Two Cards

Over the course of the last two days, I've acquired two new cards: a Brooklyn Public Library card, and a New York Driver's License. They're both the same size, and they both fit in my wallet, but the process by which I received them couldn't be more different. Here's the breakdown:

Distance Required to Travel to Obtain:
Library Card: walk 9 blocks
Driver's License: 10 minutes walking plus 35 minutes on the subway

Identification Required in Order to Obtain:
Library Card: proof of new address
Driver's License: Indiana driver's license, social security card, birth certificate, marriage license

Cost to Obtain:
Library Card: free
Driver's License: $42.50

Amount of Time It Took to Obtain:
Library Card: 5 minutes
Driver's License: 2 hours

Number of Times I Had to Feed, While Standing in Line, a Cranky Baby:
Library Card: 0
Driver's License: 1

What I Can Do With Card Now that It's Been Obtained:
Library Card: check out books, music, and movies for free at the any of the Brooklyn Public Library branches, New York Public Library branches, and Queens Public Library branches, as well as anything I request through Interlibrary Loan
Driver's License: drive my car -- oh wait, I sold it. Never mind.

I don't know, but I think that right now I'm a bigger fan of my new library card than I am of my new driver's license.

And now, not to reduce the awesomeness of my new library card, but after we finally escaped the dregs of the DMV, we walked across the street to Target to buy baby formula (because I'm all about a 35 minute subway ride in order to save $10 a can on formula!). This Target in Brooklyn is different than any Target I've ever been to in that it has multiple floors. What do you do with a shopping cart in a store with more than one level? Why, you put it on an escalator, of course!

This is a picture, taken by my good friend, The Internet, of the Target in north Brooklyn we were at this afternoon. Are you with me in thinking that this is pretty darn cool? Ah, the perks of multi-level city life!

For Garrett, To Read When He's Older

Dear Garrett,

Today you are two months old! I know you've had a rough little life already, what with the move from Muncie, where you were born, to Brooklyn, where you'll grow up (and where you could very well pick up the accent once you learn to talk!), and the colic that is apparently tearing up your tiny insides and making you miserable. I'm not sure who your colicky nature is worse for: you or me, but I want you to know that I've done everything I can think of to help you, from buying you snazzy ventilated bottles to giving you the occasional dose of gripe water and Mylicon, as well as the hours on end that I've held you tight and close to me as we rocked and listened to lullabies. As much as I hate it, I think that sometimes all I can do is let you cry, which you do during all of your waking hours, and sometimes during your short-lived sleeping hours as well.

But let's not dwell on the awful colic that's making me count the days until you are three months old and ready to outgrow it. Today you are two months old, so let's celebrate that. Here is what we did today:

After you woke up and cried for a while, I got you dressed in an outfit you've just barely grown into. (You're getting so big!) But before I put it on, I let you spend some quality time stripped down to your diaper. You like being naked, and I think, I think, that I caught a glimpse of your very first smile as I tickled your belly. I want you to know that I'm very much looking forward to catching more of your precious smiles!

After you ate and cried a little more, we decided to go on a walk. You like going on walks, all cozy next to me the Snugli. You like being outside. While we were out, I found you a doctor at the pediatricians office just a short way up the street, and as soon as Dad's insurance begins, you'll get to go in for a belated two month appointment, at which point you will likely get your shots, and which you will likely not enjoy.

Later, and this time with the stroller which I somehow managed to carry, along with you, up and down the three narrow flights of stairs in our building, and even though it was getting increasingly hot and muggy, we went to investigate the library. While we were there, I learned that the good librarians of Brooklyn take literacy in babies very seriously, and as such have instated a Baby Storytime, which is held every first and third Monday at 10:30 am. You can be sure, Garrett, that I'll be taking you there!

And speaking of reading, this afternoon, after we both had a glorious little nap in the wake of a cooling breeze from the open window as we lay on the couch, I read Are You My Mother? to you. I'm not sure, given the blank stare on your face throughout the duration of the reading, but I think this is a book you thoroughly enjoy, and for good reason!

