Avoiding the Plague

Well, our Thanksgiving holiday was a mixed bag really. We had an incredibly relaxing vacation and were able to spend lots of good time with Steven's family and with our good friends Peter, Carolyn, Madeline, and Owen. On the other hand, half the house was infected by the rotavirus, and the morning of Thanksgiving I was informed that we were canceling the holiday and moving it to Friday! I was not able to spend quite as much time with my family due to the sickness, but luckily I was able to see them twice throughout the holiday (both times I failed to bring my camera :( When we left the house we were 3 of the 4 people who hadn't gotten sick! Unfortunately I was cursed by a different sickness upon returning to NYC and have been in bed for 3 days...go figure. Here are some pictures of our break.

Cold Fall Day In The Park

Hey guys-this is a new feature that I learned from my friend Tripp. Please comment and tell me if you like it or if you'd rather me just post the pictures like I used to! Thanks!

PS...It snowed today, but it was a wet snow so it didn't stick.

10 Things I've Noticed About New Yorkers!

1. They don't say 'mam. In fact I was trying to get the attention of a lady in front of me in line because I thought she had forgotten one of her items, and I said "Mam. Excuse me mam." I had to say it several times. She eventually turned around and remarked to her friend that I had called her that. To which I replied..."um...yea, Southern habit. People up here are not so used to that." She smile and said, "how cute." (REALLY....how cute. I'm 26 years old and pushing a stroller and she replies how cute!)

2. No one speaks to people they don't know. If this rule is broken they look at you like you are crazy. No one speaks on the subway. Even if you get on with a friend, you both bring a book and sit and read to keep each other company. They are more likely to talk to you if you have a baby, that seems to break all codes.

3. If rain is forcasted, all the girls wear knee high rain boots. I'm talkin bright yellow, puddle stompin rain boots! The first time I saw a girl with them on I almost laughed out loud. Good thing I kept it in because eventually I realized everyone had them on.

4. No one leaves a note if they hit your car. In fact they will run right into you when they're parking and think nothing of it.

5. Shopping carts are the same as snow plows for people-for my purpose we'll call them people plows. The first few times I went to a big store that actually had carts, I was convinced that my stress level upon leaving was based on the fact that I'd only been in little markets and that one must have had a lot of things. WRONG...it's the carts that do me in. Northerns just run those people plows right down an aisle and you better watch out. How I miss the Southern grocery stores where people help you if you drop something, where they use words like mam, where large aisles are the norm, and where I can put my car seat in the cart!

6. Ground breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean) doesn't exist. I tried asking for ground sausage at a meat counter and they looked at me like they had never heard of ground sausage!

7. Excuse me is not a polite term up here. It is said in every tone of voice and often is used as you push someone out of your way.

8. Pizza boys deliver on bicycles. In fact, on a Friday or Saturday night if you pass a local pizza place there are 4-5 of them lined up at the door, helmet in hand, waiting for the next hot pizza to come out.

9. No one buys economy or family sized anything....anything from shampoo to toilet paper rolls. Probably because a 500 square foot apartment in considered big in this city-where the heck would they put it?

10. They are all genuinely nice people...they just tend to be in a hurry to get from one place to another.

Steven Edward Update

This is an updated crawling video. This one is funny to me because he changes objects of interest mid stream...you'll see. You may not be interested at all-but I figured grandparents and great grandparents always want an update!



It amazes me how quickly children develop! He is currently working on crawling on his knees. He will get up on two knees and rock back and forth-similar to a crouching cat-and then lunge forward. He has already done at least two face plants into his toys and I'm sure that is just the beginning. I'm sure before I know it he will be leaping off things and heading to the hospital.

He also got his second tooth yesterday-he went from no teeth to two in a week! What a crazy fellow we have. God is constantly reminding me of his love and mercy through this little guy. What a blessing children are.

Weekend with Anthony

Getting back to NYC from Richmond was a bit of a headache, but I was greeted by a familiar face upon return. Anthony, a good family friend, was able to come visit us in the city for a 15th birthday present and we had a blast. It is so much fun to show people around a city which I can call my own. Knowing the ins and outs and seeing the awe on the people's faces is always a thrill.


