Practicing Dress Up

I've never really celebrated Halloween, even as a child, so Joe and I are not yet sure if "trick or treat" is a tradition we will follow in our family. I really have to think this through at some point, but I have limited mental capacity this month, I mean year. However, I couldn't resist buying Gavin a little costume because, let's face it, what is cuter than a baby dressed up like a peapod? I dare you to come up with something more adorable.

I know it's only September and I've already dressed him up, but a baby mama gets bored sometimes.

Anniversary and Other Stuff

Joe and I celebrated our sixth anniversary on Monday with an evening out at the movies ("The Women"--not so good, but so fun to be in a movie theater!) and dinner. We ate at Le Colonial, which is our favorite. We had a really good time (after a couple of drinks to relax), but the first half of the outing was somewhat stressful since Gavin developed "stranger anxiety" with his grandparents and screamed for two hour upon our departure. Yikes! But apparently he came around and gave them some giggles later in the evening. Who knew that a tiny baby could impact so many people's moods and emotions? I think we were all pretty tense about the situation. One more stop along the journey of parenthood...

In other news, this week Gavin had his six-month check-up. It's so incredible to think he has been with us for half of a year! He is just blossoming into a little boy already...chatting up a storm, refusing to sit because he likes to either stand up or lie down, giving us big belly laughs when we kiss his cheeks, and eating real food (well, real baby food). He does not seem like a tiny baby to me anymore. Dr. Shana says that Gav is right on track for six months and he is in the 50th - 75th percentile for height and in the 10 - 25th percentile for weight. It looks like his "baby blues" will remain, which is fun for me since I don't know of anyone else in my family who has blue eyes.

Needless to say, we are just besotted with this little boy. In fact, Joe called me this week from work and said, "I just wanted to tell you that I am in love with our son." Awwww...He is pretty darned cute and we have the evidence in the attached photos!

Perilously Close to the Edge

I am exhausted. Not necessarily sleep-deprived since Gavin is doing pretty well sleeping through the night. I am mentally exhausted from trying to "make things happen" in order to mother and work at the same time. Today was just a little slice of craziness...Juggling an altered last-minute schedule with Gavin's babysitter today that required me to work in one to two hour increments throughout the day. Watching someone else's child twice in one day (unplanned). Phone not working. A client's interviews scheduled on the wrong day and having to be rebooked with six different media outlets. Client annoyance. Starting to work again at 7:22 p.m. and knowing I won't be done for a few hours. No unplanned free time. No time to myself.

Something's got to give.

No New Tale to Tell

Nothing new going on here. All of my energies are going into working and taking care of the Gavinator--definitely more than a full-time job. I go to Philadelphia for a four-day business trip in a few weeks and am dreading leaving my baby boy for the first time. Such a bummer. But he will be well taken care of by his daddy and grandparents. I have another trip--this one to NYC--just two weeks later and was going to take Joe and Gav, but I think we've decided to leave the boy at home since I only have one day of work to do in the city. Besides, Joe is very excited that the NYC Harvest is at Madison Square Garden and wants to attend! That would be next to impossible with a baby, so it looks like Joe and I will have a weekend away. Our poor baby is going to wonder where his mama has gone in the month of October.

Well, if I have to suffer in New York (ha!), I am going to have some fun while there. Maybe we'll try Del Posto this time, which is Mario Battali's newest restaurant. And I'm definitely going to Century 21 for a shopping excursion. Have any of you been to New York lately? Any recommendations?

Top Chef

Gav and I went to the Green Market in Chicago with our friends Moon and Uriah today and were able to get in on a last-minute food demo with Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard and finalist Dale Lavinski. For once I wasn't bashful about asking for a photo, so here is Gav with Chef Dale!

Here are some "insider" things I learned about Top Chef while watching the cooking demonstration:

• The "block party" episode was shot in Ravenswood
• The producers were trying to create a fake on-camera relationship between Stephanie and Spike last season. Stephanie was glad that none of it aired.
• The Top Chef kitchen is actually just a sound stage in a warehouse in the middle of nowhere in whatever city they are filming in.
• Dale and Stephanie both named Gail Simmons as their favorite judge and the most knowledgeable about food out of the three judges. They thought Padma was funny and beautiful, but didn't have a lot of food expertise (reading between the lines). They seemed pretty blase about Tom Colichio.
• Dale and Stephanie used to work together at La Tache in Andersonville, and he actually nominated her for the show.

Cousins

Go West, Young Man

Sundance Food & Wine Festival

We took Gavin to Utah to meet my family over Labor Day weekend and had a wonderful time. Gavin is turning into quite the seasoned traveler and now has five flights under his belt. We're 3:2 for good/questionable flight experiences, so it's nice to be ahead...for now.

Joe and I always enjoy going to Utah, and it was that much more fun to introduce Gav to his Grandad (he and Grandma go waaaaay back!) and his aunts, uncles, and cousins. We had the chance to check out the Sundance Food & Wine Festival last Saturday and it was a blast! It's amazing how smaller cities/towns seem so uncrowded to me compared to the hustle and bustle of Chicago. There was no pushing, no cutting in line, and no waiting at any of the booths--including the Vueve Cliquot table. Amazing. We all stuffed ourselves silly with delicious food and libation and then went back to my parent's house to light up the grill for my sister and her family. The rest of us just watched them eat since we overdid it at Sundance. It's a good thing I'm nursing and get 500 extra calories a day!

The rest of the weekend was very relaxing...church, another meal out with the family, and lots of good visiting. Gavin has a lot of fans out West, so we look forward to going back at Christmas for an extended time.