This morning, during one of your rare happy, non-teary moments, you enjoyed some tummy time on your Boppy pillow on the living room floor. You were so adorable that I couldn't help but snap a few photos:



Garrett, I love you! It's been a grand two months we've had together, even with all of the colicky tears you and I have both shed. I'm looking forward to many, many more happy months with you. Such good times we'll have!

Love,
Mama

Total Strangers Make Great Best Friends

I made a new friend at the grocery store yesterday. I never found out her name, nor she mine, but we have so much in common! Like, for instance, the fact that we were both trying, sometimes unsuccessfully, to navigate the teeny tiny aisles while weighed down with the infants we were carrying in our Snuglies, our diaper bags, and our grocery baskets, as well as the fact that we both live in this neighborhood. I saw her and she saw me and that was pretty much the beginning of what could potentially be a long and endearing friendship. We started chatting, as girlfriends are wont to do, and as it turns out, she's been dealing with the same colic problems with her nearly three-month-old as I've been with Garrett. Among other things, we talked about our regrets that breastfeeding didn't exactly work out, the fact that we're exhausted because our babies, sweet and adorable though they are, keep us up all night, and shared our attempts at remedying the colic. Our little powwow next to the instant oatmeal ended with her telling me where she lived and which park was closest to her and maybe we'd run into each other again sometime at that park? We sure hoped to! (Because, you know, we're pretty much best friends now!)

So whoever said New Yorkers weren't friendly people obviously didn't know what they were talking about.

Welcome to Brooklyn - How Sweet It Is!

Well, we're here, we're just about unpacked, and finally back online. I sent Blake out the door this morning to his first day on the job, got Garrett settled down for a mid-morning nap, and now it's my turn to check back into my blogworld to catch you guys up on what the heck we've been doing for the last week and a half. Feel free to get comfortable - we've been busy, so I sense a longish post in the works here, though I'll do my best to give you the Reader's Digest Condensed Version.

Let's start with last Monday, shall we? We picked up our moving truck on the 20th with the intent to begin loading around 2:00 in the afternoon. At 1:00 it started to downpour. And it pretty much didn't let up for the rest of the day. So we loaded the truck in the rain. Which was not fun, and put us considerably behind schedule. By about 11:00 that night, everything was in the truck. At midnight we hit the road. Are we crazy to leave in the middle of the night, with no sleep, to drive what would end up being 15 hours instead of 10 because we forgot to account for the fact that even the rolling Appalachian mountains can be just as difficult to climb in a moving truck as the Rocky mountains are? Yes, yes we are. But I'll tell you one thing: Western Pennsylvania on a misty morning is absolutely gorgeous and that just might make it worth the trouble.

After getting lost several times on those terribly confusing toll roads in Northern New Jersey, we arrived to our new apartment in Brooklyn at 4:30 Tuesday afternoon. Blake quickly checked in with our incredibly nice (but often difficult to understand) Polish landlords, and by the time we were ready to start unloading the truck, a few members of the ward here had shown up to help. With their help, we were able to get everything out of the truck and up three flights of narrow stairs in only an hour and half. We honestly couldn't have done it without them. The next day, while we still had the truck, we sucked up the expense of crossing toll bridges and driving on toll roads to brave New Jersey once more in order to pick up some furniture at Ikea. Back in Brooklyn we spent the next several days unpacking boxes, assembling furniture, and trying to turn this little apartment into home.

Speaking of this apartment, it's pretty charming. It's pre-war and has all the quirks and character of an old building -- things like crooked walls and beautiful, yet uneven hardwood floors. Once we're completely finished getting things unpacked, I'll give you a photo tour, so stay tuned.

