So this weekend was a little on the boring side for all of us. Friday and Saturday were warm but raining, so after being cooped up with boring mom and dad both days, Gabe was asking us if he could go to school! Sunday was the exact opposite, sunny and freezing, so we were again cooped up - but church and lunch gave us a little bit of a break. I guess the best part about hanging at home for 3 days was that we really got a chance to appreciate Gabe's expanding vocabulary. It was really only a few months ago when he was limited to one or two word phases like "milk", "choo-choo", "big pool". Nowadays we get these long-winded explanations, like "I stay in bed until its light outside...get up in dark and throw candy in the trash". (If you want that interpreted shoot me an email). Or my favorite was the recollection of Halloween: "And then I go to another house, and another house, and another house, and get candy, and more candy, and more candy, and then I go home and eat it. But no Maggie". And, oh the questions...what's that, what are you doing, what's that, where are you going, what's that, why are you leaving, what's that...its slightly maddening but seriously adorable. In other news, I've been getting a lot of questions about my job in the face of massive company layoffs. I've been wondering about the upside of my job as the "gatekeeper" of all things email, and found it - job security! Not that anything is certain, but there is a slight relief when you realize you manage the cheapest distribution channel in the company. So, let's hope our management has the same line of thinking! Last but not least, I've been getting a lot of flack for being a bad communicator about baby #2. So here you have it: I'm pregnant and due in late February! The big shocker is that it's a girl...I had definitely convinced myself it would be a boy. So get out your pink yarn and knitting needles, because there will be some big changes coming our way. So far "big" is the operative word...I'm up 15 lbs...2 due to the baby and 13 compliment of my friends Ben and Jerry. Hey, I had to make some new friends after so rudely kicking out Sam Adams and Charles Shaw!

Movies and More Movies

Its probably been 6 months since I've been to a movie in an actual movie theater, but this weekend I went to two! Friday my book club went to dinner to talk about Secret Life of Bees and then to the movie. I'm normally disappointed by adaptations of books and didn't have high hopes for this one given the casting (Jennifer Hudson as a peach picker turned nanny? Please.) and my disdain for fake southern accents. But I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised with good acting and a remarkable likeness to the book -- some of the dialogue was verbatim. There were some details changed unnecessarily but overall I gave it high marks. I guess Sue Monk Kidd didn't sell out the way most authors do (ahem, John Grisham). The other movie we went to see was Madagascar 2, a big experiment since we took Gabe. The movie was ok, not that I saw much of it given the large task of keeping a 2-year old from shouting "zebra!", "lion!", "penguin!" every time an animal appeared on screen. Also it turns out that movie theaters have these booster seats from little kids, not that we were smart enough to figure that out until 30 minutes into the movie and 7 seats deep in the row. So our booster-less booger got to sit - you guessed it - on mommy's lap the whole time. Except for the time he spent picking up various treasures from the theater floor. And the time standing up in his own seat playing peek a boo with the folks in front and behind us. Yes, that little experiment was $27 well spent. Maybe we'll try again when he's 7. In other news this week, like the rest of America we stayed up late to watch election results and all I can say is this: the American people proved me wrong. Given that 5 years ago public enemies #1 and #2 were Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, I had serious doubts that our relatively shallow electorate could vote for someone named Barack Hussein Obama - black or white. Lets face it - this is the same public that can't find Washington, DC on a map. But they proved me wrong and we're all the better for it. A shout out to my friend Caroline who was the Obama coordinator for North Carolina. I had doubts she could turn such an entrenched red state even the slightest shade of blue, but she did!

Happy Halloween!

...and Happy Birthday to me! We had a great time trick or treating in our new neighborhood last night. Turns out a TON of kids come here to trick or treat, so our 7 bags of candy didn't last long. Gabe the Dinosaur was a trooper and hit about a dozen houses in 30 minutes, then decided it time to come home and eat the loot. After practicing all week, he said "Trick or Treat!" to the owner at every house, usually followed by "I get candy now" directed at no one in particular. After enduring 4 hours of traffic, our friends Leslie and Josiah came to visit from D.C. to help celebrate my birthday with beer (for them), cupcakes (for me. but I shared.), and shared candy-passing-out responsibilities. We had a great time catching up and selling them on the joys of parenthood. And maybe if Gabe had slept past 6:30 this morning, they would have bought it! Today after they left we took advantage of the short-lived warm weather and went hiking...a few pics below. Enjoy!