Above: Georgia P (right) just turned two and Lila Jane (left) is nearly five months old.

What an incredible year 2013 has been for us! We have too many blessings to count…

Lila Jane Parzen was born on Monday, July 22. She’s doing great, nursing like a pro and enjoying her big sister’s antics. She’s such an easy baby and such a joy to hold.

Georgia P is also doing great. She eats like a champ, now often using a fork, and just loves her pre-school, where she spends two mornings every week. She’s got SO MUCH personality and we’ve been having a blast teaching her new words (yogurt and bagel are recent additions to her vocabulary).

Both girls are super sweet and always have a coo, a smile, a laugh, and a hug to share.

Above: This has got to be my favorite photo of Georgia P. She LOVES going to restaurants and she loves eating. “People let me tell you about her, she’s so much fun…” (sung to the tune of the “Courtship of Eddie’s Father”).

Our social media, editorial, and marketing consulting business has done well again this year. And while we’re not out of the woods yet, there is light at the end of our financial tunnel.

We are so fortunate that our business allows Tracie P to be a stay-at-home mom. And there’s no doubt in my mind that the girls get their sweetness from her.

Above: Lila Jane’s personality is really starting to show. She’s a very mellow, easy-going child. And, wow, what a head of hair! We know she didn’t get it from her father!

The big family news is that we will be moving to Houston in early 2014.

We have loved living in Austin but right now, with a toddler and a newborn in the house, we really need the support of Tracie P’s parents, Rev. and Mrs. B: “bawbaw and nanna” play such an important role in the girls’ lives and with our move, they’ll be just two hours away instead of five (Orange, Texas, where they live and where they raised Tracie P and her sister, lies to the east of Houston).

The move will also save me a lot of time and money. I’ve been commuting weekly to Houston for my top client in Texas and our new home there will allow me to spend more time with the girls instead of on the road.

And of course, I have family in Houston, too. Cousins Joanne and Marty and Dana and Neil have been so supportive of us in so many ways. We’re looking forward to spending more time with them, as well.

Thanks so much to everyone who’s shared our joy with us this year. It means so much to us that you do.

We have many challenges ahead of us. But knowing that you are with us makes the road ahead seem less daunting…

There’s so much more to tell about our work, our music, and our dreams and aspirations for the coming year.

But all that matters is Lila Jane and Georgia P. They are the light and love of our lives. And not a day goes by that I don’t love Tracie P all the more for giving them to us…

May G-d bless you all and may your new year be filled with health and happiness.

Happy holidays, yall!

baci e abbracci
(hugs and kisses)

Parzen Family

Above: Today is Georgia P’s second birthday! She’ll have a proper party with her family and friends on Saturday. But today she woke up to blueberry pancakes and two of her presents. One is a music box (see the video below) and the other is her “I’m a big girl now” chair. It’s hard to believe she’s already two! She LOVES brushing her teeth.

Dearest Georgia P,

Today is your second birthday! Happy birthday to you!

Your mommy and I love you so very much and want you to know how proud you make us. We could have never imagined the unending joy that you have brought into our lives with your hugs, kisses, laughter, and smiles.

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Tracie P and I have so much to be thankful for this year.

And thank you for sharing our curiosity and our joy. We’ll see you next week…

Tracie P and I are heart-broken by the devastation in the Philippines (NY Times coverage).

And we are keeping our Filipino sisters and brothers in our hearts and prayers.

So far, our Filipino friends here in Texas have told us that with power and the network offline, there has been no communication from family members back home.

May G-d protect them.

Here’s the Red Cross donation link.

Over the weekend, while Georgia P and I were visiting an Austin music shop, she saw this pink ukulele and just had to have it.

I’m such a pushover!

How could I say no?

It doesn’t stay in tune and its tone isn’t the best.

But it’s her “first guitar” and she loves it.

I’ll never forget my first guitar, the one I got after trading in my cello.

I was 10 years old. And I would spend hours and hours trying to learn how to play Beatles songs, sometimes until my fingers would bleed.

When I was an early teen, that guitar was a best friend in some tough times (when my family was being broken apart). It’s been a trusted companion ever since.

As I watch her pluck and strum her “first guitar,” I can only dream of where it will accompany her someday…

I love her so much.

Although I stayed offline this weekend (to spend much needed time with my family after a nearly two-week series of business trips), I did share Nicholas Kristof’s NY Times op/ed “Governing by Blackmail” on my Facebook. The post sparked a vibrant if not always civil discussion of the Affordable Care Act and the republicans’ current strategy to stymie it. Here’s the thread on my Facebook and the following is what I wrote in response.

Above: When our daughter Lila Jane was born ten weeks ago, no health care insurer in Texas (where we live) offered maternity care to small business owners like me who have to insure their families as private individuals. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the health care insurers will be forced to offer maternity coverage. The ACA also protects my daughers’ health rights by forcing insurers to stop discriminating against women. One person’s “lazy” is another person’s “common sense.”

I’m glad to see and welcome discussion here (although it would be great if we could keep the tone civil, especially in the light of the fact that this is a place for family and friendship).

I shared the link to Kristof’s op/ed because I think it’s a cogent argument for why the shut down is counter productive.

And as much as it may be a bitter pill to swallow, I have to say that it’s simply wrong to say that President Obama is causing the shutdown. A small contingent of extremist Republicans are the ones who set the shutdown into motion. That’s a fact.

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It was so hard for me to be away from my girls over the last few weeks during the business trips that took me to California and Italy…

But this weekend, I logged off and spent our Saturday and Sunday just doing silly stuff and telling them how much I love them.

Georgia P is such a sweet girl and always has an “I love you” and a kiss for her mommy, daddy, and little sister Lila Jane (she already loves being a big sister!).

Georgia P, did I tell you that you are perfect? Perfect in every single way. I love you…

september 23, 2013
somewhere above the Atlantic ocean

my dearest daughters, you were both sleeping when I got up this morning and finished packing my bag for my business trip to Italy.

It was still dark and mommy’s eyes were still filled with sleep when I kissed her goodbye and Lila, you were sleeping on her chest.

Georgia, you were sleeping in your bed and nanna was asleep in your bedroom, too.

Yesterday, when I got back from my business trip and family visit in California (your grandma Judy’s 80th birthday party), we got to spend a few, precious, short hours together at home…

Mommy took some fun photos of both of you and I have them loaded on my phone so that I can look at them every time I feel the sharp pangs of missing you…

I said this to mommy the other day: leaving you at home for my trips makes me feel like the first times I had to leave her when she and I first fell in love and decided to devote our lives to each other and start a family… I’ll never forget the very first time we had to say goodbye… we held each other so tightly and the tears fell from my eyes… It was so hard to say goodbye then and it’s so hard to say goodbye now…

please know that I love you… I love you with all my heart and for eternity… and as much as I am not whole without you, the thought of when I’ll get back home to you and to mommy is what gives me strength in the sadness that comes with missing you so much…

please take good care of mommy while I’m gone… I’ll count the moments until I can get back to you…

love, your dad