A Manhattan Momma

Introducing Annabelle Naomi Probst

2012-01-29T16:33:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Annabelle!

We welcomed Annabelle Naomi into our family and into the world on January 14th, 2012 at 3:53pm. What a complete blessing she is! We are thrilled to have her in our family.

The labor and delivery was long and hard, just as with Jonah. The labor lasted pretty close to 24 hours and was tiring and painful. However, of course, I would endure this 100 times over to meet my little princess.

So far she has been a bit more fussy than I remember Jonah being. She has some pretty bad reflux, which our pediatrician put her on medicine for. Hopefully, that is going to make it better. She has been a pretty good sleeper so far and is eating like a champ! At her last doctor's appointment she was 8lbs 6oz, which means she has gained back the weight she lost after her birth plus 1 oz.

As many of you moms out there know, there really aren't words to express the joy that is felt in welcoming a baby into the world. I am still overwhelmed with joy and happiness from this little bundle. So blessed to have her and just so excited to see what her future holds. I pray that Annabelle grows up to love Jesus and honor Him with her life.

Thank you Jesus for the blessing of being this precious baby girl's momma and thankyou Annabelle for making me a momma of 2. I am blessed beyond words and SO THANKFUL. You are a beautiful baby and I cherish every moment of being your momma.

The proud Big Brother!

Jonah turns 3

2011-12-28T19:28:00.001-08:00

This post is a bit overdue... I've been really lazy about blogging lately, but I'm trying to catch up I guess.

My sweet boy, Jonah Samuel, turned 3 on December 18th. I am so blessed to be his Mama. I honestly do not know what I would do without him. We didn't have an official birthday party for him, we just invited some friends from church to go out to lunch with us after church since his birthday was on a Sunday. We had about 20 people come and we really had a great time. Despite Jonah's complete obsession with all things trains, he requested a Lightening McQueen birthday cake... so that's what he got! Our friend from church, Jen Maala, made the cake for us and we took it to the restaurant for all to enjoy.

The fabulous cake by Jen Maala

As you can see, Jonah was pretty excited about his cake.

some of the crew at lunch

Opening a few gifts at home...

Jonah, you have changed my life in so many ways. You have made my life richer and fuller. Who would ever know that being your mother would be so amazing? You are full of life and full of love. I enjoy every moment that I spend with you. The past year of your life has been full of fun! You have been a great 2 year old and I am admittedly a bit sad to see this year come to a close. Of course, I am thrilled with what the next year(s) of your life will hold!

You will soon be a big brother. You seem excited about this and I am excited about this adventure for you. I know you will love your little sister and help Mommy and Daddy take care of her. I am so proud of you for all you do and I know I will be proud of the big brother you are going to be for the rest of your life. I have often wondered how it will be possible to love 2 children equally... I just want you to know that the love I have for you will not be touched. The love I have for you is your love and the love I have for your sister is her love. I will always love both of you more than words can say. YOU, will always be Mama's sweet boy and no one can take that title away from you. I love you with all my heart Jonah Samuel and I can't wait to see what this 3rd year of your life will hold.

The New York Transit Museum

2011-12-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

Mark took the past couple of days off work and it has been wonderful! We have really enjoyed all the family time. Sadly, he has to return to work tomorrow, but we are excited that he has one more day off next week to hang out with us before the new addition arrives.

Today we took a trip to Brooklyn to the New York Transit Museum. It was a great decision. Jonah really had a blast. The museum was located in an old subway station, which was really cool. There were all sorts of things for kids to do. The best way to tell you about the day is through the pictures, so here ya go...

'pumping' gas into the bus

riding in the bus with daddy-- the museum had actual buses and trains in it for the kids to play around in... Jonah was in heaven!

Jonah driving the bus

riding the bus with mommy

driving another bus

Model of an old trolley car

Playing in the subway turnstiles

You can tell here that the museum is in an old subway station

Mark and Jonah on an old subway car... the oldest ones that were there were from 1904-1905... pretty cool!

Jonah and Daddy looking at the map together-- Jonah is fascinated with maps, just like his Daddy.

Jonah playing in the ticket booth

Jonah made me and Mark take turns playing conductor on each of the subway cars. He was loving it!! I think he got the concept from 'The Polar Express' because he would step on the train and say "Everybody take your seats!.... Tickets, Please!" It was cute!

Mark and Jonah on one of the older subway cars

I found the old advertisements in the subway cars interesting, so I took some pictures of a few of them....

the old cars even had ceiling fans!

Prospect Park

2011-11-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

For several months, my friend Jill and I have been trying to plan a day to meet at Prospect Park to go to the zoo. For one reason after another we hadn't been able to coordinate. Finally, today we made it happen! The weather, for NYC in November, was Ahhmazing! It was a glorious fall day. This was my first trip to Prospect Park. It should have taken me about 1 hour by subway, but due to multiple factors, it took me 2 hours to get from my apartment to the Prospect Park zoo entrance. Exhausted at 31 weeks pregnant? yes. Was it worth it? Totally.

One of the contributing factors to the fact that it took me so long to get to the zoo entrance was that I ended up entering the park at an entrance that was not so close to the zoo. So, I had a 20 minute walk through the park to get to the zoo. I had no idea where I was going initially till I finally found a map and a few friendly Brooklynites to point me in the right direction. To this fall-lovin' girls' delight, the 20 minute walk was worth the long commute to Brooklyn. The leaves were gorgeous and the weather was perfect. Jonah really seemed to enjoy himself too. He was convinced that although this too, was his first trip to Prospect Park, he knew the way to the zoo, even though Mommy did not. He would say, "Mommy, you just need to go through that tunnel right over there and we'll get to the zoo." He has most likely inherited his sense of direction from his daddy, so no doubt, he will know his way around NYC better than me in no time. He is constantly asking where we are 'on the map' when he sees a map... he also asks what streets we are walking on and what streets we are going to. He has a love of maps and geography like his daddy does.

On a similar note, but kind of a side story for this blog post-- he has picked up on what Mark and I say when we get in a taxi to go home, ya know, what we say to the driver when we get in -- "93rd and 3rd please", which is the intersection where our apartment building is located. He now, usually beats me to telling the driver where we need to go. The funny thing is, he will blurt out "ninety-thuwrd and thuwrd please" even if we are getting in a cab to go somewhere besides home, so I have to quickly correct him and tell the driver the appropriate address. So cute (and kind of amazing) what they pick up on!

Back to the current topic....Jonah had a great time at the zoo, once we finally made it there. He and Even toddled around after each other and had fun pointing out the animals and showing each other the different animals that they liked. It was really cute and fun watching them interact with each other. They also decided to switch strollers 1/2 way through the day so that Even was riding in Jonah's stroller and Jonah in Even's :)

Here are some pictures from our fun day!

Pathway through Prospect Park that we walked on to get to the zoo

Gorgeous fall leaves

Jonah liked this little tree and wanted his picture by it

Jonah spotted this very large leaf on the pathway through the park and hung onto it all day

Turtle Even :)

Jonah and Even in the Turtle shell together

Jonah acting like a turtle ;)

Jonah and Even looking at something in this tank... there were fish in there, but none showed up in the picture... I think it looks like there's a snake down in the bottom of the tank too :P

Jonah with his leaf

Jonah in the prarie dog play tunnels

More fall leaves

So, I think this large bird is an Emu -- but I asked Jonah what he thought it was and he said.... "hmmmmmm.... maybe a goat?" and Even chimed in with "Cow!"

Jonah cheezin for the camera

Trick or Treat! in NYC

2011-11-06T04:50:00.000-08:00

The trick or treating experience in NYC is a bit different... just like most things in NYC.
Obviously in NYC the door to door trick or treating is different because there aren't houses like there are in most other places in America. There are townhouses, so certain areas are designated for trick or treaters to go to. Because these areas are designated and because there are ALOT of people in NYC, these areas are quite crowded. We took Jonah to a designated area, that consisted of a couple of blocks of town houses that were giving out candy. The streets in these areas were closed down and yes, they were quite crowded.

Jonah went trick or treating last year, but I'm pretty certain he had no recollection of doing so. This year, he was not sure what was going on. He didn't want to hold his bag at first and he certainly did not want to walk up to a door and say 'trick or treat'! Once he realized that the people at the doors were giving him candy for holding out his bag and saying 'trick or treat' he decided to willingly participate! So, for the first hour of our night that is what we did...and Jonah filled up his candy bag.

The second hour of the designated trick or treating time was spent inside our building. I went back to our apartment to hand out candy and Jonah and Mark went floor to floor for several floors accepting candy from the residents in our building that decided to participate in the distribution of candy. Jonah ended up filling his candy bag twice in one night, so needless to say he (we) have plenty of candy to last us awhile!

Here are a few pictures from our night with our sweet little train conductor!

Needing a little encouragment to go up to a stranger and ask for candy :)

Fighting his way through a crowded door step to get candy

These last two were taken on Mark's phone at our apartment. They seem blurry on here although they are quite clear on the phone :(

What I made during 'Irene'

2011-09-02T04:09:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure all of you know, this past weekend, Hurricane Irene was projected to hit NYC. It did hit NYC, enough to make us stay inside pretty much all weekend, but fortunately, not badly enough to do as much damage (in NYC) as they were projecting. Because we were inside all weekend... I had a productive weekend in the area of sewing. :)

You all may remember this post
http://amanhattanmomma.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-2nd-sewing-project.html

Well, I had been thinking for awhile that I needed to make another caddy for Jonah, only this one should be for his trains. Jonah is pretty much obsessed with trains. We don't leave home without one or two in hand, so I thought some sort of carrying device for his trains would be a good idea. The car caddy that I made previously with my friend Susan would only need minimal changes to accomodate Jonah's trains-on-the-go. Although I am in no way an expert seamstress, I thought that I could probably figure out how to make those changes to the caddy.

I do need to give additional credit to Jill of 'Homemade by Jill' because she is where this idea orginated from. Although I do not know Jill personally, she is inspiring and creative. She is generous enough to post tutorials for sewing on her blog that allow non-creative copycats like me to make the stuff she is designing and making. Maybe one day I will have that kind of creativity, but realistically, I do not think so. I am thankful for the world of blogging... it has really helped me in my sewing adventures thus far. I'm enjoying sewing more and more and even have the itch to attempt to make many things for my baby on the way, possibly even some of the bedding... we shall see and if I do successfully make this bedding, believe me, you'll here about it on here.

Until then, here are a few pictures of the 'train caddy'.

Front of train caddy

Inside of train caddy ~ pockets to carry his trains and tracks for the trains to travel on

Jonah playing with his train caddy

StoryBook Land

2011-08-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mark, Jonah, and I were able to get out of the city for the weekend! I love these weekends! For me, there is a sense of freedom that comes from riding around in a car. I did not even know this feeling until living the past 3 years without a car. I get quite excited about the thought of just being in a car and driving on an open highway. Anyways, we headed to New Jersey for the weekend and had a great time!

Mark's boss owns a house on the Jersey Shore at Long Beach Island. The house is beautiful and so is the beach there. We went down for an afternoon last summer and went again this past weekend. We spent the afternoon on the beach with a few of Mark's co-workers. The weather was great and the afternoon was relaxing. We then had dinner back at Mark's boss' beach house, which was really nice. After dinner we headed out to a hotel near Atlantic City, NJ, but not before Jonah gave every last one of Mark's co-workers and their family members a hug to say his goodbyes.

Here's Jonah playing in the sand at the beach. He loved the sand and the waves! Makes me really excited about our trip to Florida in a couple of weeks!

Sunday morning we drove a little through Atlantic City, NJ just to see it. We got out and walked on the boarwalk for just a few minutes, which was nice.
The main event for the day was taking Jonah to a little theme park called 'StoryBook Land'. It is a theme parked geared for children 5 or 6 and under. It was really cute. The theme is obviously storybooks... all the traditional stories, like 'Mary had a little lamb', 'Goldilocks and the 3 bears', 'Jack and Jill', etc. All the rides there are pretty much appropriate for Jonah, although there was 1 or 2 that he decided not to ride.

Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

This ride was a boat that rocked and kind of twirled around. I sat across from Mark and Jonah and was able to watch Jonah's expressions... SO cute!

Mark and Jonah on the boat ride

Jonah milking a mechanical cow :)

Mark and Jonah on the Balloon ride

Mary's schoolhouse from 'Mary had a Little Lamb'. Jonah kept calling it the barn. There was a live sheep outside of the house, so I can see why he thought it was a barn, especially since it is bright red! Jonah loved the little schoolhouse though, it was just his size.

Jonah was SO excited to go in the little school house. I acted like I was the teacher and had him sing his 'ABC's'... he was so proud of himself -- on the other hand, Mark reminds me a little bit of the character 'Billy Madison' in this pic :)

Jack and Jill's Hill had a big slide on it!

Here's the roller coaster that Jonah said he wanted to ride... he was all smiles at the beginning, but all tears and crying for Mama when he got off. Although, later he said he wanted to ride the 'faster, faster ride' again.. We didn't let him b/c we weren't sure if he really knew what he was saying. Now, if you ask him what is favorite ride was, he says, 'the faster, faster ride!!'.

At the top of the hill

There were multiple displays such as this one-- you can't really tell what Jonah is looking at, but he is looking into the home of the '3 bears'. If you pushed the button on the outside of the house, it told the story of 'Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. It was pretty cute. This story seemed to be Jonah's favorite. He is still talking about how Goldilocks broke Baby Bear's chair.

Jonah driving Mommy around in the 'Old Cars' as he called them

Jonah and Daddy riding the 'Choo-Choo'!

Jonah and Daddy inside the pumpkin of 'Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater'

We had a great time at StoryBook Land!

Our exciting news!

2011-08-23T06:03:00.000-07:00

Summer Streets in the city

2011-08-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

Every Saturday in August is 'Summer Streets' in NYC. The city shuts down a portion of Park Avenue from 7am-1pm on Saturday morning. It's Great! We have taken advantage of this every summer we have lived here so far. It provides a different place for runners, walkers, and cyclists to get out and exercise!

Mark, Jonah, and I headed out first thing Saturday morning and walked over to Park Avenue. We jogged about 3 miles and we were able to jog past the building Mark works in and other neat landmarks, such as Grand Central Station. The weather was really nice and we really enjoyed our time. Here are a couple of pictures from the morning jog.

The 3 of us on Park Avenue during our run - I'm 18 weeks pregnant and looking quite chubby ;)

Mark and Jonah in front of Mark's office building

After our run, we let Jonah explore Park Avenue a little.. alot of the nice office buildings have pretty fountains in front of them.

During Summer Streets, different companies set up booths to advertise their products. This was a Vespa scooter booth and they let you take pictures on the scooters :)

Another fountain/water fall in the midtown area

After our run, we grabbed something to eat and headed over to Central Park. Jonah had been saying he wanted to visit Gus. Gus is the Polar Bear at the Central Park zoo that Jonah likes so much. He is usually quite entertaining as he really likes to swim. He is fun to watch. While we were there, we also visited a few other displays, such as the penguins.

Jonah at the Penguin display at Central Park zoo

A few pics of Jonah watching Gus swim

After the zoo, we made a quick stop at the Central Park Carousel. Jonah and Daddy rode together and both seemed to really enjoy it.

The morning was wrapped up by some time on one of our favorite playgrounds in Central Park. It is one we used to visit pretty frequently when we lived further south in the city. Now, it isn't so close to us, so its kind of a special occasion to get to it. At the playground we ran into some friends from our old building. They have a little boy who is almost 2, so he and Jonah played together for a little while and then we all went to lunch. It was a great morning!

A couple converstations with Jonah.....

2011-08-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

I am long overdue for an update on this blog. It's not that I haven't had material for a post, it's just that I have been lazy.... it really boils down to just that. As most of you know, I am expecting baby #2. I have been quite sick this pregnancy and due to that I have done a lot of napping during Jonah's naps rather than doing things like updating my blog. Well, I am finally feeling somewhat better, so hopefully I am going to be back to updating a little more often.

Jonah is always making me smile. 2 years old is such a great age. I have said that about every age with him, but the thing about Jonah being 2 is that he has been able to carry on some conversations with us. It is so cute and sometimes he says the most unexpected things and you are just thinking... where in the world did he come up with that?!? I thought I'd document a few of my recent conversations on here for you all to enjoy....

We were visiting Mark's family in Kentucky. Mark's parents are living in Wilmore, Kentucky right now, which is where Asbury College is. Mark and I both went to Asbury College, that is actually where we met... where it all began :) Anyways, one day we were all in Mark's parents van and we were driving by the front of the Asbury campus. I was pointing to the campus and telling Jonah, this is where Mommy and Daddy went to school. He was looking out the window at the buildings and the view of the front lawn of the school. He sat there quietly a minute and then he said "You wear you backpacks?" To which I smiled and replied, yes, we did wear backpacks. He then said, "Did you read you books?" To which I also replied yes... It was just so cute to see his little mind work and then formulate questions that focused on his idea of what school is all about. SO precious.

Me, directing a complaint to Mark, "My back is hurting tonight".... Jonah quickly chimes in and says "I'll rub your back Mommy!" He hops up and comes over to the couch to "rub" my back. Such sweet love for his Mommy.

