Seth Dalhia and Baby

Sydney Harper 13 thru 15 months!

2011-03-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

My last post was Sydney's 1st birthday, so I have some catching up to do! Syd was taking steps at 12 months, but fully started walking at 13 months. Now she's practically running and causing trouble where ever possible, like toddlers do. She likes to be outside and explore. She's very inquisitive still saying "wa-is-at" about EVERYTHING! :-) Although it can be tiring to explain what everything is at times, it's so cute and amazes us that she is so interested in learning about the world around her. Her vocabulary is growing with lots of new words like: hi, egg, up, shoe, teeth, beep beep (her word for car), cheese, dedie (Pedie), bubble and of course NO which she says more and more now. She has a lot of half words that we recognize but aren't fully formed yet. We do lots of animal noises and my favorite one she does is "roar" for a bear with her arms up over her head and also "ee-ee" with her hands under her arm pits like a monkey. It's pretty cute! She's off and on with teething, currently she's got about 20 teeth. More of her back ones are coming in now, so she's been a little fussy this week, but not too bad. Sydney has become a little more of a picky eater, but all in all her diet is pretty healthy so that's something we're proud of. She eats a ton of fruit and does pretty well with veggies. We found these all natural broccoli bites and spinach bites at whole foods, that are frozen and easy to cook in the toaster oven. She seems to like these. Her favorite food is cheese, of course. She wouldn't be my daughter if it wasn't. We don't feed her junk food or overly processed foods. As far as sugar goes, we keep it at a minimum for now. She gets a little bite of ice cream once in a while or a little piece of cookie, but not too much at this age. For fun, we do dance parties in the living room. Her signature move at this point is the up and down bop and an occassional swirl around in a circle. She just started to get into dressing up a little and likes to wear her tutu skirt. :)

Seth and I are doing well too. Nothing really new to report with us. Jobs are going good and we're just enjoying life with Sydney right now.

Below are pictures from the past 3 and a half months starting with the most recent ones first and going backwards from there. We hope you enjoy!

3/13/11

Hanging with Farrah and Louis, reading books!

This was at the Purim Carnival and Syd was a Pixie! She reminds us of her cousin Madi in this photo.

Such a big girl! She loves to push this little stroller and also loves her ball. It was a great family day!

It's hard to see, but Sydney has blue eyes. Seth and I both have hazel eyes. They say whatever her eye color is at this age is most likely the color they will stay.

Sydney playing dress up in her 1st princess dress. These pics were from last weekend too.

Wearing an outfit Nana got her before she was born. It finally fits and looks adorable. Thanks Nana!

She's starting to learn how to use her spoon. As you can see from this pic it's a work in progress. These suction cup bowls are great!

This was at the beginning of March. Her hair is really curly now with perfect ringlet curls. Most of the time we clip up her bangs to keep her hair out of her face, but Dada likes the wild look.

Ok, that is a big belly. Syd had a really bad stomach bug for a couple days and didn't eat much. Seth took this right after she finally ate a full dinner and was getting ready for bath time. I love this picture!

The next few pics are from February.

On Saturday morning there's a drum circle class for kids about 15 minutes from us. It's awesome! It's in a big warehouse put on by a drum company and there are easily 30-40 kids there. There are hundreds of drums and shakers that they can play with. We sing songs and play drums. It's a lot of fun and it's free! Syd really enjoys it.

This was Syd's first bite of chocolate ice cream. Yum Yum!

With a big bite of cheese in her mouth. Couldn't be happier!

I can finally get Sydney's hair in pig tails, although like it better when it's just down and curly.

The next few photos were a rare date night out for Seth and I. It was my dear friend Farrah's birthday and we went to the Foundation Room which is a private club at the House of Blues on Sunset. It was SO much fun! Mama and Dada deserve some me time once in a while too! :)

Eric and Farrah

Anita, Farrah, me and Molly.

Eric, Seth, Kevin and Matt

More drum circle. This was our first time there in January.

Syd and a piggy at the Farmer's Market by our house on Sunday mornings. She wasn't really feeling the petting zoo this day. I think she's trying to get away from the poor piggy in this pic.

Although this robe is a little small, she looked so sweet in it I had to take a pic!

Sydney some how picked up that a smile looks like this....mouth wide open, nose scrunched up and eyes squinted. So every time we would go to take her pic this was the face we would get. Now she does a true smile, but this was it for a while.

Just a sweet photo taken in early Jan.

This was on my birthday, Jan 4th. Sydney looks like such a big girl in this photo.

This was in January. We had a little get together at our house for Dave and Brooke Synder who were in town from Indy. We were all hanging out in the living room watching You Tube videos on our TV when Sydney ended up on our friend Peter's lap, who is about 6'5. They were just chillin watching TV and Peter's wife Allison took this pic. He makes her look even smaller than she already is and I love how her feet are crossed!

This was late December. Syd took her naps in her swing but finally out grew it shortly after this pic.

Christmas Eve 2010. We were with my great friend the Mayor at her daughters house. Shannon and Glen's daughter, London, is the only little girl Syd gets to hang with so it's really sweet to see them together. London is a little over a year older than Syd. She was very watchful over Sydney and in this pic they are sharing some Cheerios. I love how London is making sure Sydney is ok.

