Green Market Chicago

Today I visited the Green Market in Chicago, in Lincoln Park, with Colleen, Elodie, Moon, Uriah, and Gavin. We had a great time picnicking on the lawn and purchasing locally grown and farm fresh produce. The final photo above is of my dinner fixin's from tonight--all purchased at the market. I made lamb burgers (bought the lamb fresh today), combining ground lamb, basil from my garden, onions and red peppers; potatoes sauteed in leeks and butter; and golden squash on the grill. It was yummy!

Zoolander

Gavin had his four-month checkup with the doctor last week and we found out that he is developing exactly like a normal little four-month-old. His weight is 12 lbs. 12 oz, which is the 10th-20th% and he is 25 1/2 inches, which is in the 50th-75th%. Not bad! The only thing a little odd is the fact that the kid won't look to his left. He only wants to look right (just like, as Colleen pointed out, Derek Zoolander). So now we have to do baby aerobic neck stretches to the left everyday and play with him to the left. It seems to be working since I just looked in on him and he is sleeping on his left side. I hope it works or this will put a serious cramp in his social life when he gets older since he'll have to turn in circles to see everything he needs to see.

Gavin Kisses!

Gavin began giving me great big open-mouthed kisses on the cheek this week. He's so scrumptious!

Swedish-American Relations

All the boys!
Mark and David...Joe and Gavin look on.
Joy Yees...yum!
Can you believe these boys are only six weeks apart? And Gavin is in the 50 - 75% in height! David might be very tall...

The Carlsson family came to visit us last Friday on their way back to Sweden, where they have been living for the past four years. We were so excited to see them! Mark is one of Joe's closest friends and was the best man in our wedding; his wife, Christie, is a doll. They also have two adorable children: Axel, age four, and David, who is just six weeks older than Gavin. They were with us for just 24 hours, but we wish it had been longer...it was a whirlwind of activity with three little boys to chase after, not to mention Gavin was running a fever from his vaccines and was very cranky/sleepy. Poor little guy. But here is what we managed to fit in:

Lou Malnati's on our patio. Chasing fireflies with Axel in the garden. A giant birthday cookie for Mark. Chips and salsa and pinot. Sleeping in. Breakfast apple pancake (yeah, we ate a lot). Walking by Northwestern. Walking downtown E-town. Walking into the Gap. Joe running to the bathroom in Cozy. Lunch at Joy Yees. Ordering too much food. Silly babies.

We can't wait to see the Carlsson's again. Maybe next time in Stockholm?

A Sweet Story

Joe wanted me to post a story to my blog regarding an experience he had last night while taking Gavin for a walk around the neighborhood. Joe was pushing the baby in his stroller and stopped to talk with some neighbors who fawned over Gavin, exclaiming how he really seemed to know his daddy and was so cute (well, yeah!). During the conversation, a little neighborhood boy--about five or six years of age--pulled up on his big wheel, and listened to the adults intently. As Joe turned around to head for home the little boy rode his little vehicle right up to Joe and Gavin, peered into the stroller, and said, "I hope when I grow up to be a daddy my baby is as cute as yours."

Doesn't that just make you melt?

Tragic News

As many of you know, I have been working with Harvest with Greg Laurie for many years now, handling the PR for their stadium and arena events each summer. In fact, I'm getting ready to go out to Southern California in three weeks for the first Harvest event of the season at Angel Stadium. Yesterday I received word that Pastor Greg's son, Christopher, died in a tragic car accident near the church office in Riverside, Calif. He leaves behind a wife, a little girl who will be two-years-old tomorrow, and is expecting another daughter in November. Please join me in praying for the entire Laurie family in the days ahead. Having just had a little boy, the devestation of this accident really hits home in a new way.

It's been a busy two days for all of us involved in disseminating information about this terrible situation, so keep us in your prayers as well. Thanks so much.

Here's an article link for more details about Christopher:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_laurie25.45b1bb8.html
http://www.ocregister.com/community/son-of-prominent-2103644-evangelist-greg

Double Yolk

Now this is interesting. We had eggs for dinner last night, using some of the fresh produce from Michigan that I bought from a mini-farmer's market set up in front of the YMCA yesterday. Joe cracked the first one open and, viola, something I had never seen before...double yolks out of a single egg! It seems like this should mean good luck or something, so I did some research to see what I could find out about this phenomenon and here is what I came up with:

Throughout history and in different cultures, finding a double yolk has been considered to mean anything from an impending wedding to a financial windfall to a death in the family.

