Brooke: 1 Week Pictures

Merry Christmas from the Koontz's!

Brooke made sure to make it home for the holidays. She joined us December 21st, weighing 7 lbs 1.6 oz, and 19.25 in long.

Quite possibly Brinley's favorite part of Christmas morning--using the remote to trigger the camera.

...quite possibly her least favorite.

In case your were interested, here is Brinley's meeting with St. Nick last year.

Merry Christmas

Our Last Two Years

Coke nailed it in this 60 second TV spot. The Argentine depiction of early parenthood perfectly describes the the last two years for Rachel and I. From the positive pregnancy test, to the explosion of Toys R' Us in our little apartment, to the second positive test--complete with feelings of pure excited and terror--and all the mischief in between. And as I look back, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Film

We went out to the theater this morning to see Disney's Frozen with Brinley. She was mesmerized by the screen!

After walking around the city we came home to find lighting crews, actors, and production staff swarming our apartment. Just a couple weeks ago they were filming an HBO movie, "Olive Kitteridge," one blocks down the street. The filming at our apartment will be in a Dell commercial. Since this doesn't happen everyday we decided to take a couple photos.

Our apartment building!

They spread snow around our apartment and used "snow candles" to make it look like it was snowing.

Caged

Two things about Brin: She loves to climb and isn't the biggest fan of nap time.

A few days ago I put Brin down for her morning nap...about 12 times. I would lay her down and moments later she would come to me with a triumphant grin only to be placed back in the crib from which she came. Finally, in desperation I emailed Jeremy at work for some ideas to keep her in bed. His suggestion, put the table over her crib; so that's what I did and it worked like a charm.

Is this my life now? Am I going to be putting a table over her bed for the rest of nap/bed time?

Beacon Hill

We went on a small tour of a nearby neighborhood called Beacon Hill. It is a beautiful area and would recommend an evening stroll to anyone. We unfortunately forgot to take pictures along the way except towards the end as it was growing dark but here are a few to give you an idea.

Acorn Street

Love the the acorn door knocker.

It may be difficult to see but there are three church steeples there.

Birthday Sushi!!!

 We are pretty lame when it comes to celebrating birthdays. Jeremy's birthday was coming up and I hadn't a clue as to what I should do. Then one afternoon we were both grocery shopping and the store was handing out sushi samples and it clicked. I decided I would learn to make sushi. I must say that for a first time I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. We made California rolls with marinated teriyaki chicken, avacado, and cucumber topped with tempura flakes and sauce. They were yummy. Happy birthday Jeremy!

Nap TIme

For about a week when I'd go in to check on Brin this is how I'd find her.

Don't you just love how she sprawls out pushing everything away from her!

Fourth of July

I know that it's waay past the Fourth of July but looking through pictures I thought I'd share anyway. This year we had the chance to watch fireworks on the shore of the Charles River but to get a decent spot we camped out all day in the blazing heat. We had a great time playing games with friends, eating good food and enjoying the view.

We were right on the water and in a wonderful patch of shade which helped in the 100 degree heat and 80% humidity. You can see by Brin's face that we were happy about this!

There was plenty of security due to the bombings earlier this year.

Yeah, we're patriotic.

 

Jeremy and I have noticed that we don't take enough pictures of the tow of us and that our blog seems to be a shrine to Brin. Well, here is evidence that we are around and doing things but also an explanation for why we tend not to feature ourselves on the blog. These are typical pictures of how we look on the other end of the lens...

Darkness fell and the show was fantastic! There was music playing on the loud speakers throughout the park adding to the ambiance. We felt from the start that the show was about to end because each series of explosions were so fantastic that we were sure it was the finale. 

We thought this building across the river was pretty fun. A bit spotty but cool all the same.

 We were pretty excited to see how Brin reacted to the fireworks because all week people in our neighborhood had been shooting them off lighting up our back window. She would climb up and say "wow". However, when the fireworks started she wasn't sure she liked all the noise and kept putting my hands over her ears. Eventually Jeremy showed her to plug her own ears and life seemed much better.

 

Eggplant Parmesan

When I was a girl we planted eggplant in our garden for several summers. Needless to say I was not a fan. I am not sure if it was truly gross or if I was just being picky but I never looked forward to a meal if eggplant was on the menu.

So when I saw that there was a great deal on eggplant one day I decided to give it one last shot.  Each evening when the decision had to be made as to what should be made for dinner and I gladly passed on the eggplant. Finally, knowing that I had to use it or lose it I began scouring for a good recipe. I came upon this one for eggplant parmesan. I personally loved it! Just fair warning if you want to try it out it does take some time to allow for juices to seep out of the eggplant to reduce the bitterness.

Enjoy! Hope you can find a new found love in eggplant, or at least a respect or lessened dislike for it.

Oh Brin...

The other day Brin had been getting into and climbing up just about everything. So when she found a fine tipped permanent maker and broke it open I had had enough. I have heard from many a wise sister that sometimes the best thing to do is to just stop take a deep breath and take a picture.

This was the only one I managed to take before she bolted off and it really doesn't give the situation justice. All said and done everything cleaned up fine and she is still cute as ever.

Boston Library

Jeremy had been studying at the public library so we met him for lunch. It is such a beautiful building so I thought I'd share a few pictures.

Bubbles!

Walking home with our friends one day we heard music from a nearby park. We stopped to check it out. There were lots of people out enjoying the music and a swarm of kids around this man blowing enormous bubbles.

Beating the Heat

With another sticky day we headed to the fountain just outside the Prudential. We had a good time but Brin still isn't convinced that being doused with cold water is a great idea, even on a hot day.

Afternoon at the playground

The weather has been super humid the past few weeks and getting out in the middle of the day seems less and less attractive. We had had about enough of indoors for the day and needed to get out. 

Because I am lazy I usually help walk her up the slide instead of taking her all the way up the playground and then down the slide. Consequently she thinks the only way to the top of the slide is to walk up it. This is her trying to climb it on her own, almost making it and sliding back to the bottom.

Love this face!