five alive

Dear Garrett,

You are a busy boy these days - busy exploring your world, which seems to grow bigger just as fast as you're growing bigger, busy being fascinated with all the new about you. And no wonder! You've only been around to scout it out for five fast-paced months. In my last letter to you, I told you of the things I love about you. Today I'd like to write about the things you love about your ever-expanding universe.

While you could do without the necessary bundling up in preparation for chilly weather, you love to go out with me on walks. As you sit, strapped in the Snugli, we go all sorts of places: the grocery store, the laundromat, the pharmacy, to and from the city on the subway. Yesterday we ventured to a park where you tried out the swings for the first time. Though all photographic proof of this adventure would lead anyone to believe that you could have done very well without them, thank you very much, I know better: the few smiles which broke through your frozen face told me you enjoyed it... though you'd prefer to come back in the spring when it's warmer.

You love to help me in the kitchen. And you are such a good helper, too! I'm not sure how I would bake cookies if you didn't smell the vanilla and the cinnamon for me, or taste a few crumbs of brown sugar. You love to try new foods - pears, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans. You love to open your mouth wide in anticipation, you love to chomp on the spoon when it enters your mouth, and even though the first bite always results in a squirmy look of disgust, you love those subsequent spoonfuls.

You love to be tickled - you love to laugh. You love to be twirled around and flown through the apartment like an airplane. You love to stand up like a big boy. You love to hang upside down like a monkey. You love to snuggle up against my shoulder when you're tired. (I love that, too.) You love to talk and squeal and tell me about all the things you love.

You love to play with your toys. You like the way they rattle and are easy to finger and grab. You giggle at the toys that squeak - which always makes me giggle, too. Some of your favorite toys doesn't squeak or rattle at all: your fingers and your knees and sometimes your toes provide you with endless fascination - and something always available to suck on. You love to play peek-a-boo. You love it when I get down on the floor and play with you. You like to show me your latest discoveries. You love to put it all in your mouth.

You still love your baths. You love to kick and splash. And even though you would rather stay in the water 'til you've pruned all over, you love the feel of the powder I rub over your body when you get out. You love it when my hair brushes across your face. You love to have your tummy rubbed.

You love to spend your days with me. And I love to spend my days with you. We have fun, don't we?

I love you, my sweet boy!

Love,
Mama

unique new york: musicians

New York City is an admittedly very noise place: horns honking, people shouting, sirens blaring, trains rumbling. But if you listen carefully, the noise is actually more musical than obnoxious, especially down in the subway.

Of all the struggling musicians who fill the streets of this city, my favorite are the ones who perform underground. It is not unlikely, especially in the busier stations, to be privy to the strains of the musically inclined -- and sometimes to the not-so-musically inclined.

Here are some examples of music I've heard as I've wended my way through the underground tunnels of this town:

• Small 20-something bands performing Middle-Eastern electronica;
• Lonely Jewish men oomp-pa-pa-ing melancholy Eastern European chords on their miniature electronic keyboards;
• Daring female soloists belting out familiar Madonna, Celine Dion, and Mariah Carey songs in the echoey passageways;
• Old Italian men who turn the platforms into the iconic streets of Italy with their accordions;
• Guitarists strumming the familiar chords of James Taylor as they walk, singing alluringly as they go, through the subway cars;
• Indian men snake-charming us all with their primitive wind instruments and drums;
  
• String quartets of what I presume to be Juilliard students bowing the sweet sounds of Brahms;
  
• Introspective artist-types picking at their mandolins as they sit cross-legged on a ragged blanket in a corner near the exit.

Every time I walk down into a station filled with the ofttimes competing sounds of these performers, I am overwhelmed with a thrilling rush of excitement. What a beautiful world this is! I think to myself, even despite my dark, dank, dirty subway surroundings. I hear the music and the surreal feelings of the fact that I live here, I really live here, hit me like a brick wall. It's enough to take my breath away. And even though I'm fully aware that these performers are often nothing more than talented beggars, I can't help but look forward to the concerts they've been waiting for Christmas to give.

It's amazing, isn't it, how something so simple can brighten a day -- even in the crowded, rushed, and dimly lit underground tunnels of the New York City subway system.

pears

Today I was going to begin my as-yet-to-be-determined-part series on Unique New York (say that five times fast...go ahead...say it), but Garrett's been feverish and cranky. Yesterday's office visit giggles have sadly become a pleasant, but now distant, memory. I suppose, though, that it couldn't last forever. So Unique New York will begin another time...maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, I thought I'd leave you with some video footage of a happier baby which was shot Sunday evening. The first two are of Garrett eating -- nay, devouring -- his favorite food: pears. The third video is of Blake and Garrett playing the Blanket Game, one of Garrett's favorite ways to quell an otherwise fussy evening. Enjoy!

Garrett Devours His Pears: Part I
Note the fish-hook-like quality with which he chomps on the spoon. Also, the crossed eyes add a nice touch.



Garrett Devours His Pears: Part II
Yes, you saw that right: he did indeed lick the bowl.



Garrett and the Blanket
Peek-a-boo intensified.

well, well, well

While Garrett's snoozing off the pain and crankiness of Shots: Round 2, I think I'll take advantage of these few free-handed moments to fill you (and by "you," I mean "the grandmothers and other adoring members of the Garrett Fan Club") in on how his wellness checkup went today.

Despite the fact that we sat in the waiting room for nearly an hour (Monday morning + post-Thanksgiving holiday + cold and flu season = long, long wait), Garrett was surprisingly pleasant as the doctor checked him over. In fact, he was quickly pronounced the Happiest Baby They'd Seen All Day. (That's my good boy!) And no wonder -- he broke down in several fits of giggles as he was poked and prodded and measured. It was hilarious.

