chair races

Just one of the many ways we had fun with the little guy this christmas...

date nights

wednesdays are our nights. just us, no kid. it's great. i look forward to it each week. this past wednesday we went to the world cafe for a benefit concert for artists on call. there were about 15 or so different artists playing throughout the night and here were our favorits of the evening: clair dillulo (a family friend of b's), hoots and hellmouth, and the all impressive denison witmer.

under-where?

so we ended up buying a gate for the stairs. we had to rig it because it didnt fit right. needless to say i am returning it today.

live at the grape street

12-11-06

the fam

bath time

owen loves baths. he now climbs the steps and goes right for the tub. i'm excited that he likes to be clean... i'm sure when he becomes a teenager i will be yelling at him to get in the shower. right now though he cries and gets fairly upset whenever i deem bath time over. so this is our new game...

up and up

well, yesterday owen climbed the steps for the first time. i heard that while we were away his cousin jackson taught him how, but at that time owen would only go up 2 or 3 steps. he has no problem climbing them all anymore. which brings us now to the next step in parenting... baby gates.

no problem mon

we heard that phrase a million glorious times last week in jamaica. what a wonderful place to spend a week, just brian and i (oh, and my mom and dad, and aunt charlotte and uncle coe, and my bro). my sister got married there and we had such a great time. i cant tell you how amazing it was to get away from the business of life and parenthood. i desperately missed owen, but also purposefully made up my mind to enjoy the rest and relaxation, knowing that he was well taken care of by family members. it was a huge blessing not having to worry, and just enjoy the beautiful weather. nothing like knowing that back home it's 30 degrees while you're sitting in 80 degree weather, frying your skin off in the shade!
our room was awesome to say the least. my aunt charlotte did a great job researching to find the perfect place for us to stay. we each had these amazing treehouse style rooms. every morning while brian was still sleeping i would enjoy sitting out on the porch catching up on a lot of reading. i was still on "owen time", 7am wakeup, and i just could not sleep in. but it was a wonderful opportunity for me to have alone time and enjoy being still.
everyday on the beach was just incredible. i cant believe i actually stayed on the beach for so long. i learned what it was to vacation this time. in the past we have usually wasted our "rest" time and traveled around to sightsee, but this time we made a pact and said no to touring. plus it was too expensive... cabbies cost an arm and a leg to take you anywhere.
brian and i did enjoy a night out on our own for dinner. we went to the rockhouse hotel and restaurant and it was such a beautiful time. we were supposed to get there for sunset, but in jamaica you are on jamaican time, we waited an hour for our cab to pick us up. but we still were in for a beautiful view. those huts are actually people rooms, right there on the cliffs... oh how i want to stay there if we ever return. our table was right over the water. i felt like i was in the pirates of the caribbean, or peter pan, or something like that.
my sister's wedding was beautiful. on the beach, great weather (it rained 20 min after the ceremony was over), and great people made the whole day so enjoyable. growing up my sister and i were never really close, we were 5 years apart, so our lives just didnt coordinate, friends were different, we were going through separate life stages, she was just starting high school as i was starting college. but these past few years we have definitely become closer, friends even. she calls and we do lunch, or shop, or even just talk. we have different lives and different views, but she has given me perspective on a lot of things. it's so fun knowing that she has joined me in the "marriage" ranks. i know that through the years we will rely on each other more strongly than we do now, and i am excited to see how our friendship grows. i love you meredith. it was an honor to stand next to you on that beach. and george, i like you too.