Busy Bees

Monday and Tuesday Nana Barb and Grandpa Joe came to visit. They picked up Claire early from daycare each night and had dinner ready to go. It was great, I could sure get used to that.

Claire and I traveled to Beloit, WI on Friday to visit my friend Hilary and meet her 4-month old son Thomas. Claire napped on the drive down and behaved amazingly while we had lunch in a restaurant. Thomas napped and chilled in his carrier. We were both amazed at the near perfect behavior of our babes while we caught up on life and enjoyed a meal.


Claire enjoyed playing with all of Thomas' toys and books and she liked to tickle him and point at his mouth and eyes. She gave him such a big hug and lots of kisses when we left. I think they hit it off.


Friday night we went to a local fish fry to celebrate January birthdays (Lucian and Papa Dave) with the family. This particular restaurant has a polka band as well that the kids loved. We couldn't get Claire off the dance floor. She has been doing the chicken dance since we left. She really knows all the parts, it's adorable. I am working on getting video.


Speaking of video, I am playing with a new iPhone app the replicates vintage film. Here we are singing happy birthday to the boys. There are some other looks/settings I'll keep testing.



Saturday night we dined at a friends house. Katrina is a nutritionist and themed the night with ingredients from Washington state, where they are from. The sad news is that they will be moving back in a few weeks. We will miss our friends, but we now have another couple to visit in Seattle.

Claire let Mark read her favorite book

Spencer and Claire on the fatboy bean bag. This was a big hit of the night in addition to their 2 cats.

Claire actually said "cheese" when I took this picture. I have no idea when/where she picked that up. We were so impressed.

Sunday we hung low while Lucian went for a bike ride with a friend. I did a little cleaning and we grocery shopped in the afternoon. I have to say, 3-day weekends feel great.

And as usual, here are a few random shots of Claire to round out my post. Enjoy!

Claire can control the tv with and invisible remote

She has mastered downward dog

Birthday Win

This Sunday was host to Lucian's birthday as well as a very big football game, especially for our household. The Bears vs. Packers NFC championship caused lots of big talk in these parts.

While shopping before the game, I was shocked to find a sliver of Bears-themed desserts at our local grocery store. I have never seen such a sight! I was very tempted to bring home a cake with a blue and orange "C" for Lucian's birthday, however, I thought better and got him a giant frosted cookie that said "Go Pack."
Spencer donned his Packers hat, a souvenir from a game we attended a few years back. Claire thought it was funny he put the hat on her. She was dressed in neutral purple, as you can see.

We watched at our friends Chris & Cait's house. A pre-game celebration with Oscar the bird.

Chris stood in this spot for the game last week and the Packers played very well. So as not to ruin their streak, he taped off his spot on the floor for yesterday's match-up.

It must have worked because the Bears did not play well. I threatened to stand in the spot once and mess with the game, but I was the only Bears fan there and I don't think it would have ended well for me.

Watching the game

Eating corn chips

Post-game toast/birthday serenade

Lucian and I ventured out for a birthday date night on Saturday. We saw Black Swan and had a lovely dinner and bottle of wine at a French restaurant. It was great to get out and enjoy some adult conversation and have a free sitter (thanks Auntie M). We agreed to attempt that once a month. It's so easy to let it slip.

Lastly, here's a few photos of Claire over the week. It is so interesting to see her language develop. She is talking so much and repeating everything... even swear words. Unfortunately a certain four letter s-word is in her vocabulary. We are trying to fix that one!

Wearing my shades

She really wanted to go "bye-bye" this particular morning. It was an hour before we leave!

Wearing Dad's aviator hat (it's been really cold here)
Claire loves to read books. Here she is snuggling with Daddy before bedtime.

She even read a couple books to us:)

Nothing Much

Our weekend was pretty relaxed. We got together with friends to watch the Packer game Saturday night. They made us chili and we brought snacks and gluten-free corn bread. This was my first gluten free baking endeavor. I used almond flour to make the bread. It was a bit more crumbly than usual, but tasty none the less. I couldn't tell the difference. Our friend Cait, who eats gluten free, enjoyed the treat and told me she's never even had corn bread! Success. Oh and the Packers won the game.

Sunday we headed out to lunch with Aunt Blanca. It's getting more and more challenging to have Claire in a restaurant. I offered to stay home with her so Lucian could go, but he thought that was a slippery slope. We both agreed that we know she can be a handful, we will take turns eating/calming her and we will do our best to remain calm and not be stressed out by the situation. She had her moments in the restaurant, but overall it was an enjoyable lunch.

