Hello, Chicago!

Dave had a conference to attend in Chicago at the beginning of December, and we all decided to come with him! We stayed for one night in a hotel, and we learned that road trips and vacations are a whole different ballgame with two kids, even when you're only on the road for 2 hours and only away from home for 2 days. Natalie successfully navigated the hotel's double bed without falling out--phew!--and David slept fairly well in his carseat, which is where he usually sleeps anyway.

We packed in a lot of fun stuff during the day--we visited the Field Museum and the Children's Museum, rode the L Train (EL Train?), and we ate Chicago-style pizza. Natalie loved the train. Her excitement was so contagious that she even made the tired commuters smile. How can you not smile when a cute 3-year-old (no bias here) in a bright pink coat says "Whee!" everytime the train starts moving, and repeats the names of the stops as she hears them over the intercom?

We don't actually have pictures from our favorite part of the Chicago Children's Museum. It was an indoor snowball fight, complete with white puff balls the size of golf balls and snowflake-shaped cardboard cutouts you could stack to create barricades. We had such a blast, and we weren't freezing cold afterward. Fine family entertainment!

Kitchen helper

Here's Natalie getting more mileage out of her Wisconsin tee. This time she's helping me roll out sugar cookie dough. As you can see, this is a full-body effort.


Ah, my favorite sight! Natalie & Dave working side by side in the kitchen. Natalie loves doing the dishes so much that she cries if we won't let her help. Here's hoping we can keep the dishes excitement coming when she's in high school.

Daddy-daughter date

Dave & Natalie love riding the bus to the Madison Children's Museum. Here they are, all decked out in UW regalia, ready for a fun day together. Thanks, Mom, for the fun tee shirts!

Smiling baby

These days David loves laying on the floor and ... smiling! Baby smiles are the best.

Halloween 2009

This Halloween we ended up pairing up Dave and David as Batman and Robin, and Natalie and I were Cinderella and her fairy godmother.

Wham! Zowie! The Dynamic Duo is back in action! After I found the idea for this Robin costume online, I was really happy that Dave was willing to play along as Batman. Aren't they cute?

As we read in the previous post, all of Natalie's dreams came true when this dress arrived at our house. I was really excited at the prospect of spraying my hair silvery gray! The only difficulty I had was convincing Natalie that the magic wand is for the fairy godmother, not Cinderella.

Cinderella, dreaming of all the candy that's sure to come her way:

Robin, who has no idea what's going on but looks adorable nonetheless:

Grace and toys go!

Natalie's new obsession is Cinderella 3. I'm normally pretty opposed to movie sequels, especially straight-to-video-Disney movie sequels. But when that sequel keeps my daughter entertained for a good 45 minutes or so and allows me to maintain my sanity, I can make an exception.

Natalie's got a terrific arsenal of quotes from the movie. One of her "quotes" is, "Grace and toys go!" Translation: "Grace and poise, girls." (Spoken by the Stepmother as she's trying to keep Anastasia and Drizella in line. If you knew that without having to read this explanation, call me. I'm sure there's a lot we can sympathize about.) Anyway, when she says this, it cracks Dave and me up, so she says it more. And more. There are also some great quotes like, "I DO! I dooooo. I do..." and "Whatever you do, stay away from the palace. Stay away from the prince!" It's a little disturbing when your toddler has a terrific menacing voice.

In keeping with the Cinderella theme at our house, Natalie decided she wants to be Cinderella for Halloween. My sister lent us a Cinderella outfit and it arrived in the mail on Saturday along with some new (sparkly!) shoes from Grandma. Putting on the dress elicited more quotes from Natalie: "Mommy, Daddy, all my dreams have come true!" and "They're the perfect shoes!" Needless to say, we're pretty excited for Halloween. Here's a sneak peek:

Back in Action

We're slowly but surely adjusting to life as a family of four. This past Sunday we went to church for the first time since David's birth. It turned out that the heat wasn't working in the chapel, and it was a cold, cold day, so our bishop cancelled all the meetings after the first hour (for those not familiar with LDS services, church is typically 3 hours long). It was kind of a nice way to ease back into the going-to-church routine. For everyone except Natalie. After sitting in Sacrament Meeting for an hour, she was more than ready to go to Nursery for the next 2 hours, and she flatly refused to leave the building. Dave carried her to the car, and she cried the whole way. Here's a post-church photo op, with David crying in his cute first day of church outfit, Natalie with her tears all dried (happy to be holding her beloved Sally, no doubt), and me already in my post-church comfy clothes.

