.

bryn had her 9 month check-up not too long ago (yet slightly delayed due to hurricane sandy). she got a clean bill of health.  2 shots later and a sticker for big sister bailey, we were cleared to leave the dr's office.

THEN. she got sick. 101 degree fever for almost 4 days. she was completely out of it. so on day 4, just as her fever was breaking, i brought her back to the dr.
hooray! nothing serious, fever gone.

THEN.
bailey's nose starts to run and she gets a cough.

THEN.
i wake up with a sore throat and matt says he doesn't feel good.

NOW.
bryn's nose starts to run again.

vicious cycle of sickness.

oh well. hopefully we'll get better before we get worse.
in the meantime, here are a couple videos of the girls. the first video is of them from the monitor (supposedly napping) and the 2nd is of brynny waking up from a nice, long morning nap, waving to mommy. :-)

also, note that brynny now has 8 big teeth (4 snaggly ones on top and 4 pretty straight ones on the bottom). also, she is crawling like crazy and will probably walk soonish.

our crazy muppet costumes :-)


the trick-or-treating gang (sammy as batman, jackson as robin, evan as the UPS man, nico as dr. qt patootie, bailey as kermit and bryn as animal).


bryn really enjoyed getting, holding onto and gnawing on candy (wrappers).  she felt like a real "big girl". fun was had all around.


bailey waiting for trick-or-treaters to come to our door.

hurricane sandy blew through the area last night. thanks to mayor bloomberg, we were as prepared as we (collective new yorkers) could be—either evacuated or holed up in our apartments with stockpiles of nonperishables.

from where we (the lillvis family) sat, things were actually quite ordinary. the rain wasn't even that heavy. just no school for the bailey. no work for us. but no going outside either.

waking up to the nonstop news coverage of the storm on TV, we discovered that the storm was pretty fierce. the MTA web site posted a statement as follows:

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to avoid the already-fast onset of cabin fever, we ventured outside to check things out. sure enough, no cabs, few cars, and virtually every store was closed. our poor, ragged doorman has been on duty since sunday with no hopes of freedom any time soon.

walking through the empty streets, i was overcome with sadness and shock. not by what i saw with my eyeballs, but by what i envisioned "disaster" to be in times past and in the present. there is a feeling of helplessness. oddly, the smartest thing we can do is to stay put and not do anything. again, for us, this is not a tall order. we are just going to stay and watch tv and play games and take advantage of our still-on electricity and say prayers for those less fortunate.

the reality for us (new yorkers) is that transportation and power for a large portion of manhattan could likely be shut down for up to a week.... i like to think of the city that never sleeps as taking an extended nap. 

i've always espoused the belief that everything happens for a reason. in the past, this would come to me far after an event would have happened. i would have connected the dots in history and come to a realization or understanding of "the why". lately (as in this past year), "the why" has been becoming more and more apparent in the moment. 

inspired by caine's arcade and the imagination foundation, we hosted a cardboard challenge party for bailey and her friends from school. this really amounted to us hoarding cardboard and recyclables for a week and turning them into toddler-friendly games. i must admit that the prospect of conceptualizing/hosting this event was daunting. but it actually turned out to be ALOT of fun for us all. after the girls went to bed, i'd design games, design fun passes, and signs. matt is really the architectural wizard that made the complex stuff like the puppet theater (and bailey's house, car and boat).

and we were able to raise a little bit of money for bailey's non-profit co-op school. yay!
pics from the event can be seen here.

on sept 23, brynny was baptized at the church of the good shepherd by rev. erika meyer. all of our family (her godparents: uncle john, aunt denise, and uncle sam; grandma merry; paw paw; grandma carol; uncle michael; aunt fran and uncle mike; auntie lesley; uncle conrad; uncle nathan) were there to witness it along with nanny gaby and aunt marni and aunt shnow.

 although bryn was asleep for the beginning of the baptism, the water on her head, definitely woke her up. surprisingly though, she barely cried. what a good baby :-).

