December Visits and Holiday Cheer

Mid-december Grandma Jill and Grandpa Bill came for a long weekend. We did a ton during this visit! They of course came and saw our apartment and checked out our neighborhood. They also spoiled the girls with lots of gifts and Grandma made them beautiful handmade sweaters. Grandma also made me a matching sweater. I will hopefully get to post a picture of us in these soon.

Anyway, well they were here we decided to have a few fun adventures in Manhattan. Here is where we went: FAO Schwarz, Rockefeller Center (hopefully next year Sophia will be old enough to skate), Grand Central Station, and Union Square Holiday Bizarre. It was a quick, busy, and fun filled visit!

Christmas Eve Sage, the girls, and I had a quiet evening. I made a 22lbs pork roast. Why? Hum, I am still pondering that myself... but it turned out great!

We spent Christmas Day at Deb & Tim's. Nonna, Uncle Andrew, and Deb's parents were all there for the festivities. It was great fun eating and hanging out. I know the kids enjoyed all the new toys and gifts. GG Mum sent along two special gifts, handmade sweaters for Dylan and Sophia–thanks! Sadly, we didn't take any pictures. We will try to do better next time. Still figuring how best to carry the kids, kid related items, and all the items we need or want while riding public transportation. I think that I will be taking more pictures with my i-phone.

5 months

Just wanted to share these cute pictures of my angel. 

November

Nonna Penny paid us a visit. Sadly, it was a very cold and brisk weekend, which it made it hard to walk around, but I think she got a good glimpse of North Williamsburg.  Tim and Dylan joined us on Saturday for the day. We spent our time checking out the East River State Park and assembling the awesome play kitchen that Nonna got the girls. Nonna—thank you, thank you for the gift!!!

Sophia jumped right into bed with Nonna when she was visiting... she really missed her Nonna!

Nonna and Rylan cuddling together at the East River State Park

Aunt Jenna also visited later in the month for the weekend. I took her to all the places I knew she'd love in the hopes that maybe she'll think about moving to the NYC in a year or two. Aunt Jo and Kristen joined us on Sunday for brunch and I can't say it enough, but Sophia just loves her Kristen—and who wouldn't?

Sophia wearing Kristen's hat at brunch and refusing to leave her lap

Jen and Sophia cuddling

Thanksgiving came and went in a flash! We took our first flight as a family of four to the good old SYR to have a Young family celebration at Penny's abode.  It was a great feast with yummy food and great live music played by Larry's sons. There was a lot of running around to visit various people, but so happy to have done so. We had a wonderful celebration of Thanksgiving/Christmas with Nana Wendy and Papa Scott and after this we were able to see Aunt Ginny. We also visited with Oma, Mirca, Barbel and Angie.

Pop-pop, Mimi, Jenna and Uncle Tito were all away visiting Brian, Chantal, and Marcus in NOLA.  Luckily, they arrived back the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The girls and I stayed a few extra days to visit some more with them. Mimi drove us back to Brooklyn, even after the horrible experience that she had traveling with Sophia and I to NOLA....obviously she really loves us! Both girls behaved so well on the drive. And I was so excited that Mimi was finally able to see our apartment and neighborhood. It put the icing on the cake for me this month!

Other news:  November 19th Rylan rolled over for the 1st time from back to front and since has been rolling a little more each day, however her little arm gets stuck and prohibits her from making a full roll to her belly. She has also started eating solid foods and seems to really love eating-just like her big sister.

The Rest of September and The Month of October

Since living in Brooklyn we've been warmly welcomed by some local friends (Jeff, Lorena, Nyles and Carolyn) and family (Natalie, Sharone, David, David, and Chelsie). We've made a few trips to the Union Square farmer's market in Manhattan, only to discover that we had our very own smaller version farmer's market just two blocks away—ha ha! Anyway, those who are unfamiliar with NYC this meant we had to take the subway to make the journey to Union Square—I say journey because going on the subway with a toddler and infant is a bit of an ordeal. My cousin David had us all over for lunch in his beautiful new apartment and after we checked out the annual pickle festival in the Lower East Side.

As resident New Yorkers we gave up our car and became Zipcar members. During our first adventure out with the zip car to IKEA we got in a hit and run accident.  No one was hurt and the girls slept through the whole thing, although Sage and I were definitely traumatized—emotionally and then financially since we had to pay for the damage.