But speaking of measuring, my not-so-tiny-anymore little baby boy is no wimp. At four days shy of 5 months old, he's

weighing in at: 16 lbs 13 oz
and has grown to a lengthy: 26 1/4"
and his head (which, the doctor assured me, is not alarmingly flat like I feared) is now: 41 3/4 cm in circumference.

He's growing so fast! One of my projects for the week is to pull out all of his outgrown 3-6 month sized clothes (which, seriously, fit him fine a week ago, but now...um, not so much) and replace them with a sprinkling of 6-9 month sized items. Where did my sweet tiny baby go? (Yes, so he's sleeping sweetly in his crib, but 4 1/2 months ago he was a good 10 pounds lighter!) And the solid food regimen the doctor has prescribed for him certainly won't make this boy get any smaller. Where before we dabbled once a day with rice cereal and strained vegetables and fruits, he now gets to eat cereal twice a day, morning and night. And in a few weeks we'll add a midday veggie meal. And in a few weeks after that we'll add fruit to his breakfast and dinner. I decided it would be wise to stop at the store and pick up a wipe-able bib on our walk home.

And how did the shots go, you ask? He actually sailed through them quite well. Which, mind you, does not mean he didn't scream. He did. Oh, he did. But he recovered much quicker than I thought he would, and by the time, a few minutes later, I was getting him dressed again, he was back to his smiles and giggles.

As you might expect, Garrett at nearly 5 months has quite a few tricks up his sleeves. Here's a quick run-down of some of what he's been busy doing:

• drooling
• blowing spit bubbles
• babbling (to himself and anyone who will listen)
• gnawing
• playing with his knees
• drooling
• rolling from his tummy to his back (though not, yet, on purpose)
• squirming enough to scoot himself sideways in his crib
• sucking on fingers (his as well as ours)
• laughing
• drooling
• smiling
• biting hard into anything that nears his face (seriously - his mouth is a magnet!)
• holding his head up
• getting easily distracted by everything around him - especially while he eats
• grabbing
• and lots and lots of drooling

And despite the fact that by midday his shirt fronts are completely drool-soaked and dripping, I think we'll still keep him.

thanksgiving pilgrimage

Those pilgrims sure were onto something 377-some-odd years ago when they decided to hold their first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts. At least we think Thanksgiving in Massachusetts is pretty darn nice.

Like millions of other New Yorkers, we high-tailed it out of the city in favor of a holiday in the country. We took a train north to Western Massachusetts to spend a few days with my Uncle Joel and Aunt Colleen in the Berskshires and had a fabulous time. I'm a little short on time to write right now, but I suppose that's okay since we didn't do much more than do a lot of eating and a lot of relaxing... an ideal getaway, really. But here are a few highlights of the trip:

people in attendance: Aside from Blake, Garrett, and myself, we also spent the holiday with Courtney, a friend of Joel and Colleen's from their Minnesota days. She is also a fairly recent transplant to NYC, and is a really fun girl. Garrett loved her. Seriously. He spent all of his spare time flirting with her. I wish I'd gotten a picture because it was most adorable.

food consumed: Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes (both russet and sweet), whole cranberry sauce (soooo good -- and this from a girl who doesn't usually care for cranberries), orange rolls (um, I don't think it's possible to even begin to describe how delicious these were), pie (lemon meringue and pumpkin), more pie, corn, sauteed mushrooms, pineapple and oranges, and celery and olives. There was probably more, but at the moment I can't be sure. But you get the idea...we ate well. Garrett was a little upset he couldn't participate in the feasting, so he cried through most of the dinner. Guess it didn't phase him that I purposefully fed him sweet potatoes (which he loved) in honor of the holiday. (He did, however, thankfully sleep through most of the dinner preparations, which was an enormous help.)

games played: Dominoes and Settlers of Cataan.

games won by Aunt Colleen: Dominoes and Settlers of Cataan.

books read: I finally started plowing through The Epic of New York City, which I've had checked out from the library lo these many weeks but always got put on the backburner. Fascinating read, though. Did you know that the site of Manhattan's Broadway was once an Algonquin-Iroquois warpath?

outings: The Berkshire Museum's Festival of Trees exhibit. The Pittsfield Ward (with Aunt Colleen being one of the star players) decorated a tree, so we went to go see it. Also made a trip to JoAnn Fabrics (because buying fabric here in the City Where You Can Find Anything has proved a little too challenging for my energy supply), and now I'm equipped with the goods to make sashes to tie back our curtains. And on Thanksgiving night, Colleen, Courtney and I took advantage of the crisp but beautiful November New England weather and took a nice walk through the neighborhood.

pictures taken: We didn't take too many pictures, mostly because we were too busy relaxing. But here are few that were snapped:

Waiting for our train in a busy Grand Central Station

Garrett playing with his toys while the rest of us prepared the feast

Aunt Colleen with the Pittsfield Ward tree at the Festival of Trees

Garrett enjoying some dad time

thank you card

Dear Claire,
Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful Thankgsiving, and I hope all goes well for you on your big tests! My fingers are crossed for you!

Dear Erin,
Thanks for chiming in! I have to be honest...your blog was one of the first I ever discovered (I think I found you through the 100 Hour Board) -- and I've been hooked since the beginning. I love that you've made a living of being a writer, something I aim to do at some point. But anyway, thanks for letting ME read YOU!

Dear Jenny,
Okay -- your blog is hilarious. The stories you can tell of your kids are fabulous.

