Makaboo

Adorable baby stuff alert! My sister's friend, Cindy, just launched an awesome personalized baby business called Makaboo. She has a storefront in St. Louis, and she just set up her e-commerce site this week. Check it out at http://www.makaboo.com/.

We loved the personalized gifts we got when Zoe was born. There's something so sweet about seeing your new baby's name creatively embroidered on a little burpie cloth or blankie. So when Ean was born, I was eager to get Jason and Heather something personalized. I got in touch with Cindy and she helped me pick out a beautiful (and uber-soft) blue blankie. After I chose the thread color and the adorable winking monkey logo, we were good to go. (Check out baby model Ean snuggling up to his cuddly Makaboo blankie.)

Makaboo also has burp cloths, hoodies, pillows, onsies, lovies and more. So next time you're looking for a cute baby gift with a personal touch, try Makaboo.

Turkey Trot

This Thanksgiving my sister and I decided to do the Ann Arbor 5K Turkey Trot. Bonnie (Jody's aunt) told me that she was going to do a Turkey Trot in Palos this year and that inspired me to look into races in A2. I've never done a race before, so I figured a 5K would be a good way to start. Plus, doing it with my sister would be really fun.

The day before Thanksgiving I started getting a really bad sore throat and cough. But, Lisa convinced me to stay strong and promised that we'd just take it easy on the run. On race day, I felt a little better, and Lisa again assured me it was all good.

Anyway, long story short, my dear, sweet big sister totally ditched me. We had only gone like a half mile and she just slowly started creeping ahead of me. Didn't even warn me, just started running faster. She gave me a little smile and then, poof, she was gone. Who knew she was so competitive?! Anyway, I stopped being mad at her once I lost sight of her and enjoyed the race solo. I just wish I would have brought my iPod. There was an older woman dressed up as a turkey -- yellow tights with a brown leotard with feathers glued all over it -- running in front of me that kept me entertained and motivated. My whole goal was to beat the turkey lady, which I totally did.

I was pretty happy with my time: 29:28, a 9:29 mile pace. I placed 27th out of 67 in my age group. Even with her major betrayal, Lisa beat me by less than a minute. Her time: 28:41, a 9:14 mile pace. She placed 21st out of 67 in our age group. My own little victory? Next year, Lisa won't even be in my age group!

All in all, it was really fun to run in my first race, get the cute T-shirt and be able to eat a huge Thanksgiving dinner sans guilt. I think Lisa and I are going to make this an annual tradition. Next year, I'll just remember to bring my iPod.

Mazal Tov

The man of the hourAdam rockin' the finest plastic fedora on the dance floor

Us

Edin looking way cool in her party dress

Mona on the chair (so ladylike, with her legs crossed the whole time)

My mom and her siblings in their signature Ellis pose

The Klatsky crew

We've been totally MIA on the blog lately, so I'm going to try to catch up a bit. These past couple weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind with plenty of travel and loads of family time.

A couple weekends ago we headed to D.C. for my cousin Paul's Bar Mitzvah. It was a great trip. Paul was fantastic! So poised up there and chanting his Torah and Haftorah portion like a pro. We were all quite impressed. Mazal Tov, Paul! We're so proud of you.

The weekend went by way too fast and was such a good time. We stayed with the Lisa and her fam and it was awesome for Zoe to get to know her cousins. And, we got to catch up with our cousins, too. My mom's sister and her family (my three other cousins) all came in from New York/New Jersey for the festivities, and it was great to catch up with the Klatsky crew. I hadn't seen my cousins in ages, and Jody and Avi had never even met them before. My cousin Mike and his wife Marie are expecting their first baby next summer, so it was fun talking baby/pregancy with them and giving them a slight taste of what they're in for. It was so nice to see everyone. Hopefully we won't wait so many years before getting together again!

How big is Zoe? So Big!

This weekend marked Zoe's 9-month "birthday." It's crazy how fast these 9 months have flown by. I took her to the doctor today and she's looking good. She's not gaining weight as quickly as she had been, but hopefully once she starts eating more and more solids she'll be on track. Plus, I don't think anyone fully understands how much this little chica moves. The only time she is still is when she's sleeping and even then she's rolling all over the place. When the doc told me that Zoe would probably be standing and possibly taking a step or two by 1 year, I had to laugh and explain that Zoe is already standing on her own. When it comes those motor skills, Zoe is so obviously Jody's baby.

Additionally, I'm thinking it may be time to start weaning her. Originally I had just hoped to nurse her for just a few months, which then turned into 6 months and then I figured I could probably keep it up for a whole year. But it's becoming much more of a struggle as she gets more and more distracted. We'll see how the next three months go.

