jfe-bpw - a day in the life... of us!

what it's all about...

2012-02-04T14:39:00.001-05:00

is US! having blue may have been the most revolutionary act of our lives, and we're totally head over heels for him, but ultimately bryan and i came first, and sometimes we have to make sure our relationship gets put first too. to many more date weekends!! (huh mom and dad, whaddya say??) ;)

NOLA best of

2012-02-04T14:36:00.001-05:00

just a few more quintessential new orleans shots!

NOLA part deux

2012-02-04T14:32:00.002-05:00

usually cool outdoor space is not the first thing people think of when they think of new orleans ;) but there are some amazing parks (assuming it's not mid-summer of course!)

NOLA date weekend!

2012-02-04T14:26:00.002-05:00

so last weekend b and i got out of town for our first official weekend sans kiddo! leander fended for himself just fine. ;) kidding of course, my folks were awesome and took him up to PA to hang with them. he had his own adventures (and photographs to prove it) but that is for another post! it was just wonderful to get away, we saw a ton and got out of the DC vibe for a while, and really made the most of our time...

french quarter color!

you could spend hrs wandering around the streets...

streetcar up to the garden district -

remember when i went to tulane???

tulane tree -

"outside"

2012-02-04T14:22:00.002-05:00

leander's favorite word. :) here are a few from the backyard snow a few weeks ago...

LNW words

2012-01-17T21:36:00.002-05:00

just for posterity's sake, i want to get these down... yes, he really does say all of these! :)
signed,
proud mama (whose son has bryan's gift of gab)

mama
daddy
pop pop
dog
woof
balloon
outside
look
ok
berry
blackberry
no (usually said to sancho or lupe, now branching out)
si
up (sounds like ba)
clock
tick tock (said CONSTANTLY, the kid can pick out a clock from a mile away)
socks
shoes
pretty
book (li-bro)
hi
hello
cat
tree
gracias
oink
duck
turtle
ball
hot
door
downstairs
done
dos
light
put back
bath
leche
poop
five
adios
turkey
lovey
jacket
car
truck
bird (or birdie)
moon - ask us about when he pointed to the moon one eve while out for a stroll with the dogs, melt your heart...
boogie (yep, and he says it while wiping his nose)
squirrel
star
cock-a-doodle-doo
night night (said it to me this eve as i laid him down in crib)
elmo (melmo)

best xmas reaction ever

2012-01-17T21:30:00.001-05:00

(to one of the more crazy toys he received! thanks mom and dad! leander will LOVE playing with that every time he visits you in PA...) ;-)
seriously, look at this reaction. this is the reason that we all buy so much for our children - to get that response!!

rockin' elmo

Chase game

2012-01-17T21:27:00.001-05:00

YouTube Video

Boy loves yogurt drink

2012-01-17T21:11:00.001-05:00

Just cute shots of him drinking ( about the only time he sits still!) and then with joker yogurt face...

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farm show mania!

2012-01-17T20:58:00.005-05:00

it's been waayy too long since i have posted pics, in part b/c i can't find my camera. ack! but i will get some from bryan from the holidays and upload soon. long story short, life is great. leander is just so much fun, so goofy. these pics are from last weekend in PA - it's the annual state farm show. leander got to look at roosters and cows and goats and ducks, and it was pretty cute. touched the back of one cow and after that every time he saw one he was reaching for it. oh and a pig nibbled on his shoe through the pen and after that point every time we got close to a pen he kept holding his foot out in hopes of another nibble :)

upper cardozo finally completes its renovation

2012-01-08T10:14:00.004-05:00

can you spot me in the crowd?? ;)

National Association of Community Health Centers

DC Primary Care Association

Facebook

istanbul - last look

2011-11-20T16:26:00.003-05:00

bryan has a million more pictures and they're soooo much better, but i still figured it'd be good to share mine -

in front of a mosque by the bosporus and at the entrance to the spice bazaar...

feeding the pigeons

one of the restaurants where we ate dinner. luckily many places (besides having friggin' delicious food) had couches with plenty of pillows, which is a perfect place to keep leander entertained. add to that any waiters giving him their cell phones, potato chips, candy bars, toys = not too shabby dinner date for b and i!

all in all it was an amazing trip. we had a lot of fun, and it was really special to travel all together. we'll show blue these pictures when he's big and tell him all about it! it definitely wasn't easy (for him or for us!) and the days with lots of travel were HARD. but we learned a lot and hope one day to return to italy (esp rome) and definitely to turkey as well... as for blue, i think this will be our last trip across the pond with him for a few more years!!