Syd and I with London and Mema Mayor!

Syd checking out our Christmas tree. She liked holding the ornaments.

So there is a little story behind our holiday card picture last year. The above is the first time we tried to take the picture. We had our friend and neighbor Sharon come over to take the photos for us, but Syd wasn't having it. She was in a horrible mood and we tried and tried and just couldn't get a good family pic. The above is one of the better photos we were able to get but as you can see she was not a happy baby.

So this is a week later, take two. Same outfits, same mood only worse. Syd was again was not having it AT ALL. She screamed, threw a fit and looked like the above in almost all the photos.....

Finally we were able to get a decent pic. She still wasn't her normal happy self, but this was pretty good considering.

Sydney's 1st Birthday!!!!!!!

2010-11-24T11:16:00.000-08:00

We can't believe Sydney is now 1 year old! We had a party at our home on Sunday with all our California friends and want to share the festivities with all our family and friends back home with the below pics. Thank you so much to everyone for celebrating Sydney with us. She is a special little girl who is loved by so many and we feel blessed to have her and all of you in our lives!

Dave and Sydney

Kat Kat, Syd's nanny

Devon, Blanca and Julie

Our friends Belal and Maria's son Zayd in the background.

Christine and Benjamin who live down the street. He is 2 months older than Sydney.

This was the best I could do to get all the kids together for a photo. I tried for 5 minutes to get them together and it was impossible. We had all Syd's friends there including Zayd, Louis, Benjamin, London and Luca.

London and Syd playing with her new toys.

Me-ma Mayor with Syd and Kathleen (Kat Kat)

Me and Syd with Farrah and Louis

Seth really likes this rock and roll T shirt from our friend Jeff

Syd got a pair of skinny jeans and I wasn't sure they would fit. She's a healthy baby and skinny jeans aren't for everyone! J/k.

Our friend and next door neighbor Rick.

Seth and I got Sydney this 3 in 1 trike that converts from a toddler push trike to a normal tricycle she can pedal when she's older. It took 3 of us to figure out how to strap her into this thing.

Kevin giving Syd some snuggles

Syd in her skinny jeans with our friend Maria. So cute!! Thanks Vars!

This was Monday on Syd's actual birthday. We had no cake left so we put a candle in a brownie bite. It did the trick.

Syd playing in the bath with her new bath baby. Thanks Nana!!!

Sydney update ~ 9 to 12 months!

2010-11-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

Ok, so once again it's been 3 months since I last updated what's been going on with us. I really enjoy updating all of our family and friends but time escapes me and before I know it Sydney is about to turn 1 and I don't know how the heck that happened so fast!? I apologize again for not keeping everyone updated more often. The following post has tons of pics to recap Sydney 9 months-12 months, since the last time I blogged. A lot has happened and in the past 3 months!

The below goes in reverse order starting with our recent trip to Hawaii a couple weeks ago. I went to support an event for work and since Seth has to take off when I travel anyway to take care of Syd, we decided to just all go and I am so happy we did! Seth hadn't ever been to Hawaii and of course it was Sydney's 1st time as well. I have been only for work but haven't ever extended my stay to sight see and experience the beautiful island. We stayed in Honolulu, at Waikiki for the first 2 nights which is close to the store where my account is. This area is very tourist driven and sorta feels like Rodeo drive on the beach. It's really nice, but you don't get the sense of what the real Hawaii, untouched by commercial buildings and sprawling hotels, is like there. It's more about the restaurants and shopping on Waikiki. The hotel was booked for Saturday so we had to move and decided to go to the North Shore of Honolulu which was a great idea. We stayed at a resort called Turtle Bay which was located on a small peninsula surrounded on both sides by the ocean. We got the true Hawaii experience and it was amazing!!! The sights were breathtaking and we definitely were far from the overcrowded overbuilt tourist part of the island. We stayed there for 2 more nights, extending my stay by one day so we got Sunday to explore and be together in the Hawaiian sun!! Here are the highlights of the trip.

This was actually taken at the airport on the way home. I really wanted a picture of Sydney with a Lei on so luckily we were able to do it before we headed home. She was happy too as you can see!

This was in a little town in the North Shore. This rainbow was huge and so bright in real life. It was a little rainy on Sunday, but we were still able to walk around outside. The temperature was in the mid 80's all week so it was perfect! We also had the best fish tacos in this town! I am craving them now as I type! Yum Yum!!

These next couple of photos were taken at the pool at Turtle Bay. It was so cute to see Syd just chillin' with her baba looking out at the beautiful ocean view. She seemed so content and happy!

This was amazing! We went to turtle bay where huge sea turtles habitat and saw several of them up close within a just feet of us! We met a volunteer there who is part of a group who are there morning till night every day volunteering to make sure the turtles stay safe as this is a huge tourist spot (some days he sees close to 1000 tourists!). There are laws that you have to stay at least 6 feet from the turtles and he makes sure people do so. He told us about 30 turtles live in the bay and range from 150-250 lbs. The females grow to be the biggest. At first the blended in with the rocks, but as you looked you could start to see them moving as they got closer to the sand and then eventually a few of them came up and munched on the algae. The "turtle guardian" said in the afternoon they come all they way up on the beach and lay out in the sun.

