10 things I will miss about NYC

As most of you know by now, the Probsts are moving to Atlanta! I am very excited about this and a bit overwhelmed at the same time. It has been 15 years since I lived in Georgia, close to family, so it will be a big change. Moving back to Georgia will be like getting to know an old friend all over again.

Since I found out we were moving to Atlanta, I have, of course, been thinking about all that I will miss in NYC... there are more things than I thought! I am sad to say goodbye to so many wonderful people and some great things about this city. Admittedly, there are some things that I am not so sad to say goodbye to.... but we'll save that for later. Here are a few things I will miss most about NYC:


10. Accessibility -- I will miss that you can pretty much find anything you want in this city... exotic food (not that I usually eat it), some obscure item that cannot be found elsewhere, you can find it in this city, and pretty close by. Related to accessibilty is food delivery... (meaning that great food is so accessible). I will definitely miss the ability to have fabulous food delivered to my door!

9. Visitors -- due to the fact that we have lived in an amazing city, we have had numerous people visit us. We do realize that a high percentage of these visitors are really coming to visit the city and we are just a side note, but I will still miss the opportunity of seeing many fabulous friends that I most likely would not have seen otherwise. I am hoping that we will still have visitors in ATL :), one thing is for sure, we will have more room to host them &.... I will show you some Southern Hospitality :)


8. Walking everywhere -- while sometimes this is a hassle and inconvenience, I really do love the 'on the move' lifestyle in the city. I am sure it is much healthier than riding in a car everywhere. It is definitely going to be an adjustment to go back to being in a car so much.

7. Central Park at night -- this is probably one of my favorite things about the city. the park at night... its pretty amazing. No doubt, one of mine and Mark's favorite things to do together, walk through the park at night. So peaceful and relaxing. Its an escape from the city in the city. If you live in the city and haven't done it... do it, but bring someone with you :)

6. Pinkberry -- yes, I do realize that there are Pinkberry's in GA, even one pretty close to where we are planning on living; however, I am quite certain that these Pinkberry's will not deliver frozen yogurt yumminess to my door... for this I am very sad and no doubt, I will have a significantly less amount of frozen yogurt because of it (probably a good thing :))

5. Subways & Buses -- I am mainly putting this on my list because I am going to miss taking Jonah on the train and bus. He loves it and I know he will miss riding them. I find such enjoyment in watching him every single time we are waiting on the subway. He is quite excited each time and tells me which train (a name of a character from the Thomas trains) that is coming to pick us up. Something that will be forever in my memory. I also must admit that I do quite enjoy riding the bus. If I am not in a hurry to get somewhere, it is relaxing and enjoyable... as long as its not too crowded and I have a seat.


4.Carl Shurz Park -- this is a park along the East River. It is a great park. Jonah loves going to this park to watch the doggies in the 2 doggy runs and also loves going here to watch for boats. We have seen some pretty impressive boats floating down this river. In this park, looking out at the river, you can also see the RFK bridge (formerly the tri-boro bridge) and the Queensboro bridge, which Jonah also loves to point out. This park also has a running path along the river, which has been my 2nd most used running spot.


3. Central Park -- I already kind of listed this, but Central Park is worth listing twice. What an amazing park. I am not sure I would have survived in the city without it. It has amazing playgrounds, awesome running paths, fabulous wide open green spaces. It has been the spot for many picnics, playdates, escapes from the city, and has definitely been the main means of allowing me to continue my running habit. They just don't make parks like it elsewhere... at least not that I have seen.


2. Gallery church -- what a blessing this church has been to us. The people in this church are genuine, loving people. We will miss them dearly. Thank you Jesus for letting us be a part of this amazing community for the past 4 years, help us to take the truths and lessons we have learned from being a part of an urban church in a large city with us to another part of the country. Help us be better people, better servants, and better vessels of your love because of your work in us at Gallery Church.

1. People -- no doubt this is the #1 thing I will miss. I have made numerous friends here that I will miss dearly! Whoever said that NYC'ers are not friendly has probably not visited NYC. It has been rare that I have run into an unfriendly person and the truth is, there are unfriendly people everywhere. It is so hard to say goodbye to friends.... I am not good at it. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it now. I have been so blessed by the friends I have made here, amazing people that are loving, caring, and are pouring their lives into this city. I am so thankful for each friend I have made and thank each of you for being a blessing to me. To me, YOU are the city. When I think back on our time here, YOU are what I will think about and miss the most. There are also many friends that have done an extraordinary job of loving on my children. (You know who you are). I have learned that just that is  most extreme blessing to a parent... to love on their children. So, thank you! Thank you for being our family away from family... such a HUGE blessing. We love each of you and will miss you so much!

