I'm happy to make the announcement, in the urban parenting blogosphere, that I'm pregnant with my second child! Not only am I pregnant, but I'm having a baby boy! I'm due between Christmas and New Years which means that by the beginning of 2013, I'll have my perfect little pair...son and daughter. It's funny how your view of pregnancy changes once you actually become pregnant. Quite honestly, I didn't even think about being pregnant until I hit 35. I had this vision in my head that I would see the little "+" sign on thepregnancy stick and squeal for joy the way Liesl did in The Sound of Music…

Washingtonians really can't complain. We had a mild 2012 winter. The temperatures never got super low and we barely saw a snowflake except forthat freak Halloween storm. Despite all that, I was still very much lookingforward to summer. Summer is my favorite season. I often attribute my love of summer to my August birthday and Mediterranean background. Whatever the casemay be, there's nothing like hot days turning to warm nights with sunlightthat lasts past 9 p.m. And while gathering with friends is always fun, nothing beats an outdoor BBQ or kids splashing around a pool.Summer makes everyone …

My husband is a great cook. He has no aspirations to be a chef. He aspires to be a good cook which means to him, healthy food prepared with love for his family and people he cares about. He has set the tone for our family's food. Since my daughter was a baby, he insisted on healthy food that was not "precious," but was prepared quickly and with care. Unsweetened granola, vanilla yogurt and berries was breakfast or "daddy eggs" with veggies and queso fresca. Lunch on weekends was a quick panini with sopressota and special bread. But dinner was and is, always the highlight. We have been sitting…

March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, April showers bring May flowers, and sticky grins signal the start of summer on our street. As soon as the mercury rises, our favorite family dessert would be listed on a menu as “Ice-cream out front on a cone.” It comes in many flavors—chocolate chip cookie dough, cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, brownie moose tracks, Samoa, vanilla with sprinkles, straight-up chocolate, and even, now that mom eats vegan sometimes, coconut turtle trails ice-cream. The most important part is that it is eaten out on the front wall and up and down the …

Like mother like daughter. I know the adage and I see it acted out most days with my teen. She does not look like me at all and we certainly have our differences but we both "over commit". I always hear that women who over commit do not know how to say "no" or how to decline requests for help. That has never been my problem. I am not easily intimidated or even very sensitive. But I am very curious. Whenever someone approaches me with a new project or activity, I am always prone to say "yes" just to learn more about something new. I am a generalist and can get excited about fine art, …

This spring, I confess I have dreamed of rain on Saturday mornings. Why would I want it to rain, you ask? Because a Saturday morning in our house goes one of two ways.If it's a rainy day, Claire's already up and out of bed playing with her siblings proclaiming victory that soccer is cancelled. "Woo hoo!", she shouts, as mother nature agrees with a loud clap of thunder. However, if it's bright and sunny, Claire almost always sleeps in. I slip into her room and climb up into her loft bed. I cautiously, but firmly nudge the sleeping dragon. Hoping to ease into the morning, in my sweetest …

I love Olympic Summers! I'm not an athlete but there's nothing like watching the Opening Ceremonies, rooting for your country and just cheering on these amazing and dedicated young men and women. My first recollection on the Olympics was the summer of 1984. I was almost ten and had been taking Gymnastics for about two years. I really was God awful at it, but I went once a week and even took more classes during breaks and summer. But boy, do I remember the '84 Olympics! I watched, with awe, as did the rest of the world, how spunky Mary Lou Retton broke records and won our hearts as she vaulted…

I am past the point of approving or rejecting extracurriculars for my daughter.  She goes to college in the fall so my "reach" is almost nil. However, perhaps I can make observations that can help her. My daughter wants to do everything and do it well. She is a great student with lots of AP classes on her schedule. She is a ballet student so she is at classes for several hours each day, five days a week. She is editor-in-chief of her school newspaper so there are weekly meetings, deadlines and, for several days of the month, she stays until 10 p.m. to get the issue ready for the printer. She …

Claire was four when she first asked for ballet lessons. She, like many other little 4-year-old girls, loved to dress up and pirouette around the house. She would watch Angelina Ballerina and try to stand on the very tips of her toes, as if she was on pointe. After she asked, I researched some options and settled on a program at a D.C. Rec Center. I wanted something laid back that wasn't too expensive in case she didn't really like it and it seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I took her once a week, with her other siblings in tow. At times, it required a lot of prodding to get her to go. The …

A few months ago, I received a pamphlet from a nearby school. It was for a Toddler Summer Camp. I had been thinking about this particular school for my two-year-old so I thought this might be a viable option. She could go to their two week summer camp and we could "test the waters" for this school. I looked at the curriculum (well, as much of a curriculum as a two year old can have anyway!) and it seemed pretty cool. Then, I looked at the price. It's a two-week (10 day) camp from 9 to 11:45 a.m. and it's $600! Really?? $600 for 10 days?? And not even three hours a day? Believe it or not, I …