Mama and Syd checking out the view at our hotel in Turtle Bay.

This was our view at the Sheraton on Waikiki. It was pretty amazing too!

Dada and Syd hanging out at the local Aquarium while I was working on Friday.

This was at the International Market Place on Waikiki. Syd had that rattle for about 5 minutes before she dropped it and it broke. :-(

Halloween 2010!! As everyone knows this is the Goldstein's favorite holiday! We saw this adorable lamb costume for Syd and had to have it. Seth then had the idea to be a slaughter house worker to make her into lamb chops. I had to protest this idea so I dressed up as a PETA protester. Somebody had to be a voice of reason in our family!! We went to our dear friends Farrah and Eric's for a Halloween/Birthday party for their son Louis. He turned 2. His actual birthday was 11/16, which was Sydney's due date last year. So they are just over a year apart.

From left: Farmer Eric, Anti-dressing up Louis, Indiana Jones Kevin, 1920's madame Farrah, Seth the slaughterer, Syd the little lamby and me the PETA protester/hippie girl

Louis about to get his first real taste of sugar...

I'd say he liked it!!!

Louis, Syd and Molly

Our sweet little lamb baby!

Caught in the act!! Actually we let her have at it with a magazine. She loves to tear paper up so we just let her have fun with it. Amazing this tiny little person made such a big mess!!

A week before Halloween we went out to Moorepark (about 1 hour out from LA) which is a farm community and went to the Underwood Family Farm and Fall Harvest Festival. It was awesome! They had a petting zoo, hay rides, corn field maze, pig races and lots more. We went twice that week. On Sunday they had 8100 people come through!! These pictures are from Tuesday and there were hardly any people there so we kinda had the place to ourselves. It was great!!

Syd and Dada in the center of the corn field maze.

I wasn't sure if Sydney would be able to ride the pony's yet, but she was and she absolutely loved it!! There was a harness around her waist and the pony's were strapped to the walker, so she was secure. The girl walked with her the whole time except for this photo op.

Such a big girl!!!

Just chillin after a long day at the farm!

This little goat was only 2 weeks old and SO cute!! He was running and hopping all over the place, so he was hard to catch, but eventually she got to pet him.

I love this pic of Syd sitting back watching her Baby Einstein video. She has her favorite toy in her hand, her microphone.

Syd's nanny Kathleen dressed her up for fun and she was so excited! She matched her ballerina teddy from Nana!!

I just love this picture!!

Sydney and her friend Benjamin who lives down the street, hanging out at the park.

Louis and Syd

Syd in her first pair of big girl jammies, thanks to Auntie Elise!

The following pictures are from our trip back home to Indy at the end of Sept.

Syd and her Grandpa

with Pappy

with Aunt Tonja

Syd with her 9 cousins on my side. It was so great to see them all and have them meet their newest cousin too!

Syd with Aunt Sunny and her cousins Cassy and Gerald.

My niece Leah

Kristin, Syd and Leah

Syd with Grandaddy Roy

Seeing how many hair clips we can get in all that hair! She was a good sport.

These next pictures were taken by a professional photographer back in August on Malibu beach. Syd was 9 months old.

These next photos are from Allison and Pete's wedding in August, in Las Vegas. We took Sydney who was the only baby there, but she had a lot of fun at her first wedding and did a great job with being thrown off schedule staying up partying with Mama and Dada!

Dancing with Dada!

Syd and the bride Allison....so sweet!

Look at that face!

What are these things??

Oh, got it!

Syd tearing it up her last night in Sin City!! :-)

Goldstein Home Videos

2010-08-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

August 10, 2010 - Sydney at 8 1/2 months

Here goes....

2010-08-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

I was sitting here thinking it's been more than a month since I updated the blog and finally have a little time so why not do it now?? I logged on and realized it's actually been over 3 months since I last updated!! Where does the time go?? To the family and friends back home I am really sorry for not keeping you all in the loop. It's been a busy few months but things are calmer now. Sooooo here goes the latest on the Goldstein home front.......Sydney is now 8 1/2 months old. It's so hard to believe. She is on the move, crawling all over now. She started sorta crawling a month ago but could only move backwards. The next phase was a few weeks ago when she began to move forward, but only by doing a series of one step crawls and then plunging forward in a belly flop, then back up on all fours for one step and plopping forward on her belly again. It was just this past week that Syd started actually crawling forward and after a day or two of realizing she could do it, she is now a total pro!! She isn't pulling herself up onto things yet, but is trying so that is only a matter of time. She can also walk when you hold her hands, which she's been able to do for a while now. It's all really exciting but also scary as there is a whole new set of dangers and things to worry about with her being mobile. Her sleeping is going great. We did sleep training about 2 months ago and we got super lucky as she took to it pretty much immediately. Now we just do her normal night time routine (dinner, bath, book, bottle) and give her kiss, say "night night Sydney" and place her in bed. She doesn't cry and just goes to sleep. It's been so great and gives us a nice break at night to get stuff done or just relax. Naps are the same. We know we are lucky as not everyone has this experience when trying to train their babies how to sooth them selves to sleep. I'm sure we'll get more than our share of some other difficult stage to make up for it. ;-) Let's see what else....we finally hired a new nanny. We loved our last one, Ute, but she needed full time hours so she took a job with another family. It was really hard to find a replacement as she was amazing, but we finally did and her name is Kathleen. She's super sweet with the baby and just a really nice sweet girl so we are very happy to have found her. Sydney LOVES her and is all smiles and giggles when she sees her. That's a good sign she's in good hands! Speaking of, Sydney laughs all the time! She is such a happy easy baby. Her personality is showing more and more now. She's definitely out going and loves to talk (babble) all the time. She has a sense of humor and loves to be entertained with silly faces, silly voices and daddy's tickle monster attacks! She can be impatient at times and lets you know when she isn't happy. She loves to eat, as obvious by her healthy physic! Actually she is in the 50th percentile for her weight so she's just perfect! She is now eating finger foods, mostly steamed veggies and ripe pieces of fruit. She still eats her normal baby food too. She drinks water from a sippy cup and still gets her "ba ba" after every meal (I stopped nursing at 7 months due to low milk supply). Last but not least she is completely done with her passy, but LOVES her thumb!!! :-)

