More Eli

I can't get enough of the little guy! What a beautiful picture this is.

Welcome to the world, Eli!

The East Coast Cohens would like to say congratulations to our friends Lindsay and Brian, who welcomed little Eli Benjamin into the world today! (Lindsay was my freshman year roommate and a bridesmaid in our wedding.) Look at this cute little face:

And the happy family:

Eli tipped the scales at 7 lbs., 9 oz. ("7 lbs., 9 oz. of wonderfulness," Brian said -- isn't he the sweetest?) and was born at 9:25 this morning.

Eli's birth has gotten me thinking back to when Alex was born. Such an overload of emotions, I am sure Brian and Lindsay don't even know what has hit them! I have to admit I am a little jealous of them and what's in store for them. It's such an amazing thing to watch your baby discover the world. (Yes, I know my baby is still discovering the world, but still...)

(Of course, now that I think about it, Lindsay and Brian are probably a little jealous of what we have too -- you know, a baby that smiles and sleeps through the night and doesn't need to eat every two hours...)

Brian and Lindsay, enjoy every moment! You are going to look back in six months and wonder where the time went!

One last game

Auntie Em, Alex and I went to watch Daddy and Uncle Ryan play in a soccer game on Randall's Island a couple weekends ago. It was Kevin's last game as a member of the NY Fury team. I can't say that the refs are upset he is leaving the state!

Lunchtime tango

My two favorite boys walked down to my office one day last week, and we had lunch outside. So I got a noontime dance in with my baby.

Nap time?

Kevin and I put Alex down for a nap on Sunday. It was about that time, and he was showing all of the signs of being tired. So we laid him in the crib, turned on his white noise machine and shut the door.

A few minutes later, we heard him making noise. Not distressed noise per se, but we still decided to go check on him. Here is what we saw:


Needless to say, Alex didn't nap at that time. We picked him up and took him to the park! Does Alex have us wrapped around his little finger? Yes. Do we care? Not one bit!

Now THAT'S love!

"This kid is awesome. I wouldn't trade him for all the Super Bowls in the world!"

This was Kevin's declaration to us this weekend. Ryan, Emily and I really weren't sure what that meant, and I don't know if Kevin has been approached by Roger Goodell or some other NFL hotshot about an exchange of some sorts. But for those of you that remember how Kevin reacted when the Giants won the Super Bowl last year, we can only assume it's a good thing he feels this way! I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it!

Stanley Cups, though, that's another story!

Business in the front, party in the back...

Back when he was a baby (oh, it was so long ago, wasn't it?), Kevin always teased Alex about his mullet. I, of course, denied he had a mullet! But looking back...um yeah, he did have a mullet! But he rocked it!




Now, as most of you know, we are preparing for our move to North Carolina -- but Alex doesn't have a mullet anymore! I hope the other babies don't make fun of him! As you can see, Alex is really excited to be a future Dukie (or maybe he looks scared?):



Seriously, though, we are very excited about the move. We had a great time in Durham when we went in April to the admitted students weekend. It was a whole new world for Alex. We taught him all about the color green (he hadn't really ever seen grass or trees at that point -- Daddy's been trying to fix that by taking him to the park every day now), and he learned that cars come in colors other than yellow!

The Hangover

I can't wait to see this movie. It has been a while since I've been this excited about a new movie. (Not like I am going to see it anytime soon.)

The baby in it cracks me up. But I totally think Alex could have starred in it:



What do you think?

Mom, when can I get a facebook account?

Kids these days sure do learn about technology quickly. Alex LOVES the computer. Here he is -- fascinated by Auntie Mel's facebook page -- hmmm, I wonder if her profile picture of the two of them had anything to do with that...?

Forgot one...

When I posted about Alex catching up on his "zzzz"s in Barcelona (see here), how could I have missed this one?

Happy Mothers' Day!

So this is what I wake up to on Mothers' Day...

Am I the luckiest girl in the world or what?

Daddy and Alex had lots of surprises planned. First, we went to a Mets game at the new Citi Field. Here we are in front of the stadium:

It's still windier in Flushing than any other part of NYC -- that hasn't changed!

Alex and I in our Mr. Mets t-shirts (we saw Mr. Met and tried to get a picture with him, but he was too busy).

Daddy and Alex

And one more, just for fun


Citi Field was awesome! Apparently all of the mean staff went away with Shea. Everyone was so nice. I got wished a happy mother's day by every single staff member we passed. We had a great day -- and the Mets won!

