One year & 9 days ago...

We had our first family photo shoot.

Our baby was freshly out of the oven and a tender 9 days old.

He had never left the house. {love homebirth!}

'Brink Party of 3'

xo,

Y

cheers 2010

What a heck of a year it's been. The best and worst year of my life.

The birth of my son - best. Two years of marriage celebrated - best.

First 4 months of his life - worst. Health issues - worst.

I can't wait for a new year. A fresh start. Kind of like having a horrible day and by the end of it you are dying to crawl into your bed and go to sleep. There's no guarantee that tomorrow will be better, but you hope it will be. That's how it's been around here.

Dress up. Pop the Champagne. Cheers. Bottoms Up!

I haven't fallen into a black hole in case you were wondering

I'm baaaaaaaack!

My brief blogging hiatus was not intentional. No...I've been suffering what is called 'my6montholdMacdiedandthebatterywon'tcharge' syndrome. It's been quite severe and as you can well imagine it was painful. But, with some patience and a christmas miracle she came back to life. So here I am!

I missed it! My blog, and friends, and comments, and your blogs. I will need a few days to catch up on everything that has happened in your ya'lls blogospheres.

Christmas has come and gone but the good memories stay. Baby's First Christmas was a success. But frankly I don't know why I bothered to buy toys...I could've wrapped my tupperware and he would've been fascinated! My in-laws showered him with gifts of course, but thank goodness nothing sings/lights up/plays annoying songs. My sister in law Amy and her husband Mike [along with their tiny yappy chihuahua Bella] where here to share the holiday with us too. It was a full.house. But it was fun. We ate, and ate....and ATE for 5 days straight. My skinny jeans look painted on now. Cue 2011 New Year's Resolutions [Pilates]

But back to the food - I made the infamous Pumpkin Cream Pie and Spicy Molasses Ginger cookies all by Pioneer Woman. DEEEEELISH. And Ina's Engagement Roast Chicken [shaaa-mazing]. Ohhh and I can't forget to tell you about Christmas morning breakfast : Bourbon French toast & pepper bacon. Uh huh...yep. I was redic-ulicious!

Our tree was packed with presents, our bellies were full, our fire roared, & our house was cheery. It was indeed a good holiday and a wonderful end to a beautifully strange year.

2011, I can't wait to see what you have in store.

Road Warriors/Having too much fun to take pictures

A candid thanksgiving [in so many ways]

Looking glam at Dave & Jo's wedding [in my mom's Diane Von Furstenberg dress]

'reading' Dr. Seuss

Mah lil turkey

The littlest brink, the biggest road warrior of us all

new highchair!

hanging with Great Grandpa Frank

'Having too much fun to take pictures.'

That's what I realized when I looked through my small photo album from last week. Too much fun to remember photos. We drove and drove and drove [which was surprisingly fun] and made lots of pit stops at Ikea and Anthropologie and our friend Matt & Cassie's house. We drank lots of coffee, and sang silly rhyming songs to keep our little beeber entertained for 27 hours of travel in 4 days. YES FOLKS. 27 HOURS. After an overnighter in CT we eventually made it to Maine; [but not without a pit stop to the NH tax free liquor store] only to wake up and drive back down to NH for Thanksgiving day's festivities. We hugged the family, chatted it up, drank some drink, had inappropriate table talk, ate just enough to feel icky, and watched Rue shine as the star of the show. He was loving the attention.

It was a grand, lovely, simple, joyful day.

We returned home saturday [with another stop at the NH liquor store.....gotta stock up for the holidays!] just in time for our friend David and Johannah's wedding. Most of the photos that my husband took of me were while I was dancing after I had a few drinks. OH, so not flattering.

Hope you had a lovely holiday!!

holiday road trip

Tonight at 5:30 our little family will be hopping in a car and driving to New England for Thanksgiving! Road Trip!!!