After Jonah woke up from his nap one day, he came and sat beside me on the couch. He snuggled up right beside me and kind of laid his head against me. He looked up at me and said, "You my best friend, Mommy." If that didn't melt my heart.....

Last week I had to take Jonah to a back up day care program that Mark's work provides. Our usual babysitter is on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I utilized this benefit. Jonah refers to this daycare program as "school" He has been there a hand full of times and for the most part I think he enjoys going. (And yes, He insists on wearing a back pack when he goes to his 'school'). We were riding in a taxi that morning to drop him off and this is the conversation he and I had...
Jonah, "Where we going Mommy?" Me, "Well, I am taking you to your school and then I have to go to work". He sat there a minute or so thinking about what I had said, looking out the window of the taxi. Then he lit up and said, "No Mommy, I go to work!!!" I said, "oh really? where do you work?" Jonah replied, "New York City." I then said, "What is it you do for work in New York City?" Without hesitation Jonah said, "I work at Knapford Station, I drive Thomas!"
(For those of you that aren't familiar with Thomas the tank engine, this is a cartoon/character that Jonah loves. He has several of the little trains and is always playing with them. He also watches the cartoon of Thomas from time to time on the TV and has a couple of the DVD's. Knapford station is the home station of Thomas.) I couldn't believe that he came up with this whole scenario. It was adorable really. He was grinning from ear to ear when he told me that he worked at Knapford station and drove Thomas. I wish I could capture that precious moment and relive it over and over again. There was something so sweet about him in that moment, although I can't exactly put my finger on what it was.

Jonah is such a joy. He brightens my every moment.

A Centenarian

2011-04-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

Its not every day that you get to meet someone that has lived 100 years. In my current profession, I have met 1 or 2, but none that have left such an impression on me as Walter Scolney.

Walter was born March 14, 1911. He passed away April 6, 2011. Walter lived to be just over 100 years old... during these 100 years, he never let his youth leave him. He lived his life in a way that made others smile. While I was only privileged to know him for the last 3 years of his life, he made a lasting impression on me.

I was privileged to provide in home primary care for Walter during the past 3 years. He was my favorite patient. I know that I'm not supposed to have favorites, but there's no denying it -- he was my favorite.

Walter was originally from Germany. He came to the United States in his early 20's fleeing the Nazi regime. He came to the US and pretty much immediately, even before he was a US citizen, fought in the American Army in WWII. Upon his death, found in his wallet was a small copy of his honorable discharge from the United States Army --service he was obviously and rightfully proud of. During his time in the US Army, he listened to the Germans over the radio devices used in the war and would translate what they were saying to the Americans. Pretty cool, huh?
Walter's service to our country is impressive. He loved America and was so thankful for what it provided for him. Most impressively, though, was Walter's love of life. In the 3 years that I knew him, he could barely see, was quite hard of hearing and could walk only with the use of a walker. Despite these (and other) challenges, he was happy.

At his funeral, his grandson told a story about how Walter, in his 90's, joined his great granddaughter in laying belly down in an office chair and spinning around.... that story pretty much sums Walter up... he had fun and made others smile.

Although I was not able to be with Walter as I had hoped at the very end of his life, I do hope that I was able to help him some in his last years on earth. One thing is for sure -- HE helped me, helped me gain perspective on life and helped me learn to see the bright side of a not so good situation. He could always bring a smile to my face and cheer me on a gloomy day. Every time I visited him in his apartment, which he still lived independently in, he would offer me a glass of OJ... what I would do to take him up on a glass of OJ today.

Walter, I will miss you so much. Thank you for being you and for enriching my life. In my opinion, even though you were 100 years old when you passed away, you were too young. I will never forget you.

A New Favorite

2011-04-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

Jonah's new favorite game is Hide & Seek. He doesn't play by all the rules, but he sure has fun playing!

As you can see in the video, he proudly counts to 10 and then searches for the hidden person. Often he will hide his favorite animal, lion, so he knows where lion is, yet he will search every room in the apartment before going to where lion is. He loves doing the searching. If you listen closely in the video, when Mark and I are saying, "Is Jonah in the Bathroom?", etc, You will hear him in the backgound saying, "no!". It is just too cute!

Here is a link to the video... I had trouble getting it to upload straight to the blog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fspf-ZM4wrI

Here is Lion, hiding behind the door where Jonah put him

Here is Jonah hiding on the far side of Mommy and Daddy's bed... a favorite spot :)

San Fran with Friends

2011-04-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Sunday morning we woke up to something a bit surprising..... a tree had fallen on our rental car! Surprisingly there was very little damage done to the car. Thank goodness! The tree falling on our car could've put a real damper on our day, but thankfully we were able to still go ahead with our plans to go into San Francisco for the day. Mark and Jeremy had to saw the branches off the tree to get it off. Although the tree looked like it might be kind of light, they said it was not.

tree on car! Luckily, it looked a lot worse than it was.

After they got the tree cleared off of the car, we were able to head out to San Francisco as planned. The first place we stopped was a place called Twin Peaks. It is an area where you have a good view of San Francisco. It was very scenic!

view of San Fran from Twin Peaks

Jenny, Mark, Jonah, and Jeremy walking along the edge at Twin Peaks

Me and Jenny at 'Twin Peaks'

Our next stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. The weather was nice enough for us to walk part of the way across the bridge. We could tell the rain was coming while we were out on the bridge so we rushed to get back to the car. It started pouring just as we got to the car, but we all got kind of wet as we rushed to get in. The bridge was beautiful and it was definitely at the top of the list as far as things I wanted to see while in San Francisco. I'm glad we got it in!!

Golden Gate Bridge

Jonah in his stroller on the Golden Gate Bridge

Thankfully, the rain didn't last, at least not where we headed next. We went down to the Fisherman's Wharf area by way of Lombard Street (the curviest street in America), then and had lunch and walked around for awhile and ended up down at pier 39 where the sea lions play. Jonah enjoyed watching and hearing the sea lions. I enjoyed it too although they were kind of stinky. :)

Lombard Street

Unique road sign at the top of Lombard Street

Looking back up Lombard Street. If you look closely you can see the cars that are obviously facing different directions as they curve down the street. (Can you imagine living on this street?!?!)

The 3 of us at Fisherman's Wharf

Sea Lions at Pier 39

By far, Jonah's favorite thing was riding the cable car in downtown. We rode a street car and a cable car. It was a unique experience. Jonah loved how all the street cars and cable cars were each a different color. He would say "you see that blue one?" or " you see that red one!?" He got very excited each time one passed.

One of the street cars... it is pretty amazing how they just travel along right in the middle of the road with the cars.

The Cable car we rode in

View as we went down the road in the Cable car

Me and Jenny in the Cable car

The 3 of us on the side of the cable car (after the cable car ride)

Jenny and Jeremy on the cable car

Me and Jenny on the cable car

At my request we next drove over to see the "Painted Ladies". Thes are the houses that got their fame from the tv show "Full House". Although, I don't think one of these houses was actually used on the show or anything. They were very pretty and again a sight that was high on my list of things to see in San Fran since this girl was a big "Full House" fan back in the day.

Me and Mark in front of the 'Painted Ladies'

We also went to Golden Gate Park which is a big park and reminded us a lot of Central Park. It was beautiful and had a lot of open space that was essential for those city dwellers in down town San Fran. The park goes right up to the coast, so we did get out of the car for a few minutes and admire the beautiful CA coast, unfortunately it was still too cold for bathing suits!

Windmill in Golden Gate Park

A funny sign inside Golden Gate Park -- pretty much you can't do anything in this area of the park.

The beautiful view at Ocean Beach (the beach inside of Golden Gate Park)

We ended our day by going to dinner with our dear friends Jenny and Jeremy. The time with them was way too short for me. It was a sad goodbye for me and Jenny. Jenny is one of those friends who I always feel close to and always pick up with where we left off. I am so thankful for her!

Snow Shoes & Sacramento

2011-03-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

So, obviously, we are home, now... back in NYC in the freezing cold winter weather! I am so ready for some spring weather! This winter seems to be dragging on and on. Hopefully its going to come to an end really soon!!

I have a couple of more posts to finish out this vacation, so although, we are home and you are not going to be getting real time updates, I am going to try to finish up the summary of our vacation so that it is all properly recorded. I had actually written out most of this post while we were still on the trip, but I am just now getting around to posting it and uploading the pictures that go along with it.

This is a picture of Jonah in the lobby of the lodge. He loved these wooden bears. He would put an arm around each of them and shout "goup uggh!" (Group hug!) So sweet!
(I meant to post this picture earlier and forgot to, so its really an add to the post from day 2 at Yosemite).

Saturday, March 19th
We woke up to about a foot of snow in Yosemite on Saturday morning. Yup. 12 inches. It was gorgeous. Snow is always beautiful, but snow in Yosemite National Park with the huge pine trees, cedar trees, and the mountains… it is just a whole new level of beauty if you ask me.

Mark headed out as soon as we woke up to get some pictures of the freshly fallen snow. Of course, he also had the motivation of going up to the lodge to get us some breakfast and coffee, but along the way, he did capture some beautiful pictures.
I had plans to go up to the lodge when he got back to go into the gym there and run on the treadmill. Mark had a better idea for me and convinced me it was a good one. I’m definitely glad I followed his suggestion. The lodge has snow shoes you can rent by the hour, so I ended up renting some snow shoes and hiking back through the woods behind the lodge for about an hour. It was great; a very unique experience, and much more out of the ordinary than a run on the treadmill, not too shabby of a workout either. The snow shoes kind of feel like big flip flops on your feet. You strap them to your shoes or boots and your heels are not attached to the snow shoe, so they kind of have the motion of a flip flop. With the snow shoes on, you still sink down an inch or two into the snow, so it’s not totally like you are walking on top of the snow. During my walk/hike, I saw various track prints of animals, probably some coyote and deer. I also am relatively certain that I saw bear tracks. I tried to take pictures of them, but it is really hard to tell what they are in the picture. I’m pretty glad that I did not see an actual bear. If I had, I’m sure I would’ve totally freaked out – exactly what you are not supposed to do.

The rack of snow shoes for rent

This is the path I walked down with my snow shoes on... beautiful, huh?

There wasn't really anyone else out on this path, so I layed down in the snow so I could take a picture of my snow shoes in the snow :)

Here I am laying down in the snow. At one point, I got thirsty on my hike/walk, so I ate some of the untouched snow.... hadn't done that in a good 15 years, kind of made me feel like a kid again.

scenery on my hike

Had to get a picture holding my snow shoes

Tenaya Lodge also offers sleigh rides. If we had planned ahead a little better and known for sure that we were going to get all of that snow, we definitely would’ve taken Jonah on one of these rides. While I was out on the trail behind the lodge, one of the sleighs went by… it looked like so much fun!!! I snapped a few pictures as it went by (as I secretly wished I was on the ride instead of in the snow shoes)

The beautiful horses pulling the sleigh

After my hike, I went back to our cabin to find Mark cheering on the UK Wildcats. Luckily, they pulled out a win over West Virginia. This means that they will be playing their next game on Friday in Newark, NJ. Mark is already trying to figure out a way to get to the game!

We had a great time in Yosemite and I already want to go back. I want to live there actually. They have a clinic inside of the park…. I’m pretty sure they have an opening for a Nurse Practitioner :)…. Maybe in my next life.

So, after watching the Wildcats pull off a victory, we quickly finished packing up and headed out for Sacramento to meet up with our friends Jenny and Jeremy. Jenny is my dear friend who I met in graduate school at Ohio State. I was so very excited to get to see her! Initially, we thought we might have to get chains for our tires to get down the mountain, out of Yosemite area, but fortunately we had waited long enough and the roads were basically completely cleared. We heared a few days later that Yosemite contined to get snow, got like 4 feet total, and all of the visitors inside of Yosemite had to be evacuated out of the area. Glad we got out when we did! (Although, that would have been kind of cool to see 4 feet of snow fall in such a short amount of time).

The drive to Sacramento went by quickly. It was about a 4 hour drive. A lot of people have made comments about all the driving we did. It really wasn't that bad. Jonah did so great. He didn't seem to mind all the driving either. I think partially, especially for me and Mark all the driving was pretty enjoyable since we don't have a car or drive that much.

We met Jenny and Jeremy at the state capitol building in Sacramento. It is a beautiful building. It was really interesting to walk around in the building and see the rooms where the legislative bodies meet. Jonah seemed to enjoy being in such a big building and being able to run around in some open spaces. We also saw the giant bronze grizzly bear that Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger had put in front of the public entrance to the govenor's office while he was in office. Jonah really liked the giant bear (as you can see!)

The beautiful state capitol building in Sacramento

Jonah kissing the grizzly bear.... glad its a bronze one

All of us with the Grizzly

Jonah standing on the steps of the CA state capitol buliding

After visiting the state capitol building Jenny took us by the hospital she works at. I wanted to see where she works and learn more about her position. It was really interesting to me to see the hospital and learn a little bit more about her daily life. I am always interested in seeing hospitals and learning about them. I always have Mark drive me by the hospitals in the cities we go to.... I guess that's the nerdy nurse coming out in me. After visiting Jenny's work, we went to dinner at a favorite local resturant (of Jenny and Jeremy's) and then we got some coffee and dessert. We tried to go to Old Sacramento, but it was getting really late and it was raining, so we decided just to drive by rather than get out and walk around.
We had a great afternoon and evening with our friends! We then went back to their house in Davis, CA and spent some more time with them before we all crashed for the evening.

My last post about our vacation will be about what we did the next day... we spent the day in San Francisco with Jenny and Jeremy... it was another great day!! I'll blog about it as soon as I can!

Pinecones and Sequoias

2011-03-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 18th - Day 2 at Yosemite National Park

Friday morning we went into the lodge restaurant for breakfast. That was my first time to see the inside of the lodge. It was beautiful. It is just what you picture when you think of a mountain or ski lodge. It had a huge stone fireplace and various wild game mounted on the wall. Around the fireplace were nice big comfy couches and chairs to lounge in. The restaurant had a nice breakfast buffet, which we took advantage of.

Main entrance of Tenaya Lodge

Fireplace in lobby of Lodge

After breakfast, we looked around the lodge a little bit and then headed back to our cabin to get ready to hike up to the Giant Sequoias inside the park. In the summer, you can drive your car up close to the sequoias and then ride a little tram around to see all of the famous trees, but this time of year, the road is closed. So, in order to see the giant sequoias, you have to walk up that road. It didn’t make much sense that the road was closed because it was totally cleared off. We were even able to take our Bob stroller and push Jonah up the road rather than having Mark carry him in the hiking back pack. This road was entirely uphill for about 1500 feet of elevation change, about 3.1 miles total. I had the ‘great’ idea to try to run up this hill….. yea, we didn’t make it very far running. We ran in spurts to get some exercise in and to also save a little time. Overall, we mostly walked but it was still a work out. You really can tell a difference when you are exercising at an elevation of 5,000 feet.

The Giant Sequoias were just that. Giant. They were incredible. SO big and so tall. I guess it’s not something that can fully be understood until you are right there standing beside them. It got colder as we went up in elevation and there was more and more snow. We had Jonah bundled up in his snow suit, but he was still saying he was cold when he got out of his ‘BundleMe’ in his stroller. Once he got out though, he did enjoy the trees, especially the ones he called ‘Nunnel Tees!’ (tunnel trees). These were the ones with a whole in the base where you could walk through. There were one or two that had these tunnels in them.

Jonah getting ready to go on our walk up to the Sequoias. This is in our little cabin.. we had our own little fireplace in there too!!

Entering Mariposa Grove

This picture is just funny -- Jonah looks like he is about to fall over, he was stuck down in there though, we had to help him get out!!

Me next to one of the Giant Sequoias.. they're HUGE, aren't they!?!

Mark and Jonah underneath 'Clothespin'; looking up at the tree.

Now you can see why this tree is named 'Clothespin'

That's me and Jonah (in the stroller) back in between the trees... kind of gives you an idea of just how big these trees are! GIANT!

Jonah under the 'Nunnel Tee'

This one was named 'Fallen Monarch' it was so enormous!

While we were up in the Mariposa grove, the area of the Giant Sequoias, I was in search of large pine cones. I had seen giant pine cones in the gift shop (for $15 each) at Tenaya Lodge, so I figured there had to be some in Mariposa Grove. Mark spotted one first and I was thrilled. Not sure why, but I really wanted to find one. After Mark initially found one for me, I found 2 others, one of which was larger and in better condition than the one Mark initially found, so that is the one I decided to keep. I have no idea what I am going to do with this giant pine cone now, but it is giant and makes a good (free) souvenir. :) I’ve just got to figure out how to get it home in one piece.

My giant pinecone...I did make it home with it all in one piece... now to figure out what I am going to do with it.

On the 3+mile walk back down from Mariposa grove, Jonah fell asleep. He slept all the way down, so that ended up being a pretty decent nap for him. We went back to Tenaya lodge, grabbed some lunch and just hung out in our little cabin for a while. Later in the afternoon, we went to the indoor pool and hot tub. Jonah had a blast. While we were in the hot tub, it started snowing…… and it didn’t stop until Saturday morning (more about that later).

