Baltimore Trip

Posted on May 29, 2012 by lauren

I am happy to say that I finally made the trip out to Baltimore to visit my bestest buddy in the world, Mary, and her lovely wonderful fantastic family. I had planned to go last year while I was pregnant with Emil, but I got very sick the weekend before I was supposed to go and so it was postponed. I would have been traveling with a very small belly full of Baby Emil, but this time I traveled with a very real, very mobile, very active (and very happy) 9-month-old Baby Emil.

“Crawl this way, Emil!”

Mary lives in this storybook place just north of Baltimore and honestly, I had no idea just how beautiful and magical this place was until I stayed there for three days. Before, when we lived in Baltimore, my visits to Mary’s house consisted of play dates and birthday parties and Halloween parties and the occasional hike in the woods (Loch Raven Reservoir is literally in her back yard!), but we never drove around and had the time to explore the windy hilly roads and cabins and cottages tucked into the belly of this beautiful place. But this time, with time to kill, stories to tell, and secrets to reveal while trying to get a cranky Emil to take a nap in the car, I was lucky enough to really see the place that Mary and her family call home. And their home is gorgeous, by the way. Every. Single. Detail.

And Ben, Milo’s very first friend, had grown tremendously since I last saw him at Thanksgiving. The sweetest, funniest, most thoughtful (and rivaling Milo with craziest) little boy who turns 5 next week (WOOT!) who loves babies and does NOT love pictures:

Showing me his strawberry plant

Ben invited Emil out to the trampoline so he could show him some of his best tricks:

… Followed by offering to help me bathe Emil (but swearing that he wasn’t going to get into the tub with Emil):

And Greta. Oh lordy this girl is just as plump and sweet as a strawberry, and reminds me of Oliver in so many ways:

Seriously, watch out. Because she could ask me for the moon and I would actually try to get it for her if she really wanted it. Sigh. But really, they’re all great. Jamie, Mary, Ben, Greta, even their sweet doggie Bella. Aside from making me feel welcome in their home, they cooked me amazing food, like this pizza that Jamie whipped up (with four eggs on top in little red onion circles- amazing!) and then Jamie took the kiddos to his parents’ house for two days so Mary and I (and Emil) could spend some quality time.

And quality time it was. I was completely spoiled when Mary dropped me off to get an hour-long massage (which was so relaxing I think I dozed off for part of it) while she took Emil. After that, we enjoyed lunch in the Inner Harbor and shopped around in our old stomping grounds (which have only become more amazing since we moved away 3 years ago).

Fells Point. Baltimore, MD

The Corduroy Button: quite possibly the cutest children’s store I have ever seen.

The Daily Grind: one of my regular coffee stops when Milo was a baby- great food, great people, and fantastic coffee & baked goods.

After lunch, we walked around Fells Point with a very sleepy Emil and enjoyed the boats and water and local accents.

But we did not enjoy the smell, thanks to a fish-killing algae that has recently taken its toll on the marine life in the Harbor:

Yes, it smelled as bad as this looks.

But actually, I know the smell of fish doesn’t bother me for some reason. Must be those Baltimore family roots (I was born there, after all).

The rest of that day was rough, as I barely kept a migraine at bay and nearly upchucked in Mary’s car before she dropped me off at her house to lie down for a while. And yet again, took a sleeping Emil for a drive so I could ~~go hug her toilet~~ hide my eyes under a blanket. Thank goodness I was able to recover quickly. Ugh. I hate migraines.

That night I put Emil down early and Mary and I ate all kinds of delicious goodies (including beets with goat cheese, a delicious lentil salad, arugula on toast with melted cheese, and lemon ice cream with raspberries for dessert!) in front of a movie while giggling and making dumb jokes. It was heaven.

On Sunday, Mary took me to Belvedere Square, a great market near Towson that boasts all kinds of local produce and goods:

Yes, the market was great- but isn’t her dress amazing?!

And timing it perfectly, we did a little shopping before taking a nice sunny walk at the reservoir before Emil and I had to be at the airport. Seriously. Mary timed it perfectly. To the minute!

And just like that, it was time to go home.

It was an incredible trip, and I miss my friend already. But no worries! We get to see each other in a month for our beach trip to Hatteras Island!

Hooray for Mary!!! Hooray for Jamie! Hooray and we love you!

And quite possibly the best part of this trip? Pulling up in front of our house to see two beaming little faces waiting up for me in their pajamas with glow sticks and a very tired (and tan) papa! Oh, and not only did Andrew wear those two out with activities like a train ride to Central West End and a long walk back through Forest Park and the zoo; a baseball game; a trip to the swimming pool; a bowling alley adventure, and trip to the newly-opened playground splash pad, but I walked inside to a completely spotless house and it turns out he also fixed the back hatch to the van AND cleaned it inside and out AND watered all the plants. I mean, seriously. Make me look bad at my own job, will you?

