One Month Old Today?!

Yep, Nate is having his one month birthday today. He is celebrating by taking a nice long nap. He will probably have a nice big meal of milk too. Hopefully his birthdays get more exciting as he gets older!

Caught him with a little smile

Nate's wishing mom would leave him alone and let him nap

Uh oh, Nate's temper kicking in

Halloween

Halloween took a turn for the mellow this year. Here is a pic of my boys before 10 pm!

Nate opened his eyes for about 30 minutes on the night of Halloween. I'm not sure if he actually noticed he was dressed as a penguin, but it looks like he knew mom and dad were up to something.

Here is Nate earlier in the day with his carved Nate pumpkin. He is super excited that it is Halloween!

Nate Finds a Friend

Nate found a buddy who is just his size.

Nate and Monkey hanging on the couch.

Nate says, "Awww mom, you are such a pain."

Our Hungry Hippo

Our hungry hippo had a doctor's appointment yesterday and weighs 8 pounds, 4 ounces. Considering he was 6 pounds, 7 ounces a little over a week ago, it appears he is eating well! He is also 20.5 inches. He is a strong little boy, especially when he is mad. He kicks his little legs and punches like a maniac. It looks like he is going to have quite the temper... I wonder where he got that from?! Below is a picture of him lifting his head and looking at daddy. He held his head like that for a good 30 seconds. Like any doting parents, we were very impressed!


Here is a picture of Nate...he is sleeping at this very moment! He is tuckered out from his late night of drinking (milk, of course) and partying with mom.

Our Little Pumpkin..

will be two weeks old tomorrow! He is such a good baby (I hope I am not jinxing anything by saying that!) and we are so totally in love with him. He had his first trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend with mimi (my mom) and auntie Courtney and auntie Heather, who were up visiting for the weekend. He slept through the entire excursion. Better luck next year.



Nate likes: Eating, peeing on mom and dad, pulling mom's hair, sucking on everything, warm baths, and staying up all night

Nate dislikes: Being made to wait to eat, having his diaper changed, and of course, sleeping at night

Mike jokes that every day (and night!) is like a battle, us against Nate. So far we have survived 13 days of battle. He's worth it though!

Baby Nate Has Arrived!

Okay Caitlin, go ahead and let out that sigh of relief. Nate is not going to steal your birthday...though he now is the true baby of the family!

Hi everyone, this is Auntie Heather. I feel so lucky to be the guest blogger today to introduce you all to Baby Nate!

Nathan Cooper Lederman was born today, October 2nd at 11:51 am!!!

He weighs 6 lbs, 12 oz and is 19.25" long.

He is healthy and beautiful (though I haven't seen him yet). His new mommy and daddy are ecstatic and doing wonderfully.

Love you Dani and Mike! I can't wait to see this little fellow in real life :D

Happy 30th Birthday to Me!

Baby Nate is almost 38 weeks! He is full term and head down, so he could come anytime. And boy are we excited to meet him. The end of pregnancy isn't exactly fun, but knowing the end is so close really helps. The car seat is installed, his nursery is done, our bags are packed, and of course, my celebration champagne is chilled and ready for the hospital. We also got 100% confirmation that he is in fact a boy. Good thing, given the closet full of BOY clothes and his blue room.

In the midst of all this baby growing, I went and turned 30 years old. Since 30 is the new 20 and all, it wasn't as tough as I thought it would be. Mike did tell me that I have to throw away all my pants that say PINK across the butt now that I am no longer in my 20's. Fair enough...

Family Style Dining and Twinkle Lights Artfully Hung by Mike & Kevin

My sweet husband and fabulous BFF Haav threw me a fabulous BBQ and Bonfire for my birthday. My family (minus baby Cait who is spending the quarter in Florence..poor thing) also came into town for the weekend, which is always a nice treat. The food was awesome and I even had a small sip of wine (I swear it was a REALLY small sip). As Mike would say, there goes 10 points off Nate's SAT score. Sorry Baby Nate. Thanks to all my friends and family who made my birthday so special!!

S'mores Bar and Bonfire

34 weeks = 8.5 months

Are we there yet? Baby Nate is the size of a Honeydew and might weigh as much as 5 lbs already!

Some of the other bloggers I read do this thing called Mighty Monday where they talk about all of the things they just might or might not have done. Since I happen to have time today, I am going to participate in my very own Mighty Friday (doesn't have quite the same ring to it, oh well).

I might have bought an entire double cream lemon meringue pie from Marie Callender's last night and had it for dessert and breakfast today.

I might be looking a little bit silly in my dress today because the front comes up a good two inches higher than the back due to my baby bump.

I might have bought an inflatable pool last night that I plan to beach myself in since we are STILL on the waiting list for the local swim club.

I might have opened 3+ boxes of online orders from Amazon and Target for Baby Nate last night. I might love online shopping.