We then had a quick trip upstate (ha ha... to Westchester) to Deb and Tim's to celebrate Nora's baptism. We actually used the Zipcar again, but with much caution! My cousin Kristen stopped by later that same week and it was so great to see her! Deb, Tim, and crew came our way for a few hours to see our new place, I thought that was really awesome! Finally, a low key weekend came along and we just went to a Cooper Park (local park) for a kids Halloween festival. Sophia was completely uninterested in the events, but really liked being outside and of course she as liked the playground.

Sophia and Dylan chowing down at our apartment

Nora and Rylan hanging out at our apartment

Sophia and I at Cooper Park

Here I am with Rylan at Cooper Park

The month ended with us celebrating Halloween. Sophia dressed as a cat and Rylan as a pumpkin. We celebrated by attending a Halloween party hosted by one of my playgroups at the Lutheran Church of the Messiah. Sophia had a blast at the party and she loved her costume. I was so surprised! Most the time she hates getting dressed, but she insisted on wearing her cat costume three days in a row, meow!

Bye 9 Nursery Lane, Hello Brooklyn

Recently, I've been an extremely delinquent blogger, but I guess I'll attribute it having a second baby, selling our house, and moving Brooklyn. Yes, it's been madness! 


The last week in June we put our house on the market because Sage accepted a position as an Interactive Art Director at a small start up-company in Manhattan. Two short weeks later our house was sold. Then, 4 days later little Rylan Avery was born. We officially moved ourselves and all of our belongings out of 9 Nursery Lane on August 15th. At which time we became temporary residents of 6916 Shalimar Way—Mimi and Pop-pop's abode.  Thank you both so much!!! I have such great parents! 

Thankfully, Sage's new job did not begin until the first week in October. This gave us some time to find an apartment and move.  We moved the old style way with the help of friends and family—thanks to everyone who helped! Then, on September 19th it was "bon voyage"... we boarded the Amtrak train one-way to Penn Station.

In between that time, lots of other events happened. Sophia turned two! Grandma and Grandpa Long visited for her birthday weekend—great seeing you guys! Ari started his first year at college. Jenna started her senior year. Brian, Chantal and Marcus came to visit and meet Rylan. We meet our new niece Nora (Tim and Deb's new addition), who is two weeks older than Rylan. We celebrated  a few Jewish holidays. We celebrated both Nonna Penny and Pop-pops' birthdays. I may have missed a few things, as it was a very busy time, but I think I hit most of the highlights.


Bloopers: Pop-pop boarding our train to NYC with Sophia and going to another car. First of all I really didn't even know he boarded the train with her—I thought she was still on the platform with the gang (Les, Jen, Dad, and Ari). I was distracted with  trying to organize ourselves, the car seat, stroller, Rylan and find possible seats. Anyway, the doorman gave warning that the train was to go and I asked for Les, Jenna, and Ari to pass Sophia to me. Then it really started getting crazy! We were all frantic and yelling, calling Pop-pop to get off the train and give us Sophia. It was like a scene from a Woody Allen film. I laugh now (it all worked out). Pop-pop made it back to us, handing over Sophia and jumping off in the nick of time.  


Side note: Aunt Jenna, your rock! Thanks for being my summer Nanny. I can't possibly tell you how much this meant to me and how much you helped me survive this period of time!!! During this process I've really felt all the love in our family and it's wonderful!

9 Nursery Lane

Sophia's old room

Grandma and Rylan

Sophia and Marcus in the bath

Sophia in her new big bed from Grandma and Grandpa

the view from our apartment

Rylan Avery, Our New Baby Girl

The labor officially started July 8th around 8:30pm, Rylan decided that she much preferred to be born on the 9th. It was a long and strenuous birth (Rylan's head was facing the wrong way), unlike Sophia's. With the help of a great labor team (Sage, Leslie, Jenna, and Mary Thompson) along with some coordinated assistance from my Dad I found the strength after 14.5 hours of labor and 30 some odd hours awake to have a natural birth. Finally, at 11am our beautiful healthy baby girl was born.

Sophia met Rylan the following day and within the very first minute of seeing her little sister she started screeching with excitement and yelling "baby, baby"!!! She then proceeded to give Rylan non-stop kisses–so adorable! 