Friday night we went back up to the lodge restaurant for dinner. We then looked around in the lodge’s gift store, got some hot chocolate and just relaxed in the lobby of the lodge (well, relaxed as much as possible with a 2 year old running around). It was a really good day. The Giant Sequoias make it up to the top of my list of things we’ve gotten to see/do on this trip.

The Tunnel with a view

2011-03-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 17

We left Ridgecrest, CA early on Thursday morning and set out for the drive to Yosemite National Park. This would be our longest stretch of driving yet, about 5 hours. It actually went by really fast and Jonah did great. It really helps that we have a portable DVD player in the car. I don’t know how my parents survived without one. It’s really the greatest thing. Jonah watches various DVD’s, such as, Thomas the Tank Engine, Elmo or Sesame Street, and Word World. So, for the most part, the DVD’s keep Jonah entertained. We also have some books that he looks through or I read to him. We have his travel sized Doodle Pro which entertains him for quite a while as well. We also listened to some of Jonah’s CD’s, you know kid appropriate music that he likes, mainly the CD’s we’ve gotten from his Music For Aadvarks classes.
During the drive to Yosemite, we had to cross over the lower part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It was a very scenic drive. We saw several signs warning us of potential wildlife crossings for wild cows or bulls and even wild horses. I was keeping my eyes peeled for some wild horses, but we never saw any, unfortunately. Towards the end of this drive, as we got closer and closer to Yosemite National Park the roads got more curvy and more mountainous.

We arrived to Yosemite National Park in the early afternoon. The weather on Thursday was nice. It was in the mid 50’s, so we headed down to Yosemite valley to see some things and do some hiking. Along the way, right beside the road, we saw a coyote. It was just chillin’ beside the road. I was literally about 10 feet from it in the car with my window rolled down taking a picture. I guess maybe the wildlife is somewhat used to visitors? It didn’t act like it was bothered by us at all.

Our coyote friend

Our first stop in Yosemite was Tunnel View. It is called Tunnel View because you drive through a tunnel, approximately ½ mile long, when you come out of the other side of the tunnel, you have a view, and when I say a view, I mean an AMAZING view. I really cannot put into words how beautiful this was. Just gorgeous. This view included El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridalveil Falls, and Yosemite Falls. Jonah was asleep in the car at this point, so Mark and I alternated getting out and looking at the view.

Tunnel View

Next up was getting a closer view of Bridalveil Falls. Jonah was still asleep in the car, so Mark and I alternated again to go out and see these falls. It was a one half mile (round trip) hike, so it took each of us like 10-15 minutes to go see it. It was a pretty amazing view too, you were basically right at the base of the falls and could feel the mist of the falls hitting you.

Bridalveil Falls

After Bridalveil falls, we went down to Yosemite Visitor’s Center to look around at the museum and to get some more information on the hikes that we could do in Yosemite. Since Yosemite is at a much higher elevation, some of the trails are still not passable this time of year due to snow and ice. Once again, Jonah loved the little museum… it had several stuffed, real animals and also had a model of one of the giant sequoia’s with a little tunnel he could walk through, so of course, he did that over and over. Mark was able to find out about a hike we could do, which would be about 3 miles round trip, and was safe and passable this time of year. The hike was to Upper Yosemite Falls.
This was definitely the most challenging hike we have done this whole trip. We gained 1500 feet during this hike, so it was strenuous. I do not know how Mark did it with an additional 40lbs + on his back. It was basically zig-zagging up a mountain, climbing over rocks and crossing over small water falls. About 1000 feet up the hike was Columbia Rock. I climbed down below Columbia Rock and Mark was able to take my picture as I stood out on the rock. Even Mark got a little nervous when I was climbing out there… usually it’s the other way around :)

Jonah playing around at the visitor's center

Mark and Jonah on the hike to Yosemite Falls

Me on the way up to Yosemite Falls

View on the way to Yosemite Falls

Upper Yosemite Falls

Not the greatest picture of the 3 of us, but I love how Jonah is giving a cheesy grin

Lower Yosemite Falls

view of Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls together
Although the hike was strenuous, it was well worth it. The view at the top was amazing. We could look up at Upper Yosemite Falls and look down at Lower Yosemite Falls. This water fall is technically the highest waterfall in America. It’s kind of cheating though because they add the distance of the two falls together. Its technically one waterfall since it’s all in the same stream of water. Mark felt somewhat hurried to turn around and get back down the mountain because he was worried about it getting dark. We hadn’t started the hike until about 4pm, so he did not want us to get stuck coming down the mountain in the dark. Going down the mountain went by a lot more quickly than going up and we made it down before it got dark.

For dinner we stayed down in the valley and ate at a restaurant in Yosemite Lodge. We then headed back up the mountain to exit the park and go to our hotel. The drive back up the mountain at night made this Momma a bit nervous. It was very dark and the roads were very curvy. We also saw 2 more coyote running alongside the road. We made it though… and checked into our hotel, the Tenaya Lodge. This hotel/resort has a big lodge where you can stay and also has individual cabins. We chose an individual cabin. Each has its pros and cons obviously, but overall we were happy with our choice. Our little cabin had a fireplace, which we especially enjoyed. Once we got our stuff in and settled it was pretty much time to hit the hay… we were tired from that hike!!

"Be Cawefuu Daddy!"

2011-03-20T22:39:00.000-07:00

You know the $1 section at Target? Well, Jonah loves rummaging through that section of stuff. Most of it is junk, and thankfully most of it is not breakable, so its ok to let him rumage through it. Occasionally, you can happen upon something good in there!!

As we left Vegas and headed for Death Valley, we stopped by Target to get a few things we needed. Jonah was quickly distracted by the $1 isles. He found a selection of Elmo and Sesame Street themed books. One of the books he found was entitled, "Be Careful Abby!". It quickly became apparent that we would not be leaving Target without this book and another book with Cookie Monster's picture on the front of it. "Be Careful Abby" talks about times when Abby should be careful (pretty obvious, I know). So, we read that book a couple of times on our ride down to Death Valley. He is really into Abby and Elmo... well, really all of the other characters on Sesame Street too for that matter. He really enjoyed these two $1 finds. It also became apparent that Jonah was really listening and understanding when I read "Be Careful Abby" to him.

We were on our hike of the Mosaic Canyon in Death valley and as we were climbing over rocks, Jonah exclaimed, "Be cawefuu Daddy! (be careful daddy). It was so cute! Throughout the hike, at various times, he would say this to either me or Mark as we hiked and climbed along. I guess a combination of reading that book and a nervous Mommy who had probably been saying a similar phrase somewhat frequently (to Mark) on previous hikes had an influence on Jonah.

282 Feet Below Sea Level

2011-03-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 16th

Wednesday morning we packed up and left Vegas headed for Death Valley, CA. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive. We were in the middle of nowhere! Really... there was nothing for most of the drive. Pretty refreshing... just wide open spaces.

We stopped to take a picture as we entered California. It was also in the middle of nowhere. It did not look like what most people think of when you think of California.

Entering California, the 22nd state Jonah has visited!!!

Once we arrived in Death Valley National Park, we drove up to Dante's view. This viewpoint is over 5,000 ft in elevation. It was about 62 degrees up there and really windy. It was cold. Jonah and I didn't last too long outside of the car. The view was spectacular and unique... like nothing I've ever seen before. Looking down into Death Valley, it looked like you were looking at snow or water, but it was minerals that have arisen out of the soil and have not been able to make it out to the ocean because the land is so dry (no water to wash it out to the ocean). These minerals are referred to as the salts. Along the drive up to Dante's view, we saw several bikers. Not people on motorcycles, but people manually pedaling their way up to Dante's view. WOW. This was impressive. It was uphill for like 4,000 plus feet. No doubt, these people must be serious bikers, training for something or just wanting to stay in excellent shape.

Looking out at Dante's view

Dante's view

After Dante's view, we drove to another view point called Zabriskie point. At this view point, you could see different layers and colors in the sand. It was very pretty and again something unique, never had seen anything quite like this before. Mark walked way out on one of the hills with Jonah. It looks much more dangerous in the picture than it actually was. It was a gradual decline.

Jonah and Daddy at Zabriskie's point

Jonah and Mommy at Zabriskie's point

Mark and Jonah way out on one of the hills at Zabriskie's point

From Zabriskie point, we stopped by the Visitor's center for (a less than mediocre) lunch at a a buffet, looked around at the Information center and browsed through the gift shop. After this pit stop, we drove down to an area called Badwater, which is the lowest point in the western hemisphere, 282 feet below sea level. In the picture, you will see, it looks like you could walk out and be in the ocean. Again, this is the formation of the minerals on the dry land. Down in this area, the badwater area, it was 93 degrees, so that was a change in temperature of over 30 degrees!! This area was named Badwater by one of the travelers that passed through Death Valley during the goldrush in California. He tried to get his donkey to drink some water in the area and because of the strong taste of all the minerals in the water, the man's donkey would not drink the water, so the man referred to the area as Badwater.

Jonah standing in front of an old locomotive that was at the Visitor's Center at Death Valley.

The 3 of us at Badwater Basin

Jonah loved 'reading' the signs... he would trace each letter with his fingers and say the letter outloud.

View looking out at Badwater Basin

We also did 2 hikes while we were in Death Valley. The first was called Natural Bridge. It was a short hike, only took about 30 minutes... it was hot though!! Jonah really enjoyed drinking from the camelbak that we used to carry our water in. Every few minutes he says, "more wawa pease!" (more water please). If we stopped to give him water every time he asked for it, we'd be stopping every 2 minutes and we'd have a water logged boy. At Natural Bridge, Mark was able to climb up pretty high on the rocks. Jonah kept asking to go up with him, which of course did not happen, but Mark helped him climb around a little on some lower rocks and I got a picture of him sitting up on one of the rocks. He thought he was big stuff ! :)

One of Jonah's many drinks from the camelbak (I realize he looks like he is about to have a heat stroke here, but don't worry, this is not an accurate representation of how he felt -- its just the only picture I took of him drinking from the camelbak

Mark climbed way up high on the rocks

Jonah sitting up on the rocks that Daddy helped him climb

Mark and Jonah standing in front of Natural Bridge

The second hike we did was called Mosaic Canyon. This was a more unique hike and it was mostly shaded, so that was nice. The canyon has been created by water flowing through. The rock was very smooth. You still have to be careful when hiking here if there is a chance of rain, flash flooding can be an issue. During this hike, we let Jonah out of the backpack and he had a great time, running around playing with the rocks and being a boy!

Jonah playing around in the rocks on a hike through Mosaic Canyon

Off the beaten path in Mosaic Canyon

A picture of me from Mark's viewpoint in the picture above

The 3 of us at a larger part of Mosaic Canyon

Me down in Mosaic Canyon, while Mark took the picture from above

Mark and Jonah in Mosaic Canyon

We wore him out!!

That pretty much wraps up our day in Death Valley. We headed out of the park to go to our hotel for the night in Ridgecrest, CA. This drive took about 3 hours and was amazing. Again, we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere. We didn't see anything for a majority of that drive. We were in the mountains on some crazy roads. We had a view of the Sierra Nevada mountains as the sun was going down and it was beautiful.

Sun setting as we drove out of Death Valley

Las Vegas with a 2 year old

2011-03-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 14 evening - Wednesday, March 16 morning

We arrived in Vegas on Monday evening. We didn’t really do too much once we got to our hotel because we were tired from all we had done during the day.

Tuesday morning we got up and headed down to the Vegas strip. What in the world do you do in Vegas with a 2 year old, you ask? Well, definitely not the typical gambling! We did a lot of walking, seeing various exhibits at the hotels/resorts. Everything in Vegas Is over the top (if you’ve been there, you know what I mean!) The MGM hotel has a lion exhibit in their lobby. As some of you know, Jonah has a stuffed lion that he is quite attached to. He sleeps with it every night and often carries it around the apartment when we are at home. We thought because he is so attached to this stuffed lion that he'd enjoy seeing some real, live lions. So, we headed to the MGM resort to check it out. Jonah was a bit scared of the lions. When the trainer would toss a ball the lion would run and chase it… if the ball was in Jonah’s direction and the lion was running in Jonah’s general direction, Jonah would say, “I scared!, Yion Urt me!” We reassured Jonah that there was no way that the lion could get through the glass that separated them. After this reassurance, Jonah seemed much more content and enjoyed watching the lions run around. We walked around and did some more sight-seeing at other resorts… we saw the lobby at the Bellagio, which was amazing! There were live flowers everywhere! For some reason, I didn't really get pictures of it...not sure what I was thinking.

After Jonah’s nap, we headed back out to see a few more sights that were ideal to see at night. We ate dinner at Serendipity 3 on the Vegas strip. this is a restaurant that is quite famous in NYC, but nearly impossible to bring a child to because there is no where to leave a stroller and it is very small. So, I thought we would take advantage of eating there, at a much larger location. After dinner we headed on to see a few sights. The first was a volcano in front of one of the resorts that erupts every hour. We thought that Jonah might enjoy seeing this – um.... we were wrong. Jonah was petrified. He watched intently as the ‘volcano’ began to erupt, but seconds into the show, Jonah freaked out. He was so scared, he was shaking… poor baby. He was saying over and over again, “I scared! Dat urt me!” (That hurt me) The volcano eruption was definitely louder and more intense than we imagined it to be, so we could see why this would scare him. You could even feel the heat coming from the fire that was being shot up out of the volcano. We got him farther away from the action and he calmed down quickly. Next we headed over to see the fountains at the Bellagio. This was probably my favorite part of Vegas. These fountains were quite impressive. They would shoot WAY up high and were choreographed to music. The fountains exhibit played every 15 minutes. Jonah was not interested in the fountains because he was associating it with the volcano we had just watched. He thought it was going to be something scary, and we really couldn’t convince him otherwise. He wasn’t crying or anything, he was just completely content to sit in his stroller and not look at the display. He missed out!!

We stayed in a hotel called Platinum. It was a nice hotel and it was more kid friendly than a lot of the hotels. It wasn't a casino and it wasn't right on the strip. From our room, we could see the strip, which Jonah loved. He could also see the monorail that went through Vegas and he loved watching it. It ran quite frequently, so he was entertained by it.

Wednesday morning, we basically got up and checked out of our hotel to drive to Death Valley, CA.

Below are some various pictures of our day in Vegas....

Jonah and Daddy posing in a motorcycle with a sidecar. This was on display in the Forum shops at Caesar's Palace Resort.

Jonah watching the Lions play

Jonah watching the volcano before he got really scared

The Probsts in Vegas

Mommy and Jonah

The Fountains at the Bellagio -- this was MUCH more impressive in person

Jonah sitting on the hotel balcony, pointing at the monorail running through Vegas
(Its a little blurry... but his expression is priceless!)

Weeping Rock and Emerald Pools

2011-03-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind on getting these posts up about our trip. We stayed at a hotel for 2 nights in Vegas and we didn't have WiFi in the room, so that really hindered my blogging ability. Then, the next night in Death Valley we got into the hotel late and I was too sleepy, so didn't get any blogging done that night either. SO, I am going to try to get caught up. We're in Yosemite now, and will be till tomorrow morning, so I am going to work on getting caught up. I will post the actual date of when these things occured at the top of each post....

Monday, March 14th

The stay at Desert Pearl Inn was great! It was such a fabulous little Inn. If you ever go to Zion National Park, we highly recommend it! Something that made it even more fabulous in Mark’s opinion is that their little café served Starbucks coffee. He was quite thankful for that little blessing!
After our breakfast and fueling up on caffeinated beverages up for the day, we headed out to hike. The first hike we did was a short one, called Weeping Rock. I guess it was called Weeping Rock because the rock was kind of crying. It was like sprinkling rain from the rock, from a water supply up above.
The second hike we did was the longer one of the two. It was about a 3 mile round trip. This hike took us to 3 different water falls. It was a very pretty hike and was quite enjoyable. There was one area of the hike that was very muddy. I tried to capture the extent of the mud we had to walk through, but its hard to get the full idea through the picture, but I’ll post it below anyways. Jonah did really well in the pack again. He seemed to enjoy himself and was very patient with all the hiking we did.

Below are some pictures of our hikes…

Me & Jonah on the hike to Weeping Rock

The larger waterfall at Weeping Rock

Amazing view near Weeping Rock

Another amazing view from Weeping Rock

Starting out on our hike to Emerald Pools

The muddy path we had to walk through

We let Jonah out of the backpack for a break and he wanted to climb up on the rocks with Daddy :)

Mark and Jonah at the 3rd and highest falls at Emerald Pools

Water fall on Emerald Pools hike

Beautiful view on Emerald Pools hike

After our hike, we went back into Springdale for lunch. We ate at a little Mexican place that was pretty good. We then decided to rent bikes with a bike trailer for Jonah to sit in. We went riding through Zion National Park for about 2 hours. We were able to ride on a trail that was designated for biking/walking/running. It was quite enjoyable and it was fun to get to bike in such unbelievable scenery. Jonah did well in the bike trailer. He did say he wanted to get out every now and then, but for the most part enjoyed himself. On our bike ride, we stopped by the visitor’s center of Zion, let Jonah run around some and picked up a few postcards, etc. while we were there.