We decided to do an overview of the entire island of Manhattan. We started by taking the subway to the south end of the island and walking the Brooklyn Bridge. Here are some shots just before the bridge. One is a distant shot of the Woolworth building and the other is a colorful fall view of the street.

Here we are headed out onto the bridge itself.


There were great views of the skyline of the city!

Then we headed down towards ground zero. There is not too much to see there other than the plans of the new buildings that they are working on. They are building five buildings with a memorial park in the middle of them...they spiral towards the park and the tallest (the freedom tower) will be the tallest building in the world for about 6 months. Here are some shots at City Hall Park-a park one block away from the site of the twin towers.

Then we made our way to Trinity Church and Wall Street. These are shots of the church from the outside and a picture looking down Wall Street.



Believe it or not we had to wait about 10 minutes to get this shot with George....you'd never know it by the expressions on these faces! The 10 minutes is a fraction of the time it would have taken to get a picture with the bull....from either side.





Then we headed down to see the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately the wait was extremely long and that wouldn't have even gotten us into the Lady so we took the free option of the Staten Island Ferry and got just as good of a view!

Here you see the statue on the left and Ellis Island on the right.

There were some great city shots from the boat as well. It was fun to see the Brooklyn Bridge from a distance after we'd been over it just a few hours before.

We then took off to Chinatown and Little Italy where we had great Italian and some killer Tiramisu. The boys kept going to Midtown where they walked all the way from the south end of Central park (which is at 59th street) through all the chaos of Time Square hitting every square and park along the way until they reached Union Square (14th street). If that isn't an overview of the city I don't know what is. A day that is fit for a teenage boy and not the young mother who bailed out after dinner for an early bed time.

Overall we had a great time and it gave Steven and I a chance to enjoy the city in which we live.

Virginia!

"Give me sweet Virginia for the fireworks of fall!" -Eddie From Ohio

I was able to come to Virginia to spend some time with my Nanny and man are the leaves beautiful. How good God is and how beautiful he made the world in which we live. I also just wanted to let everyone know my son got his first tooth today! What a big boy I have.

Les Miserables

Steven and I had the privilege of going out on an amazing date tonight in celebration of his 28th birthday. We left little Steven with our friends the Alexanders (and he did wonderfully!) and we went to a matinée performance of Les Miserables and then out to dinner. It was soooooo great! Les Mis is Steven's favorite play and I have been wanting to go for years (literally). I remember sitting in a parking lot at UNC listening to the entire soundtrack while Steven, my boyfriend at the time, walked through the whole story attempting to portray its power-it was not truly portrayed until I saw it tonight. The one thing I was disappointed by was our culture's lack of reverence for any occasion in their attire-I definitely felt overdressed. I only say felt, and not was, because my husband assured me that they were under dressed! I saw more than one hooded sweatshirt and we even spotted a guy at the play in shorts.
But I suppose that is a minor disappointment for my first Broadway play, my first cab ride in the city, our first sitter who had to put our son to bed, and a super nice meal! I am heading to Richmond early tomorrow morning to spend the week with my Nanny-so until further- adieu.

Gi-Crawler!

This is for you Nanna!

Crazy Halloween!!

Today's feature: Cinderella, a monkey, a bee in waiting, a newly turned one year old in a striped shirt, a fairy princess, and Bob the Builder!

Well-kind of spur of the moment we had a small impromptu gathering at our apartment where the kids wore their costumes. No candy but lots of fun. We had 9 adults and 8 kids in our living room sitting on the floor eating soup. It was very busy and lots of fun. Somehow at the end of the night you sit down on your bed and realize you didn't speak to 6 of the adults in the room and half the guests left without you noticing! The noise of 8 playing children seemed to envelop the rest of the interaction. That is the kind of parties we'll have for awhile though I expect. Here are some cute pictures to document 17 bodies in a 500 square foot apartment-not to mention we pretty much just stayed in one room!
This is Steven's new friend Mary! She asked recently, "can we be friends?" Of course I answered for him an adamant yes.


Here we are-eating yummy food-soup, veggies, salad, biscuits, cornbread, and cake-what a perfect "spooky" meal.