Anyway, in keeping with our every-three-month Zoe birthday celebrations, Jody and I celebrated with a night out with some of the Naperville crew on Saturday night. We grabbed some dinner downtown at Bijan's Bistro before heading over to the House of Blues to see a stand-up comedian named Aaron Karo. His show pretty much focused on his antics as a 30-year-old single dude and he was pretty entertaining. It was awesome to see the Naperville peeps and enjoy a night out. Jody and I headed home earlier than most to relieve his dad who was babysitting for us, but it was still a great night. Thankfully, Zoe must have known that Mom and Dad needed to sleep off some of the fun and she slept in until 8 am!

We spent Sunday evening with Nick and Connie. They cooked an amazing dinner for us that left us stuffed until this morning. It's so great having them back in Chicago! Nick is hard at work launching his sausage business and it's pretty impressive seeing how much he's done thus far. It sounds like 2010 is going to be really exciting for them with the business kicking into full gear. Very exciting for them. Zoe enjoyed chasing their cat Leo around the apartment and chewing on all their coasters/their coffee table/and their dining chairs. So many new things to put in her mouth, so little time.

Veteran's Day

Photo by: Steve Carroll, Luncheon Chairman (not pictured)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love bank holidays! It's one of the perks of Jody working for a bank and of me having a flexible work schedule. Yesterday, we had Gracie (the nanny) come and Jody and I got to enjoy a beautiful fall day out and about with each other.

I worked in the morning while Jody caught up on some much-needed downtime at home. Then we headed over to R.J. Grunts in Lincoln Park to meet up with the Hunts and Steve for a Veteran's Day Luncheon. Having friends who also work for banks is pretty great too! It was a really nice lunch--thanks to Steve for organizing! Lydia represented the baby faction quite well on her own since Andrew and the Stierwalts couldn't make it and Zoe was playing with the nanny.

After lunch, Jody and I ran some errands and went over to the North and Sheffield area to do some shopping. We were going to see a movie since it's been way too long since we've seen anything in the theater, but there was nothing worth seeing and it was too nice of a day to sit inside a dark theater chowing on popcorn. In the meantime, however, I am counting down the days 'til "New Moon" comes out!

Finally, we finished the day with a good workout (we had to work off all the chips we ate at lunch). When we got home Zoe was in such a great mood after a day of play with Gracie, making it the perfect way to end a really fun day.

Jody and I rarely get time together sans Zoe and it was really nice to get a chance to just focus on each other for a little while. Thank you bank holidays! And, of course, thanks to the veterans for all that they do!

On Strike!

Aye, we've been having a rough week here in the Schirel household. Jody got sick on Sunday and was out of commission until today. Next up, Zoe got the H1N1 vaccine on Monday and was not quite her usual cheery self afterward. And now, Zoe's on a nursing strike. This is the first time that she's gone on a nursing strike and it stinks!

No matter what we do, she screams bloody murder when I try to get her to nurse. Last night before bed, she was so beside herself that she would not even take a bottle. She slept the whole night still, but I was really worried about her getting enough to eat/drink. This morning she still threw a fit. Jody eventually got her to take a bottle, but not without plenty of drama.

Ah! It's been upsetting and frustrating on so many levels. I've been lucky enough to be able to breastfeed Zoe almost 9 months, and it has been so rewarding. But as anyone who has done it will probably agree, it's so much more challenging than you'd ever imagine. I'm hoping this is just a reaction to her vaccine and nothing more serious. I've heard these nursing strikes can last a little while, so here's hoping it's over sooner rather than later.

Trick or Treat

Some of the mom's group crew, plus Bridgette's hubby on twin duty

Delaney rocked her pink wig in an awesome punk-rock baby get-up

I promised more Zoe the cow posts, so here goes. We sure got a lot of use out of Zoe's cow costume. I swear, I have never celebrated Halloween so much! It's time for some serious candy detox. The weekend before Halloween, one of the girls in my mom's group had a party up in Roscoe Village, so we headed over there and went to the neighborhood parade. It was fun to get together with my mom's group peeps outside of our usual weekly meet ups. It was great meeting all the husbands and seeing all the kiddos in their Halloween cuteness. I feel like it's never easy to make new friends, but I've really enjoyed getting to know all the girls in the group over the past few months. We're all in the same new-mom boat and meeting up with them every week is something I really look forward to.

Our Halloween celebration continued this past weekend up in Wrigleyville on the actual night-of Halloween. We met up with Kristin, Tom and Lydia and Kristin's parents to do dinner and Trick or Treating. The girls were both cows (we didn't even plan it) and looked so freakin' cute. They both got all method in costume and wouldn't crack a smile for the cameras. Really, Zoe was quite serious about Halloween in general! Anyway, we went over to Alta Vista for Trick or Treating and got a chance to catch up with the Stierwalts for a few minutes too. Unfortunately, we only got to say a quick hello to Andrew because he was Halloweened out by the time we got there. All in all, it was way more tame than Halloweens past, but also way cuter.