Me!

I know I'm never in my own pictures. :( So here's one of me and the t-shirt I had made (in 15 seconds!) today, because I was so focused on packing green for Jon and the boys, that I forgot something for myself! ;-)

Happy Birthday to me!

It was my birthday yesterday, but I don't yet feel a year older.

I bet I feel a year older when this kid decides to pop out though. ;-)

On Tuesday, a friend of mine at work took me out to lunch for my birthday (thanks Amanda!) and knowing how much I love good food, and cheeses in particular, she introduced me to this cool little European open air market, called Milk Pail, near our work.

I was immediately stuffing delicious fruit, nuts, fresh bread and cheese! OMG. THE. CHEESE. in my basket. It reminded me of my days in Italy when I was a poor starving student and survived on virtually nothing but bread, water and cheese the entire time.

So yesterday, when my dad called to wish me a happy birthday, I told him he and my mom would need to stop by for dinner that night to have a little impromptu Euro dinner with us. Always looking for an opportunity to try out new cheeses himself, he gladly accepted the invite.

I left work early to pick up Logan so we could get home and start getting the meal ready. I coaxed him away from school by telling him that Zabuton and Zafu were going to be visiting us at home. While I sliced and prepped in the kitchen, Logan propped himself up at the front window, on the lookout for his grandparents.


Here's our lovely spread. I thought of my friend Chelsea when taking this pic because she always posts pics of what she is eating each day - she likes to call it food porn. Isn't it though? :)


Logan snuck several nibbles of cheese, chowed down on some grapes and apples, and loved the cashews (but spit out the almonds). His refined little palate also got away with too-many-to-count fig newtons.

Notice Odin waiting for any scraps that might fall his way!

After dinner, we put Logan to bed and then visited for a bit before calling it a night. Here's some silly Mommy/Logan time captured on camera before saying good night.


What a wonderful ending to a great day - hope everyone had a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A mischievous little leprechaun smirk!

Éireann go Brách!

Leprechaun, leprechaun, fly across the sea
And fetch an emerald shamrock for you and me.

Do not bring a nettle or a thistle for a joke,
But bring an Irish shamrock, for we are Irish folk.

And you and I, my leprechaun, will wear the shamrock gay,
And match it with an Irish smile upon St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day My Little Leprechaun!

As many of you may or may not know, today is my birthday, so I decided to do nothing but lounge around in bed with Logan and watch the Sopranos all day long (I haven't finished the last season yet so don't spoil it!) :) During the first episode I popped in, I was finally getting Logan to fall asleep when a scene comes on where Tony and Bobby, are checking out Bobby's present to Tony for his birthday -- a new semi-automatic rifle (touching, isn't it?). They decide to try it out and boy if Logan didn't startle and get SCARED. He didn't cry, he didn't smile or giggle, he didn't even pout his lips and get mad. His eyes got bigger than I've ever seen before, and he stared at me for a few seconds trying to read me, with a seriously genuine scared look on his face! I realize he doesn't yet know what the sound was, to associate fear with it, and most likely it was me that flinched and he was just reacting to that, but it was interesting nonetheless. It's a good reminder for me -- not only to be careful what emotions I show since he was most likely looking to me to decide how to react to the gun noise. But also perhaps, to dial back on the Sopranos while nursing my newborn son. ;-)

We've had a few other "firsts" in his development that I thought I'd take a moment to report. Today, he noticed himself in the mirror (in the past he just looks away and doesn't pay attention to what's in the mirror) which was a fascinating game for him and mommy. He's also starting to blow a few bubbles which is pretty funny. He's staying on his stomach for longer periods of time, is SUPER talkative in the mornings and is even pulling forward to sit up!

We also tried out our soft baby carrier for the first time last night, which he wasn't too happy about. It lasted a good, oh, 30 seconds ;-) But he was also in a bad mood....so I put him in it again today and we lasted about 10 min. before he got tired of it and wanted out. I'm going to keep putting him in it for longer periods of time each day to get him used to it since I know it'll come in handy down the road when we start traveling more (or even to just have my hands free as I do chores!)

We had a nice dinner out at a local Thai restaurant with my family tonight to celebrate my birthday. Four generations at the table -- Logan, me and Jon, Zane and Claudia, my parents and my grandparents. Wow!
(Click on our Little Leprechaun to see more pics from tonight's dinner)

Éireann go Brách!