the year in pictures

january


february


march


april


may


june


july


august


september


october


november


december

meeting ayla

Stefanie, Adam and Ayla came over tonight. This was Matteo's first time meeting Ayla. He was initially a little wary but quickly warmed up to her. He kept trying to touch her and hold her hand. I think they're going to be good friends.

camp - day 2

Even more kids showed up today! The local prep sports writer is also going to write about the camp in his weekly column, which will run later this week.













Matteo came too. Here he is with the varsity team captains.

makeshift blanket

I forgot to put Matteo's blanket back in his crib with him when he woke up at 5 this morning. (He still likes to sleep with his legs lightly swaddled.) When I went to check on him at 7 this is how I found him, poor little guy.

camp - day 1

Matt's basketball camp started today. There were more than 40 kids there! They've raised a lot of money already and hopefully will raise even more selling the rest of the shirts we ordered. I signed the kids in this morning and it was really fun to look in the gym and see all these kids lined up wearing our shirt. We pulled it off!

words

john lennon, father

From the current issue of Esquire:

"I go to the park on Sundays. And I see men pushing babies. And it's beautiful. They don't know that John was the first one to do that. The very first one. No man would be caught doing that before John." - Yoko Ono

not a fan of bedtime

Since Matteo started crawling, sleeping times have become a real challenge. He doesn't want to go to sleep because he knows there is this big, new world to explore. This is just the beginning, isn't it?

christmas books

Matteo loves books and received some really great ones for Christmas. Here he is with Matt on Christmas morning reading one of Mo Willems pigeon books. He's pretty into it, don't you think?

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I read on someone's blog recently (I can't remember which one) about their family's Christmas tradition of leaving a book at the foot of their kids' beds for them to wake up to every Christmas morning. I like the idea of a child's first Christmas gift always being a book so I'm starting this too. This year we couldn't leave a wrapped book in his crib since Matteo eats any kind of paper he can get his chubby mitts on. But because he does try to eat paper, our inaugural Christmas book was an Indestructibles. He LOVED it. It really is indestructible and the illustrations are gorgeous. I highly recommend these to anyone with a baby about this age who is eating everything in their path.



I got Matteo Mama and Baby, I couldn't resist. The last picture is a brown-haired mama and a blue-eyed baby, just like us. Awww.

smith island cakes

A couple of years ago Matt and I were home visiting my family in Maryland when we discovered the joy that is the Smith Island Cake. Smith Island is a tiny island in the middle of Chesapeake Bay that is only accessible by boat and where the residents still speak with an English dialect. It's also known for making chocolate cakes with anywhere from 8 to 15 layers in them.



Already a big fan of yellow cakes with chocolate frosting, the Smith Island cake quickly trumped all chocolate frosted yellow cakes that came before once Matt had a bite of its many-layered deliciousness. After our trip I learned how to make it myself. While tasty, mine doesn't have quite the same professionalism as the ones made back in Maryland. My version has been dubbed 'The Chocolate Bomb' by friends, not just because of its contest but also because of its appearance - for some reason mine always turn out kind of round. Here is one I made for Matt's birthday last year. See what I mean?



ANYWAY, the point of this story is my mom sent Matt an authentic Smith Island cake this year for Christmas. Now THIS is how a real Smith Island cake is supposed to look with properly stacked layers.



And the taste? Beyond delicious. If you want to know what I mean, you can order one for yourself here.

Thanks Mom!

first christmas

Sorry for the hiatus, folks. Christmas was wonderful and busy and a little overwhelming for Matteo so we needed a day to decompress. We even had to stop opening gifts Christmas Eve and unwrap the rest on Christmas because he started to go into sensory overload. And then I forgot my camera at my in-laws Christmas night and won't get it back until Thursday, so I don't have pictures yet.

This was a great age to have a first Christmas. He's crawling and yelling and laughing and super aware of everything going on around him. Although I don't have the photos, I do have some short movies to share.

