date night with a baby.

we hear it's all healthy and important to continue to have date nights with your spouse (and only your spouse) after baby arrives. leave the little infant with friends, they say. have a few hours just the two of you.

are they for real?

maybe when she's ready for college we'll go out for an evening without her. maybe. but for now our world will continue to revolve around eleanor, date night and all.

roadtrip.

...wish us luck!

...

p.s. thanks for all your advice here

on screaming babies in car seats!

hopeful a few of those tricks you shared

will work in our favor during the long drive...

for sale.

i put a bunch of my clothing on ebay last night. if you'd like to take a look or grab anything, here is the link.

also, my friend marci (who also happens to be the best dressed lady i know) is selling some of her stuff, too. click here to check it out.

xo

baby girl's first easter.

hope you had a happy easter!

xo

today is thursday. and it's going to be a beautiful day.

what a crazy and exhausting week it has been so far! thanks to all of you who have kept my family in your thoughts and prayers lately. i wish health issues didn't exist- that everyone could live a life without getting sick. and i wish my family lived down the street, so we could all be together right now. or at least that airfare wasn't so expensive. but here we are.... and here it is... and we'll get through it, by golly! so thanks for the kind support. it means so much. i'm so grateful.

in other news, it's been 80 degrees here the past few days. i baked a chocolate cake the other day that i am slowly finishing all by myself. and we drove around a neighborhood in falls church virginia last night that still has christmas lights up! i want to be friends with people in falls church.

also, we're back on the search for a new home. and it's making me pull my hair out. is it just us, or does anyone else struggle with making the decision between living in the district or moving further out? do we want to stay on capitol hill where rent is expensive and space is limited, or do we want to move further out (and by further out, i mean.... further out), be more of a suburban family with the promise of a big yard and maybe even a parking spot (oh! just the thought of not having to haul a car seat and groceries and everything else that comes with life for blocks at a time because the closest available parking spot at the moment feels like miles from your actual home. be still my heart!) and where does one find floors like these? because carpet seems to be winning these days in practically every home we see.

we're heading on a road trip soon and baby girl's relationship with her car seat is making me nervous. people always tell us if you want to calm a fussy baby, take her for a car ride. but the car seems to be the one thing that makes our baby girl scream and scream. do you have any magical tips for babies and car seats?! and do you maybe wanna share them?!

today is thursday and it's going to be a great day. i woke up and felt it. house hunting, health issues, crying babies in cars aside, it'll all be wonderful. and we'll all get through it. xoxo

p.s. candice took this photo when we went to france last summer. thanks for always letting me jump in front of your camera, candice.

diary by kingsley: walking mom.

"i'm 55 lbs. no longer a pup.

they call me tank on the streets.

and mom always has a baby/stroller/car seat in her arms.

put all of this together and what do you get?

a bulldog in charge. i call the shots these days."

-kinglsey

a few little things that make the long days better...

1. eating cupcakes from sprinkles with a friend

2. baby girl, and getting to spend every minute with her

3. tulips popping up everywhere around the hill

4. one look at that puppy dog face and all my worries go away

the end.

one of those days...

yesterday was one of those days.

nothing went right.

everything went wrong.

what can you do but end the day

with some ben & jerrys

(or haagen dazs in my husbands case)

and a whole lot of praying.

if you're feeling up to it,

would you mind keeping my family in your prayers?

we could use them right about now...

and, thanks a million.

xo

laugh.

i was trying to log into youtube last night and realized i have two different youtube accounts, one of which has videos in there i hadn't seen in ages so i'd forgotten all about them. like this one above. watching it made me laugh again. because i loved those college days in our little studio apartment in new york city where we'd be dumb and dorky together. and josh is my favorite person to laugh with. it's one of the biggest reasons i married him.

miss marci comes to town.

my dear marci from nyc came to d.c. for the weekend! goodness, do i love this girl. and i don't get to see her enough. i got to see her for a quick breakfast in nyc last fall, but we haven't really spent time together since we met up in paris last summer (here and here) and that is just wrong! so it was such a treat to have her here, finally meet baby girl and do some d.c. things together for a large part of the weekend.

marci dear, thanks for all your love and support the last few years. you always make me want to be a better friend. please please please come back soon!

oh new york city, i miss you every day.

i love nyc. i miss living there.

but i don't miss hauling that stroller

up and down all those subway steps.

(heaven bless those two working subway elevators

in all of manhattan that i was able to find.)

moms of nyc, you are super women.

so great seeing a few old friends and

grabbing some food at our old favorite places.

wish we could have had more time to see everyone

and do everything, but there is always next time.

i hope i'm not making you dizzy.

we're back from new york. we had a wonderful time!

my body feels more toned from all that walking.

my tummy is still crazy stuffed from all that eating.

eleanor was such a trooper.

she's a great little travel companion.

we took some photos (well, of course we did)

and i'd love to share a few soon...

hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

a little bit of our weekend.

pizza + arrancini with friends, family walks,

cherry blossoms + other springtime flowers...

hope you had a lovely restful weekend!

we're off to NYC today... be back soon!

have a wonderful happy first weekend of april!

baby girl is 2 months old today. 2 months! she's growing up so fast, but my mama was right when she said it just keeps getting better and better. baby girl is smiling, talking (as far as cooing and ahhing and giggling are concerned) and being absolutely adorable all the day long. i cannot get enough. thankfully we're practically attached at the hip these days, so all is good.

i'm over here today sharing a few little letters on today's letters. stop on by and check it out if you'd like! mr. and mrs. loerke are just darling. :)

general conference is this weekend. it's a time set aside twice a year where our prophet and church leaders speak to us worldwide. in a time when our world is really struggling, i find a whole lot of comfort in their inspired guidance and love. i'm grateful for the relationship i have with my Savior and the blessings the gospel brings into my life each day. if you'd like to catch a bit of conference this weekend, you can watch and listen to it here.

we're off to new york city on monday for a bit! miss E is going on her first plane ride and i'm so excited/scared/terrified about that part. but really looking forward to seeing friends and showing off my baby girl. i really cannot wait!

and the giveaway winners are announced here in this weeks giveaway post! go and see if you are one of the lucky three!

...

photos of our family by carissa.

a good laugh.

last night, we stayed up way too late watching funny youtube clips (they never get old) and i almost died i was laughing so hard when josh showed me these old clips of jim carrey in the background. if you have the time and want a good laugh, watch all five clips. oh man. i needed that laugh. he's a funny man.