Can You Feel My Heartbeat When I’m Close to You?

One-hundred and eighty degrees for last Monday was today, a peaceful, easy morning at the IVF clinic. Unlike our hour-long wait to get into the ultrasound room last Monday, this morning we showed up 10 minutes early and were escorted right into the ultrasound room where our favorite nurse, Peggy, sat waiting for our moment [...]

Snow Bunnies

As most of you know, we’ve been swallowed alive by copious amounts of snow. My neighborhood got around 21 inches. Now that it’s all over and we made it through without losing power I can say that it was awesome. Especially the thundersnow.
It ended up being the 3rd largest blizzard in Chicago history, which [...]

How Do You Spell Love?

My little girl loves her books to be sure, and I love reading them to her - even if it ends up eating up enhancing two or more hours of my day. Our current favorites are Brontorina, Knuffle Bunny Free and The Quiet Book. It doesn’t even have to be a book. Yesterday we spent [...]

Nola Duck

In the heart of Chicago on this New Year’s Eve, the mercury is threatening to approach a balmy 60 degrees. Heading into this joyous day, I assumed that the highlight of my day off would be running in shorts at 9:30AM instead of being strapped to my computer until 4:30 in the afternoon. And while [...]

What 7 AM Means to Me

Since December 18th, the day of my 32nd birthday, Nola’s wake-up time has shifted from 5:50AM to the tender, forgiving, I-don’t-want-to-die hour of 7AM. This, of course, proves that the best present, the gift of time, cannot be bought in stores. Sleep, which is the one thing I wanted most, can’t go on a wishlist [...]

Diaper Digger

Constance and I agree that if Nola was a boy (key Beyonce song, stat!), people would utter the awful phrase, “He’s all boy!” with absolute frequency. She is rough, tough, rambunctious and spends a large portion of her day with her hand down her pants. Now I realize this isn’t a giant problem given that [...]

Peek-a-Boo Gone Wrong

My voice has been gone for almost a week now. It comes and goes, but even when it comes, it’s like listening to a human being shouting through a garbage disposal. So, on Tuesday night I hit the bed early. Nola was standing next to me, playing a spirited game of peek-a-boo by throwing my [...]

Who Wears Short Shorts?

Nola wears short shorts now that the mercury has threatened to rise to 80 degrees on the first day of April - my beloved mother’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Mom!). After two full days of snotting and wheezing and fevering, Nola seems to be back to normal and ready to show some leg, dairy be damned.

And [...]

Not the Land of Milk & Honey

At Nola’s one-year checkup, which came three weeks early due to our delayed vaccination schedule, our pediatrician told me to start giving her whole milk in her sippy cup during the day instead of bottles. She said to start slowly - 3 ounces or so - to make sure Nola took to the cow as [...]

The Proof Is In The Pudding. And In This Case, The Pudding Is Video

Nola is now walking about 50 percent of the time and loving every minute of it.

And, if you turn your computer sideways (come on, that’s easy - right?):

Every day she just gets more fun. Tennis with dad is only, what - 2 months away, tops?