First up - guess what Matt got him for Christmas?

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little jamie

This is terrible but I can't stop watching it. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.

a special present for matt

santa claus is coming to my house

I was especially excited to score the Santa suit last week so I can re-create one of my favorite Christmas traditions for Matteo - Santa Claus coming to the house on Christmas Eve with a sack of presents.

When Kevin and I were little our dad was the manager of the local mall and had access to the mall Santa suit. For several years my parents had an uncle or friend dress up as Santa and actually SHOW UP at our door to give us gifts. Do you know how out-of-your-mind-crazy it is to have Santa Claus walk through the front door to personally deliver your gifts?! It's pretty awesome.









It wasn't until later in life, looking at old photos, I realized who was really in the suit. The truth wasn't disappointing. If anything, it only made it more special to think of my uncles slipping away from Christmas to don the suit for us.

Matteo is too young for it this year but next year we might try it. Any volunteers?

eastside pride

Matt's basketball team is competing in a tournament in Minnesota next month and the team has to raise all the money for the trip themselves. Transportation, food and hotel rooms for 14 players plus coaches = a lot of money they need to raise on their own.

We came up with the idea of holding a mini-camp for kids who are part of NESYB. NESYB is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization whose mission is to positively influence the lives of kids through basketball. It's a great organization and serves as a feeder program for the high school team Matt coaches. The camp will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday, will be run by his players, and the campers are invited to stay after and have lunch with the team and watch them practice.

Because a lot of these kids don't have money for any extras right now we're making it free for the kids. Instead of charging a fee to participate we're asking individuals and local businesses to sponsor campers. A donation of $25 will send a kid to the two-day camp, provide them lunch both days AND one of these sweet t-shirts that were designed by my brother's friend.



The image on the shirt is a hybrid of Peppy and the team's best player. After the holidays we'll be selling them at school and around the neighborhood as a second fundraiser.

I spent Saturday with two of his players (including the one on the shirt who was asked to pose for a picture at one place we stopped) going to local businesses and asking for support. Many of the business owners were East grads and knew who these players were because they still follow the teams. (One sports bar owner, who sponsored four campers, also told us he'd buy a bunch of t-shirts from us to sell in the bar.) The players felt good, the business owners felt good about giving back to their school, the kids who come to the camp next week are going to feel good - it's warm fuzzies all around.

We still need a few more sponsors before the camp starts next week. If you would like to sponsor a kid for $25, or buy one of our Eastside Pride t-shirts for $10, send me an email and start feeling those warm fuzzies yourself.

Thanks for your support!

happy winter!

New art from our little Jackson Pollock.

new york city children

Danny Goldfield is a photographer in New York City who is photographing one child from every country in the world currently living in NYC. I saw an interview with him yesterday where he was promoting his new book, which features many of the photos from his project. He's already photographed 172 kids and only has 24 more countries to go.









Here is a little story about the project that Good Magazine did a few years ago when he was first getting started.



What an amazing idea. Buy the book here.

And since the Country of Sint Maarten has only existed for two months and 12 days now, he probably doesn't even know about it. Any sweet St. Maarteners out there know of a SXM family living in New York with children who would be eligible?

deep thoughts, by the BP sign

Madison has its own Jack Handey in the form of the Willy Street BP, which regularly posts funny things on the sign outside its convenience store. One of my all-time favorites was last week's: "To err is human. To arr is pirate."

Other previous goodies: "Clones are people two" and "Frog parking only. All others toad."

This week, however, the sign dug a little deeper.



I totally agree.

and now he is nine

Part 2 - the middle years - Wisconsin


sitting for a portrait at christmas


snow boots for his first winter, which he hated


at the sledding hill during his second winter, which he loved


halloween (hated)


long hair


short hair


winter


spring


summer


fall


with his baby brother in may


with his baby brother in september


with his baby brother today


happy birthday roscoe! i love you!