Exhaustion

Coca-Cola, why are you so good?!

Early Riser

My sweet monkey woke up very early this morning. The past few nights she's been staying up late, chatting in her crib, yelling for "mommy!" "daddy!" "door!" "choo choo!" (we live right near the above-ground train). She's also been eating an INSANE amount for a tiny little bug. So we were are pretty convinced she's going through a bit of a growth spurt.

This morning, she woke up crying for mommy 5 minutes before my alarm was set to go off for my early morning gym class. The clock read 5:03 AM. I turned off my alarm before it disturbed Michael and went into Alice's room, fully aware that picking her up probably doomed any chance at the gym. I picked up my crying baby, sat with her in the rocking chair, and let her sleep in my arms for an hour. At 6, I finally decided to try and transfer to the couch so that I might be able to sleep too. But as soon as we left her room, Alice decided it was time to wake up.

The two of us played together quietly, in the semidarkness of the early morning. I have to admit, it was perfect.

Alice Making Her Monkey Face

Reading Circle

Family outing!

Mod!

2012

Happy New Year!!

I'm a few days behind schedule (surprise, surprise). But welcome to 2012! I'm excited for the new year. 2011 was a good, solid year of living. Michael & I enjoyed watching our sweet baby grow into a toddler. We both did well at work, and continued to settle into our no-longer-new apartment. We made it to Spain (!), and Virginia. It was a good year.

But I'm partial to even years. Most of our major life events have happened during an even year - I was born in 1980, graduated high school, college and grad school, got married, had a baby, etc, etc, etc. So I'm hoping that 2012 brings a similarly exciting time of change. I don't know what's ahead for me or my family, but I'm encouraged by a new year to make things happen.

Incidentally, I have been working out since I wrote about it in mid-November. I've managed to workout at the gym at least once a week and do at least one yoga class per week since. I'm encouraged, though always hoping for more.

She Loves Hugs!!

Yogurt Makes Me Happy

At Least It's Sunny!

Cold!

Happy New Years!!!

Self Portrait

Morning Sky

Updates!

So it's Christmastime!! That's pretty wonderful. Michael, Alice and I have been enjoying the season. We put up our beautiful Christmas tree last week, and hosted an open house for Michael's students. We put on "holiday" carols, baked oodles of sweet goodies, and made some delicious Parsnip-Potato-Leek soup.

We both had a string of holiday parties last week. Alice loved hugging all the babies.


We've been trying to keep warm. Alice is wearing adorable leg warmers now:

And one other major highlight - a couple of weeks ago, Michael and I went to a work function, where we got to see the mayor! And then we went OUT to a bar. FOR DRINKS. Like grown-ups do. It was a real highlight.



So that's just a basic outline of the past few weeks. There's more to share, but I'll save it for another post.

Thanksgiving 2011

Dear Alice,

Happy holidays, my sweet!! We just celebrated an amazing Thanksgiving, full of great food and family. Your PapPap, GG, Grandma, Grandpa and LeeLee came all the way up to New York to mark the holiday with you. They showered you with love and attention, spending every last minute making sure your every need was met.

At dinner, we went around the table sharing what we were thankful for this year. Everyone agreed - you are the greatest blessing. Your PapPap and GG both mentioned being grateful for having spent time with you, getting to know you and witnessing your personality develop. Your daddy and I cherish every minute we have to share you with this lovely family.

I love you insanely, my sweet baby girl. Happy holidays!
Mamma

Lunch: Parsnip Soup

Dinner:
Roasted Turkey with Citrus Rosemary Salt
Harvest Bread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows
Green Beans & Carrots in Charmoula Sauce
Roasted Asparagus

Dessert:
Pumpkin Pie
Candy
Bourbon-Chocolate Pecan Pie

Too Much!

Funny Faces

Recovery

I've been in a mood lately. I'm the first to admit it. A whole lot of factors contribute to this thrilling version of me, but mostly I have been feeling a little stuck. I've been trying to make some changes in my life lately without much success, and it has just been getting me down.

I have a vivid memory of the first time I heard Tom Frieden, our former Health Commissioner and the current head of the CDC (a God among Public Health folks), speak. The very first thing he said was, "Do you know what the only proven cure for depression is? Physical activity!" So, with that ringing in my head, I've been trying to get to the gym this week. I'm committing to 2 times a week from now until the end of December, or I have to quit the gym. Will it work? I sure hope so. And so does my husband!

And my sweet husband brought me flowers tonight!!! YAY!

Sweetie Pie

Stoop

Alice & I have taken to sitting on our building's front stoop. Neither of us get enough time outside, and developments over the past several months have limited that time even more. My office's move from a lovely, lively downtown to a rather ugly neighborhood in Queens in April keeps me indoors much of the work week. In order to get home in time for family dinner - which been pretty committed to since Alice started eating real meals - we ride the train home rather than walking from daycare. We just can't seem to spend enough time outdoors.

