Ducks, Zebra…Chicken?

Everyone’s been wanting to see this infamous “zebra” jacket I wrote about last week, but I couldn’t find a good picture from the dinner. So, I decided to go see my friend and her daughter to do a little “photoshoot”. Her gorgeous (part Russian, part Native American, Ukrainian, Italian and Irish!) green-eyed daughter, Sasha (Alexandra) is a ball of energy who doesn’t stop laughing and running around! I asked her to come give me hug, so her mom, Tatiana, could quickly get a shot, but Sasha immediately ran off to grab something. That “something” turned out to be her pet chicken, that (strangely) loves being held and carried around. Then, there was a good 20 minutes of running around after the chicken, away from the chicken (that would be me), and trying to get the chicken to sit at the table…yes, I mean that…that wasn’t a typo. I managed to engage Sasha in a conversation about flowers, but the chair behind me quickly turned into a climbing post. A few minutes later she rolled out of the house on her tricycle, and we finally got our shot! Kids have an incredible energy that’s so contagious – I can’t wait for our next “playdate!” – it turned out to be such a fun adventure trying to get that picture!

Read Full Post »

Emma Tops Emily and Jacob Still Rules

How did you finally decide when you named your baby? Was it a family name? Did you wait to see what s/he looked like? According to experts in this article, new parents are torn between wanting something popular (so their kids will fit in), and yet wanting something unique and memorable. Of course, they’re expecting to see a rise in popularity for the names Michelle, Sasha and Malia for girl names, and Barack has already taken a meteoric rise from 10,126th place to 2,409th place! Jacob is maintaining the top boy name position with Michael coming in second. Emily has been the most popular girl name for 12 years running, until Emma took over that position in 2008 according the latest report from the Social Security Administration. The agency has been tracking popularity of baby names since 1997, but they offer name lists dating back to 1880!

Read Full Post »

le•top Love: Letters From Dad

Here’s a letter from one dad you might know…Barack Obama, who will be sworn in as our 44th President on Tuesday, January 20! His touching and poignant letter to his daughters, Malia and Sasha, is excerpted below. It first appeared in Parade Magazine. To read his entire letter, please click here.

Photo by Kwaku Alston/Corbis from Parade.com

Editor’s note:
Have a letter from Dad to share? Email us, and we’ll post it to share with our readers!

Read Full Post »