We've done a fair amount of exploring in the week that we've been here. We've wandered our neighborhood and scoped out our shopping options. We've learned that groceries will cost us 2-3 times as much as we're used to paying, and we've acknowledged the fact that you can only buy what you can physically carry home. We've done laundry at the laundromat three blocks away and quickly discovered that it's going to be a challenge to get a heavy bag of laundry, a baby, and his stroller, back and forth down the street and up and down our three flights of stairs. We've walked down the four blocks it takes to get to the shore trail at the bay to admire our views of the Verrazano Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, and the Manhattan skyline. We've ridden the subway to get to north Brooklyn in order to pay the parking ticket we got our first night here (apparently it's against the law here to park a commercial vehicle, such as a moving truck, in a residential area overnight...go figure). And while we were up there, we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and check out that oh-so popular Grimaldi's pizzeria that everyone speaks so highly of (my opinion of it? It's good, but it's too touristy, and I've already eaten at better places in the few days I've been here). We've been to church and have happily found that the ward here will be great as well as the fact that we, being naturally born, white, American citizens who speak English as their first language, are a teeny, tiny minority. I've carried Garrett in the Snugli up and down the blocks and must admit to enjoying the open and unhesitant expressions from total strangers about how little and cute he is (like the one father, who I believe was Italian, who stopped us on the street and whose voice got all high pitched as he said over and over to his own toddler son, "Look at the cute baby! Isn't he so cute? Cute, cute baby!").

Guys, this place is amazing! I'm still trying to iron out the logistics of living and surviving here -- it won't be easy to cart Garrett around as well as the fruits of my shopping labors -- but once we figure that all out, I think I'm really going to enjoy it here. Our neighborhood in Brooklyn, is a lively place. You walk down the street and see people from a hundred different countries and listen to them speak their beautiful languages. It's loud, but I don't mind it. There's something kind of exotic about listening to horns from the barges in the bay blasting in the early hours on the morning, opera blaring from someone's open apartment window, the subway rumbling through the grates beneath your feet, the bells chiming from the Catholic church and school down the block, the jackhammers and buses and mothers calling to their young children. It's fun to be in a place both so American and so foreign. This neighborhood has attracted an eclectic group of people: Arabs, Eastern Europeans, Greeks, Irish, Italians, Chinese, and so many more. Oh, and guys, the Brooklyn accent? Good heavens, it is real. So very real. Also, I learned in my first five minutes in the city that I am SO GLAD we sold our car. Drivers here are nuts! All the walking may wear me out, but it's better exercise and it's much safer than driving.

Anyway, that's a start to our adventures here in Brooklyn. Thanks for all the supportive comments, emails, and phone calls you've sent my way. It's been a wild ride, and I'm sure will continue to be so, and it's nice to have friends like you to share it with. And speaking of friends, I need to go and read your blogs. I have myself a bit of catching up to do!

Things On My Mind

*We sold both our car and our washer and dryer on Monday and officially said goodbye to them today. There's just something about trading in your wheels for walking and your ability to do laundry whenever you darn well feel like it and without quarters that makes you question the decisions that motivated you to sell them in the first place. I have to keep telling myself that we did not make these decisions blindly.

*It's really hard to pack an apartment with a colicky baby.

*And speaking of colic, here are some of the soothing strategies we've tried, with and without success: Mylicon; Dr Brown's Natural Flow bottles, gripe water, car rides, the swing, infant massage, baths, tummy time, and feedings on the front porch (apparently he enjoys the humidity...or maybe it's the white noise buzz of the cicadas...whatever it is, it generally works, thank heavens).

*Colic and constipation do not a good combination make.

*But even though that lately Garrett's been screaming through his feedings and has been having trouble pooping on his own, my little boy is sure getting big. We tried to weigh him at the Post Office again last night, but the self-serve mailing station had been taken out. Sad. My guess, though, is that he's about 10 pounds now.

*Garrett's newest trick is to suck his thumb when I lay him on his stomach. It's pretty cute. And I have to admit that sometimes I encourage it. Is that wrong?

*Moving is not on my list of favorite things to do in my spare time.

*Do we really need to keep this? Or that? And what about that? Are you sure we have enough boxes?