Along with attending church again, we've resumed some other activities that for the past month or so were not happening much, if at all. Like hairbrushing! OK, hair-doing. Natalie's hair has been brushed every day (almost), and sometimes I would put in a quick hairband, but when the hairband invariably came out a few minutes later, there was no redo. But now we've jumped into pigtail territory, and there's no looking back! My mom put Natalie's hair in pigtails while she was here helping us, and my goal is to one day do pigtails for Natalie that are ALMOST as perfectly formed as the ones my mom would create.

Grandma's Pigtails

Mommy's Pigtails

We've ventured out several times for walks, hikes, and bus rides, and most trips have gone really smoothly. David tends to sleep in the Baby Bjorn, which works well for us. Here's a photo of him after our trip out to State Street on Friday evening. It was cold, so we bundled him in his reindeer sleeper, and the poor guy was so bundled that he reminded us of Ralphie's little brother Randy in A Christmas Story--you know, when the mom says to him, "You can put your arms down when you get to school!"

David, snoozing after a ride in the Bjorn

Here's Randy. See, David, it could have been worse!

Welcome, David!

David Carlson Duncan was born on Monday, September 7, 2009, at 10:40 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. We're thrilled to have him here with us 10 days earlier than expected!

We're soaking up all the newborn baby snuggle time we can.






So far, Natalie is fond of her new brother and she treats him very lovingly. Except his crying freaks her out. But for the most part, she seems to think he's pretty fun. The first thing I remember her saying about David is, "He's squeakin! Squeak, squeak!"

The Quotable Natalie

"Mommy, there are bugs in the salad dressing."

Natalie is forever telling us about bugs and spiders she's found, and it never fails to freak us out for a second or two before we realize that the spiders are empty grape stems from lunch or the bugs are actually bits of fuzz on the carpet. Or, in this case, poppyseeds. I ate some of the alleged bugs to show Natalie they were OK. When I see her popping a june bug in her mouth someday, I'll probably realize I didn't make the best choice.

Rochester to Madison Roadtrip

We stopped in some great places on our way to Madison. And I use the phrase "on our way" loosely. Philadelphia & DC are not generally on the way west of Rochester. But we'd wated to see these places for a long time, and we finally took the opportunity!

Highlights:
Getting used to seeing minutemen and other period folks all over in Philadelphia. We actually bumped into a minuteman on the way out of our elevator at the hotel parking lot. We were too surprised to request a photo op, so we settled for a pic with a cardboard cutout of Ben Franklin. I, for one, would have loved to have an "interactive breakfast" with him as advertised, but unfortunately our itinerary didn't allow it.

Seeing the coins made at the US Mint. I didn't realize how much they rely on robotics to turn the huge rolls of metal into coins. Sorry, no photos allowed here!

Viewing the Liberty Bell as well as period copies of the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, and the Declaration of Independence. Standing in the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Dave and I had some great preparation for this--we watched 1776 the musical! (Sing with me, "He plays the violin...." or how about, "Sit down, John!")

Checking out the memorials on the National Mall in Washington, DC. I won't lie to you--it was hot and humid and I was exhausted most of the time, but I am so glad we saw DC. There was so much to see; we just hit the tip of the iceberg. I would like to spend a couple weeks. Or a month. I would go to every museum, and it wouldn't be June, and I wouldn't be pregnant.

We love the Smithsonian! We had to restrain ourselves from asking the guards when Ben Stiller's shift began.

Meeting up with Dave's friend Kelly who lives in DC. We had a great visit with him, and he did an excellent job of helping us navigate the public transportation, and teaching us what was realistic. Sample, "Julie, you don't want to walk all the way to the Jefferson Memorial. Trust me." He was right. We drove.

Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknowns. This was the most moving experience of the trip for me. I felt such intense pride and gratitude as we walked along the memorials of all the soldiers who sacrificed so much for my freedom.

