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ok, so on erik's actually birthday, which was almost two weeks ago, we went to eat 'n park with my mom and peter's mom. we had a good dinner together and the waitresses sang happy birthday to erik which amused him.

he got a steeler smiley cookie and made a mess while eating it, as usual!

when we got home, he opened the rest of his presents, including a dancing brobee from his granny which he LOVES.


and thus ended erik's second birthday celebration!

time since then has been kind of a blur. we've had a lot of snow. i've just started working with someone from another lab who is going to teach me to culture human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. peter's schedule is changing starting next week, so he took off today to avoid having a 1 day weekend. he will now be working monday - friday like most normal people. we're dreading the extra daycare expense, but will enjoy more time together as a family since he'll be getting home at least an hour earlier on work days and we'll have a full two day weekend together each week. today was especially nice because we met some friends for lunch, including one who lives out of town that we rarely get to see. we all really enjoyed it. while erik napped, we got to play some rock band. i roasted a yummy chicken for dinner (2 for 1 at the iggle - YAY!), and spent some time in the lab taking care of my viruses and cells. i'm looking forward to having a fairly well-rested husband to hang out with tonight instead of the normally dog tired one i am used to on saturday nights. tomorrow we're going to JC Penney to have erik's 2 year portraits taken, and i'll probably spend a nice chunk of time at the lab in the afternoon.

and of course tomorrow is SUPERBOWL SUNDAY! again, i don't really care much about football, but the steelers are playing and it's a good excuse to drink beer and eat some yummy food! plus we just happen to have one of the cutest steeler fans on the planet living in our household!

erik's belated birthday blog

i've been wanting to write a nice blog about erik's birthday party complete with pictures for awhile now, so here it goes!

erik's second birthday was last week, and the sunday before we had a nice little birthday party for him. both of peter's parents came to stay with us, and my mom, my brother adam, sister-in-law chrissy, and nieces morgan, marisa, and maggie all came over to celebrate. before the party i went out and got some balloons for erik. when he discovered them he was SO excited and ran all over the house with them.



we also took some time to pose for pictures with the birthday boy.


and my favorite:


the party went really well, and i think everyone had a good time. the penguins and steelers both played (and both won!), which made the guys happy. my mom brought KFC for lunch and peter's mom made two very delicious cakes:




erik got some really cool presents which he loved opening, and all the kids had fun with the TWO sets of musical instruments that he got. each set is really neat and contains different instruments. he's gotten especially good at playing the harmonica!



we had fun playing rock band too. it was chaotic with all the little folks around, but nothing can stand in the way of rock and roll! chrissy gave an exceptional performance on 'one way or another.'



we sang happy birthday, and lots of birthday cake was eaten (very messily by some!).





it was a really good day!

monday was mlk day and i had to spend some time at the lab. i came home early in the afternoon and peter took his dad to the airport while erik and i napped. i was exhausted from the party and all the preparations and the down time was much needed. that evening, peter's mom babysat so that peter and i could go to the melting pot for our belated anniversary dinner, a present from peter's dad and his wife jan (thank you to all three of you! we had an AMAZING dinner). the melting pot has become our favorite place to go for special occasions, and as usual it was really really nice.



afterward we took a brief stroll down to bessamer court to look at pittsburgh's lovely skyline. just as we approached the riverside a train came roaring past which made for some interesting pictures. we couldn't help but think about how much erik would have loved to have seen the choo choo. i took a little video of it that i still need to show him. we didn't stay long because it was freaking cold.





the next day was january 20, erik's actual birthday. i'll have to write the rest tomorrow because it's getting late and i need to go to bed!

