Dear Baby,

I am glad you are healthy and kicking, but could you try and keep your kicks and punches to the left side of Mama's tummy? It still hurts when you kick on the right, near where the surgery was.
Thanks for understanding. I love you.

Love,
Mama

happiness is.....

savoring home-made english muffins, toasted with butter, from Abigail, sipping alpine-berry two leaves and a bud cup of tea from Bess, thumbing through Printing By Hand, from Abigail, while Jackson reads Around Town on the floor next to me by the couch.

bed reveal

I think it looks so good! See before here.

I just realized how similar it is to Land of Nod's Jenny Lind bed - where a twin goes for $499.00 I might add.

happy birthday, auntie!

We love you & are wishing you the happiest of days!

thank you

Amanda, Kate, Michael and Gwyn, Brett, Hayden and Gael, Abigail and Steven, Mom.
And Carole, Ev, Nikki, Darin, and Sammy - no pic, since we devoured it all already.
They are all so beautiful and make me happy.

1 lb lighter?

Quite a week here in Brooklyn.

Thursday was not feeling so well. Called Jon to come home early. By 9 pm was on the phone with the midwife, at her recommendation we headed to the hospital.

Went to Labor and Delivery. Was put in Triage and for the next ten hours, suffered the most excruciating stomach pain I could have ever imagined. Was not allowed any medication for fear of masking symptoms and endangering baby. Couldn't have x-ray because of baby. Had to wait til 4 am for a high level sonogram, which was inconclusive. All the while I was lying on a medical exam table, on a sheet of paper, since all beds were full.

At 10 am we were finally taken down to get an MRI. Thankfully my midwife Janet arrived and was able to prescribe some painkillers so I could try and stay still for the MRI. They diagnosed appendicitis immediately and I was put in line for the OR.

By 5:00 pm I was back in Labor and Delivery but started having contractions as a result of the surgery. The thought of pre-term labor at 25 weeks is terrifying. Baby is a little over one pound and just not ready to be born yet. Thankfully the medication to stop contractions worked. I was released from the hospital on Sunday afternoon.

Jon was with me every minute of this ordeal. His patience, concern and caring reminded me anew how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband. He held my hand through the worst of it, rubbed my shoulders, and told me how strong I was. I could not have survived without him.

Now I'm home resting and Mimi is here, driving down Thursday morning at 5 am to relieve John Jurgensen who'd come the night before to stay with Jackson. It's times like these when people come to help that make you appreciate the importance of family and friends on whom you can rely.

Mimi has been cooking, caring and cleaning since she got here. Jackson is thrilled that his Mimi is here. When they showed up at LICH on Saturday morning I was so happy to see them both it brought me to tears.

Thank you for all the well wishes, prayers, flowers, magazines, ice cream (mmm, mint chocolate chip!) and candy (Amanda, did you know Jennifer Anniston's haircut cost $50,000?). Your support and love makes this whole surreal experience bearable.

Now I am just taking it easy - - & making sure this little July baby stays in til July.

april showers

Last weekend was Ruth's baby shower, and while it was hard to get things ready with Jackson hanging on my leg while I tried to do things, or dragging his tractor over to my thigh and digging a hole in my leg......

The shower was beautiful, everyone had a wonderful time, and the best part was seeing Ruth's mom's face when she saw how big Ruth's belly has gotten!

Umbrellas were a recurring theme - April showers for the baby due in April, and John made a playlist which perfectly complimented the shower, with songs like Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, and Umbrella by Rhianna.

We can't wait to meet baby boy Jurgensen. Not too much longer now!

happy st. patrick's!

Baby's second. This year we made potato stamp cards.
Erin go brough!

drawings

I like these drawings by Doug Navarra I saw on Aesthetic Outburst. That teal blue would look nice above Jackson's new bed.

yay

We missed you tons. Jackson told me he can't wait for you to get him in the morning and play with him!

rearranged design house tour

check it out here!

thank you Nonno, Mimi and Uncle Michael!

