Grossman family west

san francisco


October 19th, 2014 by joel

We are a week shy of Ayla’s SIX month birthday and, indeed, just getting around to posting her five month photoshoot. However, good things come to those who wait and—for the first time ever—Ayla’s Photoshoot album features a SPECIAL GUEST! Cousin #charleymorgan (whose legal name may actually include the hashtag, as far as we can tell!) visited us from Seattle. We’re pleased to feature her in our Five Month Photoshoot, now in the Photo Gallery.

Thrilled to share pixels with special guest star, #charleymorgan!


October 2nd, 2014 by joel

This question riddled the best minds at GFW all day afternoon Wednesday as Avi lost his first tooth, midday, while he was eating an apple (for the express purpose of facilitating the expulsion of his loose tooth). All we found was a spot of blood on the apple–the tooth was never seen again! (you can click on the pictures to get a bigger version)

After mommy assured Avi that no harm would come from accidentally swallowing his tooth (“it will just come out when you go to the bathroom”, mommy offered. “I sure hope it doesn’t come out of my penis!” Avi responded), the discussion began about whether the Tooth Fairy would still come. Avi decided to write the Tooth Fairy a letter (complete with illustration), explaining the predicament:

Avi’s note to the Tooth Fairy

Sure enough, it worked! The Tooth Fairy came! She wrote notes to BOTH Avi and Ezra (in tiny writing, because tooth fairies are tiny), grabbed something to drink, went to the bathroom before her long flight back, and sprinkled fairy dust in various places (including in the envelopes–she sort of made a mess). She also left Avi a toothbrush, some floss, and a $2 bill. Her notes:

Note to Avi

Note to Ezra

We posted a video of Avi taking you on a tour of what he found, now in the Photo Gallery.

Congrats, Avi! One down, 19 to go!


September 14th, 2014 by joel

17 pictures, zero wardrobe changes.

At four months old, “drool” is a look.


September 13th, 2014 by joel

Tired of referring to her as “the new kid with the cheeks” or addressing her as “hey, you with the pacifier”, we decided to invite family and friends over to our house to give Ayla her name. What name did we pick for her?? Ayla! Huge surprise, we know.

On a more serious note, we were honored to feel the love of so many who gathered at our home (from near and far!) for the ceremony in which we named Ayla Rose “אֵילַה וֶרֶד” (the second word, pronounced “Vered”, is the word “rose” in Hebrew). You can see why we picked “Ayla Rose” on the About page. Pictures of Ayla’s Naming Ceremony are now posted to the photo gallery.

We shall henceforth call her “Ayla!”


August 26th, 2014 by joel

He’s halfway to double-digits (in age) and he came correct with the sparkling-new Spider Man high tops. Avi is ready for the Big Time.

Avi's First Day of Kindergarten

These people are crazy, I hope that they don’t embarrass me at school!


August 3rd, 2014 by joel

Hey, you! Come check out some cute pictures from my third month of life, now in the photo gallery!

That’s right, I’m three months old—and THESE AIN’T SUSPENDERS!


July 5th, 2014 by joel

We did what we do: took some pictures of Ayla as she turned two months old. To reward your commitment, we’ve even hidden a picture of grandpa in at the end.. See the entire photoshoot in the photo gallery!

Ayla is Two months old!

Ayla is Two months old!


June 9th, 2014 by joel

Ayla is well into her second month of life and you may have been concerned that we forgot about the monthly photoshoots that are a GFW tradition… FEAR NOT! After a “Beta” that we did in week two, Ayla sat for her One Month Photoshoot, silly label and all. She even recruited her brothers for a few shots. You can see the result in the Photo Gallery.

It’s Ayla’s first monthly photoshoot, so she got some help from a couple of pros.


May 11th, 2014 by joel

It was an exciting week for Ayla: she’s eating well, gaining weight, meeting people and, much to her delight, she has a new cousin! Ayla welcomed cousin Jared, who couldn’t wait to get out once he heard that Ayla was born.

Of course, being two weeks old, Ayla has also had her fair share of GFW Photoshoots, mandatory for every GFW New Arrival (for roughly the next year). We’ve whittled down lots of camera time to a mere sixty two photos capturing Ayla’s first two full weeks, now posted in the Photo Gallery.

Ayla Photoshoot in her First Two Weeks

This is what I think of Photoshoots, so far…


April 24th, 2014 by joel

Early Thursday morning, our long-awaited Baby Girl Grossman arrived! Her name is Ayla Rose Grossman and both she and mom did a fantastic job (we’d expect no less). For the time-keepers out there, it was about 11 PM on Wednesday night that Holly realized that the baby may be arriving… we were at the hospital at 12:30 AM, and Ayla arrived at 3:21 AM.

Avi and Ezra were extremely excited and met her later that afternoon, as did some local friends. Ayla now graces the front page at: www.GrossmanFamilyWest.com and pictures, of course, are in the Photo Gallery.

Welcome Ayla Rose

And then there were FIVE!