Double-yolked eggs are reasonably common for ducks and chickens, despite the fact that we so rarely see them in stores. It is estimated that 1 in 1,000 eggs (out of 50 billion produced annually in the US) have double yolks. Eggs increase in size as the number of yolks increases, but most of them are caught by "candling," or holding the egg up to a light source to reveal a shadow of what is inside the shell, and used for other egg products instead of being mixed in with single-yolks. Stores that do offer the eggs usually have one local source for them. The chickens, ducks and other birds that lay them have a genetic tendency to produce the eggs, so if a farm is stocked with such birds, most of their eggs with have double yolks. The eggs are popular with anyone who likes yolks and are also believed to be good luck by many.

And that is your food lesson for the day.

The Sweetest Thing

A baby with his daddy...what could be sweeter?

Bath Time

You'd be Tired, Too!

We've been busy around here lately with me starting back to work a couple of weeks ago. I'm happy to report that it's going well so far, and we are majorly blessed to have a wonderful babysitter named Grace come and play with Gavin a couple of times a week so I can get stuff done. It has been a big mental transition to go from mommy mode to business mode, but I'm finally getting back into it. Our whole family will travel to the Harvest event in Southern California next month so I can work. Joe and Gavin will hang out at the hotel to catch some pool time and will also get to spend time with our dear friends the Perry's before I join them for a little R & R later in the week. We are excited about what has become a yearly trip for us to So Cal, and can't wait to visit Carl's Jr., In-n-Out, and spend time in Elizabeth Lake and Ventura. We would also love to see any of you who are living in Southern California while we're out there...Rose?

In other happenings, Gavin is learning how to swim! Okay, I guess that's an exageration since he's only 15 weeks old (tomorrow), but he is learning to like the pool. The picture above is evidence of his exhaustion after 45 minutes of floating with his dad in his grandparent's pool. He is really enjoying becoming our water baby.

Our little guy is getting bigger and bigger each day. He's at about 12 1/2 lbs. now and talking up a storm. He really thinks he is telling us something as he intently screeches and practices his vocal intonation to give us a piece of his mind or to just laugh. It is so much fun to interact with him in this way! We can't wait until he can actually say a few words, but we can definitely communicate with one another right now.

Okay, back to work...

Our Day at the Zoo

We continued our Fourth of July weekend with a rare Saturday off for Joe, spent at the Lincoln Park Zoo. I think we had more fun than Gav since he slept through our entire visit, with the exception of eating his lunch (that's my boy!).

Hey, Baby, It's the Fourth of July

I'd love to say that my Fourth of July was just as I had imagined it would be, but sadly, that was not the case. Why? I simply fell victim to New Mom High Expectation Syndrome, or NMHES for short (whatever). It all started with a Zutano onesie and matching hat. One day, several weeks ago, as I browsed the clothing racks at Be By Baby, I stumbled upon the perfect outfit for Gavin for the Fourth. A white shortall outfit festooned with red and blue whales, ships, and other nautical-inspired characters, I knew this outfit spelled P-E-R-F-E-C-T holiday...it meant a stroll through the park, glorious weather, and a chance for Gavin to watch his very first Fourth of July parade, complete with a flag attached to his stroller. "How darling!" people would exclaim as they walked by my sweet boy adorned in his outfit to celebrate the day.

And then I woke up to reality. My baby arose early...and cranky. He also decided that he was a hungry little man and required nourishment every 90 minutes for the first half of the day. His nap schedule ran amok and by the time the parade began at 2 p.m., well, he was fast asleep and I was ready to join him out of sheer weariness. By 2:30, I sat sobbing on the couch and muttering to Joe, "The day is ruined. He slept through the parade!" Now I know it sounds like I needed to get a clue, but a tired mama with NMHES is a force to be reckoned with and needs a little TLC. So, we put the outfit on the baby when he woke up at 3:30 and took pictures anyway. Happy Fourth of July!!

June Miscellaneous

I'm behind the eight ball in my photo postings. I guess that's what comes of forgetting to throw my teeny "cocktail camera" in my diaper bag and relying on our huge-telefoto lense-five pound-Nikon as an everyday camera. So here are some photos of my friend Colleen and I at the Botanic Gardens with babies Elodie and Gavin, as well as some sweet shots of Joe putting Gavin to bed. Enjoy!