Saturday, July 30, 2011

.....bundle of joy.....

.....there have been many terms of endearment to describe Brody in our home.....all of them have been chosen by his big sisters, of course......brudda brudda, Mr. smiley, honey honey, sweetie sweetie and the latest and the one that seems to be sticking is buddy buddy.....notice the trend in repetition.....he's never just called buddy.....it is always buddy buddy.....


.....to say that our family is smitten with this child is an understatement......he is constantly being held, read to, rocked, used as the centerpiece for tea parties, chosen as the student for school, sung to, enduring an outfit change by one of his sisters, or plain and simply is receiving adoration and attention from all of us.....lately, we have been including him during our meals because I can't peel the girls away from him.....




.....unless it's an excursion for ice cream......and because the girls have been such good big sisters and are spoiled by grandparents, they received special mail to use at the ice cream shop......


.....they each received an ice cream coupon with four single dollars and instructions to go buy one.....the excitement over this trip wasn't the actual ice cream, as we usually partake in this treat quite frequently in the summer......the anticipation of this trip was the fact they had their own money and got to pay for their special treat all by themselves......


......Elsie handed her wad of dollars to the cashier in one clump and Callie very deliberately slid each dollar one at a time on top of the counter, counting as she passed each one.....I ignored the sighs and eye rolling from the impatient New Yorkers behind us in line as I snapped away to document their excitement....I also ignored the loud exhales again when the cashier told me that eight dollars wasn't enough for two small cups of yogurt with colored sprinkles and I had to rummage to the bottom of my bag for more money......


.....Elsie was happy to collect the change, though.....


.....and ice cream trips aren't the same without friends....



.....and all of them were very serious about finishing every last drop of their dish.....I had to wrestle away their cups as they slurped ice cream turned liquid as if they were finishing a bowl of soup......



.....and when we walked back home full, happy and on our sugar high, our smiling baby was delighted to see us......


.....and we were ecstatic to see him too.....


.....so this was a quick post, in the middle of a busy weekend full of trips to the zoo, sleep overs, BBQs, ice cream parties, visits from family and new playgrounds......I had to take a moment to express just how much we are loving our little man and how one week can make such a difference.....sleep, encouragement from my husband, fresh air, perspective.....they are all things that can snap one out of being overwhelmed with adjustment......


.....more later on this festive and glorious weekend.....

.....off to enjoy more of these moments.....


....happy weekending....

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

...hello mojo....

.....I am not in a funk, but something has been off-kilter for a few weeks.....

.......I went to visit a friend who recently had surgery Sunday evening and brought Elsie with me.....I thought it was a good opportunity for some one on one with my eldest while Daddy man-handled the two youngsters......not only did I come home to a clean home, a happy baby and a smiling toddler, but I also arrived to surprise after surprise.....

......Brody immediately wanted to start his ritual when I arrived home....I scooped him up, bathed him and fed him......all the while the house was quiet, except for some adult music humming from the living area....Stefan cracked open the door to Brody's nursery just a few minutes before I laid him down to sleep to ask how much longer because dinner was going to be pretty awesome.......gourmet pork tenderloin with a tri-pepper rub, fresh green beans and sauteed onions with a garlic salad that Callie helped Stefan whip together.....apparently, as Stefan washed the romaine leaves, Callie patted them dry with paper towels and Brody laughed at this exchange sitting with them in his bumbo seat up on our kitchen bar.....As I heard about these happenings, while Stefan and I had a romantic meal alone while the girls watched a Handy Mandy, I wasn't sure to laugh at the sweet thought of the three of them spending quality time in the kitchen or scream because I have never prepared and served a meal like that since Brody has been born.....let alone served it before 8:00pm.....not to mention, all of the dead light bulbs in our house had also been replaced, the groceries were all put away, the dishwasher was completely emptied and he had managed to do this all cheerfully, while simultaneously being goofy with our children.....

....that isn't how it happens when I am left in charge.....

.....I feel like I am the tired, withered Mom who has the patience of a two year old.....I wake up exhausted, I'm using the TV way too much during this heat wave to occupy my kids, I can't seem to keep food in the refrigerator, the laundry hamper is unrecognizable under the mountain of clothes that runneth over and I have stacks of projects all over the place......bills, Brody's baby book, nursery school forms to fill out, car insurance documents that were due last week.....the list goes on.....

....to top off Stefan's night of glory, he finished it with unveiling a piece of strawberry cheesecake and reminded me that it's all a phase.....one of these days it will just click.....so I inhaled the cheesecake, sipped my wine, called it a night, snuggled up next to my husband and lo and behold for the first time in his three months of life, Brody slept through the night......


.....God knows what we need, when we need it....and I suddenly snapped out of it....

