"You make me smile with my heart"

"My Funny Valentine" ~Frank Sinatra

I'm looking forward to this sunny day off and trying to make sure I don't put too much on my "to do" list so that Charlie and I get some quality play time. Mother's Day shopping and a work meeting are my priority. Maybe some gardening??

Swine flu

No, you can't get it from eating pork.
My office has had a few calls on the swine flu, but not as many as we expected. I haven't had anyone coming in to get tested for it, but maybe soon. We have a few "suspected" cases in the county, but none confirmed.
As of now, if I see a patient with respiratory illness suggestive of flu (fever, cough, runny nose, body aches), my responsibility is to first run an in-office flu test. If the test returns positive for influenza, Type A, I can then treat with an anti-viral and send a culture to the health dept to evaluate for swine flu. I am not scared or worried at this point. I save that sort of drama for when it's actually appropriate. Hopefully all of the hype will be over in another couple weeks...

Tulip Time begins in Holland next weekend. This 80 degree weather is the perfect thing to bring the glorious flowers into full bloom. Although we aren't Dutch, I've imagined how adorable Charlotte would be in her own Dutch costume and wooden Klompen shoes. I couldn't have been more pleased when one of my patients gave me an authentic handmade Dutch dress for Charlotte. I ran around the office showing it off to anyone who would listen and even took it into her daycare that evening. It will be a little big this year, but hopefully she'll be able to wear it next year as well. My little Dutch doll!



Here's a recent video of her. She's so much more active and alert now. I remember when she just used to lie and look at her toys. She's just shy of 15 weeks now. (Maggie also makes a guest appearance in this clip.)



Hope everyone is having a nice weekend. I wish I was working on the garden. Darn this rain!

The party starts here

Brian and I attended a Junior League fundraiser on Saturday night, called Bittersweet. We enjoyed sampling New Holland beer and desserts from local restaurants. We tried our luck in a few 12-bid auctions and were lucky enough to win a 6 hour house cleaning! I can't wait to see my house sparkle like it's never done before.

And just to prove anyone wrong about whether Junior League women know how to have fun, look at one of the raffle prizes we constructed. That's right - it's a wheelbarrow....full of booze! I should have hung around to laugh with the winner as he took it out to his car.

More pictures

For her 3 month pictures, we took Charlotte to the JCPenney studio. It was a very cookie-cutter experience, and photos were over in 10 minutes. (Much different from our 3 hour newborn photo session.) But in the end, I was impressed with the quality of the photos for the time and money we spent. Here are a few faves.







And an out-take!

Happy Birthday and Earth Day!

Look at my nephew! He's 1 now. He has grown so quickly, but it also seems like so long ago that I met his darling face for the first time. He is such a sweetie.



He seems pretty impressed by the candle. I'm certain he's never been that close to a flame before. I wonder where the pics are with cake smeared all over his face. Chris - do you have any?

Economic stimulus

April has been an excessive spending month. After all of my birthday events, putting new shingles on the roof, 3 month pics for Charlotte, the Carter's warehouse sale and a junior league fundraiser, I feel like my debit card is on fire. I think we have our own economic stimulus package! Brian and I are taking a challenge in May to drastically limit spending. This means no entertainment or restaurants. No new clothes (or yarn for that matter). Our only downfall will be my conference in San Diego at the end of the month. Anyone want to join us and make a friendly competition out of it? We can see who can live off beans and rice for the longest!

We're trying hard to get a real, true laugh out of her. Very hard. In fact, maybe she just thinks we're weird.

"That doesn't sound right"

That's what Brian said when I shared this news headline with him. I agree, it seems like something that would be in the National Enquirer.
A tree grows inside man's lung.

Lookin' Good

My nephew turns 1 at the end of the month. I couldn't pass up this opportunity to knit something for him. This is the "cable tank top" from Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby book. I used three skeins of her self-named cashmerino to make a size 18-24 months. I absolutely love how it turned out and am so pleased it fits! The aqua matches his eyes perfectly.





Doesn't he look sharp?

Charlotte loves Randy. I was watching American Idol this morning and noticed Charlotte kept smiling at the t.v. It was Randy -or maybe his big yellow stripe.

