My Baby Shower: Part I

I just got around to uploading photos from my baby shower, which was held in September! My mom threw the shower along with my aunt, and with help from some good friends.

Babymoon on the West Coast

Over Labor Day weekend Abe and I boarded Virgin America for a flight from JFK to LAX.  Our week long trip to SoCal included visiting some of Abe's family, attending the wedding of close friends (Congratulations, Chelsea and Sam!!), and visiting with one of my best friends and her hubby, who I only get to see maybe once a year (if I'm lucky).

I was not looking forward to flying being that I'm 7 months pregnant, but the flight from JFK > LAX was remarkably comfortable. I had an aisle seat - easy access to the bathroom and to walk around, our seat neighbors were really nice - one couple from Brazil and another couple travelling with a 5 month old baby, and I had the entire season 1 of Game of Thrones on my laptop.

The flight back was not as sweet, but I blame it more on being a red eye than anything else. Even if I wasn't pregnant I wouldn't have done well on that flight.  Lesson learned, no more red eyes.

Trip Highlights (aside from seeing family, old friends, and the marriage of two wonderful people):

• Survived an 3.2 earthquake
• Amazing home-cooked meals by Elise & Alex, Cheryl and Leah
• Lots of beach and pool time
• Meeting new dog friends

First thing off the plane? Hit up In-N-Out Burger.

faux trees at The Getty

cousin Elise, Abe and me at The Getty

Chelsea and Sam's wedding was at a vineyard so they incorporated wine into the ceremony.

I spent a lot of time here.

Chelsea the bride - straight out of an Anthro catalog

Third Trimester!

Beachin' it in Marina del Rey with Leah and Jon.

Babymoon at the Beach

Last week we went on our much anticipated beach vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  We booked the vacation with friends last winter before I was pregnant, but luckily swimming in the ocean 12 hours a day is something pregnant women can do very well.  Having to pee constantly has never been so convenient. The only hard part was not being able to enjoy cold beers on the beach and frosty pina coladas on the deck.  Even though my baby is due in November, I think my first drink post-delivery will be a fruity, frozen and tropical.

The Outer Banks, or OBX, is an awesome place for a beach location.  The drive is long (12 hrs from our house in New York), but the ocean is warm, the sand is soft, and the beaches aren't crowded.  Plus you can rent a huge house with a hot tub and sometimes a pool right on the beach!

We rented a place with four of my hometown friends, Esme, the 8 year old daughter of one couple, and three dogs.  I don't think the vacation would have been nearly as entertaining if we didn't have Esme and the dogs. We watched Neverending Story on the second night and for the rest of the week Esme performed monologues from the movie.

Our house was on the ocean side of the island in a huge surfing spot with huge waves.  When we needed a break or wanted to take Lily swimming we would go over to the bay side of the island.  The bay side was full of kite boarders, which looked soooo fun.  I really want to try kite boarding one day when I'm not pregnant and have upper body strength.

We went to the bay to watch the sunset a couple times and once there was a kite boarder surfing in front of the melting sun.  It was the ultimate 80's scene (I think I had a pair of OP jams with a similar theme).  We were really hoping the kite boarder would "jump the sun".

Cousins in the Country

This weekend my cousin Becca and her son Theodore came up for a visit.  It was really neat to see Teddy all grown up at almost 11 months, and having a baby in the house was good training for me, Abe, Lily and Paws. Ted is incredibly happy and good natured so he makes having a baby look really fun, but we still all got a taste of the good, the difficult, and the exhausting.

I was so insanely proud of little Lily.  She's a really sweet dog, but can get a little sassy. We've been nervous about how she will react when our baby is born in November, but this weekend she proved that she's ready to become a big sister.  Teddy was in LOVE with Lily and couldn't keep his hands (or entire body) off of her.  Lily took all his affection like a champ and didn't get upset when Ted's little baby hands grabbed a handful of fur or whacked her in the nose. All her patience was rewarded by the piles of Cheerios underneath Teddy's highchair and lots of baby face licking.

Family Weekend in Philly

A couple weekends ago we had Green Family Weekend in Philadelphia. My sister and Ezra may be moving out of the city this summer so we wanted to fit in one more Philly trip.  On Friday night we laid low and went to a great Italian restaurant serving Napoletana style pizza called In Riva on the banks of the Schuylkill River in East Falls. 

Saturday we took the dogs swimming and watched a strange wedding take place on a bridge in the middle of the park.  They monopolized the only way to cross the river for too long and we considered letting the dogs make a break for it. 

Afterwards we went to Reading Terminal Market to pick up groceries for dinner.  My parents got us amazing steaks that my dad grilled, my mom made a big salad and asparagus, and the kids bought a selection of cannolis, tiramisu and eclairs for dessert.  All that was fun, but the biggest news of the day was that Comic Con was in town and one of the celebrity guests was Jason Priestly!

After Reading Terminal we drove home with a pit stop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art so my mom and I (and a half naked man) could run the Rocky steps.

On Sunday we walked down to the river to watch the Pro Cycling Tour race. I was a little worried that the bikes flying by would freak out the dogs, but they just lounged and enjoyed the view.