Then and Now! (or 1 year later)

Nils and Marisol August 2007
Daniel and Marisol August 2008

I can't believe how fast this year went!!

Recent Pictures of Marisol

Serious

Cheesy Grin

At our friend Mary's birthday party at the park
(from left: Marisol, Mary, and Marie - Mary's cousin)

Making a craft at Mary's party

Hitting (tapping) the Pinata

Mmmmm.... Yummy cupcake!

Posing at Nils' Birthday Party (the same day - we were partied out!)
-- He's 2 now!!

Life, death, and wear clean underwear!

The beginning of my week started with sad news. A woman who graduated from Bloomfield died in a whitewater rafting accident. My mom was pretty good friends with her and I had played soccer and golf with her on occasion. I didn't know her extremely well, and she was more of an acquaintance than a friend, but I did know her. If you know what I mean. I was and am very sad about it. Her death was very tragic and she was very young. It makes a person really think.

And this morning we got very good, happy news! Mike's sister, Stephanie, had her baby! Yay! Her name is Caroline Ruby and both the baby and mom are doing well. I get so excited about new babies... there is just so much hope and joy surrounding them! I am very excited that we will be visiting them in a few weeks. Congratulations to the Potters!!

Today I am reading a really REALLY good book that kind of ties both of these events together. It is called "Wear Clean Underwear: A fast, fun, friendly, and essential guide to legal planing for busy parents." It is by Alexis Martin Neely. It is really well written and I want to start getting down to business with Mike and making sure that we have all of our plans in place should anything happen to him or me. I HIGHLY recommend it to all parents out there -- even if you think you are prepared, I think that there are things in this book that everyone could use.

Other things... Mike started his internship and Marisol and I miss him in the morning because he is gone much earlier now. Marisol wakes up and after a while looks at me and says, "Where'd daddy go?" I officially told Ida and Dan that we will be trying to find a new gig once their new baby comes. So Ida is looking for a new nanny and Marisol and I are exploring some options. We are going to miss Nils and his family! This whole year has just been perfect -- but we decided that adding a newborn would be more than I am comfortable to take on.

The weather is getting nice here too. We are enjoying lots of playgrounds and play dates. I am really starting to feel settled here and like it is home. I have made some wonderful friends and that feels really good! We are looking forward to visits with family and friends in June and July and a trip to our true home Rochester!

I guess that's all for now!

Biking Across the Golden Gate Bridge

Marisol: The Photographer

Marisol loves to take pictures herself now. Here is a sampling of her work :-)

Grandparents Visit and Cherry Blossom Parade

My parents were here for a visit last weekend. We went to the Cherry Blossom parade which was so much fun! It was a huge parade -- over 2 hours! Marching bands from all over the country, floats, huge balloons and more... here are some pictures. The last picture is a link to a web album -- they are mostly different pictures. I've never tried that before and want to see if it works...

April 12, 2008

The Business of Being Born

I just finished watching this AMAZING documentary called "The Business of Being Born." It was produced by Rikki Lake. It is very similar to the book I reviewed a while ago "Pushed". It examines birth in the United States and is very interesting (to me anyways!) I highly recommend it.

Here is the website:

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/

It is on DVD now, and netflix has it -- that is how I watched it.