Oh hey!

Oh hey everyone! (or anyone? hm...) Look at what I found? The password to my account! The beauty of the internet is that it never dies!

Yesterday was my 39th birthday, which I always thought would be/feel like a big deal. And (not) surprisingly, it wasn't. But next year is 40... so woo hoo!

Huge and I went to Smyth for dinner and it was amazing and beautiful! A fun way to kick of the year.

5 years: who would have thunk

Happy anniversary Huge! We made it 5 years and had some amazing experiences and some great times along the way. We went from kids to full blown adults with a house and these incredible kids. High five. Here's to many more anniversary celebrations.

p.s. Seriously, could Nora look any more like you?!?
p.p.s. The traditional 5 year anniversary gift is wood. Guess I should have brushed up on my whittling skills...

Thank goodness for technology

Thank goodness for technology. It makes keeping in touch so much easier -both of our families are far away so it's nice for them to be able to see the kids grow, but also because Huge has been travelling so much, he can check in and make sure the kids are ok too.

Checking in on facetime.

Callan's checking for facebook comments and tweets. #kidsandtechnology

My boys

Mondays are now daddy and Callan days. They've been going on field trips and today is no different. Here they are on the bus on the way to the museum. So lucky!

Linen and silk*

Wow, how time flies... in 4 years, we've gone from this:

to this:

Aren't you glad you didn't take your friends' advice?

Happy anniversary sweetie pie. Baby pies and I are over joyed to be celebrating another milestone together. Aren't you glad that we've made it this far (haha -I joke). Here's to another great year (and more) ahead... let's see what kind of fun we can have.

Love,
Rach (and C)

*According to wikipedia (yes, I realize this isn't a valid academic source, but for my purposes it'll do just fine *thankyouverymuch*), the traditional wedding anniversary gift for 4 years is linen or silk. I think this means I should go buy some new clothes! I've been eyeing a dress or two... Good thing the Nordstrom anniversary sale is around the corner -which p.s. when I told Huge about the anniversary sale, he said "they're having a sale for us?". Ya, for someone so smart, sometimes he's not so bright.
**p.p.s. I've stolen most of these photos from facebook... thanks Huge!

Mothers Day

I am very behind in posting --same excuses, work is crazy, life is crazy and I just don't have time, but if I don't write them down, I will forget and that would be worse. So this past weekend was Mothers day (hope you all remembered to call your moms! And is it Mothers Day or Mother's Day? I always want to spell it with an apostrophe, but I think that wrong...) and we had a wonderful weekend. Friday night, Huge and I went to dinner at Ria, which was absolutely amazing.  I told Huge that it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. Not only was the food was fabulous, but the service was stellar and so attentive (and Huge is treated like a minor celebrity there since he's done a lot of work for them and knows the chef, manager, sommelier). It definitely brought me back to a time when eating out was an occasion. I would definitely recommend going there (although, it's not cheap, so go for a special occasion or when you have some extra cash to spend!).
Saturday was a busy day with Wiggle worms (more on that later) and Luke's 1st birthday party (again, another post to come later) in the suburbs, so we spent the afternoon in the 'burbs hitting up Ikea and running other assorted errands.

Sunday was Mothers Day and I woke up to a nice surprise. Callan had gotten me a present! He decorated a balloon and gift bag with his hand prints (they're jumbo!) and then framed a picture of us. It was a great Mothers Day gift and I'm glad he remembered it :)

Before we give Huge too much credit, I should note that this was all Adelia's idea -and it's a good thing she did it because otherwise I don't think Callan/Huge would have gotten me anything! I love the picture, especially since we take a lot of pictures together (thanks Huge), but so rarely print them and the hand print bag is something I'll save. I guess Adelia took the kids on the balcony to make the bags and the boys were more interested in throwing things over the edge... guess that water table we wanted to get Callan will have to wait - I can't have them pitching things over from 14 floors up!

