Sunday, January 27, 2008

Our Newest Nephew

We want to welcome Alejandro Julio Calle (AJ for short) to the world. He was born in San Antonio TX on 1/27/08. weighing 8 lbs, 10 ounces and 21 inches long. Naomi went into labor on her own and only labored for a few hours before his birth! (Jealous, anyone?)

Congrats Calles!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Tyrrell Family :)


This snow is great! Can someone please pass the salt? Dad's hair is really bland...
-Lilah

What is this white stuff?


Um... are you sure we're supposed to be outside when this is happening?

I'm pretty sure you should pick me up now, the ground is definitely not normal.

Never mind! Put me back down! Mom!

MLK Weekend with the Fam!


Lilah meeting Cousin (?) Katlyn for the first time!

Cousin Katlyn, 33 days old!


Lilah with her Daddy, Katlyn with her Daddy!


Nanny Tanny, Katlyn, Daddy, and Lilah


Can we be friends?

Monday, January 21, 2008

Got Teeth?

Lilah now has her first teeth -- its the front two on her bottom. I think she's working on more -- she's been fussy and funny about her mouth the last couple of days.

She's growing up so fast -- on Friday she rolled from her back to her tummy while at the nanny's!

-Heather

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

I love my little girl!!


Heather & Lilah, Jan. '08

Nana's Birthday


Over the weekend Nana and Paco (see Miranda's blog) along with Aunt Michelle and Uncle Brian came to our house to celebrate Nana's birthday. Here Nana and I are examining my foot. Mommy and Daddy made Nana wear a hat that says "Happy Birthday you old fart."

Nana blowing out candles on her cake
And Nana opening presents. Is Daddy jealous?

Lilah in her new jumper seat -- She loves it!!






Thursday, January 10, 2008

Tornado in the 'Couv? Stranger than Fiction!

So, today started out like any other. Lilah woke up at 6:30 (ugh!! we need to work on her wake-up time!), she and I went to the gym, and then we met Nick for coffee at our favorite coffee shop, where the employees owed and ahhed over Lilah.

After L and I arrived home, I noticed the sky over our neighborhood was getting dark. I took a shower and checked outside again. (Yes, I was covered in case you were wondering) The sky was darker this time -- a weird dark bluish-purple. I moved Lilah to the bedroom with me and as I was getting dressed, I started hearing sounds like a truck being unloaded, or like construction on our street. I was couldn't quite figure out what the sound was (never figuring it would be , a, oh, a tornado passing over the house ... let's say) Almost immediately afterward it started thundering like crazy. Simon and Sophie both became quite agitated, running nervously around the house. (In hindsight, the fact that our cat was moving about should have been an indicator to me that something was drastically wrong....)

The thunder lasted about five minutes, with one thunder clap starting almost instantly after another ended. I prepared Lilah's bottle, flipped on the news, and as I began to feed her the weather alert test flashed on the TV. It was quickly replaced with a real weather alert -- a tornado had touched down on 53rd and St. Johns, right in our neck of the woods. (Keep in mind we live on 45th) The storm had moved in from west of I-5 and originated from downtown Vancouver, ( we are about 20 blocks from downtown) The storm cloud had literally gone straight over our house, covering our neighbhoord in a triangle moving northeast over us.

And all this time I was calmly showering and casually wondering why the sky looked so funny.

I spent the next hour glued to the television, worriedly watching the sky, and listening to stories of true loss and heroism emerge from the TV. (There's sarcasm there in case you didn't read that one correctly.) But, I will admit, I was pretty close to losing my cool. I was pretty freaked out -- here a tornado passed over my daughter and me, and I was clueless the whole time. Would I be clueless if another one came and hit us? Would another one come? Should I run for safety and wish Simon and Sophie the best of luck?

I rarely get so scared or worried about something that I am at a loss as to what to do. I'm usually a calm person, especially in chaos. (Look at my job at LOH) I have been complimented by several people on how calm I am. (To my sisters -- I know what you're thinking and knock it off!!) But today I debated on calling Nick to beg him to come home and hiding in our cell. In the end, I strapped Lilah on me and paced nervously around the house.

It hailed and poured, the tornado warning was replaced by a severe thunderstorm warning, more funnel clouds were spotted but none touched down, and eventually the sky began to clear. I listened to the news helicopters circling our house, and as the pictures of the tornado's damage began airing on TV, I started counting my blessings that our house had not received any damage, and my little family is all safe and sound.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

So, after almost fully-convincing myself a number of times that I was going to stay home after Lilah's arrival, I found myself back at the Lake Oswego Hunt Club on Tuesday. It was my official first day back from maternity leave. I had happily given up the job title of Executive Director, so I am back to running the Riding School. I am making close to what I made as RS Director full-time, but I'm only working part-time. And, best of all, I found the perfect nanny for Lilah. Dara is a MSW, teaches anger management classes and child care classes for the state, and she's fanatic about babies. I have known her through the Lake Oswego Hunt for the last three years -- I taught Dara's daughter riding lessons for a couple years before graduating her daughter from the Riding School to a training program. The only drawback is that Dara is not sure how long she wants to nanny, but I'm prepared to pull out all my persuasion tactics. :)

Anyway, yesterday was my first day back. It is CRAZY to run around LOH without being hugely pregnant, hot, tired, and out-of-breath. What a nice change! Unfortunately the Riding School didn't fare well while I was gone. I have yet to talk to a happy client. But, I am excited to be back. I'm looking forward to straightening the Riding School out and I'm so happy to be with horses again. Thank goodness!

So we'll see how it goes!

-Heather

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Lilah's New Party Trick


I can grab my toes!!
Can you?
So the other day (okay, more like a few months ago....) I was chatting with a friend. We'll call her Friend A. We were talking about the blog of a mutual friend, Friend B. Friend A was saying, "Can you believe Friend B's blog? All she talks about is her cats and the dinners she makes." (While this is true about Friend B, it is beside the point) Friend A went on to say, "She's like one of those people who can only blog about their kids." After an ackward pause, Friend A quickly added, "Um, I mean, that's like, that's like okay if you have kids. Like it would be cute if you and Nick did that."

This conversation was actually before I started a blog. (So I guess this conversation took place more like in August??) Anyway, looking over the blog, I realize Nick and I are THOSE PEOPLE. Our blog consists primarily of Baby L and Simon-the-dog.

Oh well.

They are cute kids.

Ode to a Cute Baby