Dear FoxyJ,
I'm not sure how I found you either. Probably by clicking around -- multiple blogs I discovered early on linked to you, and after reading your for a while, I understand why. You are honest and heartfelt and I love reading what you have to say. You're welcome to come visit in New York anytime!

Dear Ashley,
Thanks for picking my recipe! Hooray! Good luck with your Thanksgiving dinner!

Dear Heath,
I love it that you comment a lot, though honestly, I don't know how you have time to read, what with you being busy charming the crowds with your violin. I'm still anxious to hear my own private version of your recital in the spring!

Dear JoEllen,
We'll definitely let you guys know the next time we're in San Antonio, and the next time you come to New York, let us know! I'd love to see how big Little Sal is getting!

Dear Amyjane,
No, thank YOU! I'm sure Patrick was just as adorable, if not more so, in his bunting coat last year. And congrats again on Baby #2!! I'm so excited for you!

Dear Lizardbreath McGee,
You are a beautiful writer. I love reading your posts -- they're so down to earth and honest and you're so talented at expressing exactly what you're trying to say. I'm a little envious of you and your quest to become a librarian. I guess I'll have to live a little vicariously through you. :) Also, I hear the Chinatown bus could take me up to Boston. Maybe next summer...?

Dear Grandma,
Thanks for believing in me. I don't even remember that story I wrote. Maybe you'll have to dig it out and let me read it again sometime. :)

Dear Kristen,
Thank you for your kind words. Thank you, too, for letting me be a part of your fascinating conversations. You pick topics to write about that are always fun to respond to.

Dear Desmama,
Thank you, too, for your kind words. I'm very much looking forward to the day we get to meet up. Hopefully it is sooner rather than later.

Dear Heather,
I'm happy you found me! Any cousin of Katie's is bound to be fabulous. In fact, my cousin, Sam, married one of her cousins. Do you come from the same side of the family as Leisa?

Dear Kristeee,
It was wonderful getting to meet you! Blake laughs at me, too, when I talk about my blog friends. But the thing is, sometimes I have more contact with all of you than I do with my friends locally, so it really only makes sense, right? :) I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well. Your little girl is lucky to be arriving to such sweet parents.

Dear MommyJ,
I'm so happy that you found me! I, too, love reading about your small town adventures. Also, your kids are adorable. If your family ever does end up relocating this way, we'll have to meet up!

Dear Emily Roundy,
Thank you for the compliments. I honestly don't know what to say. I know we've never really properly met, but you sure married into a fantastic family. Enjoy your time in the Midwest! We loved our time in that part of the country.

Dear Dad (and Mom, and all the rest of youse guys),
Thanks for checking in. This blog was started in part because of you -- what an easy way to stay in touch...and let you in on all the bazillion pictures we take of your grandson. Love you!...and I CAN'T WAIT until Christmas!!

Dear Amy Fitz,
What can I say -- you are fabulous. I'm lucky to have gotten to know you and Ry way back in the Southridge days. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Dear Everyone Else (friends who comment by email and lurkers alike),
Thanks for reading! (And please know that you're more than welcome to speak up whenever you like.)

Happy Thanksgiving! May your feasting be family-filled and fabulous!

Love,
Lindsay

cornucopia

The aromatic scent of Thanksgiving is in the air, and as I breathe it in, it fills my heart. I have much to be grateful for this year -- more than I could ever dream of listing here. One thing, though, that at this moment I am particularly thankful for are all of you, and here is why.

friendship. Some of my readers I've known for years. We've gone to school together (harking, even, all the way back to kindergarten). We've been roommates. We've worked together. We've been in the same ward. We've just happened to cross paths somewhere along the way long enough to call each other great friends. Some of my readers I've never met, and despite that fact, I still number you in my circle of friends. In fact, I frequently find myself hoping that someday, somewhere, we, too, cross paths because a meeting in person would be an ideal way to make complete all the wonderful blog conversations we've had.

motivation. There's something about having an audience that makes writing and sharing more worth doing. You are the reason I keep writing.

conversation. One of the most exciting things about being part of this blog community are the conversations I get to be a part of. I write something - you comment. You write something - I comment. We talk. And I love it.

sharing. I love being welcomed into the lives and adventures you write about, and I sincerely hope that you feel welcomed into the lives and adventures I write about.

So thank you, thank you, thank you. All of you. From the bottom of my gratitude-filled heart.

And now if you would be so kind as to allow me the honor of thanking you all individually by please leaving a comment on this post. (I have an idea of who to thank, but I would hate to leave anyone out.)

Thank you, again, and have a very happy Thanksgiving!!

walk with me

Walk with me, guys. My sore, worn out feet and joints want to tell you about just how much walking I did yesterday:

• approximately 18 blocks in Brooklyn
• approximately 2 hours worth of walking as we did a bit of gallery gazing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• approximately 21 blocks through Central Park
• approximately 28 blocks down ritzy 5th Avenue

So yeah, we walked a lot. A LOT. And even though by the time we were on the subway ride home I was ready to donate my useless feet to the first homeless person I saw, it was well-worth the exhaustion. Here are the highlights of our weekend pedestrian adventures.

Dunkin' Donuts - Who can turn down a half dozen free donuts for breakfast? Definitely worth the walk in my book.

The Met - This was my first time to the Met. And wow. WOW. That place is huge! Favorite thing to see was probably this exhibit on Rembrandt and his Dutch artist contemporaries. The Vermeer's on display -- so beautifully amazing. Also, it honestly was more than just a little cool to see pieces by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Ellsworth Kelly, and Auguste Rodin (to name a few) that I'd studied in my art and humanities classes, not to mention the Egyptian mummies and Greek and Roman statues. I will definitely be coming back soon.

