PROPER ICE CREAM TECHNIQUES

huck knows that the proper way to eat ice cream is straight from the carton,

with a baby spoon.

we take our jobs as parents pretty seriously.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAH DADDY

just a little something we cooked up while eating breakfast this morning.

we sure think you're the best there is, dad. 

happy birthday!

FOR MY DEAR MISS NORA EPHRON

i owe so much of the good parts of my life to a writer named nora ephron.

i moved across the country the summer before my junior year of high school. a month into my first semester at my new school, i turned sixteen. i was heartsick for home and lonely. my mom baked a cake and my sisters made birthday cards out of construction paper and i blew out the candles in the dining room while my dad was away at work. it was a lovely birthday, but i missed my friends. 

that friday, two girls i'd been tentatively sitting with at lunch, the cutest girls you'd ever meet in your life, invited me out of the blue to go see a movie. when they found out it was my birthday that weekend, they bought me a gift--a leopard print purse that i carried through college until holes showed through the sides. they picked me up saturday afternoon and while riding in allyson's little white volkswagen golf it occurred to me that i was in the middle of a miracle. everything was going to be okay. i was making friends--though they strangers really--who genuinely seemed to care for me. i was going to be fine. i started to grin and relax. the skies got somehow sunnier.

the movie they took me to see was you've got mail.

i watch you've got mail any time i need a reminder that the world is a beautiful place. because it is. it is, but it isn't. and nobody knew that better than nora.

i think the thing about nora is, she was not afraid to be a woman. her strengths as a writer, her characters' strengths, all come from the fact that they are unapologetically girls. sally with the hair spray in the car in the parking lot of the diner, annie and her over-watched copy of an affair to remember, marie and her rolodex full of dateable men, kathleen and her daisies. nora's women are soft but that doesn't mean they aren't strong. why don't more people see femininity the way she did? nora's girls aren't like men and they don't care to be. why would they? frankly, it's refreshing and inspiring. i'm so sad to see that brilliant spark of feminism missing now that she's gone.

there is a scene in julie & julia, where julia and paul are walking through paris. julia pauses mid sentence to watch a woman pushing a stroller the opposite direction. you see her just briefly waver, then collect herself up, leaning a little on her husband as she sorts her pieces back together. later julia gets a letter from her sister announcing she is expecting a baby, and she kind of crumples against the kitchen counter as she reads. those scenes. i was in the middle of the worst of my struggles to get pregnant when i saw that movie the first time, and those scenes meant everything to me. somehow nora understood exactly what i was going through. that's how i know nora was the real deal.

i am a total product of the nora ephron. apart from my mother and my crazy granny goose, this woman has had the single biggest influence on shaping who i am and how i see myself as a woman. i think a little bit like maybe nora ephron was my fairy god mother. on my best of days, i like to imagine i am living in a nora ephron movie of my own. maybe even on my worst of days, too.

so, dear nora, thank you. thank your. thank you for your movies. thank you for writing strong female characters who aren't afraid to be females. thank you for recognizing the quiet power in a daisy.

H&G, sister.

nora's influence has made this blog countless of times

some of my favorites: 

here

here

here

here

here

and

here

BUSTER'S BLOG :: disney world ::

the end!

THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

let's just blast through these shall we?

i really enjoyed the million matching strollers at stroller parking :)

if you're doing the animal kingdom,

the holbrooks recommend:

riding the safari

riding the safari

riding the safari

seeing the lion king show

riding the safari

huck gives the banana pudding in asia two thumbs up.

they don't give you lids for your sodas here, and the straws are made of paper. fun fact! 

plant a kiss right there on those rosy cheeks, will ya?

HAPPY WEEKEND FROM HUCK!

huck has a little something he wanted to tell you.

(after about the 40 second mark this becomes completely pointless.)

now for babbles!

what you should be buying at forever 21 right now

my favorite tote bags

my favorite iphone cases 

(i still haven't picked one, hardest decision of my life!)

the strangest places i've changed huck's diaper

(if i had just waited 24 hours to write this post i could have included 

"on the floor of the j.crew sample sale")

aaaand huck's blog!

ON NURSING IN PUBLIC

This post is sponsored by Disney Baby. I'll be joining the Disney Baby blogging team next month, and look forward to sharing these kinds of stories (projects/ideas/etc) with you over there! Stay tuned for more details!

this a post about nursing. in public. with your boobs.

after being infertile for two years and struggling to convince my body to even get pregnant in the first place, i felt such pride in my fat baby and my two little boobs that could. who'd have thought my not-even-an-a-cups could do all that? to this day, huck's two fat thighs are two of the things i'm most proud of in this life. i did that!

once huck had a few weeks of life under his belt, we started spending long afternoons walking around the city. he got his best sleep in the stroller and i felt my most calm when i'd had a chance to walk around. we'd usually be gone over a nap and at least two feedings. we'd make good use of a series of public restrooms and retail dressing rooms i relied on to hide in any time huck was hungry and needed to nurse. then one day i just got tired of it. why should i hide nursing my baby? it didn't really make much sense to me. we were getting good at it and i could confidently nurse without showing skin, so why hide? so i decided: the next time huck was hungry, i'd nurse him where ever i was. i'd be discreet, but it would be pretty obvious what we were doing and i was prepared to return a few stink eyes if necessary. in new york it is fully legal to bare your chest to nurse your baby in public (as if that even needs to be a law), and though i had no intention of actually baring my chest to anybody, it gave me confidence. we were at the metropolitan museum of art the first time we did it. i figured, boobs should be a pretty friendly sight here, don't you think? nobody even noticed. once we were finished and i realized what we'd just pulled off, it was like my whole life got easier: i am a mom, and i don't need to hide it.

since then we have happily and proudly nursed where ever the dang crap huck needed to be nursed. i'm pretty adamant about my right to do it, although it's very rare that we'll nurse in public anymore now that he's older. it's my coolest mom trick i got. in case you are similarly ornery about your right to nurse in public, i thought i'd share some tips i learned along the way:

• button ups provide easier access to the boobs, but i prefer to wear roomy tops that lift up when nursing in public. a good drape hides most of the action and when baby is finished, gravity helps get you covered much faster than your fingers could work those buttons. wearing an undershirt you can tug down  helps if you're nervous about exposing your back or sides. i've found baby usually covers up your front pretty well.
• nursing bras are nice if you're a quick snap, but it's almost easier to wear a regular demi-cup bra so you can just tug on down to free the girls and tug on up when finished.
• nursing covers are super rad if you're positive you're going to accidentally flash the whole world, but in my experience they're like wearing a flashing sign that says "I'M NURSING! I'M NURSING!" i say as soon as you can ditch it, ditch it. and anyway, a burp rag or baby blanket (or even a napkin!) will do the job just as well in a pinch. (huck always hated his nursing cover, so it never stayed in place long anyway.)
• sometimes i'd sway a little from side to side while nursing. it calms me down if i'm anxious, soothes the baby if he's fussy, and adds to the illusion that, "what this? oh no, we're just snuggling."
• get everything ready before letting on to your baby what you're up to. for us, as soon as huck knows there's a boob in his future he is inconsolable until the second he's got it. so reach up under your shirt, adjust everything how you need it, position the baby, and then and only then lift up your shirt and secure your latch. (i've found you can cover your nipple with your free hand up until the second his mouth is in position to minimize any nip flashings.) similarly, the minute the latch is broken, free a hand to put everything in its proper place immediately. nursing in public is like being on an airplane in extreme turbulence: you put on your own oxygen mask on first.
• try to find a quiet corner, if you can. your baby deserves a distraction-free meal, and it's respectful to the other patrons and yourself. sometimes you just gotta do it right then and there, and when that happens, go with your instincts. and always put yourself and your baby first, and don't ever apologize.

i have strong feelings about a woman's right to feed her baby how she decides is best. bottle or boob, it shouldn't matter, so long as we aren't shamed into or out of our decisions. i don't like the idea that whether we nurse and for how long and where and when is a topic up for discussion. that time magazine cover made me so mad. it irritates me that women's breasts are over sexualized. i don't consider nursing to be an issue of sex or morality or modesty one bit. it's just basic human function and shouldn't be sensationalized. i fully respect women who draw the line at nursing in public and want to keep things private, i do. i don't discredit their feelings or beliefs at all. but for me, well, this is my stand. men go around playing shirts vs. skins at the basketball court on the corner in full sight of the world, and they don't worry about their nipples accidentally being seen for a flash of a second here or there. and theirs are purely decorative! ours are at least doing something pretty important. so i say rock it, sister. rock it! you've got my full support. as well as the support of the legislative branch of the new york state government.

go team!

NAT NESTS: OUR LITTLE HOUSE ON HOUZZ

we were delighted when houzz.com contacted us about featuring our apartment on their site. putting this apartment together has been so much fun. it is nowhere near finished, but perfection is the enemy of the good, as they say. and as we all know, i am nothing if not the exact opposite of a perfectionist. 

just a few photos for now,
you can go HERE to see the rest.

and thank you to houzz for having us!