This weekend we got a LOT done. I wish I could show you pictures of the new bed but I have to wait til Jon comes back with the laptop. Michael helped me pick it up on the Upper East Side, Nonno painted it (Valspar 5002-6 Spa Pool Hi-Gloss*), and Mimi helped me rearrange the room, reorganize the closet, pack up toys and clothes and make the room perfect again. We couldn't have done all that with little buddy underfoot, so Nonno took him to the playground this morning, then they headed over to One Girl Cookies for coffee and a muffin. Jackson ate the whole muffin, only let Nonno have one little bite.



*

busy

We've had a busy and fun and tiring weekend - Ruth's shower was yesterday, Mimi and Nonno are here, dinner and brunch with Uncle Michael and Auntie Gwyn, and lots of rearranging and re-organizing to make room for baby.

But most of all, we miss Jon who's away in Austin right now.

packaging

Leftover packing material = drawing paper.

happy friday the 13th

Wow, if you are interested in the origins of friday the 13th, there's plenty of fascinating information on Wikipedia. Like this: a 1993 study in the British Medical Journal that compared the ratio of traffic accidents between Friday the 6th and Friday the 13th, stated that there is a significant increase in traffic-related accidents on Fridays the 13th.

We have a busy weekend. I'm off to make 50 cupcakes for Ruth's shower.

tie one on

Saw these adorable Liberty print little boys ties from Eliza Gran on frolic. If I made you wear a tie, say for Easter or something, it would be the blue one on the left.

Oh, and she also makes really nice things here.

daybed

Ever since I saw this cute little daybed on design*sponge, I've been dreaming of one. I've also been trying to figure out what to do in the 'boys' bedroom (yikes! first time I've written that!).



I love this one from a doctor's museum, found on flickr.



And yesterday, I found a little Jenny Lind daybed on craigslist and I'm going to get it on Sunday with Michael. I can't wait. I think I am going to paint it black, or should I leave it natural. What do you think?

Jackson did not nap again today.

Jackson = 2. mama = o.

happy

Delighted to see my cupcakes on one of my most favorite blogs ~ Oh Happy Day ~ this morning!

um, adorable

Look at these cute little shirts from Ambajam. So simple and sweet.

Dada

If I'm lucky, Jon gets Jackson in the morning and plays with him. Jackson's come to much prefer Dada getting him than Mama. The other day when I went in there, he looked at me and said, "No."

On this morning, Jackson had thrown everything out of his crib (books and toys Jon secretly places in his crib at night) except for his one dinosaur.

Jackson's face is so happy to see Jon ~ his smile gets me right in the gut every time I watch this video. I also loves the way he ducks his head down to stay with the camera when Jon pans down to capture the mess on the floor.

initials

Brett has a sweet little necklace with the initials H and G, for Hayden and Gael.

I like this one.

The initials could be J and C ~ and then it could stand for Jackson and a "C" name AND Jon and Chiara. Neat, right?

Jackson's 'nap' today

AIM IM with Jonathan Milott .

1:50 PM
jackson supposed to be napping - in his crib blah blah blah na na na no no no i go in and he's trying to pull the chair next to his crib into the crib with him

not sleeping at all

haha

2:20 PM
jackson sitting up in his crib playing with the zipper on his sweatshirt

2:25 PM
doh

2:50 PM
now?

making dinosaur noises and saying "eh?"

haha


3:00 PM
i give up. i'm going in.

sorry

jackson = 1. mama = 0

crib, dresser, pendant garland love

Same crib, similar white dresser with changing pad attached, vintage and modern art mixed - this sweet little Brooklyn nursery I saw on Design*Sponge reminds me of ours. More pictures here.

teeth

Jackson - learning how to brush his teeth.

sammy's doing good!

Sammy had ear surgery this morning and I'm happy to say he's doing well.

Nikki sent this picture of Sammy a few weeks ago. She wrote, "Every night we go in to check on sammy and he buries himself under his stuffed animals. " I want to know how he does that?! So funny!

We hope you are back to your fun self soon, Sammy! We love you.

baby's first movie - - well, not quite

Today I'm taking Jackson to his first movie - Cobble Hill Cinemas has a thing called Big Movies for Little Kids. Today's showing is:

Monday, March 9th, 4pm
Tom and Jerry cartoons

Timeless and adorable, these ferociously funny cartoon shorts will have you and the kids laughing out loud with delight. With special clips of Jerry dancing with Gene Kelly and an underwater ballet with cat, mouse and Esther Williams. (1965; not rated; approximately 70 minutes).