Here are some pictures, memories, events from our 4 years in NYC. (in no particular order)

Jonah Samuel was born!

Baby Shower with fabulous friends

New Year's Even 2009

Thanksgiving 2010

Gallery Church Retreat 2010

picnic in the park with friends

A big snow of 2012

mia & jonah

small group friends

small group girls

Today Show 2009

winter visitors

Happy 1st Birthday Jonah!

Gallery Church retreat 2009

Bronx Zoo with the Wyatts

 Central Park

Picnic in Central Park

fun with the Wyatts in Central Park

Jonah riding the bus

Prospect Park zoo with the Walters

Annabelle Naomi was born!

Martha Stewart show with Erin

Rachel Ray show with Courtney (one of our visitors)

Jonah's 3rd birthday party with dear friends

Thanksgiving Day Parade 2011

2nd building we lived in 93rd Street and 3rd Avenue

First building we lived in 67th Street and 2nd Avenue

Thanksgiving day parade 2008

Fabulous small group friends

Run on the Brooklyn bridge

Jonah and his best friends!

Many great memories... thank you for an awesome 4  years!

3 months

On April 14th Annabelle turned 3 months old. Time really flies! I am loving being the mommy of 2 and the mommy of a precious baby girl. She is so sweet and cuddly and I just love this baby time. I get sad thinking about how fast it is going by!

Annabelle at 3 months of age:
Height: Weight: 11 lbs 2 oz.

Sleeping patterns: Annabelle has still been a good sleeper overall, however over the past week or so, she hasn't been sleeping quite as well. We just got back from a trip to Georgia, so I am hoping that all the traveling is what has her off and it is not a new habit developing. She is still on 3 hour cycles during the day and has been sleeping for up to 7-9 hour stretches at night.

Eating habits: has breast milk every 3 - 3 1/2 hours. I am working hard to try to get Annabelle to take a bottle. She is not a big fan as of yet. I am supposed to be returning to work this coming week, so I really need her to become friends with the bottle.

New discoveries: Between 2-3 months of age, Annabelle giggled for the first time. It was absolutely adorable. It happened at the beginning of April. So sweet. I just love baby giggles. Annabelle has also discovered her toes. I love watching her reach for and try to grab them. She looks as though she is concentrating so hard... so precious! Annabelle also loves the water. I started putting her straight into the water in the bathtub instead of in the baby bath seat. She loves laying in the water and will kick her feet and wiggle her arms all around while she is in the bath. If she is upset, the bath water calms her down.

Accomplishments: Annabelle is already pretty much rolling from her belly to her back. She is getting her arm stuck underneath her, but she still is making it all the way to her back. She is too young to become mobile! :-)

Places I went: just before turning 3 months, Annabelle made a trip to Georgia with Jonah and Mommy. We were able to stay for 10 days. Annabelle got to meet the rest of Mommy's family that she had not yet met. She was able to meet her great grandmother, Eulabelle Yvonne :) that was a special treat for her momma. While we were in Georgia, we also went down to Gordon, GA which is where Annabelle's grandparents are currently living.

Baby Babbles: Annabelle is definitely becoming 'chatty'. She likes to use her voice to let us know when she is happy or unhappy. It is so cute to here her baby sounds.

I love you my sweet Annabelle.

A few pics of Annabelle at 3 months. I had these pictures done at Portrait Innovations while we were in Georgia.

2 months

I am still running a bit behind on this.... but here is a little bit about Annabelle at 2 months (March 14, 2012)

Height: 23 inches (80th%) Weight: 10lbs (30th%)

Sleeping patterns: Annabelle has been quite a good sleeper so far. I really can't complain. At 2 months of age, she has already slept 8-9 hours at night. She is not doing this every night, but she is sleeping well most nights. During the day she is on a 3 hour cycle of eat, wake-time, sleep. She is still napping in most all of these 3 hour cycles. She does best when she is at home and is able to lay down in her bed for her naps.

