Hot-hot!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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! :)