Baby, baby.

Did I tell you that my sister and her hubby are expecting?

Did I tell you that I was right?

It's a BOY.

His name...is CULLEN PATRICK BELL.

My sister is the coolest. Patrick's not so bad, either.

I cannot WAIT to hold this little babe, my very first nephew.

Siiiiiigh.

It's fixed!

Just now:

Charlie: "Can I have my little truck back?"

Me: "No, you lost your truck because you broke a rule and threw a toy near your sister."

Charlie: "I can have it later?"

Me: "You get it back tomorrow, if you don't break any more rules tonight."

Charlie: "Mom, that rule's fixed now...can I have it back?"

Sheesh!

Malcontent

mal·con·tent (mlkn-tnt)
adj.
Dissatisfied with existing conditions.
n.
1. A chronically dissatisfied person.
2. One who rebels against the established system

Yeah, I don't mean Mal, content. This girl has developed a 'tude. I hope it's just the teething and not a permanent change. She wants to be held all the time, screams and fights sleep, and really hasn't smiled a whole lot in the last couple of days. She still has her giggling fits, and that's adorable. But the adorable-ness is so hard to remember when she is having a fit. I'm sure that I am getting what I deserve, what with all the bragging over my perfect babe. The best remedy for a tantrum? Two things...Charlie Fekadu and electronics. Charlie cam make her dissolve into laughter just by acting crazy. And let her get ahold of your cell phone or laptop, and she's occupied indefinitely. Decide that it's getting a bit risky to keep letting drool seep into the cracks of said equipment, and you are doomed. When you take something away from her that she was enjoying, she cries like she has been pinched. Today for instance, I was letting her play with one of Charlie's old toys. It's one of those toys that you press a button and it lights up and spins around all psychedelic like. She loved the colors and motion, but as soon as I let the button go, she would wail. Solution? Packing tape, around the button to hold that bad boy down. Despite her bad mood, she is still my little chuck of love (well, if you call 20 pounds little...she is catching up to big brother).

Big brother...another firecracker these days. I have to tell him 12 times to STOP, COME HERE, SIT DOWN...and today, LOOK AT THE CAMERA, CHARLIE. THE CAMERA. RIGHT HEEEEERE! Yep, I finally have my Nikon D90. And today was my first attempt at a photo shoot with my little darlings. Amber was there to help me, as she always is these days (how did I do this alone?) but the kiddos were not feeling it. Mallory would not smile, but she was gazing very intently at the great outdoors. Charlie couldn't seem to figure out where I was or that I was taking photos. Or how to smile without looking insane. The dogs were rolling around all over the place. After about 10 minutes I threw in the towel. I did get some cute shots, but not the WOW ones I was after. I need something big for the mantle. Another day.

What's that? You wanna see the pictures? Well, some are decorating my blog since the makeover, as you can see. Here are some others:













Okay. I take it back, Mal.

As I was loading those photos, she woke up and I bolted upstairs to check on her, armed with 4 ounces of formula. I scooped her up and she instantly fell asleep curled up on my chest. I rocked her and fed her, and once she was good and asleep, I kissed her face, and breathed her in and marveled at how beautiful she is. This baby can do no wrong! What was I thinking, saying all those mean things about her?
Isn't it funny, how quickly you forget the irritation, the mean mommy voice, and the hiding in the bathroom? Let's love our babies!

I wonder how long that will last. Probably until the next screaming fit or temper tantrum. Parenting is so freaking hard. But we love it. And we do the best we can (usually). It's just really, really...fun.

On a totally different note, I made a recipe (healthy!) that was seriously the yummiest thing I have ever made. For my veg friends, just add artichokes and mushrooms instead of the chicken. Actually, add them anyway. Serve with Greek salad and YUMMO. Bam, even!
Behold:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Garlic-Chicken-with-Orzo-Noodles/Detail.aspx

It's so easy, too. And delish. In fact, I am embarrassed, a little, to tell you this dish's nickname in my house, because then you would think I was gross. Let's just say it was to good to throw out, and what's that rule again?

M'kay, now that no one will ever eat dinner at my house again...I'm out!

We'll Always Have Paris....sort of.

Honeymoon in Paris.

A young, excited new wife with a brand new Nikon.

A horrifying computer crash.

