Picture of the Day: I'm a happy kid, but, really, do I need to smile for all of these?

Picture of the Day: Welcome Home, Daddy!

Picture of the Day: I'm on my way to hang out at the park.

A Great Mystery of LIfe

Why is it that we put Katie on the floor with fifteen toys and the television remote control, she will ALWAYS immediately gravitate to the remote control?

Should we put in an offer?

Wife and I have been researching apartments, and we found an apartment for sale that we think could work. Right up the street, on the 76th floor of a nice building is a 3 bedroom apartment that also has a dining room, a study and three bathrooms - yes, three bathrooms (I've forgotten what it's like to have more than one bathroom). As an added perk, this building has ten foot ceilings and floor to ceiling windows throughout.

This apartment can be ours for the asking price of merely $38,000,000. Yes, that is thirty-eight MILLION dollars. Of course, living in NYC, there are also monthly "common charges." The common charges would only be $20,500 per month.

Quote of the Day and Other Important News

In honor of today's Baylor-Duke face-off tonight for a spot in the final four, here is today's quote of the day from ESPN's Game Preview:

"The similarities between Baylor and Duke are obvious in that both are small private schools known for their academic excellence. But there has never been any comparing their success in men's basketball."

FYI: This week, both the men's and women's teams from Baylor and Duke face each other to get into the final four. That's the first time this has ever happened.

FYI: In case you don't follow such things, Cal Poly Pomona won the NCAA Division II men's basketball championship yesterday. You can read about this at ESPN's website HERE.

Picture of the Day: Happy Birthday, Aunt Debbie! I hope you got lots of toys too!

Picture of the Day: I don't like the sun in my eyes.

Picture of the Day: Relaxin' in my swing.

Everyone Thinks Katie is Adorable

Today, Wife took Katie for a walk. When they were almost back home, some guy walking next them turned to Wife and said, "Your baby is adorable." Wife immediately responded, "Thank you." After her initial response, she turned to look up at the guy - it was John Lithgow. Wife suddenly became a bit clumsy and said, "Oh..umm...hi!" John* had a good chuckle at that.

Katie was wearing her big hat and sunglasses (the same as in the March 22 picture). John commented, "Is she trying to go incognito?" Wife responded, "Of course, we don't want all her adoring fans to recognize her!" John had another good chuckle.

For those who haven't been reading our blog since its inception, the first time we saw John in person, he was helping a woman get her stroller and baby down the subway stairs. He seems like a genuinely good guy.

John is currently staring in the show "Mr and Mrs. Fitch." Though we haven't seen it, I encourage you to go see it to support our buddy** John before the show closes on April 4.

* We've run into John Lithgow on the street several times now, so we're on a first name basis.

** Not only are we on a first name basis, but we're also buddies.

Picture of the Day: Are we really going to do this EVERY day?

Picture of the Day: Now, I just need a pink Harley.

Picture of the Day: Mommy calls this my "Diva" outfit

Picture of the Day: I'm just chillin' in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Random Thoughts on a Beautiful Spring Day

After enjoying a beautiful Spring day in New York City, I wanted to share a few random thoughts.

• Just a couple of weeks ago, it was freezing and we were having blizzards. Suddenly, the weather is absolutely beautiful.
• Wife, Katie and I walked out of a store today and found ourselves face to face with about ten police vans and a line of NYPD officers in bullet proof vests holding machine guns. We thought nothing of it, nor did anyone around us. Reflecting on it, I find our ambivalence to such a sight rather disturbing.
  
• On the streets of New York, I think I like people's Winter attire better than their Spring attire. Everyone just wears a big coat in the Winter. Now, everyone wants to show off their freakish styles...styles that you can only see in New York.
  
• Where did these crowds come from? Without warning the streets are completely packed. Somehow, I forgot what this was like.
  
• Katie likes wearing a big hat and sunglasses when she is outside. We're raising a little diva.
• Another sign that I'm getting really old - I see a couple cops on the street and instantly think, "When did the NYPD start hiring kids?"
  
