Pinwheel for Parents

How do new parents on the north side of Chicago spend their free time? Practicing the fine art of baby positioning. We did take our childbirth class in a yoga studio, after all.

And here's the recipe for the vegetable marinade I brought to the potluck (which was first identified in one of my cook books by my dad):

• 1/3 cup rice vinegar


• 1 T fresh lemon juice


• 1 T Dijon mustard


• 1 1/2 t dark sesame oil


• 1/8 t salt


• 1/8 t black pepper


• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Combine ingredients and mix w/ cut vegetables (zuccini, mushrooms, peppers, onion, etc.) in a large zip lock plastic bag. Seal bag and marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature, turning bag occassionally. Prepare grill. Remove vegetables from bag, reserving marinade. Place vegetables in a wire/metal grilling basket, coated w/ cooking spray. Grill 8 minutes on each side or until tender. Pour reserved marinade over grilled vegetables.

I doubled the recipe to make two bags of veggies.

Finally, Ben sends a special birthday shout out to Papa Brown! Coo-ooo. Ahh-ahh. Grrrr.

Back in Time: Baby Party

Check out this post from our friend Sarah about our first birth class reunion. It includes a fantastic photo of Ben and Sarah's son Ezra, um, bonding. http://the.weisz.es/651/baby-party

A Visit from Nanna and Papa Brown

My Nanna and Papa Brown came to visit for a SECOND time because they love me so much and want to see me grow. In these pictures, I'm almost 8 weeks old. You can see that I'm smiling up a storm these days... when I feel like it. I also love having conversations. And, when I've got someone as fun as Nanna to talk to, who wouldn't?

Mom and Dad tell me I'm also quite expressive of my other emotions, too.

What do they expect when they forget to change my diaper and leave me quite uncomfortable when we're out at a restaurant? About those restaurants... just a few weeks ago, they could count on me to sleep right through dinner, but now I'm getting more alert and more awake. I'll still go out with them, but now I'm making them work for it. You might notice more photos of people holding and rocking me -- and we don't even have photos of Mom feeding me and repeatedly changing my diaper while we're out. Once she even had to do it in the stroller because the restaurant didn't have a changing table.
Over the weekend, we went to the Chicago Botanic Gardens where I got to smell pretty flowers from the comfort of my shady stroller. I didn't like it at all when Mom and Dad put me in the bright sunlight. (I have that in common with Grandma Levy.)

In addition to seeing Nanna and Papa, I got to meet more of my family! It was so fun to meet Karyn, Shiri and Ilan -- and right before Shiri and Ilan head off to Israel at that.
I also got to meet Paul and Brian Murray. I think they're going to teach me lots of guy stuff.
I also got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Levy and Aunt Maureen and Uncle Don. Mom was a little nervous having me way up high on the top of Aunt Maureen's building, but I did okay. Grandpa Levy kept me very entertained.
That is, until we went back downstairs and he did something that I hear is very naughty. Both Grandma and Nanna disapproved: He took me out of my car seat when I was SOUND ASLEEP. That woke me up of course. I didn't mind, though, because I know he just wanted to hang out and cuddle a little longer.

Thanks so much for coming Nanna and Papa! I can hardly wait to see you again in the beginning of September!!! (And, if you didn't catch the link at the start of this post to all the photos from the weekend, here it is again.)