Hello.

Hi, blog.

First - at one point does a mother no longer feel tired? I still feel tired, mostly. I mean, not always, but generally speaking, I don't think I've felt thoroughly well-rested since the fall of 2009. Sleep when the baby sleeps! Blah blah blah blah... I know.

(I say this as some sort of caveat I suppose, because anytime I try to write anything these days, everything comes out mushy & in the wrong order, & I can't say things the way that I want to, so then I don't say anything at all, or I say something & it ends up just being kind of silly-slash-stupid. Did I ever tell about the time a few months ago when I had Mike proof a post that I thought was particularly profound, but maybe a bit complex? Yeah, he finished it, looked it me, & said It needs a little bit of work. It doesn't really make any sense. So. Just so we're clear, I blame fatigue!)

Mike & I went out to dinner Friday night. Date nights have been more frequent the past few weeks & that's a happy thing. We went to the West Village & ate at a yummy little Peruvian + Ceviche bar. We loved the lomo saltado, & the ceviche was really great. Afterwards, we stopped into a fun little Swedish candy shop & picked up a pound or so of treats, & then ran into The Wafel Truck that just happened to be a block away. We had to get some. You know, for good measure. It was a really great New York City food night. Peruvian for dinner, Swedish for dessert, & Belgian waffles (wafels? depends on where you are, I suppose) for a post-dessert treat. Oh! And THEN! When we got home, I polished off the remaining piece of one of the cupcakes that I had picked up earlier in the day (story: I was out walking with Q & needed a water, desperately. I went into Purple Elephant Cake Boutique [really love this place, by the way] to buy one, & was forced to purchase three cupcakes + my water to meet their $10 credit card minimum. Sigh - I can't keep cash in my wallet to save my life, but was pleased with the excuse to buy some treats, even if cupcakes are totally 2008). The next morning, for breakfast -  I had a cupcake. And then! The scale this morning told me that I lost four pounds. Go figure.

What else. Oh! We went out again last night, to Blue Smoke. Two nights in a row, out past 10! Look at us! (And now we're thoroughly exhausted, of course.) The Lloyds are in town & seeing Jill makes me happy, happy, happy! Love that girl THISMUCH & love having her in the city with us for a few days. She played peek-a-boo with a somewhat sad Q yesterday afternoon for a half-dozen blocks (after we'd gone to Shake Shack and The Wafel Truck) & she didn't even flinch when he puked everywhere. True friend.

I went to the spa yesterday morning! A full (& I mean full) body scrub, massage + a facial. It was maybe one of the best mornings of my life. Thank you, sweet husband. It was a lovely Mother's Day gift & I'm feeling like a new mama (in a good way, & not in the shell shocked & on the verge of a total breakdown kind of way).

What else. Quinn! He's basically a genius, is already doing tons of algebra, is almost fluent in Spanish & just finished his first sprint triathlon. He sleeps 16 hours straight at night & then wakes up & makes his own breakfast, never, ever cries & has decided to become a vegetarian because he loves animals too much. I kid! Clearly. But seriously, I'm doing my best to not fall into the but their kid is doing THAT already!! trap, & in the meantime, feeling happy because he's super cute! And is a (mostly) good sleeper, a good eater, generally well-adjusted & most importantly is a very loved baby. And really, he's doing lots of great tricks, & it's really fun for us to watch him evolve into this little miniature person. 

Thoroughly unrelated photos from the other morning. It takes a while to get him dressed when I refuse to put my camera away. Sorry, Q.

I love the internet universe.

Because here's what happened: Erin was moving to New York from Mexico, & reached out to a friend she'd known in Hong Kong, who used to live in New York, who had a friend still living here, who was also my friend, who happened to be moving to the west coast. That's how she (she = Erin) ended up living just a few blocks away from me on the Upper East side. (Insert immediate + blissful friendship) I got to know Erin's sweet friend Noelle (pictured above + from Mexico) through the blogging universe, eventually meeting Noelle's sister #1 (Danielle - out of 2) last year in New York through the exchange of a polaroid camera, & then finally got together with all three of them (the three sisters, that is - Noelle from Mexico + Danielle from NYC + Audrey from Boston) last weekend. Oh! And no big deal that it was Danielle's wedding day. As in, the afternoon of the day in which she got married. 