Eating habits: Annabelle is nuring every 3 hours. She isn't as good of an eater as Jonah was. Sometimes she just won't nurse and it is very frustrating. We are working on it though! She is still only consuming breast milk.

New discoveries: Around 2 months of age Annabelle has definitely discovered her voice. When she has a full belly and is really happy she coos and makes all sorts of cute sounds.

Places I went: Annabelle took a trip to Kentucky to visit her grandparents and all of Mark's family in mid March. It was so much fun to get to introduce her to her family. She did really well on the trip.

Special friends: Annabelle has a few friends in the nursery at church. They are a couple of months older than her, but once they are all a little bit older, the age difference won't be noticeable. Clara Burton, Laurabelle Patton, and Soren Miller.

Here are a few pictures of Annabelle at 2 months of age.

A sewing project or two...

So, I am continuing to do some sewing here and there when I get time. I am getting better at it, but I still have a looong way to go to feel like I know what i'm doing a larger percentage of the time.

We are headed down to KY to visit Mark's family.... I am SOooo excited about this. They haven't met Annabelle yet. Who wouldn't be excited to introduce their bundle of joy to loved ones?!?! Anyways, my excitement about seeing our family combined with my love of sewing or love of having a cute finished project inspired me to make initial shirts for all of the cousins on Mark's side of the family. There are 6 grandchildren now, with Annabelle being the youngest, so I "made" 6 shirts. I actually bought all of the onesies/shirts at h&m... it is the best place for finding nice quality, solid colored t-shirts... not just basic white or black ones, they have a lot of nice color options! I decided to do a different color for each child with a different fabric for the appliqued initial. Here are the shirts :)



a for Annabelle
c for Caleb
e for Elizbeth
j for Jonah
a for Addison
M for Maxwell

I think I am most excited about the 'M' for Maxwell because I *think* I created an initial t-shirt that an 8 year old boy will like... at least I hope so!

My second sewing project is a wristlet clutch. I have made several of these. The first one I ever made was for myself and while it turned out ok there were several flaws. The fabric I chose was too light and I couldn't throw it in the wash because of the leather wrist strap. SO after using that one awhile I finally deciding that it was just too dirty to carry around anymore, I decided to make myself another one. I followed a tutorial/pattern that I purchased from etsy and I think it turned out pretty good. There are a few imperfections that I notice, but hopefully no one else does.... so I won't discuss them :) I do wish that I had added a little pocket on the inside, which is pretty easy to do, but when I thought of adding it it was too late... I suppose that gives me an excuse to make another one in the future.

I really like having a wristlet clutch, and here are the reasons why..... It fits nicely down inside a diaper bag and that way my essentials are easy to pull out of the diaper bag if I don't need to carry the whole big bag. The wristlet clutch also hangs nicely on a stroller handle so that all my essentials are easily accessible. I don't particularly like carrying a big purse around (most of the time) so this little one is perfect for me! Here are a few pictures of the completed project.



The finished product!


Here's the inside...

Please excuse the very poor picture quality of these pictures (taken with my cell phone).

1 month

Jonah's baby book had pages for each month during the first year, which I really liked. It is fun to be able to look back at his baby book and see a progression of the first year because babies change so much in that first year of life. Annabelle's baby book does not have a page for each month, which kind of disappointed me. I picked out the book online and thought I was getting one that did have those pages and then once I got it I was too lazy to return it and get another one.... SO, I have decided I will do a blog post for each month and use the information (or questions) in Jonah's baby book to guide what I write for each month... that way I have a similar record and I can print it out day to stick in with her baby book.

Annabelle has already turned 2 months old, so I have a little bit of catching up to do :)

ONE month
Height: 21.5 inches (55th percentile) Weight: 9 pounds(50th percentile)

Sleeping patterns: Annabelle doesn't really like to be on a schedule. I have tried to keep her on the 3 hour cycles like I did with Jonah, but she eats when she wants to eat and sleeps when she wants to sleep. Sometimes she is going 4 hours between nursing, which feels like a long time, but as long as she is gaining weight appropriately, I guess its ok! She is sleeping fairly well at night, waking up 1-2 times each night to nurse.

Eating patterns: She basically eats every 3 hours, sometimes sooner and sometimes longer. She is exclusively breastfed... we're working on getting her to take breastmilk from a bottle.