Central Park - Now that it's the middle of November, the leaves here have finally started to change. The park in some places looks like it's on fire. As we hiked through, we walked past the Zoo and were able to catch a glimpse of several seals doing tricks for the crowd, which was pretty fun.



5th Avenue - We exited the park at 59th Street and as we did so were immediately engulfed in 5th Avenue and all its pricey, ritzy, designer-name-brand glory. I poked my head in Tiffany's, mostly just because I could, and found the most beautiful diamond necklace in all of creation. I'm not sure how much it was selling for -- and that's probably a very good thing. I think we're going to have to come back to 5th Avenue sometime before Christmas because a lot of the stores, including Tiffany's, were advertising the unveiling of their Christmas window displays. If the windows at Lord and Taylor are any indication of what the rest of the street will look like after Thanksgiving, it will be one heck of a swell show. (A thousand times better than the ZCMI Center Christmas windows in Salt Lake City -- and those ones, especially during the years the scenes were made entirely out of candy, were pretty fantastic.)

NYC Public Library - The outside of this building has made us awfully curious as to what the inside looks like, so we poked our heads in for just a few minutes. Currently there is a Jack Kerouac exhibit on display, which we caught a glimpse of. It was pretty cool. They had the original On the Road scroll on display in all it's one-huge-paragraph glory.

Holiday Shopping - And now we can check "find fabulous gifts for the families" off our list. Be excited, everyone.

Toting Garrett Around in the Snugli - Not only did I walk all day long, but I did so with Garrett strapped to my front. Because it's finally cold enough, we put him in his teddy bear bunting coat, in which he looks absolutely adorable. I got the most hilarious comments from the people we passed -- everything from big grins as they glanced at him to women grabbing me by the arm to tell me that they were convinced I was was carrying around a stuffed teddy bear (to which I thought to reply something along the lines of, no, I'm a grown woman, and this stuffed bear is breathing anyway).



So good day? Definitely. Am I exhausted, stiff, and sore today? You bet I am. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

i (heart) ny

Since we will be living here indefinitely, it might be a good idea if I stop and think about all the reasons why New York City is one heck of a swell place to kick off my shoes and call home. So here, in absolutely no order whatsoever, is a sampling of what I like about life here.

• You couldn't ask for better public transportation. I mean, really. Yes, it's sad sometimes to not have a car to escape in, but in all honesty, if I had one, I wouldn't drive it much. The subway, bus, and train systems can get me just about anywhere I want or need to go.
  
• I love how close everything is. Need baking soda to finish making those cookies? The grocery store is a three minute walk away. Ran out of toothpaste? The drugstore is across the street.
• All the walking makes for great exercise. Without trying too hard, I actually feel like I'm in shape.
• The Brooklyn accent. Yes, it's definitely a trip to hear people really and truly, without mimicking the movies, say things like, "I'll cuwall ya late-uh."
  
• The overly animated hand gestures people (especially those of Italian decent) use when talking to a friend on the sidewalk. Seriously -- if you're not careful to keep your distance, you could get whacked.
• Generally speaking, people here are very nice. Maybe they're just naturally polite, or maybe it's because I'm usually toting around the most adorable baby in all of creation, but I've never had so many offers for help in lifting the stroller up and down subway stairs, or people willing to give up their seat for me on a crowded subway. Also, I've never had so many total strangers strike up wonderful conversations with me as if we'd been friends for years.
• You can find just about anything here. You more often than not have to dig (this is a city gloriously bereft of Walmarts), but if you're willing to search, you can find really neat things.
• While, yes, there are a lot of fun things to do that cost an arm and a leg, there are also loads of inexpensive or free (and very often family-friendly) things to do, too. Museums galore, historical sites, weekend activities in the park -- it's great.
• The people who built this city paid wonderful attention to detail. Every building -- even the slummy, run-down ones -- are splashed with architectural intricacies that make them unique and beautiful.
• Speaking of, the Manhattan skyline is beautifully surreal. On a sunny day highlighting a backdrop of clear blue sky; on a foggy day with skyscraping buildings peeking over the clouds; at night all lit up. I am convinced that if you searched the world over, you wouldn't find a city that truly compared.
• There will always be someplace new to explore.
• The cultural diversity here is incredibly enlightening. And it's fascinating to walk only a few blocks and hear at least seven different languages being spoken.

I could go on, but I think this gives you a good idea of how fascinating and fun it is to live here. It's a completely different way of life than I've ever lived before, and it was a pain to have to essentially re-learn everything (like grocery shopping, laundry, getting around, etc) I thought I already knew how to do. But I've jumped over that hurdle for the most part and now I really feel like I can enjoy life as a Brooklynite.

But let's be honest with ourselves: Living in the city is not always peaches and cream.

• Some days you seem to completely bypass the nice people and instead run into jerks who shove you around on the sidewalk and have the gall to tell you you're not raising your baby right.
• It's dirty. Every time I venture into Manhattan, I come home feeling like I need an extra shower.
• Garbage day stinks to high heaven.
• Sometimes you just don't have the energy for crowded subways and long waits for transfers. And it's no fun getting stuck in the rain.
  
• It's noisy. Car horns blaring, jackhammers rattling, drunk teenagers, whose vocabulary consists of 547 different variations of the F word, engaging in shouting matches is enough to give anyone an occasional headache.

I'm going to stop this list here because if I think about it too hard, living in New York City turns sour and unappealing, when in fact it's really not as bad as you might think. And it's like I've told people before: if I, with my Western, suburban, shy and unassertive personality, can live here and enjoy it, ANYONE can.

seven

I feel like I talk about myself a lot here -- which, I suppose, since this is my blog, is okay. But still. It seems like that would get annoying. But, according to some people, I'm interesting. And so for her sake (and for the rest of you who are obviously intrigued enough by what I have to say to keep coming back), here are seven more random things about me.

