There's A New Slesnick In Town

Don and Ceci's new little baby, Cecilia Anne is here, in all her splendor. She decided to come a few days early on a gloriously cool November day in Miami. She arrived at 11:57 am, and weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces. She has a head of beautiful black hair and long skinny feet like her auntie! Momma Ceci went in thinking she was going to have her naturally but they ended up having to do a C-section... but no worries, all are fine and happy (and exhausted.) She is a beautiful little girl and I'm so proud of my brother and sister-in-law!

 Don and Kathleen shortly after baby Ceci's arrival

 Poor Dr. Ernie always gets them when they are crying! That's ok, Dr. Ernie, they grow up to love you!

 How is that face!

 I think she noticed the paparazzi outside her window....

 Big Daddy Don

Hi Mama!!

How cute is this baby!

We're Back! But Not At 100%

So yes, it's been a while. Lightening and computers don't mix, apparently. And when you are waiting for your brother to come and change out your old computer for your new one... well, you just might have to wait a month or three. So I'll try to bring you up to speed with the biggest events from the last three months and hopefully, you will be slightly entertained. This is what was going on around July/August. After Marley dog's last physical, the vet said that she might benefit from a little playmate. So we rescued this amazing Belgian Malinois mix which Olivia immediately named Spiderman. But he was way too playful and energetic for poor Marley, so we had to give him back.

Meanwhile, Olivia is continuing to expand her skill sets and has taken up culinary interests as well as fashion design. (Clearly.) Julia continues to just be amused by her big sister. She is definately the more chill one of the two.



Julia completely fills up the changing table by now. (Remember, you can see a bigger version of these pictures by clicking on them, but don't forget to use your BACK button to return to the main blog.)

Here is Julia chilling in the bucket reading a book.

Julia's Photo Shoot at Nine Months

I had purchased the "Bellies to Babies" package from photographer Shanna Nye which includes four photo shoots: one when I am pregnant, then when the baby is one week, six months and one year. Well, life got a little hectic so the six month photo shoot turned into a nine month shoot. Regardless, Shanna's immense talent gets shots that I am totally in awe of.... and the whole photo shoot took less than an hour. We were in my parents' front yard. Click here to see the awesome slideshow of Julia on her blog.

Pop Pop's Birthday

In May we took the girls to Midtown Miami to a restaurant called Michael's Genuine. We met up with the Silver/Inners clan and Scott and April and the girls to celebrate Mark's birthday (who is affectionately known as Pop Pop.) Olivia absolutely loves seeing her cousins, and of course, the adults got to play "Pass the Baby."

Me with Mark "Pop Pop" Silver, April's stepdad

Birthday Boy!

On the left is Sofya with Morgan. Sophya is the daughter of Stacee and Michael Behar.

April gets some Julia time.

Julia hangs out with Aku (Uncle) Scott.

Carly's got mad photography skills....

Julia sits on Pam's lap. Who knew spoons could be so much fun?

Carly with Julia

April, Mark, and Mark's mother Mim

Olivia is introduced to Silly Bands by her cousin, Morgan

Lamar and Pop Pop with all the girls

You're supposed to keep her off the pole, Daddy!

Extreme "Room" Makeover

There is a local non-profit agency here in town called Casa Valentina. They help young women who have just "aged" out of foster care at the age of 18. Most of these ladies don't have anywhere to go or have any real support systems to speak of. Casa Valentina helps them find apartments and jobs, and provides some counseling and support. Our church, St. Philip's, participates in a project that spruces up these girls bedrooms so that at least they have a comfortable and inspirational place to come home to. So today we made over one of these rooms for a young lady named Misleny (pronounced Ma-Lane-e). She is a sweet, soft-spoken girl with amazing eyes.

Misleny wants to become an attorney (lofty goals, I know!) and work in family court so that other young ladies that are in foster care will get to deal with an attorney that cares about them, not one that just treats them like another girl "in the system". A couple of weeks ago my friend and interior designer Teri D'Amico went to Misleny's apartment to figure out what we were going to do in her bedroom. Our mission, to provide her with a  Morrocan themed bedroom with dark colors, that incorporated eastern design elements as well as her Buddah statue. (That's what she wanted!)

Misleny with Baby Julia when we went to visit her the first time

A couple of shopping trips later (Ikea, Bed Bath and Beyond and several Coral Gables' garage sales) and we were set! Here are a couple of pictures of her bedroom before...typical teenager! Rather than being in the closet, most of the clothing was all over the floor. There is a floor under there, isn't there??

Thankfully, I had lots of help. St. Philip's Church provided most of the money for the project, and we got a generous donation from my dad as well. Of course, wonderful husband Lamar got to do fun things like paint, hang curtain rods, schlepp materials and supplies, etc. The morning shift also included friends Courtney Thompson and his girlfriend Jill, who is also an interior designer. Then my friend (and jazz great) Von Henry showed up, as did Joyce Myers and Maynel Lorie, my super duper administrative assistant.

Me, Misleny, Jill and Courtney

Maynel, Joyce, Misleny and Jill

Lamar should be Niecy Nash's Fix It Guy!

Von's in the kitchen, painting a desk, singing Aretha. Go figure.

Eventually everyone went home except Maynel. When she and I finished it was around 8:30 p.m. We went next door to get Misleny and led her to her bedroom door. When she opened it, her expression was worth every hour we had put into it. She couldn't believe the transformation. Of course the first thing out of her mouth was "Oh my gosh. Oh MY GOSH!!!!" I think it literally took her breath away.

The room was now this amazing peacock blue color with orange silk curtains. Curtains, lamps, bedspread and rug all from Ikea.

When we finished scraping all the paint off the floor there was this beautiful terrazo floor!! It gleamed a bright white with brown flecks in it, it was just beautiful. With several containers from Bed Bath and Beyond we totally reorganized her closet as well. We removed the wood accordian doors from her closet and put up more orange silk curtains.

Now, I had video-taped on my camera the precious first few minutes of her seeing her room for the first time. But apparently we were all giggling and laughing and crying with her that I pushed the button that made it stop taping. But here are the 9 seconds of it that I do have.

One happy girl!!

My Dad the Daredevil

Honestly, I never thought, ever, that my dad would jump out of a plane. Oh sure, he's been known to do many a crazy thing, like swing from a chandelier, but that was in college..... or so the story goes. But recently he was offered, along with several other South Florida mayors, to go skydiving with the Army Golden Knights. Hey if you're going to do it, you might as well do it with the best. It was for a good cause. Previous to the jump the mayors signed a community covenant supporting the Armed Forces recruiting efforts here in our community. Have to admit I was way jealous.... add it to my bucket list!

Signing the Community Covenant

Olivia loves to drive

Ready to Go!

Does he look scared?

Camera man falls out first

The little parachute slows you to a mere 200 mph, or somthing like that

It's a bird, It's a plane....

Would you look at all that sprawl!