Fall snow

We got two feet of snow.

Wait, let me repeat that, because it bears repeating.

We got two feet of snow.

For two days straight we were all stuck in the house watching the snow fall and fall and fall. And fall. And everytime we thought, "Wow, there is a LOT of snow! Surely it will slow down soon," we were wrong. Until last night around 10:00pm when the snow really did slow down and finally stop and we were stuck with two feet of snow. IN OCTOBER.

We have maybe the greatest neighbor in the history of neighbors who regularly comes by and uses his snow blower on our sidewalk and driveway. Yesterday, Jon asked if he would mind blowing in front and behind our street-bound car so that, hopefully, we'd be able to drive out after the snow stopped. He is a lifesaver. After Jon cleaned off my car this morning (what a great husband!) I was able to get out onto the road without much trouble.

The roads were icy and snowpacked on the way to work this morning, but everyone was taking their time and we didn't have any troubles with accidents or close calls. It did take two times as long, but that is OK.

For the two days were were stuck inside, we did escape about once each day to play outside. We bundled Evelyn up in her high-top sneakers, sweat pants, long shirt, puffy coat with the faux-fur-lined hood, lamb (bunny?) hat and microfleece mittens. She totally looked like the kid from A Christmas Story. She actually liked going outside, though. She walked along the cleaned sidewalks, tried to walk into the grass, got stuck, turned around, did it all again. Her cheeks were rosy for about four hours after coming inside, so she may have been in the cold for a touch too long, but she had a good time.

So now we are digging out and warming up.

Snowy day mac & cheese

It's snowing today. Snowing a LOT. So far, as of noon, we have about a foot out there. A foot! It is supposed to keep snowing through tomorrow evening so we'll see how much snow we get overall.

I am working from home today and probably tomorrow. One thing I love about working from home is being able to cook lunch. Today we whipped out the awesome America's Test Kitchen Cookbook and made baked macaroni and cheese. It was delicious! Of course, with a stick of butter and 5 cups of cheese (yes, I said cups), how could it be bad? I also made Evelyn some chicken nuggets.

(As an aside...before I had a child, I thought it was terrible how much crappy processed food kids eat. Looking at the children's menu at any average restaurant was sad: chicken nuggets, hamurger, spaghetti, french fries. Right. Then I had a toddler, and that toddler likes to eat food with her own hands, and she also gets cranky when she is hungry, and sometimes that time comes in the car, and sometimes we drive-thru Wendy's and get chicken nuggets. Urgh. We've tried giving her Luna Bars or granola bars or other hand-sized things, but they don't always work. Chicken nuggets always work. So, I decided to make some homemade nuggets, baked not fried, and hope for the best. She liked it. Yay! But really, it is a small victory in the large war against unhealthy food.)

So. Where was I? Snow snow snow!!! Cooking! Maybe, if I'm lucky, a little baking, too! The news just said this storm will intensify this afternoon. Curses. This is a lot of snow.

Pumpkin carving pictures!

Well, I can't seem to rearrange the picture order, so here they are, in reverse!

First, my spooky pumpkin! Isn't it awesome? Yes, yes it is. In fact, I dare say this is the best pumpkin I've ever carved. Maybe there are some benefits to turning 30... :)

Jon's spooky pumpkin.

Jon carving his pumpkin. See the joy? That's real, people!

An indoor shot of my pumpkin. I decided the Gene Simmons tongue was too much, so I took it off and added teeth instead.

Working so hard...

Being goofy...

Now, this is before the pumpkin carving, sometime last week I think. But it is the BEST picture of Evelyn. Oh, she is just so beautiful. Melts my heart.

And, finally, a picture of Evelyn looking sad for some reason, but really she is excited to be sitting in her awesome new chair! She loves that chair. We noticed she was crawling into any seat she could find...high chair, car seat, stroller. If it was her size and near the floor, she was trying to sit in it. So we got her a chair she can sit in (or crawl on) now, and then read in later. She loves it. Seriously. Love.

The

End

Bed is better than Not Bed

That is our family motto. Bed is better than Not Bed. Because we love going to bed. All of us. Even Evelyn likes her bedtime routine, enjoys the pre-bed bath, likes to get her last bottle of the night, and then slips into sleep with nary a whimper or a cry. She just sleeps. (Now everyone together now, KNOCK ON WOOD. Because as soon as I type that our bedtime routine is going to go the way of the Dodo.)