1. I'm a big fan of NBC news. My favorite anchors are Ann Curry of the Today Show (because she's intelligent and professional, and I don't know about you, but anyone who makes it to the South Pole and lives to tell about it is just plain awesome) and Brian Williams (the, in my opinion, most approachable and friendly anchor) of NBC Nightly News. Watching in the news in New York City is different than any other place I've lived mostly because of the fascinatingly fine line here between local and national news. Items of local news oftentimes have national repercussions. For example, the writer's strike that could soon shut down tv and is making national headlines? Yeah, I could take a quick subway ride and join the picket lines if I truly felt like it.

2. I am most effective in the mornings, so it's during that time that I like to tackle my daily list of things to do. This way, by late afternoon, I can give myself a break, put my feet up, and do something for myself before the evening rush of dinner, dishes, bath time, bedtime, etc. Unfortunately, because I am most effective in the mornings, by late afternoon I'm too worn out to tackle my little personal projects (like, for example, Garrett's baby book, the stack of library books I want to read, working on my attempts to get myself published, etc), and so they keep getting pushed aside.

3. Grammar fascinates me. I love constructing sentences and looking for the perfect word or the perfect way to express something. I don't always find the "perfect," but I certainly have fun trying.

4. I'm addicted to checking my blog's sitemeter. I love to see who's reading me and I love it even more when they speak up and make a comment. It also leaves me very curious as to who exactly some of you are and why you all read me in the first place.

5. I have a knack for remembering dates, and not just your typical birthdays and anniversaries. For example, I can tell you without referring to my journal that exactly one year and one week ago (11/7/06), I learned that I was pregnant, and that in exactly one week it will have been one whole year (11/21/06) since the traumatic day I was told by an ER doctor that I was miscarrying, and that it was four weeks almost to the day (12/18/06) after that that I learned my baby was actually still there, alive and wiggling.

6. I am NOT a scrapbooker. I'm fine with traditional photo albums; I'm fine with simple, classy, straight-forward, traditional-looking scrapbooks (like the kind people were putting together a hundred years ago); and I'm fine with people who do like scrapbooking. But you won't ever catch me using a heart-shaped stencil to cut out a picture of my baby's head which I will then proceed to smother with cutsie stickers. I'm sorry, but I just can't do it.

7. I really like being able to say that I live in Brooklyn. I mean, think about it: It sounds cool. And not only that, but it IS cool.

Okay, whew. That took longer than I anticipated it taking. But there you go: more me for the masses. I guess now I'm supposed to tag seven other people to write up seven random things about themselves on their blogs, but you know what? Here's an 8th thing about me: I don't like imposing. At all. So, like I've done in the past, if you want to be tagged to write seven random things about yourself, feel free. But I'm not going to make you.

oh boy

Sometimes it's blatantly obvious to me that I am raising a fun-loving little boy, and not a sweet little girl. Here are a few of the reasons Garrett makes me think so:

• He burps -- nay, he BELCHES (a heartier term and therefore much more appropriate). And he does so without help and whenever he pleases. Also, judging by the big grins he gives me after he lets one go, he's pretty pleased with this ability of his.
• Speaking of big grins, he also likes to dish those out when he's working on filling a particularly juicy-sounding diaper.
• If I'd let him, he'd spend his days completely naked. Clothes -- especially those with sleeves -- are, in his way of thinking, nothing more than an inconvenience. Besides, how can Mama blow on his belly with stuff in the way?
  
• Rough housing is the only way to play. Being tickled while upside down, flying around the apartment like an airplane, and hefty bouncing on the bed are what make him laugh and beg for more. Baby toys and rattles? Yeah, those are for wimps.
• [UPDATE] He loves to eat. Loves it. He cranes his neck in an attempt to reach his bottle that much faster. He giggles with delight when I pull out some new fruit or vegetable for him to try, and even though he'll usually pull faces at the taste, he'll quickly open his mouth wide for more. Also, when I asked him earlier if he wanted to help me make some cookies, he literally screamed with delight. (Which can be taken two ways: 1) cookies, though he's never tasted them, are right up his alley, and/or 2) he's lazy because he knows that he'll be "helping" me from his bouncer chair on the floor.)
  

He's such a boy.

And even though I know that before too long he'll be climbing on the furniture and conducting science experiments on the carpet, I wouldn't have it any other way.

By the way, if you want to see something funny, come watch Garrett try to grab and play with his fingers while he's wearing mittens. It's pretty hilarious.

consuming stake conference and the fabulous dessert which followed

The Brooklyn, New York Stake (which, so far as I'm aware includes all of Brooklyn and some of Staten Island) had their semi-annual conference this weekend. So on Saturday night for the adult session, and Sunday morning for the general session, we bundled up and trekked through the subway system heading north to Park Slope to the stake center. After attending stake conferences twice a year for pretty much my entire life, I thought I was an old pro, but Brooklyn yet again made things new and interesting for me.

Attending conference here confirmed to me once more just how culturally diverse Brooklyn is. At the adult session just about everyone, unless they were bilingual in English and Spanish, had to use headphones because, while most of the session was in English, there was at least one talk in Spanish. It was quite the experience listening to it. Through my headset I could hear an English translation of the Spanish talk I was simultaneously listening to being given at the pulpit. And then, over my shoulder, I could here the same talk being translated into Chinese. The general session on Sunday was all in English, but not all of the speakers natively knew English. The speaker who represented our ward is from the Ukraine. His story of traveling half-way across the world AND learning English in order to attend the temple for the first time with his family was well worth the sometimes hard to decipher accent. Also, the choir sang each of their musical numbers in three languages: Chinese, Spanish, and English. It definitely takes more effort here to make sure that everyone can understand the messages being shared, but I have never been in a stake that has felt so overwhelmingly unified.