I am, without a doubt, the luckiest woman alive.

We’re Baaaaack…

Posted on July 26, 2010 by lauren

Okay. Bear with me.

I am sorry for the hiatus but am finally feeling underwhelmed enough to start this process up again, though it is still overwhelming to think of all I need to catch you up on. So, bear.

Over a month goes by, and so much has taken priority over blogging. Here, in a nutshell, is “so much:”

1. The nightmarish adventure of packing up our house, saying good-bye to friends and neighbors and favorite places (I kick myself now for not going through with the idea of doing an entire post about our favorite places in DC, complete with wacky pictures and stories. KICK! Ahhh!), and being in transit to St. Louis while our buyers’ loan fell through, and we were forced to put our house back on the market while Andrew was homeless and we (Milo, Oliver, Proudie, and I) wreaked havoc on Annie and Billy’s household for an untold quantity of days. I= emotional wreck.

2. The move-in, the unpacking, the screaming of children.

3. The painting. The painting. The painting.

4. The gardening. Not complete.

5. The VACATION!!! More to come on that one.

6. The re-settling.

Sooooo… things are going great! They really are. With all the stale factoids listed above come beautiful realities. Oliver learning to crawl at Gina-mom’s house, Milo having the [naked] time of his life with cousin Reina, relaxing at my mom’s house with her horse-of-a-dog lying on top of Milo to watch some much-needed TV, Milo learning what a wasp sting really feels like (okay, not beautiful. Just reality), cooking with Annie (but mainly just eating Annie’s cooking. yum), pond time at Janine and Dan’s, plane time with Michael-dad, the list goes on and on and you will unfortunately just have to use your imagination, as the movers had packed up my camera for this transient time. What else the movers packed… a whole bunch of empty boxes so they could get paid a little extra, but what the hell. Gotta do what you gotta do I guess.

But before we left…

Going-away party in DC c/o Chris and Tony

My Bestie. How I miss Miss Mary

More party- this time for Ben’s third birthday

Ice cubes and undies…

… and nudity. Of course!

And promises. From me. Promises to keep up with this blog. It is ever so important to me and I will do better.

Next up: Vacation in the Dominican Republic!

Opportunities One, Two, and Three

Posted on December 9, 2009 by lauren

Somehow it has been almost an entire month since my last post. And somehow in that time my newborn baby has grown into a four-month-old who lifts his body up on two rubber-band chunky arms, enjoys “talking,” intently watches his big brother’s every move, and kicks his legs and waves his arms like a maniac in the bathtub out of shear joy. He suddenly looks so big to me when he is still so small. Don’t grow so fast, you! I’m trying to enjoy this for Pete’s sake! Whoever Pete is! And now I’m just yelling!

I cherish this time of year… the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas that is so magical. I cherish it so much that I forget to take pictures. Thanksgiving pictures, to be specific. So the huge holiday feast that we hosted, and our first Thanksgiving where we actually had several family members over, is long gone and only a memory in my head now. But it was fantastic and I will do it again and again and again despite all the hard work and cleaning and chaos. I love it.

Cuz Liam, oh fair one

Baby devour-ers

What I do have pictures of is just as magical. The first time we left our little ones overnight. I know. Milo’s two years old. But with family so far away, we rarely get the opportunity.

Hello, opportunity.

Nice to meet you.

The matriarch of Andrew’s family, Gina, with five children, a perpetually full and busy and joyfully noisy house, big sister to 8 brothers and sisters, one who puts up with everything and has a solution to anything… and a positive attitude to boot… thank you.

And opportunity #2: Michael-dad, oh patient and wise one

Slide whistle. Who knew my kid could play one?

And the reason for the season: wedding time for old friend Dave. He and Anna are a fantastically perfect match, which, if you know them each separately says it all. And I mean that as a compliment. They are literally perfect for each other.

Kind of like two other weirdos I know

You did WHAT with your breast pump?!

One more opportunity.

Don’t worry, if you don’t feel like dragging your two kids and 97 bags through the aiport, we’ll just fly you home on this airplane we have here in our field. Oh, and there will be a van waiting for you to drive you to Long-term Parking A when you get there. And both of your kids will sleep on the entire flight to DC because we’ve taken the liberty to wear them out sufficiently so you can rest.

Remind me to never complain about anything ever again.

In the Land of 1000 Relatives

Posted on June 24, 2009 by lauren

Random fat dog

I know we are long overdue for an update… the craziness of the past few weeks have kept us so busy we have yet to buy a new camera. But don’t let the lack of pictures fool you. We have been having too much fun for pictures (but thank you, Hans, for sending us some of yours)!