New discoveries I made: Annabelle has discovered the mobile bees on the swing and likes to watch them go around. She also seems to be looking at herself in the mirror.

My accomplishments: Annabelle has given us a few smiles... we're not sure she's meaning to give them, but we'll take them! :)

Places I went: around 1 month of age, we took Annabelle (and Jonah) to the Bronx zoo... it may have been a little more than this mommy should've attempted, but overall it was a good trip... we were just worn out afterwards! Jonah had a great time and Annabelle did well. It was a warm (for winter in NY) February day. Annabelle also attended church at The Gallery Church.

Special Friends I made: Annabelle has met some babies about her age at church, Clara Burton, Laurabelle Patton, and Soren Miller. These babies were born in Fall 2011, so are a bit older, but are the closest in age to Annabelle of the children at church.

The first month with Annabelle has been a delight! We have had multiple visitors including, her maternal grandparents, Tommy (Papa) and Joyce (Mammie) Freeman, who visited from Georgia. Courtney, Mommy's dear friend from nursing school also came to visit. We've had multiple local visitors who have come with meals and love for sweet Annabelle. Annabelle has filled our hearts and home with love and joy.


Annabelle 3 days old, sleeping in her swing


Annabelle & Jonah with Papa and Mammie


Annabelle showing us her unhappiness with us in trying to get her newborn pictures


Sweet smiles at 1 month of age


Annabelle with "Aunt" Courtney on the subway on our Girls day out... we took Annabelle to Alice's Tea Cup for her first "tea" :)

Belle

I love knowing the history of a person's name.... why the parents chose it, who the baby or child is named after, etc. Because of this and because I have been asked multiple times about Annabelle's name, I thought I'd write a post about names and give you the reasoning behind her name choice.

First, I'll tell you about my name :)
My parents, especially my Father, were/are huge 'Little House on the Prarie' fans. I, in turn, am also a huge fan of this show... have many of the seasons on DVD.
Well, that show was in its biggest days around the time I was born. 'Laura' on the show is Melissa Gilbert and 'Mary' on the show is Melissa Sue Anderson. So, my parents were inspired to name me Melissa. Coincidentally, when I was a young girl, I did slightly resemble 'Laura'.... and also somewhat dreamed of being 'Laura'.
My middle name is Joy. This name is after my Mother. Her name is Mary Joyce and my parents chose the name Joy from Joyce. I love having a mix of family history and parental preference in my name.

Since I am doing this, I guess I will tell you why we chose Jonah's names too. Jonah was a name that I had liked for a long time. It took Mark a little while to come around to it, but he finally did, like 24 hours after Jonah was born. :) The name Jonah means "Dove". We didn't really choose the name based on the meaning, but we do like to know what the name means. Jonah's middle name is Samuel, which means 'sent from God'. Samuel is Mark's middle name, as well as his maternal grandfather's middle name (Karl Samuel). Again, a name that is a mix of parental choice and a bit of family history.

On to Annabelle's name.... I have known for a long time that I really wanted to use 'belle' as a part of my daughter's name. My great-grandmother was born on Easter in 1899 and was named EasterBelle. :) My grandmother, whom I have been close to my whole life also has belle in her name, Eulabelle Yvonne. While I knew I would not be naming my daughter EasterBelle or Eulabelle, I did know that I liked the 'belle' component of the name. So, we chose the name Annabelle. Anna means 'gracious' and belle means 'beauty'. Annabelle's middle name is Naomi, which in origin is Hebrew and Japanese. We really liked that this name is of Japanse origin since so much of Mark's life was spent in Japan and that heritage means a lot to us, hence the name choice of Naomi. Naomi means 'sweet, pleasant'. I hope Annabelle will live up to the meaning of her name.... a gracious, sweet, and pleasant beauty....So far she's doing a good job of it :)

Below are some pictures of our relatives whom our children are named after. I am hoping to get a picture of Annabelle with Eulabelle, her great grandmother, on our visit to Georgia in April.


Karl Samuel Paulo and his wife Bessie Sue Paulo -Mark's maternal grandparents



Easterbelle Roughton with her husband, Harvey


Eulabelle Yvonne "Mamaw" and Me


Of course I had to add a couple of recent pictures of my babies..
Annabelle Naomi


Jonah Samuel