Speaking of unified, I have to say that there's nothing quite like watching the members here gather. It's both incredibly spiritual and fantastically spy-movie-like watching them converge from out of the subway in droves.

A few other thoughts I had from the conference:

• Our stake presidency is very young. That makes Blake and I both a little nervous and very grateful for our callings as nursery leaders.
• The president of the New York New York South mission spoke, which was probably appropriate, seeing as I've never seen so many field missionaries at one time and in one place. I mean, I know Brooklyn is home to millions of people, but wow; I hadn't ever considered those millions translating to a need for so many missionaries.
• One of the counselors in the new Manhattan temple presidency spoke and now I'm really itching to arrange for a babysitter and just go do a session already.
• The stake president saw to it that the adult session was interactive. He led a fascinating discussion on the doctrine outlined in the For Strength of Youth pamphlet by using the primary song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (and yes, he made us all stand up and sing it, too).
• I think I will forever be in awe of the amazingly firm testimonies of the people here.

The conference was, I think, wrapped up quite nicely by something I'm going to chalk up to a faith promoting subway experience on the ride home. In the middle of our transfer from the F train to the R, we were stopped by a gentleman needing directions. We helped him to the best of our ability (our little group of Blake and I, along with another young couple, were trying to make sure we were going in the right direction as well), and in doing so missed our train by a fraction of a second. I told Blake that I completely expected another train to arrive shortly since the only reason we missed this one was because we were being kind and serviceable. Before he could completely finish teasing me for thinking this, sure enough, there arrived another train, which just goes to show that Heavenly Father does watch out for those who help His children.

But wait! There's more!

Last night I got to leave Blake at home with Garrett while I went up to Woodside, Queens to listen to Sister Julie B. Beck speak at a fireside. What a fantastic experience -- and not just because I was literally sitting front and center. It was definitely an hour well-spent listening to her share stories from her own experiences about how incredible it is that each and every one of us was chosen before we were born to come to earth to be a part of a family, and how powerful we all can be if we see to it that the spirit resides in our own lives and in our homes with our families. She also convinced me that I can successfully teach Garrett to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover by himself before he is baptized. [UPDATE: If you're curious about this reading the Book of Mormon thing, I've elaborated in the comments section of this post.]

A few other thoughts from the evening:

• I was given a ride to the fireside by my friend, Martha. I highly recommend that all of you at some point in your lives drive north from Brooklyn on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway at night. The view of an all-lit-up Manhattan behind the Brooklyn Bridge is totally worth it.
• The Woodside Stake Center was converted from an old watchmakers factory, and the cultural hall, where we all convened, was at one time an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Martha, who grew up in Queens and knows this building well, gave me the behind-the-scenes tour. It's a maze of a building, but I think that it's quite likely that in no other stake center will you get to walk along an incline in the basement and be told that you're walking from the deep end to the shallow end of what used to be that pool.
• I am convinced that the girl who sang the opening musical number is a Broadway actress because not only did her porcelain doll-like figure dressed in a snazzy yet not too over the top New York ensemble look the part, but she sang the part as well.
  
• This was, I think, the first time I left Blake alone with Garrett for an extended amount of time (if you can call 4 hours truly extended). He did a fabulous job, I must say.

It was a delicious weekend, my friends, and I think it's safe to say that I am now feeling quite stuffed.

halloween's over, so let's talk about christmas

We may be only nine short days into November, but Christmas is already in the air, my friends. Here in Brooklyn, the city put up their holiday street decorations while the kiddies were out trick-or-treating, and in Midtown Manhattan, the 75th Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is waiting on the plaza to be decorated. I found out today that the lighting ceremony for the tree will be on the evening of November 28th and maybe I'm totally crazy for desiring this, but I totally want to go. Sure, there will be about a bazillion other people willing to freeze their tails off to watch them plug in Christmas tree lights, but the way I see things is 1) if we're going to do it at all, it might as well be while Garrett is still small enough to tote around in the Snugli, 2) not everyone gets to live in New York City -- and at Christmastime to boot, so 3) why not?

Also, I found out today that our next-door neighborhood, Dyker Heights, puts on the most amazing Christmas lights display. The residents get way into it apparently, and go all out. We're talking the equivalent of, or perhaps even better than, the Christmas lights at Temple Square -- or so my fellow ward members claim. I'm excited. There's nothing like touring a neighborhood of well-done Christmas lights to get you in a cheery holiday mood.

I'll be in Utah from mid-December until just after Christmas, so I want to cram as much of a New York City Christmas in as I can before I skip town. Any of you New York lovers out there know of any other Christmas events we should be considering participation in? I'm open to any ideas, but especially those that are free or dirt cheap. And before anyone brings up New Years at Times Square, be aware that I'm not sure if I have the stamina for that one. Rockefeller Tree Lighting Ceremony, perhaps, but New Year's at Times Square...most likely not.

because green is the new black

If any of you have spent any time at all this week watching anything on NBC, you've probably noticed the "Green is Universal" campaign they've been promoting. Aside from friendly commercial reminders to be kind to the environment, every show that has aired on the network this week has had green undertones. The reporters on the Today Show went to the ends of the earth to discuss the effects of global warming at the Arctic Circle, the equator, and Antarctica. 30 Rock let David Schwimmer (aka Greenzo) and Al Gore help them with the green campaign -- which was actually pretty funny. Michael Scott spent his half hour on The Office trying to survive in the wilderness while Jim Halpert tried to cut down on excessive birthday party waste. The local NBC news aired segments on reducing, reusing, and recycling in the city. So basically, NBC has worked really hard to drill into my brain the importance of being green, and now I can't help but sit and think about what I do to help the earth.