*It makes me dizzy, and sometimes also a little nauseous, to see just how many things we have now that they are making their way to the boxes which are quickly limiting any walking space in this apartment.

*Am I ready for the fact that the way of life I've always known is about to completely change?

*Good heavens, I'm tired. I'm glad this will all soon be over. Despite my anxiousness, I think I'm ready (or almost ready, anyway) to move on -- though perhaps that fact stems from my weariness of living in a sea of boxes.

*Sometimes I just want to break down and cry. And sometimes I do.

*But I can do this. I can do hard things. I can.

*Okay, so this I think will be my official signing off as a blogger from Muncie. I'll be back in a week or so to begin Phase II of Adventures with Lindsay. All right, Brooklyn...here we come!

And thus I entered Motherhood

So, Garrett's been a bit constipated lately. Last week his doctor suggested an infant suppository we might try to, um, loosen him up a bit. Tonight, after we'd taken the prescribed measures to get him to poop, and after I thought he'd finished his business, I changed his diaper. Only I apparently decided to remove it too soon, and quickly got, shall we say, splattered in greenish, mustardy baby poop. Um...yuck. This has got to be some sort of rite of passage.

And now if you'll excuse me, I need to do a bit of laundry.

So here's what we've been up to

One thing I've loved about living in Muncie is our close proximity to so many big cities and fun places to visit. We live only 1 hour away from Indianapolis; about 3 hours away from Columbus, OH; Louisville; and Cincinnati; 4 hours away from Chicago; and 5 hours away from St. Louis and Nashville. (Granted, of the cities listed, we've only actually made it to Columbus, St. Louis, and Indianapolis -- but in theory, we've had a chance to visit all of these places, multiple times.) And it's not just the big cities that are fun to romp around in -- within an hour's drive in any direction from our little apartment, there are countless interesting (and ofttimes bizarre) places to see.

Like Mr. Robinson's Fruit Jar Museum, for example. As we do with any visitors we get in Muncie, we took Blake's family, when they were here, to see this miniature 8th world wonder. And they, like most people who see it, were a little amazed to see that canning jars came in so many different sizes and colors, not to mention the fact that they've been around for a couple hundred years. With Blake's family, we also trekked up to the tiny hamlet of Matthews, Indiana, to take them across the covered bridge there, and then to even further up the road to Upland, where we stopped at Ivanhoe's, the little restaurant famous for their menu of 100 different shakes and sundaes.

But we didn't just stay strapped close to home while the family was with us. Last Tuesday we ventured the 2.5 hours north to Shipshewana, Indiana to see the nation's third largest enclave of Amish. It was really, really hot that day (the forecast for Muncie was 109 degrees on the heat index, and I don't think it was any different up north), but we had an enjoyable time browsing in little Amish shops, wandering through their famous flea market, and driving on country roads to see their thriving farms.

On Thursday, we packed ourselves in the car and drove the 6 hours to Nauvoo, Illinois, stopping first at Carthage. In the nine years since I'd been there last, I'd forgotten how enjoyable wandering in and around the sites there can be. And this time we got to see the rebuilt temple. Oh, and what a breathtaking building it is! Thanks to the fabulous babysitting services of my sister-in-law, Brittany (no seriously, she is wonderful with Garrett, even when he decides to scream uncontrollably for her), Blake, his parents, and I got to do a session at the temple. I think that may have been my favorite part of the trip -- these last few stressful weeks have taken a toll on my inner peace and it was pleasantly rejuvenating to spend a few hours in that beautiful place. We spent all day Friday visiting the restored homes and shops, going on ox cart rides, and sweating like like we were Eskimos in the Sahara desert (I think it was just as hot in Illinois as it was in Indiana!). I got to watch that new Joseph Smith movie that the Church released a few years ago (I seriously think that I was the last person on the planet to get to see it!), and I have to say that it was pretty spectacular (by which I mean that I totally cried through the entire thing). Oh, and speaking of spectacular, at the blacksmith's shop, we were able to pick up not only adult-sized prairie diamond rings, but also a teeny, tiny infant-sized one for Garrett. It's pretty cute on his teeny, tiny fingers. Also on Friday, during one of our several trips up and down the road past the temple, we noticed that the flag was at half mast, but we weren't able to learn why until we got home. Kinda sad.

