"Happy No Year!" ~Joey Tribbiani

Mike and I have spent our evening learning and practicing The Routine because it just makes good sense.

OR we have spent some time reflecting on this last year.  I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions because it seems as though they are usually extreme in nature, guilt-inducing, and forgotten about shortly after February is upon us.  BUT, I am huge fan of reflection time.

After graduating from IU, from time to time I have had anxiety about college being the best years of my life and never feeling that great (connected, learning, happy, in love) again.  To think the best is behind me is hard and sad.  But I can honestly say, I think this has been the best year of my life.  It has been filled with great joy, love, family and friends.

I came upon this Bible verse tonight: "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."  I feel as though it speaks to our journeys.  Mike's job has been challenging in a stimulating way, he has been thriving and enjoying work which is what we have prayed for and desired for years.  He has not come home once from work feeling defeated, beaten down, or angry.  If you knew him in his previous job, this was not so much the case.  He comes home happy and energized.  And my "work" is the most challenging one that I have experienced requiring more energy, thought, and patience than all others.  But it is filled with love, friendship, human growth, and laughter.  Matthew is our greatest gift.  One that I more than don't take lightly each day.

This year has not just been about work.  One of our greatest focuses in life is for this to NOT be the case, despite its potential negative consequences (i.e. we don't buy a home till we are 60 or never).  We have been grateful for all the time as a family we are able to spend together.  With Hillshire Brands now being downtown, Mike takes the train and is home by 6 every night (as opposed to his late nights of 6:30 in Downer's Grove).  We have our weekends to ourselves, which we use to relax and laugh together or spend time with friends and/or our extended families.  We have been able to see the Schwartz family much more this year than in years past, including Mike's grandparents a couple of times.  We've had trips to the park, the pool, many great baths lasting 30 minutes (which is arguably Matthew's favorite activity), vacations to FL and CO, games of chase and hide and seek, and late night chats full of laughter while "trying" to be quiet because we sleep right across the hall from Matthew.  There was even great joy and love in our lives when Matthew had a cold a couple weeks ago and was waking up in the night.  For the first time ever, we decided to let him sleep with us a few times for a couple hours and experienced him calming and cuddling.  To be able to provide this in a time of need and also experience this was wonderful; just warm and full of love.  And, of course, we cannot forget the amazing blessing of getting pregnant once again.

However, I am not saddened by the thought that my best year is coming to completion tonight because I am filled with a new hope that the years to come with be just as blessed.

Merry Christmas

We spent Christmas at my parents house which should be of no surprise to anyone because my in-laws are Jewish.  

Matthew and Uncle John

Me and Matthew wearing matching scarves (Matthew's was a Christmas gift made by GG Margaret)

And when we got home, Mike set-up Matthew's favorite gift of the day. 

Titus on the other hand was not enjoying his gift today, double ear infections.  And his dad was not feeling much better.  We most definitely missed them.

Pillow Fight!

Mike and I have always felt strongly that parents should let kids decide what activities they want to participate in rather than pushing ones own interests or feelings.  However, in light of all the suicides and extensive head injuries experienced in football, we have talked about not enouraging the sport despite it being the one Mike enjoyed playing the most in high school. 

But our little Matthew does, and always has, loved physical contact and/or thrill seeking. Snuggling, playing leg pumping games, hanging upside down, etc. And here you can see that we are probably going to lose the battle against football pretty quickly. 

This pillow fighting went on for about 20 minutes with two breaks at which point Matthew bulldozed the pillow or pulled on it laughing, begging for it to continue. This laughter throughout this pre-bedtime game was pure happiness for both Matthew and his parents.

Date Night!

E and I went on a big date on Saturday night.  It earned "big" status through a combination of factors, including being in Chicago, attendance at a restaurant that frowns upon children, tickets to a show, and me wearing a belt.  This is different from a "normal" date, which features us plowing through a fried appetizer and sharing a hamburger at The Yardhouse while desperately hoping the bill arrives before Matthew emphatically decides he has had enough of the hi-chair.  In Glenview.  With at least two of the three of us wearing sweatpants.

