Babes of Summer

As usual, my summer was just brimming with babies. But I'm not going to complain, because these were some VERY special babies.

First came a baby that wasn't so much new, but he was certainly new to me! As you may remember, the last time I saw Faye she was living in Italy and expecting a little bambino. And for the past year, I've watched Bambino grow more and more gorgeous (I know, he's a boy, but he is a GORGEOUS boy) through pictures. And when Faye and family moved from Italy to a whole 'nother continent, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I'd probably never meet Bambino till he was old enough to drive.

And then came one of the bestest emails ever. Faye was coming to San Diego for a WHOLE MONTH! The month of her birthday AND Bambino's birthday. I was going to get to meet Bambino!

And meet him I did. I was lucky enough to get several visits with both Faye and Bambino, including a lunch date with one of my other favorite mommies - L&J.

L&J brought her gorgeous baby boy also. (Seriously, these are some of the cutest babies ever.) And I was completely outnumbered. But in a good way. We went out for cupcakes after our lunch date which inspired L&J and I to get together to make cupcakes to celebrate Faye's birthday. (L&J introduced me to the best cupcakes in the world. Technically it's not her recipe, but they will ALWAYS be L&J's strawberry cupcakes to me)

But all good things must come to an end, and eventually Faye and Bambino headed back to their new home. Which brought us to another summer baby!

When we visited last Christmas, Thatboy's BFF Magski she let us in on a little secret - they were expecting! And her due date was the week of our anniversary! So we decided to plan our anniversary trip around the arrival of her first child. Which is one of the other reasons we chose Mendocino as our destination, because Magski lives in Northern California. Of course this meant we waited for the last minute to book everything because we weren't sure if we were going to be seeing her before or after our anniversary.

Little Ace didn't want to wait until our anniversary, he decided to show up on Magski's anniversary instead! When we got the text in the middle of the night that she was in labor, I turned to Thatboy and said "Umm - tell her congratulations and happy anniversary!" Once we knew Ace had arrived safely, we booked our trip so that we could visit Ace on his 2 week birthday - giving Magski and her husband time to settle in to a routine.

I seriously LOVE visiting new moms. LOVE. They have such a sense a zen. Magski seemed so happy and balanced - although a little stir crazy, it's hard to adjust to being in the house all day when you're as active as she is. She confided in me that she usually skips naps, because her only time to get out of the house for a walk is while Ace sleeps in his stroller.

Since we were coming from Mendocino we couldn't load Magski up with our usual assortment of new mom meals. Instead, we bought cookies! Because no one likes a woman who loses ALL of her baby weight within two weeks of having the baby.....(*cough*Magski*cough*)

Because not everyone likes chocolate, I brought these coconut sandwich cookies. These are good. REALLY good. Good enough where Thatboy thought maybe we should keep them all for ourselves.

And because other people DO like chocolate, these Reeses Brownie Bites. I've had these before made with peanut butter cookies, but they're extra rich when the reeses is in a brownie! Magski called her husband in from another room once she took a bite of these. I'd be surprised if they lasted through the night.


After our visit with Magski, we headed back towards home. As far as I know, Ace was our last new baby of the year, but you never know what 2011 will hold!