Mark on his bike with Jonah in the trailer... can't really see Jonah too well though

This is a stellar picture of me -- at least the view is good :)

Jonah being adorable in the bike helmet

Jonah playing around on the 'steps' at the Visitor's Center

By the time we got done with the biking, it was getting close to 5pm. Jonah hadn’t had a nap for the day, so he was definitely exhausted. We hopped back in the car to head to Vegas, which took about 2.5 hours or so. Jonah slept for a majority of the trip. We arrived in Vegas, grabbed some dinner and then checked into our hotel.

Canyon Overlook Hike

2011-03-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

This morning we relaxed for a little while in our hotel in Bryce Canyon. We then packed up and headed to Zion National Park. The drive was incredibly scenic and we even saw some antelope in the countryside along the way.

We came straight into the park and went on a mile long hike to get to a view point to see the canyon. The hike was beautiful, mostly straight up on the way there and down on the way back. There were many friendly people along the way on the hike. Zion National Park is apparently much more visited than Bryce Canyon National Park, especially this time of year. So, we saw a lot more people on the hike today than we did on the 3 mile hike yesterday.

Along the hike, our paths crossed with Barb and Norm. They were very friendly, they offered to take our picture for us. We talked to them a little bit and learned that they had wanted to come visit the National Parks out west for a long time, but never had enough time off of work to do it when they were younger. Norm was in the military and they moved all around for many years. So, they decided to come to the parks now, even though they were older. They said a lot of their friends and family thought they were crazy for taking this trip. They were so cute and so excited about their trip and adventures. I was quite impressed with them, hiking up this trail. It was only a mile long, but it wasn't the easiest hike, especially for someone their age. They held hands much of the way and were helping each other along. I told them how I was impressed with them and Barb said, "He has to do a lot of pullin', but I eventually make it all the way up!" She seemed pretty proud of herself, and she definitely should be. They took pictures of us on their camera and got our email address (using their iphone) so they could email us they pictures. They were so cute!! I hope I'm hiking like them in 40 years!

After our hike, we came to our hotel, The Desert Pearl Inn. It is a great place and we have a great view from our little balcony out back. Jonah loves playing on the balcony... don't worry, he can't fall off. There's a little river running behind the hotel and behind that are the beautiful mountains of Zion National Park. Stunning.

I was able to get a run in this afternoon... ran from our hotel into Zion Park. It was a beautiful run. We walked into Springdale for dinner. Its the same town our hotel is in. We ate at a great little pizza place. The weather has been perfect today. If the day wasn't already great enough, to top it off, UK won the SEC tournament. :) Here are some pictures of our day today.

Antelope we saw along the roadside on the drive to Zion National Park

Entrance to Zion National Park

Early part of the 1 mile hike

Barb and Norm on the hike :)

Barb and Norm at the top of the hike!

View at the top

Another view at the top of the hike

Jonah enjoying the view at Canyon Overlook

Mark and Jonah at the top of the hike

Gorgeous view of Zion Canyon

On the way back down... a more challenging part of the hike for Mark.. he had to duck down in order to make sure Jonah's head didn't hit against the rocks in this passageway.

Scenic view in Zion

Desert Pearl Inn - There are more hotel rooms in the back, you can't really see them from this picture, but you can see the view we have from the balcony off of our room!

"Trwee Urt Me!"

2011-03-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

This is a quick story I forgot to include in the blog about our first two days....As you could see in the previous pictures, Jonah was riding up high on Mark's back in the pack. When we started out on the 3 mile hike yesterday, Mark accidentally let a tree branch brush up against Jonah. It did't leave a mark on Jonah or anything, but he cried. I think more than anything it startled and scared him. For the next little bit Jonah was crying and saying "Trwee Urt Me!!" (Tree hurt me!) He was scared that another branch was going to hit him in the face and scratch him and hurt him. He was actually quite scared and really wanted out of the pack.
Initially, this was a bit frustrating for me and Mark. We thought that we had ruined our chances of getting any hiking in with Jonah in the pack. We ended up getting Jonah down out of the pack in a flat, safer area and talking to him about the trees and how Mark didn't mean to let it hit him and we would make sure that no more trees would hit him or hurt him. Eventually, Jonah agreed to get back in the pack and give it another try. By the end of the hike, which Jonah ended up loving, Jonah was randomly shouting "Trwee No Urt Me!!" (translation: The tree doesn't hurt me!!)

Kolob Canyon & Bryce Canyon

2011-03-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, Mark, Jonah, and I are on a trip! We are currently in Bryce Canyon, Utah. I am going to try to blog every couple of days on the trip in order to keep record (for myself) of what we've done and also to allow those of you who'd like to read about our adventures!

On Friday morning, we flew out of Newark Airport and 5+ hours later we landed in Las Vegas, NV. Jonah did great on the flight, especially considering he has a horrible ear infection and his Pediatrician was even concerned that his ear drum could rupture on the flight with the increased altitudes. He fussed once or twice about his ear, but really it didn't seem to bother him too much. He was a bit restless towards the end of the flight, but overall he was very well behaved.

After we landed in Las Vegas, we got our rental car, and loaded up to head to Cedar City, UT, which would be our first stop on our travels. Along the way, we made a few stops. The first was at REI to get a couple of items we would need for the hiking we planned to do on the trip. After being in REI and being able to run around for awhile, Jonah fell asleep in the car, which was nice because he slept for a big part of the driving we had to do that afternoon. On our way to Cedar City, UT we were able to stop at Kolob Canyons. It is part of Zion National Park, but an area that is highly visited due to the location. It is on the north end of Zion National Park, and most people that visit Zion, go to the southern part of the park. The Kolob Canyon was BEAUTIFUL! Well worth our little excursion off the interstate. (pictures below). We arrived in Cedar City, UT, checked into the Holiday Inn Express and then headed out to get some dinner (at Chili's) and then to Walmart (a refreshing trip to a large supermarket for this manhattan momma).

Kolob Canyon

Kolob Canyon

Saturday morning, we packed back up and headed out for Bryce Canyon National Park. It was about a 2 hour drive. The drive itself was beautiful! Just being in a car and driving out in the middle of nowhere is so refreshing. Once we arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park, we went to the visitors center to see what hiking trails would be open and what all we could do. Jonah loved the little muesem in the Visitor's Center. It had real stuffed animals that were native to this area and Jonah loved looking at them. They were enclosed in glass cases and he would squat down really close to them and say in his sweet little voice "Hi Bear" or "Hi Squirrel". It was really cute. He didn't want to leave this little muesem, but we finally convinced him there was more fun to be had!

At Bryce Canyon, we were able to do a 3 mile loop hike. It is very possibly the most amazing hike I've ever been on. I've been on a few others that compare, but the beauty that was saw was awe-inspiring! One of my favorite Rebecca St. James songs was running through my head "God of wonders, beyond our galaxy, you are holy, holy... the universe declares your majesty, you are holy, holy." It was truly beautiful and even the pictures I will be posting here will not do it justice, I am sure.
The 3 mile hike we did was actually through snow most of the time. Surprisingly, it was quite warm. We were dressed too warmly and even got hot. We were shedding layers as we went, the problem was we then had to carry them. We even saw one guy hiking with his shirt off and wearing shorts. That tells you how warm it was. The weather was perfect actually. Mark did not heed his wife's advice and ended up getting sunburnt on this hike. Mark carried Jonah in a pack on his back for the whole hike. It was quite impressive. Many of the people made comments about how he was carrying Jonah so far on quite a strenuous hike.

One of the groups of people we passed asked where we were from, to which I replied, NYC. The girl said, "Oh! I love NYC!", so then I asked where they were from and she said they were from Northern Utah, Salt Lake City area, to which Mark replied "We LOVE Utah!".... and that pretty much sums it up!

Enjoy the pictures. Next we are headed to Zion National Park for a day or two... I'll blog more as we go.

On the drive to Bryce Canyon.... they had just a bit of snow this winter... just 40 feet or so.

This archway was over the road before the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park

About to head out on our 3 mile loop hike

Bryce Canyon, the view as we start out on our hike

Mark and Jonah on the hike

Jonah loved getting to walk on his own through one of the 'tunnels'

Jonah thoroughly enjoyed tracing the letters on the sign with his fingers and saying each letter outloud

Mark and Jonah heading up the trail.. if you look above them in the picture, you can see where the trail is headed... it zigzags back and forth as you go up the hill.

The trail we just came up

Beautiful view and our friends from Salt Lake City

Another beautiful view on our hike

A natural bridge or arch in Bryce Canyon National Park

Hot-hot!

2011-02-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

Anytime we walk by a Starbucks, which is every few blocks in NYC, these are the words you will hear from Jonah's mouth "Hot-hot!", or "Dada get hot-hot!" Its really quite adorable and sometimes, he will just see the starbucks logo and loudly and proudly proclaim "hot hot!"

This all started because, as many of you know, Mark is a pretty avid Starbucks coffee drinker. He drinks a starbucks coffee nearly everyday. I know, its pretty ridiculous that we don't brew our coffee at home... but we won't get into that, this is just how it is. Anyways, Mark would bring his cup of coffee into the apartment on a weekend morning and say to Jonah, "Don't touch daddy's coffee, its hot, hot!" So, Jonah has since associated the words "hot hot!" with Starbucks coffee. Anytime Mark has a cup of coffee, Jonah wants to barely touch it and say "hot hot!".

On weekday mornings, when Mark is already at work, Jonah will often say, "Dada - choo-choo, hot-hot, work" This is Jonah's version of what Mark would say to him before he left for work. Mark would say, "Daddy is going to go get on the choo choo, get a hot hot and go to work." Jonah is so proud that he knows the outline of Dada's morning. Also, randomly thoughout the day, Jonah might say, "Dada at work, drink hot hot". Its so cute to think about what is going through his little mind.

There have been several occasions recently where Jonah has announced that he is going to get dada a "hot hot". He has wanted me to put his little back pack on (as pictured below) and then he will say "bye bye Mama, go get Dada hot hot". He made a similar announcement after getting on his little riding car, saying he was off to get dada a hot hot.

Don't worry, we won't be letting Jonah drink his own "hot hot" for quite a few more years. :)

Jonah heading out to buy his Daddy a coffee :P

Riding the car to get Daddy a coffee (or hot hot as he would call it)

Daddy and Jonah walking in NYC, Mark with coffee (hot hot) in hand

Jonah touching Daddy's coffee saying "Hot hot!"

Tumble Time

2011-02-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

Jonah recently started a Tumbling Class at the 92nd Street Y. I personally think it is the cutest class! The class starts off with some stretching. It is ADORABLE watching him attempt the little stretches. After the stretching, we move onto an 'obstacle course' which involves walking across the balance beam, hanging on to the parallel bars, climbing over some round mats, jumping on a big spongy/bouncy mat, doing a forward roll down a wedge mat, etc. He LOVES it! He is so proud of himself after he accomplishes each thing. There are usually 2 or 3 different obstacle course type things that are set up and the children do for the first half of the class.

Towards the end of the class, the teacher opens up the climbing area. Its one of those things that has tunnels and a ball pit and a slide, etc. He also LOVES this. He usually cries when we have to get out and go home. I'm pretty sure this class is the best money I've spent all winter.
Here are a few pictures from the class. Not the greatest pictures because I have to try to keep up with him during the class too. He isn't really thrilled about the idea of posing for pictures for me.

Doing some stretching

More stretching

Balance Beam

Playing in the tunnels

Ball Pit!

The In-Laws

2011-01-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

Often. the term 'In-Laws' carrys a negative connotation. I am so blessed to say that I absolutely adore my In Laws... not just Mark's parents, but everyone in his family. I am thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful family.

When I was a little girl, I always longed for a sister.. (I had 2 brothers). I just happened to marry someone who has 3 sisters, so I now, have 3 sisters! Additionally, my 2 brothers also have a wonderful wife and girlfriend that are now my sisters, so I have 5 sisters total. What a blessing!

We had a fabulous time with Mark's family over Christmas. We were lucky enough to be able to spend close to 2 weeks with them in Kentucky. I missed being able to spend time with my family, but how incredibly blessed I feel to be able to spend time with a family that I love so much. We have such a great time together!!

The time spent there started with celebrating Susie's (Mark's youngest sister) graduation from nursing school, where I had the privilege of pinning her in her ceremony. What an honor! Then we celebrated Jonah's 2nd birthday. How fun! The adults were even good enough sports to be blindfolded and played 'pin the number' on Thomas. It was quite entertaining. And then, of course, we celebrated Jesus' birth, Christmas. What a sweet time we had together. We were able to play in the snow that came on Christmas day!

As I get older, and because I live far from family, I believe I have come to cherish these times with family even more. I have always been a huge fan of spending time with family, but now more than ever, my family (which includes Mark's side of the family) means more to me than I know how to express.

Here are some pictures of our time with them... in no particular order (b/c I'm too lazy to try to get them in the order I want them to be in) Enjoy!

Momma's Baby

2010-12-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

Momma's baby from the moment I first held you.

Jonah Samuel Probst was born 2 years ago, this Saturday, December 18th. He was born at 6:48am, weighed 8lbs 9oz, and was 21 1/2 inches long. What a memorable day that was for me (for more reasons that one!)

Its your Birthday! Its your Birthday!

I was going to wait to post this till his actual birthday, but this weekend is going to be really busy, and I was afraid I wouldn't have time, so I decided to go ahead and do the post... in honor of Jonah's birthday week.

The past two years have, clearly, been the most amazing years. Jonah has taught me so very much (without even knowing it!). He has helped me learn about a whole new depth of love. His young life has given new meaning to my life. He made me a mother, the BEST job I could ever ask for, dream of, or wish to be. What a privilege and honor it is to be his mother.

Jonah has helped me understand the love of God more fully, the love that would cause one to give their life for another. Love that goes beyond the surface, to the depths of the soul.

Each day and every moment that I have the privilege of being Jonah's mother is truly a blessing. He is my baby, and wether he likes it or not, he always will be. I have often said to him, "Jonah, you're Momma's baby". I will say this to him when I am holding him, espeically when he is sitting in my lap. Well, recently he will climb into my lap, look up at me and say "Momma Baby". This brings pure joy to my heart! What a little love he is!!! He also will run up to me (or Mark) and say "Bi Ugg!" (meaning Big Hug). How could anyone resist?? After we are done with our hug, he will hold up all of his fingers and say "Twhoo Uggs!" He wants another hug. How precious! Jonah, you can have all the hugs you want!!! AND if you so desire, you can continue to climb in my lap and say "Momma Baby" (even when you are 18 years old!).

Jonah, you are the sweetest boy in the whole world. You mean the world to me. I would do ANYTHING for you. You have no idea how thankful I am for you. Thank you for every kiss, every hug, every smile, and yes, every tear and scream. I love every moment of it. I would go to the ends of the earth for you. Thank you for being Momma's Baby.... you always will be. I love you with all my heart!

One more baby picture - Jonah a couple of weeks old.

Look at me now! I'm getting so big!

I love Christmas, just like my Mommy!

Yup, still Momma's baby.

Buses, Taxis, & Subways, Oh My!

2010-12-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

This post is for my (few) readers out there that do not live in NYC.( Actually, I only have like 5 readers total, so maybe 2 of you are reading this.. :)) If you live in NYC, you are welcome to read this, but you already know about the things I am going to post. I have been thinking about posting about this topic for a quite awhile because I think that until you have lived in NYC or some other very large city, you have no idea what it is like to get around the city with children. I still don't have all the pictures I wanted for this post, but I decided to go ahead and write the post anways.

I am going to attempt give you an 'insider's' view to getting around NYC with a baby &/or toddler. Now, I must first give props to my NYC friends... as you read this post, you will see why I am giving them props. I have several friends that have 2 children and a few with 3. Its hard to get anywhere with 3 kids, but in NYC, its even more difficult. Yet, these fearless moms navigate this city like pro's! (Susan and Carmen!)

