Life with Sydney Harper: March ~ April Update

One of the things I intended to do once I officially became a SAHM in March, was to blog more often and by often I was thinking once every week would be a good place to start. Sounds easy enough with all the free time I was going to now have, right? Ha. My new life as a full time mommy is a total dream come true and I feel blessed immensely, but free time?? Not so much. It's amazing how much busier I am now. Syd's not in preschool yet and Seth is now on days working from 10-8 so most days it's just me and it's a lot. And I mean that in the most amazing way of course. It's just different. In my career days, after my work day I would be mentally exhausted but still have the energy to use my "me time" after Syd went to bed however I so chose. Now after a full day entertaining and just taking care of my rambunctious two year old, once I have her to bed I am physically spent. Nothing gets done past 8pm now aside from eating my dinner and maybe catching up on a little TV, Chelsea Lately to be exact. Days pass in the blink of an eye and here we are in June, and I have only updated the blog once. I still haven't organized our weekly craft schedule, updated the family calendar with the daily activities we are going to do each month, sought out and ranked the best Mom Blogs to follow, cooked all the sneaky recipes in my cookbook for Syd, learned how to knit or even sew really for that matter and so on and so on. The Pinterest version of my life is taking a back seat to the real one, but you know what, I am OK with that. I am enjoying just being with Sydney right now and watching her grow from a baby to an actual individual with tons of personality. Our days are mostly filled with play and laughter and I can tell she is really happy. I am not missing a minute with her and that was the whole point. So when I have the moments of feeling inadequate because another mom has a blog solely dedicated to 365 days of crafts with toddlers (and God bless her for that!), I remind myself that my priorities are in order and for that alone I am doing a great job so far and well if I ever learn to knit then that will just be a bonus.

Below are pics from March and April. I will do a post with pics from May soon....maybe. ;)

Seth with his dad and my amazing Father In Law, Sidney. Although he was not in good health, his passing at the beginning of May was still unexpected. We were so fortunate to have been home and see him the week prior. He was a wonderful man and Sydney was named after him. He will forever be loved and missed.

Big Sid sharing candy with little Syd

Syd and her cousin Madi

Cousin love, Syd and AJ

Madi, Sydney, Hannah, Payton

Syd and her Bubbe

My dad and proud Grandpa

My Aunt Tonja and Syd with some crazy hair!

At the end of April we went to a Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena, CA with my good friend Helene (AKA The Mayor and also Meema) and her granddaughter London who is just over a year older than Sydney. It was awesome! There was so much for the girls to do, everything from an outdoor creek they could run around in to reptile exhibits and more. Syd was in heaven and we will definitely have to go back this summer.

This was a little bike course they had where the kids could race or just ride around the track. When I showed Seth this pic he pointed out that I put Syd's helmet on backwards. Yep, I sure did. I am pretty sure the girl in the background has her helmet on wrong as well.

That's my big girl all the way at the top of this 3 story climb house. She went all the way to the top by herself but needed a little help coming down. London came to her rescue and guided her way.

This spider was enormous! Syd was obsessed with it and we had to go back about 10 times so she could see it again.

End of the day and somebody is tired

Here are a few random photos from April.

Syd wearing all her play jewelry. Such a big girl.

Also in April we went to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time with my brother Nick. It was cool and Syd enjoyed herself. She wasn't so sure about the show, but loved all the rides.

Syd and I just finished up our Tiny Tots class. We really had a great time with this and looked forward to going every Tue and Thu, so it was a bit sad to see it end. Every class involved art projects, singing and dancing, story time and play. We met some great people there and hope to stay in touch with them. Below are a few pics from a recent class.

Syd and Lou on Easter, searching for eggs

Syd wasted no time cracking those suckers open to get to the jelly beans!

Me and my big girl

Uncle Nick and Tati

Also in April we went with my good friend Allison to "Travel Town Railroad Museum" at Griffith Park. Syd LOVES trains and this is a whole little museum dedicated to them. There were lots of different style cars you could walk thru, a little train ride that went around the entire grounds, a mini train set and village and more. The best part for Syd was the seeing the pink train. She is a pink fanatic and it was perfect that they had a pink train amongst their collection. We had a great time and not to mention parking and admission is FREE. The only thing that cost money was the train ride at a whopping $2 per person, so in total we spent $6. Not bad for a fun day in LA.

I just love this pic. Syd is so small next to this massive locomotive. I know I will look at this pic one day and be amazed at how little she once was. For right now though she is little and still mama's baby so that day can just hold off for another decade or two.

We took a trip to the Santa Monica pier back in the beginning of April. There's a carnival on the pier and of course the amazing coastal view. There are also lots of street performers and just good ol' people watching. Below are some pics from our trip.

Syd gives a kiss she calls the biggest kiss of her whole life, where she grabs your face and pushes on you as hard as her little body can all while giving you a long sweet smooch. It's so yummy and I can't get enough of them!

Syd and dada enjoying some ice cream

This last group of pics are from our trip to San Diego in March. We went to see our dear friends Matt and Lili and their daughter Nakisa. Matt and I are friends from college, so it's really awesome to see our little ones together now. Nakisa is about a year and a half older than Sydney and was so incredibly sweet and gracious with her. Syd really loved being around her as most of our friends' little ones are boys, so she doesn't often get to play with other little girls. We had a wonderful weekend and hope to go down there again soon.