So here is a list of things I do -- usually without even trying because let's face it, I'm not a rabid tree-hugger -- that apparently make me green.

• I recycle glass, paper and plastic products -- mostly because it's required to do so here in NYC.
• I drink water from a reusable water bottle instead of buying cases and cases of Dasani or whathaveyou -- mostly because it's cheaper.
• I salvage old clothes for buttons and fabric scraps -- mostly because it's a less expensive way to experiment with sewing. What items I don't cut up, I donate to Goodwill.
• I don't use canvas shopping bags, but I do reuse the plastic shopping bags as garbage can liners.
• We have a few energy-saving lightbulbs throughout the house, and eventually Blake wants all of our lightbulbs to be those funky-looking eco-friendly ones.
• I don't throw stuff away unless I'm sure I can't use if for something else. Waste not, want not, my friends.
• I re-gift gift bags, if they're in decent enough shape.
• I don't know if this truly counts as being green, but I eat leftovers.
• I walk and use public transportation (because I don't have a car anyway).
• I don't litter. Because, really people. I'm a grown-up. I know how to use a garbage can.
  

So, yay. Without trying too hard, I'm apparently helping the earth. Go me.

not that we're planning to outdo the bride, but...

My sister-in-law is getting married in December. Kimberly is a beautiful girl and, judging by the bridal portraits she gave us a sneak peak at, she will make an equally beautiful bride.

We're looking forward to attending the wedding, which will be held in Utah. It means that Blake, Garrett, and I will get to spend the Christmas season with both of our families, that we'll finally get to introduce Garrett to the rest of his aunts and uncles, and that I will get to be at home for Christmas -- something I haven't been able to do for a few years. It also means that we all get to add some items to our wardrobe in the bride's chosen colors of black and white.

Yesterday I found the perfect -- the perfect -- outfit for Garrett. Like, you can't get more perfect, or more adorable, than this. And I don't really want to steal the show away from Kimberly, but I honestly won't have much control over the matter, especially when Garrett is attending the event wearing this:

Isn't that darling? It pretty much makes me melt. I purposefully got it a little big under the assumption that Garrett will do a bit more growing in the next six weeks, and also I'd like it if it fit him throughout as much of the winter as possible. (I tried it on him this morning, and it's still cute with pant and shirt-sleeves cuffed.)

So, wedding clothes for Garrett...check. Clothes for Blake...almost (his wardrobe was decided for him, so all we need to do is go buy the appropriately colored shirt and tie). Clothes for me...hmmmm. Still working on that one. I'm very interested in killing two birds with one stone with this outfit. I need something appropriate for the wedding that can also double as the warm and dressy winter ensemble I've been needing for the last few years...but never got around to getting. I'd better get hunting.

the motherhood club

When I signed up to join The Motherhood Club, I had a vague notion that doing so entailed things like getting pooped on and long, wakeful nights. I knew that it would require a lot of work, money, energy, and commitment to make sure that my child was fed, clothed, and comfortable. I was aware that I would be accountable for his safe-keeping and good, well-rounded upbringing.

But when I signed up to join The Motherhood Club, no one told me, or really even hinted at, just how horrible it is to have that child get sick. They didn't mention how truly frightening it is to watch his temperature climb to 104.3 and hover there for nearly 24 hours, how awful it is watch him lay limp and lethargic, how terrible it would be to listen to his feverish moaning cry. I wasn't informed that sometimes the doctors can't make a diagnosis, that they can be just as puzzled and intensely concerned as I am over my child's health. No one told me how eager I would be to drop absolutely everything and walk to the ends of the earth if it would make him feel better. No one mentioned how scary it is to know that sometimes all you can do is make him as comfortable as possible and wait. And wait. And wait.

But then again, when I signed up to join The Motherhood Club, no one told me how intensely relieved I would feel when the fever finally broke, how overjoyed I would be to watch my happy, smiley baby start to come back to me.

No one told me, when I signed up to join The Motherhood Club, just how much I would love my little boy, and I think I'm glad they didn't. Love that intense is beautiful, but first it has to be gut-wrenchingly painful. Sometimes it's just better to sign up for something wonderful not fully knowing what the ride will be like.

sick day

Some people only a block away from my house today have the energy to run a marathon. If I had gotten any sleep last night, I might have a similar batch of energy. (Okay, okay, so that isn't exactly true. We all know that I am far, far, from anything even remotely resembling marathon material.)

Judging by the amount of sleeping he didn't do, the amount of screaming he did do, the waterfall of mucous and boogers cascading out of his nose, and the inordinate amount of snorting noises being made by his apparently clogged nasal passageway, I'd say our little boy has himself a bit of a cold.

At about 4:00 in the morning, after Garrett had been awake, uncomfortable and upset since we first attempted to put him to bed around 8:30, we decided it would be best for everyone -- Garrett so that he could recuperate, and us because we were more like frazzled zombies than put-together humans -- that we stay home from church today. We made last minute arrangements for someone else to take charge of nursery for the day and stayed in.