Around the 'hood.....
When I am just in my neighborhood, getting around is not so difficult. Jonah rides in one or our two strollers and I walk everywhere we go. On a typical day, I'd say we do stay in our neighborhood and we stay within a 1 mile or so radius of our apartment.
We go to Central Park, we go to different playgrounds in the area, run errands to stores, etc. This aspect of getting around is not so bad and in general, I enjoy the walking. We have a BOB jogging stroller, which is an awesome stroller, and I prefer to use this one unless I am going in a smaller store or a really crowded area. We also have a Maclaren stroller which is the stroller I use pretty much anytime we leave our neighborhood. Here's a picture of each of the strollers I use. I couldn't resist posting the one of Jonah sitting in front of a big fan in a store we went in, hence the crazy hair. :)

Taking the subway....
I'd say that on average, Jonah and I take the subway (just the two of us) once/week. You may think, oh taking a subway, so easy... you just hop on the train at the station and you get off the train where you want to go. Well, yes, in some ways it is easy, but throw a stroller and subway stations without elevators into the mix, and no, its not so easy. I generally carry the stroller with Jonah in it up and down the stairs to get to the train. There are, by far, more subway stations without elevators than there are with. Here are a few pictures of me getting to the subway. At first glance at this picture, I look happy, but look a little closer -- under my breath I am cursing the person who thought it'd be a good idea NOT to put elevators in the subway station. ;)

Once I get down the stairs into the train station, there's another challenge. In this picture you can see the turnstiles that you have to go through to get to the train. There is a locked gate for the handicapped or for people that have something that won't fit through the turnstiles, such as a stroller. Convenient, right? Well, not really, you have to get the MTA worker behind the window in the 'office' to open the gate for you. Let me tell you, they are generally more than happy to accomodate [insert sarcasm here]. In some cases there is no one in behind the window, so then you have to try to beg someone who has already gone through the turnstile to open the gate for you so you can get your stroller through. Some people look at you like you are trying to keep from paying your subway fare....NO, that is not the case people!! I am just trying to get around NYC with my child! Here's a view of the turnstiles and the gate:

Once through the gate, we are finally ready to go get on the train, unless of course there's yet another set of stairs to get down to the platform. Then I will once again pick up my stroller with my 28lb toddler in it and carry him and all our stuff down the stairs... pretty hard to look graceful doing it :) (But just imagine if you have 2 or even 3 kids!) When we are finally on the platform, the excitement begins because Jonah loves waiting on the 'choo-choo'. Here are a few pictures of him waiting on the train...

And here is a picture of Jonah on the subway. You can tell his little lips are saying 'choo-choo!' The boy loves his trains!

Taking the bus....
So, if I am by myself and not in much of a hurry, the bus is definitely my preferred method of transportation in NYC. In most cases, I can find a seat, its somewhat relaxing and there is something to look at out your window. However, Jonah and I rarely take the bus. In order to take the bus, I would have to get Jonah out of his stroller, make sure there's nothing in the bottom carrying compartment of the stroller, fold up the stroller, while somehow keeping tabs on my (almost) 2 year old, and then get Jonah, the stroller, our stuff and myself up the bus steps and onto the bus. NOT easy. The times I have taken the bus with just me and Jonah, I have used my Pikkolo carrier which is probably one of the best purchases I have made since having a baby. If only I had known about it sooner... I would've bought it earlier!! Its great! I can carry Jonah on my back using this carrier. I don't have any pictures of just me and Jonah on the bus, but here is a picture of Jonah on the bus one of the times all three of us took the bus somewhere. Jonah seems to enjoy the bus too, but I think he prefers the 'choo-choo' if given the choice.

Taking a taxi:
This is probably the second easiest means of transportation in the city. I'd say the easiest is just walking everywhere you go. However, that is not always an efficient (or warmest) way of getting where you need to go. Riding in a taxi still means that you have to manage getting your child out of the stroller, the stroller into the trunk of the taxi, and then both of you and all of your stuff safely into the taxi. When I am by myself, I usually set Jonah in the taxi, throw my stuff in the seat with him and then quickly put the stroller in the trunk. Its either that, or have him stand on the side of the sidewalk while I put the stroller in the trunk. If you can manage to not have a stroller with you, getting a taxi is much less complicated. As some of you may know, and others of you have asked, you do not have to have a car seat to take your baby or child in a taxi in NYC. I know this sounds horrible and is definitely not the safest, but just think about the level of complication it would add if we did have to have a car seat everytime we wanted to take a taxi.... I for one would never be taking a taxi. Here are a couple of pictures of Jonah in a taxi... we just hold onto him for dear life and pray that we don't get into an accident. We don't take taxis all that often, but living in NYC, its almost inevitable that we will take a few taxi rides.

Well, there you have it. I think I have covered the major modes of transportation here in NYC. Not as easy as you thought, right??

The Today Show

2010-10-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

My friend, Jill and I, had been talking about and planning on taking our kids down to the Today show for the Halloween Costume contest. Her idea was to dress Jonah and Even (her baby girl) as BamBam and Pebbles. I thought it was a great idea! So, We ordered their costumes from Etsy and continued making our plans.

On Thursday evening, I was in a costume shop looking for a club for BamBam to carry. I stumbled upon costumes for Betty Rubble and Wilma Flinstone. Jill and I had talked about the idea of dressing up too, but hadn't really followed through on it. I called Jill from the costume shop on Thursday and we decided to go for it with the costumes!

So, on Friday morning, Jonah and I met Jill and Even at a Starbucks (at 6:30am) to get our costumes completed and head to the Today Show audience together. Once we got to the audience area, we were just standing in the crowd. The kids were pretty good considering we were packed in like sardines trying to get our moment of fame from the Today Show audience. Jonah was insisting on being held the entire time, which was not the most fun for me, considering he is about 27lbs. My arms and back were killing me!

After we stood in the audience for about an hour, someone from the Today Show (behind the scenes) staff came and asked for Betty, Wilma, Pebbles, and BamBam! We had been chosen for the Costume contest!!! Can you believe it!!??? We couldn't either. Although we were thrilled to be chosen, it was quite obvious that our costumes did not hold a candle to the others that had been selected. You'll see what I mean when you watch the video. Anyways, much to our surprise, we DID get our moment of fame on the Today Show.

Click here to watch the video.

While we were up on the stage, during the commercial breaks, we got to talk to all of the people on the Today Show!! Ann Curry was especially interested in the children. She was very sweet and talked about how cute the kids were. We also talked to Natalie and Meredith. Al didn't talk to us so much, but that's ok. Will Ferrell and Tina Fey were the guests hosts for the Halloween show, so we got to talk to them too! They were so nice and it was so fun to be able to talk to them!! Will Ferrell is probably one of my favorite actors. I love the movie ELF! and I just love his humor!! Tina Fey offered her wrap (that her assistant was holding) to Jill in case baby Even was cold. Sweet, huh?

Anyways, the whole experience was great... well, except the first hour of standing in the audience being packed in like sardines, ... but I guess I have to say it was worth it! Now the question is, do we go to the Today Show next year for Halloween, or do we call it quits since we got lucky this year.. assuming we wouldn't get that lucky again! :)

My 2nd Sewing project

2010-10-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so if I am completely honest, it's probably my 3rd sewing project. (You can read about my other sewing project here.)

When I was in 8th grade, like so many other girls, I took Home Economics. I actually remember really enjoying the class. I am not sure how much it paid off though, because I don't really think of myself as the ideal homemaker, but hopefully I learned something.

I do distinctly remember that our final project for the class was to sew a 'jumper' and then wear it to school... yep, you read that right, we had to wear them to school. I wish I could find a picture of me in that jumper becuase I am pretty sure I took a picture of myself that glorious morning I had to wear it. What I am more certain of is that the picture would be not only hilarious, but also quite hideous.

I remember that one of the girls in that class somehow ended up with a large hole in the side of her jumper. The teacher still made her wear the jumper to school, pretty cruel, huh? I believe she wore another dress underneath her (attempt at a) jumper dress.

Just to give you the best mental picture possible of these jumper-style dresses, keep in mind that I went to a school where we had to wear knee-length dresses, which already forced us to be unfashionable. I was in 8th grade, so it was that awkward phase of life (did I ever come out of that??) and my hair was neither curly, nor straight... it was frizzy! I still had my baby fat (not sure if I ever got rid of that either :))I found this picture of a pattern, and from what I remember, it is pretty similar to one we used in that life-changing Home Ec. class. The fabric that I used was cotton and had small flowers all over it. awesome. trendy.

So, on to the more important topic of my 3rd sewing project! Thanks to the guidance, or should I say, complete instruction of
Susan, I have accomplished a project that I am quite happy with and I would wear it to school proudly, if I could! Seriously, though, due to Susan's help, I have successfully completed this project and have also rekindled my love of sewing that was dimly lit during spring semester of 1993.

Here are a few pictures of the (nearly) completed project.

Its a car caddy to carry Jonah's matchbox cars when we are on the go. When folded out, the caddy doubles as a playmat/road for the cars. If you look closely at my sewing, you can see multiple flaws, nevertheless, I am quite pleased with the end product. Coupled with Mark's vintage matchbox cars from the 1970's, Jonah and his car caddy will travel many miles!

Stay tuned for future sewing projects! :)

222

2010-09-14T20:00:00.001-07:00

So after about 3 months of living in our "new" apartment, I finally have the apartment in order enough to post some pics on the blog. There's still a few things I'd like to do to the place, but who knows if I'll ever get them done. The important thing now is that it is feeling like home!

Here are the pictures of the place...with a few of Jonah thrown in... had to make it a little more interesting! Enjoy

Jonah 'cheesin' for me in the kitchen (nearly 21 months old)

Kitchen (duh)

Desk in entry way

View from Front Door

View out of Living Room window

View of LR from opposite side of Living room

Jonah on Mother's Day 2009 (almost 5 months old)

Jonah today at the playground. "Cheese!" (nearly 21 months old)

More of the LR

Bathroom... I know you were just dying to see my toilet

Bathroom wall, yup, you were dying to see that too...

Jonah in early spring 2010 on our trip to Poughkipsee (15 months old)

One more of the bathroom for ya!

Jonah's room.... notice, I finally got the book sling installed!

Still has the 'Bee Happy' theme in his room, but it probably won't stay around too much longer.

Jonah chillin' in his room drinking his juice (20 months old)

Jonah in late May 2009, 5 months old... how did he get so big so quickly!!?? seriously!! Where did that baby go??

Our bedroom... it was really hard to get pics of our bedroom, so it looks like all we have in there is a bed.. that's close to being true, but we do have a dresser and our nightstands in there too, you just can't really tell in these pictures.

Bedroom

One more pic of the bedroom.

Jonah in early March 2009, 2.5 months old

We are enjoying our 'new', bigger apartment. The extra room to run and play has been great for Jonah. We are all happy and thankful! Come visit so you can see it in person!

Water Baby

2010-09-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of videos from this summer. They don't fully grasp how much Jonah loves the water, but at least it will give you an idea.

The Story of Phoenix

2010-08-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

I am way over due for a blog post. I have been wanting to blog about my trip to Phoenix for the past couple of months and for some reason or another I have just not gotten around to it. Some of you have heard about my trip to Phoenix and others have not... but here is the whole story with all the glorious details!

I decided to go out to Phoenix for the AANP (American Academy of Nurse Practitioners) conference. This would be a good thing for my career and for me to polish up on my NP skills. I asked my sister-in-law, Susie, if she wanted to meet me out there to help with Jonah and then to have some fun once the conference was over... she agreed, so the plans were made.

Jonah and I left for Phoenix, AZ on a nice Thursday morning. Our first flight out of LGA in NYC was on time leaving... but we were not on time landing... we were diverted to Tulsa, OK due to weather in Dallas. Long story short, we ended up just sitting on the ground in Tulsa for about 3 hours. That is WAAAY fun with a 18 month old! We did finally make it to Dallas, but when we did, we had already missed our connecting flight to Phoenix, which Susie was on. We had it planned so nicely.. Susie was going to be on the second leg of my traveling to help me with Jonah! How happy I would have been to see her in Dallas, but she obviously had to go on... she couldn't miss her flight b/c ours was delayed. Well, once we were in Dallas, our next flight was delayed for about 4 hours. We just wondered around the airport. I was actually trying to keep Jonah awake to ensure that he would sleep on the flight to Phoenix. It was nearly 1am EST when we boarded our plane for Phoneix. Needless to say, we both slept pretty much the whole way from Dallas to Phoenix. Once we landed in Phoenix, I had to get myself, Jonah and our stuff over to the rental car center to pick up our rental. Exactly what I want to be doing around 4am. Luckily, Jonah fell back asleep in the stroller, so at least he wasn't screaming during this glorious event. The bigger task for me, came next.... finding the hotel once I had the rental car. Yes, I had printed out directions on google maps before leaving NYC, but if you know me...that didn't make it much easier. I am QUITE directionally challanged. So, on top of being lost driving around Phoenix, AZ at 5am, my cell phone battery died. I had a sleeping toddler in the car, so it wasn't very easy for me to get out of the car and ask for directions. I finally did find the hotel. I'm not sure how. I did drive around Phoenix for about an hour before finding it. The hotel was about 2 miles from the airport, so that tells you just how lost I was =)

Once we made it to the hotel, the next few days went pretty smooth.... I went to my conference, learned some new stuff, refreshed my NP skills, and then Susie, Jonah, and I had a little fun in the evening. We went swimming at the hotel pool, we would go to dinner, etc.

Sunday morning I went to the last portion of the conference. While I was at the conference, Susie sent me a text message saying Jonah was throwing up. Oh joy. So, I left the conference a little early to get back and make sure he was going to be ok.
When I got back to the hotel he seemed to be alright, he had only thrown up once and was pretty much acting like Jonah. So, as planned, we packed up the car and headed to the Grand Canyon. None of us had ever been to the Grand Canyon, so we were really excited about this little side trip! Jonah did fairly well in the car ride up to the Grand Canyon, which was about a 3 hour trip. If I am remembering correctly, he did not throw up anymore that day.

We made it to the Grand Canyon area, checked into our hotel and headed straight to the Grand Canyon to watch the sunset. It was beautiful, breath-taking, and awe-inspiring. Jonah seemed ok that afternoon, excpet that he was acting unusually clingy to me. He wouldn't ride in the stroller, and he wouldn't let Susie carry him, so I carried him pretty much all that evening, which was not great on the back.

The next morning, we headed back to the Grand Canyon. Jonah seemed to be feeling pretty decent that morning. We rented bikes and got a bike trailer for Jonah to sit in. He loved it. Although, he was acting as if he felt ok, Jonah did have diarrhea several times that day. One time we had to change the lovely diaper on the side of the road at the Grand Canyon, b/c it was while we were on the bike ride. That was another fun moment with Jonah! Even though Jonah was a bit sick that day, we all had a great time. Jonah really enjoyed riding in the bike trailer and Susie and I had a blast riding around part of the rim of the Grand Canyon. It was probably one of the most fun and enjoyable things I have done in quite awhile.

That afternoon, we drove back to the Phoenix area to get ready to fly back home the next morning. Jonah did NOT do well on the ride back. He was just not happy. He continued to have diarrhea that day, but other than that, he did not seem to be becoming more ill or anything like that. He was just NOT a happy camper in his carseat... despite Susie and my numerous and ridiculous attempts at keeping him entertained. We sang songs, we did silly things, we gave him toys, books, etc... nothing was cutting it.

We checked into our hotel near the Phoenix airport and got Jonah to bed... not before changing one last poopy diaper for the day. He continued to eat and drink pretty well throughout the day despite the diarrhea, so I wasn't too concerned. I guess I should've been though....

The next morning was a disaster! We woke up around 5am to get ready to go to the airport. When we woke Jonah up he threw up, he threw up again before we left the hotel. He threw up in his carseat on the way to the airport. He threw up in the stroller waiting on the shuttle from the car rental center. He threw up riding the tram at the airport. He threw up in the security line at the airport. Needless to say, I also had puke all over me. During this whole time, I was really stressing about whether or not to get on the plane to go home. All I wanted to do was get home, but that involved about 8 hours of traveling, which I was not sure if Jonah or myself was up for. Due to all this puking, Jonah really started to look sick. He was so pitiful and just not himself at all. I was having a hard time getting him to wake up and he was looking very dehydrated. Susie and I talked things over and since it had been about 10 minutes since he had thrown up, we thought just maybe he was done throwing up and we would be ok. Susie was going to be on the first leg of my travel with me again, so at least I had that comfort. Well, the final kicker was... Jonah puked again all over the both of us while we were boarding the plane. I more or less had a freak out moment and got off the plane. I am now so glad I did!

Susie had to stay on the plane b/c again, she couldn't miss her flight because of us. She would've had to pay for another flight... and no one wants to do that!
When I got off the plane, I was a bit panicky... Jonah was really scaring me at this point and I just didn't know what I could do for him there in the Phoenix airport, so I had the US airways desk agent call for the paramedics. Jonah was obviously (to me) pretty severely dehydrated and he would not wake up to drink anything, so I was pretty sure he was going to need IV fluids to get him rehydrated. So, we ended up taking an ambulence ride to the Phoenix Children's Hospital.

When we arrived at Phoenix Childrens they took good care of us. They had a difficult time getting an IV in Jonah because he was so dehydrated. They did a couple of tests to make sure he didn't have anything more serious going on, and thank God he didn't. He did have a really low blood sugar of 39, which confirmed to me that I definitely did the right thing by getting off that plane.

Needless to say, after our stay (about 4 hours) at Phoenix Children's Hospital, we were going to be stuck without anywhere to go or any means of getting anywhere. Fortunately, my in-laws have some friends, the Andrews, that live in Phoenix. These precious people really took care of me and Jonah. They picked us up from the hospital, got us food, gave us a bed to sleep in, did our laundry for us and then brought us back to the airport the next morning. They were truly a blessing and I am not quite sure what I would have done without them!

Below are a few pictures from the whole event. The pictures are in a very random order b/c I was having trouble getting the computer to cooperate with me!

2010-06-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

We were excited to discover that there are sprinklers in the enclosed courtyard of our new building. We let Jonah play in the water the other afternoon and he loved it! Much more fun to come!!!