A lot of my husbands' family hasn't met Mr. Baby yet, so we are excited to spend this holiday with them and have them meet the first grand baby of the family! [shhh...don't tell, but next year there will be a cousin to join Rue's crew...as there is a bebe baking in the oven right now...and no, I'm not pregnant ;) but someone in the family is!

Armed with organic puffs, a front facing car seat, a crinkly book and silly faces, this mama is prepared to entertain baby Rue for 20+ hours in 4 days. Wish us luck!

In case I don't get to post again before the holiday, I want to wish everyone a very very happy thanksgiving. I hope you get to share the special day with loved ones and delicious food.

xx, Y

Brink Costume Party 2010

Chris and I threw our first costume party. It was a success!

What happened? Delicious food, dancing & a very taboo game of Taboo.

Who came? Navi Avatars, Pirates, a gay 'Cop Out' Cop, Wayne & Garth, a Coyote headdress, Jillian Michaels, The Mad Hatter & Alice, and Dorothy from Oz [who was our friend Mike wearing his wife's dress & shoes, btw]

PARTY ON, WAYNE.

PARTY ON, GARTH.

EXCELLENT!

i'm such a cougar

one year and three months after I was born, my husband was born.

yes. that means that I married a younger man.

yesterday he turned 25! a whole quarter of a century.

in all seriousness, you are the coolest person I've ever met and I am so happy you chose me. hopefully we can celebrate *at least* 75 more birthdays together.

happy birthday christopher.

xo, yana 'cradle robber' brink

the first weeks

I planned to have this video done months ago, but 'life' got in the way.
Here it finally is, my first edited film! My baby was so little then, and now he is just about crawling! It's unbelievable. I should start working on a crawling video...it should be finished by the time he's walking. Haha.

Enjoy!

Baby Ruehl - the first weeks of life [on the outside] from Yana Banova-Brink on Vimeo.

My Best Friend's Wedding

it's a pretty big deal when your best friend meets a guy named Joe.

it's a pretty big deal when your best friend falls head over heels in love with Joe.

it's a pretty big deal when Joe proposes to your best friend at the grand canyon with a *huge* rock.

it's a pretty big deal when your best friend gets married to the man of her dreams.

Kate [my best friend of 12 years] married Joe in a Los Angeles garden two weeks ago. I had the pleasure of standing by her side on that happy day. She was a gorgeous bride, a vision in champagne. The wedding had a vintage 20's theme, complete with parasols, flapper bridesmaid attire & the reception was at an Art Deco restaurant downtown. The food was the delicious, the band was in full swing [literally] and all 50 guest donned vintage attire.

It was a beautiful, elegant yet simple wedding.

Congratulations my sweet Kate. I mean...MRS. Petrick!

My little Ruester in his fancy H&M suit, 5 months!

xo, Y

Alooooha!

A happy hello from the land of the hula!

Chris, Baby, my Mom, Dad & I have been having a delicious, sea salty, sun-burnt heck of a good time here on the island of Molokai. We arrived Tuesday morning and have blissfully frolicked in the waves, snorkeled, sunbathed and grilled our hearts out. Tomorrow is my birthday [hooray!] and to celebrate we will be grilling fresh fish we bought off the back of a local's pickup truck & popping champagne for mimosas on the beach. Should be quite the 26th birthday!

As much as I have missed my bed, my blog, my friends...I really don't want to come home. I quite enjoy smelling like coconut suntan lotion, sans makeup, bikini's only & swimming daily. I will miss sleeping on the veranda, star gazing and listening to the constant sound of the lulling ocean waves. Seriously, would YOU want to come home either?!

cheers friends...be back soon.

year two!

two crazy kids fell in love.

the bees and birds buzzed.

they had a baby.

they became a family.

all in two short years.

to be continued...