That's all I can think to update on for now. Below are lots of pics from the past 3 months, with the most recent pic below and going backwards from there.

This was earlier today.

It's hard to see, but there is a penguin clip in her hair that I just ordered for her. I loved penguins as a child and saw a little girl in AZ Syd's age with a very similar one. I found this clip on line from an Etsy artist located in Sydney, Australia. It's so cute!!

This was a few days ago. It reminded me of the scene in Forrest Gump. Seth didn't know I was taking the picture and I just thought it was sweet to see him and Syd hanging out on the porch together like this.

This was about a month ago. Her hair is getting so long and is curly so she has a little fro. I love it!

This was 4th of July weekend and in the morning with her crazy hair! We were in San Diego visiting our friends and this was in the hotel room. I was feeding her breakfast on my lap in bed and told Seth to take a picture of her crazy hair. She did the biggest cheese ball smile ever!

These are the friends we visited, Lily Matt and their daughter Nakissa. Nakissa was obsessed with Sydney and wanted nothing but to hug and kiss her. It was adorable.

Syd in her 4th of July dress, a perfect hand me down from miss London Sky! Thanks Mayor!!! ;-)

Syd and Zayd playing together

Our good friends Belal, Maria and their son Zayd.

Daddy and his baby girl. Love this sweet pic!

Sydney at 7 months.

My co-worker and dear friend Natalie with Sydney. This was a retro pool party Natalie and her husband Jeff had for their 10th wedding anniversary. I found this cute sorta retro looking suite at Target for Syd.

Syd - 6 1/2 months. She loves this walker!

Syd and Ute (her previous nanny)

May 2010...back home in Indiana. Syd with her Bubbe and cousin Hannah.

More friends in Indy, April and her daughters Alli and Carly

Syd was the first of 3 baby girls born with in 6 months between Seth and his friends. This was so cute to see them all together!! We took a ton of pictures and this was one of the best ones. It wasn't easy to get them all to look at the camera, not to mention which one as all the parents were taking photos at the same time, paparazzi style!!

Courtney and Amelia, Me and Syd and Brooke and Cali

Syd and her great grand pappy!

Auntie Tonja giving Syd her ba ba!

Aunt Irene and Syd

Syd ~ 6 months.

Swimming in the pool back home in Indy in her 4th of July bathing suit. Another Target find!

Big Syd and Little Syd together at last!! This was a special moment.

Bubbe, Syd and Seth

Some of the cousins, Marissa and Hannah

Syd and her grandpa Rick

5 Months and Counting!!!

2010-04-29T21:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, where to begin?? The last time I blogged was about a month and a half ago. Ugh. I wish I had the time to do it more often, but I am still working on balance as I navigate through Motherhood! All is well with us!! I am back in the grove with work and business is a lot better so that's been great. Sydney is 5 months and just cut her first tooth yesterday!! She's been drooling and chewing on her hands for 2 months so we weren't sure when she would actually start to teeth, but yesterday I said to Seth let's look and see if any teeth are ready to come out and sure enough there was a little nub of a tooth already broken through the skin! I was beyond excited and proud of our little baby for hitting this milestone of babyhood! Today there is another one coming up and Sydney has had enough! Today was hard, she was upset most of the day. I feel so bad for her since she doesn't understand what's happening and why she hurts. I am hoping this won't last long, poor baby. Other exciting news, we have started Sydney on some solids in the past week or so. She was solely on breast milk until about 3 weeks ago, when we had to start supplementing with formula because I couldn't keep up with her demand. She took to the formula just fine and has 2 bottles of formula a day usually. Just this past week or so we started trying some solids. We got a Babycook which is a great all in one baby food machine that makes it really easy to prep her food from scratch. I started with some carrots and she wasn't really fond of them. Then we tried sweet potatoes which she ate half of and spit the other half out. Then a couple days ago I gave her peas and she seems to really like them (See first pic below)!! Lastly, we have hired a new nanny who Sydney loves and she loves back! Her name is Ute and she is from Germany. She's been in the US for 3 years and previously was a au pair for a family with 3 children, including a new born, for three years. She's about my age (ok a few years younger) and is just really kind, warm and loving. She comes to our house and is able to give Sydney all the attention and care she needs. Today when Sydney was having a rough time, she just held her all day even while she napped, because she just knew that was what she needed. She's great! Below are some pictures taken since the last blog.