• I hope Katie likes the park. We enjoyed both our breakfast and dinner at the park. We tote around a small notebook computer, a book, and a few toys for Katie. That's enough to provide a few solid hours of family entertainment.
• Baylor is in the Sweet Sixteen and Kansas is not. This makes me happy.
  
• Walking around Times Square on St. Patrick's Day is an experience. Not a fun one. This experience is only eclipsed by walking around on New Year's Eve. But there are less drunk people on New Year's Eve.
  
• When we are outside, Katie likes looking up at all the big buildings. It makes her look like a tourist.
• My wife likes to make up songs to sing to our daughter (complete with motions). Maybe all mom's do this. Maybe this is something you need to see to believe. Katie even has her favorite song. No matter how what's going on, Katie will ALWAYS smile and giggle when Mommy sings her favorite song.
  

Picture of the Day: I'm a happy kid.

Picture of the Day: Ok, I'll stay here while Mommy makes dinner. Maybe I'll close my eyes for a couple minutes.

Picture of the Day: I'll just gnaw on this for a while.

Pictures of the Day: Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!!

I came.


I saw.


I conquered.

Picture of the Day: I have pretty eyes.

I'm Going to be Rich!!!!

Tonight, I got an email from the FBI to my junk email account. This lengthy email explained that the Prime Minister of England, Gordon Brown himself, was requesting that the FBI let me know that nearly $11 million dollars is being held in an account in my name. Well, the email didn't actually contain my name, but it said that all this money was for the "Beneficiary," which is clearly me. All I need to do to start this process of getting my $11 million is to wire $225 to some bank account. Both Gordon Brown and the FBI advise me to hurry up and do this because time is of the essence.

The email was filled with typos and lots of grammatical mistakes. Of course, this is to be expected because the FBI obviously realized that getting this message to me was such a rush that there was no time to proof read the email.**

In addition to wiring over that money, I need to hurry up and reply to the email providing my full name, date of birth, social security number, address, telephone number, age, sex and my mother's maiden name.

Since the email is from the FBI, it must be legitimate, so I had better hurry up and do all that it asks me to do.

** Obviously, this whole post is tongue in cheek. But, in my line of work, I am frequently exchanging letters and emails with the government. Typos and bad grammar are not infrequent in government documents.

Picture of the Day: I'm growing up so fast!

Food...yummy

I'm not sure my daughter appreciates the effort I put into her food. Now that she's at the stage where we can start having a little more fun with her diet, I decided to make her something more creative tonight. Tonight, I made a pureed mixture of homemade applesauce, banana and stewed prunes. I tasted it. Wow....it was really good. I'm thinking I might start eating Katie's food. It was hard to tell how much Katie really liked it - she started out like a ball of fire, but she was so exhausted that she grew tired of the process after eating a few ounces.

Picture of the Day: I'm a happy girl when I play in my swing. Most of the time.

You're Going to Make What?

Lately, Husband has been on a custard kick. Every week or so, he’s been making a batch of custard. I don’t understand this new affection for custard, and , since I don’t like custard, I really don’t appreciate his new kick. I much prefer his “bread kick.” Last night, Husband came home from his twelve hour day at work and announced, “I feel like making caramel.” We then had the following exchange:

Me: “Have you ever made caramel?”

Husband: “No.”

Me: “Have you ever had homemade caramel?”

Husband: “No. Not that I remember.”

Me: “Do you have a recipe?”

Husband: “I looked it up on the internet. I have the basic idea of how to do it.”

Me: “Are you going to make a mess?”

Husband: “Probably.”

Me: “At least it’s not custard.”

Katie and I then followed Husband into the kitchen. He measured nothing. He dumped some liquid into a pan. Then he threw in a couple handfuls of sugar. He eyeballed how much brown sugar we had left, shrugged, and then threw that in the pot. He threw a few more things into the pot and started to stir.