Sushi

2010-06-10T19:00:00.000-07:00

I apologize in advance because this post will probably be somewhat boring to most of you.....
We recently had to send our cat, Sushi, to Georgia to live with my parents. There were various factors that went into this decision, I won't bore you with all the details, but if you've ever met Sushi, you know why. She is not the friendliest cat you've ever met.

Well, even though she is not friendly to all, she is friendly and loving to me. I have had a really hard time sending her away. I have always loved animals, especially cats, so I did not want to send her away. Yes, I know she is with my parents, but I still felt horrible for some reason.
I was probably over emotional about her departure due to lack of adequate sleep and other stressful events going on in my life (such as moving). Nonetheless, it was quite stressful and emotional for me to put her on the plane to Atlanta.

I decided to write this blog so that those of you who have met Sushi and mistook her for the devil can have a little glimpse of what she was like when there were no 'strangers' around. She was sweet and loving, and yes, very lazy. I know it's hard (for Mark) to believe, but I do miss her!!

The great news is she is with my parents and they are taking wonderful care of her! My Dad is the animal whisperer, so she will be best friends with him in no time. Enjoy the pics of our sassy cat!

Lincoln Park Zoo

2010-06-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Jonah and I tagged along on Mark's business trip to Chicago. We are having a great time. It's nice to be out of NYC, even if we are in another city.
Yesterday, we walked from our hotel up to the Lincoln Park Zoo (about a 30 minute walk). It's a free zoo and it was really nice. The first part that we came to was the Farm Exhibit. Jonah loved it. He got to pet some goats, he wasn't scared at all! He also loved the John Deere tractors that were there for the kids to play on and see.

Our good friends, Whitney and Ella, let us borrow their Uppa baby stroller while we are in town. It has been great! Jonah has really enjoyed riding in it. You can see in one of the pictures how he has been sitting forward in the stroller to be able to see all the animals at the zoo(so cute!)It has been nice to have a more durable stroller (more durable than the umbrella stroller we would've brought with us)while we are here since we have been doing so much walking.

Below are some various pictures from our day yesterday.... Jonah petting the goats, playing around the John Deere tractors, in the borrowed stroller, and drinking from his elephant cup that we bought at the zoo. He loved the elephant cup... it may have been his favorite part of the zoo. Enjoy the pictures!

Day Trip

2010-05-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

Even though we live a mere 5 miles from the Wyatt's, Jonah and I took a 'Day Trip' to visit them. The Wyatt's live in Manhattan, but farther north and on the west side, so a bit of an effort is involved in getting up to see them. Our route includes the crosstown bus and then a train. It takes close to an hour door-to-door. One of the complicating factors is that it is difficult to take a stroller on a bus, so I either have to fold up the stroller, carry it, Jonah, and our stuff, or I just take Jonah in the 'carrier' and tote our stuff. I chose the second option today. Its crazy to think that it takes about an hour to travel 5 miles. If I were to jog, I could most likely get there in less than an hour. Oh the joys of living in NYC.....

Anyways, we went to visit the Wyatt's for the day and had a great time. Jonah played with Jack, Lillie, and Elliott. It was a lot of action for him. He is used to it being me and him, so being with 3 other kids all day wore him out. He had a great time though! He loved playing with all their toys. He especially loved their 'play kitchen'. There are some pictures of him playing with Jack, Lillie, and Elliott and the various toys posted below.

My friend, Susan, and I planned to get together today to be domestic. She is much more crafty than me, so I definitely followed her lead on this, but we were successful. To get this point across a little more clearly... I had not touched a sewing machine since 8th grade until today, so without Susan's guidance, I would have been TOTALLY lost!! We made book slings today! We are not completely done, but we are well on our way. We did all of the sewing today, we just have to buy the hardware to mount them on the wall. If you click on the link to book slings above, you can get an idea of what the finished product will look like. I will post a picture of mine when it is complete and mounted on the wall. We each made 2. I made 1 for Jonah's room and 1 for the living room. They won't be mounted until we move into the new apartment, so it may be a few weeks until they are up. Below are various pictures from our day. We had a great time!

Independence

2010-05-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

As of late, Jonah is wanting to do more and more on his own. Obviously, this is a good thing,.... but sometimes a messy thing.

The first two pictures of Jonah having breakfast sitting on the couch. I sometimes let him sit on the couch for breakfast... He thinks he is big stuff when he gets to do this because this is where Mommy and Daddy sit for all meals at home (since we don't have any sort of table to sit at in our ity-bity-teeny-weeny nyc apartment -- but that is hopefully soon to change -- ) so, anyways, here he is enjoying his Eggo waffle and milk on the couch this morning.

The last two pictures are of Jonah feeding himself his yogurt. He really likes to feed himself now and sometimes it can be messy, but he loves doing it and is so proud of himself. Sometimes he even stops in between bites and claps for himself.

Jonah Love

2010-05-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

This morning I went on a run in Central Park and took Jonah along (of course) in the BOB jogging stroller. I love my BOB! Its such a great stroller!

Anyways, as I'm jogging, I usually talk to Jonah as I go. He is usually so good. I guess he is used to these jogs. He almost always has his snack cup and his sippy cup that help in keeping him entertained. He also usually has a toy attached by a strap that he sometimes plays with, which also helps keep him from getting too restless.

This morning as we were strolling along, Jonah was snacking on his Goldfish crackers. I said to him "Jonah, you're being such a good boy". A minute or two later, he started handing Goldfish crackers up to me, one at a time. Maybe I was going extra slow today or something and he thought I needed an energy boost. He continued to hand me Goldfish crackers, one at a time, for several minutes. I had quite the collection of Goldfish crackers in the cup holder of the stroller by the time I was done with the jog.

Such a sweet boy. I was imagining that the Goldfish crackers were little tokens of his love. :) Here's a couple of pics from my cell phone when he was handing the crackers up to me. So cute!

Diapers! Diapers! Everywhere!

2010-04-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

So, recently Jonah is obsessed with Diapers. Anytime he hears the word, he runs to his room and brings out a diaper. He has discovered that he can reach the supply of diapers and bring one out to us when we say, "Jonah, go get a diaper". He's so proud of himself... its pretty cute. Its nice when its time to change his diaper, but then sometimes he doesn't stop bringing us diapers. Tonight, he even brought one out without being prompted and it ended up that he did, if you get my drift, indeed, need a diaper change.

He also can reach the diaper supply from his crib. If he wakes up and I don't get into his room right away to get him up, he will have many of the diapers in his crib with him. At least it keeps him entertained for awhile. Its not too difficult of a mess to clean up, so I don't mind. Anyways, posted below are a few of the pictures of Jonah with his diapers.

Babies

2010-04-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

Jonah loves babies. He gets so excited when we see a baby, especially one that he knows. Today I was lucky enough to get to 'babysit' for my friend, Jill. I watched her adorable 3 month old baby girl, Even. We had a good time. Jonah seemed to love having her here too. There may have been just a bit of jealousy at times, but mostly he loved giving her kisses and bringing her toys to "play" with.

At one point during the morning, Even was laying on the couch with her blanket and pacifier. Jonah was very interested in Even's blanket and pacifier. He kept wanting to take those two items from her, so eventually I went and got both of those items out of his crib. He only uses his pacifier at nap and bedtime now, but I guess seeing Even's made him want his. He also never carries his blanket around or takes it out of his crib, but I guess seeing Even with her soft, comfy blanket made him want his. So, after I brought those items out to him, he proceeded to climb up onto the couch with his pacifier in his mouth and cuddling his blanket. He laid down on the couch with Even. I thought it was pretty cute.
So, even if Mark and I aren't ready for Jonah to have a younger sibling, I think he is! :)
Below are a few pictures of the two of them on the couch together. Precious!

Saturday mornings

2010-04-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

It is probably not all that uncommon to love Saturday mornings, and I am definitely no exception to this! I love Saturday mornings! A typical Saturday morning for us involves a run in Central Park, then taking Jonah to a playground in the park. On the walk home we usually stop and get some coffee and a bagel or something like that.

This morning we did just those things... we ran the 6 mile loop in Central Park. I think it was toughest for Jonah. He had to stay mostly still in his stroller for 50+ minutes. He did pretty well. He had a toy, snacks, and had the entertainment of taking off his shoes and socks while in his stroller. The taking off of his shoes and socks is a pretty common occurrence while in his stroller now. Luckily the weather is warm enough now that generally I don't care. He has even been 'trained' to hand me each of his shoes and socks as he takes them off. He takes a shoe off, holds it up over his head so that I can take it from him and then follows with the sock. I think its pretty cute.

Anyways, after we went on our run, we took Jonah to a big playground in Central Park. He loves it. He just runs around everywhere and climbs on anything he can. He also loves the slides now. There is a big slide that Mark and I take turns taking him down and he LOVES it! I need to remember to bring my camera so I can take some pictures of him on it. On the way home, we stopped at our favorite local coffee shop for some bagels and coffee and then took Jonah to the playground park across the street from our apartment and let Jonah play some more. He took a great nap this afternoon!

Anyways, I decided to blog about Saturday mornings just because I love them so much. I love getting to go for a run as a family and I love just spending time with my family. Saturday mornings are so relaxing and refreshing. I am doing my best to enjoy every moment with Jonah as he is growing so quickly and always doing something new.
Here is a picture of Jonah and Mark in the park today. Its from my cell phone, so not the clearest picture, but it still turned out pretty well of the two of them.

DJ and Dancer

2010-04-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here is Jonah using his Leap Frog music table to be a DJ and then dance to his own tunes. He LOVES dancing. He also is quite amused by watching his parents dance... but who wouldn't be. (Sorry no video of that). Enjoy.

Poughkeepsie

2010-03-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

We took a quick weekend trip to Poughkeepsie, NY this weekend. This was a little birthday surprise for me. Mark knows how much I like to get out of the city, so he planned this weekend for us. We took the Metro North train line up to Poughkeepsie. The train ride was close to 2 hours long. The majority of the train ride is along the Hudson River, so it is quite scenic and relaxing. I really enjoyed it. I thought I'd post a few pictures of our weekend.
The pictures are of us on the train, swimming in the hotel pool, walking around the estate of Samuel Morse (inventor of the Morse Code and the telegraph), and walking across an old railroad bridge that has been turned into a walking bridge across the Hudson River. It was a great weekend!

Kisses....

2010-03-13T17:10:00.001-08:00

Jonah has a book called "Can You Cuddle Like a Koala?" He has randomly, without prompting, started kissing the animals on the pages of the book. Its so cute. We think it has something to do with Mark prompting him to give his stuffed animals hugs and kisses, but we're not sure. Maybe it's an indication that he is going to be like his Papa and LOVE animals. Enjoy the video!

Cabinets

2010-03-13T16:19:00.001-08:00

I think all toddlers love playing in cabinets and Jonah is no exception. Here is a video of him playing in the cabinets. He can entertain himself for quite awhile in this empty cabinet. :)

Jonah's grip

2010-02-24T17:52:00.000-08:00

I made it back to Strolla Momma's today after several weeks of not being able to make it for one reason or another. It was good to be back. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow. The weather wasn't too bad today. It was cold and a little drizzly on the way there, but of course I warmed up during the class. Jonah was tucked into his 'Bundle Me', so he was nice and warm. By the time the class ended, it seemed to have warmed up some and the drizzle had totally stopped. Jonah was getting a a bit tired of being in his stroller, so I decided to let him get out and walk around a little even though it was still pretty wet out. He was very happy to be out of the stroller.

When I first let him out of the stroller he seemed a little unsure of himself--I'm guessing it was because we were somewhere unfamiliar to him. So, I took him by the hand and guided him to walk around some. After a minute or two I let go of his hand and he took a few steps around, but then he did something he's never done before, he reached back up for my hand. It was so sweet. (He ended up doing it several times as we walked around together.) As he grabbed my hand, it was as if he was tightening his grip on my heart. Not that he didn't already have a very tight grip, but just in case there was any room for his grip to tighten, he did it! :)

So, then I decided to get my phone out to take some pictures of him walking around because of course I thought he just looked so darn cute 'toddling' around. Every time I would squat down to get on his level and take a picture of him, he would come towards me and give me a hug and a kiss. I managed to get a few pictures in the process, but once again he was just tightening that grip on my heart. He's such a sweetie. So the pictures on this post are from my camera on my phone. I'm not sure how great they'll show up, but at least you'll get the idea of how cute he was in his winter coat.

Waffles!

2010-02-07T13:10:00.001-08:00

Jonah gets pretty excited in the morning when its time for breakfast. I often give him an Eggo Waffle for breakfast. Here is a video of him 'coming' to get his Eggo waffle. He's doing his infamous knee-hop. :) Enjoy.

Baby Einstein

2010-02-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

This morning I popped in a Baby Einstein DVD for Jonah. He still doesn't get into what's on the TV much, which I don't mind, but this DVD caught his attention for a few minutes and he was really cute watching it, so I decided to video him. Here's a little clip of him watching it.

My jobs

2010-02-02T18:11:00.000-08:00

Because I have started a new job recently, I have had many questions about what I do..... so I decided I would blog about it for all of you that are curious. If you're not or you already know, then just skip this post. :)

My Family Nurse Practitioner job..... I work one day/week as a Nurse Practitioner. I work with/for a Internal Medicine Doctor who started his own practice visiting patients in their home. So, basically it is primary care provided in the home. We take the Doctor's office to the patient. I see the patients on my own, meaning the doctor is not with me. I am able to treat many common illnesses, and chronic diseases conditions, such as sinus infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. etc. The bulk of my day (on Thursdays) is actually spent in Assisted living facilities, seeing patients there. It is still the same concept of bringing primary care to the patient, they just live at Assisted Living Facilities instead of private residences. We are able to order x-rays, blood work, physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc... and it all comes to them. I guess that's job #1 in a nutshell..... Its challenging, interesting and I do enjoy the elderly.

My job with NYU as a Nursing Clinical Instructor..... I work one/day week as a Clinical Instructor. I am instructing nursing students during their first semester of nursing school. The name of the course is Fundamentals of Nursing. There is a lecture component and a clinical component to this course. I am instructing in the clinical component. I have two different groups of students, they alternate Tuesdays. Each group has 5 students. The first few week of the semester we have been at The Jewish Home, which is a Nursing Home/Rehabilitation facility on the Upper West side. In two weeks we will be at Mt. Sinai Hospital on the Upper East Side. I instruct and supervise students as they are learning nursing assessment and skills. This semester they are literally learning the fundamentals of nursing, so the basic skills, such as giving bed-baths, taking vital signs, medication administration and head-to-toe nursing assessment. The students are excited about their first nursing experience and are eager to learn! So, its fun to see their excitement and newness! It's refreshing. It has its challenges, but its fun and rewarding. I enjoy combining nursing and teaching. One of my main goals in teaching these students is to instill in them a love of nursing while teaching them these fundamental nursing skills. It's a great job and I am thankful for the opportunity!

Well, lastly, however certainly my most important job, is being a wife and Momma! I love this job!!!! Its full time and its the best best best job I have ever had. It's one that keeps me busy, challenged, and happy. Of course there are frustrating moments, times I have felt like I have failed, but to balance those moments out, there are many happy, proud moments, and many days filled with love, happiness, and fun. I am SO very thankful for this job. It is my favorite by far. I am extremely blessed.

Fun with Daddy

2010-02-01T19:08:00.000-08:00

Here's another video I ran across. Its a little older, but so cute, so I just had to post it.

ENJOY!

On the move...

2010-02-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent videos of Jonah. He is always on the move now. He is walking, as you can see in the first video. He is also still crawling and doing his 'knee crawl' quite a bit too. We are having so much fun with him... he keeps us busy and entertained.

Enjoy the videos!!!

Contentment

2010-01-30T18:31:00.000-08:00

I believe that Jesus has been teaching me some lessons recently. SO, I thought I'd share them with you. It might be more for my own good to share them, but I guess maybe it can be for your 'good' too. I'll try to be brief and to-the-point.

As some of you know, I never dreamed that I would live in NYC. It took me awhile to adjust to living here. This may be extreme, but I even think that the transition to living in the city could be viewed as a form of culture shock. Its really just so different from anywhere I've ever lived. Obviously, most people here speak English, so that was not a contributing factor to the difficult adjustment, but there were many other things that made the transition difficult for me. Anyways, I do now feel mostly adjusted and probably have for about the past 6 months or so.

Because I had a difficult time adjusting to life in the city, my mindset was 'when we move back to....', 'if we were living ______, this would be easier, better, etc.' I have realized that this is not the mindset that I want to live in, its not the mindset that Jesus wants me to live in either. Jesus has made my heart content. Admittedly, this will be a continued work in progress for me, as I'm sure I will still long for other places, but Jesus has shown me that I should pour my heart and life into the 'here and now'. I do not want to look back on my time here and not have much 'to show' for it.