(Are you following? Keep up! I'd draw a diagram if I had the emotional capacity.)

Anyway! It was a really wonderful thing to get to see these girls at The Grey Dog in the West Village on Saturday afternoon, & reminded me that Heaven will most certainly be full of all of my favorite people all in one spot. Q sadly had other arrangements that afternoon & couldn't attend, missing out on starting lifelong friendships with Noelle & Audrey's little gentlemen - a bit devastating, but we'll hopefully reconvene soon. Sigh.

Love these girls. And will post photos of them once I receive proper permissions. 

Online shopping fail + a few random things.

Hi.

So. We do a lot of online shopping around these parts. It's easy! Amazon Prime will show up in 48 hours, & Diapers.com orders oftentimes show up the same day. It's amazing (especially with a baby), & if I wanted to, I bet I could stay inside my apartment forever & ever. But! It's not foolproof, & my massive shopping fail last week was evident of this. Q's original Mr. Whoozit friend was thoroughly saturated in 8 months of saliva & in immediate need of a replacement, so instead of walking up to 86th Street & buying a new one, I ordered one! Who knew that Mr. Whoozit came in two sizes?! Oops.

(A smaller & more appropriately sized Mr. Whoozit has since been purchased. But the massive one? It's hilarious, & we're keeping it.)

My mom has been here since last Wednesday. We've had a thoroughly fabulous time, with lots of walking, shopping, playing & eating. She came with me to a haircut Thursday night (welcome back, bangs) & we ate a giant plate of vegetables at Westville afterwards (while sharing a nice bowl of macaroni & cheese, too). It was not only fun to be out past dark, but also to be in a place that was thoroughly not baby friendly, & with my mother! Friday night marked a momentous occasion - our first night away from Quinn. We celebrated our 6 year anniversary with dinner at Perilla in the West Village & a night at Le Parker Meridian (+ an early breakfast at Norma's). It was lovely! And terrifying. I have an extremely capable mother who successfully raised seven children, but leaving my son overnight for the veryveryfirsttime was scary & gave me a really funny feeling in my tummy. I cried when we went down the elevator, I cried when we got in the cab, & then I almost cried during dinner but managed to keep it together. Who knew it would be so hard?! It was really lovely to spend the time with just the two of us (+ my trusty breast pump), but we were so excited to see him again in the morning - back at our apartment where he was of course well fed + happy with Grandma. 

We've cooked, we've ordered in & we've eaten a ridiculous amount of Dave's Killer Bread (the best bread I've ever had in my entire life - & not available in New York!!). I took her to see Billy Elliot Saturday night (Happy Mother's Day!) & we really loved it. LOVED it. The songs are still in my head & the dancing was really just so fun. She's helped me clean & organize, filled our fridge with fruits & vegetables & has spent lots of time with Q while I've done very important things (like nap!). She helped me do a zillion loads of laundry yesterday morning before her flight was supposed to take off, only to get to the airport to find that her flight was cancelled. New York City is currently completely shrouded in fog, so we got her for at least one more day. Hooray! She lives too far away, so an extra day isn't ever a bad thing. Still, the walls in our tiny apartment were likely closing in on her a bit, so I promised her a delicious dinner & something fun.

The something fun translated into the 4 of us hopping into a rental car with Mike & heading to Sprinkles for some cupcake therapy, & then making an epic trip to Costco & Target where we purchased everything from shoes to baby gifts (Patrick & Kera are having a girl!) to goat cheese. It was an effort that required all three adults, but I'm so happy we did it. Costco & Target have revolutionized life in Manhattan, & knowing that I have enough paper towels to last me through the summer makes me feel good about life. We came home & made the very best dinner - probably the best I've made all year. Bless you, Jill Lloyd (this friend of mine passes along the very best recipes). See, Mom! It's not so bad being stuck (although the thunder + lightning this morning is making her have a very funny & slightly worried expression on her face).