i heart istanbul

2011-11-20T16:16:00.002-05:00

another stop on the tourist track - right across the plaza from the hagia sophia is the blue mosque, named for the blue tiles on top of the domes. another breathtaking sight, and it also meant that we heard the call to prayer multiple times a day from wherever we were. a beautiful and haunting sound...

turkey, though almost exclusively muslim, is pretty secular. it was still a different world, but the only area where it was really necessary to cover your head was inside the mosque...

always most entertained by other kids -

this picture is of leander looking up at the ceiling inside the mosque. the behind-the-scenes story is that he's beginning to throw mini-tantrums - whenever you take something from him (forks, pens, other people's phones, etc) or try to get him to go away from something he wants (stairs, cats, ledges, fire, etc.etc.) he yells loudly, arches his head back and immediately sits down. then he slowly lowers himself down onto the floor. i imagine that as he gets a bit older the tantrum will continue and involve leg kicking, crying, etc. but right now it's only seconds long, and dissipates the second his head hits the ground and he looks up at the ceiling. it's as if he becomes mesmerized by the new perspective and whatever he sees, and forgets what he was mad about. we'll enjoy it while we can. :)

istanbul rocks

2011-11-20T16:11:00.002-05:00

these photos are from the hagia sophia, an ancient cathedral turned mosque turned museum just steps from our hotel. it was breathtaking...

mosaics of gold

turkish men are CRAZY about babies. this guard cooed at leander for about 15 minutes (if i can upload the video as well i will). he also made me take a picture of him holding leander. another guard gave leander his walkie-talkie to play with...

back to rome

2011-11-20T12:58:00.003-05:00

finished up our italian trip by heading back to rome. went to the vatican museum, sistine chapel, and more exploring... next, to turkey!

naples tour with the mediterranean crew

2011-11-20T12:53:00.002-05:00

on our last night in naples at the end of the conference, we went on a grand tour of the city. decided to hell with leander's routine for the day, this was too special to miss...

view from a balcony in the oldest aquarium in the world -

beautiful port

got a few winks here and there, while hanging with friends

clutch item of the night. finally got to our dinner location (where pizza was invented), and there was this awesome kid's racetrack. leander played happily with this for almost the entire meal time (no easy feat in italy)

nighttime. all in bed by 1130pm :)

naples for real

2011-11-20T12:41:00.005-05:00

blue and i did escape the good volcano for an afternoon and cabbed it into downtown naples...

12 monkeys shot :)

hooray! leander, although only 1 yr old, gets the magic of space and place we are in. he marvels at the sites and history of this ancient italian plaza!

oh wait, he points at everything.

funny italian food

2011-11-20T12:38:00.002-05:00

since the mall had few good options for eating and was only open limited hrs, i had to buy some baby food to get us through (lord knows when leander gets hungry, he's gotta eat NOW). buying that stuff in another country reminded me of how cultural even baby food is - italians have little jars of prosciutto and as many types of cheeses as you can imagine, all to get baby palates ready for a lifetime of italian food, yummmm. however, they also have horse meat (!) and funny names for cereal...

vulcano buono

2011-11-20T12:35:00.003-05:00

the shopping mall did have plenty of space for kids to play, and an outdoor area with a small amusement park...

naples - ahem nola

2011-11-20T12:30:00.002-05:00

so bryan's conference was in naples, or actually a good distance outside of naples in a town called nola. the hotel was part of a shopping mall shaped like a volcano (no joke). it was a bit isolating and weird, combined with b's long conference days (but he rocked his keynote, and the workshop!) it was not ideal. but blue and i passed the time and had fun -

first time watching TV on purpose. jose luis, his favorite musician -

many lunches out

plenty of play

italy part 1 - rome

2011-11-20T12:25:00.003-05:00

rome started off our trip! we got a great little hotel close to the spanish steps and walking distance to all else. everything in rome is old and beautiful. but both b and i also got a great vibe and hopefully will get to spend more time there in the future...

family shots

2011-11-20T12:21:00.002-05:00

these were taken the day of his birthday as well. we went to the NC aquarium and then to see the beach in nags head...

belated birthday

2011-11-20T12:18:00.002-05:00

seems a bit funny now that we've hit the 13 month mark, but my mom shared these pics from leander's birthday and i wanted to post. it was an emotional and proud few days for us, and sooo special to spend it all together in OBX. leander had fun (always) and since i was too lazy to make a birthday cake, he tried a sampling from good life gourmet... (caterer for our wedding!)