Even though I've always been one to feel extraordinarily guilty for staying home from someplace I know I should be, I think in the end it was best we stayed home. Thanks to a bit of Tylenol, the humidifier, a nice bath, and some much needed sleep, Garrett is feeling much better and Blake and I were able to catch up on a bit of lost sleep. Staying home also gave us a chance (while simultaneously easing my skipping church guilt trip) to listen to some of the Sunday morning session of General Conference, which we missed in its first run because we were on a train.

Apparently the winner of the New York Marathon, Paula Radcliffe, is the new mother of a 10-month-old baby girl. I wonder what her tricks were for getting through the sick days.

encyclopedia of an ordinary life

A peek at my life if you were reading about it in an encyclopedia:

AUTHOR
I just finished reading a book called Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. It’s her memoir, and it’s written in encyclopedia format. Which, if you ask me, is a genius idea. (Why couldn’t I have thought of this?)

see also: Ideas

BAROQUE MUSIC
I like how majestic-sounding Baroque music is.

CANDY, SEASONAL
Have you ever bought a package of M&Ms in the winter and, because you were waiting to eat them until you had a chance to snuggle next to the heating vent with your book later that evening, carried them around in your backpack where they got cold and hard? I have. M&Ms taste so much better when they are almost, but not quite, frozen. Skittles, on the other hand, taste awful cold and hard. Which is why M&Ms taste better in the winter and Skittles taste better in the summer.

COLD
My hands and feet get cold very easily. And not just a little cold. We’re talking icicles. I think I passed the cold gene onto my son: when the doctor touched his little hands during his routine checkup the other week, he made a point to remark at how cold they were and even grabbed the intern who was with him to come feel them, too. (Then he assured me that my baby was still normal. Whew.)

see also: Swaddle

GUEST BOOK/LOG
My aunt in Massachusetts keeps a guest book in her extra bedroom and requests that her visitors sign it before they leave. This is cool. And now I want to start one to keep track of all the visitors we will get during our years in New York City. Visitors so far: my parents, Kristeee, and Tom From Muncie.

HALLOWEEN COSTUME
There’s something about having to ride to the ward Halloween party on public transportation that made me think twice about dressing up this year.

IDEAS
All of my best ideas come as I’m falling asleep or while I’m in the bathroom.

see also: Author

LAUNDROMAT
I think I’m the only person at the laundromat who doesn’t fold my clothes on the counter there. When my clothes are done drying, I stuff them back in my laundry bags and haul them home. It’s not that I don’t care about my clothes. I do care. I just don’t like having to spend more time at the laundromat than is absolutely necessary, especially with a baby strapped to my front. And for the record, I do fold my clean laundry. I just do it at home.

LIBRARY FINES
I’m too responsible and in touch with my library to ever wrack up library fines.

see also: Ramona Shirt

NEW
I like to keep things new for as long as possible. That’s why I don’t wear new clothes the day after I bought them, why I keep shoes in their shoebox packaging for months, and why I leave items in their original packaging, or, in the case of clothes, with their tags on, until the last possible moment.

NICKELS
Sometime during high school Fate decided that January 31^st should be Lucky Nickel Day because on that day for several years in a row I kept finding abandoned nickels on the ground. While this seemed incredibly fortunate (after all, nickels are better to find on the ground than pennies), I can’t help but wish that Fate picked that summer day I rode my bike up the trail to Bridal Veil Falls for the first time and found an abandoned five dollar bill on the ground.

PANTS, FEELING LIKE I’M FLYING BY THE SEAT OF MY
Motherhood is a wild ride.

see also: Weekends

PAPER
I have an almost unhealthy addiction to paper and blank books.

PAST, MY
I keep running into my past on the internet. This is both cool and scary. Cool because who doesn’t like to run into old friends? And scary because I’ve spent the better part of my post-high school years trying to dust off the person I wanted to be, but awkwardly wasn’t, as I was growing up. Will these people recognize the New Me, or will they only see me for who I once was?

RAMONA SHIRT
I secretly like wearing my Ramona shirt on days when I go to the library in the hope that some librarian – preferably the one in the children’s department – will notice and make a comment.

see also: Library Fines

SMILE
Sometimes I smile when I think I should be crying (a defense mechanism?). I don’t really like my smile because it shows off more gums than teeth (my teeth are abnormally tiny) and, even after years of orthodontia, my teeth are still a little crooked. Even so, someone once told me, within five minutes of meeting me, that they liked my smile because the corners of my mouth turned up even when I wasn’t trying.

SWADDLE
When I’m cold, I want nothing more than for someone to swaddle me in an enormous blanket.

see also: Cold

V-NECK SHIRTS
In 8^th and 9^th grades I wore a full corrective back brace to keep my spine from continuing to grow crookedly. The thing was a beast: bulky, uncomfortable, and embarrassing. Part of the design included a bar that wrapped around my neck and screwed in the back. To hide that bar, I took to wearing polo shirts and, considering the risk of looking like nerd totally worth it in this case, buttoned them all the way up. So when my mom bought me a simple v-neck shirt from Old Navy the summer between my freshman and sophomore years (when the doctor started letting me wear the brace only at night), I was thrilled and let it quickly rise to the status of Favorite Shirt. I wore that thing ragged – literally. I was still wearing it the summer after my freshman year of college when one day, cooking with my friend Emily, I spilled a bit of enchilada sauce on it. As I pre-treated the stain later that night, I actually scrubbed a hole into the shirt. But that (unfortunately) didn’t stop me from wearing it. Because the screws on the back brace had a tendency to tear holes in my clothes, I was an expert mender. So I fixed my Favorite Shirt. And I wore it for another year or two.

WEEKENDS
I like that my routine changes on weekends. Garrett, on the other hand, does not. It’s hard to find a middle ground.

see also: Pants, Feeling Like I’m Flying By the Seat of My