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...

Arggg

Madeline picked up her dance moves watching the marionettes in the Nutcracker at the Puppet co here in DC, i think- check her out!

frosty

"translation"
Frosty the snowman was as happy as the snow
With a corncob button nose
And two eyes made out of coal.

Sings it all day and all night- her version, but (or perhaps because) we love it!

our two year old

Has decided that at night she shall sleep on the floor.
We were trying to get her to sleep in her bed (uhm like normal people) and all of a sudden, a few days ago, the only solution was "you either have to go in your room and go to sleep in your bed or you can play quietly on the floor if you want". At which point she went in, pulled her blankets down and slept on the floor. Since then, every night she has opted for floor.

uhm ok. maybe its just her way of having control? ..."I dont get to choose when i go to sleep but i can choose where"...
And no- she is not afraid or uncomfortable bc she has been napping in her bed- in fact better than ever!

anyway, thought I'd share. any thoughts?

meanwhile... snow continues here, and ice. And these people dont know how to deal with it! They keep closing school and issuing warnings- its so silly! So here is a snapshot of madeline and eliana playing in the snow in our yard.

Baby its cold outside

Apparently I've been singing too much Loesser bc Madeline bust out with her own version of the song today!

We had our one big snowstorm for the season it seems- according to the neighbors, But i hope there is more. We loved being out there listening to the quiet tapping of the flakes falling on the grass and later, getting all bundled into snowgear and having a real snowball fight with the kids on our block!

We love Inaugural Weekend in DC

Just wanted to tell you we had a fabulous time at the pajama ball tonight. We bumped into only a few celebs bc we had to cut out early (Madeline was still not asleep at 10pm so we had to relieve the babysitter). We chatted with Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and bumped elbows with Mad Man Salvatore Romano himself- Both in their jammies too. There were lots of folks decked out in their Ojamas and of course we chatted it up with their creator, Ron Levi, about how they need to create a line for toddlers and infants. We can't wait to buy a pair and be a part of the buzz! Course as im sure you already know, the food was the highlight for us so here we are pigging out at the Ronald Reagan Pavillion ballroom YAY

mmmm

No joke

We are going to the Obama Pajama Party tonight at the Ronald Reagan Building at 8pm tonight- No Joke!
here's the link!

We figure, we arent ballgown people but we love wearing our jammies. And getting to brush elbows with LL Cool J and Marky Mark in their hugh hefner pajamas all in honor of Barak- uhm yeah, okay

pics to follow

To my beautiful wife...

3 Years ago today, we stood on Mt. Tamalpais in San Francisco and stated our vows of love to one another. In 3 years, we have had many great experiences with one another, and struggled through many challenges together. I love you more every day and will do so for the rest of my life.

Happy anniversary my love.

Our vows from 01/17/06:

Ashia – I love you with all my heart. You inspire in me, a side that I have never seen or expected. There is no one else I would like to take this adventure with. You stire in me a passion and excitement for life. I love the way you inspire me and make me feel supported. This is the beginning of the rest of my life with you, as my wife, my partner, I love you. Today I pledge to you:

To be supportive of your goals and desires

To be your strength in times of sorrow

To grow with you as one

To continually remind you of your importance in my life

To be patient and kind to you when you need me most

To be honest and trustworthy

Today I give myself to you as your husband and ask you to be my wife

Don – I love you, and there is nothing more valuable to me in this world than the love you give. The day we met, our connection surprised us both. It was exciting and terrifying and an answer to my prayers. Today I pledge to you with every part of my heart:

To trust you

To give to you generously

To celebrate your life’s accomplishments

To shelter you and protect you when you are scard or you are overwhelmed

To dream great dreams with you

To walk beside you in good times and hard times

On this day, I give myself to you as your faithful wife and ask you to be my husband from now to eternity

Blackberry Jam

Yumm...

Our friends Karl & Julia sent us a can of their homemade blackberry jam for our anniversary. They grow roses and makes jam as some of their many wonderful hobbies. They are all wonderful and many of them place 1st or 2nd in the California State Fair.

Thanks Karl & Julia for the excellent treat! Best wishes to you both

warning

Just a heads up;
i had a computer fatality today and will probably not post for a bit so no hate mail please! don is hard at work with his geek pride on the line to have his wife's hard drive recovered quickly. :)

What do they say?...marry a plumber and your house will forever have leaky pipes?

xoxo

curly q

madeline might just be ready for her first haircut now
what do you say?