being silly

Madeline decided she wanted to dress up from all the clothes in the hamper- and here is the result.





hanging in her baby brother's room.





By the way, Don's parents are moving in tonight! So we hope that means I will decide to have this baby soon- now that there is someone on-call to watch madeline... 11 days till he is actually due. lets see!

love it

http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/

check out the new No Cry Sleep solution Lady's new book about naps.

*ashia*

Belly Pics- maybe the last?

So, i figured its been a while and you might want to see what this big ol belly looks like... Not easy to get it all in the shot though, and no clothing seems long or stretchy enough to cover the girth of this baby boy!

Check out the belly button!

Pay no attention to the chubby mommy face- i fully anticipate losing it by summer :)

The Circus McGurkus

Okay... so it was Ringling Bros, and not the Circus McGurkus... but still, a big show with acrobats and clows, right?
We went today to see a preview show at the Strathmore Music Center a few miles from our house and had a wonderful time!
Here is Madeline in her carseat (having been moved to the other side of the car to make room for the infant seat next door)


Madeline seems to like crowds and sitting in the audience, and once she got over the intense, debilitating fear she had from the first clown act, she loved the show. Of course we sat directly in the front row, center where it was loud and the clown even came down and had Don help his routine... so maybe it was a little too much at first.

Madeline even got in on the act- here she is- her stage debut. She takes after her daddy :)



xoxo

MMMMM

MMM I love Sibby's Day. I mean, uh, Valentine's Day.
Don came back from his business trip to San Francisco and had special ordered my favorite cupcakes in the world...Sibby's . And well... its 8:41 and we are about to polish off the entire Dozen. It all began at 7am. cupcakes in bed. perfection.

That is, after a rich dinner of Shrimp, pancetta, mushrooms and peas Fetuccine Alfredo with a side of bread, cheese and olives... and a tiny bit of wine if we are being truthful here. I had to make Don something special for dinner since he went to all that trouble. But i think we gobbled it so quickly there was no time for a pic. Yum.
So glad to have my husband home!
Thank you, Don.
xoxo

Princess Party

Okay, so you all know how we feel about the princess thing...
We have worked hard not to promote the idea of princesses, their value or that they should be something in which she takes an interest. I don't think she really gets it, in fact, since she doesnt watch movies and doesnt know the stories or what makes them so 'special'- except that adults in her life keep telling her how pretty and special they are.
That doesnt mean we have objected to her friends getting sucked into the vortex- for surely they have. And we dont, of course, boycott their birthday parties or deny Madeline the chance to play at princess-ing when gifts are given, though we won't buy them ourselves and of course, ask that her gifts be more gender neutral. But we have even attended a couple now- Aptly named "princess parties".

And madeline has been given a few princess dresses that she has added to her arsenal of dress-up clothes. (Of course mommy had already stocked us up with fairy dresses-but come on Fairies are magical woodland creatures that fly! Not to be mistaken for princesses, if you ask me!)
Well- She is not immune... but we just dont want her growing up to think that her value is in her beauty or her clothes, shoes, hair and makeup, that one day a little prince will come and save the day.

Anyway,
today was one such Princess party. And this one took the cake- Even the birthday girl's mommy was all decked out in full princess regalia :)

Well, i am more than proud to tell you that this morning when it came time to pick out a dressup costume for the party, Madeline chose a dragon costume! Had she not worn it all morning and grown tired of the thing before party hour, she would have shown up breathing fire on all the dainty little princesses.


She opted for a fairy dress, loved the cupcakes at the party, as well as running around and dancing



... but frankly i dont think she was convinced by the princess crown, necklace, earrings, rings, and all the hooplah about being called Princess Madeline. Oh- and she had her first (and i hope last for a while), lollipop. Why do birthday parties always seem like a scary diabetic coma waiting to happen?

really. it was all about the cupcakes. {she gets that from mom and dad}
And for me. that is a small victory.

Isnt that what going to a birthday party is all about? Stuffing your face and running around until you throw up? Well- I know it always was for me... and still is if we are being honest.

Happy Valentine's Day

We give "love" by knocking fists together. and we say "love". So i told Miss Madeline to say cheese and she said "mommy give me some love please". Hence the fist to the camera pic.



Madeline got all dressed up for her Valentine's day party at school today.
She made valentines with glue and glitter, stickers and scissors and all sorts of neat things with me yesterday and was excited to give them out.
Here she is.

imaginative play

test

just testing out a new posting strategy.
here's m and dimitri taking their cousin bath last week and tonight, m peeking in on her doll family before bedtime, more to come...
xoxo

feb09

looks like a must see

this looks like a must see documentary about dads' roles in hospital deliveries. And really about how the medical model does a good job of disempowering the family in hospital births. thought i'd send it out there into cyber space and get them as much attn as they deserve for this important film. watch at your discretion. nothing rated r but hits a few emotional buttons for many...