This is the most recent pic of Sydney taken a few days ago.

She can't decide if she wants to eat her peas or suck her thumb!

She's a full fledged thumb sucker! This was a little over a month ago.

I love this sweet picture! Daddy took this when I was out of town and sent it to me

on my phone. This was after bath time which around here we call "naked baby time"!!

This was a few weeks ago and is after a bottle of formula which ended up half on her chin!

2 weeks ago our dear friends, Jacquie and Randy, from Indy came to stay with us for a few days and the following pictures are from their visit. Above is their 4 year old son Gavin cuddling with Pedie!

This was on the beach in Santa Monica.

I love this sweet pic!!

Jacquie, Randy and Gavin

The kiddos!!

Gavin had a blast with our dog door

(which my awesome husband installed himself I might add)!

Our friend Kevin with Sydney. This was the first time he saw her awake, as she was always asleep when he had been over in the past. Kevin is the one who married Seth and I in Mexico.

Sydney and her Auntie Jacquie!!

She looks so small in Randy's arms!! Except for the belly of course! :-)

Sydney with some bunny rabbits she got for Easter from our sweet friends Helene, Shannon, London and Glen. The below pictures are from dinner with them a few weeks ago.

This is after London got jealous of her mom, Shannon, holding the baby and we tried to smooth things over and get her to give the baby a kiss. It didn't go so well as you can see!

After this picture she did finally give Sydney a kiss and was really happy when I took her back and her Mommy was all hers again! :)

Daddy is so funny!

This is about a month ago. She's a happy girl!

She's all about her feet!!

Keeping up with the Goldsteins!

2010-02-28T17:07:00.000-08:00

Well here we are, Sydney is 3 months old now. It's so hard to believe...time really does fly by as everyone says. We are doing well and adjusting to my back at work schedule. The first week back Seth stayed home while I worked which was great and made the transition go better. Last week he went back to work on Wed so this was Sydney's first day at the nanny's (Aja's) house. Wednesday was rough for me and I am pretty sure Sydney could pick up on my energy as it was a rough day for her as well. I cried in the morning just thinking about her and how she would feel in a new place without her mommy and daddy around. I wondered if she would be scared and wonder why we left her. After talking myself off the ledge, I realized she knows we love her and she will be fine. We will all adjust with time and get in our groove. When I picked Sydney up that evening, she was happy as a clam in Aja's arms but the second she handed her to me she had a meltdown. I read this is very normal and is a result of the baby saving up all their emotions from the day for when they are with their mommy again who they feel the safest with. We came home and had a little cry together and that was it. The next day she was fine and I was much better also. Aja said she was a little fussy again. Then on Friday Aja sent me a text that said "happy baby today :-)" which made my day. Sydney seems to love Aja's little girl, Bella, who is 1 and a half. When I brought her home she was in a great mood all night! Yes, we are going to be just fine! We also remind ourselves that we are lucky that Sydney only needs to be in childcare 20 hours a week on average since Seth works nights and I work days, we are able to watch her more between our two schedules than most parents. Work is going good and I am shaking off the mommy brain I have had for the past 3 months!!! Actually I feel like I have picked right up where I left off and my business is going much better so that has been great! That's about all I know for now. We are hoping to come home sometime before July so Sydney can meet her family and have fun with all of her cousins!! We really miss everyone more now than ever! Hopefully this blog helps bridge the gap just a little!!
Enjoy the below pictures from the past month.

We call this "passie mouth" and it's one of my absolute favorite things!!!

Sydney sucks her passie so hard it leaves a red ring around her mouth like a clown's mouth. When I was young I loved clowns and had a collection of them. She had just spit out her passie which is laying beside her and has a look on her face like "what?", and with the shirt....I can't even handle it!

Today we went to the Purim Carnival at our temple and for those who don't know this is a Jewish holiday where to celebrate you dress up in costumes and have a party. We dressed Syd up as a ballerina. This little tutu was irresistible! Daddy actually picked it out.

Sydney at 3 months

This is her Bumbo chair that lets her sit up right. She couldn't do that on her own yet. She seems to like it. Daddy put all her babies on her lap and she loved it!

She looks like the marshmallow man in this picture!!

This was right after Daddy feed her a little too much in her bottle and she looked like she might pop!!

This is a hike up the mountain near our house. This Becco carrier is great and can be worn on the back as well. It was a birthday present from my dear friends Farrah, Eric and Kevin.

I had to take this picture before she gets big! I just love how little she looks in her crib still. We are still using the sleep positioner as it keeps her in place so she doesn't move around too much.

These pictures are from a Valentine's Day party we were invited to, which was hosted by Sydney's nanny Aja. She said her husband was coming and some other dads. We got there and it was 20 women and their babies, no men in sight! It was a Mommy and Me group. Seth was a good sport though. For the record Aja's husband did show up later so Seth wasn't the only guy there!! :-)

I love this picture of Daddy and his girl!

