Allie's Baby Naming

We welcomed family and friends to our house in order to welcome Allie into our lives, our family, her Judaism and into our wonderful community of friends here in Austin.


Mimi, Auntie Rachel and Allie have some quiet time before the ceremony begins.
Godparents, Philip and Brenna Vivier bring Allie down to the ceremony. We couldn't be more thrilled with our choice! My dad led us all through the ceremony and served as part-Rabbi and part-caterer. Dorothy gives the first of the seven blessings given by seven women to whom Allie will look for guidance and inspiration. Stan talks about his mother for whom Allie's Hebrew name was inspired. We chose Allie's Hebrew name, Talia, because we both liked the name and meaning. Talia means dew from Heaven.
Jake the Builder was in and out of the ceremony and had the best time playing with his friends!

Four generations of Sacks women. It is so very special for Allie to have her great-grandmother here to celebrate!
Many thanks to our friend Shannan for being our photographer for the event. A few more pics from the day.

Jake is 4!

November 17 will always be one of my most favorite days! I can't believe that it has been four years since I became a mom and Alex and I were blessed with this wonderful boy!

4 years later...

Jake had his birthday party on November 5 with his good friend Jackie who is also a November baby. I may have over compensated a bit but I really wanted to make sure that Allie's naming and the family coming for Thanksgiving didn't over shadow his birthday. In the end all it did was set-up a 3-month Jake present-fest between big brother gifts, birthday presents and now 8 more nights of Hanukkah coming up.

The birthday boy and girl!

We held it at a great park (one of the great things about living in Austin - a November b-day party outside) and the kids loved running around and exploring it. Despite the great playground, the kids loved exploring the park and the big ditch was of course where they all wanted to play. It was also really nice getting to chat with the parents in an environment that wasn't drop-off or pick-up.

Of course the kids couldn't wait for cake but thanks to some trick candles they had to wait just a little longer. Jake and Jackie loved it.


Of course he got so many wonderful gifts and our friends are all very generous. In addition to all the thoughtful gifts Jake has been getting for being such a great big brother all the birthday gifts have totally overwhelmed me on the toy front. Beyond making room in the playroom, I want Jake to know just how lucky he is and to be very appreciative of all that he has. So we're going to start donating some of our older, less played with toys to charity.
On Jake's actual birthday we had a special birthday breakfast and he celebrated with his friends at school. He got to bring his favorite book to school (a birthday book Mimi sent him called, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie") and they made muffins for his birthday.


Before going out to dinner, we had present time. Even though Alex and I got him a very cool kid friendly camera, Jake was most taken with Bubba's gift - A construction hard hat that Jake LOVES! He even wore it out to dinner.

Also arriving on Jake's birthday was a big box from godmommy Libby. In addition to other stuff, this make your own Muppet toy is adorable.

Jake, you are my sweet, funny, handsome, loving boy! I love all the ways in which you've changed our lives for the better and love you with all my heart!

End of October and gearing up for a busy November!

For obvious reasons October was a fantastic month thanks to the arrival of Miss Allie.

Jake has been great with Allie but it is important to us that he also have special time with both mommy and daddy. So Jake and Daddy headed out to the pumpkin patch with Alex's friend Brian and his daughter Lilly. Lilly is the older woman in Jake's life, she just turned 5!

Brian and Lilly came to meet Allie first before heading out to Marble Falls.



It was a nice treat for me as well to have a quiet afternoon, and being the doll that she is, Allie slept through most of it!

After my last post we had a visit from Auntie Rachel and Uncle Warren. Rachel came in for a few days before Warren joined us. It was great to have a few extra days with my sister. Rachel can give Allie some good tips about being a little sister.

It is also wonderful to have a very generous sister who works for Gap and gets a discount. Auntie Rachel and I went on a nice shopping spree for Jake and Allie. The owls were one of the little fashionista's new items.
Rachel and I went to Shabbat at Jake's school. It also happened to be PJ day as well. Later in the day the Whales had a pajama party with the Bunny class.

Love, love, love our own pajama parties at home. Love having all four of us snuggled up in bed in the morning. Thankfully we're all sleeping in our own beds but come together in the morning for some special cuddle time.

Saturday was a huge day with the most important Georgia game of the season, Georgia vs. Florida! Jake and Allie were dressed and ready to root for the Dawgs! After a little touring around Austin we headed down to meet Alex at the Dawgs bar, the Tavern. It was fun to be with the fans, to introduce Allie to the Austin Dawgs and to watch the Dawgs beat the Gators!

It's a good thing we all like red!

Since being with Alex, the Dawgs have only beaten Florida three times -2004 when we got married, 2007 when Jake was born and now in 2011 with Allie's birth. Someone needs to tell the coach that he's going to need to learn how to beat them without us celebrating a major life changing event and/or having a baby.

After we took Warren and Rachel to the airport, Allie and I tried out baby yoga. While it was super cute to have her there, she spent most of the time nursing or wanting to be held. She may have to wait until she can do down-dog on her own and I'll stick with my normal classes.

Jake was set on being Simba from the Lion King from the start! Allie's costume was a little more last minute so we decided to stay in the jungle cat family.





Above our first picture as a family of four! Bubba arrived just in time to take the picture and to join us for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. He's in Bubba heaven!
Bubba is in town for the month of November to help out and spend time with Jake and Allie. I think he (and we) are pretty happy about it.

I'm trying make the most of my time off and do things that working full-time gets in the way of. So Bubba, Allie and I tagged along on Jake's field trip to a garden store here called The Natural Gardner.




These pictures were taken a few weeks ago but I had to show off the adorable blanket that our family friend Marylyn made for Allie. What a difference a few weeks make, she looks so different now.
And finally, Allie turned 1 month on November 1st. We're continuing the monthly pictures like we did with Jake.