Funny hair

2011-11-19T19:39:00.001-05:00

This is from the first part of our flight from Munich to DC on Thursday (we had already flown istanbul to Munich). I will post many more pictures and stories ASAP, but this video of leander's hair post-nap is just too good...

YouTube Video

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halloween

2011-11-02T10:41:00.001-04:00

sunday halloween brunch with a bunch of super-cute babies :)

family

2011-10-28T22:35:00.002-04:00

the perfect grassy hill

2011-10-28T22:33:00.001-04:00

enjoying the view

2011-10-28T22:29:00.002-04:00

beautiful fall day

2011-10-28T22:27:00.002-04:00

perfect for a hike in rock creek park!

happy birthday, leander blue!

2011-10-16T09:54:00.000-04:00

shark tank photos

2011-10-16T09:52:00.000-04:00

a trip back to the aquarium

2011-10-16T09:50:00.000-04:00

manteo - where the magic happened

2011-10-16T09:46:00.001-04:00

my folks watched blue for a night and b surprised me with reservation at the inn we stayed at on our wedding night in manteo, NC! here's to another FOUR MORE YEARS :)

OBX - beach time

2011-10-16T09:36:00.002-04:00

as you can tell, a good time was had by all!

happy halloween

2011-10-09T09:57:00.001-04:00

hilarious...

HALLOWEEN

courtesy of one of the women in my new mom's group (although we ain't so new anymore!)

Museum of the American Indian

2011-10-03T08:19:00.001-04:00

YouTube Video

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photographer friends

2011-10-02T21:23:00.003-04:00

note blue's very pensive, wise, "who the hell are you staring at me so early this morning?" face. all while sucking on a cartoon whale pacifier...
courtesy of jason bradley!

action and adventure

2011-10-02T21:21:00.001-04:00

leander loves his new tunnel, an early bday gift from nana and gumps (previously known as molly and TJ wallace)

Big 6-0

2011-09-24T23:28:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday to the greatest dad. We love you!!!

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Sunshine and the start of fall

2011-09-11T19:20:00.001-04:00

Spent part of the day exploring the National Arboretum, which is quickly becoming one of our favorite places in DC -

One of the biggest beech trees we'd ever seen -

8 foot tall jopie weed-

Photography under the pine trees-

Peek a boo!

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Leander and the boys at the neighborhood "black" party

2011-09-08T17:14:00.001-04:00

Also known as "block" party, complete with BBQ, moon bounce, snow cones, etc. But the boys were calling it a "black" party, which was mostly true. This party is also where Leander tried his first ring pop (see below)... :)

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what i'm up to these days...

2011-09-07T20:12:00.002-04:00

"so in your expert opinion, do people who possess marijuana for personal use usually store it in their rectum?"

yep that's right, it's grand jury duty!

Ikea = fun (part 2)

2011-09-03T21:54:00.001-04:00

YouTube Video

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Ikea = fun

2011-09-03T21:49:00.001-04:00

YouTube Video

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Yelling games

2011-09-03T21:39:00.001-04:00

We had a helluva day! Here is a new game we invented...

YouTube Video

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almost heaven, west virginia

2011-08-29T20:29:00.002-04:00

PA - boiling springs pond

2011-08-28T21:24:00.003-04:00

from last weekend's PA trip (feeding ducks, leander liked to look at them and to eat some of the bread)... this past weekend we spent in a cabin in WV (avoided most of irene), those shots to come soon...

charchan bday celebration

2011-08-28T21:22:00.001-04:00

a blurry shot, but a good one of gma's 93rd birthday cake!

just a funny series

2011-08-21T21:16:00.002-04:00

i know it's been a while since the most recent posts! this is just a few from goofing around at home a few weeks ago. i promise we'll have more soon...

floyd fest faces

2011-07-31T19:58:00.001-04:00

floyd fest 2011

2011-07-31T19:55:00.002-04:00

what a great bluegrass festival, nestled in the blue ridge mountains...

PA

2011-07-22T21:16:00.002-04:00

a GREAT weekend, including hersheypark happy, hot hikes, cool lake swims, and leander meets his first turtle!

hott date overnight - annapolis

2011-07-22T21:13:00.001-04:00

remember what we looked like when there were just TWO? :)

amy long's words

2011-07-12T15:25:00.002-04:00

stealing a bit - hopefully she won't mind my creative license! :-)

our great friend amy long (from our days in NC, her husband zac was our wedding officiant) has been dealing with cancer. kicking its butt, i should say... everything is going really well, and she posted this on HER blog site. reminds me of all the reasons that we love her!! and that life is grand and always to be treasured.