.....by the next morning, I had the three kids at the park by 9:30am, met a girlfriend I hadn't seen in ages, made turkey and beef meatballs for dinner during the girl's quiet time, which for the record did not include any tv, hit the gym for a cardio sculpting class and managed to serve Stefan dinner at 7:30 pm.....my mojo is back all thanks to a little sleep.....hallelujah.....

....and sleep does wonders.....our full throttle of a summer thus far has included some quality visits with family.....


....my Dad and Dawn were in NYC to visit and celebrate their anniversary.....we packed seven days into four and were blessed with incredibly gorgeous summer weather.....



.....a trip to visit just isn't a trip if it doesn't include NYC pizza.....so to make the experience a little unique, we took the water taxi to Brooklyn for some pie and sauntered over for ice cream on the water for our after dinner treat.....







.....we packed picnics, enjoyed views of our beloved city from many treasured spots, and jammed with Callie at her music class under the shady oak tree in one of my favorite areas in Central Park......







.....and for as much moving and shaking as we did, we also found some down time......some girly downtime.....




.....and thanks to Grandma Dawn's expert braiding technique and Elsie loving the result of sitting patiently for 10 minutes, the hair style of choice this summer has been braids, please......luckily I have talked her into wearing a big bun on top of her head fastened with a sparkly barrette because my homemade braids don't look as pretty.....



.....and not wanting to make Callie feel badly since she doesn't have long hair, we asked her if she would like a braid too.....I think she caught on to the fact that her braid may not look like ours, so she chose to participate in the photo op instead......



 ......and I have not picked up the camera very much since our family departed......I have either been too tired to go back and get it as I remember it's protective spot perched up high in our living area after I've already loaded up the stroller and bumped it down the five stairs of our stoop or it's with me, but I haven't been motivated to try and juggle snapping a few photos while tracking three babes at the park.....but having said earlier, my mojo is back.......and when my mojo resurfaces, my inspiration also returns......

......and inspiration keeps this blog going.......I have gotten to experience our visit with family over again sorting through the pictures and reliving the events that made the time so special......




.....so from one phase to the next, this blog will document these moments and help me savor it all....fun times, low times, sleepless times, sleep-full times, laundry heaps, foodless fridges, husband pep talks, family adventures, all of it.....


.....thanks for the visit Dad and Dawn.....we loved the tiresome and fun adventures.....xxoo

.....and here's to a week of more sleeping through the night.....

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

.....savoring the ordinary.....

.....our summer has been fast and furious since Elsie had her graduation day.......the nursery school doors closed and within hours we were ramping up for a visit with loved ones, followed by a family summer vacation to remember.....we blissfully enjoyed our time at each gathering, as our trips sped by more quickly than we wanted, just as time away often does......and then we literally dumped our bags at our door and fervently jumped into the first week of summer camp and gymnastics.....more of that later......or better yet, it went something like this......dump the bags, throw everything in drawers or the dirty clothes, wash towels and extra blankets, fill the refrigerator with food and hide our standard, summer clutter to make room for more family visiting from afar......more of that later, too......

.....so it's been sprint, recover.....accelerate, coast.....mayhem, tranquility.......the ebb and flow of busy and festive versus slow and lazy......sliding the latter of the two in between the big and special summer events.....and in the grandeur style of enjoying the momentous occasions that will be easy to remember; I have to take time to highlight the smaller, more ordinary times too......because if we didn't recognize the magnificent and modest, the impressive and intimate, the lavish and little; well then, it wouldn't be savoring it all now, would it?.....and quite honestly, the modest, intimate and little things always add up to the one mighty life each of us are given to live to the fullest......

.....and in no particular order, here are a few of our favorite, small and ordinary happenings this summertime......

....sleep overs with besties......


.....our way down to North Carolina for our family reunion afforded us a night to stay in Baltimore at Cyndi and her husband Jay's house.....one of my dearest and closest friends from college, we relish any opportunity to bunk up for a night.....we carve out time in between the shenanigans of our 5 collective kids to fill each other in on the details of our lives, laugh at the anecdotes about our children and catch up on who is doing what from the days we lived on Park Avenue in Tallahassee, Florida.....

....and the time together is always so easy.....




.....my time with Cyndi is always rejuvenating.....we laugh so hard our bellies hurt and I always leave her farewell embrace feeling as if I am filled to the brim with boundless energy.....she restores my dry well with her compassion, perspective, her humor, her beauty and our history......we could stay up for days catching up, talking, sharing stories.....it's a special bond I don't quite share with anyone else and I love the sacredness of our friendship.....


.....and because our good friends who used to be on the other side of the Hudson are now also Maryland residents, we changed the 5 kids to 8 kids and made our Baltimore drop in even merrier......