Now, as much as Evelyn likes to go to bed, she doesn't always stay asleep. She goes to sleep well, but then she sometimes wakes up. Like both nights this weekend. We were up at least an hour each night, two hours one of the nights, with a fussy baby who would not go back to sleep. She was fussy and crying and hungry and happy and everything else. Exhausting. Jon took care of most of it, but Evelyn's room shares a wall with our bedroom, and the walls are thin.

If our family motto is "Bed is better than not bed," a closer runner up would be "Sleep begets sleep." When Evelyn sleep poorly, she usually naps poorly the next day, and then sleeps even more poorly the following night. It is a viscious cycle. (Have I posted that Evelyn is down to one nap per day? She is. It's a shame.) Finally finally on Sunday she took a good, long, serious nap, and finally finally on Sunday night she slept well. Until 6am, when she woke up. But that we can handle.

We still have nighttime feeding issues, which are largely due to parental laziness. OK, not laziness so much as "damn, we're tired and if we get an extra hour or so of sleep by giving this baby a 4am bottle then so be it!" No, I guess it is laziness. But that is not every night, just most nights. :)

So this weekend was pretty tiring. With a non-sleeping night-time baby, and then a very cranky and loud day-time baby, I was at my wits end by Sunday night. Thankfully Jon is around to make everything better. I have really gotten used to him being around all the time. It is nice. So nice. It will be one thing I miss when he goes back to work.

Also, pictures soon! Pumpkin-carving pictures! Stay tuned!

Shop update

Shop update:

We got a lawyer.

'Nuf said.

OK, not really "nuf said," but there are so many freakin balls in the air and so many stress points that I am in no mood to write about it. Suffice it to say that by Nov. 1 we will either be moving forward with a new lease and the landlord in writing agreeing to pay for everything he is legally responsible for, or we'll be out of the lease and moving on to the next phase in our lives. If it is the former, fantastic...ish. If the latter, well, that will be a lot harder. Jon still wants to open his own shop, and it really is in the long-term best interest of our family, but this whole thing has left a bad taste in our mouths. We went in with little knowledge and a lot of optimism. I think if it doesn't work out Jon will start looking for a new space in the spring, but this time with a lot more knowledge and cynicism. Business. Ugh. Can't we all just be retired already?

More awesomeness

Jon told me that Evelyn walked over to her diaper bag this morning, picked it up and brought it to him, and then wanted him to hold it and her. Apparently she wanted to go for a little ride! She is just the best baby ever.

Evelyn has a handful of words (or word/sounds) down pat. They are:

Mom (mamamamama)
Dad (daa-da)
Dog (da)
Sheep (ba)
Cow (voo)
Want (wa-AH, really loud)
Hi (hi)
Bye (bye)


Other occasional words:

Bear (rawr)
Pig (clearing throat sound)
Giraffe (gi-affe)
Grandma (ga-aa)
Tucker (uh-er)
Bottle (ba-uh)
Chicken (chee-chee)
Duck (ka-ka)

OK, so you wouldn't know what she was saying if you weren't around her all the time, but believe me--she gets the point across! Also she is totally genius with word associations. We saw some horses walking down our street two days ago and she made the sound for Cow. It does kind of look like a cow! See? Genius.

Also in the "holy crap, that's not gonna be good" department. Evelyn can reach the bottom of the door knobs in our house and can flush the toilet. She can also turn the TV on and off (a favorite past time), get things off the top shelf of our half-bookcases, and open the drawer to my nighstand and reach inside. Our little mischief-maker!

For the remote grandparents...

My last post of the day. I promise. But how cute is my franken-baby walking around?!

My baby is awesome

A few random pictures. First, a few of Evelyn at the mall, playing on the breakfast foods. She crawled up into the cereal all by herself! Second, Evelyn helping me get ready for work in the morning. She sits on the bathroom counter almost every morning and "helps" me dry my hair and put on make-up. Her favorite way to "help" is to chew on toothbrushes and hairbrushes.

This is Jon at the Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park. It was kind of creepy.

New York City, part 2

New York Pictures

Here are some of the beautiful pictures from New York.

No longer a Bobbler

A short post, because I am still waiting to get the pictures from New York.

First, we left for New York leaving behind our little bobbler in the capable hands of her Grandma Lew. But she was a bobbler; walking a little, but mostly crawling. When we got back we had a bonafide toddler on our hands. She crawls a little, but she is much more interested in walking now. Soon she'll be running. When we see her walking down the hall or acros the kitchen (she looks like frankenstein...it's adorable), we say "Hello, toddler!" I feel like Evelyn changed a lot while we were gone. From crawling to walking, but also her jaw got more square and she got a lot sassier. Her cries have new tones in them, and she screeches and yells more, too. She grew up. Our little toddler.

