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"Griffin"

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We had a fabulous weekend in D.C. I think Griffin thought the airplane ride was the purpose of the trip. It definitely was one of the highlights for him. He was a rock star as usual and traveled with barely a complaint.

Once we got to DC, we went back to our old neighborhood to take a look around and eat our favorite pizza. After that, we spent the afternoon at the zoo. It was day of high highs and low lows. Griffin loved EVERY animal. The zebras were the most amazing thing he'd ever seen, the panda bear was enthralling, the monkeys unbelievable. Unfortunately, every time we moved on to the next animal he burst into tears. We only got him away from the orangutan by promising one of his own - who he named Bubba. :)

We stayed with our dear friends Jackie and Joe and their beautiful daughters Noa and Eliana. Noa and Griffin are only about 3 weeks apart in age and got along swimmingly ... unless Noa wanted to eat some of the little plastic cake in her tea set, then shit hit the fan.

On Sunday, we went to brunch with a group of friends and then spent the afternoon on the Mall. The weather was beautiful and Griffin was a big fan of the dinosaur bones in the Smithsonian.

Overall, we had an amazing time and were sad to leave all our wonderful friends.

CHOO CHOO RAIIIINNNNNNN!!!!!

This weekend we went to the ... (read the hat)

The museum had just reopened after renovations and was packed with excited train-obsessed children. One in particular seemed to enjoy himself immensely - from seeing Thomas the Tank Engine in motion to

an entire room full of model trains to

the ACTUAL little train they had for the grand opening, which we rode around downtown Paducah. He was in seventh heaven until...

he realized the ride was over and we were going home. :(

Pajamas

"How awesome are my new pajamas!?!?!"

Baby Amos

Meet Baby Amos. We had our big 26 week ultrasound on Thursday (even though I was only 25 weeks) and everything looked perfect. He played along beautifully and Cathy was able to see everything she needed to see. She said he had a forehead like Griffin's and big cheeks. So, I'm thinking we might be headed towards Griffin version 2.0, which is just fine by me. I was completely enamored by him and can't wait to see him in person sometime in June. :)

A Special Birthday Message

One of our favorite people on the plant turns the big 0-2 today. Apparently, my giant face singing happy birthday last year was seen as frightening by some so this year we picked a cuter ambassador to send our best Mr. Kratzsch's way. ;)

Toy Storage?

Griffin dragged all these tubs into the den and proceeded to sit in each and everyone.

This is what was left in his wake.

Having It All

A subject near and dear to my heart.

Griffin's Big Boy Room

With the approaching arrival of baby #2, we thought it was time to start transitioning Griffin's room from a nursery to a big boy room. We're not all the way there yet because he's still in his crib (and will remain there until he crawls out) and so we still need the rocker for bedtime stories. However, his toys were threatening to takeover without any real storage so we put more of the emphasis on play in his room and less on infant care.

First, here is what is used to look like.

Due to a slight mis-measurement on my part, the toy storage couldn't go on this wall as I had planned. Instead we moved his crib to where the rocker used to be. The table and chairs were moved to the center of the room.

I added this little display to the wall where his diaper changing table used to be.

The real focus of the room is now the awesome toy storage system. It's the Trofast System from Ikea and I absolutely love it. I also added hanging storage in the corner for his stuffed animals

I'm really happy with the results, although the best part was watching Griffin's eyes light up when he came in the room for the first time. I think he really enjoys being able to sit at his table and get to all his toys.

A love letter to Oprah

In case y'all didn't know I'm SORT OF an Oprah fan.

Griffin's First Snowman

He may have had a little help from us. And yes, that is an actual corn cob pipe. Don't ask.

How to make snow cream

Over on Salt & Nectar.

Impromptu Super Bowl Party!

On Saturday, Nicholas and I decided we didn't want to watch the Super Bowl alone. A few short text messages later and VOILA! we had ourselves a party.

Our friends the Chesnuts and Hilz came over for food and football. We had a small team conflict among the children (the parents had nothing to do with it I swear) but Griffin and Charlotte seemed to be able to work out their differences.

Fun was had by all, particularly those rooting for the winning team. ;)

New post!

My take on unsolicited parenting advice over on Salt & Nectar.

Den Makeover!

Last week, I had to go to Covington, KY, for The New Lawyers Program. It's a required Continuing Legal Education conference for anyone who has recently passed the Bar. What is the best part about The New Lawyers Program? It was near Ikea!!!