We chatted as Husband stirred. Frankly, I didn’t think he had any idea what he was doing. He’s generally a great cook – but this looked like it would be his first dish that would be completely inedible.

After it cooled, Husband cut it into little squares. He gave me one, and, honestly, I wasn’t sure I should eat it. It looked good. Surprisingly, it looked just like caramel. But would it taste? I decided to take the risk and popped the square into my mouth. Wow…Husband’s homemade caramel may be the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I didn’t know it was possible to make caramel that good at home.

Picture of the Day: I'm dancin' a little jig.

Katie's First Playgroup

Katie had her first play group this past week. Let's just say, I told Husband he now has my permission to invest in a shotgun to keep the boys away! That's right, Katie has already discovered flirting with little boys. In all seriousness, it was pretty cute. Katie was the youngest baby at the playgroup, but I think she had the most fun. One little boy thought Katie was the greatest thing. He was 15 months old and just learning how to teeter around on two feet. He would walk up to Katie and make a face at her. Katie rewarded his hard effort with a loud, happy squeal and giggle. That, of course, made the little boy to start to giggle and this back and forth game continued on for at least 40 minutes.

Up until this week Katie has had interraction with adults, but not much with other babies. She seemed to enjoy herself. The playgroup was for 2 hours. By the end of the two hours, my poor little baby completely exhausted herself. As soon as I strapped her into the Bjorn, she was fast asleep.

Picture of the Day: Yeah, I know....this looks a lot like yesterday's picture. Daddy liked it.

Picture of the Day: Don't bother me. I'm reading.

Picture of the Day: I'm ready to go outside and play!

Picture of the Day: I like to talk and laugh. I'm not such a fan of silence.

Picture of the Day: This picture was taken first thing in the morning. I even look good when I first wake up.

Picture of the Day: What's for dinner? Please, tell me me that it's not green bean puree.

Communion Sunday

Today was Communion Sunday at church. Churches distribute communion differently. Our church passes a large plate filled with small pieces of matzo; then a large tray of little cups filled with grape juice are passed out. This large tray is big, gold and shiny. No, it's not real gold - but it looks like gold and it's very shiny. Do you know where this is going yet?

After sitting perfectly in service on my lap for the first 80 minutes of service, it was time for communion. Over a thousand people filled every seat of the worship center. Other than an organ quietly playing in the background, the church was completely quiet. Katie watched as the usher handed the tray of grape juices to the row in front of us. She was mesmerized as she watched it pass from parishioner to parishioner. The usher handed the tray to Wife, wife turned as she held the tray - Katie stared so intently at that tray - but she didn't touch it. I know, a bit of a let down. Rather anticlimactic. As I held Katie, I was terrified that despite my best attempt to stop her, Katie would reach out and knock over that shiny tray resulting in the little cups of grape juice tumbling everywhere. But, with my help, Katie didn't.

On a side note, we appear to have completely disrupted the worship experience of three young woman sitting behind us. Funny how I see women who are twenty-something, and I now think of them as young women. Katie behaved perfectly throughout the service. However, these young ladies couldn't help themselves from staring at Katie the whole time. I think the loud ticking of their biological clocks prevented them from paying a lot of attention in the service.

Picture of the Day: I'm sooooo sleepy.

Katie Tries Apple Sauce

Time to update your food chart: Katie HATES apple sauce. She is not a fan. At all.

Picture of the Day: I like my toes.

Picture of the Day: Look what I found! No, I'm not allowed to eat it.

Picture of the Day: I'm looking for my Constitutional right to eat sweet potatoes everyday.

Picture of the Day: I'm Little Pink Riding Hood

Time to Update the Food Score Card

Tonight, Katie tried carrots for the first time. She liked them. She liked them a lot.

I'm seeing a pattern here: Katie likes orange food. She really likes sweet potatoes, butternut squash and now carrots.

Picture of the Day: This is as close to a carnevor as I'll be for quite a while.