We got back home yesterday evening, and the realization of a busy week of packing up our Muncie lives in preparation for our new Brooklyn lives has hit us full in the face. Tomorrow we'll dig out our boxes and starting filling them. After catching a bit of news last week, I'm really hoping that the apartment we'll be heading to is still intact and in good shape. Apparently a tornado touched down in Brooklyn, just a dozen or so blocks north of where we'll be living. Not exactly normal weather for those parts, but, whatever I guess. I'm just banking on the fact that the flooding and downed trees will be for the most part cleaned up by the time we get there.

Anyway, so that's that. If you'd like to be privy to more pictures of our most recent adventures, feel free to click here. And if you don't see or hear much from me in the next few days, just know that I'm buried amid the packing boxes and that I will surface again soon.

To hold you over...

The last few days have been busy. We've introduced Blake's family to the Jar Museum and other local Muncie attractions, the Amish in Shipshewana, Indiana, and to the fact that our apartment really is crowded with seven people living in it. It's been a lot of fun. And the fun's just beginning -- tomorrow we're heading to Nauvoo to spend a couple of days there. Obviously there has not been much time to devote to blogging, but I promise I'll give a full report of all our goings-ons in a few days. But in the meantime, to hold you over, here is a video of Garrett being, oh, pretty darn adorable. My observant readers may notice that he's grown up a lot since the last video. Anyway, do enjoy!

Blessing Day

We blessed Garrett today at church. He was such a good boy and didn't make so much as a whimper (unlike the baby girl who was blessed before him who let out an "are we done yet?!" wail at the tail end of hers). It was beautiful, and Blake did a wonderful job giving the blessing. If the things he blessed him with hold true, our little boy has a good life ahead of him.

We were lucky to be able to have Blake's family in town to participate in the blessing with us. They drove up from San Antonio yesterday, and now we've got four extra people spending their days with us in our little one bedroom apartment. It is, shall we say, very cozy -- kind of like an extended slumber party where everyone is sleeping on top of each other and we all stay up all night. But while it's a tight fit, it's great having them here with us. The extra hands have been immensely helpful, and I have to say that, for one thing, it's also mighty nice to have another grandma in town to dole out experienced advice on how to deal with infant constipation (hoo boy...fun stuff. Cross your fingers that the prune juice helps!).

Anyway, here are a few pictures taken today after church:

Blessing Day
Lindsay, Blake, and Baby Garrett


Lindsay, Blake, Garrett, Grandpa Gary, and Grandma Joyce


Garrett with Aunt Brittany and Uncle Neil


The star of the show himself -- apparently completely wiped out by the events of the day


Uncle Neil helping Blake feed Garrett -- so tender

It's the little things

When I received the answer to my prayers over whether or not we should accept this NYC job, I felt very strongly that if I did my part and put all my trust in my Heavenly Father, He would do His part and shower us with the small miracles we knew were needed to make this major life change work. I'm happy to say, though certainly not surprised, that I've already needed to pull out my umbrella.

Take this story for instance:

Blake arrived in New York City at mid-morning on Tuesday. After eating a quick lunch at a diner, he headed over to a bench in Madison Square Park and began contacting the real estate brokers serving the areas in Queens we were told to look for affordable housing. After several unsuccessful phone calls, his waiter from the diner, an Egyptian man named Ali, recognized Blake and sat down next to him. In the conversation that followed, this friendly man asked what Blake was doing in the city, where he was looking for housing, and what his price range was. Normally not one for such small talk, Blake answered all of Ali's questions, and it turned out to be a good thing that he did. Ali told him that despite the fact that the areas Blake was planning to look for an apartment in did have some nice parts, he knew of some place much better -- a neighborhood down in Brooklyn. Apparently Ali got a bit excited telling Blake how great this place was and even gave him the contact information for a small handful of brokers in the area. Blake, trusting that this kind Ali fellow knew what he was talking about, called one of the suggested brokers, and the next thing he knew, he was being shown some excellent apartments in a beautiful part of the city, the best one of which he signed a contact for. He never even made it up to Queens.

