tender mercies

did i mention that shane got a job offer at a local law firm? yep, he's now been a "legal assistant" at an employment law firm for two whole weeks now. talk about an ANSWER to PRAYER. (bonus: shane tells me a lawyer at the firm looks JUST LIKE steve carell, aka "michael" from "the office.")

while the new job definitely makes for a more hectic schedule (shane rarely sees christian when he's not just waking up or just going to bed), it's nice to commute into work together again. most mornings we spend about an hour wading through traffic together, which can make for some great conversations. sometimes it's the highest quality time we have together all day, since shane goes from work to his law school classes five nights a week.

another tender mercy: shane's sister, kayla, ASKED if we'd be okay with her coming out for a few months to watch christian for us. she needed a break from school and her life out west. talk about perfect timing. and christian just LOVES his aunt kayla.

counting down till thursday

i really hope you are all getting excited for this:



i know we are. on at 9 pm eastern on nbc. be there.

five months old

still cuddly. still smiley. still christian.

growing like a weed

i'm taking the liberty of back-dating a bit. i took these pics when christian was just four months old. as you can see he's a tumbling, grabbing machine -- as good at snatching items with his toes as with his fingers.

we were a bit late getting christian in for his four-month check-up. so here are his stats are four and a half months old (drumroll, please):


17 lbs, 7 oz. (82%) and 26.5 inches (86%)

free things to do in the district

believe it or not, i picked up a link to this list from mayor fenty's twitter feed (disclaimer: no, i don't follow d.c.'s mayor on twitter, someone i follow does...does that make it any better? probably not).

it actually has some pretty good suggestions. i was already aware of the free concerts at the kennedy center and and the national gallery of art but hadn't yet heard about the rock creek planetarium or the national aboretum. and it was also good to be reminded that the national building museum is a bit of a hidden treasure since it sits away from the national mall just enough to avoid the major tourist crowds.

think he likes sitting the other way?!

i took christian on a little walk tonight for fhe -- shane was off to his first class of the semester -- and we tried out the stroller without him sitting in his carseat. he really seemed to get a kick out of facing the other way although i had a hard time because he was making all these cute noises and i couldn't see his face as easily.

i need my baby to stop growing up! ;) (although, i think he's awfully cute doing it.)

decorating canarian-style

so i really think there are some cute arrangements in here -- with the cool vintage plates and such. however, i was looking over the pics and then it hit me: this is totally a rip-off of canarian style (and probably several other hispanic cultures) where plates on the wall are the norm.

i remember that being so weird to see them on houses -- inside and out -- when first arrived in the canary islands as a missionary. but after a while, it really grew on me. i think i like these arrangements because they take old-school antiques and give them a modern arrangement.

has anyone ever attempted something like this? am i a dork to think it's kind of cool?

two things

got up the guts to chop off my hair while in idaho this past week. i had been considering an a-line forEVER (thanks to folks like katie holmes cruise and victoria "posh spice" beckham) and finally broke down and did it. glad i did -- so far. went a little shorter than planned because the girl told me if i did it would give me 12 inches to donate. i haven't freaked out yet. neither has shane. (although he has threatened yet again to grow a mullet...)

took this pic at the end of the last leg of our flight home from idaho late monday night. we had a great time visiting with shane's family and close friends. it was especially nice to see shane's dad doing well as he continues to recover from his hip injury. as christian clearly illustrates, we're all pretty tuckered out, but we'll have lots to share on the blog shortly.

comic-book style

we were missing shane tonight for fhe so christian and i decided to take a few pictures for him. they actually turned out pretty fun.

the effect is called "comic book" -- if you know shane fairly well, you'll understand why we figured that was kind of fitting. we're excited to have him back home tomorrow night.

farewell to 'nauntie'

natalie flew out early wednesday morning. the fourth of my five sisters, she's grown up around a lot of kids. she came out for an entire month to help us care for christian, filling in the gaps between my and shane's schedules.

this is probably my favorite pic of the two -- i love their matching faces

nat was so sweet to christian, and he just soaked it all in

the night before she left we tried our best to convince her that thai food is good (she's a pretty picky eater at this point)...

...however, as you may be able to deduce from the photos, we weren't exactly successful. she downed the mango but didn't get excited about the sticky rice. (have no fear, shane and i were willing to help her out with that...)

of course, we had to have a final photo shoot before she flew out in our new headbands. we also squeezed in some last-minute kisses for christian.

we know natalie put off a ton of summer fun to be here and we can't thank her enough for her sacrifice. we all had fun getting to know her better and christian is definitely missing his little "nauntie" (natalie, aunt, and nanny).