Jude Michael Shiffler

a museum, a license plate, and a statue

On Saturday we drove to Raleigh to visit the fantastic (and FREE) North Carolina Museum of National Sciences. We spent a couple of hours there, and Isobel loved every moment. It reminded me how much fun it is to experience new things, like floating pterodactyls and dinosaur footprints, through her eyes.


Another exciting thing that happened this week:

Our first ever personalized license plate! If you know what it means, you probably also know that it would have been cooler if I had spelled it properly (kpyto) rather than phonetically. Oh, well. I'm still pretty excited about not having a random spattering of letters and numbers.
And below we have Isobel with a "statue" that she created. I tried to move the magna-doodle out of the frame, but she moved it back and insisted on standing on it. I guess she and it are part of the installation!

Aren't you impressed by all the blogging that's been happening up in here? I think maybe my nesting instinct is coming out in the form of electronic communications. Somebody should write a dissertation on that.

Some of that Sweet, Sweet Carolina BBQ!

As you can probably tell by the wreaths above, this post is a little late in coming. Back in December we took a lunch trip down to Barbecue Center in Lexington to try some authentic North Carolina BBQ. Well, Brooke tried it. As a vegetarian, I'm just going to come right out and tell you that this isn't very appealing to me:

But Brooke LOVED it. And really, it was a successful trip for all because those hush puppies in the right corner of the photo are, like, my dream come true. And the red coleslaw and fries were tasty, too. Isobel even ate a little bit of her grilled-cheese sandwich, and also had fun cavorting with the many pig statues. Just in case you have a tendency to forget which animal you're eating, BBQ Center reminds you thus:

There's something oddly Animal Farm-ish and also cannibalistic about that statue. But again, this is coming from a vegetarian. :) We really did have fun eating some reeeeeeally delicious food, served up by friendly Southerners who doted on Isobel. So if you were looking for an excuse to come and visit... barbecue it is!

Celebrating a Birthday and Hoping for an Eminent Birth Day

A week ago, we celebrated Brooke's birthday with delicious Indian food and one HAPPY two-year old. As you can see, Isobel was much, much more excited about Daddy turning one year older than Daddy himself was.

We had store-bought cupcakes (one for Isobel and one for Mommy, since Brooke doesn't get excited about cupcakes). If you're curious about why we had restaurant food and no homemade cake for Brooke's birthday, see the photo after this one.

Brooke has been working really hard learning the ropes at his new job, and he also recently suffered a terrible and mysterious injury to his lower back. Despite all the stress and pain, he still spoils his fatty wife and demanding daughter. He is the greatest! I'm so glad he made it through the last couple of years to see the good times and exciting happenings of 2010.

Here we are at 38 weeks+1 day. Notice my unamused expression. I'm at the part where I start to think, "oh right, THIS is why women don't enjoy being pregnant." I'd especially like to thank little Babycakes for the recently acquired gestational hypertension, which has caused my feet to swell so much that I'm wearing flip-flops every day even though it's February!


But really, how can I complain when I've got this little honeybunny in my life? She has taken to hugging my ample belly and saying "I LOVE my baby brother!" Let's hope that she keeps thinking that once he's outside the belly.
Anyway, here she is, looking the way you'd look too if someone tried to photograph you in the bath. Actually, I think she looks a lot like Brooke here.