Just love this pic. I especially like that Natalie's smile occurred spontaneously. I think my cheesy grin in most of the other Julie-Natalie photos comes from the fact that I'm saying between my teeth, "Smile, Natalie!!"

Fallingwater was amazing. It was such a beautifully designed house. The only disappointment about this was that we arrived too late for both of us to take the tour (we were planning to go separately b/c no kids Natalie's age are allowed). Dave let me go b/c he knew how much it meant to me, and every time I think of the visit I appreciate him so much for that.

Our tradition is to buy a Christmas tree ornament as a souvenir wherever we travel. I can't wait to put up our tree this year and be reminded of this terrific trip!

Happy (Moving) Birthday to Dave!

Dave's birthday was June 20th, and we moved to Wisconsin on June 25th. So how do you celebrate someone's birthday when your life and house are in disarray and you're moving within the week? Take photos with moving boxes in the background, and go to Strong Museum! Normally Dave wouldn't request a trip to the children's museum for his birthday, but preferences change quickly when the museum is running an exhibit called Videotopia that allows visitors to play 100 different arcade video games. Dave was happy that he left the high score on a few different machines, and Natalie was happy that there was a monster-sized foot stool that enabled her to play too!

Oh, and we sold our red car (possibly the last vestige of my young, free and single days--sniff!) late in the evening on Dave's birthday. Quite a birthday present! We had to sell it before we left town, and clinching the sale made us feel like we could really complete the move. Phew!

An acquired taste?

A week or two before leaving Rochester, I saw this bumper sticker and it cracked me up. We definitely acquired a taste for Rochester during the nearly 5 years we lived there--we especially miss the terrific friends we made.

I certainly never expected to acquire a taste for one thing--Rochester's famous dish, the garbage plate. For the uninitiated, this involves 2 hamburgers (or hot dogs) covered with home fries and macaroni salad and smothered in hot sauce & onions. We heard garbage plate lore from our first days in Rochester, and we decided we couldn't leave town without sampling one for ourselves. Just before moving, we ate lunch at the home of the original garbage plate, Nick Tahou's. What a surprise to discover that we actually enjoyed them! It was like our own Green Eggs & Ham moment. Too bad we waited until our last week in town to try them out!

Here is the evidence of our bravery:



Rochesterians, please eat a garbage plate and think of us!

Taking a bite out of Wisconsin

Here we are, safe and sound in our new home! I will post pics from our road trip soon, if I can find some where I don't look like an overheated, exhausted pregnant lady! (We had a lot of fun, I promise.)

In the meantime, here's a photo of Natalie's desperate attempt to eat on move-in day. I was very late preparing lunch, and when I left the cheese unattended to grab the bread, Natalie siezed the moment. I turned back and the block of cheese had one large bite out of each end ;) It made me burst out laughing.



I'm sorry to say this was not fine Wisconsin cheddar; it was the nearest grocery store's cheapest option. Obviously it didn't faze Natalie.

Zooropa

OK, so sometimes I get a bit too creative (desperate?) with these blog post titles. According to The Hurst Review, "part of Zooropa’s message is that surfaces can be deceiving, and this song cycle is much more than meets the eye." Which is a terrific metaphor for this post. Chew on that awhile!

Natalie and I go to the zoo a lot, but this was Dave's first trip to the Seneca Park Zoo. Here's Natalie watching the sea lion go up for a breath of fresh air:


It doesn't get much better than happening upon a real-life baboon snuggle session.


A great picture of Natalie. Unfortunately I wasn't quite looking at the camera. Most likely I was distracted by the paparazzi.

Lilacs, etc

May is the month of lilacs in Rochester, so I thought I'd better post these before it becomes June! We wandered around Highland Park the week before the Lilac Festival began. Though the lilacs weren't fully in bloom yet, it was still a fun family night walk.

As you can see, Natalie is a full-contact flower sniffer. She doesn't like to do things just halfway.


Down and gimme 50!


Of course, the pregnant lady is bound to see the photo op in a tree seat. Anything for a little break!


And here's a random one I couldn't resist posting. Natalie's showing off her latest style: pioneer chic. That's right, Mason jar bangle bracelets. She's fearless that way.