Congratulations, Nick and Rose!

Remember this post?

Well, rather prophetic, as the glorious couple just gave birth to the beautiful Countess Jocelyn Pearl Leibee, born this morning at 6:28 am weighing 6 pounds 9 1/2 ounces and measuring a perfect 19 3/4 inches.

And Rose is already home. Love you, Rose, but you're nuts! God bless your strength!

Love to you all!!!!!!!!!

Last weekend

So I've been going crazy w/my Style Times Two posts but neglecting my main blog. To catch up, here are some highlights from last weekend.

Brant and I took Claire to Children's Day at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton. I've blogged many times about Brookside Gardens and I continue to praise it, because it's a beautiful place and always has something going on. Laura and I took the girls last year to the butterfly exhibit (nevermind the heat and how we spent most of the day sitting under a tree).

So last Saturday was a magnificent, perfect day. Children's Day was bustling with families, and Claire got to enjoy some of the activities and just being outside among the beautiful surroundings.


Sunday we decided to go down to the DC Zoo. Another beautiful day, perfect for outdoor activities. The zoo was understandably busy, and Claire was a little out of it (no naps either weekend day...eek), but she enjoyed it. I'd like to go again on a weekday, although I'm not sure if it would be significantly less busy. We stopped at Starbucks on the way back and sat outside to enjoy people watching and the sunshine.

Claire eating her apple and brie, sitting on Daddy's lap...



The whole weekend cost us six bucks...that was the subway ride to the zoo. Can't beat that!

Looking forward to some things coming up at the library branches and I'm evaluating a few different hay ride/corn maze places for our next family weekend, weather permitting. Before you know it, the festival of birthdays will be upon us! (Chase-->Claire-->Minhae)

OK, it's past 10 pm, and this cowgirl needs to call it a night!

Scenes from the weekend...

Hey...



There's my...



DADDY!!!




Going through the log tunnel...



And out I come!!



And I crown thee, Queen Claire of the Wild Flowers...

Style Times Two now open for business

Hi All...

My new blog is available for viewing here.

Problem Solved

OK, so I'm now back to blogging in the discomfort of my lovely apartment. That's the good news. Temporary bad news is...I'm too dang tired now to blog. Will return in the next day or so to begin anew. And now, while my head still spins in a sleepy euphoria induced by the House season premiere, I am off to bed!

Tough Cookies

I'm getting ticked at whatever is preventing me from blogging at home; as I stated before, the site keeps saying I need to enable cookies and javascript, both of which are totally enabled and work everywhere else. I'm going to contact someone at the help desk to hopefully get it resolved.

I've decided to start another blog in addition to this one. My new blog will deal entirely with fashion, my second love. Stuff I like in general, things for me, things for Claire, things I saw on the street that moved me, things I see in public that are horrific...you get the gyst.

This new blog, like this current one, doesn't require an audience. I do it as an outlet for me, and whoever wants to stop along the way is welcome to. So feel free to drop by, but no obligation if that isn't your thing! So hopefully blog #2 will be up and running soon. And stay tuned for pictures from our lovely family weekend (could the weather have been any more beautiful?) down in metro DC-land. Until then!

Spirited

Could you ever believe such a beautiful, sweet soul as this little girl, playing in the sand on a beautiful sunny Sunday, oblivious to the chaos of the world around her, would warrant her weary mother to purchase this from amazon.com?



God bless her wild heart :-)

Good morning, Moon!

This is just to let you all know that my child decided that bedtime was officially over at 3:24 this morning. There was no rocking, cry-it-out, or bribe on this earth that could get that child back to sleep. So there we were, sitting in the dark from 3 to 6 watching Elmo's World and the little insomniac begging for "goo-gees"...cookies. I threw her an animal cracker and flopped on the couch.

Fast forward four hours later...I dropped her off at daycare and wished them good luck! If anyone needs me, I'll be sleeping under my desk.

The Two-and-a-Half-Foot Terror

I haven't been able to post lately because for some reason, the new-to-me-but-old computer I generously received from a friend of my sister-in-law's keeps telling me I need to enable active scripting and won't allow me on the blogger site. Trouble is, active scripting IS enabled and so are cookies. So the mystery continues.

Anyhoo, a short byte before I plunge into my workday.

The terrible two's are in full swing. Claire let's just say strongly objects to being put into her car seat now. This morning while trying to get her buckled in, she was thrashing and all of the sudden kicked me right in the head. I was so stunned I couldn't even scold her. I just stood there. In the next minute as I continued trying to buckle in this squirmy, kicking beast, she sunk her teeth into my arm. Excuse me, is my child destined for juvey? I already bought the "Hands Are Not for Hitting" book. Now I guess I must invest in the "Teeth Are Not for Biting" and "Feet Are Not for Kicking" volumes.

Honestly, I really have no clue how to discipline or teach her right. I thought I did, but nothing seems to be working. My sister-in-law also lent me about six books on parenting, including one on raising a "spirited" child. I think I better crack the books.

Nanny 911 is on speed dial.

A Dangerous Liaison

Au Bon Pain is located way, WAY too close to my office. Sigh.

They have a soup today called Harvest Pumpkin. I already feel the gravitational pull forcing me toward South Street.

At least there's no DSW close by.