Cousins (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

Cousins (Taken with instagram)

Five things for Friday

  • El calls french fries “Fridays” and I don’t think I will ever be able to go back to calling them fries.
  • Remember when I said that we’d settled on a name (what was it, three days ago?). I take it back.
  • We thought our car was stolen. We parked it before vacation and went to move it on Wednesday only to find it gone. We checked online to see if it had been towed and there was no record of its towing and no new parking tickets on it (there should have been two). We called our local precinct who told us we had to return to the scene and call 911. Which we did today. I sort of felt like a jerk calling 911 for something that was so definitely not an emergency. In any event, the cops finally came and determined that the car was not stolen but had been relocated like a mile down the road. Which they apparently do from time to time without any record thereof.
  • Just because Sundays are for sundaes, doesn’t mean that Wednesday and Thursday (and perhaps Friday?) can’t be for sundaes too, right?
  • We may not have a name for Baby S, but we think we know what Baby S will be giving her big sister Eleanor on her arrival: A new bike. Of course, this presents a couple of issues, namely (1) do we get a pushable tricycle or a balance bike and (2) do we really have to wait until September to get this for El? B/c she wants one NOW.

Hooray season of water fountains!  View high resolution

Hooray season of water fountains! 

El has been looking forward to today ever since they turned off the water at the playgrounds last fall. All winter long she would point sadly at water fountains and say “No wawo”. And she never misses a water fountain (like she never misses an ice cream shop, or a mailman). Well at last they have turned them on. Not only the water fountains but the sprinklers for running through (though El was thrilled at the idea those, she was not so excited by the practice). And not a moment too soon, it was like 88 today. Actually, I would argue that it is about three weeks too late. I mean, it has been HOT and how hard is it to turn on a couple of water fountains? Ah well, such fun! View high resolution

El has been looking forward to today ever since they turned off the water at the playgrounds last fall. All winter long she would point sadly at water fountains and say “No wawo”. And she never misses a water fountain (like she never misses an ice cream shop, or a mailman). Well at last they have turned them on. Not only the water fountains but the sprinklers for running through (though El was thrilled at the idea those, she was not so excited by the practice). And not a moment too soon, it was like 88 today. Actually, I would argue that it is about three weeks too late. I mean, it has been HOT and how hard is it to turn on a couple of water fountains? Ah well, such fun!

[I know I post a lot of pics of El on her scooter. I can’t help it. It is  just the cutest thing going, no?] El was sick this holiday weekend. Poor Baby. On Thursday we sort of fake called El in sick with a cough to pre-school b/c we wanted to spend the day with her. So on Friday when her cough started getting worse I felt a little bit guilty that my lies had come back to bite me (and her). By Sunday her cough was even worse, her eyes were watering, her nose was a constant fountain of mucus and she had a fever of 102. She is such a little trooper though. She was in reasonably good spirits all day and even asked to go to the playground to ride her scooter. It was only at the end of the day that it finally caught up to her and she started crying at random. Thankfully, we were able to sneak some infant Advil into her milk Sunday night and again Monday morning. By the time she woke up from her 4 hour nap Monday afternoon she was fever-free. Thank goodness.  Sick baby notwithstanding, Sunday wasn’t all bad. It was the inaugural day of Sundaes on Summer Sundays in the B-G household.  I am so glad I married someone who thinks it is completely normal and a good idea for adults to declare a weekly day for sundaes (and doesn’t blame it on the pregnancy).    View high resolution

[I know I post a lot of pics of El on her scooter. I can’t help it. It is  just the cutest thing going, no?]

El was sick this holiday weekend. Poor Baby. On Thursday we sort of fake called El in sick with a cough to pre-school b/c we wanted to spend the day with her. So on Friday when her cough started getting worse I felt a little bit guilty that my lies had come back to bite me (and her). By Sunday her cough was even worse, her eyes were watering, her nose was a constant fountain of mucus and she had a fever of 102. She is such a little trooper though. She was in reasonably good spirits all day and even asked to go to the playground to ride her scooter. It was only at the end of the day that it finally caught up to her and she started crying at random. Thankfully, we were able to sneak some infant Advil into her milk Sunday night and again Monday morning. By the time she woke up from her 4 hour nap Monday afternoon she was fever-free. Thank goodness. 

Sick baby notwithstanding, Sunday wasn’t all bad. It was the inaugural day of Sundaes on Summer Sundays in the B-G household.  I am so glad I married someone who thinks it is completely normal and a good idea for adults to declare a weekly day for sundaes (and doesn’t blame it on the pregnancy).   