Playing In The Park

I can't really remember when we had a lazy minute in this month (everything seems to blur at the end of pregnancy), but I guess we had one peaceful morning and so we decided to walk to park across the street. Sage, Sophia, and I all had so much fun playing, here a few pictures from our adventures.

The Rest of May

It was a busy end to the month. My youngest 1st cousin Andrea was married the weekend after we came back from Lake Placid. It was an adults-only event, so Sage and I got to have a fun night out (see a few of us acting silly before the ceremony in the pic above). Anyway, the ceremony took place outside the Shenandoah Club House at The Turning Stone Casino with a reception following. It was a nice party and the newly weds looked very happy!

We also celebrated Uncle Tito's imminent graduation from HS over Memorial Day weekend. We are so proud of you Uncle Tito! We think you are a wonderful uncle, brother and person! Lots of family came in for the event including resident NOLA troops (Bri, Chantal and Marcus) as well as some of the Long Island crew (Joann, Dylan, Alena, Buddy and Robin). Sadly, there was too much going on and not enough time to really hangout with everyone. Nonna and GG Mum also came out for the celebration.

Unfortunately, Sophia was NOT in the party mood this day and made quite the scene. However, as soon as we got home the little charming side of Sophia came out. Luckily, Nonna and GG Mum decided to stop over after the party to spend a little alone time with Sophia. So happy that they got to be with her when she was her little sparkling self. I've definitely determined that Soph can't handle crowds. Although strangely enough she does love to show off and be the center of attention. Hopefully, her dramatic reaction to these types of events will die down as she gets older, although one never knows with her. She certainly keeps us on our toes and we love that about her.

The only photo of Sophia smiling at Uncle Tito's party, of course it was on our way out.

Sadly, we took no pictures or video of Sophia and Marcus together. Sophia just can't sit still and Marcus isn't moving independently yet. Hopefully, we will do better next time, since I'd really like some pictures of them together before they both get too big. Anyway, above is a cute clip of Marcus sucking on his "dirty sock" (the name Brian has given this solid food holder that prevents babies with little or no teeth from chocking). Bri was so so grossed out when he saw Sophia using this fabulous tool when she was at this same age and stage. Funny how having our own kid(s) changes our perspective–lol.

Young Family Trip

Mid-May the Young side of the family all met in Lake Placid for an extended weekend. We stayed at our usual spot, The White Face Lodge—thanks to the Neulanders. Us pregnant girls got some much needed R&R, while the others explored the activities on the grounds of the lodge and town. Sophia and Dylan had fun playing, and of course, going in the pool. We did manage to venture out to the Wild Center Natural History Museum in Tupper Lake (Nonna had long been dreaming of taking her grandchildren). Overall, it was a relaxing and leisurely time that was much enjoyed.

The kids dancing and playing with Thomas The Train book

Sage and Sophia coming out of the indoor cave at the Wild Center

Just Being Silly

Sophia just thinks it is awesome to take out the letter O from our alphabet play mat and put it around her face. It just makes her crack up and is so cute!

Memories Old and New

Last weekend we commemorated the life of Sage's Great Uncle, Bob Muggleton. They had a beautiful traditional Quaker memorial, where many memories were shared by friends and family. The whole experience was a little intimating for Sophia, that is the being quite part and listen part. After the service she warmed up and of course having her cousin Dylan to play with helped (Tim, Deb, and Dylan drove up for the service). After the service T, D, and D spent the night at our house, which was fun. I love to see the kids playing (below is a short clip of Dylan and Sophia dancing).

This last week we also celebrated Sage's 35th birthday. Mimi and Pops watched Sophia so we could go out for a birthday dinner to celebrate my wonderful husband. Anyway, I was trying all week to get Sophia to say happy birthday, probably should have started sooner and maybe it's a little too hard for her to say yet. But, she did give her Daddy snuggles and kisses, which I think is all he really wanted.

Toast

Little miss Sophia made me giggle inside with laughter when she decided to pull over her own chair from the dinning room table and place it between Sage and I. Her usual morning routine is to eat a second breakfast sitting on Sage's lap, but I guess she wanted to be a "big girl". After we helped her up and she was settled into her very own chair she proceeded to take all of Sage's toast, which you can see by her expression made her very happy!

24 Weeks

Sophia just loves to cuddle with our little babushka (baby #2). I love it too! We have been reading books on expecting a new baby, and I think she gets some of it. Either way, she loves to cuddle my belly.