I want to pour my heart, my soul, my desires, my whole self into each moment, moment by moment, that I am here. I want to be a better friend to those God has placed in my life. I want to be a better wife, supporting my husband in his work, his interests and his relationship with Jesus. I want to be a better Mom, always putting Jonah's needs before my own, raising him to love and serve Jesus. I also want to be content with my jobs. I am always thinking about other jobs I could be doing, or wish I was doing (all within the field of nursing/nurse practitioner-ing) but I have come to the place where I feel that God has given me these jobs for a reason, he has blessed me with employment, and I do not want to take that lightly. I want to be the best nurse, nurse practitioner, and nurse educator that I can be.

I realize these are lofty goals, but these are the desires of my heart. I want to live each moment to the best of my ability, glorifying Jesus in all I do. Living my life more in the present, rather than always looking to the future. Not that I won't keep the future in mind, but not letting it always be my focus.

Well, there you have it. I promise to post an update about Jonah next time... and soon.

Airplane Adventures

2010-01-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

This post is going to be a little outdated because the story I am going to tell happened nearly a month ago, but with the encouragement of friends and family, I decided to go ahead and post this story on my blog. So here goes....

About a month ago, Jonah and I took a trip to Atlanta to see my family, celebrate his first birthday, and celebrate Christmas early since we would be spending Christmas with Mark's family in Kentucky. I expected that flying with Jonah alone would be somewhat challenging, but in my naivety and optimistic spirit, I assumed that those around me would be nice and helpful since I was flying alone with a baby.... hmmm... well, at least the first part was true.

Our flight was scheduled to leave LaGuardia airport at 8am, so we were up and out the door by 6am. Luckily, Mark was still here to help get me and Jonah out the door and in a taxi. The taxi driver helped me get the luggage out on the airport end. Checking in and getting through security was not all that difficult, except for de-robing, taking off my shoes (and Jonah's shoes), trying to collapse a stroller while holding Jonah... (I thought about just laying Jonah on the moving belt while I collapsed the stroller, thought he might think it was fun, but then decided against it). Yea, so anyways, we successfully got through security and headed to board the plane.

I checked the stroller at the gate, so now I had Jonah in the carrier, strapped to the front of me, and my overstuffed backpack on my back. As we started boarding the plane, I noticed it was quite small... one seat on the right side and two on the left..... oh please let my seat be on the right... no such luck. Walking down the aisle, I noticed a rather large lady, and when I say rather, I mean it, bending over with her rump in the aisle sorting through all sorts of stuff she was bringing onto the plane as a carry on. She had at least 2 bags of stuff. She was making it difficult for people to get past her and get to their seat. I soon realized that I would be in the window seat, next to this large rump lady. As I approached the seat, I tapped her on the back and said 'excuse me ma'am, I'm in the window seat'. Without looking up she said, 'You'll have to hold on'. That was a given considering she had junk strewn in both seats and the floor at this point. Well, there really wasn't anywhere for me to 'hold on' on this small plane, especially with Jonah strapped to my front and an overstuffed backpack on my back. So I did my best to huddle into an open seat, jamming my backpack into some innocent passenger's face, I'm sure....

In a minute or two, which seemed like an eternity as I was huddled into the seat across the aisle from her, with my neck cocked to the side under the low ceiling of the small plane, trying to entertain Jonah, and with my shoulders feeling the weight of my load.... this lady turned around and said to me.. 'Ya know, you really shouldn't be standing behind me.' To which my response was 'Well, I don't exactly have anywhere else to go'. (At this point, I literally didn't have anywhere else to go b/c since she had turned around and was standing in the aisle, there was no possible way for me to get out of the seat I was in and go anywhere else.) She then said to me 'Well, I might just hit your baby in the head with my bag then.' ..... Yes, that's really what she said...... She then came as close as possible to hitting Jonah with her bag (without actually hitting him) as she put it in the overhead compartment. She then said to me.... 'There, you can have all the space you want missy.'.... My response 'I'm not looking for space, I'm just trying to get to my seat, which is beside you'. At this point she had already sat in the aisle seat. It would be virtually impossible for me to get to my seat with her sitting due to her size and due to the fact that I had Jonah strapped to the front of me. She got up, let me get to my seat... meanwhile she still has a bunch of junk she is trying to do something with, a bunch in her lap and she is cramming stuff in the the seat back pocket in front of her. It was obvious to me that she was taking up as much of my space as she possibly could.

As, I was getting settled, trying to manage all my stuff and Jonah, Jonah being a little uncomfortable or unhappy made a few noises, not even cries or fusses really, just noises... to which she said, 'Oh Lord, this is going to be a long flight'. I just tried to ignore the comment.

Well, after we were all boarded and taxied part of the way to the runway, the captain came on the speaker and said 'We will have to go back to the gate, there is a maintenance issue with the plane'. At this point, I am guessing she thought that meant we were going to crash because she began quoting the 23 Psalm loudly, like loud enough for the whole plane to hear. Since we hadn't even taken off yet, I found this a little bit comical.

Shortly after that, they began re-routing people on our flight that had connections they would miss. This lady went to the flight attendant several times trying to get off the flight and be re-routed, but they never let her off. I am sure they have a systematic way of doing these things, but man, I sure did want them to let her off, and she sure did want to be let off!! Eventually because several people had be re-routed to other flights there were empty seats in various places around the plane and a man that was in the seat in front of me (who had witnessed all of this lady's rudeness) turned and said to me, 'You should go up there to those two empty seats so you can have some more room'. So I said, 'Yea, hopefully I can get up there before someone else does'. To which my friendly co-passenger said 'If you wanted to get up and move, all you had to do was ask'.... which again, I did my best to ignore. I did make it up to the two empty seats and was able to spread out a little bit..... at least for a few minutes b/c that flight was ultimately cancelled.

Back off the plane we go... Jonah strapped to the front and overstuffed backpack on back. We were re-routed through a different airline, which meant I had to leave my current terminal and go back through security. Jonah fell asleep in his stroller just in time to be rudely awakened and taken out of his stroller in order to go through the metal detector, because you know, Jonah and I both are pretty suspicious looking. But, it was necessary to wake the peacefully sleeping baby and put his stroller through the belted scanner, right? :)

On my next flight, I was placed in a middle seat, between two men, which much to my fortune, were amazingly nice. The man to my right had actually been on my original flight and had witnessed the whole rude lady event (pretty much the whole plane had since it was so small) and when he sat down promised he would be nicer than my first co-passenger. He definitely held true to that promise. Jonah kicked him, tried to pull his glasses off, screamed for (at least) 20 minutes straight.. and this man was still nice to us. He picked up things Jonah dropped, let Jonah play with his iphone, shared his snack with Jonah, etc. I guess he definitely balanced out (and then some) the evil of my first co-passenger. The man on the other side of me was also very nice, helping me as needed, talking to and playing with Jonah.

We managed to arrive safely in Atlanta and had a nice visit with my family. The flights back were pretty uneventful except that I realized I had lost my license when I went to check in for the first flight back.... somehow they let me on the plane. I think they felt sorry for me since I had a baby.

Below are a few pictures from the flight back. We had a layover in the Philadelphia airport, which was actually good. Jonah played and even made a little friend from Germany... and I got some cute pictures. Oh-- and there was a chick-fil-a in the Philadelphia airport. Makes a southern girl like me happy. :)

Sorry this post is so long... enjoy the pics.

Seriously, how could anyone be rude to that cute, sweet face.???

A few more pics from Strolla Momma's

2009-12-14T12:58:00.001-08:00

lunges, lunges, and more lunges !!! We hop up and down on the steps and then we run up and down the steps. :)

Dips

Squats... my enemy. ;)

Stroll Momma Stroll!

2009-12-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to blog about this for the past several months. I finally got some pictures so now I can!

I attend a 'Mommy and Me' exercise class in Central Park. The class meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Its a pay as you go class, so you can come on the days that are most convenient for you. Its a great set up!

We run around the Great Lawn in Central Park doing various hopping, skipping, jumping, running... all with our strollers in front of us. We stop every now and then and do various exercises such as, dips, pushups, lunges, squats, etc. At the end of the class, we do about 20 minutes of sculpting exercises, which is really my favorite part. I've never had the discipline to do these types of exercises on my own, so I am enjoying being made to do them!
Anyways, I really enjoy the variety that this class provides. It is fun, I get to meet other Mommas and their precious little ones, all while being in the great outdoors, beautiful Central Park, and staying in shape! I love it!

If you live in NYC and are a Momma, you should definitely give this class a try! Its totally worth it. Its pretty challenging at first, but if you keep coming back, you'll know the routine and you start seeing the benefits, which will keep you coming back for more!

Here are some pictures from class today. There were only 2 of us there. In the warmer months, there have been 12-15 Mommas in attendance. I like there to be a lot of Mommas there for the instructor's sake, but for my sake, I like it when the class is small. :) One time I was the only one that showed up, so it was like I got an hour long personal training session for 10 bucks! You can't beat that!
Anyways, enjoy the pics... don't make fun of me d/t all the crazy poses. :)

Step ups onto the wall

Abs... I think this is the hardest part of the class.

Bands... for arms and upper body

Jonah didn't last in the stroller the whole time today.

Stretching and cool down.

Thankful

2009-11-25T06:13:00.000-08:00

Now who wouldn't be thankful for that cuteness!

We have been without internet in our household for about a week and a half. It was really wierd not to have the internet... that's pitiful I know, but it made me realize just how much we use it. Its crazy to think about life before the internet! I am thankful for the internet so that I can keep in touch with friends and family much more easily!!

Anyways, I thought I'd post a few recent pictures of our family. Our babysitter and friend, Erin, took these for us. Isn't she awesome. She's a great photographer and a wonderful babysitter too! Jonah loves her!! Enjoy the pictures!

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for so much. I am so very thankful for my wonderful hubby and my amazing baby boy. I don't know what I would do without them. They are both such blessings in my life. I am also thankful for my family. Its hard being far away from family, especially this time of year, but it also makes me more thankful for them. I am thankful for my friends! I am thankful for friends that I have known for years and I am thankful for new friends. I love meeting new people and getting to know them. Most importantly, I am thankful for my salvation. Thankful that Jesus died on the cross for my sins so that I can have eternal life. What an amazing gift and huge blessing to know Jesus. I also must mention how thankful I am for our church up here in NYC. It has been a huge blessing to us... the people of our church, The Gallery Church, are not only our friends, but our family. I am so thankful for the obedient hearts that started this church and have continued to lead this church so that families like ours can find a church home in this big, sometimes lonely, and sometimes overwhelming city.

Well, those are just a few of the things I am thankful for. I really could go on and on! I hope that each of you have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. I hope I get to see each of you soon!!!

The Today Show

2009-11-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, Jonah and I made our way down to the Today Show last Friday to try to get Jonah, the Bumble bee, some TV time. Well, we were successful. That is, if the only measure of success was to be on TV. Here are a couple of reasons this trip could fall into the 'NOT successful' category.
1. There were crowds of people.
2. Jonah got tired, hungry and fussy rather quickly.
3. I had to hold Jonah a long time because he wasn't happy sitting in his stroller waiting for our 5 seconds of fame.
4. My back and arms were killing me from holding Jonah for 2 solid hours.
5. There were crowds of people.
6. We were only on TV for 5 seconds.
Well, it is still up for debate as to wether or not this trip was worth it.... maybe we'll try again next year when Jonah can stand and not have to be held the entire time.

Fortunately, Mark's parents were able to DVR the Today show, so when we go down to Kentucky in December we'll be able to watch it! :) They also paused the DVR and took a picture of the screen while Jonah and I were on it. I look a little happier than Jonah. ha!

Here's Jonah all dressed up in his bumble bee costume in his stroller. This pic is in the train station on the way down to the Today Show. He looks thrilled to be up so early in his costume, doesn't he?

And here we are on the Today Show... our 5 seconds (that's pushing it) of glory. Jonah is half asleep at this point and you can't really see his feet, but one of his socks had come off and his pant leg was all bunched up... I didn't have much time to prepare him once I realized the camera was going to be on us.

Yay for visitors!

2009-11-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

I am long overdue for an update on the blog, so here ya go!
The past two weekends we have had out of town guests! Yay for guests!
Two weekends ago we had my dear friend, Courtney, come stay with us. She is a friend of mine from nursing school. I am so thankful to stay in touch with friends from college. I cherish those friendships!
We had a great time during her visit. One thing we did is go up to the Harlem Meer in Central Park for a 'Pumkin Sail'. It was a little bit disappointing to be honest, but we still had fun. We dressed Jonah up in his halloween costume for the event, so of course there are lots of pictures!

Here is the pic of the (disappointing) pumkin sail. We thought that the pumkins would be allowed to freely float on the pond, but that was not the case. We had also carved a pumpkin and toted it all the way up to be entered into the sail to find out that all the spots were filled. Oh well. We had a nice time anyways.

Our bumble bee!

Me and Courtney at the Resevoir in Central Park..... on our walk home from the (disappointing) pumkin sail.

This past weekend, my parents came up from Atlanta. We had a nice time with them as well! We mostly just visited, hung out, and let them get some Jonah time in, since that doesn't occur too often with them down in GA! We did make it to the natural history muesem, which was fun.

I also took full advantage of my Dad's handy-man skills and put him to work in the apartment. Here are a few pictures from their time here.

Our first stop after my parents arrived in NYC was to Home Depot, one of my Dad's favorite stores... we had to get the needed supplies to get some stuff done in the apartment.

Jonah was very curious about the work that 'Papa' was doing. He definitely wanted to help put up the shelves!

Jonah and 'Grammy'

Jonah with his Grandparents (and the giant turtle) at the Natural History Muesem.

Papa pretending to rescue Jonah from the giant turtle.... Jonah is quite oblivious :)

We wore Jonah out.... we fed him a bottle in Central Park on the walk home from the Natural History Muesem.... he fell asleep while Mark was burping him. How precious.

Playdate

2009-10-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

Jonah and I had a playdate with some friends this past week. The temps were a bit cooler than we expected, but we still had fun. As you can see from the pics, the 'Great Lawn' at Central Park was kind of empty. We thought it was kind of cool that Jack and Jonah were just about the only ones out there.... so we had to catch a few pictures of it! Our city boys.. (but we know they are southerners at heart).

Cheap Entertainment

2009-10-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

This is the fun Jonah had today with my J.Crew catalog. He giggled and giggled at himself as he tore up the magazine.

Will work for milk

2009-10-21T19:30:00.001-07:00

Jonah has just started 'earning his keep' around here.

Storage unit

2009-10-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we borrowed a car from some of our friends and headed out to our storage unit in East Hanover, NJ. Oh the joy! What a good excuse to get out of the city, right? We have to store our 'off season' clothes in the storage unit because we don't have enough room in our apartment. We only have two closets in the apartment (including the pantry, which serves as a pantry, coat closet and storage area), so needless to say, there is not much room for access clothing.

Since we were headed to the storage unit, we decided to take Jonah's baby swing and put it in the storage unit. This is sad, I know, he's not using the swing anymore... he literally outgrew it! So, off we went to the storage unit. Of course, we managed to make time for some non-NYC things, like Panera Bread, Chick-fil-a, and a regular suburban-style mall. Oh the little things in life! :)

Well, anyways, while we were at the not so well organized and overstuffed storage unit, I wasn't sure what we were going to do with Jonah. He would scream if we left him in his car seat during the time it took us to rumage through the 'junk' in the unit and find what we needed. We didn't have a stroller with us because we were planning to buy a new one later in the day, and I didn't love the idea of Jonah crawling around on the concrete floor of the Public Storage facility (although I'm sure he would have totally loved it). So, how convenient that we had the swing with us. Jonah sat and played in his swing for the last time (tear, sniff, sniff) in the 'hallway' of the storage unit. Here's a picture to document the "fun".

Unfortunately, we somehow managed to forget to get our winter coats while we were at the storage unit. I believe we did make it home with all the winter clothes, but no coats! How could we forget such an important item? From the picture, you probably get the idea that our storage unit is highly organized... well, think again.... so really, its not too surprising that we forgot the winter coats, they were probably barried under one of a million items we have stored there. I guess we'll have to make another trip out of the city in the near future. (sarcastic tear, sniff, sniff).

Peek-A-Boo and Crawling!

2009-10-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

This post is a little overdue, especially the crawling video. Jonah has been crawling for at least a month now and I am finally posting a video of it. The other video is of Jonah playing 'Peek-a-Boo'. He instigates this now and its so cute. Luckily, Mark caught it on video. Enjoy.

Gap Baby?

2009-10-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

So, I entered Jonah's picture into the 'Gap Casting Call' contest. They are looking for the next Gap baby. I'm not getting my hopes up, but it sure would be fun for Jonah to be a Gap baby!

What I need for yall to do is go to the website, create a login, and then vote for Jonah. In fact, I need you to vote for him once a day until Nov. 17th. So, if you will click here to VOTE for Jonah.
Thanks for your support! Jonah appreciates it :)

To cut or not to cut......

2009-10-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

To cut or not to cut... that was the question. Well, we decided to cut! I was a little nervous about this, but I am so glad we went ahead and got Jonah's hair cut! It looks so cute. Not that he wasn't cute before, obviously, but I really like the neat trimmed look in the back. He definitely looks a little more boyish and a little less babyish. He's just growing up too fast!