Also! I just put Quinn down for a nap & made it all the way through his song without coughing! I've been sick for a month now (a month!) & am finally thinking that maybe I shouldn't just be euthanized after all.

It's going to rain EVERY SINGLE DAY for like the next year, seriously. The forecast is so depressing. See above paragraph on online shopping. Sigh.

*Post edit: Whoa. Am I on drugs? I just re-read this post & realized that I used like 17 different tenses in one paragraph. Judge away. I've never been an amazing writer.

The weekend (even though it's already Wednesday).

I forgot what this is called, & I'm too lazy to find it on The Met's site, but it was fun + made us dizzy.

I always tell Mike that my life feels a little bit like groundhog day. I've said this before, right? Monday through Friday give me an almost identical daily routine, with only small variations sometimes breaking up the predictable sequence of events throughout the day. But Saturdays! Saturdays are the day that Mike is home. Just the variation of having another person around is enough to make both of us giddy! Quinn loves it & I love it.  Saturdays are a good day. I get a little bit of a break, & we get to do things together. It makes all the difference.

We had a little tease of spring last week (lovely!) followed by bone-chilling wind & cold again. Figures. 20˚ with 40mph winds is always a terrible combination. But, fresh air does wonders, & staying inside all day is depressing, so we got out on Saturday. Lunch at Shake Shack (thin mint custard - everything I hoped & dreamed it would be), followed by wandering around The Met. It kept us out of the cold & also out of the apartment. We walked through Between Here & There: Passages in Contemporary Photography (mildly interesting), & browsed through a few other areas that we like. Quinn mostly napped. He's been to The Met a dozen times by now, I think & was generally unimpressed, & frustrated that he couldn't chew on anything outside of his stroller. We stopped by Lady M for some hot chocolate (my new favorite, I think), ran a few errands & made our way back home.

The rest of our afternoon was spent doing some of those things that I want to do but can't seem to find the time to do. Like vacuuming every single inch of our apartment (which admittedly isn't very many inches) - using all of the attachments. There's something really refreshing & wonderful about knowing that all of the corners of our home are totally clean, as is under the couch & behind the desk. Putting clean sheets on our bed! I did that too, even though I HATE making a new bed, which is a travesty since clean sheets are one of my very favorite things. However, doing six loads of laundry is not, & I did that as well. We took a rain check on our planned Saturday night out because we couldn't get the reservation we wanted - & despite our +1 to our  couple status now, & more nights in than out, we're still foodies at heart & aren't going to waste a precious date night going to a place that we're not really excited about. So, we ordered sushi from our favorite place instead, watched a movie (Waiting for Superman - interesting + incredibly frustrating), & that was just fine by us. 

Church on Sunday. The same song & dance of rushing to get out the door, lots of bouncing trying to get Quinn to sleep in the Ergo, & hanging out in the mother's lounge. Friends Suzi & Steve blessed Baby Ben, & that was sweet. We love our friends.

Monday night gave us our first night out together - just the two of us - in weeks. It was really, really nice to be out with Mike, especially since our day together had been a little miserable (think a sick /+ potentially teething baby, & an incident that questioned my ability to be a mother in the first place - definitely not my favorite day, & our worst in many months). We went to dinner at Market Table in the West Village, where after a few deep breaths, we talked about mostly adult things, & never once about baby poo. I had two diet Cokes, & we shared enough food to feed a small family (I still feel starving about 98% of my day - nursing will do that, I suppose). We took our time, shared two desserts & were reminded that we do in fact find each other really interesting. Everything was just amazing & it further convinced us that nights out are necessary. As Mike said, babysitters are less expensive than marriage counseling. Nice friends who will swap with you are even better. Thanks, Amy.

The Row Boats & some various other things.