 the week was filled with a great visit from grandma merry and paw paw who graciously and generously watched the 2 girls while matt and i went on our 1st vacation away from them. too scared to go too far, we ended up at buttermilk falls inn for some great food, movie, sleep, and hiking. though we (and my boobs) missed the girls, we had an AWESOME time.

back in new york, we pigged out, literally. our first family meal was at momofuku ssam bar where we had the bo ssam pig roast. it was pretty extreme and exceptionally delicious. that meal was followed by a birthday dinner for aunt da at casa nonna. then, at the baptism, gaby and jorge's friend catered an outstanding mexican meal for everyone. to end the family weekend of food, we had a sundae prix fixe at dovetail on the upper west side. yum.

happy dieting everyone and thanks to all our great family for coming. for a link to the pics on flickr, click here.
we love you.
xoxo
v

sometimes weekends with no plans are the best! bailey had a weekend of many firsts. it was her first real mini golf outing, first time seeing the statue of liberty and first time riding a bike with daddy. 

after gymnastics on saturday morning, we packed it in and went downtown to a recently renovated pier on the hudson. it was AWESOME. they have a skate park, mini golf, beach volleyball, soccer field, and kick-a*% playground. we met up with matt's co-worker, jeff, and his son zachy. then we sat by the water and had burgers at pj clarkes. on sunday, after church downtown, we found ourselves at back in battery park and right by the statue of liberty. 

according to matt (and i'm starting to come around too), we'll likely find ourselves moving downtown in the near future.

brynny has teeth... well, kinda. while gnawing on dad's knuckle this weekend, her first teeth (bottom) broke through. now, i must be on nipple protection watch. yay brynny! in other news, she has been getting up on her knees lately threatening to crawl. i guess it's just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose.

it's unbelievable that brynny is almost 6 months old. time has been flying by! quick updates:

it seems that everything with a 2nd child moves at an accelerated pace. bryn has already been:
sleep trained
rolled over
eaten solids (rice cereal and bananas, so far)
gone swimming
sat in a big girl stroller sans car seat
been on an airplane
gone on 2 carousels (central park and bryan park)

also, the crib is now officially in bailey's room (correction: bailey and bryn's room). we have our own room back which is great, but fingers crossed they don't wake each other up.

bryn has been laughing quite a bit lately. here she is playing with daddy.

somehow, it's been nearly impossible to get both girls smiling together. this is as close as it gets.

after being more than 7 months behind on posting photos, we are finally up to date. woo hoo. go here to check out all the pics.

bryn had her 1 month check up today and is 8lb 5oz. nursing is going well and is pretty much on-demand. luckily, i've figured out how to nurse in the baby bjorn. although it looks a little odd, it has been a lifesaver. the doctor today said i'd be kidding myself if i thought i'd be able to get her on any sort of schedule anyways. thanks doc! ;-)

grandma carol just left on sunday, which means we're now flying solo as a family of 4 (sans grandparents). *sigh* *gasp*

yesterday was a nice president's day break. matt took both girls in the morning (thanks daddy!) and i took them in the afternoon.

today matt is back at work, and now... the act of being a juggling parent begins.
woo hoo!!!

with her new bff duke. :-)

watching bryn grunt post nursing brings back memories of a very grunty bailey.

bryn lam lillvis was born this past tuesday, january 24, 2012 at st. luke's roosevelt hospital. weighing in at 5 lb 15oz and measuring 19.5", she's a very happy, healthy baby. so far she has proven to be quite a bit more chill than her big sister bailey. she doesn't protest too much and is content sleeping through any symphony of sounds. she's also proven to be a champion nurser. just like bailey, she had a bout of jaundice but appears to be on the mend.

grandma merry and paw paw came into town on monday to take care of big sister bailey and have been working overtime as grandparents.

big sister bailey has been doing a great job so far being gentle and loving with her little sister. hopefully we can keep up the love and limit the tantrums.

my c-section recovery has been so much better than the last time around. i was able to walk the day after my surgery. no more hardcore pain meds for me. just taking advantage of all the great help.

we are truly blessed and thankful to have this new addition to the family.

bailey's 2's teacher, valentina, just sent through some pics from her class. you can download it here. enjoy!