But that's not all. Kevin and Alex had gone to a pottery studio and made me a picture frame! Here is Alex showing off his handiwork:



Thanks, Kevin and Alex, for making me feel so special on my first Mother's Day! Thanks too to all of you that called, texted or wrote on my FB wall to send me Mother's Day wishes! And hope the rest of you mommies had a fabulous day too!

Our little gambler

The financial windfall that is Alex continues. We went to a friend's house to watch the Kentucky Derby last Saturday. We did a pool, and everyone including Alex picked a horse out of a hat. Alex picked some horse named Mine That Bird, a 50-1 longshot. Well, lo and behold, Mine That Bird ran a great race and WON! And with that, Alex won $36! Here he is, exhausted after cheering during that race, holding the winning ticket:


We also had a losers' pool, and my horse lost! So I won $18. The Spain-Cohens cleaned house!

Alex's latest trick

Holy cow! I have feet!

Barcelona -- what a snoozefest!

Kevin and I enjoyed Barcelona very much -- we understand why everyone seems to love it so much! As for Alex, though, he seemed kind of bored.

At the castle at the top of Montjuic

At the slides in the park at Montjuic
At a soccer game
At the seaside village of Sidges
At a park in the city
He seemed especially unimpressed at the works of famous architect Gaudi. I don't think he had his eyes open once!

At Parc Guell
Still at Parc Guell
At La Sagrada Familia
At La Pedrera

Jess' giant

Those of you that know my cousing Jess will be very pleased to hear that she hasn't changed much in her time in Barcelona. Meaning, she is just as weird as she ever was.

Jess is very enthralled with the life of a baby. She loves the idea of someone carrying her around and snuggling with her. In fact, she loves the thought of it so much, she wants to have her own personal giant.

This became a theme of our trip to Barcelona. Jess would point out a stroller and say, "I think I would like my giant to carry me in a stroller like that." She thought tummy time looked like torture and likened it to "my giant hanging me upside down and saying 'Time for upside down time!'"

I pointed out the flaws in her plan -- you wouldn't make any decisions for yourself like what to wear or when to eat (well, okay, if you cried enough you would probably be able to). And you don't get many options for food. And, if your giant was anything like Kevin, he would make you take pictures like this:





She didn't seem deterred though, and we are still on the lookout for a gentle 15-foot man or woman willing to take care of a sweet college student.

Alex adora a prima Jessica

When we announced we were pregnant, everyone felt so sorry for my cousin Jessica. Since she is studying abroad in Barcelona for a year, she missed most of my pregnancy and the birth of Alex.

But the joke's on everyone else! Jess just got to spend nine straight days with our little man, and she can safely say (at this point) that she is the family member that he knows best!

We knew Alex would love Jess -- and why not? She has no shame and will do anything to get a smile (and sometimes even a laugh) out of him!

More on the Spain trip later, but here are some pictures of Alex and Jess. They don't even do her justice as to how much Alex enjoyed her!

Tummy time

Like a lot of upper twenty-somethings, Kevin and I had never heard the phrase "tummy time" until four months ago. Our peditrician mentioned it rather nonchalantly at our appointment when Alex was just four days old. "Try to give him a bit of tummy time each day," he advised while flipping Alex over onto his stomach. "It helps build his neck, arm and back muscles." Sounds simple enough. Little did we know how many conversations involving tummy time we would have in the next couple of months.

New moms talk about tummy time the way we used to talk about shoes. You cannot have a five minute conversation with a new mom without mentioning tummy time. "Does he like tummy time?" "I know I should give her more tummy time, but I hate to see her cry!" "Oh, look at her -- showing off with her tummy time!"

I find it quite amusing. First of all, being "good" at tummy time entails not crying. Really, that's all it takes to be good at tummy time! (I wish we used that criterion for other things in life -- I would be really good at a lot of things!) Secondly, some moms seem really upset when their children don't appear to like tummy time. Give him time, he'll catch on eventually -- it's not as if he is going to be five years old and still stuck on his back!

Alex was so "good" at tummy time when he was two months old, my mom friend Karen asked me, "So is you or your husband or a combination of the two of you that made your baby a Superbaby?"

Here are some pictures of Alex showing off his tummy time skills:






And Karen, to answer your question, Superbabies run on my side of the family.

What happens when Daddy and "Druncle" Ryan are in charge of the baby...