We went on an outing to the row boats at Central Park on Labor Day with the Lloyds. I took a slew of what I had hoped were beautiful photos on my camera, & then proceeded to format my memory later in the day so that I could take RAW images during the family photo session I was doing - forgetting of course about all of the personal photos that I had on the card. Not happy about that move of utter stupidity on my part, but there was nothing to be done. So, here's the back ups from the iPhone. Sorry again, Jill. I captured some great memories of her little family, & she's been cursing my name ever since I sent her the Oops, guess what I did? email. I told her it was almost as if the day never happened because we don't have proper photo documentation.

Sigh.

But - photos or not, the row boats were in fact quite fun. I can't believe we'd never done it before during all of our time in the city. We saw a lot of turtles, got some sun, & enjoyed the hour-long paddle (for only $12!). Afterwards - lunch at Shake Shack, where we were able to grab their Labor-Day-Weekend-only corn dogs, which I have to say were far superior to any corn dog I've ever had. And Levain Bakery for a little snack afterwards, of course. Levain was Mike's idea. I blame him.

This week has been busy. Seriously really, really busy. It's Wednesday already? I've been running (not literally) all week long, checking things off my list. But I have energy! And walking feels good! So why not?! This running (& my amount of walking in general, I think) was perhaps the reason for my doctor's reaction during my exam yesterday when she said, Oh!!! Have you been really uncomfortable?? (no, not really.) & then praised my well-behaving cervix that's apparently doing a surprisingly early + great job getting ready for labor. Looks like Baby Boy might be making an early debut (but then again, you never, ever really know). Just in case, we're finishing up all of the final preparations, but crossing our fingers that we at least get through the weekend + most of next week. I have plans! Lots of fun plans! I just need a few more days. A Broadway show. A baby shower! Dinner plans. The Met! Martha Stewart + JCrew. Just a few days!! That's all I'm asking, then I'll take whatever I can get. Early, late, on time, whatever. I just want a happy baby & a fresh pedicure, & in the meantime am grateful for a bit more space in my lungs, even if it means I pee 1/4th of a teaspoon approximately every 17 minutes.

What else...

Glenn Beck is crazy. Seriously, really crazy. And I love Stephen Colbert. The end.

I finally found the last pillow for our living room - the final touch on a little eclectic mix I've put together one at a time. This makes me happy - as it's a completion of another nesting activity - even though pillow #4 (out of 4) still hasn't arrived thanks to it's backordered status. 

Friend Amy & I went to Serendipity this afternoon & got the frozen hot chocolate. I haven't been there in five years & felt like a total tourist. But! It was empty mid-afternoon. And our drinks were actually far better than I remembered & a nice little celebration for our baby boy's to-be. 

I went & met with my pediatrician today. I have a pediatrician?! I felt like I needed to call my mom & have her come with me as proper adult representation, as if I was playing make believe in the playhouse in my parent's backyard. 

We went to dinner with Mike's parents tonight in the West Village. Cornelia Street Cafe was delicious, & our walk through Washington Square Park afterwards was really nice. Almost chilly, but not quite. Early fall nights in New York are perfect. I'm hoping our heat is o-v-e-r. The forecast says so. Thank goodness. I'm ready for fall, complete with a fresh pair of tall + fuzzy Uggs.

The body pillow has officially been kicked out of the bed. I've been sleeping that well this week (& my belly makes a nice little kick-stand). Phew.

I made steel cut oatmeal for breakfast again this morning. Mike said, I think that maybe food IS my love language! It was really good oatmeal. 

Other things to post as soon as I come up for a tiny bit more air: My pretty friend Mindy & the photos I took of her last week. Maybe a peak into what Baby Boy's birth announcement will look like (the envelopes arrived today & I'm in love with the color!). A sampling from our maternity photos last week! Some of the sweet family photos I took on Monday. A snapshot of the pages & pages of notes that Mike took in our labor & delivery class the other weekend. I found them today, & loved Mike even more because of his copious note-taking. Some polaroids (of the Instax variety) from our Hamptons excursion.