Second, I am really excited about the movie adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. I know my mom told me at some point that the book was very controversial when it first came out. People tried to ban it from schools. My mom got grief for reading it to her kids. I have no idea why. Baffling. But I hope the movie lives up to my expectations. It looks beautiful. Here is an interview with director Spike Jonze.

Whirlwind

New York was fabulous. Saw friends. Ate dumplings. Saw more friends. Went to a beautiful wedding. Ate more dumplings. Savored the moments, slept in, danced with my husband, and enjoyed a baby- and dog-free weekend.

I will post more, with pictures, when we get them back from the photo processor. Jon used some crazy old film so he is really excited to see how it all turns out.

Tears

Last night I cried. And cried and cried and cried. The lights were off and I was in bed and I just broke down. Because tomorrow I am leaving my baby ALONE for FOUR days. And by "alone" I mean in her house with her dogs and books and toys and under the excellent care of her third favorite person in the world, Grandma Lew. But it felt like I was about to abandon her. Leave her to the wild dogs with nothing but the clothes on her back. It was heartbreaking thinking about the four nights I won't be there to say good night, or give her a bath, or rock her in the dark. I cried because I know how much bigger and smarter she will be when I get back. What if she is sad? What if she is afraid? What if she thinks we are gone forever? What if it scars her psyche to think she is being abandoned by her parents? And so, I cried.

(After I cried I fell asleep to dream about having a crush on a boy and kissing that boy, the very boy who would be the key to letting me enroll in the freshman year honors class, the very class that my arch nemesis Blair Waldorf is trying to get into, the very nemesis who is equally upset when the boy I have a crush on picks three russian girls to be in the class and not us.)

When I woke in the morning I felt much better about leaving my sweet daughter in the hands of her wonderful and loving grandmother. The event of the night before was not unlike the night before I returned for work after maternity leave. I cried and cried and cried that night too, and in the morning I felt much better. I can say that I am only able to cry and cry and cry and then feel much better because I have a husband who lets me cry and cry and cry and doesn't make me feel stupid for feeling sad. He tells me it will be OK, and he is usually right, and he strokes my hair until I fall asleep. And then in the morning, when everything is back to normal, and I realize he was right and that everything is OK, I love him even more.

Tonight I will hold Evelyn very, very tight and give her ten kisses before bed instead of one. And when she pulls away and squishes her face up because she hates getting kisses, I'll pull her even closer and whisper "I love you" three times instead of two. Then we will all go to bed, and in the morning it will be OK.

Pumpking Picking, year two

I think I have three posts to write. One about my impending trip of awesomeness, one about Jon's shop, and one about pumpking picking. We shall focus on the latter.

Remember one year ago...

And this past weeknd....

Create a Free Slideshow

My, how time flies.

We had a lot of fun picking pumpkins this year. Evelyn was much more engaged (obviously) and really really REALLY liked the farm animals. She almost exploded with delight at seeing the sheep (Ba!).

Car seat monitor

We've all heard about the horrible stories where children die because their parents accidentally leave them in the car. It just breaks your heart. It is hard to imagine ever leaving your child in the backseat. It's hard to imagine ever forgetting your child is in the car. But clearly, it can happen to anyone. So I've wondered if buying some sort of "child alarm" would be useful. Like a beeping that lets you know you left your lights on or your keys are in the ignition, just a little reminder that there is a child in the backseat. I don't know. What do you other parents of young children think?

http://www.carseatmonitor.com/index.php

The Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor.



This is a little batter-powered sensor that affixes to the side of the car seat and senses when a car stops moving. After five seconds, a little mechnical "lullaby" starts to play, reminding you that your kid is in the back seat. Simple, easy, effective. Or so it seems.

Right now I think our chances of leaving Evelyn in the car are slim. One, she is LOUD. Very loud. Always. There is never any doubt about her being in the car. Two, she rarely falls asleep in the car anymore, so her giggling and yelling and saying "hi" to everything is everpresent. Three, as of right now, we are not taking her to daycare, where we could accidentally forget to take her and instead go to work and leave her in the car. That seems to be a recurring theme in these stories. Not exclusively, but often.

So I'm not running out to buy this thing or something like it right away, but it is an interesting idea. Would I let Evelyn sleep in a house without a smoke alarm? A carbon monoxide detector? No. Would I let her ride in a car without a seatbelt? No. Maybe this is just one of those static safety things that you hope will never be used, but you are so glad you have it if it is.