diff --git a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/Protobuf.xtext b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/Protobuf.xtext
index 8386c6d..1c52aa3 100644
--- a/com.google.eclipse.protobuf/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/Protobuf.xtext
+++ b/com.google.eclipse.protobuf/src/com/google/eclipse/protobuf/Protobuf.xtext
@@ -102,7 +102,20 @@
   type=[Type|QualifiedName];
 
 ValueRef:
-  LiteralRef | BooleanRef | NumberRef | StringRef | Nan;
+  MessageNotation | SimpleRef;
+
+// { foo: 1, bar: 2 }
+MessageNotation:
+  '{' 
+  fields+=FieldNotation (',' fields+=FieldNotation)*    
+  '}' 
+;
+
+FieldNotation:
+  name=Name ':' value=SimpleRef;
+
+SimpleRef:
+	LiteralRef | BooleanRef | NumberRef | StringRef | Nan;
 
 LiteralRef:
   literal=[Literal];