Amy Long: my attitude?
07/12/11 8:41 AM
I get a lot of comments about my (insert positive adjective here) attitude on an almost daily basis. Whether it is from office mates, neighbors, our waitress at our favorite pub, the boys' camp counselors, grocery store clerks who know us all too well... you get the picture. My only response is "How can I not be positive and carrying on normally?!" I am the mother to the two most precious beings in the entire universe. I am the wife and partner to the most wonderfully supportive, encouraging, compassionate, comical and loving man. I am sister, daughter, aunt and out-law to the zaniest, craziest, most laughable and lovable two families I know! And I am a friend and confidant to all of you who read this.

They always say you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family --- you're stuck with 'em. Well, I WOULD pick my family. They can infuriate me as quickly as they can make me laugh, this is true. Fortunately that doesn't happen often. =] But they support me no matter if I am right or if I am wrong (but they WILL tell me I am wrong... I think!). They will drop their lives and fly across the country to be with me and my family if I ask --- which they just did. And I am grateful for that. My family is a force to be reckoned with and where I draw my energy from. From my family I have learned to live life to the fullest, keeping my convictions strong and standing up for what I believe in.

Well, I believe in my children. I believe that they deserve only happiness. I believe my job as their mother is to make their world as happy and peaceful as possible. I don't believe in sugar coating the truth for them, or keeping it from them. I believe children's questions can be answered honestly no matter what their age or the topic. Having cancer sucks. No doubt. Am I mad about it? Sure! I just don't let it consume me. I try to not let it consume my family.I want my children to know that someone can have cancer and survive. Their father is doing it! Their Mimi is doing it! And now I am doing it! When people remark that they just don't know how I do it? or how is it that I keep a positive outlook... I just want to shout, "Look at my beautiful boys! Look at my incredible husband! Look at this enormous crowd of amazing family and friends!!! THAT IS HOW I DO IT. That is WHY I do it." I'm not a hero. I'm not a role model. I'm not some incredible public speaker. I am a woman who loves her life, her family, her friends, her self. I am positive because I choose to be, I need to be, I want to be.

Life is a choice. You can live it or not. You can be miserable or not. You can see the bad or not. Being miserable sucks way more than cancer. Seeing only the bad would make me want to kill myself. That is why I CHOOSE to be positive.

Again I am reminded of a favorite quorte:
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, It's about learning to dance in the rain. It's a simple choice. That's all I'm sayin'.

first tractor "ride"

2011-07-09T17:02:00.000-04:00

hopefully to be followed by many more! :)

finger chewing face

2011-07-09T17:00:00.000-04:00

Big kid feeding himself

2011-07-09T15:25:00.001-04:00

YouTube Video

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great shots - april 2011

2011-07-09T14:09:00.002-04:00

wallace family hits the beach!

2011-07-09T14:02:00.001-04:00

Bethany beach, DE

2011-07-07T20:58:00.001-04:00

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best of (family shots) - vol 2

2011-06-06T22:07:00.001-04:00

best of (family shots)

2011-06-06T22:04:00.002-04:00

leander takes seattle

2011-05-31T19:55:00.001-04:00

gorgeous boy

2011-05-31T19:53:00.001-04:00

i mean, seriously?!

melting heart

2011-05-31T19:52:00.000-04:00

reading (with dragon shoes)

2011-05-31T19:51:00.002-04:00

cruisin' for whales

2011-05-31T19:49:00.002-04:00

Reading

2011-05-28T11:19:00.001-04:00

Good down time on this trip as well...

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Great view, active baby

2011-05-28T11:17:00.001-04:00

An outlook on one of our hikes. Sooo beautiful! B has much better photos (including a few of all of us) - we'll send those along too...

There was actually a bald eagle sitting RIGHT THERE in that tree to the left!

Turn around for 2 seconds and he's off to the races

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Pacific NW rocks

2011-05-28T11:09:00.001-04:00

Great hike, also great new ergo baby carrier...

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Whale watching!

2011-05-28T11:04:00.001-04:00

We went out on our first (sunny!) day in the San Juan Islands on a 3+ hr boat trip to see orca whales... Leander did pretty well (a plastic rainbow-colored slinky got us through the rough patches)

On our way!

Success! B and blue equally thrilled about seeing whales..

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Leander likes frijoles!

2011-05-28T11:00:00.001-04:00

Continuing on the Mexican theme, Blue tried his first protein - refried beans - and loved them.

Trying to decide what to order:

Mmm!