The nursery is finally done! We had the bench built into the wall under the window. It really makes the room. We spend most of our time in here playing with the baby. Her room is nicer than ours!

This was a few weeks ago at The Grove, a really beautiful outdoor mall in Los Angeles.

Sydney and Farrah!

The hat finally fits her! If you look at my last post you can see such a difference from when she got this on Christmas Eve. This was Superbowl Sunday. We went to our neighbors across the street who have a daughter my age who also just had a baby 2 months before Sydney. They live on the same street down a block. Our neighbors, Sharron and Joe also have a son who lives in Indiana, so they were cheering on the Colts too. Oh well, there's always next year. Next time we'll get Sydney a Colt's cheerleader uniform!

One of my best friends, Becca, came to visit from Orlando. She was in town for a horse race and spent the day with us. Hopefully she will be able to come back and stay with us soon!

Mommy and baby girl taking a snooze!

I'm a horrible blogger!!

2010-01-21T21:23:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I know blogs are meant to be done daily (not monthly) and apologize to everyone for not keeping you in the loop on how we are doing. It's just harder than you would think to get even small things done with an infant around. I now appreciate all the moms I know so much for doing the job they do as it truly is the hardest job on earth. Still it is amazing and so worth all the mini breakdowns and sleepless nights (hence the mini breakdowns) 100 times over. We are doing well and Sydney is getting big, now weighing 11 lbs and 8 oz. We went to the Dr. on Monday for her first round of shots and Sydney cried for 30 seconds, while I cried for 10 minutes. It was SO hard to be in the room and hear her cry, but I wanted to feed her immediately after to soothe her. She handled it better than I expected, but it was still really hard. Otherwise the Dr. said she is doing great and is a healthy normal baby. She has a little cradle cap we are treating and is now officially a "spitter upper", but again these things are normal. Sydney is doing good and we are trying to get some sort of routine going. It's tough. She is still a little fussy at night and has great days and then not so great days. The past few days she has not been sleeping during the day much at all, which is not typical for a 2 month old. However, she has been doing better at night sleeping for 5 and 6 hour stretches. Last night she only woke to feed twice from 10pm to 8am which was the best night we have had. From everything I have read, it is about this time that babies fight sleeping because they have become more social and would rather spend time with you than go to sleep. She has started to smile more and has had a few small giggles, but no real belly laughs quite yet. Her smile melts our hearts, especially when she crinkles her nose!! We are trying to savor this last 3 and a half weeks of my maternity leave. I can't believe it's almost over already. She is 2 months old tomorrow! Seth is going to take part of my last week off so we can have one last little bit of time together and then he is taking the first week off when I go back, to help the transition go a little easier. It's sad to think about handing her off to someone else, but we did find an amazing nanny to watch her. She will be watching Sydney at her condo with her 2 year old daughter and one other little girl. She has been great sending me info on Mommy groups, baby sales, etc. We feel lucky to have found her and know Sydney will be taken care of. Well that's about all for now, below are pics of Sydney from the past month.

Dec 12th, 2009

Dec 21, 2009

My friend Devon came to see the babe!

This one is from Christmas Eve and she is wearing a handmade hat that a friend of ours got for her. It's a tiny bit big right now, but sooooo cute! :-)

Thanks again Mayor for the Tummy time mat! Sydney loves it!

My birthday - Jan 4th, 2010

The rest of these are from this past 2 weeks.

Sydney and Grandma! My mom was here for 2 weeks which was great. She's already planning to come back for the 4th of July!! :-)

Natalie came for a visit!

Our little special!

Daddy and his little girl.

Sydney Harper is finally here!!

2009-11-30T15:36:00.000-08:00

Sunday November 22nd, 2009

2:34 am

8 lbs 3 oz, 20.5 inches

This was taken moments after Sydney was born. I am so thankful for this sweet moment captured and of course more than anything for our baby girl's safe arrival to this world. Labor was a long 25 hours total with some complications along the way, but in the end we are all ok and just happy to be starting our new little family.

Our sweet baby girl! She sure likes to sleep a lot!

My dear friend Farrah who was in the room during the delivery and took pictures for us. This was about 8 hours after she was born, later Sunday morning.

Sydney with her Bubbe listening to the symphony.

Thank goodness for Cassie coming to stay with us for the first week. She has been a HUGE help with cooking our meals and helping with Sydney. This is grandbaby #10, so she's a pro!!

Our sweet little cupcake! She looks so much like her Daddy!!

She's milk drunk!

9 months and ready to pop!!

2009-11-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

This was the work of my awesome husband, showing the progression of the baby bump. He's so proud of the belly and keeps saying "there's a fat baby in there!". I think if she doesn't come out a little plump, he might be disappointed. I was nicknamed Porky when I was a baby by my family (cruel I know) so maybe he will be right. I am happy for her to come out normal and plump up after. I still have to deliver this baby you know!

