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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Hello, Spring. Where are you?

Spring wardrobe, check. Now, how about that warm weather...


Monday, April 27, 2009

Sister Act


My sister finally came to meet Zoe last week and it was awesome! The two of them totally bonded and I'm pretty sure Zoe fell in total love. She actually seemed kind of sad when Lisa left. I mean maybe that was just my feelings and I decided to put them on Zoe, but still.

We had a great time with Lisa. It was so fun to have someone around with me all day long. I really am so lucky to have the best sister in the world. As a super-mom, she's given us such great guidance with Zoe. And, as my best friend she is a fantastic phone buddy.

The only problem with Lisa's visit was that she had to go home! Having her around made me really wish we lived by each other. Chicago to DC is just too far away. Hopefully we'll get to introduce Zoe to Avi, Edin and Adam this summer. And I'm really hoping we can figure out a way to get Josh here sometime to meet his little niece.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Happy Birthday, Diana


Happy Birthday to Diana



The best wife and mom in the whole world!!!! Zoe, Charlie, and I would be lost without you.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Wedding Weekend

Mr. and Mrs. Spencer

The girlsThe dance machine (I spy brown liquor)

This weekend we celebrated Connie and Nick's wedding and had a blast. The weekend started out on Thursday with a welcome party at Fado. This was a great chance to catch up with the bride and groom in a casual and festive way and it gave us a chance to meet Nick's family and friends who made the trip from England. I have been friends with Connie since junior high and I am just so happy that she ended up with such a great guy. All weekend the two of them were just totally adorably happy. Now, I am just keeping my fingers crossed that they'll really move back to Chicago from New York soon!

The wedding was gorgeous and the reception was so much fun. We had a great time on the dance floor -- Jody was tearing it up with some sweet new moves! Courtney and Jeremy were in town too, which is always a total treat and makes me wish that we lived in the same city as them. In addition to celebrating Connie and Nick, this was also the first time in a while that Jody and I got to enjoy a fun night out sans Zoe. (Huge thanks to Jody's mom for watching Zoe the whole day and night!) It took some planning and creativity to figure out where and when I was going to pump all day long, but it all worked out just fine.

Connie was a gorgeous bride and Nick had the biggest grin on his face the entire day and night. Totally cute.

Congrats to the happy couple! Next up, Courtney and Jeremy!!!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Top Dog

Today is a very special day in the Schirel household. It's Charlie's "Birthday." Although we don't know exactly how old our little pooch is, we decided April 5th is his birthday because that's the day that we adopted him two years ago. We think he's just about 3 years old, but we don't really know for sure. He certainly still acts like a puppy! For all who don't know, we got Charlie from a rescue group called Adopt-A-Pet, Inc. They rescue dogs mostly from kill shelters throughout the state and put all the dogs in foster homes until they find forever homes. It's a really great organization and we owe them quite a lot for bringing Charlie into our lives. If you're looking to get a dog (and I'm a big proponent of rescuing a homeless pet vs. buying one from a breeder) check out their web site at the link above.

Charlie was rescued from a high-kill shelter in Southern Illinois. They didn't know his whole background except that he was abandoned, brought to the shelter and then rescued by Adopt-a-Pet. The rescue group had named him "Coco Puff" and we changed it to Charlie pretty much the instant we got him home. I could not imagine why anyone would abandon Charlie--he is such a great dog. And I cannot imagine our lives now without him. He is seriously the most loving, loyal and adorable dog and we feel totally lucky to have him.

We got Charlie a special bone thing to celebrate, and Charlie's girlfriend's owner (our neighbor) brought us some cake tonight. (Even though we don't think she knew it was his birthday, it was good timing!)



Special birthday bone



Charlie Zoe bonding time


Friday, April 3, 2009

Buh-Bye

Good news, people...Our smoky neighbor is finally moving out! Hooray! Ever since our condo board got on him about smoking in his unit (thanks to Board President Jody!), things have gotten better. But, every now and then the office/nursery still stinks like smoke. But, now he's outta here and I couldn't be more thrilled.


Now, however, Jody and I have to figure out when to start putting Zoe to sleep in her crib rather than keeping her in the bassinet in our room with us. I am not ready for her to head into her own room, and I had the very legit excuse of not wanting her to be sleeping in the smoky room. But now I don't have a good argument.


I know it's important to get her into her own room at some point. But we're still jumping out of bed every now and then, even though she's been a pretty good nighttime sleeper so far. We'll see what happens.