Keeping up with the Goldsteins!

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!!

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!!

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!!

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