Spencer tried a crazy drink called tri-color. It's coconut with gelatin and we're not sure what else. We thought it was interesting.

After lunch on Sunday we watched the Bears game at home. I dressed Claire in her shirt for the occasion. The Packers play the Bears next weekend and she will not be allowed to wear it then. It's best for maintaining marital harmony. However, there are no rules against me wearing my blue and orange!

Claire loves to play at the computer. She is always asking "up" to be placed in the chair to type and move the mouse. Sometimes we sit and watch YouTube videos or home videos.

Claire very much dislikes diaper changes, most of the time. However, she frequently pulls her changing pad and wipes out of the diaper bag, sets them up on the floor and lays on her mat. Go figure, pretend diaper changes are fun!

Claire is on an eating streak, which makes me very happy. Sometimes I wonder how the child survives. But everything I read reminds me that children are very aware of what they need and won't go hungry if they refuse a meal.
We are often ecstatic when she eats a few good bites of a meal. Lately we are also impressed with her self-feeding skills and utensil use.

Tatum 2003–2011

Tatum 'Colonel Mustard' McAfee
10.03.03 - 01.09.11

I have have been trying to write a long post about this, but I guess I am just not ready. Here is what I can muster up at the moment.

Our wonderful and amazing dog Tatum passed away Sunday morning. He had been dealing with a stomach ailment, likely a tumor/blockage for a number of months. He took a turn for the worse on Saturday, so we brought him to the vet. There was no clear diagnosis, so we set up some x-rays for Tuesday. He was clearly in pain on Saturday and he just laid around without much spirit. Early Sunday morning he collapsed at home and died surrounded by all of us.

We got Tatum from a breeder when he was 8 weeks old. We babied him, brought him everywhere and trained him ourselves. He was our baby. We all loved him so much.

He was a part of so many great moments in our lives. We were his pack. He always wanted to be where we were and we wanted him there too.

I know many dogs that do not snuggle or like to be hugged. This was Tatum's favorite thing, I think. That and laying on soft blankets or a bed when we would let him. We called him a princess many times.

He loved to lie or stand in the sun, inside or out.

And smell the air.

We are all very sad and tying to cope with the loss of our gentle giant. He was an amazing creature, friend, companion. We hope that he is resting comfortably and looking down on us from heaven. We sure miss him and are greateful for the wonderful time he spent with our family.

Hello 2011

I am writing this on Sunday morning, the eve of our return to work after an entire week off. Lucian's office is closed between Christmas and New Years and for the second year in a row, I took off in between as well. I highly recommend it to everyone:)

I think we both had grand plans of what to do with our week. Lunch outings, movies, catching up on house work, errands and snowboarding. In the end it was a relaxing time spent doing most of those things, minus the snowboarding. We never quite made it. I came down with a flu bug of some sort the day after Christmas wiping me out for a a full day. Claire was really fussy for a number of days too, cutting at least 5 teeth including molars. This made outings difficult the first couple of days of our break.

You can see some of her teeth in this photo. She loves to run around in the morning in just a diaper. Tears are often shed when I try to get her dressed.

Claire using one of her new dishes at meal time. She is finally to a point where she doesn't dump them and throw the dishes. She is growing up:)

Claire loves to explore the house and play with household items. They are so much better than toys you know. One of her favorites is a cupboard in the bathroom with feminine products. I can't tell you how many times a day these are scattered on the floor.

Claire grooming her horsey. Tatum is becoming more tolerant of the little one. What choice does he have really?

Climbing on the dog bed

Lucian purchased a bike frame a few weeks ago and has been ordering parts. He and a buddy built the bike one day last week. It will be his winter commuter and perhaps be entered in a cyclocross race sometime. It's what road bikers do in the off season I hear.


I met my sister and a friend out for lunch one afternoon. We all lunched with Lucian's family at his favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Lucian and I each took Spencer to a movie on different nights. We chose The Fighter and the boys saw True Grit.

We cooked a fabulous meal for New Years Eve; lobster tails and grilled meat of our choice. Lucian went for a ribeye, Spen a chicken breast and a tenderloin fillet for myself. This morning Lucian is whipping up lobster eggs benedict to use up our leftovers.



We spent the evening at home cooking our meal and watching tv. Not all that glamorous, but cozy and enjoyable. Spencer jetted off to a party at a friends house after dinner. I actually set an alarm to get up after midnight and go pick him up. With a dog that often gets up in the middle of the night and Claire up and at 'em at 6am, I wasn't able to make it til midnight. I also squeezed in a few essential naps over this break. I will miss those next week.


We had a lot of great memories in 2010. We wish everyone a happy healthy 2011!