Yay!

Update: SOLD OUT. Sad face.

break my heart!

One day I left to go do some errands and this was Jackson's response:

make room for baby

I'm starting to think about all the paraphernalia that comes with a new baby, and am trying to clear some things out.

Sad to say good-bye to this one but it's serves us well. It was my dining room table/desk in grad school. Nonno refinished it for me so it's very special.

the boy takes after his father

Tonight I watched Jackson dip his asparagus in ketchup.

{picture found here}

Jackson can say TEA

One of my oldest friends, Bess, sent me a beautiful package of two leaves and a bud tea.

Before I even had a chance to try them, a friend came over, saw them and was raving about how good they are. She said, "I don't know what it is, but they have the same flavors, and they just taste so much better!"

She was right. They are delicious. The packaging is so nice. The label says exactly how much caffeine is in each flavor. Great for me because I can't tell the difference between green and black if you paid me. And I don't want to be accidentally drinking caffeine right now when I can hardly sleep anyway. And the website is beautifully designed and full of information about tea - did you know tea originated in 2737 BC? That, Jackson, is a LONG TIME AGO. And the website tells you everything you might want to know about the tea you are drinking, ingredients, best way to prepare, even the origin of it. So cool.

Bess also told me that iced tea is good for kiddies, maybe I will mix 1/2 and 1/2 with some juice. I bet Jackson would love that. I'm going to try it with the Alpine Berry Herbal tea this weekend, when it's supposed to warm up to 56 degrees on Saturday.

Thank you, Bess!

oh dear

On the way to Vermont last weekend, you fell asleep, of course, in the car about a half hour before we got to the house. After fully waking up and playing a little, it was time to put you in the pac n play. The screaming that ensued was different from your usual moaning and fussing. It sounded strange. Then I went to the bedroom door to see you standing, bewildered and red-faced, in front of the door.

You totally hopped the fence. You climbed out of your pac n play for the first time ever.

The next day when it was time for you nap I watched from a crack in the door as you swung your left foot up to the top of the rail and proceeded to hoist yourself over the side.

But wait, it gets better. Since we couldn't leave you in the pac n play, we put you to sleep, in our room, in a toddler aero bed. This worked out fine the first night. Then Saturday night, in the middle of the night, I woke up and glanced over at your spot.

"Jon, he's gone!"

Jon jumped out of bed so fast and ran around to where the aero bed was. "No, I heard him cry on your side of the room!" I exclaimed.

Jackson, you had scooched, or crawled, we don't know how, all the way UNDER the queen bed we were sleeping in, and were mewling like a lost cat on Jon's side of the bed. How he didn't squash you when he jumped out of bed I don't know, but I am thankful he missed you.

We have to figure out a new travel sleep situation.

{PS funny picture on flickr}

more congratulations!

Remember when Jon's film got accepted to SxSW Film Festival? Since then, it's been announced as a finalist in FOUR more contests!

Short Film ---

Official Selection of SXSW 2009
IFFBOSTON 2009
GEN ART 2009
NEWPORT BEACH FF 2009
NYIIFVF 2009

Congratulations, Honest!

Jackson says, "Dada dada dada!"

And here is a screen shot of Jackson's big appearance in the film:



PS. If you search the movie out, or watch the trailer, keep in mind it is a little graphic and not for everyone.

sleepytime

Olli and Lime makes the cutest little sleepsacks ever. Tangled and True is having a giveaway - go enter now!

4 months!

Somehow I was shocked when I turned the page on the calendar to March and realized we only have FOUR months til the baby comes.

That means only four more months of uninterrupted sleep (well, not that I'm sleeping through the night now, but at least Jackson is). And only four more months til delicious-tiny-new-baby-snuggling:

number cake

This pan would have come in handy when I made Sammy's 3rd birthday cake in Florida. It adjusts to create any number you want.

Then again, cutting the shape out with a knife was not actually that hard. And takes up much less room in the cabinet.

{seen on lil sugar}