When I was 21 years old, someone gifted me Dr. Seuss’ book Oh, the Places You'll Go! when I graduated from college. I remember reading the following lines: OH!THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!You'll be on your way up!You'll be seeing great sights!You'll join the high flierswho soar to high heights. Those six lines changed me forever. I read them and knew I was starting a new and exciting phase in my life. They pushed me to try something new, take risks and become independent. I thought it was just a kid’s book but it proved to be so much more. Every single word in that book has proven to be true. There …

Like many others, I played the lottery last week in the hopes I would win $640 million. Yes, I would quit my job and buy a big house etc., etc. But there’s something I would do before all of that: I would pack up my family, rent villas in Tuscany and Provence and learn how to cook! I would learn how to make fresh pasta and pizza in Italy followed by blissful months in France where I would perfect the croquembouche and pain au chocolat. Alas, I did not win millions and my culinary skills are OK, but nothing spectacular. I’m not much of a blogger. I’ve attempted it, but failed miserably. …

This is the year for me, mom, to think about my past and compare it to my daughter's and realize how different things are... During my senior year of high school I was gripped with two emotions:  excitement and terror. Excitement because this is the year that I face the college acceptance process and the school acceptance process: prom. Terror, because my world is going to change mightily. I filled out five college applications by hand! I mailed in the applications and recommendations and transcripts using a stamp and envelope. My parents included a check with the application fee. It was so …

One afternoon a few weeks ago, I  was sitting downstairs on the computer trying desperately to sift through the hundreds of mostly junk emails in my inbox, when I heard Henry shout from the bathroom upstairs, "Mom! Mom!". It was Ella's naptime so immediately I whisper-yelled, "Shhhh, Henry. Not so loud. What's wrong?" "Mom, I need you to come up." I figured it was just a post-poop clean up, so I contemplated a few more emails, giving him a little time to finish up. Then thinking it best not to leave a pooping four year old alone for too long, I ran upstairs. Much to my dismay, he hadn't even …

Two weeks ago, I was Skyping with my cousin in Italy. Her daughter was born Feb. 1 and I still hadn’t seen a picture of her. How dare they NOT post pics of their first born on Facebook!? I couldn’t believe it! When my daughter was born, our friends and family around the globe knew her name and weight before my own parents did….and they were just a few feet away from us in the hospital waiting room! I couldn’t believe that, in this day and age, my cousin hadn’t even updated her status or tweeted about her mini-me who was born during an atypical snowstorm in Rome. I expected to see dozens of …

She is lucky she personally knows two of her four grandparents. I had my daughter in my late 30's and my husband is the youngest of a big family so it was not clear she would get a chance to meet her "family elders". But shehas. She has a grandmother from one side of the family and a grandfather on the other. They are old now, over 90 and over 80 respectively. But they still can spin a good family story ("Never let the truth get in the way of a goodstory!"). She has heard the one about her paternal grandparents meeting on a hay ride with a real horse...the city girl and the country boy. She …

It's that time of year, when camp brochures flood our mail slot. Soccer camps, baseball camps, art camps, dance camps, technology camps, cake camps — the list goes on. We haven't gotten too into the D.C. camp scene, yet. Aside from a classic overnight camp that Zack goes to in the mountains of Pennsylvania, the kids haven’t found anything that strikes their fancy.  There is one camp, however, that requires no glossy brochure to get the kids’ attention. It requires no coaxing or prodding, no hard sell. They start asking about it as they tearfully leave Grandma’s and Grandfather's after …

There are many things I love about America. But I think the thing I love the most about our great country is its diversity. In a way, we are all immigrants. We may have been born here and we may be citizens but it’s such a young nation that we all have a “settlers” story. Perhaps your grandmother landed on Ellis Island or your grandfather crossed the border from Mexico. Or just maybe, your mother was wandering throughout Italy and met your dad at a bar in Rome. That’s what happened with my parents, and I love their story. Your family’s history really defines you as a person. The food you eat…

My birthdays were always creative and original affairs. They were never gaudy or over-the-top like some of the ridiculous things you see today, but they were definitely always unique. Birthdays are special and should be celebrated….regardless of your age. As my daughter’s 2nd birthday approaches, I’ve been researching some local vendors. One that might lend a hand to the busy parent who is struggling to make a birthday memorable without necessarily breaking the bank. I’ve discovered there’s a lot out there and there’s something for everybody. For starters, I urge every parent to sign up for …

I have a bad reputation among other parents, I think: I set the bar too low. I am not proud of it. But it fits our family style and our child. I was brought up in a family that did not have that many rules, but what rules we had were built on common sense and common courtesy. When I was a teen, I did not have a curfew. But when I went out, my parents always asked where I was going and when I expected to be home. Their explanation seemed totally rational…they want to know where I was so that they could get a hold of me in an emergency. They wanted to know when I expected to be home so they …