So, in a nutshell, this is what we have been up to.

In late May, our good friend Hans visited us from Denmark. The pictures are courtesy of Hans… we have yet to get a camera but I swear it will be soon. It had been years since we had seen Hans. In fact, the last time we were all together we were soaking up sun by the side of a pool at a castle in Italy. Without wedding rings or kids. Needless to say, I think it was shocking for Hans to see how our lives have changed! Milo loved Hans, and kept repeating “Hans, Denmark” over and over. It was a lovely visit and we miss having him around!

Hans enjoying an American-style Sunday morning

One big hunk of meat… sliced in half

The beginning of June brought with it family, family, and more family. On the first Saturday of the month, Michael called us early in the morning with an offer we couldn’t refuse. The weather was looking nice, so he offered to fly out to DC in his airplane and take the four of us (Andrew, me, Milo, and Proudie) back to Ohio for the weekend. Milo absolutely loved the ride and even flew the plane a couple of times (shortly after, I almost puked). He is still talking about the experience and singing a song he and Andrew made up about “Michael-dad, cool dude, Michael-dad, airplane.” We got to see Billy and Annie’s new house (they bought the house Andrew’s mom grew up in!), have dinner with Nana, Anthony, Lisa, Lily, Jack, Gina, Michael, Katie, Austin, Bill, Annie, Reina, and Baby Liam (who we met for the first time). Milo had a blast with his cousins, especially the ride on Uncle Billy’s tractor (also STILL a common subject of conversation a month later) and with Gina-mom, who took him on a march around the back yard.

We spent the night at Andrew’s mom’s house and had an absolute blast the next morning on the farm. Milo took big tractor rides with Michael-dad, threw rocks and sticks for Proudie with Gina-mom at the pond, and took turns jumping into the shallow water. He also played with Katie and Austin on the play equipment and was crowned “Naked Nature Boy” with a string of clovers around his neck, which he proceeded to pull off and stomp on before running off bare naked. Really, I was in physical pain not having a camera.

Later that afternoon we were flown back to Ohio by Michael-dad, the flight taking only 2 hours thanks to a nice tailwind. Such a fun and exhausting trip!

Only a day later, we welcomed my mom, sister, her husband, and their little boy Charlie into our home for a few days to visit. We had a blast just hanging around the neighborhood, putting together a climber (an early b-day present from Grandma) in the backyard for Milo, and eating lots of yummy food. Milo is still calling our extra bedroom “Grandma’s room” and the futon on the floor “Grandma’s bed.” And at bathtime he talks about the time he took a bath with Charlie, saying “Chaw-lee bathtub… memba dat?”- translation, “Charlie in the bathtub, remember that?”

With slight overlap but no actual meetings, Janine and Dan (Andrew’s aunt who married us and uncle) then visited us while my mom was away on a day trip. They helped us cook an amazing dinner, brought presents for Milo and me, and spent the most relaxing evening with us. It had been half a year since they had seen Milo, so it was fun to see him having actual conversations with them this time around. Also, Dan somehow got Milo to eat a bite of salmon, something I have been trying for the past eight months!

Since that blast of family fun, Andrew and I have been recouperating and gearing up for little boy #2 to arrive. I attended my last prenatal yoga class, although I’m sure I will do a couple drop-ins before my due date, and I have started my bi-weekly prenatal appointments. Milo attends with me and enjoys hearing “baby’s hot-beat,” asking the receptionist to listen as soon as we walk in the door. I’m sure she has no idea what he is asking for.

NewBaby has been moving and shaking more than ever. He also regularly gets hiccups every evening after I eat dinner. It is so strange to feel that again. Milo did the same thing every evening. Let’s hope that their similarities end with the sleep habits, or else I am done for.

We have also been preparing for… dun, dun, dun… the HOMEBIRTH! Granted everything stays normal and healthy (so far so good), I will be delivering this baby at home. And though about half of the people we tell this to look at us like we’re crazy, the other half do not seem surprised at all, and instead are totally supportive. It helps having people in the family who have actually done this! It also helps to know that vast research supports planned homebirths as well, so I am in no way nervous about the safety aspect of it. No, I am more nervous about getting Milo out in time so that he doesn’t have nightmares from the noises I am bound to make. No, Mommy is not turning into a monster… there’s just a small person making its way out. But the planning and gathering of materials has been a lot of fun. I might post the list of items we have been getting together just to see if you can guess what some of them might be used for. So until then… send me a camera!

Grandparents, Birthdays, and Springtime… Oh, My!