I can hardly believe that it's been 6 months since this journey began! But things are just trucking along and everything continues to be on track for the pregnancy. According to others, I've actually started to look pregnant—yeah!

Eighteen Months

'Phia had her 18 month Well Baby Visit–wow! She continues to be a healthy toddler. The nurse who measured her had a really hard time getting her height (could be cause she hates this and was flailing her limbs whiles screaming), so I am not sure if I really believe that she only grew an inch since her 12 month visit. Especially since everyone keeps telling me how much she's sprouted. I've also noticed that she can barely fit into her 18 month clothes. The pediatrician didn't seem concerned, so at least that's good—just hoping she doesn't inherit my short genes. We also learned that she is all caught up on her immunizations, so we finally get a much needed break from visiting the pediatrician. Good timing for me, since my OB visits will soon start to ramp up.

Anyway, she has been chatting up a storm, most of it is still in her language. However, she loves to say words that start with the letter 'B' and has been able to put two word together. Specifically she likes to say "blue ball" and "bounce bounce". She has also been saying "thanks you"–which I love. Even if she isn't using words she certainly doesn't have a problem letting me know what she wants. She's learning so much everyday that I have a hard time remembering what new things she has actually learned, maybe I just have pregnant brain! She did, however, really impress me the other day by saying words in a few of the books that I regularly read to her before I did. It's so awesome to see her learning!

20 Weeks

I had my 20 week OB appointment this past week which included an ultrasound with full anatomical study. Our very active baby looked really healthy. Sophia and Sage came to the appointment to support me and see the new baby. Thankfully, Sophia handled this visit better than last time, it must have been because her Daddy was there to comfort her.

Below is a pic our of little one. We've still decided that we aren't going to find out the sex, so if you want to join in the fun of guessing just click on guess here under the baby pool tab on the right hand side–happy guessing!

Baby is laying on it's stomach with it's head to the far right.

Family Visits

You guessed it—the troops from New Orleans (Brian, Chantal and baby Marcus) came to town. It was really fun to see how much little mister Marcus has grown—he is just adorable! It was a really low-key visit, since the amazingly awesome Syracuse weather in February tends to limit activities, so we got cozy inside and just hung out. However, Mimi did mange to put together a party for family and friends to meet Marcus. I think Sophia was a little jealous not to be the center of attention (lol).

As timing would have it, Sage's Aunt Becky was also visiting from out of town the same week. Luckily, Sophia and I manged to squeeze in a quick visit with both Becky and Ginny. I didn't get any pics this day, I was traveling alone with Sophia and forgot the camera. Anyway, Becky and Sophia hit it off and we all had a blast. Sophia can really be a charmer when she's in the mood, so glad she was this day!

This weekend Deb, Tim, and Dylan came for an overnight visit. We meet them out at Nonna's house. Deb and I got to show off our growing bellies and chat about baby names, for those who don't know we due the same month. After chatting for a while we went out for a really nice dinner at Bistro One in Auburn. We really enjoyed dinner as Dylan showed us how to hide from the paparazzi using his ultra cool sun glasses. Sophia also joined in entertaining us by giving us a dance show in her high chair.

Sophia wasn't so sure at first about holding her little cousin Marcus.

Then she realized that he had really cool hair and was totally into exploring it.

At the end she even tried to give Marcus a thank you kiss.

Here is Dylan showing us his moves. We weren't able to capture any of Sophia's dancing moves.

Princess Poses and More

I just love these photos of Sophia. Sage and I were playing around taking pics of her for Regis and Kelly's beautiful baby contest. We entered the second one of her smiling. I realize that we have little to no chance of winning since there are thousands of applicants, but if we did win Sophia would get a free college education. So we thought "why not enter and give it a shot?" If nothing else, we got a few really cute photos of our angel.

In other news, I had my 16week OB appointment for baby #2 today! Everything looks very good so far and is right on track. I was excited to bring Sophia to this visit since it was the first time she was able to meet my midwife. Who, by the way, has one of the most calming personalities that I have ever encountered. Needless to say, Sophia was less than thrilled to be at this appointment with me—as she hysterically screamed almost the entire time—it was an experience! However, they gave her a lollipop at the end of the visit and she was much happier. I think we'll give her a lollipop at the beginning next time!

2010

Happy New Year!

Sophia thought it appropriate to bring the new year in with a whirl and a few words.