Almost One

Gavs will be one next week. Where did the time go?

I just love this little guy! He is beginning to cruise and stand, and loves nothing better than walking around the house clutching our hands. He has a great sense of humor and is very joyful, always "playing tricks" on us and laughing for no apparent reason. He is also very specific and knows what he wants and doesn't like it when you take away the object of his interest. Most of all, he loves his mama and dada and we love that he is giving us kisses!

Hangin' with the Prince of Denmark

Joe with the president of B & O America and a regional manager

Oh la la!

The Princess and the Crown Prince (on crutches due to a ski accident)

The Danish press corp

A small Danish boy who presented flowers to the Princess

Look! There's the Crown Prince over my right shoulder! Stupid American.

We did have a bit of excitement around here this week when Joe's store was involved in an event centered around a visit from the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark, Frederik and Mary.

I was the photographer for Bang & Olufsen America for this event (was just going to be for Joe's store, but corporate forgot to hire a photographer), and it was hosted by Bang & Olufsen, George Jenson, and Louis Poulsen at the sales office for the new Spire building in Chicago. The Spire will be the tallest residential building in the world when completed. These Danish businesses hosted an afternoon cocktail event in honor of the visit by the Crown Prince and Princess of to the U.S. The timing was great since they were in the states to attend an Olympic Committee meeting in Denver. So, why not swing by Chicago on the way for some Danish branding? Seriously, whoever pulled that off should take a bow. It's not every day that you can get royalty to attend your event!

I was quite excited at the prospect of meeting a bonafide prince and princess, and even received the protocol instructing us to address them as "Your Royal Highnesses" (I thought I might slip and say, Your Hiney, since I joked around about it so much) and to feel free to curtsy or bow. But sadly, I only got within a few feet of the royals, and that's closer than most people got. You see, since I was taking photos of the event, I got to go to a magical place...a place that I typically relegate reporters to during events...the press area. It was good and bad. Good since I was able to get some close shots. Bad since I got scolded by the Danish press secretary for stepping outside the lines of the area. Since I'm usually the one scolding reporters, I felt shamed and amused, all at once. He even used the same line that I use. "If the other media see you taking liberties, than they will all want to do it."

But here's the thing. The Prince and Princess are like rock stars in Denmark. They travel with a 20-member press corp! It was crazy how many photographers were snapping away. And they accompany the royals on all of their trips. So my thought is: isn't it just the same people taking the same kinds of photos all the time? I guess they all know to stand behind the line since they are in the press area every day.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

"Green Screen" for flying--everybody just piled on!

On Saturday we celebrated both St. Patrick's Day and friend Uriah's birthday. St. Patrick's Day is HUGE in Chicago, so although we didn't go to any festivities, we took advantage of our Irish heritage (McGowan is pretty Irish, eh? And I have the Caldwell's on my side) to dress Gavs up in his own green outfit. Ahh, little Gavin Peter McGowan, our little lucky charm.

Uriah's party was Gavin's first little peer birthday party, and he had a blast. Uriah's dad, Scott, is a filmmaker and he set up a "green screen" for the kids so they could pretend they were flying. It looked pretty amazing on film.

Gavin impressed us all by standing up by himself for a couple of minutes...and all before he can even crawl properly! I guess he will go straight into an upright position. Besides that, in the past two days he has learned to say "Hi!" to everyone in sight, and yelled, "Bubbles!" repeatedly in his music class when the teacher brought the bubbles out. What a smart little monkey. I guess that's just the luck o' the Irish for you! Ha!

Roche Kids

These are some of our favorite kids...Lily, Evan, and Clara Roche. They are so sweet with Gavin. if we lived in Wheaton, we would hang out with them all the time. Alas...

Fun at the Kid's Museum

Last week Gavin and I visited the Kohl Children's Museum with Judy, Josh, and Madeline. It was a great way to spend a chilly day, and there was lots to see and do. Gavin discovered "up" while we were there--looking up at the big trees, floating mobiles, and whatever else happened to be hovering.

More Hawaii

As usual, I stumbled upon a few more Hawaii photos that I thought were worth posting. Aloha!

My Food-A-Licious Self is Back!!

My food-loving self is still here, even if you haven't seen it lately. So here are your food tips of the day.

I just went over to Whole Foods to buy our small weekly supply of organic bananas and sweet potatoes for Gavs and Gluten Free stuff for Joe (yes, I have to shop at about four different markets to get everything I need!). Today I was also on the lookout for Allegro coffee on sale. This is awesome coffee from Colorado (comparable to Intelligentsia or Metropolis), and their holiday blend was on sale for about $5.00 during January. You all probably know that coffee is typically anywhere from $8 - $13 per lb., so I was impressed. Plus, the coffee is super good.

I didn't find any Allegro on sale today, but I happened to ask the manager if they had any Holiday Blend still stashed away. He did have some 8 oz. bags that he was trying to unload since it expires in April, and he sold me all four bags for $2 each. Score!! I have found that even though Whole Foods is $$$, they are really open to bargaining with customers if they want to unload product. This happened to me once before with a certain brand of Gluten Free bread.

My other Whole Foods tip is that if you go grocery shopping before holidays they have tons of free samples. For instance, before Valentine's Day, they actually gave away whole candy bars from the Netherlands called Q.bel. They are awesome, peanut butter and chocolate wafer bars covered in Belgian chocolate. I am now a fan. Yum!

Feeling a Bit Christina Aguilara-ish

It's true. I am feeling a bit Christina Aguilara-ish lately. "When will my reflection show, who I am inside?" Oh Lord, I have been watching waaaay too much American Idol.

What I mean is I am having a hard time splitting myself between working and mothering. I like to work, and I know that in light of the economy I should work. And I think working from home makes it even more difficult to wear both of these hats at once since I am constantly multi-tasking. Baby down for a nap, okay, then it's time to write a press release in the next 60 minutes or less. Client calls? I have to book them on Mondays or Wednesdays when I have childcare, so I'm constantly stalling.

And don't even get me started on how hard it is to organize decent childcare.

So, I guess I wonder if I should just give myself a break. Perhaps I should focus less on work and more on my little guy's tiny-but-important achievements each day. I've already had a come-to-Jesus meeting with myself as I recently entered nervous breakdown territory over my client workload. I said goodbye to a pretty significant job because I knew it would send me over the edge. I guess I just don't want to care about work as much anymore.

Not Enough Time

I'm so mad. I just spent the past 30 minutes writing this post and Blogger went off-line and deleted it.

The quick recap: Gavin is going to be one next month, is saying a few words, can't crawl yet, neighbors baby can't crawl either at 13 months and is going to PT. She says babies these days are lazy. I'm not concerned yet, but hope he crawls soon.

Doesn't blogger know I have to type during nap time? Great.