MoMa
Carriage ride through Central Park
Top of the Rock
Bill and I spent our 6th Anniversary in New York City this year! This was my first visit to NYC and we both enjoyed every minute of our getaway. We missed the girls so much and talked about them all the time but I knew they were having a great time back at home with Nana Judy (Aunt Martha and Boppa were a big help as well). I left 6 pages of information for Judy to follow which pretty much covered every single scenario in my absence 🙂 (more for me than for her). We were very fortunate to have unseasonably warm weather, it was low 60s and sunny during our stay.
We used up a good portion of Bill’s Starwood Points to stay in a Tiffany Stuite at the St. Regis Hotel, which was beautiful and in the best possible location for us. I’ve stayed in a lot of nice hotels but being greeted by our own personal butler when we got off the elevator was a first! We checked all the major items off our list and had time to catch up with a friend as well. We spent two full days touring and were away for one night – left the house at 7am on Friday and returned home on Saturday around 11pm after the girls were sound asleep.
Our trip: We arrived at Penn Station and walked the 1.6 miles to our hotel, checking out Times Square on the way. We had lunch at Pizza Arte (best pizza I’ve ever had), toured 5th Avenue and the amazing shops and department stores in the area (including FAO Schwarz and Bergdorf Goodman). Everything was decorated for Christmas and the window displays were out of this world. We then went to the MoMa and got ready for our dinner at Candle 79 on the Upper East Side. The vegan restaurant was exactly what we were looking for, a truly special dinner. We finished the evening off with a carriage ride through Central Park and drinks at the top of The Peninsula. On Saturday we went to Top of the Rock and the Met, then we toured Greenwich Village and walked through Little Italy and China Town to meet Mimi for lunch on the Lower East Side. We walked around Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Center before getting ready to head home. Bill and I were both exhausted from everything we packed in and all the walking but had a wonderful time celebrating and touring the city together. Next time we will return with the whole family!
For the complete set of random photos we took in NYC, click here.
4 days ago Robin was still doing the inchworm, but this weekend she decided to crawl! Check out these videos to see her in action!
Bill has lots of vacation time with PWC but it sure is hard for him to find an opportunity to use it! This year he has 4.5 weeks of vacation plus 3 additional weeks of paternity leave. He’s using 2 weeks (paternity leave) right now and will take 2 weeks while we are in AZ for Christmas. Hopefully he’ll have an opportunity to take some more off early in the year. We love having daddy home!!! <3
With so much to be thankful for this year it’s no wonder why we had such a wonderful Thanksgiving. We watched the parade with the girls and went to Nana and Boppa’s house for an early dinner with the family. Aunt Terry and Gary, Aunt Martha, Uncle Jack, Jessica, and Gordon joined us for dinner. Bill and I made a sweet potato torte from vegetarian times which turned out really well. Lilly and Robin were on their best behavior and Lilly loved the chocolate mice that Aunt Terry made for dessert. We talked to Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Todd, Nana Peggy, and Uncle Mark, who spent their holiday with family and frieinds. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
For the complete set of photos, click here.
Our caterpillar and butterfly had lots of fun on Halloween! Bill worked from home for the day so he was able to celebrate with us. After finally convincing Lilly to wear her costume, we took the girls to several houses in the neighborhood and saw plenty of kids dressed up for the night. Lilly was excited at first but seemed to get a bit overwhelmed at the end, probably because she had one of her rare ‘no nap’ days. She ate her first candy bar (a miniature one) and talked about the ‘silly monsters’ and ghosts that she saw. Her sugar high made an appearance earlier in the day when we decorated cookies for Halloween. A fun day!
For the complete set of photos, click here.
What do you do when you have all the toys you need from an older child? You still buy new ones for the younger ones. Here’s a video of Robin enjoying her new Jumperoo:
So hard to believe that Robin is 6 months old already! This is definitely my favorite baby age. She is happy as can be, sits up on her own for long periods of time, and is rocking back and forth on all fours in preparation for crawling. Robin recently slept through the night for one entire week but this past week started waking up once (+) again, likely because she’s been a bit stuffy and had a low grade fever on Friday. A good night’s sleep is on the horizon! She takes two naps (9 and 1) which are anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours.
Weight: 18.7 pounds
Length: 26 3/4 inches
Head: 43 cm
Bill and I completed the Detroit Half Marathon today! It was the first race of this length for both of us – Bill has run the full marathon the past two years but never the half. With Aunt Martha and Aunt Terry’s help during the week (they watched Robin Tuesday and Thursday mornings while Lilly was at school) I was able to follow a 10 week training program with 2 short runs and one long run on the weekends when Bill was home. I didn’t miss a single training run and remained injury free despite a swollen hip joint that I sought physical therapy for this past week. Bill didn’t have as much training to do but did a few longer runs during the week.
Nana stayed home with the kids and Boppa drove us downtown at 5:45 am. It was 50 degrees and mostly cloudy, a perfect day for a run with just a few sprinkles. Bill helped me to push the pace. I struggled around mile 9 (after going up the tunnel, tough) but pulled off a very strong finish at a 9 minute pace for the last mile. We finished the half in 2 hours 24 minutes (tag time was an 11:02 mile but let it be known that my watch said 10:57 so I’m going with that!). I didn’t have a goal time but expected to finish around an 11:15 pace so I was VERY happy with this.
It was a wonderful event and so much fun to run with Bill. He really kept me on track and I enjoyed just about every minute of the race. More races from us in the future!
For the complete set of photos, click here.
Lilly has been going ‘pee potty’ succesfully for several months now (no pull-ups at home except for naps and bedtime) but I have been very reluctant to introduce her to underwear and have instead opted to leave her in pull-ups when we leave the house for longer than 45 minutes. Well, this week I decided to see if we could finish this whole potty training business and introduced Lilly to underwear. She has been pull-up and accident free (aside from naps and bedtime) all week long, even at school. I was worried that she would be reluctant to use public restrooms or would ‘forget’ to tell me she had to go when were out of the house but thankfully that hasn’t been the case. I was very nervous about this milestone but Lilly basically did the whole thing by herself with very little effort of my own. She does her business and is done in a flash – no sitting on the potty for long periods of time like I’ve always heard about. I can’t believe that the two big ‘TWO’ milestones (big girl bed and potty training) were both met well before she’s even 2.5!?
We have lots of things to keep us busy this Fall/Winter. Lilly continues to go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we have one activity scheduled for each remaining day of the week. Robin tags along for everything and it has been fun to see how she interacts differently and pays closer attention as she gets older. She really seems to respond well to the music class. We plan to take Robin to swim classes when we get back from Phoenix in January.
Monday: Parenting Playgroup
Wednesday: Wonderworks Art Class (with friends from our parenting group)
Friday: Music Together (our fourth session)
Saturday: Goldfish Swim School (Bill takes her to this class, Robin and I tag along to watch)
Sunday: Playtime at the Birmingham Public Library
Lilly is quite the little artist and not a day goes by at home (or at school) that she doesn’t do one or more art projects. She is starting to color inside the lines of coloring books and especially loves to paint. She has impressed us both with many of her paintings and has a good eye for colors and patterns. Here is a photo of a painting she did today:
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