So, we sit on our stoop. Thankfully, a lot goes on right outside our building. Alice loves watching the trains come and go. We have a lot of dog lovers in our neighborhood, so we almost always see a friendly pup. There are plenty of kids in the neighborhood for Alice to wave to. A few of our neighbors just love Alice, and occasionally we will all sit together outside, chatting about this and that. And we get some beautiful sunshine just outside our building. I've been surprised by how pleasant the experience can be.

This is just another way that Alice is growing up as a City baby. I find the differences in our upbringing so shocking sometimes. Alice knows how to wait for an elevator, how to hail a cab (the CUTEST thing ever), how to steal some sunshine and fresh air from just outside a building. Amazing.

At Home

We're getting ready over here...

NYC Marathon Alex Baldwin prorez from Marc Beroza on Vimeo.

Cuteness!!

A Happy Night

Dear Alice,

Tonight was a lovely night. I picked you up from John & Anna's, and you were happy to see me, though a little sad that it meant you were leaving Naomi & Penelope for the evening. On our walk home, we stopped to pick up a bread role from the bakery just down the road. You impressed everyone, walking into the bakery, holding the bag with your evening treat, saying "Thank you" before we walked out the door.

At home you played patiently while I cooked dinner - pork chops, roasted broccoli, mac & cheese and salad. You, Daddy and I enjoyed a relaxing dinner, and you even made it through the WHOLE meal in your own seat! After dinner, we did the hokey pokey and ring-around-the-rosie. You pretended to sleep, and then jumped up to surprise your daddy and me.

You are too cute for words these days. You learn 10 new words a day, it seems, and love mimicking your Daddy and me. You want to be a part of everything, from cooking dinner to doing the laundry and carrying groceries. You love to read, and dance, and sing, and eat.

I love you more than anything ever!

Love,
Mommy

Chatty Cathy

Halloween

Work!

So, I haven't created these at all, but look at this awesome ad campaign our office launched today!





And you can see the ads here.

All Quiet

Sorry it's been all quiet on the blogging front lately. October has flown by!

Michael has been working particularly long hours lately, as naturally occurs when you work in an academic institution. Between his late nights and mine, we've had few nights together as a family this month. Thankfully we've had some lovely visitors, including my mom and Michael's parents, and savored our weekends together.

I've been feeling particularly flabby and gross lately. Too much time running around, too little time to take care of myself. I miss the gym, but not enough to find a way to make it happen. My poor husband is sick of hearing about how I miss it. Perhaps I need to set some real goals for myself - 2 visits per week for the next month or so. Something with a punishment. Or a reward.

Alice is super cute these days. She mimics everything we do, and insists on helping me with groceries. Here's a little something from last weekend - too cute!

Family Time

Friends

Dark

Just because she's so cute!

I woke up at 5:30 this morning, jumping out of bed to get a shower before our hot water turned off at 6 (oh, apartment living...). I was shocked to see just how dark it is at 5:30 am.

This summer, I wrote about my internal debate with waking early enough to get some quiet time in the morning versus sleeping in to get some rest. When it was light out, I chose to wake up, practice some yoga, enjoy some quiet time before my day ran away from me. But more recently, as the morning light drifted later and later, I stayed in bed longer. I've noticed that I can actually stay awake at night with my husband. I'm definitely more rested when I wake up, and think I'm a little less moody than I was before. But I've also been consistently late for work, pushing my dinner prep time to after Michael & Alice leave the apartment in the morning. I've felt more frantic from 6:45 AM until 9:30 AM. And I definitely haven't done any yoga in weeks.

I guess this is just another balancing act, like so many others. For now, I'm enjoying some extra sleep and think it is worth the sacrifice. But I'm also already excited for lighter mornings and early rises...

(PS Is this the most boring post ever?!?)

Happy Babe!

A Bull in a China Shop

Joy (cont.)

18-Months Old!!

As if on cue...

Continued.

This morning, Alice woke up early. After a few sweet minutes of play, she went bananas. Broke my glasses. Cried for an hour. Brought me to tears.

Please let today improve. Please let tonight be better. Please.

Challenged

Today was a hard day. Leaving work I was giddy to see Alice. Michael had to work late, so I knew I would get some quiet time with her. But from the second I walked in the door to the last cries before she fell asleep, the baby was just a total nut with me. She had utterly adorable moments (for example, she helped me load the washing machine with clothes tonight, gently picking up items from the pile I put at her feet and shoving them overhead into the machine). But she also broke down into fits of tears at least four times in the two hours we spent together.

Days like this are really hard, because I am just aghast that we spend oodles of money to have a woman spend the best parts of the day with Alice, while M & I get stuck with the grunt work. It feels like hiring an intern to take all of the work that requires your brain, relegating you to data entry and filing. I know that it is all for the best, for both Alice and for me, but days like today make me wonder why we run this crazy race.

So, to make me happy, I watched this: