What an beautiful month of celebrating life, celebrating being together, and looking to the future. Whether it was our last big trip before our daughter arrives or it was celebrating her with our family in California it was a beautiful month and one that I will always look back on fondly.

I could get used to saying that we started the month in Paris. After grabbing the Eurostar to Paris from London we spent the next five nights in one of my favorite cities in the world. I’ve been dreaming about having Jenn back in the city of lights for a year now. We had an unbelievable time in between my work days and finished off our last adventure pre-Elle in style. Throughout our trip in Vienna, London, and Paris Jenn was having a lot of swelling in her feet. On her way back from Paris (we had separate flights) it had gotten significantly worse on one side. When she got home after picking up Frasier she called her doctor and they recommended she go straight to the hospital. My flight arrived home a few hours after Jenn so after coming home, taking Frasier out I met her at the hospital, and for the next eight hours, she went through a ton of tests. The good news is she got a clean bill of health and we were home a little after midnight.

For the next week, we monitored and it stabilized and we started preparing for yet another trip, this time to California. Jenn has had a vision in her mind for years that she didn’t want a traditional baby shower. She wanted a girl’s weekend that she could plan and call her own. We’ve been toying around with ideas but she concluded shortly after we found out she was pregnant. Jenn left for San Jose for a big work event on Sunday, February 11th, and met me in Orange County on Thursday the 15th. She ran the event from start to finish at 6 months pregnant and it went flawlessly. She was able to breathe a sigh of relief after weeks (if not months) of hard work and spend time celebrating our daughter. I picked her up from John Wayne Airport on Thursday the 15th and we spent the Friday with Amy, Jake, Ryan, Gracie, and Cam. We had a lot of fun with the kids and that evening went to our staple KBBQ dinner in Riverside.

For Jenn’s version of a baby shower, she invited my two pregnant sisters (Ally due in early May, and Amy due in early September) and her cousin Holly to an overnight spa weekend at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach. They all arrived at the hotel for their treatments early on Saturday the 17th and spent the rest of the day luxuriating on a beautiful sunny winter day (it was forecasted to rain all weekend). That evening Jenn planned a full tasting menu at one of our favorite restaurants in Orange County, Broadway in Laguna. I arrived with Ryan and Jake to meet them for a lavish 4-course meal with wine tasting (for those not expecting). It was an evening that could not have gone any better. We were seated at the front of the restaurant and it was a beautiful celebration of family, of new life, of a moment in time that I’ll never forget. Jenn was glowing, she orchestrated this event (like she always does) flawlessly, and it was a beautiful moment to celebrate our daughter in the way Jenn wanted to. I’m so grateful for this moment.

Jake and I met them back at Pelican Hill the next morning for breakfast on another stunning Orange County day before heading to Menifee to see my parents and celebrate the entire family being back together. The next day we spent with Jenn’s Dad and Joan celebrating being together and finishing with dinner at Water Grill in Costa Mesa before driving back to Los Angeles for our flights the next day. We got to fly home together and I got to annoy my very pregnant wife the entire way back.

We ended February celebrating Frasier’s 5th birthday. Jenn always makes sure we do something special for him and between the decorations, toys, and treats he did quite well. Both Jenn and I got quite emotional thinking about the little guy hitting 5. I don’t think I’ve fully expressed how much Frasier means to me. He is our world, our family, and we are so lucky to have him. Jake came to visit during the celebration and spent the week working at our apartment and Jenn’s office in Lincoln Center. It was a last-minute trip so he mostly just worked remotely from Jenn’s private office for the week. We had some great dinners and spent a lot of time playing video games (mostly NBA 2K, PGA Tour, and UFC 5) and living a rather normal New York week. It’s always great to have Jake out, he’s an easy guest and this trip was no exception.

TV WE WATCHED

Jon Stewart is back! That was truly the highlight of the month. After a brilliant run by Trevor Noah and a year of rotating hosts, Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show every Monday through 2024 and it felt great to have him back.

I did wrap up the latest season of Far All Mankind which was its weakest of them so far but still one I enjoyed. Other than we didn’t watch a lot of new TV this month.

BOOKS I READ (OR LISTENED TO)

What if one day everyone woke up with a small box outside your front door with a string in it? No one knows what it is, or where it came from, but everyone quickly realizes that it represents the length of your life. That was the amazing premise of The Measure a book that never quite lives up to the premise but was one that even though I didn’t like where they took the story I did appreciate the concept.

I also read Never about what could potentially cause a nuclear war between the US and China by one of my favorite authors Ken Follett. It was entertaining, a bit long-winded, and had a few too many storylines for my taste. And finally in a theme this month I read Wrong Place Wrong Time a book about a mother who watches her son commit murder and then starts waking up each day in prior days. Another really interesting concept that is a bit too convenient and loses its way towards the end.

MOVIES WE WATCHED

Another phenomenal month of movies. I started the month with a flight home from our time in Paris. I watched the Oscar-nominated Anatomy of a Fall which was a haunting, slow, beautiful movie that left me with more questions than answers. I also finished Dumb Money (not great) and watched Leave the World Behind which was a good albeit uneven movie about the end of the world. Without the great cast, I’m not sure I would have even finished the movie.

Really though the highlight of the month was finishing the Before trilogy with Before Midnight. It was by far my least favorite of the three but probably the most realistic. It was still an A+ film and one that I can’t wait to watch again. To say how much this series means to me when Jake came to visit at the end of the month I made him watch Before Sunrise and he also loved it.

THEATER WE SAW

Given all the travel this month, we didn’t get to see a Broadway show. Unfortunately, this will likely only be a category for another 2-3 months, but I’ll drag Jenn to a few more shows before the year is up.

GAMES I'VE BEEN PLAYING

It wasn’t a big video game month. I continue to slowly make my way through Spider-Man 2, my goal is to finish that in the next month or two. Most of my gaming this month was in 30-minute sprints where I’d play a game of Madden or NBA and get back to whatever else I was doing.