 

At the in-laws just before the date

Our evening out began in July, when we took out a second mortgage on a house we don't even own to purchase balcony seats to The Book of Mormon, a Broadway show written by the creators of South Park that won every single Tony Award ever.  We bought the tickets within hours of them going on sale and locked down Grandma Jeanne to babysit.  We were in no mood to botch this date.

SIDE NOTE: The date occurred on December 22, which means I could have made some impossibly obvious, dreadfully overdone joke about "only the Mayans could stop this date."  But I didn't.  You're welcome.  The worst thing about the world not spinning off its axis and hurling us all into the outer reaches of the mesosphere is the fact that we will have to continue to listen, from now until the end of time, to the vast majority of the population insisting upon making tired, criminally unfunny jokes about overexposed cultural phenomena.

After putting the date on hiatus for three month, we then looked to book a restaurant reservation in early November.  We tried The Girl and The Goat, arguably the trendiest restaurant in Chicago.  Shockingly, we got a reservation.  At 10:45 PM.  I had no intention of being awake that late, so we moved on to the next option.  Unfortunately, Ruby Tuesday's was also booked.  We settled upon Boka, a Michelin Star Rated restaurant that is owned by the same group that owns The Girl and The Goat.
 
Needless to say, Boka did not disappoint.  We each ordered the tasting menu.  Mine was better because Wife decided to show up pregnant and with an aversion to seafood, so they gave her vegetarian options for the first two courses and no wine.  Also, her third and fifth courses were cooked well done.  I, on the other hand, enjoyed two seafood dishes, two medium rare meats and a treasure trove of wines I really can't afford.  NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.
 
Because we are just that classy, we took pictures of every course.  The wait staff did not mind at all; they are used to food critics taking pictures.  On iPhones.
 
Course 1 (E's first; we were told to start both our courses on the bottom right and go clockwise):


 

Field greens, rosemary-cranberry vinaigrette, granola clusters, yogurt meringue, stewed cranberries; Red inca quinoa, bibb lettuce, bruleed grapefruit, crispy plantain, avocado mousse; Bok choy, yuzu, black garlic vinaigrette, 5 spice peanuts; Roasted baby beets, banyuls vinegar, fourme d’ambert cheese, hazelnut cake croutons, grilled quince, crispy cardoons

Oyster, seaweed salad, passionfruit oyster liquor; Tangerine marinated snapper carpaccio, sunchoke chips, hijiki, pickled radish, tangerine ice; Tea smoked hamachi, kabocha squash, tofu, longan, curried crosnes, cara cara oranges; Yellowfin tuna sashimi, chermoula, mojo yuca, tuna tiradito, trout roe, dosakai, white soy

 
Course 2 (again, E's first):

 

Celery root soup, crayfish caramelli, chervil, black winter truffle

 
 

 

Steelhead trout, ancient grains, roasted brassica, housemade soy vinegar gelee, matsutake broth

 

Course 3 (please note, this was not served to us partially-eaten; we forgot to take the picture until halfway through the plate):

 

 

Muscovy duck breast, duck leg tamale, hoja santa, wild rice, black kale, crispy duck tongue, acorn squash

 
Course 4:
 

 

Berkshire pork cheek, spicebush, potato puree, rainbow chard, sweet potato batons, crispy spicy chestnuts

 

Course 5:

 

 

Venison loin, apple bacon sauce, beer braised collard greens, confit baby turnips, carrot ribbons, mole mustard jus

Course 6:

 

 

 Acorn squash cake, pumpkin sorbet, chai yogurt

 

Course 7:

 

 

 

 

Peanut butter semifreddo, flourless chocolate cake, miso soy caramel, pear

No, Course 7 did not come with a side of jacketed handsome; we want you to see the dessert wine. When paired with the peanut butter semifreddo, the wine makes the entire course taste like a PBJ sandwich.   Let the record show that this was the chef's intention, and not just the awkward metaphor of someone who loves the Tour of Italy combo at The Olive Garden.  It was quite fun and delicious. I am sad knowing that never again will I have any reason whatsoever to write "semifreddo".