Tuesday Belly - 25 weeks (+4 days) So we may have settled on this little one’s name. I don’t know that I was completely sold on it, but then we told Eleanor the name, and there are few things cuter than her calling my belly by name, which she now occasionally does without prompting. Though sometimes I suppose it is in the context of “Kick [Baby S]?” Which is slightly less cute. Though still pretty cute.   View high resolution

Tuesday Belly - 25 weeks (+4 days)

So we may have settled on this little one’s name. I don’t know that I was completely sold on it, but then we told Eleanor the name, and there are few things cuter than her calling my belly by name, which she now occasionally does without prompting. Though sometimes I suppose it is in the context of “Kick [Baby S]?” Which is slightly less cute. Though still pretty cute.  

When listing all that I like about Park Slope, I don’t know how I failed to mention THE PARK.  (oh, and proximity to family and friends… obviously) View high resolution

When listing all that I like about Park Slope, I don’t know how I failed to mention THE PARK. 

(oh, and proximity to family and friends… obviously)

A few more from Burlington: Posing with a Boo Boo Bow (“Boo Boo Pooping”); My belly looking rather large; hanging by the water; chasing seagulls (“Seagulls eating”); playing in a golf cart (“Eleanor Driving”).

El likes to narrate what she and others are doing. One of her favorites is to make sort of a fake crying noise to register her displeasure and say “Baby Crying”. She also was very excited when she was swimming, which gave us “Baby Swimming”, “Baby Floating” and “Baby Kicking”. Then yesterday, as we took off in the airplane she said “Baby Flying, Baby Flying!” 

[you can click on the photos to enlarge]

Home Again, Home Again

Matt, El and I spent the last week in Burlington, Vt. It didn’t start off as a pure vacation. We were considering moving there. Yes, “were”. It had been part of the plans for a while actually. But then on Friday morning after just about 36 hours there, we both looked at each other and were like “Uh, we aren’t really moving here are we?”. So we immediately texted our landlords to ask them to take our apartment off the market and refocused our job search for the city.

It’s not that we didn’t like Burlington. We had a great time. Eleanor was a terrific traveler. The weather was perfect. And look at it. It’s beautiful.

It’s just that, we don’t want to move to the “suburbs”. Any suburb. I think I had this idealized vision of life outside of the city (Oh the space!) but when facing the logistical reality, I wasn’t up for it. This might seem frivolous, but I really don’t think I could handle having to drive everywhere. There is the traffic (which, yes, NYC has traffic, but we rarely drive in it) but, even worse, the constantly having to put a baby in a car seat. Any time you want to go anywhere. I mean, the thought of having to put TWO babies in a car seat to go to the grocery store makes my head spin.  

But more importantly, we really like Park Slope. I like how you are never more than a five minute walk from a playground. I like that I can get just about everything I need within a one block radius of our house. I like how our neighborhood has some of the best public elementary schools in the city. I like how there are five different (non-starbucks) coffee places we frequent with rich, delicious coffee. I like how El is already a savvy city kid who, at 20 months old, announced that the “Hand means stop” (in reference to crosswalk signs). I like (scratch that) LOVE the ricotta crepes for brunch at Rosewater. And I like how there are always other kiddos around for El to play with. It is just a really nice place to live. And a really great place to have a kid (or two). 

So yes, we will be in NYC for the foreseeable future. Now we just need to figure out how to fit a second baby into this apartment.

chickens! (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

chickens! (Taken with instagram)

Bye bye Burlington. See you soon Burlington. But not too soon. (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

Bye bye Burlington. See you soon Burlington. But not too soon. (Taken with instagram)

A few of Eleanor (I’ll have more when we get home). This is the face that she now makes when you ask her to smile for the camera. And I LOVE IT.

Monday Belly: 24 weeks (+3 days) Woman in Barnes & Noble Parking lot: Oh I just love her hairAddie: Oh Ha, well that is i just a product of not combing itWIB&NPL: Well, it looks like she gets it from her mother Yes, woman in the Barnes & Noble Parking Lot. Thanks.  [Burlington, VT] View high resolution

Monday Belly: 24 weeks (+3 days)

Woman in Barnes & Noble Parking lot: Oh I just love her hair
Addie: Oh Ha, well that is i just a product of not combing it
WIB&NPL: Well, it looks like she gets it from her mother

Yes, woman in the Barnes & Noble Parking Lot. Thanks. 

[Burlington, VT]

And now it’s time to explore Burlington. (Taken with instagram) View high resolution

And now it’s time to explore Burlington. (Taken with instagram)

So long work bathroom. View high resolution

So long work bathroom.