so....

New addition expected November 21st.

Sunny Days in the Park

Since the weather has been sunny and warm we've been spending lots of afternoons in the park! We spend most of our time at Riverside Park because it's quieter than Central Park and it's super close to us! Picnics, swinging, playing in the sandbox, crawling, and some eating of nature has been our focus. The grass is softer, so my son likes it now, and the trees are beautiful!










Other than that, not too much going down here in the city. Unless you count my moral failure of becoming a face book member (already been mocked by Daniel Alexander and Dr. Jamieson...deserved) and my new found love for American Idol (also been mocked by my mother....also deserved). I also failed to document the visit of Sir Thomas Breedlove. It seems I forgot my camera (maybe it's because my husband is trying to grow a mullet and I want no reason to remember) and was at a general loss for words - shocking. We did get to see Phantom of the Opera which was excellent and haunting at the same time. The weekend consisted of lots of good brother time... smoking of pipes and farting were quite commonplace in our apartment.
Have a nice weekend.

A True City Baby

So...we went home this weekend to look at houses - we did in fact find one but I will tell you about that in a later blog. But the most comical part of the weekend for me was the fact that my son HATES grass. We sat him down in it and he picked up his hands and raised his feet so that none of him was actually touching the grass. In fact, it was the only time we could really get him to stand by choice....because he didn't want to sit down in it or crawl. He would get the saddest look on his face and start to whimper when placed in it. Looks like we have our work cut out for us!

We had an excellent time and in fact were successful on a house. If all goes well we should own a house in Arden as of May 30th. I will post pictures here later for you to see. But we also had a whirlwind of a time seeing friends and family - and even though it was EXHAUSTING, it was really good time. I enjoyed seeing all my friends and family and it gave us the energy to make it through the last couple weeks of work and chaos here in the city. We can honestly say we can't wait to get back.

New York Shopping

So, this weekend we had a blast with our good friends Peter and Carolyn. We spent our time shopping, eating, and talking....and personally my eyes were opened to a whole new New York City. On Saturday we walked 5th Avenue just south of the park and browsed in and out of the major stores. We hit Saks, Barneys....and even got some coffee at Dean & Deluca. This is where I've got to be blatantly honest .... I'd never heard of that store. It's an upscale delicatessen that spends LOTS of money on their displays and appeared in The Devil Wears Prata.

Steven and I aren't up on the movie scene and I can't remember ever reading In Style Magazine. So much of our walk was a replay of the same conversation "Surely you've heard of that brand." We would walk through all the stores absolutely amazed by the amount people will pay for crazy items just for the brand. $220 T-shirts, $300 dog collars, $150 baby dresses, and the high ticket item of the day.... $1200-$1800 handbags. There were unspoken dress codes in all of these places (which I in my North Face fleece did not exactly meet) and you could tell who was actually buying by analyzing what they were wearing. I definitely saw a girl in a huge black shirt, black spandex, with a neon 80's stretch hot pink belt. The odd thing about it was...she didn't look out of place. All of the sales people gave us a you're-not-rich-enough-to-look-here smile and asked if they could help us. We politely declined and searched through the bags on our own for the price tag. The boys even found an $800 straw hat for your days in the Hamptons! It was crazy and lots of fun. After sheer exhaustion set in we cut through the park and headed home. It was a beautiful walk...things are just starting to bloom and EVERYONE was out and about. While in the park though....we saw some crazy good roller skaters and thought you may want to catch a peak.





We are so serious about this. These people were dancing to music on their skates in front of a large crowd of people. There was no real order....just put on your skates and dance, no matter who you are or what you look like. There was even a 70 year old woman in black spandex. You really would never believe the things that are in this city unless you see them. That is definitely why I put on the video.



Then Sunday we had a great brunch, walked the Brooklyn Bridge and hung out in the village. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera...AGAIN! After the Jamieson's left Steven said, "you like Carolyn, don't you; you guys sure were laughing a lot." I thought that was a good summary of our time. Lots of wandering, lots of good food, and lots of laughing.

One Year Old Celebration.

So, ultimately a party for a one year old is more for the adults. The whole cake on the first birthday is really just for the picture, and the tradtions are generally speaking there to make the parents happy. So, for our adult one year old party, we headed to the zoo. I figured Steven Edward would enjoy watching the animals, and he did! We went to the central park zoo - there were polar bears, monkeys, red pandas, rainforest birds, snakes, penguins, seals, and sea lions. His favorite to watch were definitely the monkeys and the sea lions.









Then when we got back we invited friends over for pizza and cupcakes. Steven Edward tried pizza but wasn't super interested. And when given a cupcake, he had more fun painting with the icing than eating it. Once I finally broke it into pieces, like he is used to, he very much enjoyed the chocolate cake part of it. I hadn't really planned on giving him a bath because it was well past his bed time...but once we saw cake in his hair and in his ears....it was no longer a question of skipping. Overall, we had a great day of "one-ness" and lots of adult fun.

Steven Edward at ONE!!!

One year ago today...22 1/2 pounds and 29 inches later we have the sweetest little boy we could ask for. Now don't get me wrong, the stubbornness is still there. In fact it often rears it's ugly head in a more "one year old" way. It comes out as tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants, be it a toy, what mommy is eating, or a feeding gets taken away. It comes out as he throws handfuls of food on the floor after mommy has said "No," and smacked his hand. But even through his one year old opinions he is still a blessing. I sometimes tend to forget that when my patience is thin, but a year ago God performed a miracle in this little boy and I can see it in his eyes everyday. So what is he doing now?

-Well-he has absolutely no interest in walking. His gorilla crawl and cruising on the furniture are good enough for him....why would he need to walk. In fact he can reach about anything he needs to. It makes me laugh the way kids learn little details....like how to stand on your tip toes and get what is at the very back of a table or the very top of a shelf.

-His two favorite new hobbies are to sneak into our room to play the guitar and to kiss himself in the mirror. The first time I saw him do it...I laughed....well from then on it stuck. Now every morning while I'm doing something he will crawl in to wake his father with a serenade and a pucker.

-He loves to shake his head no. In fact any question you ask him usually gets that response. Are you done Steven....no. Do you want more Steven?....no. Strangers will wave at him and he will simply shake his head no.

-He still loves to clap, and occasionally waves. He will sometimes make an unintelligible sound as he waves which I take as goodbye.

-He is officially into every cabinet, drawer, and loves to open and close doors.