Posted on April 1, 2008 by lauren

I know I have been terrible at posting lately, but we have been so busy! This is what we have been up to. I apologize for the lack of text, but I know what you really came here for… the pictures!

First, my mom (Grandma to Milo) visited for the day last Wednesday. We enjoyed spending the day together, meeting Andrew for lunch in Fells Point, and enjoying the sunny weather by the water. We miss her already!
The following day, we made the trip back to San Antonio to visit with Bub, Gram, and Aunt Andrea for her sixteenth birthday party. Although it was overcast or rainy for the majority of our trip, it was warm enough to get us ready for spring! Milo was fantastic on the plane rides to and from our destination once again, and we enjoyed hanging out with family, though it just wasn’t the same without Ryan, Kristin, Lizzy, and Ava.

We were also able to engage in a few photo shoots:

Here is Milo (sitting up on his own- a new skill) in Gram and Bub’s lush Texas garden:
And discovering his first flower:
Taking a walk down to the Guadalupe River with Dad:
Swinging from the trees with dad… and yes, I almost had a heart attack when this occurred. It’s amazing they let just anyone take home a baby to raise… I guess natural selection will take care of this, unfortunately not in our favor.The big event, Andrea’s Big Sweet Sixteen Celebration, complete with ice sculpture and DJ:
Getting “Booped” by cousin Reina:

And a little kiss:
Yesterday, we enjoyed lunch with Andrew’s cousins Keelan and Lauren, Keelan’s husband Mark, and their baby Pierce at the Grist Mill, overlooking the river. I, for one, was amazed at how much food that little boy could pack away! I’m hoping Milo will take a cue from Pierce in this area.

After lunch, we took advantage of the opportunity to plop all three down in the grass together. This is the only picture that includes Reina sitting (the grass was a little wet… no place for the Queen):But Milo didn’t seem to mind a wet bottom.
And neither did Pierce:
Some down time in Bub’s family room (I know, not the most exciting photo, but I’m so excited that the Bum is sitting up on his own so well!):
After a long journey home, we arrived to 75 degree, sunny weather in Baltimore, flowering trees, and an all-around beautiful spring day! Our shrubs had even bloomed while we were gone. It was such a nice welcome home!

So our next “journey” is Baby Bootcamp in the form of sleep training. As we have been traveling so much this month, Milo’s sleep situation has not improved. But now that we (at least Milo and I) will be home for the next month, I am digging my heals in. Milo is pretty good at this skill (stubbornness, not sleeping), so I have a feeling we are in for a long week! Oh, well. Baby steps…

Texas, Take 1

Posted on March 13, 2008 by lauren

Well, you should all be happy to know that Andrew did not have to pressure wash Milo after all. He was an absolute angel on the plane ride there, and really for the entire trip he was the perfect baby (aside from sleeping difficulties, but who can blame him, he was not in his element). Ryan awarded the Bum with “The Best Behaved Child” award for the trip, and Milo managed to charm his Bub and Gram, as well as his Great Nana. I took too many pictures to count. Here are some of the more interesting ones.

Milo’s first plane ride. He enjoyed looking out the window.
First time meeting Bub:
Reunited with Cousin Lizzy at last… the toughest pirate on the South Seas, Arrrr:Tipping the scales with Cousin Reina. Aunt Annie says they cancel each other out. I say something is fishy when your 6-month-old weighs literally the exact same amount as his 15-month old cousin:Wait, did I say “fishy?”

Looking outside with Cousin Reina. Milo doesn’t see many cats back home:
Enjoying the hot tub at a baby-friendly temperature:
Milo and Reina in new swimsuits… so cute!
Photo shoot with the cousins (before Ava crawled away, Milo started screaming, and Reina slid off the couch):

We had a very nice time, although it was an emotional trip, as Andrew’s dad is very sick. We didn’t want to leave, and wish we lived closer to be there at a moment’s notice. We will be going down to visit again at the end of the month for Andrew’s sister Andrea’s sixteenth birthday celebration. Please keep Andrew’s father in your thoughts and prayers. He is an important part of our lives and family is everything to us.

On a lighter note, Lizzy taught me 6 very important things this trip.

#1. If you need to make going to the bathroom fun, all you have to say is “Arrrr” like a pirate when it’s time to push.

#2. Throwing rocks into the river is more fun than just sittin’ around.

#3. Cheeto’s are an important part of any balanced meal.

#4. You can never hold “the Bum” too many times, nor can you take too many pictures of Lizzy holding “the Bum.”

#5. Milo doesn’t have a penis, he has a TAIL. In the front. (I learned this during a diaper change where Lizzy was eager to help).

And finally, #6. Everything is more fun when you’re not wearing clothes:

CrumbBums

Young Bums, Crumb Bums

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