I don't know, but I think I'd like to find this Ali and tell him thank you for the part he doesn't even know he played in one of the miracles we've been blessed with. Could Blake have found a decent place to live without the advice Ali gave him? Probably. But I don't think it would have happened as quickly, and I don't think we would have ended up in an area as nice as I'm told we'll be living in (I, obviously, have not yet seen our new home, but Blake has assured me every time he calls that it's absolutely perfect and that I will love it).

It's amazing to me how many miracles the Lord is willing to let me be a part of, so long as I take those first few steps into the darkness, having faith that the light will quickly catch up. It's not an easy thing for me, a compulsively meticulous planner who likes to know exactly how things will work from start to finish, to put all my trust in Him. But I know, because I'm seeing it happen constantly, that I will be blessed beyond measure if I do. And for that I'm incredibly grateful.

It's nice to have an address

Well, he did it. Blake's found us an apartment! In a few weeks we'll be the newest residents of Brooklyn, New York. Wow. Ever since I was a pre-teen I've thought it'd be really cool to live in Brooklyn -- I mean, hey, what devotee of the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn wouldn't, right? Anyway, he found us a, in his words, fantastic place in a good neighborhood. It's apparently a very nice (especially for the affordable rental prices) middle class, safe, family-oriented neighborhood. It's also apparently very cultured; our landlord is Polish, the broker who showed it to him was Greek, and there are more ethnically diverse restaurants within walking distance than I'll be able to eat at it in my lifetime. And speaking of walking distance, Garrett and I will be able to go on fun walking excursions to such destinations as a local park, the library, and the ocean, as well as all the necessary "errand running" spots like the grocery store, laundromat, and the post office. Also, Blake is only one subway ride and a few-blocks-walk away from where he'll be working. I've been assured that I will love it, and at this point I'm strongly tempted to heartily agree.

I'm surprised he was able to secure a place this quickly. Getting an apartment in New York is a cutthroat business! Well, maybe not "cutthroat," per say, but it is a challenge. In fact, the first place he found fell through at the last minute. In the end, though, we're not too sad about that -- it just means that, when all is said and done, we get a slightly bigger and nicer two bedroom apartment rather than the cozy one bedroom we almost got, and still within our budget. And, in the place we ended up getting, they're not only rebuffing the hardwood floors, but they're repainting the entire place -- just for us! (Well, technically, they'd do the same for any new tenant, but still -- it's more than any other apartment Blake looked was planning to do!)

And now, since his errand to the city went faster than he planned, Blake has two whole days left to play in New York. He told me that tomorrow he's going to the Met. Um, can I just say I'm a little jealous? Because I am. Oh well -- it'll be my turn soon enough, I suppose.

In the meantime, I'll just keep hanging out here at home with my favorite baby boy. I'm so happy (no, seriously -- I don't know if you can fully understand just how happy) that Garrett decided to be a good boy today. Maybe it was the fact that yesterday we were all operating on about an hour's worth of sleep, no shower, and three hours in the car driving to and from the airport at 3:00 in the morning after a certain husband realized that he'd lost his driver's license, but man, it was rough. I honestly don't know how single parents do it -- especially with a fussing, screaming newborn. But today, after my exhausted, shot nerves were given some quality quiet time and sleep, was a thousand times better. Garrett even suddenly decided today that I didn't need to be holding him in order for him to be happy and content. In fact, I caught him more than once in this adorable position:


Honestly, it's moments like that that remind me just how much I love him and really do want to keep him.