Jonah did really well during the hair cut. He did move around a little, but there were plenty of distractions. He sat in a seat that was a little play car and had a steering wheel. He also watched an Elmo video, although he wasn't really paying any attention to it. We blew bubbles for him, which did entertain him a little, but the thing that really got his attention was Mark talking to him and showing him the Elmo DVD case. Mark would open it really slowly and say 'look Jonah, what's inside................(open slowly)......................absolutely nothing!' then Jonah would just sit there and watch him do it again. Isn't that funny! ?

Well, here are a few pictures of the grand event! The place we got his hair cut even gave us a little certificate and a lock of his baby hair. How precious... something for the baby book.

NINE months!

2009-09-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

9 Months old!

Playing in his room

Getting into something he shouldn't be getting in to!

Watching Sesame Street! :)

Jonah had his 9 month check up last week before we left on our trip for Maine. He did great! He got 2 shots, a fingerstick, and a TB skin test. He didn't even cry for the fingerstick or TB skin test,.... but he did cry for the shots. I can't blame him though! Shots hurt!

Jonah is trying to stay on top of the growth chart.... at least in the height category. He is 31 inches tall, which is above the 100th percentile! Wow! We're gonna have a bball player for sure.. or at least that is what his daddy is hoping! Jonah now weighs 20lbs 8ounces, 50th percentile, so he is just about average in weight. The pediatrician said it well... he's perfectly proportioned.. who doesn't want to be tall and thin??

Above are a few recent pictures of Jonah. You can check him out now that he's 9 months old. He is growing so quickly! Its amazing how much a baby changes and grows in their first year.

He's getting into everything! He's crawling, cruising! He loves pulling out all the DVD's from the entertainment center and loves getting his hands on cell phones and remote controls. He also has two teeth on the bottom!

Giveaway

2009-09-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Check out this giveaway....
http://uberchicforcheap.blogspot.com/2009/09/sh-sh-shade-giveaway.html

I know I want to win!

Are you kidding me?

2009-09-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well, my love for NYC may be short lived. Not really, but today we went out and about and being in the crowds makes me not **love** this place. Well, its not even so much that there are lots of people (although I would rather not be in large crowds of people) its the way that individuals in the large crowds of people act!

We went down to Macy's today. That was the first mistake. The problem is Macy's has great deals on baby clothes, especially when there is a sale. Going to Macy's on a sale day with a baby stroller, 2nd mistake. Going to the world's largest department store on a sale day with a baby stroller... HUGE mistake! Anyways, the Macy's in NYC, if you have not been to it, is QUITE large. It is indeed the world's largest department store. It is multiple, multiple floors... 10, I think. The store itself takes up nearly a whole city block. There are a bzillion people in the store at any given time, especially on the day there is a one day sale, especially on the weekend.

The main problem that we have is that at Macy's we MUST take the elevator to get from one floor to the next. There are escalators and I am sure there are stairs somewhere, which if we had to we could use, but carrying a stroller with a baby in it up to the 7th floor of a building is not the easiest thing to do. Anyways, Mark and I both get BEYOND aggravated because all the bzillions of people that are also at Macy's think that they MUST take the elevator too... when in fact, they do not. The escalator is right around the corner,, and c'mon, how much effort does it take to ride up an escalator? This is soooo frustrating b/c there are like 10 elevators and when one is opening up for people to get on, everyone rushes over to it. Most of the people rushing over to the elevator are able bodied people WITHOUT strollers who could easily take the escalator, but choose not to. These people do NOT care that we have been waiting and waiting and waiting for an elevator and just run over in front of us and get on the elevator. Smiling at us as the door shuts and thinking... guess y'all can catch the next one. When, what they don't realize(or maybe they do) is the exact same thing will happen with the next elevator. We really have had people cut us off, cut in front of us to get on the elevator with absolutely no regard to the fact that we have no other option but to take the elevator. Why? why? why? do these people do this? Is it really that hard to take the escalator?? Does this happen anywhere else in America or is it just in NYC? Where are these people's mothers that should have taught them to be a little more courteous? Seriously, its maddening! Today I had a lady come into the elevator while I was trying to get off with the stroller and block my way so that I couldn't get off. I had to restrain myself from running over her with the stroller. Isn't it common courtesy to let the people off the elevator before getting on? When people are acting this way... I often think to myself... 'Are you kidding me'? I just can't believe that people act so selfishly and without regard of others. At the same time, I try to let this be a reminder of how much the world, the people of NYC need God's love. If I do not show God's love to them by being courteous as He would be, how will they ever see or come to know God's love. Every chance to display God's love counts.

Sorry to ramble on about this. I just had to vent b/c it was a very frustrating experience. Note to self... do not go to Macy's on the weekend with a stroller.

I will be back to my normal self soon and post happy, enjoyable things about Jonah and our fun times together. Thanks for letting me vent though.... and please remind me never to return to Macy's on the weekend with the stroller.

I <3 NYC.

2009-09-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Some of you are probably surprised by the title of this post...
The surprise you have is probably due to the fact that generally, love is not the sentiment most prominent in my vocabulary when refering to how I feel about NYC. Its not that I hate NYC, its just that most likely if given several options of places to live, NYC would probably not be my choice. However, today I do feel love for NYC.

Being in this city on September 11 brings out emotions for those that were here on that dreadful day. It stirs my heart to think of what even the average New Yorker went through that day... not to mention those that had a family member or friend that was killed in the tragedy. I cannot imagine being here on that day and I am thankful that I was not. I was reminded today of the magnitude of how many lives were taken by the selfish terrorists. I had the TV on the channel that was televising the Memorial Service.... I'm not exactly sure how long it took, but I do know that the reading of the names of the victims lasted several hours, Jonah had a nap in the middle of it, and when he woke up, they were still reading names.

Its hard to understand why such a tragedy happens. I don't think I will ever understand why things like that happen or even why a single murder happens. What a tragedy like this does help me understand is that all people need God's love. I desire to be an instrument of God's love and for that reason, I <3 NYC.

Tales from Jonah's crib

2009-09-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

Lately, it seems as though Jonah thinks his crib is more of a playpen than of a place to sleep, a place to get his beauty rest, his much needed slumber.

Ever since we started having him sleep in his crib, from about 4 months on, (before that he was in a co-sleeper beside our bed) the usual routine was that after we laid him in his crib at night, he might fuss or babble a little and then fall off to sleep. He has really been great at going to bed and such a good sleeper. We are so blessed in that way!

Yesterday when I laid him down for his nap, I figured he'd follow his usual pattern. This was not the case.... Jonah did babble and talk a little after I laid him down, but then things got quiet, so I figured he was asleep. I was wrong. I went to check on him a few minutes later and this is what I found.....

Now I know for sure that we need to lower the crib mattress to the lowest setting! Jonah sure was proud of himself for this milestone! :)

Today I was able to successfully get him to fall asleep in his crib for his nap without dealing with him trying to stand up and play. I guess he was tired. I had to keep a close eye on him after I put him down for his nap though because we still hadn't lowered the mattress. This is what I found today...

Aren't those toes precious?

Jonah always has a way of making me smile.

This evening after I had given Jonah a bath and gotten him ready for bed, I sat him on the floor for a minute to go grab something before nursing him prior to putting him to bed. I noticed that he immediately started trying to pull himself to a standing position using the couch..... and he was successful! Again, he was quite proud of himself!

Its silly, but these accomplishments by my baby boy make me feel like he's not such a baby anymore. I'm sure he will be running through the apartment before I know it. I'm doing my best to savor every moment with my little (not so little anymore) bundle of joy... such as the cuddles he gives when he wakes up, the many smiles, the giggles and day to day fun. Just in case any of you were unsure.... I LOVE being a momma.

Bath time!

2009-08-31T12:58:00.001-07:00

Jonah absolutely loves taking a bath. He has actually enjoyed his bath ever since he was born.
I decided I had to get some of his bath time fun on video, so here it is. I hope you enjoy! :)

Mark and I are thinking that Jonah is going to be a great swimmer.... he loves the water (as you could see in that video). He doesn't really even mind if the water gets in his face. Another reason we think Jonah will be a great swimmer is because now that he is kind of crawling, his crawling resembles that of some kind of swimming stroke. Here's another video with a little glimpse of that. Watch out Michael Phelps!

another blog

2009-08-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

Hello all--
Just wanted to put a post up about another blog i follow. All of you fellow Mommies would probably like reading this blog. She does some great giveaways, so I thought I'd let yall in on those. She is currently giving away some burp cloths that I'd just love to have for Jonah. .... so go check it out for yourself!
http://magnoliasmarriageandmanhattan.blogspot.com/

I'll be posting an update on jonah soon!

Friends!

2009-08-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

Jonah got to hang out with some friends today... (and so did I)! :)

We walked over to the west side this morning to pick up a CD of the professional pictures that we had taken of Jonah. Since we were on the upper west side (UWS) we planned to hang out with some friends of ours from church, The Wyatts. I ended up watching the twins for a little while so Susan and Jack could go look at an apartment. So, Jonah got to hang out with his friends. Elliot and Jonah had a fun time fighting over the toy drum, they all played together with the 'Leap Frog' musical toy. Its really fun to watch Jonah interact with other babies as he doesn't get to do this terribly often right now.

Enjoy the pictures of all the cute babies!

Time for an update!

2009-08-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Jonah is ready for football (and basketball)
season! GO BIG BLUE!

Jonah's favorite sleeping position.

Jonah is watching his Mama cook

Well, its been awhile since I posted on here, so I thought it was about time I do so!

What has been going on in our lives?..... well, let's see.

Jonah is growing and learning everyday. We are truly blessed by him! He is just so much fun. He turned 8 months yesterday, which is hard to believe. Time is flying and we are loving every minute of it.

Two weekends ago, Mark's parents came for a visit. We had a great time showing them around our 'neighborhood'. Jonah loved getting to spend time with his grandparents. We even got to go in their car outside of the city, so that was a special treat.

Grandma reading Jonah a book

Last weekend we went on a retreat with our church to the Poconos Mountains. It was a nice time of relaxation and renewal. We were out in the wilderness, which was great. I am realizing that I love the wilderness more and more!

Jonah in the Cracker Barrel rocking chair on our

way back from the retreat.

On a day to day basis, Jonah and I hang out around our apartment. We got to my exercise class 'Strolla Momma's' which is great! We go to the park across the street where Jonah enjoys swinging. We also go to the library which is literally right next to our apartment... so that is very convenient!

While Jonah naps, I usually check my email, get some notes done for work, tidy up the apartment and make preparations for dinner. And oh-- I often make baby food for Jonah. This is something I have been doing for him for several months now. I have made all of his baby food from fresh fruits and veggies. I really enjoy it and its not as hard as it sounds! I have made sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, Lima beans, peas, bananas, apples, pears, nectarines, plums, peaches, mango, cantaloupe, and I once even made rice cereal. (He didn't really like the rice cereal though :( I will post a few pictures of the baby food I have made him so you can have an idea of what I am doing. Jonah also eats yogurt and cottage cheese, which I do not make, just buy... he especially loves the yogurt! I've given him tiny pieces of my chicken, which he also really liked. He is also eating the puffs that are made for babies and dissolve in their mouth. He likes those alot too!

Baby food using the baby cube method

I will also post a couple of recent pictures of Jonah. His hair is getting long and growing down over his ears, so we might be getting it trimmed, just around his ears, soon. Don't worry I'll post pics of that if we get it done. :)

Jonah's crazy hair after his nap :)
He looks like he's ready to play, doesn't he!?

More Giggles

2009-08-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Jonah's laughter is contagious. The other night we were playing with him on the floor and he became quite amused by playing with his blocks. I just couldn't resist videoing it and sharing it here with yall! Enjoy! :)

Georgia

2009-07-21T18:34:00.000-07:00

Bath time

Baby Blues

Jonah with his Papa

The Probst Family

Mark, Jonah, and I were able to recently take a trip down to Georgia to spend time with my family. We attended Indian Springs Holiness Camp meeting. My family has been attending this camp meeting for years, my great grandparents (on my Mom's side) attended and now Jonah is the 5th generation to attend in our family. This year, my grandmother, Jonah's great-grandmother was in attendance, as well as my mom, me and Jonah.. so 4 generations were there at the same time. Its so nice to have family time!!! :)

For those of you who don't know what a camp meeting is.... I'll admit, its a bit unusual, but so refreshing. Its more or less a camp for the whole family. Its 10 days long and there are programs and services for all ages. My family owns a cabin on the campground. There are also other places to stay, such as a hotel (its very basic) and dorms for the youth. Stepping onto the campground is kind of like stepping back in time. The services are in an open air tabernacle and many of the cabins are not air-conditioned... no TV's or phones (well, now there are cell phones). Its relaxing and rejuvenating.

Well, we had a great time spending time with family, relaxing, and attending the services. There was definitely a little bit of a different pace than there is here in NYC.

I am posting a video of my Dad entertaining Jonah.... well, really, entertaining all of us. He making the dog imitate Jonah. We all thought it was funny, especially since Jonah thought it was funny.

Also posted are a couple more pictures from our stay down south. (The pictures posted above).We gave Jonah a bath in an old timey wash tub, which he enjoyed.. and we all enjoyed watching and taking pictures of him.

We had a great time and will cherish the memories of Jonah's first camp meeting.

Daddy's Day

2009-06-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

This is a late post as Father's day was several weeks ago now, but I thought I'd post about it anyways. We had a great time celebrating Mark's first Father's day. Mark is such a good Daddy to Jonah. I think he is pleasantly surprised by how much fun he is having being a Daddy.
Mark's Father's day gift was a 'Flip Ultra HD'. Its a very small, portable video camera. It takes pretty high quality video. We are pleased with it so far.

For Father's day we went to church in the morning... we actually had to be there early that morning to help set up, but that was ok, because that meant that after we set up we got to go enjoy a delicious hot breakfast at a local restaurant called 'Jackson Hole'. Yum Yum. After church we helped break things down and get them packed up, then we headed to Mark's favorite bakery in all of NYC. They bake rather delicious cookies. It's called Levain Bakery. The cookies are quite large and quite tasty! Mark decided that is what he wanted for his Father's day treat.

In the afternoon we took Jonah to the playground park that is right across from our apartment and put him in the baby swing.... and we tried out the new Flip video camera. So, here are a couple of videos from the park on Father's Day.

6 Amazing Months

2009-06-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

December 18, 2008

First time in swing: December 20, 2008

It is incredibly hard for me to believe that 6 months ago today was the first day of our precious Jonah's life. What sweet moments we spent holding him, loving him and getting to know our new addition. What a tremendous blessing he has been ever since the moment we laid eyes on him. Undoubtedly, the 6 most joyful months of mine and Mark's lives. Parenthood has well surpassed both of our expectations. Parenthood has also given me a better understanding of Jesus' love for us! It has also allowed me to realize how much my own parents love me. Its a different, deeper kind of love.... something that cannot be explained, only experienced.

It is amazing how fast little babies grow! Jonah has changed so much in his first 6 months. He has grown a lot and has developed his own personality. He is such a laid back baby, but he loves to have fun too. He likes being with other people, but I can also lay him in his crib, give him a toy and leave him for 10-15 minutes while I take a shower and he doesn't even cry. What a great baby he is! He smiles a lot and is very curious when he sees a new face or is in a new place. He has big, bright blue eyes that he gets compliments on daily.

When Jonah was born he weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces and was 22.5 inches long. He has his 6 month check up on Monday, so we will see how much he has grown. At our last appointment, at 5 months, he weighed 16 pounds 12 ounces and was 27 1/4 inches long, so he has definitely grown a lot! He is now rolling all over the floor, pretty much sitting up on his own and is in the beginning phase of trying to crawl.

It has been pure joy watching him grow and develop! Mark and I swell with pride at the sound of his name and the sight of his precious face. Pure excitement and anticipation await as we think about the coming years of Jonah's life. We are so thankful for the opportunity to be parents and do not take the responsibility lightly! Thank you Jesus for blessing us with Jonah!

In the swing now, June 18, 2009

showing how he can sit up :)

His "Baby Blues" and "Biscuit Cheeks"

In the swing at the park

The Ravine

2009-06-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we 'took a trip' to an area of Central Park that I had never been to before. Mark knows that I do not especially like the crowds of New York, so he thought this might be a 'getaway' of sorts for me. HE WAS RIGHT!

This area of Central Park is definitely now my favorite place in the park. Its about 40 blocks north of us and we walked there and back, so it was pretty much an all day event. I wish this area was closer to us because I would be there all the time. It definitely did not feel like we were in NYC. There were very few people there and very few tourists. It was reminiscent of being on a hiking trail in the Smoky Mountains... ok maybe not quite that great, but still... it was great!

Below are some pictures from our day trip. Unfortunately, the weather did not turn out quite as nice as we originally thought it would be, so we ended up getting caught in a down pour! Jonah managed to stay dry in his stroller, which was a relief to me. I was worried about him getting wet and cold, but he didn't seem to mind all the rain!

So-- for those of you who will visit NYC sometime... make sure this is an area of Central Park that you put on your list of places to see.... just don't tell other tourists because I want the area to remain somewhat of a secret!

Enjoy.

After I got soaked!!