Our last Dr. visit we were told she is "locked and loaded" which means in the head down position and right where she should be. The Dr. thinks she will be around 7.5-8 lbs, which is the 70th percentile. I am doing well and can't believe our due date is less than 2 weeks away at this point! I am definitely experiencing the uncomfortable stage right now that everyone talks about. My belly is so tight and now when Sydney moves it actually hurts a little at times. You can see full feet or elbows protruding out which is really cool and wild. It's crazy to think she is full term and could come out any minute and be a perfect little new born baby!! We are ready for her though. The house is pretty much ready with her room painted and we have basically everything we think we will need to care for her in the beginning. The moment is finally here!! What a hard wait this is after all this time, the minutes seem to drag on forever at times! We just want to see her cute little face!

It's hard to tell which is the belly, I know.

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and this was the first year we couldn't partake in the fun and dress up. Not that we minded though as our baby girl is more than worth the sacrifice! However, from the beginning we have talked about how I would be 9 months pregnant at Halloween and that we were going to paint the belly. This was a week ago and Seth did a great job! Seth calls this her first Halloween outfit!
Well, that's all for now. The next time I post, we will have met our little girl and will be able to share her photos! Wish us luck with the delivery! We love you all and can't wait to bring Sydney into such a wonderful group of family and friends!
Love, Dalhia and Seth

8 months and counting!!!

2009-09-21T22:43:00.001-07:00

This is 8 months. Wow!! I can't believe it when I see this picture! No wonder I have back pain...that's one big belly!!

It's official.....

Sydney Harper Goldstein

We finally settled on a name and both love Sydney for a girl. Also it's Seth's dads name, so there is a special meaning for it too.

Today we went to our check up and everything was great. I have gained 28 lbs total, which the Dr. says is right on track and healthy. It looks like I will end up around 35 lbs, which I am more than ok with. We are still on the every 2 week appt schedule, but will soon switch to every week. I can't believe how close it is. We are soooo excited to meet little Sydney and hold her in our arms! We know nothing can prepare us for the gift we are about to receive and the love we will have for our baby girl.

California Baby Shower - Sept 20th 2009

2009-09-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

My best friend Farrah and her son Louis. She threw the shower for me at her beautiful home. It was a garden lunch where everyone pitched in. It was a perfect shower and perfect day with the girls!

The lovely ladies! From left to right: Helene (AKA Grandma Mayor), Natalie, Lois, Devon, Blanca, Farrah and Maria.

This little coat is so sweet! It was given to us by our dear friends Maria and Belal. It's from baby gap and will be perfect for next fall. It also has a matching little hat! Little girl clothes are so adorable!!!

This was a bouncer given to us by our friend and realtor Lois. We have our beautiful home because of her!! The wrapping was so cute!

Indy trip - August 2009

2009-09-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

George Colombo 1959-2009

George was as much family as he was a friend. I have known George since I was 12. I lived with him for a year and a half in my early 20's and had a great time and many fond memories of that time. It was when I met Seth, who George allowed to come over to visit against his rule of no boys allowed! I was 23! That was George, always overly protective of those he loved. Seth and George bonded immediately and had a special and dear friendship from then on out. George will be missed for so many things, most of all his HUGE heart and generousity, his one of a kind since of humor and his way with people. George never met a stranger.

I am so glad we took these pictures and got to see him in August.

We love you George and have you in our hearts always.

My Mom came up from Florida at the same time and had a brunch with her close family and friends to celebrate her first grandbaby! From Left to right: One of my best friends Jacquie, Mary, Linda, my Mom, Cathy and Peggy.

This little bikini is the cutest thing I have ever seen!!! I couldn't believe how little the top was! When I showed it to Seth he asked who bought it for us and then said "I need to watch out for that woman!". Get ready daddy, this is nothing! Wait till she's a teenager and who knows what she'll be wearing!!

Seth and I went out to my grandpa Pappy's house and visited with my family. He lives outside of Indy, out in the country. We don't get to go there very often, so it was nice to sit outside with the family and enjoy nature. A big change from LA! From left to right, my unlce Jullian, Aunt Tonja, my Dad and Pappy.

The baby shower!!
Seth's sisters and my best friend Jacquie threw this for me!

This was a hand made cake by our sister in law, Jacqui. She should go into the cake biz!!! It was delicious and so cute!!

These were made by my dear friend Jacquie. This was the party favor for all the guests to take.

The shower was at Seth's parents house. They really outdid themselves with all of the decorations. It was so cute and festive!!

Presents! This is a crystal bank, in the shape of a teddy bear, given to us by Rosalee, a dear Goldstein family friend. Such a sweet gift.

My friend Shelley got me a "hooter hider" for breast feeding. I love it!

From left to right: My great aunt Irene, great aunt Shirley and my aunt Tonja.

It was great to see them!!

One of my bestest friends, Jacquie. We've known each other for almost 10 years. She's the one who first took me to the dance club where we became regulars during the summer of 2000 and where I met my future husband and baby daddy! I'll always be grateful!

Seth's sisters from Left to right: Tiffany, Elise, Joscelyn and Jacqui. I love them all and was so appreciative of the wonderful shower they threw!

BTW...between these girls, there are 9 grand children already!! That makes #10 for our little babe on the way!

The mom's and proud grandma's:

Seth's mom, Cassie, on the left and my mom, Janice, on the right.