Scott turned 29, we ate some pizza & had a picnic in our living room.

I think that women who are pregnant should never be photographed sitting down, but Mike looks so great! And I'm discontinuing my use of horizontal stripes from 35 Weeks going forward. Eek. 

We spent some time at Central Park Saturday afternoon in honor of friend Scott's 29th. Perfect weather, yummy cake (Costco!) & good friends. It was nice. And yes, Maribeth is one of those friends that I secretly wish I had a reason (!) to hate, because she doesn't take a bad photo & always looks pretty. The nerve. 

Speaking of all of my non-pregnant + tiny friends, I'm sort of thinking that maybe I should stop all pregnancy documentation at this point going forward, because I'm feeling large at 35 weeks. Mike the other day said, You're belly sticks out farther than your face! Yes it does, yes it does. I'm just about ready for Baby Boy to make his exit from my ribcage though, really. Soon enough, I suppose. In the meantime, I'm going back to Target today. You know, nesting. 

I bought new bedding. I washed it this weekend & we slept in it last night for the first time, & oh how I love it. It's so soft & pretty & it makes me want to sleep all day. Mike even loves it. I'll post photos I think. I spent way too much time searching for the perfect mustard throw pillow to finish off the ensemble & finally found it at 11pm last night. Thank goodness for Etsy, & nice girls in Provo who craft away while their husbands go to BYU (so said this girl's profile for her shop that I randomly found).

Oh! We ate at Keste again Saturday night with friends Sarah & Mike (I need to tell the story someday about how Sarah & I are actually long-lost friends from our toddler age, only to be reconnected through friend Erin & Sarah's move to NYC a few weeks ago). Keste is one of those places that just doesn't mess around with pizza. It's not New York City pizza (which is amazing), it's like real, serious business Italian pizza, served by men who sound like they're just here visiting for the weekend from Italy, & by the way, they also happened to bring a thousand pounds of the most amazing cheese straight from Italy in their suitcases, too. It's so delicious. The flavors! I should add it to my must do in New York list, actually. Anyway - To continue the theme (I suppose), we had dessert at Grom just down the street. Gelato the consistency of thick, sticky butter. It's amazing. I love Italians.

Baby Boy kicked me so hard in Sacrament Meeting yesterday that I almost yelled, & then almost cried. There's this one spot in my upper left rib cage that must house a very important artery or something of the sort, & it feels like he stabs a knife right into it when he does this little maneuver. I love Baby Boy already, & I'm grateful to be pregnant, but sometimes it isn't especially comfortable. Then again, the thought of my belly being empty in a few weeks makes me feel sort of strange, too. I have fears of separation anxiety already.

Moving on.

Yesterday was breezy & cool. Amazing. We came home & took a nice long nap, waking up to rain on our windows & grey clouds in the sky. Sunday picnic plans were thwarted, so we moved the picnic indoors to our apartment. This means that my dinner consisted of macaroni & cheese that friend Kaela had made (delicious), pasta salad (me) & more cake (Maribeth).

I'm having raisin bran for breakfast.

Twenty-two: His & Hers.

I always feel silly getting my own photo taken, but a) Mike needs to learn how to use an SLR & b) I have a maybe-obsessive need to document.

So here we are. 22 weeks (-2 days, if we're being technical). Both of us! I chose this outfit even though my Dad told me that I maybe shouldn't be wearing horizontal stripes (?!) after I posted these photos, &amp also; questionably, to a taping of a show that will be televised ON NATIONAL TELEVISION. A poor decision, perhaps. I attended a taping on Friday of a Food Network production with a very intimate audience, about 20 of us. I'll be the one in the very front with the bright stripes, protruding belly, & leggings worn as real pants. Not quite sure what I was thinking. I'll be sure to let you know when it airs, Internet. Yup. Definitely. 

Food + West Village.

(Meatball sliders. Amazing.)

(Lamb T-Bone with Goat Cheese Gnocchi. Amazing.)

(Snapper with Corn Risotto. Amazing.)