Anyway, this was technically my second Mothers Day, but the first one we really celebrated. I don't usually make a big deal over holidays or my birthday, but I really did enjoy having the day that was all about me (and Callan). Thanks Huge, Adelia and Callan for making Mothers Day so memorable.

First family Thanksgiving

Callan looks a little dubious here, but I swear he had a great first Thanksgiving.

Day with dad

While Adelia is fighting the crowds of black Friday and mama is working, Callan gets to spend the day with dad...
So far, so good.

Happy (day after) Thanksgiving!

I was hoping to get the perfect picture to accompany Callan's first Thanksgiving post but I was too busy enjoying the day to get it. Hope everyone had a great turkey day and hope you got to spend it with people you love (or at least thinking about them).

Callan, Huge and I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and this time of year always makes me a little more sentimental than normal. Thanksgiving kicks off the start of the crazy holiday season and it's easy to get caught up in the huddle and bustle. But try to remember the spirit of the holidays and remember all you have to be thankful for and remember to give those you love a little extra squeeze (after yesterday's food-stravaganza there's a little bit more of me to squeeze! Now excuse me while I try to keep my eyes open at work today. Looks like that fancy venti holiday coffee is calling my name...what's a few more calories?)

Just for laughs

I couldn't leave such a serious entry up...so a little video of my silly boys should lighten the mood. (Received 10/19/11)

Weekend in Canada

This past weekend Callan took his first "international" flight to Canada and got his first stamp in his passport! He travelled like a champ and although he whined a little bit on the plane before he fell asleep coming home, it was short lived and I don't even think the other passengers noticed. In fact we got a few compliments on how well behaved Callan was (and how cute he was).

We had connecting flights there and back, which I was dreading a little bit, but it seemed to work out ok. The flight to Montreal was in the morning, so by the time the flight to Toronto took off, it was just about time for Callan's first nap and he slept the whole way. We brought a play mat for him to play on in the airport while we waited for the next flight and as an added treat, he got to stay in his pj's for most of the day!

While in Montreal, Callan met the rest of Huge's family. His immediate family (mother, father, brother and sister-in-law) has been to Chicago to see Callan, but the rest of his family had not met him and they were all very excited. Callan's great-grandmother was very excited and it was so cute to see Callan sitting on her lap and see him watching/listening to her.


There was a large family gathering on Saturday at Huge's parents house and I'm not sure Callan knew what hit him. He was often surrounded by many people smiling, cooing, laughing and talking to him all at once. He was such a trooper though and made the rounds, from one lap to another, while throwing back enough smiles and laughs to appease the masses.

We also got to see some of Huge's friends and meet the new babies. Olivia Marie is just 5 weeks old, but Callan was already smitten. Olivia, doesn't seem as impressed in this picture, but I think she was just "working" on something more important at the time.



Callan also met Annabelle, who had the cutest, chubbiest cheeks ever. I wanted to gnaw on them all day!


All in all, it was a great weekend. Huge and I got to spend time with family and friends and took advantage of the free (and eager) babysitters and went out a few nights. Callan travelled like a champ and wasn't thrown off his routine too much. It was great to see everyone and got to spend some extra time with Callan -he rewarded us by making a few more advances. He can now sit up unassisted, he is getting super close to crawling and he is sprouting his first tooth. Slowly (well, not so slowly) but surely, he is morphing from this little baby to this little boy. Seeing Olivia and Annabelle really drove home how much these little munchkins change and how quickly it happens!

Storytime with Daddy

Enjoying one of his favorite books!

Happy Birthday!

To Huge:
Sorry I didn't buy you a present, but I hope you have the best birthday ever and I know that the upcoming year is going to be truly spectacular. This little guy will make sure of it!

Love,
Rachel (and Callan)

Sunday lunch

At Hub 51.

Three Years

Three years ago I married the man I love and (to be super cliche) my best friend. What I didn't know then was how much my love would grow, especially seeing him as a father. I may be a very lucky girl having someone like Huge as a husband, but I feel even luckier knowing my kids will have a father like him. Happy Anniversary!