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squamish cultural center

2011-05-24T15:36:00.002-04:00

leander gets up-close with some stuffed animals, and learns to play the drums :)

hikes

2011-05-24T15:28:00.002-04:00

any guesses what animal pooped this? (hint, it wasn't our human baby)

map that finally clued us in to just how "lost" (in a very safe way) we were... immediately followed by sighting of above-mentioned species of pooper!

new boots

family

funny funny

2011-05-24T15:22:00.001-04:00

cut-out face boards even funny with baby. who knew?

whistler, BC!

2011-05-24T15:15:00.003-04:00

a few random shots of our vacation so far... you'll note cool GPS shot while driving the breathtaking sea-to-sky highway (and it proves we were there, in case you are fooled by other traveling-with-7-month-old hotel room photos) :)

what leander's been working on :)

2011-05-24T15:07:00.001-04:00

GET OUTSIDE!

2011-05-19T08:55:00.002-04:00

so i'm not mentioned in this article ;) but have been very involved in this work with my coworker robert...

cool stuff, huh??

"doctor's orders"

Backyard green

2011-05-19T08:16:00.001-04:00

This is for you, b. :)

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manifestacion en chiapas

2011-05-16T10:00:00.002-04:00

here are some photos shared with my by juan manuel, the mexican doc i have been lucky enough to have known and worked with in chiapas since 2004. the zapatistas organized a huge demonstration in the large colonial town of san cristobal (where b and i got engaged!) it was a march for peace, showing their solidarity for those lost in the drug wars ongoing in most of the country....

Overalls

2011-05-14T21:49:00.001-04:00

What a big 7 month old boy!

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i'm a mom

2011-05-06T21:24:00.002-04:00

wishing a very happy mother's day to my mom and to all moms!

leander at his best

2011-05-06T20:54:00.001-04:00

another great series that makes me laugh :)

wedding extravaganza

2011-05-06T20:52:00.001-04:00

we are blessed with such great great friends. here is just a small sampling of the fun that was had...

my boy

2011-05-02T22:49:00.002-04:00

not just toe-dips anymore

2011-05-02T22:45:00.001-04:00

(yet still keeping our ghosty kid covered up from the FL sun...)

wallace boys - hangin' out poolside

2011-05-02T22:43:00.001-04:00

close face and palm trees

2011-05-02T22:37:00.002-04:00

if you look closely, you can see mango bits on his face and hands!

sunscreen and first toe dips

2011-05-02T22:28:00.004-04:00

first of many in a series (how to pick my faves??) from our trip this past weekend to the FLORIDA KEYS to celebrate our friend kerry's wedding!

sunscreen - we're both a little new at this :)

first toe-dip!

leander smiles - a series

2011-05-02T22:27:00.001-04:00

mom, her boy, and her drink

2011-05-02T19:11:00.000-04:00

title compliments of b :)

Give peas a chance

2011-04-23T12:10:00.001-04:00

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Hiking in the woods = good for the soul

2011-04-23T12:07:00.001-04:00

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Baby food makin'

2011-04-20T20:42:00.001-04:00

Today I made pureed mangos for blue! (his fave. Try giving him banana, then switch to mango or avocado, you'll see!)

This turned out much better than trying to make apples, but that's another story...

Thanks to my mom for letting me borrow her little hand purée thingie... :)

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Mug shots

2011-04-18T15:53:00.001-04:00

Hahahahaaaa

Passport for upcoming Canada trip. Look at this big boy!

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Location:14th St NW,Washington D.C.,United States

leander nicholas meets his great grandma

2011-04-17T20:24:00.004-04:00

finally after YEARS of trying, my mom and aunt shirley convinced my grandma to move to PA to be closer to family. this weekend blue and i went up to see her in her new digs. the two of them got some quality time together... isn't this just the greatest?!

cutie pie

2011-04-17T20:24:00.001-04:00

family (thank goodness for them)

2011-04-17T20:18:00.003-04:00

it is sooo awesome having lindsey just down the block -

molly came to visit for 5 days while b was in san diego! we had such a great time and her help was a life-saver...

not technically family, but i view his doña zoila (with her grandson, big leandro) as an extension of family. as you can see, so does blue!

a blurry shot of leander with his great aunt shirley. i don't think we could get one in focus, they were constantly on the move! :)

happy 6 months, leander blue!

2011-04-17T20:08:00.003-04:00

i just can't believe this little boy is 1/2 yr old already. he gets better and cuter ;) every day. and getting quite mobile, as you can see from this funny photo series... look out world!

avos

2011-04-11T20:19:00.003-04:00

welp, he's officially ours. the boy LOVES avocados! hooray! hopefully if he keeps this up someday they'll make him an honorary mexican... ;-)