I might have forgot to put on my stand-in wedding band that I borrowed from my mom since my other rings are too small for my puffy fingers. I might look like I am single and knocked up...sweet.

I might have turned our nice, neat nursery into a complete disaster zone by unwrapping all the shower presents and leaving piles of baby laundry all over the place.

I might have panicked slightly (ok, maybe a little more than slightly) when I was forced to hold ice in my hand for 90 seconds in our childbirth class last weekend to test my ability to stay calm and breathe during labor. It might have really hurt my hands. Mike might be worried about my ability to handle pain.

THANKS!

My sisters, sister-in-law and bestie hosted a fabulous baby shower for Nate and I at our house this weekend. Thank you so much for all of the special touches that made my shower so cute and fun. They were working hard prepping and setting up for hours on Friday and Saturday am. Note my eight plus month pregnant belly above...there is a good chance this is the last belly pic I am posting. Baby Nate is getting BIG.

Thank you also to all of my family and friends who attended. You thoroughly spoiled baby Nate and I. This baby is going to have everything and then some!

Grandma and Grandpa Lederman and Mimi and Grandpa Davidson spoiled me and the baby by surprising us with the super cute stroller we wanted!!

Knowing that we were going to have 40 people at our house was a fantastic motivator to get the nursery done as well. Though we are not 100% there, it feels pretty darn good to have all the essentials in place.

Is your white couch ready for this?

We received an email from Mike's cousin Josh yesterday with the above title and the below picture of Josh and Leslie's almost 2 year adorable son Brennan and his handiwork. I won't post Mike's response to Josh's email because it's not blog appropriate.

Josh is obviously trying to scare us...but what he doesn't know is that we didn't buy a white couch (it's gray-ish, thankyouverymuch). So yes, I guess we are ready.

59 Days and Counting...

I am well aware that I have been neglecting my blog duties big time, but we have been busy busy busy. To my shock and excitement and a bunch of other feelings I can't quite sum up in words, I logged on to the blog today to see that we have 59 days until our due date. Whoa. I think I would be more freaked out if I really knew what life was going to be like in 59 or so days, but I really can't even imagine. Ignorance is bliss, right?!

In the past three weeks, we went on our babymoon, I co-hosted an engagement party for baby dude's godmother and my bff (Haav), I went to Ojai on my friend Wren's bachelorette party, I was a bridesmaid in Wren's wedding in LA, we received and put together our crib and we bought a new car.

As I regularly tell Mike when he is cooking dinner, doing the dishes, cleaning the house (ok, letting the housekeeper in to clean the house), etc., I have also been growing a brain and lungs and various other complicated pregnancy tasks. No wonder I haven't had time to blog!

So without further ado...long overdue babymoon pics.

Pic of our happy hour at the bar at Madera at Rosewood in Menlo Park. I highly recommend these yummy tempura green bean things. And I felt really good about myself because I was eating vegetables for the baby!


The menu with the name of my mocktail. How perfect is that?


Gorgeous pool at the resort at Rosewood. We didn't stay here, but I would like to sometime soon. Hint Hint Mike.


Here is our lovely room service breakfast at the Four Seasons. I really love eating breakfast in my PJ's, not cooking and not doing dishes. Bliss.


The gorgeous Ritz.


And kicking back by the firepit. It was a bit chilly, but luckily I brought my uggs.

I Heart Babymoons

Thank you to whoever thought up the fabulous concept of a babymooon! My husband bought right into it (ok, who am I kidding, he thinks it's a bunch of bs, but we are going anyway!)

We are leaving the cold gloomy city a bit early today and heading down to the warm sunny Peninsula where we are checking in to the Four Seasons. And I CAN NOT WAIT. We are having dinner at one of our favorite peninsula spots, the divey/yummy Dutch Goose (hey people, it's all about compromise, right?) Saturday morning is going to be spent doing my favorite things - swimming, room service-ing (like my new verb?) and spa-ing.

Then we are off to the Ritz. Doesn't that cute little lion head just give you warm fuzzies?

We are spending Saturday night at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay and dining at their restaurant Navio. Hopefully we will also get the chance to enjoy the fire pits and have some s'mores (another one of my favorite things - can you figure out who planned this trip?)

You too can have a babymoon, all you have to do is get morning sickness, gain lots of weight, give up alcohol and oh, have a baby.

Drumroll please....

Baby Led aka Baby Dude will officially be known as...

NATHAN COOPER LEDERMAN

(Nate for short!)

We hope you like the name... and if you don't, please lie to us!!

Third Trimester.....

And I just keep growing.

And yes, this picture is taken in the bathroom at work. And yes, I do wear gray and black pretty much every day.

Little Baby Dude Has...

A Godfather (aka Uncle Brian)

A Godmother (aka Auntie Haav)

And this really cute Juicy outfit that says "Lord Dude" from Mimi (aka Grandma Teri, though she has decided that she doesn't want to be called Grandma!)

He also has a name...TBA soon!