 

And finally, as if the first seven courses were not enough, a pallete-cleansing candy tray that probably had a fancier name.  This included: marshmellows, merigue, jellies, fudge, and peppermint bark 

As should be expected, all seven wines were fantastic. The first dessert wine (Course 6) had a very interesting story--it was a Hungarian wine that was popular in the 1940s. However, it was almost destroyed by Communism, as the government destroyed most of the vines of the grape used to make the wine. As our server stated, "after the Berlin Wall fell, Western wine makers rushed into Hungary to salvage the grapes, saving this terrific wine that we now enjoy." Cool story, no doubt, but I can't help but wonder about the starving, desperate Hungarians who watched the Westerners rush into their country, not to help them rebuild after decades of tortuous Commmuist rule, but rather to steal their grapes. And we wonder why the world hates us.

 

For most of the meal, we were the only ones in the restaurant, which was not just awesome, but easily explained: we showed up at 5:00 PM just like all the other cool kids.  Our servers were outstanding, and the company was divine.  It was wonderful to be able to just enjoy alone time together.

And so we continued on the the show.  There's not really much to say about it.  It was actually slightly disappointing--I expected to laugh more.  Don't get me wrong, it had plenty of signature South Park-type moments of unbelievably hysterical, overwhelmingly offensive moments, but it also had several long lulls.  All in all, it was enjoyable, and true to the form of the writers, used ridiculousness and vulgarity to actually make some very strong observations about African poverty, religion, and the need to help and love one another.

 

The whole night was a fantastic Hanukkah/Christmas/Holiday/OK That's Great See You Later Matthew present to each other.  It's great to know we still have it.

Husband and I Have Stopped Speaking to Each Other

"Why God, why?!?!" you ask?  It's because when we do talk to each other we end up neglecting our son.  And then this happens:

OR...when making his breakfast while talking to said husband, you find that Matthew left for the play room to watch cartoons.  That part, great.  But he has taken with him a pint of orange sherbet from the freezer and has helped himself.  That part, less than great.

hi i'm matthew and i like the festival of kitchen sets





hi i'm mattew and i just learned that i hit the jackpot turns out i am what some people call half jewish but that sounds stupid how can you be half and half religion you either believe the savior has come or you don't do you believe the savior has come oh wait this is neither the time nor place for that conversation.

 

this week we celebrated hannukah we had so much fun playing with matches and grammy and grandpa sent me a new kitchen set it is so fun to cook with bellylady.

 

here i am cooking something yummy cheerios in a lunch meat reduction

 

here i am watching shouty light the candles he won't let me help because i'm 1 and that would be a death sentence

hurry up shouty i'm sleepy i mean driedel driedel driedel

 

you can't tell but i am dancing while shouty sings the prayer

oh boy look at that red thing i've lost focus

Lincoln

We saw the movie, ordered the book, and are considering it for a boys name for child #3 or #7.  Oh, and we started calling Matthew, Honest Matthew.

My Favorite Team Won

IU Men's Soccer won their eighth national title last weekend.  Big win for my favorite soccer team.  Let the record I did watch both the national semifinal and the national title game, complete with rapt attention.  It's funny.  I find soccer to be ghastly boring unless one of two conditions are met:

1. IU is playing
2. It is the US in the World Cup

at which point I am as one vuvuzela short of being insufferably obnoxious.

Moving on, I put Christmas lights up for the first time this year.  I was very proud of myself, attaching two strings of icicle-like lights along the front of the house.  Then this dude had to show me up.  GOD BLESS THE WATSHOT.

yhoo.it/RHK705

Titus's First Birthday

On Novemeber 25th, we celebrated our nephew, Titus', first birthday.