All of these added up to the reason why I have NO PHOTOS FROM OUR HONEYMOON. I take that back. I have a framed shot of the Eiffel Tower that I salvaged. And, I guess I should be grateful that I uploaded a few of the images onto Photobucket. I could order prints from there, but OF COURSE the photos I uploaded are trapped forever in a grotesque low-res hell. So, no prints, but, why not share them in my very favorite place? It's nice to remember that amazing trip, even if it constantly reminds me of the stupidity of NOT BACKING UP YOUR IMAGES.


The Louvre. It would take DAYS to see it all, maybe weeks.

The Rose Window in Saint-Chappelle. The chapel was built to house Christ's crown of thorns and other treasures.

Notre Dame

Yes, silly Americans. We hung out in an Irish pub and I drank Bailey's...not wine.

La Concergerie, where Marie Antoinette was held prisoner. The spiral staircase up to her cell was blocked off, and man, was it mysterious, and very creepy.

You know this lovely lady...

And this handsome man...

Just a couple of kids at Euro Disney

You spin me right round, baby!

Lighting a candle at one of the churches



Laura and I know the truth...
Also buried here were Chopin and Oscar Wilde. Women had kissed lipstick smooches all over Oscar's headstone. There were also TONS of letters and notes.

I straight killed some beignets that week. Mmmmm, heaven.

Which way??

Beautiful!

The view from our cute hotel room

And we complain about parking...


Lovers by the Seine...ahhh...

Anyone wanna go on a wild goose chase?? ;)


Sacre-Coeur (Sacred Heart), in Montmartre, which was artsy and quirky. My favorite part of Paris.

I can't remember where this was. I remember it being in a garden. I think it is shown in that really bad movie, The Happening, at the very end. Some guys are walking through it, and one croaks. I wish I could remember!


It was Adam's idea to go to Paris. I was thinking Jamaica, but I am so glad we did. I can't wait to go back again someday.

Maybe not so many pastries this time around...



(didya notice, i blogged twice in one day...scroll down, peeps!)

Valentine Weekend

A few weeks ago, I dropped some hintage on Facebook that I would love a "surprise" one night in Atlanta for the big V. We don't usually celebrate the holiday much, but the more kids we have, the more we will take an excuse to get a few moments together. And on a Saturday? Heck yeah.
(Know what sucks about this post? I have no pictures! I got lazy...again).
We dropped the kiddos off in the afternoon, one at my parents', one at Adams' and headed north in my dad's cute little Versa. (The minivan just isn't as much fun to drive downtown.) We checked into our free room (thank you, Hilton points) and hung out for a while before dinner. I had toyed with the idea of getting dressed up, making reservations, and mingling with the fancy shmancy for a night. Then, I pictures us in jeans, sucking down raw oysters with a big ole' rum drink. And so, we ended up at my favorite restaurant ever ever ever. We had oysters, crab legs, peel n' eat shrimp, crab dip, and lobster bisque. And two of those rum drinks. I could not have been happier. We ate dinner at about 5:00 so we would beat the crowds, and we planned on staying a long time anyway. But, the rum made me kinda tired, and the king sized white down comforter was calling my name. We headed back to the hotel and plopped down. Hey, we should go out to a bar! Orrrr....we could get some junk food and beer and stay in bed. The next 14 hours were spent in bed, with wine, cheesecake, chocolate covered strawberries, and cannoli. And the Sci-Fi channel. And each other. It was lovely.
Sunday we spent the afternoon driving around the city. Every time I am in Atlanta, I love it more and more. We drove from downtown, to midtown, to Buckhead, to Little 5. There was little traffic. The sun was shining. People were smiling. We had lunch on the patio at the Vortex, where I decided that instead of seeing a movie that afternoon, I would rather get a tattoo. Actually, I wanted to update the stars on my foot. After all, I have another girl star to add. :)
Two hours later:

My favorite color combo, and now, two boys and two girls.
Perhaps this time next year, we will start working on bringing home our final star, another little blue one. Perhaps...
On the way home, we played the Ipod game. Adam demolished my record of naming 20 artists in a row by making it to 34 with no oopsies. We picked up our babies, whom I had missed more than I thought I would. I think that one night away from them is all I can do for now. To end the weekend, we all went to Laurie and Loyd's for a cookout and enjoyed some awesome food and company. Home by 9 with two sleeping littles. Up till 1 catching up on Tivo and Facebook. What a fabulous weekend.

More sunshine...

Anyone up for more gratuitous cute photos of my kids?
Yeah?

Okay!
(These are all by Amber...except the ones she's in.)















Things are really good for us right now. I think that I sometimes take that for granted. It's not sunshine for everyone out there right now, and I think about you, hope for you, pray for you. It can't rain forever.