The many faces of Charlotte

Easter was quite the busy weekend - but we really enjoyed ourselves. We hosted Brian's family on Saturday. Jacqueline pampered me with some new high/low lights and a cut. I love it and will try to post pics soon. We all went to Easter vigil mass together and enjoyed Brian's dulcet tones ;) I had to kick everyone out of the house at midnight, though, because Sunday was another big day. We drove to my parents for the day for a tasty Polish feast.

Charlotte seemed to enjoy all of the Easter festivities as well. I certainly enjoyed all of her cute Easter dresses!

"That is hilarious! Tell me more."


"Grandpa, I'm so sleepy. Please cuddle me."


"Oh Amos, you're so silly. I can't catch a ball yet!"


"I want to laugh, but I haven't learned how yet."


Down for the count.

Martha is my hero!

Sorry for being a delinquent blogger, but life has kept me busy in a very good way these last several weeks.
Our NYC trip was quite a day. Woke up at 4:45 to get dressed and pump milk, only to realize I left the major parts to the pump at home (I was then at my mom's.) Any nursing mom can sympathize with how fear stricken I was.  The situation was solved once we got to NYC and found a Target, thank the Lord.  We did get to the plane in time, but then realized I left my camera in the car. Thankfully, that was all that went wrong that day.
We got in line nice and early for the Martha show, which ensured us front row seats. We like to think they placed us in the front because we're so gorgeous, but I don't think we ever made it on camera :)  The set was gorgeous and quite surreal inside an otherwise stark and cold warehouse. The show was about family recipes, in which 5 of her staffers came to prepare old family favorites like whole wheat waffles and chicken enchilada casserole. I may make 1 or 2 of the recipes, but I'll definitely pass on the fish stew. 

I was so impressed by the amount of work and precision that goes into putting on a live show.  The camera crew, set decorators and kitchen prep staff moved around as though they were in a ballet. I thought Martha was just beautiful in person.  Her composure and authority are something I would love to emulate in my profession.

It was a long day.  We didn't get back home until 2 am, but nothing a little Starbucks couldn't fix.  I loved my birthday gift and I will never forget it.  Thank you Brian!!

See all of Bri's iPhone pics here.

Happy Birthday

I do have martha stewart stories to share, and they'll come as soon as I can get out of my sleep-deprived state of confusion. However, today the most important thing is that
it's Brian's Birthday!!!
My husband is a magnificent human being, and I don't only say that because he goes with me to musicals and the Martha show, but because he is generous, kind-hearted, creative, and oh so funny.
So today, in his honor, let's put on a suit, find a new way to use awesome in a sentence, and tip back a cold Coke Zero.
Happy Briannakuh honey.

12 weeks

Charlotte is 12 weeks old today.



I can't say a bad thing about this baby. She is a blessing to me and Brian in every way. These last twelve weeks have been pretty magical, just watching her grow and become more curious about her surroundings. Last night Brian finally figured out how to hook our video camera up to our computer. We watched the few seconds he taped of Charlotte just as she was born. It was awesome then and still pretty awesome now.
And another thing about 12 weeks, I'm pleased to see that I can tighten my belt another notch now! I'm not pre-pregnancy size, but I don't care about that.

Birthday surprise!

Brian totally surprised me today. He's taking me on a day trip to NYC on Wednesday for the taping of the Martha Stewart show! I am so geeked. In fact, I was so excited when he told me that I just about threw up. I'm sad I'll be away from Charlotte for the day since we're also apart today, but she'll be in the capable hands of my mom. Now I'm just fantasizing about who the guest may be on the show...my dream would be Neil Patrick Harris.

Birthday fun

I have a big case of TGIF this week. My 30th birthday isn't until the 11th, but with all of the holiday madness that will keep us busy, I asked Brian to spoil me this weekend. So, tomorrow he is taking me shopping in Lansing, out to dinner, and then to see the Lion King at Wharton Center. If time allows, I'd also like to visit Threadbear, a yarn shop in Lansing. Actually, from what I hear it's more like a yarn warehouse and is well worth the trip. It's not like I need more yarn, but I may just find a great skein of sock yarn to remind me of the special day.

Happy Baby

There's nothing like a baby's smile to brighten your day.

Brilliant child

I'm proud to know him. Brian says "We can only hope Charlotte is this witty."