Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Girls' Weekend 2009

A few weekends ago, my mom, my Aunt Jill from Maryland and my Aunt Amy from Michigan, all came out for a weekend in the City. My mom has a conference in DC in March every year. Last year both her and Jill came to visit after the conference was over. This year, Amy decided she couldn't miss the fun.

Amy arrived first and we took her to Green-wood Cemetery, one of the sites of the Battle of Brooklyn, and the home of the Altar of Liberty on Battle Hill, where Minerva salutes Lady Liberty. The view is beautiful, except for the garish, glaring eyesore of an apartment building being erected right in the way. Here's a sight where you can sign a petition to save the vista! (And see better pictures.)

After my mom and Aunt Jill arrived, we bundled up for a looooooong walk from Court Street in Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn Bridge, past City Hall and the WTC Site, down through Wall Street, and finally to Battery Park where we picked up the Staten Island Ferry to get a better look at Lady Liberty. It was a cold, late night for Elizabeth, but she held up like a champ and breastfed along the way with no major problems. Hallelujah! This child is portable!

Oh, and Adam's not pregnant. That's Elizabeth in the sling, riding kind of low.

Saturday we slept in, ate pancakes by Adam, then it was off to Manhattan again. We spent most of the afternoon at the Natural History Museum . . .


. . . followed by a walk through Central Park where we saw a wedding, lots of dogs, and FLOWERS!!! (I had to take a picture!)

We ended the day at a great and inexpensive Thai restaurant in Chinatown where Elizabeth, who'd been quite the trooper, finally had a meltdown. But then she crashed and slept through the rest of dinner so I couldn't complain. The next day was Sunday and after church, I drove my Mom and Amy to JFK, while Adam escorted Jill to Penn Station. It was sad to say goodbye, but hopefully this will become an annual event. See you guys in 2010!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Update

Just a quick update. Elizabeth's nights have gotten MUCH better. Thanks to everyone for the advice and sympathy. Every night this week, she's only woken up once, around 2 or 3 am, at which I've gladly fed her. Last night, wonder of wonders, she slept from 8 PM to 6:30 AM!!! I woke up as big as basketballs but soooooo refreshed. I fed her, put her back down, and she slept until 9. I'm not expecting this to last, but it looks like we're out of the woods for now . . .

I guess I should add a cute picture for the grandparents.

Never fear, Brooklyn is here!

Thursday, March 12, 2009




























This reminds me of my brother Jason and his son Ethan. More great British sci-fi fans here.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Remember Operation Cry It Out? Yeah . . . Didn't work out so much. It was going okay for a few days, but then a friend needed to crash on our couch a couple of nights, so I didn't let Elizabeth cry too much. Then, she got a cold, and I never knew if it was hunger or sickness or what making her wake up, so I felt bad letting her cry.

Now, she still has a runny nose, but last night she woke up EVERY TWO HOURS. I kid you not. I probably don't need to say that it is killing me. I sometimes think it's the binky; a book we have says at about 4 months babies are aware enough that they'll cry when they wake up after their sleep cycle (90 minutes) and the binky has fallen out. But I can tell when she wakes up and is just fussy as she tries to settle herself down. Lately it's been SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER. Not quite "I fell off the couch on to my face" screaming, but close.
Just giving her the binky back isn't enough. I've checked to make sure she's not too hot or cold (but really, how would I know besides cold cheeks or a ton of sweat?) Tylenol has had no affect, nor has a vaporizer or Vicks on the feet w/ socks on. The only thing I can do to calm her is to rock her back to sleep or feed her. Oh, and did I mention that's happening every two hours?!

So what do I do? Try to let her cry it out for real now? And if so, how long will it take? (Cuz it's not just her that will be sleep deprived.) Or is something else the matter and would letting her cry be cruel? Is it gas? Is she possessed? Did I trespass on some Indian burial ground? Voodoo? HELP!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Welcome to the Neighborhood, Part 2

Adam and I did a google maps search of our street, just for kicks. When we saw the street view, it made us laugh out loud and shake our heads.

It figures that the one time the Google van or whatever it is drives by, our neighbors are captured doing what they do all day, every day in nice weather: sitting on their stoop.


We started looking for our car, just in case it was parked on our street. We couldn't believe when we found it. Can't miss those Utah plates. Since we changed our plates in November of 2007, but moved in in October, this picture must have been taken in just a small window of time. Crazy, huh? Talk about Big Brother watching...