Jack's 3 months old!

Our munchkins...

Miss Fancy Pants heading to school one day...

I literally cannot get enough of watching this lil' guy suck his thumb, I think it's the cutest thing ever!

So happy to see Humpty Dumpty pop up out of his book!

Tried out the walker just for an upright seating option for Jack...he likes it, can you tell?

Sweaty Betty and Jack Attack

Happy Mother's Day x 2!!

New York City for the Nate Show!!

So why were we in New York City, you ask? I was invited to be a guest on the Nate Berkus Show!!

Apparently, they needed "design dilemmas" and because I'm cheesy and my mom INSISTED I write into the show months ago for a completely different room in our house, they emailed me about my dining room, and because I was in my last week of maternity leave, I thought, why not give it a whirl! And they called me!

So my mom is a huge Nate fan, and was naturally the person I invited to join me on the trip. The show covered the entire trip, and it was a pretty cool experience. We grabbed a train in Baltimore...

where I was able to spend 2 1/2 hours in peace, reading a book (gasp!), chatting with an adult (imagine!), and alas - TAKE A NAP!! Then we arrived at Penn Station in NYC, right under Madison Square Garden...

where Ben's Limousine picked us up (the driver looked more like Ahmed than Ben, but who am I to judge). My overly cautious country-bumpkin mother felt it extremely necessary to immediately buckle up for the ride (and then proceeded to gasp a lot while the driver weaved in and out of good ol' city traffic)...

this was the foggy view from our suite in Uptown New York. We were close to Central Park, but it was strangely residential, which I hadn't experienced in my past more-touristy trips to NYC...

Mom was incredibly excited about the bathrobes in the closet, can you tell?

Yes. We are that cheesy.

Lunch...

AWESOME dinner at Sambuca. They had a gluten-free menu for mom and everything.

The next morning, another car picked us up and took us to the studio for the show. We had NO idea what to expect, but I did get my very own "green" room, which ironically is not green at all...

Mom got to actually be out in the audience for the entire show taping, while I was left behind in my cozy little room to watch the production on a television until it was time for hair and makeup (oh yes!) and then my segment. I was so nervous, and I was supposed to be on with another dining room dilemma girl, but they cut her right before we stepped onto the set, so I was by myself with Nate as he told me I should paint my dining room blue (yes, blue - those of you who have been to my house - riiiiiiight) and do other fancy things I don't remember clearly (it's hard to remember that you're on TV so don't look like an idiot, but also to look REALLY interested in his ideas, and to actually LISTEN to what he is saying)... The show won't air until probably August, and I may have to wait until then to do the things he suggested, if only to hear him say them to me all over again! All in all, a very cool experience.

And if anyone else is looking for design help, they say they read every email that people write, so give it a shot. If nothing else, you might get a ticket to a show, or even a free trip out of the deal like we did!

So in the past two weeks, I've been to New York City, and started work after being home with Jack for 12 awesome weeks. The former was pretty awesome too, the latter - not so much. Here's a few pics of the fam...

My cute lil' thumb-sucker

Aunt Fopper came to visit during my last week home

Jack and Ella vying for face time on the floor

The faceoff

Cutie-patootie

'sup

Let's just say that Kate has a stinky butt...

Jack's annoyed with my constant picture-taking

Grandparent's Day @ Daycare...

Last week was Grandparent's Day at Kate's daycare. It worked out perfectly to coincide with Mom-Mom's spring break, so they headed over our way to enjoy the day with her.

Daddy and Kate during a display of "circle time"...

Unfortunately, Mom-Mom was "burdened" with our sleepy one for a bit in the morning, but I don't think she minded!

The day began with a presentation from an astronaut who works at Towson, and the kids enjoyed learning about space (especially they enjoyed learning that the potty is in a closet), then they had their very own "science fair" where they watched Towson students blast make-shift rockets off the ground, and other fun stuff. Here, they count down to watch a blast-off...

The day ended with a picnic lunch outside.

Oops...

Well, I stumbled upon a full camera card the other day, and lo and behold, there were still some April/Easter photos I hadn't uploaded on there, ooops!

Cousin Rachel came over for dinner a few weeks ago to meet baby Jack...

Jack snuggles with his sweet blankie from Aunt Gina...

Daddy and his babes...

Our cute lil' bunnies on Easter morning!

Our very own fairy princess. All decked out at 7am...

Kate loves her cousin Ella!

I had the good fortune of forgetting a short episode from Easter, until I found these pics. Somehow, my family talked me into breaking out the ol' flute while I was home over Easter. I surprised myself by knowing several notes, and I think I impressed Kate (and only Kate!) with my musical prowess! She, however, couldn't quite handle the full flute, so my mom found this old Greek recorder/flute thing my brother used to have, and she tried to copy me. Unfortunately, this particular instrument is played up and down, not horizontally as she portrays here... ah well, we can't all be musicians!

We like to party party...

Despite being on maternity leave, I'm still receiving invites from my hotel peeps for events, so we decided to take the kiddos out for a night a few weeks ago. At first, Kate was bored out of her mind, understandably, but once the tunes started, she was the life of the party!

A quick bite to eat after dancing the night away...

Kate was literally the only person on the dance floor, other than the DJ, and she didn't care one bit!

And because she was the only one actually dancing, the DJ showered her with little goodies, like this light-stick straw that glowed and bobbed up and down when she drank her orange juice.

A short spurt of her early dancing moves. She got better and more lively as the night wore on, until we were the ones bored senseless (except for her entertainment) and she closed the place down!