Toynbee Idea

Toynbee Idea
Originally uploaded by StartPoint Media

random learnings from today: toynbee tiles

i saw StartPoint Media's photo in flickr's pittsburgh pool and as a result learned a little about toynbee tiles.

i had never heard of toynbee tiles before, but apparently we have at least two of them here in pittsburgh. so cool! i definitely need to plan an excursion downtown to have a look at them for myself!

peter and his dad

circa 1972

erik is a cheeky monkey

i still have yet to write about erik's birthday. i will get around to it, i swear! all the photos are on my flickr page if you just can't wait. there's also this really cute video of erik being really silly after dinner:



erik seems to be developing a really sarcastic sense of humor lately (sound like someone you might know?). dinner is almost always a messy struggle and battle of the wills. tonight erik's hands were covered in food. when that happens, he does one of two things - asks to have them wiped, or shake them in the air, sending bits o' dinner flying all over the dining room. tonight it was the latter, so i told him to put his hands on his tray, and he pressed his palms flat onto the tray and looked at me with a big smile, waiting for me to tell him it was ok to take them off again. a few minutes later, erik was eating some cheerios out of a little cup, and did something else which he does frequently - stick his sippy cup into the other cup and then pick them both up to drink. peter kept fussing at him to stop doing that, which wasn't working at all. i tried to use reverse psychology and said, "put your sippy cup into your other cup" (which it already was). he pushed the cups to the edge of his tray and turned them around so i could see them clearly, and looked at me as if to say "are you blind?!? can't you see that i already have?" what a silly boy!

tomorrow morning erik sees his doctor for his 2 year well visit. good grief! i can't see there being any problems, but i have been surprised before. i just hope he's not too upset by the vaccinations. as much as i hate getting shots, i hate it 100 times more when he gets them.

why michelle obama is smiling

stickers

i have learned that proper tea is responsible for the hydrants i have blogged about.

thank you to hryck for pointing that out to me!

another hydrant graffiti guy

coincidentally, i was waiting for the shuttle this afternoon and saw this graffiti, very similar to the one i had just posted. i wasn't even looking for it. what a treat!

yippee for LOST!

finally after 8 long months, lost is coming back tonight! it is one of the few shows that i still get excited about watching (well, non-reality shows i guess), and i have really been looking forward to new episodes after a very long hiatus.

i still have to upload all my photos from this past weekend ... erik's birthday party and visit from his grandma and opa ... so i will wait and blog about it when i can put the photos in too.

yesterday was erik's birthday. oh, and obama's inauguration, in case there is anyone that didn't know that! i actually watched it on my laptop in the lab, even though i wasn't particularly thrilled about it. i honestly can't get thrilled about anything that has to do with our government at this point. i would love to believe that obama has the power to unite the people of this country and make changes that will better our nation and the rest of the world, but i don't think he does. i don't think anyone has that kind of power, no matter how many people adore him and think he's the second coming of christ. anyhow, i have made a point to avoid the topic of politics as much as possible, so i should continue to do so here. the only other things i will mention - that crazy bow on arethra franklin's hat, and that awful poem that had people fleeing the national mall by the hundreds of thousands. now THAT'S good stuff!

this morning erik and i said goodbye to his grandma and i took him to school with some chocolate chip muffins for his class to celebrate his birthday. both of his teachers, miss stephy and miss morgan, gave him big hugs and congrats on being 2, and commented on what a big boy he is now. i did some work at the lab in the cellomics building down by the river and then realized as i was sitting on the shuttle to come up to the bst that i had left my lunch in the refrigerator in the lab (even though i reminded myself ten times before i left not to forget it). i ran up and back downstairs again, in hopes that i could get back on the shuttle only to see it pulling away as i ran through the lobby. no matter ... i made it eventually, and i got to enjoy my leftover chicken parm and spaghetti from big jim's. i still need to figure out what to make for dinner tonight. that's always a struggle!

since i am behind on my photos, i will leave you with this picture from last week of some cool graffiti i saw while walking along forbes in oakland. it's not a robot, but it's still pretty damn cool. i think it's a fire hydrant. or something. i need to make more of an effort to photograph street art. i find it very interesting!