The Beautiful Letdown

This weekend was a bittersweet emotional roller coaster, and not what we were expecting. It started off wonderful, had a heartbreaking middle, and had a beautiful ending. Chris, Rue & I flew to Maine to see his family. Parents, a sister & husband, grandparents, aunts & uncles, & cousins. But mostly, his Grandmother Loraine. A month ago, she was diagnosed with Liver and Pancreatic Cancer and we knew this would be the last time we'd see her. It would also be the first time she [as well as most of the family] would meet our son. We were so excited. Sunday was supposed to be our big family get together in the backyard bbq-ing and playing badminton. But instead, our family gathered together in a hospital emergency room. Chris's grandmother had a heart attack.

She had not been feeling well in the morning, so she was going to stay home. When we heard this, we planned to go down to her house and see her. A little while later she felt better and was getting ready to come up to the party. She had showered and fixed her hair and sat down on the couch with her husband, Grandpa Frank. She took 4 deep breaths and then collapsed. Frank called 911 and the emergency crew did CPR and worked on her for 20 mins, but she was gone. Everyone rushed down to the house when we got word of what had happened. Amazingly on the way to the hospital they resuscitated her and found a pulse. But since she had been without oxygen for so long, she had slipped into a deep coma. So the whole family gathered around in her hospital room, praying, singing, talking to her, holding her hand and saying our goodbyes. Chris and I were gutted that the whole reason we came up was to see her [alive], and we never got to. She didn't get to meet our boy.

She held on through the night and passed peacefully yesterday morning. We are still in shock, but while we are mourning, we are also rejoicing that she was spared the pain of chemo & the pain of two types of cancer. Her prognosis was to live only a few short months to a year and we know that it would've been a very painful end. Thank God she didn't suffer long. Such was a beautiful woman who loved the Lord very much and we know she is in Heaven.

The weekend had major highs & lows. Saturday we flew and Rue did great on his first plane ride. He was happy to see his grandparents [Chris's parents] and they were beside themselves to see him. We had a delicious lobster and steak dinner with my in-laws and sister and brother in-law. Sunday was the exhausting day in the emergency room. Monday she passed and we cried and breathed a sigh of relief, and then we flew back to PA. [the funeral is not till Friday] On the way home our friends invited us to a bbq pool party. While we were not in the mood to party, we knew that being around our friends would be the best medicine for our souls. I'm so glad we went. We swam, scurried 15 adults and 8 kids inside the house and watched the sudden thunderstorm cause a massive mud slide on the side of the house, ate homemade strawberry ice cream, drank coffee, held babies, listened to said 8 kids run around screaming like crazies banging on the piano. It was a scene from a movie...like the most beautiful insane scene where you think, wow, I wish I lived in a community like that. It was lovely.

On the way home, we went to the highest point in the city and watched the lightning and thunderstorm roll away. The air was warm and thick. It smelled like fresh rain and clovers. We walked through the park with our sleeping baby in tow, and talked about the legacy that was Loraine Jones, our beloved Grandmother.

It was truly, bittersweet.

Best of 2009

My Favorite Moments of 2009:

Buying our first house!

Moving in. Hah.

Meeting baby Naomi & becoming Auntie Yaya

Celebrating my Mom & Mom-in-law at my house on Mother's Day. Little did I know, we concieved that day. So technically I was a mom too, and didn't even know it!

The shocking second pink line.

[this would also fall under the category of most scary moment of 2009]



One year Mawwied! Weekend trip to DC







Secretly filming his parents as we reveal our big surprise











My 25th birthday bash. Pregs. So much fun!

A visit from my best friend Kate. I'm rocking my 20 week bump, and she was rocking her new Rock, from freshly proposed fee-yawn-cay, Mr. Petrick.

Going to see my friends Mute Math in concert.

My Baby Shower. The gifts were great, the female chatter was roaring, and the food was bangin'. My mom rocks.

Our trip to San Francisco!

Our 'Last-vacation-with-out-a-baby-for-a-few-years-trip' to San Fran.

2nd mawwied x-mas. First in our home, and first ever pregs.

Giving my sweet man his guitar

There are many many more beautiful memories that only my heart holds.

ok, 2010. What'chu got? Bring it!