(The cutest older couple sitting outside of their home across the street. We played paparazzi through the window, watching them as all of their neighbors passing by stopped to say hello. Turns out they live in the oldest wooden house in Manhattan, & he's a former producer of Three's Company.)

(My nice husband carries my bag when it gets heavy. Which is pretty much always, since I carry my camera just about everywhere. I need a stroller already.)

(Future home in my very own little dreamland.)

(I like brick.)

(Hudson Street.)

B&W Owl.

The Little Owl.

The Little Owl.

Mike said that dinner last night was his favorite ever in New York. I feel like maybe (maybe) we say that once a year, but this husband of mine has an increasingly discriminating palette, & he really wasn't throwing any words around this time. We finally made it to The Little Owl in the West Village & almost immediately decided to go back quarterly. Somewhat unofficially, last night was in celebration of our 5 year anniversary of living in New York. Officially, that date is actually on Monday & we'll likely go to Shake Shack since a) We love it & b) it was our first Big Apple dinner in the spring of 2005. Who else wants to come?

But The Little Owl? Charming. Amazing, perfect food (we shared the meatball sliders, I had snapper with corn risotto, & Mike had a lamb t-bone with goat cheese gnocchi - we shared a rhubarb crumble for dessert). A lovely little corner (Bedford & Grove) in one of my favorite neighborhoods to wander through in the city. And - the cutest idea to deliver the check in, ever. A little black notebook with the check + a pen slipped in, with lots of pages where people have left their own little notes & drawings. So we left our own (Baby Boy's name was sort of - tentatively, kind of - settled upon last night, after some supportive reassurance from our very kind waitress who had fabulous glasses & really great lipstick). 

After dinner, we wandered through the neighborhood, up through NYU & took a little break at Washington Square Park to people watch (& rest, since I'd been on my feet all day - ouch!). And then of course, we were home by 9 & I fell asleep almost immediately with my giant body pillow that has (almost) revolutionized my life. Mike is so lucky.

*Total insomnia tonight will likely mean excessive blogging. It's currently 5am. I've been up since 3:45am. Lovely.

Christmas in the City: Washington Square Park & falafel.

We went & saw the tree at Washington Square Park last night, & then had some late-night falafel & shawarma at Yatagan Kebab House in the West Village. The tree? Not so impressive (they could have sprung for a few more strings of lights), but pretty with the arch. Yatagan? Amazingly good food for $5 (!!).

I was wishing that I had my (big + heavy) camera with me, & not just my plastic polaroid. It doesn't perform at it's best at night, but these worked.

Halloween.

Our 5th Halloween in New York & we finally made it the parade in the West Village. Next year, we'll get there a little earlier so that we can see (anything!), & hopefully it won't rain quite as hard as it did Saturday night. The masses on the subway getting home were epic, & I was just about soaked from the waist down when we got back to our apartment. But it was fun, & I'm glad we went. Luckily, Kelsey was willing to stand up on a fire hydrant (I think?) & took some photos above the crowd for me while the rest of us huddled under our umbrellas. My favorite costumes in the parade? The huge group of zombies doing the Thriller Dance & the man dressed as the Zoltar Machine from Big. Awesome. And of course, there was a lot of nakedness, but that's typical for Halloween, right? From the time I was in 6th grade, people seem to have used Halloween to dress as unapologetically hootchie as they can. I took some photos, but they probably aren't appropriate for our generally family friendly blog.

A classic sight as we were getting out of our 9am cab to church on Sunday - seeing a woman dressed up in her, um, provocative sexy devil costume (from the night before), getting helped into a cab by a man who gave her an awkward thanks for coming kiss on the cheek. The classic Walk of Shame the morning after Halloween & all it's drunkenness I'm sure, especially if the parties around our apartment were any indication. It was loud until 4am.

Happy Monday.

((with Elephant Man & Mr. Madoff)

(6th Avenue in the West Village)

(Tim making new friends with the other natives.)

Kathryn. Kelsey. Maribeth. Amy.