I've been planning to makeover our den for awhile. First, we need a new couch. We've had our blue microfiber couch for almost six years and it has been fantastic. It's completely indestructible and very comfortable. However, it was starting to show its age and we needed something with more seating. Second, we are in the process of transforming our guest bedroom/office into a nursery and I needed a place for our computer desk. I loved the idea of having a place for all our laptops and cords in such a central location so my goal was to get the desk in the den. Of course, Ikea had a solution to all these problems! ;)

First, the before pictures.

Now, for the big reveal!!!

The centerpiece is our new beautiful section, which I LOVE. It is so comfortable and feels so sturdy. It's all slipcovered so we can remove and clean all of it. Not to mention, we have twice the seating we used to. You can just barely see the computer desk behind it but it fits perfect and I love having my laptop there and all the cords out of the way.

I also feel like we are really optimizing our space. The area in front of the fire place used to stay pretty empty. We have now moved the leather club chair - not to mention got rid of the awful sliding blinds - and it is such a lovely corner of the room now!

I really am so so pleased with the results and Nicholas can't stop praising "my vision." Of course, none of it would have been possible without Ikea! ;)

Vegans

Me and Kathy Freston don't get a long. New post on Salt & Nectar!

Exciting News!

My dear friend Sarah Pahnke Reisert and I are launching a new blog! We'll be posting about parenthood, fashion, crafts, pop culture and all the other subjects dear to our hearts. Go check it out!

Salt & Nectar

Play Kitchen

Let's deal with the formalities first. No, you may not have Ron. Sorry.

Ok, now with that out of the way. Ron finished Griffin's play kitchen and it's so adorable!

Inspired by this post, Ron built this amazing play kitchen for Griffin's Christmas present. He took to it immediately, particularly after Daddy showed him how to saute his vegetables. He was also a big fan of the rolling pin. Most of the accessories came from Ikea, including the amazing little stainless steel pots. Hopefully, this will inspire a life long love of food and cooking.

His future spouse can thank me later. :)

Halfway There!

Over halfway there punks!!!

This pregnancy is going SO fast. I anticipated it would but the speed is taking my breath away. I've received a couple of requests for belly pics, so here you go.

I actually am taking them every week like I did with Griffin. I'm sort of hyper-paranoid about doing for this baby what I did for Griffin. I'm not journaling regularly like I did the first time but that was more about dealing with being pregnant than something I was doing for the baby. Otherwise, I'm taking belly pics, doing the same pregnancy yoga DVDs, and trying to eat healthy. I also plan to do the picture a day for the first year of his life - this time with less creepy baby monitor shots at the end of the night because I forgot. :)

The second trimester is going swimmingly. I really think it's the best part of being pregnant. You have a cute belly. No one is making ridiculously rude comments about how big you are yet. You feel great. You start feeling the baby move regularly. Speaking of! I don't know they say you feel your second baby move more but holy cow. He actually woke me up the other night because he kicked my stomach so hard it moved my arm. I'm choosing to believe the second baby theory and not that this baby just might be more active than Griffin.

I think of how this baby will be compared to Griffin a lot. The first time you have no clue what your baby's temperament will be and it really doesn't matter since you have no experience either way. But this time I spend a lot of time worrying this child will be difficult or colicky or just plain old bad because I know what I would be missing. Griffin is SO good. What if I've used up all my good baby cards?!?

I guess doesn't much matter at this point. Plus, I could win the baby lottery in other ways. I mean this baby could be RED-HEADED. Think about that! ;)

Tunisia

This is Nicholas and I in front of the beautiful city of Tunis, Tunisia, in 2008.

This is what the streets of Tunis look like now.

It has been very difficult to watch this all develop. In some ways, I am very happy for the people of Tunisia. There are so many rights as Americans that we take for granted, the most important of which is the basic right to participate in our government. Every citizen of Tunisia deserves that same right. They are a wonderful people with a magnificent country - not to mention, an important beacon of light in a very complicated part of the world.

At the same time, change comes at a cost. So many have already lost their lives and it is probably unrealistic to thing no one else will. The country will be in a state of upheaval and with upheaval always comes tough times and sacrifice.

I don't know what will happen in Tunisia but the one thing I do know is I am so grateful I visited there. It is all to easy as a citizen of America to forget that we are also citizens of the world. However, when you have traveled to place, when you have walked the streets that are now ablaze, news stories stop being just news stories and start being real. I feel invested in the people of Tunisia because I've walked among them.