Here is the super-cute birthday boy playing on his tractor just after waking up from a nap. 

 

And the moment you've ALL been waiting for...the cake.  If you don't know much about Titus when it comes to food--and why wouldn't you know much about the eating habits of a child who you likely have never met--feed him fruit and you'll be a friend for life.  Feed him spoiled, uncooked meat and he will probably get sick.  In this big piece of chocolate cake with icing and all, he immediately found the embedded strawberries and ate all of them.  There was no spoiled, uncooked meat in the cake.  It wasn't until his father, my brother, Paul, put the cake to Titus' lips that Titus realized how much better manufactured sweets are than the natural stuff.  Love was felt.

 

Rewinding back to the actual day when he was born, I think of all the excitment, joy, and love that was felt that day.

 

We visited with Titus and his parents at the hospital and left wanting more.  And we've been truly blessed to spend so much time with Titus in his first year.  He is a happy guy who is constantly on the move, exploring and chatting away.  Titus has a reputation of being a toy and food stealer from his friends because he thinks what they have is always more awesome than the last thing he just took from them.  And then when you tell him that stealing wasn't nice (or Matthew yells at him) he cries which is really sweet because it shows that he just wants to be right in the action!  And then two minutes later he's often back to the same belligerent behavior.  When he's not committing petty theft, he's got some of the cutest facial expressions you've ever seen, including his mean mug and more recently his monkey face "ooo ooo."  He loves to be with people and when Matthew and Titus play it's such joy to watch: they follow each other, talk to each other, shake heads at one another, and just this week played hide and seek.  The in-game strategy was breathtaking.  Titus has brought great joy to our whole family.  I can't wait to continue watching him grow up!

20 Week Ultrasound

On Thursday, we had our 20-week ultrasound.  Let's allow the pictures to tell the tale:

This is Deuce's face.  The large circle in the middle is the skull and the two dark circles below it are the eye sockets.

Deuce's feet!

My favorite: the spine.  Amazing to see all those vertebrae that have been created.

And last but not least, a picture for those wanting to participate in the gender-guessing game.  Below is a picture of the Deuce's belly and then legs, ankles (which are crossed) and feet.  Now if you look between the legs, you will just see a black space.  What does that mean?!?!  Girl?  Hiding male genitals?  Or... we have no idea what we're looking at so who knows!?!?!?

So, yeah, we actually showed the discipline to follow through on our desire to not find out the gender.  Neither of us is happy about it.  It was especially weird when the ultrasound tech told us she knew what it was because, well, we didn't and that's weird.  She also never wrote down the gender, and she told us she does 25 ultrasounds a day, so at this point no one knows because she doesn't care forgot.

Side note, 25 ultrasounds a day?  Every day?  How does she maintain her focus and professionalism?  It has to get incredibly mundane.  I find it hard to believe that there hasn't been at least one time where an excited, first-time pregnant couple came in, nervous and hopeful, telling the ultrasound tech they didn't want to know the gender.  Having not listened to a word the couple said, she then quickly ran the monitor across the belly, deadpanned "head, arms, hands, ding-dong, feet, see you later" and walked out of the room.

On the hand, that whole "this is the miracle of life" thing probably keeps it pretty exciting.

The Deuce pregnancy has been an entirely different emotional experience from the Matthew pregnancy.  We just don't really think about it much, primarily because we are so focused on Matthew, but also because to some extent it feels like we've "been here before".  In some ways, it's nice--the decreased anxiety is fantastic--but in other ways, there is a hint of guilt.  Deuce is every bit as important to us as Matthew is, and sometimes it feels like we don't recognize that.  The ultrasound was a wonderful experience because it was every bit as meaningful as it was with Matthew.  There was our beautiful child--a child that, like with Matthew, has been blessed with perfect health and development thus far.  We could not be more thankful for our gifts from God.