.....and even though merrier sometimes means more chaotic and harried, we laughed our way through the bewitching hours of the day.......rocking babies, soothing tantrums and bribing good behavior for summer desserts.....I wish everyday I could co-parent with my best friends.....we would laugh the stress and tiresome times away and the joyous and easy moments would be made even sweeter......








.....rolling on.....

.....potty time....

.....or lack there of.....as much as we encourage and cheer our girl on, she just isn't interested.....I will keep trying, as there would be nothing better than Callie starting nursery school in the fall sans diapers.......but as I have learned well by now, she does what she wants, when she wants.....


.....fresh and local veggies.....

.....every Tuesday I am challenged with the task of collecting some amazing fresh veggies delivered nearby from a local farm and figuring out how to use them for our meals for the week.....the crops are plentiful and have helped kick start our family in it's time to get healthy gear, as my pregnancy with Brody let our eating habits slip.....ice cream became a staple in our home and it's been long over do for our family to make a change......


.....I have loved adding the colorful veggies to new recipes and having the girls help with the process of picking up our crate of goods, washing and naming the veggies, preparing and cooking them......Elsie actually coaxed Callie into eating the summer squash for dinner this evening simply because Elsie helped stir them in the skillet.....and because the helpings are bountiful, we are eating these beauties for lunches and dinners.....yum, I am craving eggplant as I type.....


.....catching fireflies.....

.....it was a split second moment that I caught from a window 50 feet away.....


.....there isn't anything spectacular about it, other than my city girl didn't even know what a firefly was......and now she does.....


.....pink lips....

.....it's Callie's new thing.....she is constantly asking for pink lips after I let her put some make up on with me one morning......and after three not right nows responding to her pleas one morning after breakfast, I asked her to wash her hands to get the syrup off her fingers......after several quiet moments too long alone in the bathroom, I peeked around the corner to see what she had found......


.....like I said, my girl gets what she wants when she wants.....and she wanted some pink lips after breakfast.....


.....and a little mascara too....

....new playgrounds in the neighborhood....

.....people often told us when we moved to NYC that once we settled in a neighborhood, we would never leave it.....and I did not like the sound of that......the city has too much to offer to stay confined in a few blocks radius.....pre kids, Stefan and I would make a point to try new places.....there were many  Saturdays he and I would hop on a bus, ride it for a good conversation; hopping off to explore a new neighborhood with hip restaurants, unique shops and rowdy happy hour locations......it was a dreamy time of our lives and we found several local gems that we have revisited over the last 8 years.....

.....well, post kids it has become much harder to be as adventurous.....strollers do not always co-exist peacefully with subway steps and the bus's strict rules of collapsing 45 pounds of metal and rubber wheels prior to boarding.....there have been many times when I have ventured out with my babes to a far away place on this tiny of island of ours......times like this, or this or this.....and upon arrival,  I am jumping for joy at the sheer exhilaration of getting out of the house with small children, conquering mass transit, having enough snacks packed, finding the one clean public restroom near us for a potty break- or better yet, coaxing the cashier at a local establishment to letting me parade my crew in to monopolize their bathroom for a while without buying anything.....

.....and then there are the less strenuous out of the ordinary events.....the ones that don't necessarily take you out of the neighborhood, but still push the limits......walking 10 blocks, opposed to five, for instance; just to check out a new playground......those times may not be as rewarding for me, because walking a few extra blocks isn't a rock star moment; but for my girls and their buddy, we mine as well have.....













..... I love that our children teach us to enjoy the smallest things....


.....so I strive to do that in each moment.....I strive to learn lessons from them because their lessons happen continuously.......but honestly, I find that lately, I have to force myself to pry open my eyes and suck the moment dry......our family is still making minor adjustments with our new arrival.....my little man still likes to eat a lot and a tired Momma isn't always the most energetic.....I run on low fumes physically and am still trying to manage fitting life into raising three small kids.....cooking healthy dinners, shuffling the kids to their activities, planning fun adventures on days there aren't activities, exercising to get back in shape, feeding Brody every 3-4 hours, keeping up with the housework, finding a few minutes alone with Stefan, documenting their little lives so we remember this time.....I'm still not quite making it all happen around here.....

....but as mothers we do our best, even when we feel like our best isn't stellar......it's all hills and valleys.......adjustments, the uncomfortable shift of change, and then contentment that it's all working well......until the cycle begins again......all of it combined keeps our life interesting and allows us to grow......ebb and flow, baby......




......so the ordinary is essential for recovery......time to rest, preserve and save it all up for the next big thing......and with that, I'm signing off to rock my baby boy to sleep.....


.....nighty night.....

....and special thanks to Sara for the park pics....I love every new adventure with you, Sara......you always make it so much fun....