My dear friend Shelley. We have known each other the longest...since 1st grade. This was the first time we have seen each other in 7 years!! She recently moved back home to Indiana, so when I go home from now on I will get to see her which is wonderful!! She is a mom to 2 sweet and adorable boys who I got to meet for the first time.

Another dear friend, April and her daugter Alli. We also haven't seen each other in several years, so it was wonderful to see her!! I have known her since I was 12 as well, when she became my "big sister" and guided me through my teenage years. Whew...that must have been tough!! :-) She was a huge influence on my life growing up and I love her dearly.

6 months and counting!!

2009-07-27T20:09:00.001-07:00

Well, here is the 6 month belly shot and it's feeling pretty big right about now. You can see the roundness starting to really take shape! Random strangers are now asking me about when I am due and a couple have gone in for the belly rub! Seth asks me if this bothers me, and so far not really. No one creepy has tried to touch me, mostly just older grandma's! Baby girl is kicking a lot now and Seth has been able to feel it. She is maybe going to be athletic unlike her mom and like her daddy, as sometimes it feels like she is kicking and punching with all 4 limbs at the same time! Maybe she'll be a dancer or gymnast?? Otherwise, I am feeling well and still very lucky in my pregnancy, only experiencing a little back pain here and there. About 2 weeks ago, Seth and I went to our new Dr. for a check up. We switched because on our 2nd visit to our last Dr. we were informed that their office does rotations for after business hours with regards to delivering the babies and that there was a chance that it would be one of the other 10 Dr.'s in the office that would be on call the night I go in labor. They suggested we schedule our appt's with the different Dr.'s so we get to know them all. This is craziness! I don't know who is ok with that kind of set up, but we weren't! So we waited for our insurance to switch to a PPO July 1st and we found our new Doctor, Dr. Susan Cohen, through a friend of a friend who has had two babies delivered by her and said she is great. She was really down to earth and smart and has a small office in Beverly Hills with only 2 other Dr.'s. When we went in for our appt they were playing hip hop/pop music in the office, which was a good sign to me!! I like a Dr with some personality! She said everything was looking good. My weight gain is on track and healthy at 16 lbs (this was at 5 1/2 months). She said unless the baby is born on Thanksgiving or the day after, she will most certainly be there. There is always that chance, but these are much better odds than what we would have with our previous Dr. I have an appt next week to check for signs of diabetes and also anemia.

This is one of the first gifts we have received from a dear

friend and previous employee of mine, Helene (AKA The Mayor). It might be the cutest thing I have ever seen!! It's

so over the top girlie with rhinestones everywhere and of course "Always the Princess" on both sides. So cute!!! Thanks again Mayor!!

IT'S A GIRL!

2009-06-16T18:17:00.001-07:00

It's official! We're having a little girl! We went to our check up today and were told we weren't confirmed to get an ultrasound today, but we begged saying we were hoping to find out the sex and the Dr. said ok. The nurse prepped us that the baby might not cooperate so no guarantees we would be able to tell. About 2 seconds into the ultrasound she got the perfect shot (above pic 1) and said "It's a girl!". What an amazing moment. Seth immediately said once we were in the car, he was thinking of the sleepless nights he will have and the heartbreak he will undoubtedly endure when our little girl starts dating! We have a while to worry about that, so for now we are just super excited to know and will be deciding on a name soon!

4 and 1/2 months. This was taken late at night and I was just about to go to bed, so not my prettiest moment. The belly is getting there! I started to feel the baby move 2 weeks ago and was expecting the "vibration" or "fluttering" feeling the books all describe. I didn't feel that and still haven't, but rather felt a full body roll from one side of my belly to the other! Wild! I have felt that sensation more and more and you can definitely feel the baby from the outside, which just feels like a really hard lump. I am still waiting for the kicks and can't wait for Seth to be able to feel that. I have to say I have been soooooo lucky with this pregnancy so far, with very mild morning sickness (no throwing up, just nausea) and otherwise have felt pretty good. If the rest goes as smooth as the beginning was then I am really counting my lucky stars!

Seth getting practice! This is Louis, our very dear friends Farrah and Eric's little boy. He was born on Nov 16th, this past year and that's our due date! Our babes might have the same birthday, one year a part! They were hoping for a little boy so they could be best buddies, but now they will just have to get married one day instead. :-)

ultra sound video

2009-06-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

This is from our 13th week check up.

Us

2009-06-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Here we are! This is from our recent trip to the Dominican in February of this year. We went for a friends wedding and this was the reception dinner. Wow we were tan!! We knew this would be our last vacation for a while, as we were in escrow for our first home (it closed while we were there!) and we were planning on trying to start a family in the upcoming months. Little did we know, one day back from our trip and our first official day a home owners, that we would also be starting our family much sooner than originally planned!! That was a big surprise! Once the shock wore off we were definitely excited for little baby Goldstein, due to arrive November 16th, 2009!

Here are the other little members of our family, Pedie and Sam. Pedie, our little devil dog, is doing a close up, always the curious guy. Sammy is our sweet needy little girl, who perches herself on the top of the couch just like a cat.

This is me in my office with the pups. Pedie on the lap and Sam in front of the space heater. She's like her mommy, always cold!

The first official Belly Shot! This is Dalhia at 3 months. Already showing a bit.